Getting Started with Service Agreements
The ESC Service Agreement module allows you to track maintenance or other agreements for your customers. Using the Service Agreement, you can create dispatches that appear on your dispatch board at prescribed times (allowing you to schedule maintenance ahead of time), create invoices for renewal or periodic billing automatically, enter an estimate for the cost of the agreement over its life (helping you plan the appropriate price point), and track the usage of certain items such as copies or hours, for agreements which give a finite amount of benefits over a certain time period.
To get started with service agreements, follow these steps:
Enter the Customer into Customer Entry. Before a service agreement can be entered for a customer, that customer must have been entered into the system through the Enter Customers screen in the Customer Info module.
Enter the Service Agreement into Service Agreement Entry. The service agreement itself is entered on the Enter Service Agreements screen. Service agreements can be assigned specific Types, allowing you to see reports and perform operations with your agreements based off of this type. The Enter Service Agreements screen also allows you to enter the dates that the agreement is good for, the department that all invoice transactions for the agreement will use, and the technician that any dispatches created in the service agreement module will be assigned to. See the Enter Service Agreements help screen for more information.
Create Tasks. A task is a code used to describe what you would like your technician to do while he performs the maintenance or call. Each task gets a code to identify, a description for more information (that also appears in the Service Request Code area of the dispatch, when created), a long Tasking Description that is attached as dispatch notes to the call, and required parts, tools, or even other tasks may be associated to that task. See the Enter Tasks help screen for more information.
Add Scheduling with Tasks. Enter the scheduling on the Maintenance Schedule tab of the Enter Service Agreements screen. By placing a task in the month or day in which you wish to perform the work, you let ESC know that you wish to have a dispatch created in that month or day, and the task is used to tell the technician who gets the dispatch what he is expected to do while he is there.
Enter the Invoicing Schedule. On the Invoice tab in Enter Service Agreements, select the month you would like to create an invoice automatically. Enter a Description that you would like to appear on the invoice, and the dollar amount you would like to charge per invoice. If desired, use the Fill Invoice Schedule at the bottom to create an invoice every month, quarter, or six months. Enter a date for the first invoice, and save your Agreement.
Monthly Procedures. After the Invoice tab, Service Agreement and Maintenance Schedule are entered, you are now ready to take advantage of the automation that is built in to the Service Agreement module. In order to create the dispatches automatically, choose the Post Schedule to Dispatch option, and to create the invoices, choose the Post Monthly Invoices option. A suggested procedure is to run both of these procedures at the beginning of each new month.
Additional Topics:
Service Agreement Maintenance Schedule