Service agreements and setting up maintenance tickets
I am desperate to know how folks are setting up service agreements for clients with multiple systems...especially more than two.
We are having a heck of a time trying to figure out the ESC service agreement set-up.
1. How do you set up a dispatch for each system within the home?
2. How do you set up a dispatch for each system that a tech can actually fill in the information he gathers from the checkout. We are not interested in filling out separate forms and attaching them to the client files.
3. How do you add accessories, per system (filters, UV bulbs, humidifier maintenance, etc.) that are covered by the agreement?
4. What is in place to prevent a dispatcher from overlooking items needed for a maintenance call?
I would love to chat with anyone who is very savvy in doing this that particularly uses ESC for their flat rating.
Comments
Rich,
1. On the schedule tab, each task you enter will generate a dispatch, sub tasks will be grouped on that tasks dispatch.
2. You can add tech notes to the dispatch(es). But I'm not sure that will give you what you want.
3. When adding tasks you can set the schedule, add sub tasks (filter 1, filter 2, whatever you need), and attach parts and even tools necessary for the job.
On the Equipment tab you can mark the equipment the customer has that is covered by the agreement.
4. On the dispatch is a list of the parts required, and tools required, if applicable. The dispatcher mostly needs to remember to hit "Post Schedule to Dispatch" weekly, monthly, or at whatever period you select.
Invoicing is not necessarily triggered by the dispatches as the period or frequency of invoicing may vary, , so Accounting needs to remember to 'Post Monthly Invoices". You may also need to create a couple of different dispatch "Types" for agreements, one that is non-billable, for scheduled work included in the agreement amount, and a billable if you do other work that is not cover under the recurring fee. For instance, if you do the scheduled filter swaps and the tech finds that the "Left-handed Gradunza" is burned out, you may invoice under the agreement at a discounted rate. The flat rate pricing has a selection for "Agr Primary" and "Agr Add". The latter would apply if you found the issue while already on site. If you have a trip charge set up, the "Primary" will add it. I believe that is the only difference.
Hope this helps.
setting up service agreements for multiple systems, we use separate billing codes. under the invoice tab in your agreement setup, we have billing codes like SA1, SA2, SA3, SA4, SA5, etc. The number stands for the amount of systems the customer has. We use the same idea under type as well. We don't have basic, bronze, elite, etc. so we are able to use SA1, SA2, SA3 for the "type" as well. So when the technician opens it in the mobile app, if he sees SA1 and there are two systems at the house, he will know to check the equipment that is covered under the agreement to know which one to service. It is rare in our company though that a customer has multiple systems and doesn't have them all covered under an agreement.
also - im not sure if you are using ESC mobile, but when we first started using it a year or two ago, the "sub tasks" rick mentioned, is ignored. or was at that point. i was very frustrated because i went through the time to set up subtasks under the codes we have, just for the technician not to see them. It was incredibly frustrating and was the first time i was disappointed with ESC lol. they are a wonderful company and i was so disheartened my work was for nothing. Im not sure if that is something they have fixed. I have attached a screen shot of how our company does this, because our dispatcher makes a note on their first dispatch of the day of ALL parts they need to take, so they arent wasting time going through every dispatch's parts required. Putting the filter size and quantity in the full tasking description also helps save time because the dispatcher does not have to double click each dispatch and click the parts required tab as well.
1. if we go to a house to service a system, we will be doing the complete check on all of the systems, so there is no need for us to create multiple dispatches for the same location. if you are talking about a multiple day service check for a massive building, i might suggest creating multiple agreements for the customer and attaching the equipment in the agreement they are to service that specific day like rick stated.
2. we had this issue as well, and for awhile we had a PDF form they would screen shot and attach to the customer. Overall, it was extra work. We know what we expect when our service technician is doing a Service Agreement inspection. We created a history code, SFS and SFW, service for summer/service for winter, and use that. It will be clear to us if a customer calls in with a problem if the technician did his job or not. If you really want them to have a form they fill out to record pressures or whatever it is, i would suggest creating a pdf and having them email it to you at the end of every day. that way its not slowing down your ESC database and you could keep a record of it on your computer if you needed to reference it for anything or provide it to a customer.
3. under task details when you modify or add a new schedule item, you can add parts or tools required as long as they are in your inventory.
4.nothing is in place to prevent a dispatcher from doing his/her job. like rick said, they need to remember to do the things ESC has in place to make ordering parts/filters incredibly easy. i personally use outlook to remind me to do things every day, or certain things i do weekly, monthly, yearly, etc. Its helpful because if someone else needed to do the dispatchers job, say a sick day or vacation, they would know what to do as well. also with outlook, you can assign tasks to someone, so if job duties get assigned to someone else, you can easily move their tasks. screen shot attached :)
we use flat rate. im not sure what you wanted to chat about but feel free!
Hi Rick and Ann,
Thank you for the feedback! Ann, I would love to chat with you about how you are working with the flat rating...we nailed down a lot of challenges with it but I found a major pricing issue with repair assemblies that I am trying to figure out. Honestly, I a blown away that no one has brought this up yet.
We are using the mobile app...we currently have one pretty big issue with it so I may add a separate post about if I have time today...it could possibly be user error but I am not sure since it is a pretty simple/intuitive app.
I have learned a lot about this service agreement section this week. We will need to build a separate agreement for each system because we work with a lot of clients who have multiple units in their homes. This will then give us the ability to have a dispatch to gather the checkout data for each individual system. We have also figured out how to put an assembly in the task and this is where the technician can fill out the information gathered for each system.
Ann, we use Outlook also and it is a great tool, however the "safety net" we are trying to put in place is to prevent filters, UV bulbs, etc. from being overlooked. I am working on that today but I think I am getting close on it so it is done in ESC. Once I get the service agreement templates set up, I am going to take a close look at the task...at this point, I am leaning toward a task code with assemblies that will have the part numbers attached.
Once I get the step-by-step procedure in place, I would be happy to share it with you both.
Our company is Comfort Solutions, Inc. We are based in Springfield, Virginia. I am not sure if I can put contact info on this forum and do not see that I can add it in my profile, so if you Google us, we are easy to find.
Happy Sunday! -Rich
We use ESA 301 to mean three systems, first visit. ESA 302 would be second visit. ESA 101, 201, whatever...... and have the pricing amounts set up n the system to autopopulate. I can manually change them if the customer has a special pricing deal with us.
I have one service agreement set up for each location not each system, and fill in the contract amount etc on the agreement side, then attached the service agreement to saved docs.
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