Customer contract setup

Purpose: Adding a contract to a customer establishes a clear framework for service provision, ensuring continuity, transparency, and accountability in the business relationship. Contracts streamline service delivery processes, enhance customer satisfaction through clear communication and expectation setting, and provide stability in revenue streams. Additionally, contracts mitigate risks, create upselling opportunities, and foster compliance with regulatory standards. Overall, they play a pivotal role in maintaining strong customer relationships while driving business efficiency and growth. 

 

Contracts

Below are the steps to setup a contract template, you can find some helpful video content by clicking here.

➡️ Locate the Customer record > Quick links > Contracts

 

Navigation

To add your Contract to a Customer, you have similar navigation to that in the Contract template.

The Contract template must be Active to add it to a Customers.


Every step may involve filling out a simple form or tackling multiple smaller forms or sub-steps. Approach them systematically, addressing each one in turn.

To track your progress, a Progress Bar is located at the top of your screen. You can easily navigate by clicking on the steps and sub-steps listed on the left, following the specified order, beginning with the initial one. The steps will vary slightly depending on the Contact template used.

Once you've completed all the details within a step, click 'Next' to move on to the next step. If you need to review or make adjustments, simply click 'Back' to revisit previous steps. It's crucial to progress sequentially; skipping ahead to later steps isn't possible. Each step must be traversed methodically.

 

Indicates the Step's progress.
Indicates a Step or Sub Step is in progress.
Indicates the Step or Sub Step is complete.

 

Add new contract

➡️ Locate the Customer record > Quick links > Contracts > Add new contract

Step 1 Basic details

Contract name: Connect the relevant Contract templates

Contract start date: Autopopulates with todays date, amend if required.

Contract end date: System generated based on the contract duration.

Select contact: Select the contact person for the Contract, this may be a specific person in a Business, likely the same as the main customer for a residential contract.

Where did the contract come from: By what Advertising source did the Customer find your service.

Salesperson: The User who sells/admins your Contracts.

 

Step 2 Invoicing

When selecting the Pricing plan and completing the form, please note that the options displayed will vary depending on the Contract template. If Step 6.1 Invoicing is set to "No" in the Contract template, this step will be greyed out, and auto invoicing will be disabled. In such cases, you will need to manually add the invoices.

Price plan: Connect to the Price plan, this is derived from the Billing period and Price set in Step 6.1 Invoicing in the Contract template.

Invoice contact: Select the Customer contact responsible for Invoice communications.

Override invoice price: Activate/Disable

  • Fixed price for contract
  • Price per property
  • For the first asset/For subsequent asset

If Step 6.1 Invoice Options of the Contract template is set to "Can change per customer," activating the setting will cause the override invoice price to be displayed. Depending on your subsequent choice, one of the above options will be shown. However, leaving it disabled will retain the price plan cost.

 

Invoicing schedule

The invoicing schedule displays a list of invoices that will be Automatically generated for the contract, depending on the Contract length and Billing period.

Add new invoice date: Add a deleted line.

Invoice date: Edit the invoice date manually by selecting a new date from the calendar.

Action: Delete an invoice from the Invoice schedule.

The number of Invoice schedules you can add will be limited by the Pricing plan, ie Yearly can only have one Invoice schedule. 

Invoice communications will be sent to the service reminder contact.


Step 3 Address included

When selecting the customer and work addresses included in the contract, please note the following:

For single property:

  • The customer's name and address will be displayed.
  • The checkbox will be automatically pre-selected.

For multi-property:

  • The customer's name and address will be displayed for each property.
  • The checkbox for the main customer will be automatically pre-selected.
  • The checkbox for including work addresses on the property will be deselected by default.

Step 4 Asset, PPM, Services and Job allowance

This step allows you to configure the Assets, PPM, Services and Job allowance against each address if included in the contract template. The system counts the number of assets, PPMs and services included in the contract template. Options shown here will depend on the choices you made in the Contract template, "Step 4 Job details".

Asset

Ensure that the Contract accurately reflects the Asset/s covered, streamlining contract management and ensuring comprehensive service provision for the customer.

➡️ Asset > Edit

Begin by either using the search bar to locate specific assets or selecting from the list of available assets associated with the customer. Check the box next to each asset that should be included in the contract. Once all desired assets are selected, click "Save".

 

Shows if there is an asset against the customer and PPM is enabled on the Contract template Step 4.2.

 

PPM

➡️ PPM > Edit

Once you have clicked "Edit" you will see many options to assist you in setting up your PPM job schedule begin by selecting a PPM template on the left so the scheduler appears.

You need to set the schedule of the PPM jobs based on their frequency. You can achieve this manually or by using the "Set weeks" feature to auto-populate the jobs.

The set weeks button doesn’t show unless you click the ppm template on the left so it didn’t work left to right top to bottom if that helps. But I might be wrong.
Search:
Search the PPM templates that are already listed.

➡️ Search > Enter PPM template name > Click to select and display the schdeuler

Add PPM: Add further PPMs to this contract, these must have been created prior PPM templates

➡️ Add PPM > Search template name > Add PPM > Complete the side panel > Add PPM

Delete: The PPM templates associated with the Contract will be listed. Delete removes the inline PPM template.

➡️ Delete > Type delete > Delete

Add task: Adds a new task to existing PPM, set the Criticality and Frequency.

➡️ Add task > Complete the side panel > Add task

Download PPM: Produces an Excel spreadsheet for internal use or to provide to your customer.

➡️ Download icon Screenshot 2024-04-23 20432.png > File auto downloads to your default location

If the PPM name is longer than 31 characters or includes special characters / or \ it cannot be downloaded due an an Excel limitation.


Save
will be greyed out if the schedule is not complete.

➡️ Save > Return to previous screen

 

If no asset is added or if all tasks are not scheduled, a red warning triangle will be displayed. Once all requirements are met, it will change to a green tick.

 

Adding an asset 

Add asset: You need to add an Asset before you can schedule the jobs.

➡️ Add asset > Locate the Asset required > Add asset > The Asset name now displays at the top left.

 

The asset must already exist within the customer record and be added to the contract.

 

Schedule PPM jobs

Next to each task, you'll see a circle containing the occurrence in weeks, months, or years, shown as a number followed by W, M, or Y. For example, 1M indicates it needs to be carried out every month. You can hover over the circles to display the occurrence in full.

You will also see some numbers next to the task name, eg 0/12, the task is expected every month and the contract is for 1 year so it displays the number of dates selected so far. You can also Edit, Delete or Skip the task here too.

There are two ways to set the schedules, by manually scheduling dates or by using systematic scheduling using "Set weeks". For ease each segment alternates in colour based on the schedule, you can't add more than one job into a segment.

 

To complete the PPM schedule, you must have at least one asset associated with the property.

 

Automatically schedule jobs

Set weeks: Automatically sets the entire schedule based on a cyclical occurrence. The options will vary based on the frequency of the task.

Once you have chosen when you want the first job scheduled the system will repeat the pattern to schedule all the jobs.

➡️ Set weeks > Set the start week/start month > Set weeks > Jobs will show on the schedule

By default, this is set to Every 1st month and Every 1st week.

Jobs will not automatically schedule for a task if you have started adding them manually.

 

Manually schedule jobs

Click the squares to build the schedule, each square represents a job, you need to fully meet the requirements of each task to complete the schedule.

Frequency: Lets you know how frequently to schedule the jobs eg 1M, once a month

Number of ocurrances: How many times this task should be scheduled; an example is 0/12 meaning zero of 12 jobs have been added, once you begin filling the schedule you will see the number increase. You can not add more jobs than the required amount.

Check for missing tasks: Highlight the row in red if a task is partially scheduled. 

➡️ Check for missing tasks

Suggest optimisations: If you have tasks that could be carried out on the same job this feature will suggest an alternative schedule to minimise visits.

➡️ Suggest optimisation > Click the yellow square to accept the optimisation

 

Services

➡️ Services > Edit

Once you have clicked "Edit" you will see a list of Service reminders linked to the Contract template.


Set service reminder date

➡️ Select date > Enter date 

 

If the selected date falls outside your preferred months, it will be displayed in yellow with a warning stating this is in your busy season.

If a service reminder exists against a customer record it will pull the date through when adding the contract, as long as the Service reminder is linked to the Contract template Step 4.4

If the service reminder date chosen is in the past or misses the "Send reminder on" date, the system will not create a job or send a reminder when the customer's contract is activated.

 

Set service reminder contact

➡️ Contact > Select contact

Service reminder communications will be sent to the Service reminder contact.

 

How busy we are

The table on the right provides a bird's eye view of how many services you have booked in each month, aiding you in selecting the best time to schedule services. Hover over a square to view the number of services booked in a month.

Job allowance

➡️ Job allowance > Edit

Once you click "Edit," you'll see a list of Job descriptions as added on the Contract template Step 4.5, already displayed along with the predefined settings. You can further customise the contract by adding additional job descriptions.


Job description

➡️ Job description > Click dropdown > Search > Enter


Maximum number of jobs allowed

➡️ Maximum number of jobs allowed > Click into the box > Enter the number required

Customers will be allowed to book the allocated number of job descriptions per contract period set here.


Chargeable

➡️ Chargeable > Select from the drop down

  • No, FOC on completion
  • Yes, labour and parts
  • Yes, labour only
  • Yes, parts only


FOC Reason

➡️ FOC Reason > Select from the drop down

FOC reason: If you've selected FOC in the Chargable column, choose which FOC reason to apply when the jobs are completed. This is disabled if any other Chargable option is chosen.


Action

➡️ Action > Delete > Type "Delete" > Delete 

 

Step 5 Summary

In this step, you can review the Invoice details to ensure accuracy. Confirm all the information is correct, then click "Next" to proceed.

 

Step 6 Payment

To enable this feature, you must ensure the Payment setting in the contract template's Invoicing sub step 2 Payment is enabled. In order to take full advantage of Payment options that best suit your business please, review the following guide: Contract payments

 

Activating the Contract

Once you've completed all the setup steps, a pop-up will appear to activate the contract. Type "Activate" in the textbox and click the "Activate" button. Alternatively, you can leave the text box blank and click "Save as Draft". 

This action will take you back to the customer record, where you can click "View" to see the contract associated with the customer. The screen includes a timeline for the contract, providing a clear view of all the details and actions taken. With that, the process is complete.

Contract activation.png