Cleaning company software comes with a lot of jargon. Geofencing, NFC, funnels, retainers, CRM, integrations, custom weekly patterns. If you are a cleaning business owner rather than a technology person, it can be hard to tell what matters and what is just a fancy name for something simple.
This guide explains the most common terms in plain English, with what each one actually means for your cleaning business.
Scheduling terms
Recurring job
A job that repeats automatically, such as a weekly clean every Tuesday. You set it up once and the visits appear in the diary without rebooking.
Custom weekly pattern
A recurring job where each week can have different days. Useful for customers who want, say, Monday and Thursday one week and Wednesday the next.
Nth weekday pattern
A pattern like “the second Tuesday of every month”. Handy for communal areas and monthly or quarterly tasks.
Draft job
A job placed in the diary for planning but not yet sent to staff or customers.
Availability Finder
A tool that shows which cleaners are free for a new job or regular pattern.
Conflict alert
A warning when a cleaner is double booked or scheduled on a day they are away.
Customer away dates
Dates when a regular customer is on holiday. Visits are skipped and restart automatically afterwards.
Route planning
Putting each cleaner’s jobs in the most sensible order to cut travel, with arrival times sent to their phone.
Staff app terms
Staff app
The app your cleaners use on their phones to see jobs, addresses, access notes and checklists, clock in and out and take photos.
Offline mode
The app keeps working without mobile signal and sends everything once the phone reconnects.
GPS clock-in
Clocking in using the phone’s location, so the system records that the cleaner was at the property.
Geofence
An invisible circle around a property. The cleaner must be inside it to clock in by GPS. You choose how big it is.
NFC clock-in
Clocking in by tapping the phone on a small tag fixed at the property. Useful in large buildings where GPS struggles. Our guide to NFC and offline GPS clock-in explains more.
Late start alert
A warning to the office when a job has not started on time. In ProCleanerUK it comes 15 minutes after the scheduled start.
Checklist
The list of tasks for a job, ticked off in the app. A mandatory checklist must be completed before the job can be closed.
Customer terms
CRM
Customer relationship management: keeping every customer’s details, history, notes and messages in one place. See our article on what a CRM does for a cleaning business.
Customer app or portal
Where customers see upcoming visits, track their cleaner, pay invoices, approve quotes and request changes.
Lead
Someone who has enquired but is not yet a customer.
Lead source and UTM tracking
Records of where a lead came from, such as Google, Facebook or a particular landing page, so you can see which marketing works.
Money terms
Recurring invoice
An invoice that is created automatically on a schedule, such as every month.
Retainer
A fixed regular fee, common for commercial contracts, invoiced on a schedule rather than per visit.
Direct Debit
The customer authorises you to collect payments from their bank account automatically. ProCleanerUK uses GoCardless for this.
Payment gateway
The service that takes card payments online. ProCleanerUK uses Stripe.
Integration
A connection between two systems, such as your cleaning software and Xero, QuickBooks or Sage, so information flows across automatically.
Marketing terms
Quote form
A short online form that collects job details from a potential customer so you can price the work.
Landing page
A single web page built to turn visitors into enquiries. In ProCleanerUK, landing pages are built from a job’s before and after photos.
Marketing reel
A short video for social media, made from your job photos.
Funnel
A series of automatic messages, for example to follow up one-off customers or bring back past ones.
Compliance terms
COSHH
The rules on controlling hazardous substances, including cleaning chemicals. See the HSE guidance on COSHH.
Method statement
A step-by-step description of how a job is done safely.
Tender pack
The bundle of documents commercial clients ask for when you bid for a contract. See our guide to the cleaning tender pack.
Site assessment
A scored quality check of a property, area by area, with photos and comments.
Bradford Factor
A way of scoring absence that gives more weight to frequent short absences.
AI terms
AI assistant
A tool you can ask questions in plain English. ProCleanerUK’s assistant, Buddy, can answer questions about revenue, the schedule and invoices and send messages for you.
Website chatbot
An automated chat on your website that answers questions and takes bookings.
AI phone receptionist
An automated voice service that answers calls when you are busy.
Putting it all together
Once the jargon is stripped away, cleaning company software does a simple job: it keeps your schedule, staff, customers, money and paperwork in one place, and does the repetitive tasks for you. Our guide to cleaning management software explained shows how the parts fit together.
ProCleanerUK includes everything on this page on every plan. Start your 28-day free trial or book a free demo and see it in plain English.
FAQs
What is the difference between GPS and NFC clock-in?
GPS uses the phone’s location. NFC uses a tag at the property that the cleaner taps. NFC is more reliable inside large buildings.
What is a geofence?
An invisible circle around a property that a cleaner must be inside to clock in by GPS.
What is a retainer invoice?
A fixed regular fee invoiced on a schedule, common for commercial contracts.
What does integration mean?
A connection between two systems so information flows between them automatically, such as cleaning software and accounting software.
What is a marketing funnel?
A series of automatic messages sent to leads or customers over time, such as follow-ups or win-back offers.