Customer Equipment & Service Agreements Archives

Service Agreements – Planned Maintenance Utility

Creating Planned Maintenance Work Orders for Service Agreements

The Planned Maintenance form is used to create all of the planned work orders for a service agreement. It proposes work orders based on information brought forward from the “Add/Edit Service Agreement” form. This utility makes it easy to generate the planned maintenance visits before closing the “Add Service Agreement” window.

Accessing the Planned Maintenance Form

This form is only opened from the Add/Edit Service Agreement form. To create the planned work orders use the menu button on the Service Agreement form. Click Menu | Create | Planned Maintenance. The “Planned Maintenance” window will appear.

Step-by-Step Planned Maintenance Work Order Creation

Set a priority for these work orders. Medium is typical for many companies.
From the Work Order Type selection list, select the appropriate work order type. You should have at least one dedicated work order type for maintenance work that is planned (scheduled).
In the Description field, enter a description of the work to be performed.
Using the Assigned To selection list, pick the technician most likely to do this work. You can leave this blank and select someone at a later time.
Using the Department selection list, select the appropriate department that this service agreement revenue belongs to.
Check the “Add Service Agreement Notes to Work Order Notes” box if you want the service agreement notes copied to the work orders.
- Tip: The service agreement form includes a Notes form where you can enter detailed notes regarding the service agreement or the work to be performed.
Click the Auto button to build a list of work orders to create. You will see them listed in the grid at the bottom of the form.
If any of the created work orders have already been completed, check the “Completed” box so that the software knows they have been completed. They will be marked “Completed” when they are created.
Change the date of the work orders in the MM/DD/YYYY column. You likely do not know the exact date. Don’t worry, the dates can always be changed later.
Select the work orders that you wish to create. There are some buttons on the right of the grid to speed this process up.
Click the OK button to create the work orders. A list form will open that displays the work orders just created. This gives you another opportunity to edit them. These work orders will be listed in the Work Order List, just like any other work orders.

After setting up the Planned Maintenance form and clicking OK, a confirmation window will appear, reporting the successful creation of new work orders. You will then be returned to the “Add Service Agreement” window, where the “Completed” and “Not Completed” fields will display updated information based on the work orders just created. When finished reviewing and editing information, save & close the window.

Field and Button Definitions in the Planned Maintenance Window

The following is an explanation of every label, button, and control found on the Planned Maintenance form.

Customer: Displays the customer for whom the planned maintenance work orders will be created.
Service Agreement #: Displays the “serial number” of the customer’s service agreement.
Planned Visits: Displays the number of planned maintenance visits which come with the service agreement.
Term (Months): Displays the length of the service agreement in months.
Term Begins: Displays the starting date of the service agreement.
Term Ends: Displays the ending date of the service agreement.
Completed (display): Displays the number of Planned Visits (see above) which may already be complete.
Not Completed: Displays the number of Planned Visits (see above) which are not yet complete.
Other: Displays the number of any additional work orders which are covered under the service agreement plan, but not part of the original planned maintenance visits. For example, say that a service agreement customer has two planned work orders; one for May 1st and one for October 1st. If for some reason a work order is created for a covered equipment problem on June 25th, this would be an “Other” work order and be reported here. When creating a work order manually, it can be associated to an existing service agreement by selecting the service agreement from the “Serv Agmt” drop-down list.
Priority: Used to set a priority of Low, Medium, or High on the planned work orders.
Work Order Type: Used to select a work order type for the planned visits. It is strongly recommended that this be left at “Planned Maintenance” unless a compelling reason to do otherwise exists.
Assigned To: Used to select the technician to whom the work orders will be assigned, if known. This field is not mandatory. Leave it blank if it is not known which technician will be assigned the work orders.
Add Service Agreement Notes to Work Order Notes: Tick this checkbox to have any service agreement notes added to pending work order notes.
Proposed Work Orders Grid: This area of the Planned Maintenance window displays the work orders proposed by the form. Proposals may be edited as necessary.
Create Work Order: The Create Work Order column in not titled but lies just left of the “MM/DD/YYYY” column in the proposed work orders grid. When the OK button is clicked, a work order will be created for each ticked checkbox. Any un-ticked proposals will be ignored when the planned maintenance visits are created.
MM/DD/YYYY (in the grid): Displays the proposed date of each work order to be created. The proposed dates may be edited as necessary. The date of the first work order is always the current date, because the best chance of selling a service agreement to a customer is on-site through a well-trained technician using the service agreement discount as an enticement. See the bullet point “Complete (grid)” below for more details.
Completed (in the grid): When this checkbox is ticked, the proposed work order will not only be created, but also marked as completed in one step. Well-trained technicians are adept at selling service agreements in the field because they can entice customers with, “a discount on today’s work if you’d like to invest in our ‘XYZ’ service agreement right now). Thus, the customer gets to take immediate advantage of the service agreement discount, and you get a new participant in your service agreement program. Of course the immediate work performed will count as the first planned maintenance visit. This is why the first planned work order in the grid is always proposed with the current date. The Completed checkbox is then used as a time saver. Simply tick the checkbox instead of manually locating the work order in the work order list and taking the steps to mark its status as completed in a separate action.
OK: Creates the planned maintenance work orders based on the form’s settings, then exits.
Auto: Builds or resets the proposed work order grid area of the Planned Maintenance window to its originally proposed dates and conditions.
Exit: Closes the form without creating any planned maintenance work orders.

Help Topics Related to Planned Maintenance and Service Agreements

Service Agreements (adding and editing)

Service Agreements – Escrow Movements and Accounting

Equipment Type List

Using Equipment Types to Organize and Classify Equipment

The Equipment Type List form allows you to categorize and classify different equipment titles within Total Office Manager. Examples include A/C Unit, Gas Furnace, Electric Furnace, Gas Water Heater, Electric Water Heater, Packaged/RTU (HVAC).

Equipment Type Form Access

From the main menu, click Customers | Lists | Equipment Type List

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Equipment Type Form Fields

To enter a new classification, right-click and select new. This is where you enter a description of the equipment. If it is directly related to a specific type, select one from the drop-down menu. This section can also remain blank if it is not applicable. Click OK to add to the list.

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Using the Equipment Type Feature

Items and Customer Equipment

The Equipment Type field is found on the Serialized and Inventory Part items. This allows for structure of your inventory so that all like parts can be grouped together under one consistent name. It is also used on the Customer Equipment form. The two work together to allow for association. If the equipment type is selected under the customer’s equipment, it then becomes easier to identify the correct inventory part or serialized item to use for repair or replacement.

Equipment Type - Customer Equipment — Customer Equipment

Tips

A Serialized item might contain additional fields on the Accounting tab. They relate to AFUE, Heating Capacity, SEER, and Cooling Capacity. These fields will be visible depending on the selection on the General tab.

Service Agreements – Using the Batch Renewal Utility

Why and How to use the Batch Renewal Utility

The Batch Renewal Utility for Service Agreements feature allows you to quickly renew existing Service Agreements that have existing Planned Maintenance Work Orders created in Total Office Manager. This help topic explains how to use this feature.

Accessing the Batch Renewal Utility Form

From the main menu, click Customers | Service Agreements List or

By either right clicking on the list form or going to the Service Agreement List form menu, choose the option Batch Renew Service Agreements.

Important Note on Batch Renewals

If you batch renew a Service Agreement that has not expired (I.E. the Service Agreement is currently Active), the Start Date will be replaced with a new Start Date based on the Service Agreement Terms. This new Start Date will cause the Service Agreement to become Pending in status. When this occurs, Total Office Manager will not display that the Customer has an active Service Agreement on various modules/forms throughout the program (Caller ID, Customer History, Customer form, etc).

Step-By-Step Batch SA Renewal

Open the Service Agreement List and highlight the Service Agreement(s) that you would like to auto-renew.

Service Agreement Batch Example
Once you have selected your Service Agreements, choose the option to Batch Renew Service Agreements.

Batch Renew with Escrow
When the Batch Renewal process has completed, the Batch Service Agreement Renewal report will be displayed. This report shows you which Service Agreements were renewed and the dates of the Planned Maintenance Work Orders that were created. This report will also list any Service Agreement that was not renewed. Below is an example report (which may have been cropped and shrunk to conserve space).

Batch Renewal of Service Agreements – Example

Tips on SA Batch Renewals

Service Agreements that are not auto-renewed do not have Planned Maintenance Work Orders created.
You can review the Audit Trail to see when Service Agreements are renewed.
The Batch Renewal of Service Agreements does not create new or duplicate Service Agreements for your Customer:Jobs. It simply overwrites the dates in the existing Service Agreement to advance based on your Service Agreement terms.

Service Agreements List (how to use it)

How to Use the Service Agreements List

The Service Agreement List is used to research and manage service agreements which have been sold to customers. It can also be used to assign a service agreement to a customer without going through the sales process. This is useful if there are a number of agreements which were previously sold to customers, but not yet entered into the program.

Where to Open the Service Agreement List

From the main menu, click Customers | Service Agreements List. The Service Agreement List will appear, automatically having any displayed agreements grouped together by customer.

Purpose of the Service Agreement List

Perhaps the easiest way of using the commands available in the list is via it’s right click menu.

To enter a new purchase order, right-click anywhere in the list and choose New Service Agreement from the pop-up menu.
To edit a service agreement, right-click on it and choose Edit Service Agreement from the pop-up menu.
To copy an existing service agreement, right-click on it and choose Copy Service Agreement from the pop-up menu.
To delete a service agreement, right-click on it and choose Delete Service Agreement from the pop-up menu. Note that depending on how much transactional history involving a service agreement has occurred, it always be deleted this easily. Making a service agreement inactive is often the recommended solution.
To inactivate a service agreement, right-click on it and choose Make Service Agreement Inactive from the pop-up menu.
To memorize a service agreement, right-click on it and choose Memorize from the pop-up menu. The Add Memorized Transaction form will open, ready to setup reoccurring instances of the original transaction.
To export whatever information is currently displayed in the list, right-click anywhere in the list and choose Export List from the pop-up menu.
To modify which columns are displayed in the list, right-click anywhere in the list and choose Form Preferences | Show Columns from the pop-up menu.
To set which field the “find as you type” feature has focus, right-click anywhere in the list and choose Form Preferences | Find As You Type from the pop-up menu.

Service Agreements (adding and editing)

Entering and Updating Service Agreements

This help topic covers the basics of managing service agreements. It will show you how to add and edit service agreements. There are definitions explaining each of the fields, buttons, and controls on the service agreement form. There are links to related topics at the bottom of the page. You may also wish to read Creating Planned Maintenance Service Agreement Work Orders.

The Purpose of the Service Agreement Form

This form will keep track of the type of service agreement (SA), beginning and ending dates, status and the value (how many visits are included) of the Customer’s service agreement with your company.

This form will include a list of the Customer’s equipment. This allows you to select what equipment is covered under this service agreement. There is a place to enter notes regarding what the service agreement is for and what it includes. These notes can be copied to work orders create from this service agreement. This form also offers a Planned Work Orders utility that makes created respective work orders fast and easy.

When and Where From to Enter a Service Agreement

The process of “entering a service agreement” is the recording of a service agreement in Total Office Manager. This is typically done directly after the service agreement is sold to the customer. After completing a sales form which includes a service agreement, the user is reminded that the “paperwork” should be completed. If a new service agreement is opted for instead of editing an existing agreement, the “Add Service Agreement” form appears and is used to enter the agreement into the program.

Occasionally a service agreement may need to be entered (recorded) in the program on its own, without recording the actual sale of the agreement. This is especially true of new users of the program who may want to enter all of their customer’s existing service agreements, while not concerned with entering the sale on which the agreement was sold. When this is the case, open the “Add Service Agreement” form from the main menu by clicking Customers > New Service Agreement. (or use the Ctrl+M keyboard shortcut).

Service Agreement Item Type

To be able to sell a service agreement on an invoice, you will need to create one or more service agreement item types. To set up a service agreement ‘Type’ you would create an ‘Invoice Item’. Please see the topic “Service Agreement – Invoice Item” for further information.

Service Agreement Form Access

First open the Service Agreement List from the main menu by clicking Customers | Service Agreements List. Here, go to the Service Agreement List menu and select New Service Agreement.
When selling a service agreement from an invoice or sale, this form will open automatically. Information will be copied from the invoice into the service agreement, saving you a lot time. From that point, the process is the same.
There are many others ways to access service agreements.

Service Agreement Form Field Definitions

This table includes definitions of each label and control found on the Service Agreement form.

Agreement #:	The next available service agreement number will dynamically populate. You have the option of hi-lighting the number and typing in a new number if you wish.
Status:	This field will state if the service agreement is active or expired.
Customer:	Select from the drop down menu the customer, or create a new customer by clicking the hand icon to the right of the customer field.
Type:	Select from the drop down menu the type, or create a new Type by clicking the hand icon to the right of the customer field.
Location:	Will dynamically populate the customers address.
Term Begins:	Today’s date will dynamically populate this field; change the date by clicking on the drop-down menu to the right of the field.
Term Ends:	Date will dynamically populate according to the information that was set up in the ‘Type’ form. Example: 1 year SA would populate exactly one year from the term begins date. Example: 05/20/2004 Begins 05/20/2005 Ends. You may also check the “Override” box and enter a date yourself (see below).
Override:	Check this box to change the “Term Ends” field.
Planned Visits:	Number of planned visits will dynamically populate according to the information that was set up in the ‘Type’ form. Example: 2 visits per year, 3 visits per year etc.
Term (Months):	The length of the contract in months will dynamically populate according to the information that was set up in the ‘Type’ form. Example: 12, 24, 36 months etc.
Completed:	Planned tune-ups or inspections from this SA that have been completed out of the total that have been planned for this service agreement.
Not Completed:	Planned tune-ups or inspections from this SA that have NOT been completed.
Other:	Work orders associated with this SA that are NOT planned tune-ups or inspections. In other words, these are work orders created and associated with this SA but had nothing at all to do with planned maintenance. The SA must be selected on the work order.
Description:	Used to enter additional information. Example: This agreement cannot be transferred to another person or company.
This SA is a Renewal:	Check this box if this Service Agreement was used to renew an existing service agreement for the same customer. Pro Tip: Press and hold both the Shift and Ctrl keys, then single click on the “This SA is a Renewal” label. A box will appear allowing you to enter the number of the SA that is renewed. There is no lookup on this box. You will need to know the SA number. This number comes from the “Agreement #” field at the top of the form. This box will not appear if the service agreement is already a renewal.
Inactivate Item:	Check this box if you no longer want to use this service agreement. It will no longer be available in the various lists used to select it.
Save & Close:	Saves all changes and closes the form.
Save & New:	Saves all changes and clears the form so that you can enter a new one.
Cancel:	Closes the form and does NOT save any UNSAVED changes.

Service Agreement Menu Button Definitions

This table includes definitions of each option found under the Service Agreement’s Menu button.

Save:	Saves all of the information entered or changed but does not close the form.
Revert:	Goes back to how the form was BEFORE your last change.
Notes:	Allows you to enter important notes about this SA. These notes can be included in work order reports. Enter any general information that you might need to know about the Customer.
Delete:	Deletes this SA. This process can NOT be reversed.
Copy:	Creates a copy of the service agreement. You may then make changes to it and save. This is handy when created multiple SAs that are similar to one another.
Equipment:	From the Customer Equipment list (all ready entered), put a check mark in the ‘Add’ column for the equipment that pertains to this particular service agreement.
Customer:Job > History:	Selecting this option will pull up all the history transactions pertaining to the Customer.
Customer:Job > Edit:	Selecting this option will pull up the customer’s account information.
Customer:Job > Contact Log:	Opens the customer’s contact log for reading or editing.
Create Work Order:	This button automatically creates a work order using this service agreement and customer. This makes scheduling the maintenance events easier.
Create Planned Work Orders:	This button automatically creates a work order using this service agreement and customer for any planned maintenance that has not yet been completed. A form will open allowing you to customize these planned maintenance work orders.
Create Invoice:	Creates an invoice (balance due) using this customer’s information.
Create Sale:	Creates a sale (no balance due) using this customer’s information.
Create Credit:	Creates a credit (like a refund) using this customer’s information.
Create Estimate:	Creates an estimate using this customer’s information.

Step-By-Step Service Agreement Creation

Open the Service Agreements List and Sort the list if desired.
To enter a new service agreement, click Service Agreement List menu and select New Service Agreement.
To edit a service agreement, right-click on an agreement in the list and click Edit Service Agreement from the pop-up menu.
To delete a service agreement, right-click on an agreement in the list and click Delete Service Agreement from the pop-up menu.
To inactivate a service agreement, right-click on an agreement in the list and click Make Service Agreement Inactive from the pop-up menu.
When selling a service agreement from an invoice or sale, this form will open automatically. Information will be copied from the invoice into the service agreement, saving you a lot time. From that point, the process is the same.

Service Agreement Tips

Service agreements can be the heart of any good service department. You need service agreements! Contact our office for a complete service agreement kit that includes forms and video training tapes.
Create Service agreements in Total Office Manager to match all of the different types you sell in the field.
Service agreements may include a list of customer equipment that is covered by the agreement. You will check the equipment that is covered. You can always add or remove coverage by unchecking the box.
You can enter customer equipment “on the fly” from this form. You may also go to Customers | Customer Equipment List | Equipment List | New Customer Equipment and enter the customer’s equipment.
Remember that discounts and coverage are determined by the service agreement Invoice Item.
Many users ask about the box labeled “Other”. Here is a little more information about what that box is used for: Example: Let’s say that a service agreement customer has two planned work orders; one for May 1st and one for October 1st. If a work order is created on June 25th for a problem with covered equipment, it would be an “Other” work order. The customer would still receive the benefits from owning the service agreement (like a discount, or priority scheduling), but the work order is not part of the original planned work orders, so it is reported in the “Other” field. When manually created work orders are associated to an existing service agreement (by using the “Serv Agmt” drop-down list) they will appear in the service agreement’s “Other” field.

Help Topics Related to Service Agreements

Service Agreements – Escrow Movements and Accounting

Batch Renewal of Service Agreements

Managing & Renewing Service Agreements

Selling a Service Agreement

Service Agreements List

How Do I Cancel a Service Agreement?

Service Agreements – Escrow Movements and Accounting

Invoice Items – Service Agreement

Preferences – Service Agreements

Please Check Our YouTube Channel for Service Agreement Related Videos
https://www.youtube.com/@Aptora8877

Customer Equipment List

Using the Customer Equipment List

The Customer Equipment List is used to manage the records of customer equipment on file. This list can and should include all of your customers equipment, whether or not they bought it from you. This way, as you track the age of your customer’s equipment, marketing efforts can be made to encourage replacement sales of outdated customer equipment.

Customer Equipment List Access

From the main menu, click Customers | Customer Equipment List.

Using the Form

Perhaps the easiest way to use this list is through its right-click menu. The right click menu is identical to the title menu.

To create new piece of customer equipment, right-click anywhere in the list and choose New Customer Equipment from the pop-up menu.
To edit a piece of customer equipment, right-click on it and choose Edit Customer Equipment from the pop-up menu.
To delete a piece of customer equipment, right-click on it and choose Delete Customer Equipment from the pop-up menu.
To memorize a piece of customer equipment, right-click on it and choose Memorize from the pop-up menu.
To create a work order for a piece of customer equipment, right-click on it and choose Create Work Order from the pop-up menu.
To export whatever information is currently displayed in the list, right-click anywhere in the list and choose Export List from the pop-up menu.
To modify which columns are displayed in the list, right-click anywhere in the list and choose Form Preferences | Show Columns from the pop-up menu.

Customer Equipment (adding and editing)

Adding and Editing Your Customer’s Equipment

The Customer Equipment feature is used to track customer equipment. This can include both new equipment sold to a customer as well as existing equipment they already own. This data can then be used in a variety of ways including marketing to customers who have outdated and inefficient equipment. Complete repair history can be tracked. More importantly, if a safety recall is issued on equipment you sell, that equipment and its owners can be quickly identified so corrective measures can be taken. You can place equipment on a “Watch List”. This flags the equipment for special attention.

Accessing the Customer Equipment Form

The “Add Customer Equipment” form is used to record a customer’s equipment. Multiple ways of opening this form exist. As a matter of fact, at the very moment serialized equipment is sold the user will be prompted to automatically enter the equipment into the customer’s equipment list.

Tip: When a sale of serialized equipment is made, the program asks if you would like to automatically enter the equipment into the customer’s equipment list. This feature only works with Serialized items.

Other ways of opening the Add Customer Equipment form include:

From the main menu, click Customers | Customer Equipment List then right-click anywhere in the list and select New Customer Equipment.

From a Customer:Job form, click Menu | Create Equipment.

From a Work Order, click Menu | Create | Equipment.

Customer Equipment Form – Field and Button Definitions

The following is a complete list and meaning of each control, box, label, selection, and button on the Customer Equipment form.

Customer:Job: Use this field to enter the customer or job that owns this piece of equipment.
Parent Equipment: If additional equipment already exists within the family, it will appear in this drop down menu.
Install Date: Use this area to enter an installation date for the equipment. This is primarily used for new equipment that your company installs.
In Service: Use this area to enter whether this equipment is in-service or not.
Installed By Us: Select either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.
Year Manufactured: Use this area to enter the year the equipment was manufactured.
Watch List. Add this Equipment to the Watch List: Tick this feature if this piece of customer equipment needs to be evaluated as a concern going forward. The Watch List feature is used to indicate that the equipment needs special attention of some type. When checked, a label will indicate who checked the box and when. You can filter the customer equipment list by Watch List status.
Description: Use this area to enter a brief description of the equipment.
Equipment Location: Use this area to enter the location of the equipment. (Example: North side of roof, basement, crawl space, etc.).
Type: Use this area to enter the type of equipment. (Example: Furnace, Hot Water Heater, etc.)
Manufacturer: The manufacture of the equipment.
Model Number: Use this area to enter the model number for this piece of equipment.
Serial Number: Use this area to enter a serial number of the equipment.
Our Warranty: Use this field to enter when your warranty expires for General, Parts, and Labor.
Manufacturer Warranty: Use this field to enter when the manufacturer warranty expires for General, Parts, and Labor.
Save & Close: Saves and exits the form.
Save & New: Saves then opens a new form.
Cancel: Exits the form without saving.

User Defined Fields (UDFs)

Although blank to begin with, you can easily add user defined fields as pictured above to assist with knowledge of customer equipment. For more, please read here.

Menu Functions Found on the Customer Equipment Form

Menu | Save: Manually saves the form and leaves it open.
Menu | Copy: Once the equipment has been saved, the function lets you create an identical duplicate record of a piece of customer equipment. It’s useful for when it might be easier to copy an original record and make a few changes to it, rather than enter all information into a blank form from scratch.
Menu | Revert: Causes the form to dismiss any changes and return to information contained when last saved. It is the same as canceling the record without saving changes, then re-opening the record.
Menu | Notes: Opens the notepad for that specific piece of equipment. A virtually unlimited amount of notes can be entered here. See the related topic, “Notes” for details.
Menu | History: Stores all sales, work orders, and service agreements tied to the piece of equipment.
Menu | Image: Opens the “Customer Equipment Image” window, used to display a digital photo of the specific piece of equipment for identification purposes and use on reports. Click the “Select” button and use the Windows® “Open” dialog box to steer the program to where the image lives. Statistics about the image are displayed in the Image Information area of Company Image window. Use the OK button to accept the image or the Clear button to delete an image from the window. See the related topic, “Images” for more info.
Menu | Delete: Removes the record from the system.
Menu | New Document Link: Upload a link to access the equipment.
Menu | Upload Document: Upload a document, such as a manual. or a link to access the equipment
Menu | Document Links: Click to view all document links associated with a particular piece of equipment.
Menu | Create Work Order: Opens a new work order, pre-populated with the customer information and already having this piece of equipment selected.
Menu | Web Search: Exit Total Office Manager and research the equipment on the internet.
Menu | Customer | Customer History: Opens the customer’s history form.
Menu | Customer | Edit Customer: Opens the Customer:Job form for the customer.
Menu | Customer | Contact Log: Opens the customer’s Contact Log. See the related topic, “Contact Log” for more info.

Tips Related to Customer Equipment

Ask your technicians to record the model, serial number, brand, and description of all equipment that your company works on; even if they did not service it.
The time you spend to enter details about customer equipment will be well spent. This information can be used to market needed accessories and services to your customers.
Avoid using dashed and spaces when entering models and serial numbers; this will make it easier to perform searches.
When a sale of serialized equipment is made, the program asks if you would like to automatically enter the equipment into the customer’s equipment list. This feature only works with Serialized items.
Use the Watch List (Add this Equipment to the Watch List checkbox) feature if this piece of equipment needs to be evaluated as a concern going forward. The Watch List feature is used to indicate that the equipment needs special attention of some type. When checked, a label will indicate who checked the box and when. You can filter the customer equipment list by Watch List status.
You can select customer equipment when creating work orders and service agreements.
You can select a piece of equipment on each line item of an invoice. This allows you to associate specific items and label with a specific piece of customer equipment.
The Customer Equipment History Report details each piece of equipment a customer has on file with your company. The report includes a description, model number, serial number (if applicable), and warranty information. Pricing and User Defined Fields can also be included in the report, if desired.
The Customer Equipment Custom Data View (CDV) is a list of customer equipment with details for the last work order completed, number of pending work orders, and customer demographics.

Customer Equipment Related Content

Equipment Type List

Customer Equipment List

Equipment Type List

Service Agreements – Escrow Movements and Accounting

How Service Agreement Escrow Accounting Works

This feature allows you to only recognize service agreement (SA) income when you perform the work for that SA. If you sell a service agreement for $200.00 and there are two work orders (two visits), you will recognize $100.00 of income for each work order. The income is recognized automatically on the date of the work order, when that WO is marked as “Completed”. You can also recognize service agreement income on a monthly basis, regardless of any work order activity.

A More Detailed Explanation

The up-front money collected on service agreement is set aside and held in a liability account, pending fulfillment of the actual work promised in the agreement. Once the date of a planned maintenance work order has arrived, then a certain amount of money held in the escrow liability account is recognized as income. This process prevents all of the prepaid cash from being recognized as income prematurely. This method adheres to accrual accounting principles.

For example, imagine the sale of a two-visit service agreement. The prepaid funds received from the customer is not yet truly income because no planned maintenance visits have taken place. If the customer canceled the agreement before completion of any maintenance visits, we would be liable to the customer for their prepaid money. It is only after each planned maintenance visit date has arrived, that half of the collected money can truly be recognized as income. Until the condition of performing a maintenance visit has been met, the money is kept in an escrow liability account.

Fun Fact: In the specialized area of Cost Accounting, this concept is often referred to as Billing in Excess of Work Performed.

Income Recognition Methods

To recognize SA income, Total Office Manager creates a special adjusting journal entry called an “Escrow Movement”. The date of income recognition is controlled in two ways. You set this method on the Service Agreement item > Accounting tab > Escrow Methods selection.

Match Movements to Work Orders: Service agreement income is recognized automatically on the date of the work order (the date in the Date field), when you set the work order to “Completed”. Changing the work order date will also change the date the income is recognized (the escrow movement date is changed).
Create Monthly Movements: You also have the option of recognizing the service agreement revenue on a monthly basis. The amount of the service agreement is divided evenly by the number of months in the service agreement. This option can be set on each service agreement item. You can use both income recognition methods.

How to Activate SA Escrow Accounting

The Escrow Accounting feature must be enabled prior to use. This is done in the Service Agreement area of system preferences. Access system preferences from the main menu by clicking Edit | Preferences. See the related topic, “Preferences – Service Agreements” for more information.
When the Escrow Accounting feature is enabled in system preferences, a warning is displayed (see illustration below). This warning advises that escrow accounting is an advanced feature and should only be used after consulting an accounting expert. The Escrow Accounting feature is intended for users who have a solid grasp of accounting. It is strongly recommended that the Escrow Accounting feature be completely and thoroughly understood before implementation. Read, contemplate, and re-read the information contained herein over-and-over as necessary until total comprehension of the feature is achieved. Misuse of the escrow accounting feature can potentially lead to accounting problems not covered under any support plan Aptora provides.
It is also advised that the Escrow Accounting feature may not be legal in all states and there are tax implications. It is your responsibility to determine the legality of escrow accounting use in your location.

Overview of the Process

After setting up each service agreement as an invoice item, the day-to-day process of using escrow accounting service agreements is not much different than using ordinary service agreements. However, it is extremely important that the proper steps be taken in sequence through completion. The specifics are discussed in detail below, but the basic steps are:

Sell a service agreement to a customer,
Create (record) the new service agreement for the customer, and
Create the planned maintenance work orders for the service agreement, from the service agreement.

Overview of the Escrow Accounting Transactions

The behind-the-scenes transactions which occur when using service agreement escrow accounting are as described below.

When a service agreement is sold, the prepaid funds are temporarily recorded as income.
In the next steps, as planned work orders are created, special journal entries, called Escrow Movements, are created automatically.
One journal entry is created to immediately move all of the prepaid funds from income to the escrow holding account.
Other journal entries (one for each planned work order) are created which move a set amount of prepaid funds back into income on the date of each planned work order.

These journal entries are the backbone of service agreement escrow accounting. They are listed and managed through the Escrow Movement List. Under certain circumstances it may be necessary to modify these journal entries. Common situations which require this sort of activity are discussed later in this help topic.

Creating Service Agreement Invoice Items

Setting up a service agreement invoice item for escrow accounting is identical to setting up any other service agreement invoice item, with one exception. When escrow accounting is enabled, two additional fields called “Escrow Holding Account” and “Escrow Method” appear on the Accounting tab of a Service Agreement type of item.

Escrow Holding Account: This is where to choose which liability account to use for holding prepaid money when a service agreement is sold to a customer. It is recommended that a separate escrow holding account be used for each service agreement invoice item. This allows the escrow money to be tracked properly in various reports. In many cases the type of accounts setup for this purpose are “Other Current Liability” accounts. Consult your accounting professional if unsure of the account type to use for service agreement escrow accounts.

Escrow Method: Select how you wish to recognize the SA income. Please see Income Recognition Methods above for details on each of the two options.

Selling an Escrow Accounting Service Agreement

The sale procedure of escrow accounting service agreements is identical to the sale of any service agreement until the “Do the Paperwork” reminder appears.

At this point it is critical to continue and create a “New SA” at that very moment. Do not choose to edit an existing service agreement. Do not cancel, with plans to finish the paperwork later. The only way to properly create the journal entries necessary for service agreement escrow accounting is to proceed directly from the service agreement sale to creating a new service agreement and it’s subsequent planned work orders. Failure to do so will result in the necessary journal entries not being created, and the escrow accounting portion of the service agreement setup not working.

Note: After selling any service agreement, a “Do the Paperwork” reminder will appear. This reminder refers to the “Services Agreements” dialog box usually displayed behind it. When selling an escrow accounting service agreement, it is critical to create a “New SA” and ignore the other choices.

Creating Escrow Accounting Service Agreements

After clicking the “New SA” button in the step above, the Edit Service Agreement window will appear. Review and confirm or adjust the displayed information brought forward from other related windows. Be sure to continue and create the planned work orders for the service agreement, which is covered below.

Creating Planned Work Orders

It is necessary to generate the planned maintenance visits before closing the “Add Service Agreement” window. The one and only opportunity for the necessary escrow accounting journal entries to be created is along with the planned work orders. If the “Add Service Agreement” window is closed even once without creating the planned work orders, the escrow accounting journal entries will never be generated, even if the form is re-opened at another time.

To create the planned work orders, use the menu button command Menu > Create > Planned Maintenance. The “Planned Maintenance” window will appear.

One noticeable difference in the “Planned Maintenance” window when escrow accounting is enabled, is the appearance of the “Escrow Amt.” column. The Escrow Amt. column displays the amount of prepaid cash which will be moved from the applicable escrow holding account and recognized as income on the date of each planned work order.

Note: When creating planned work orders for escrow accounting service agreements, the amount of prepaid funds to be recognized as income on each work order date is displayed in the “Escrow Amt.” column.

Create the planned work orders in normal fashion. The planned work order dates are proposed automatically and may be adjusted as necessary. These dates will subsequently be used for the escrow accounting journal entries automatically created as the work orders are generated. Refer to the related topic, “Service Agreements – Entering Existing Agreements”.

When the “OK” button is clicked, three important things take place:

The planned work orders are created,
The journal entry used to move the entire prepayment from income to the applicable escrow holding account is created, and
The journal entries used to move portions of prepaid funds from that escrow holding account back to income are created.

A confirmation window will appear, reporting the successful creation of new work orders. You will then be returned to the “Add Service Agreement” window, where the “Completed” and “Not Completed” fields will display updated information based on the work orders just created. When finished reviewing and editing information, save & close the window.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The “Planned Maintenance” option on the service agreement is the only opportunity to create the journal entries required for escrow accounting. If this step is skipped, even with plans to return to the form later, the escrow accounting journal entries will not be created.

The Escrow Movement List

The Escrow Movement List is used to manage the escrow accounting journal entries. These are the necessary transactions which were automatically generated when the planned work orders were created.

If you change the date of an escrow movement, the date and other details of the work order will not be affected. Adjusting an escrow movement will not have any effect on its associated planned work order.

If you change the date of the Planned Work Order, the date of the escrow movement WILL be changed to match the work order.

How to Open the Escrow Movement Form

From the main menu, click Customers | Service Agreement Escrow Movement.

Using the Escrow Movement Form

Perhaps the easiest way of using the commands available in this list is through its right click menu. The right click menu is identical to the title menu.

To edit a transaction, right-click on it and choose Edit Transaction from the pop-up menu.
To delete a transaction, right-click on it and choose Delete Transactions from the pop-up menu.
To export whatever information is currently displayed in the list, right-click anywhere in the list and choose Export List from the pop-up menu.

Editing an Escrow Movement Transaction

From time to time it might be necessary to edit one of the escrow movement transactions. To edit a transaction, right-click on it and choose Edit Transaction from the pop-up menu. The Escrow Movement form will appear.

The editable fields are the Date field, Memo field, and Department field. A “Created/Revised By” stamp displays the identity of the original creator and the most recent reviser of the form.

Service Agreement Cancellation

If a customer cancels a service agreement prior to some or all of the planned work orders being performed, some or all associated work orders should be marked as “canceled” from the Work Order List, the Schedule Board, or within the work order itself. Then, depending on the circumstances, the dates of the corresponding escrow movements are manually edited from the Escrow Movement List.

Cancellation Before Any Work Orders Are Completed

For example, if a customer cancels a 2-visit service agreement before any work is performed,

Both of the outstanding planned work orders should be marked as “canceled”.
The dates on both of the outstanding escrow movements should be adjusted to the current date.

Edit the transaction date of outstanding escrow movements to the current date. This immediately moves those prepaid funds to income, thus available for use on a customer credit memo and subsequent refund check.

Issuing a Credit Memo or Refund Check

If needed, a credit memo and subsequent refund check can then be issued to the customer. The best way to create this credit is from the original service agreement sales form.

Open the original sale then click Menu > Create > Credit.
To issue a credit memo for a canceled service agreement, open the original service agreement sale and click Menu > Create > Credit.
When the credit memo opens, it will already contain customer and item information based on the original sale. An internal memo is even automatically proposed.
A credit which is created from an original sale or invoice, brings forward important information and also proposes an internal memo (circled in green).
A refund check is produced from the credit memo by clicking Menu | Create | Refund Check.

Tip: Create a refund check from within a credit memo by clicking Menu | Create | Refund Check.

Cancellation After Some Work Orders Are Completed

For example, if a customer cancels a 2-visit service agreement after one work order has been completed,

Only the outstanding planned work order should be marked as “canceled” (similar to above).
Only the date on the outstanding escrow movement should be adjusted to the current date (similar to above).
A credit memo and subsequent refund check can then be issued to the customer (similar to above). The major difference in this scenario is that the amount of the credit should be adjusted to half of the sales price because half of the work has been performed.

Although, the instructions above are for a simple 2-visit service agreement example, the concept extends to service agreements having many visits. Just cancel the outstanding work orders, adjust the dates of all outstanding escrow movements to the current date, and create a customer credit/refund for the amount of the outstanding planned maintenance visits.

Important Notes

The “Planned Maintenance” option on the service agreement is the only opportunity to create the journal entries required for escrow accounting. If this step is skipped, even with plans to return to the form later, the escrow accounting journal entries will not be created.

Common Q&A

Q: Can we manually do Escrow Accounting for past work orders and also have Escrow Accounting turned on for new service agreements?
A: Yes. You will need to enter Adjusting Journal Entries (AJE) manually for work orders created before turning on the Escrow Accounting feature.

Q: Will doing the above mess up our financial reports?
A: No. As long as you are entering your AJEs correctly. Be careful not to enter AJEs for Planned Work Orders that already have Escrow Movements. Note” The date on your AJEs will not change if you change the date of your work orders.

Warranty Work and Reimbursement Management

Introduction

In the service industry, warranty work is often a fact of life. A common scenario might be not long after the installation of a new piece of equipment, maybe an Acme brand air conditioner, a part goes bad and needs to be replaced under warranty. Your technician makes the repair and keeps the part, tagging it with the information required by the manufacturer. Back at the shop, you might have up to three options: have the vendor issue a credit to you, have the vendor send you a replacement part, or have the vendor issue you a check for reimbursement.

If the vendor issues a credit to you, simply record the credit in Total Office Manager by going to Vendor > New Credit, and using the Vendor Credit form. This records the credit and makes it available for use in paying future bills received from that vendor.

If the vendor is to send you a replacement part or issue you a reimbursement check, do the following:

Setup the vendor with their own customer account. In our example, Acme Manufacturing would have both vendor and customer accounts in Total Office Manager.
Create a new account in your Chart of Accounts, named something like “COGS – Warranty Parts & Labor”. Be sure to set this account Type to “Cost of Goods Sold”.
To perform the next step, an administrator will have to turn off Total Office Manager’s “Smart Account Selection Filtering”. This is found by clicking Edit > Preferences, and going to the Accounting Defaults tab. After un-ticking (un-check) the checkbox for Smart Account Selection Filtering, the administrator will have to agree to an important message then enter the administrator password to proceed. Click the “Close” button to leave the Preferences form.
Now create a new Invoice Item by clicking Customers > New Invoice Item. Call it something like “WarrantyParts&Labor” with a description like “Item returned to vendor under warranty coverage”. Be sure to set the Type field to Other Charge. In the Accounting tab, set the Income Account field to the COGS account you just setup to handle warranty work. Total Office Manager will warn you that the account you’re choosing is not an income account. Click the “Yes” button to ignore the warning and proceed.
Turn the Smart Account Selection Filtering back on by ticking it’s checkbox in the Accounting Defaults tab of Preferences.
Create a new invoice and choose the vendor as the customer. You will “sell” the new Invoice Item you just created for handling warranty work to the vendor. Enter the value of the warranty reimbursement in the Amount field.
If you receive a replacement part from the vendor, go to Customers > Create Credit Memos/Refunds and issue a credit to the vendor for the same amount as the warranty invoice. Now use this credit to “pay” the vendor’s invoice by clicking Customers > Receive Payments. In the New Payment form, tick the checkbox next to the warranty invoice to pay, then click the “Set Credit” button to select the credit you just created.
If you receive a reimbursement check from the vendor, go to Customers > Receive Payments, and use the check to pay the vendor’s invoice, listed in the lower portion of the New Payment form, just as any other received payment.

Using this method of managing warranty work will keep track of any reimbursement amounts due to you from your vendors as a receivable until the vendors “payoff” that receivable account with either a credit issued from sending you a replacement part, or with an ordinary reimbursement check. The complete transaction becomes a “wash” having no net effect on your income or related tax liabilities.

Warranty FAQ

Question

Sometimes when I do work at a client location I may have to replace a part that is still under warranty. The warranty covers part of the job (usually the material and not the labor). I removed the replacement part from my current inventory but the Manufacturer needs to repay me for that item. How do I handle this?

Answer

You would receive your serialized item into stock as usual. When you go out to the customer’s location you would replace the item with a new Serialized Item and Invoice the Customer for the full price of the item.

You would also create a Credit Memo for the customer returning the original serialized item to them for credit. This credit memo would then be applied to the new invoice, therefore making only the labor portion due on the invoice.

You would then create a Vendor Credit for the Item that the Vendor needs to pay for. You would choose the serialized Item that was returned from the customer and the serial #.

If the Vendor sends a replacement item you would enter a bill for the item entering the replacement serial number to put into stock. You would then apply the Vendor Credit to the new Bill.

If the Vendor does not send a replacement item you would then apply the Vendor Credit to any open Bill for the Vendor.

Question

We sell equipment to a customer and we perform labor that needs to be billed to the customer. Then a problem occurs with the equipment we sold the customer and it’s still under warranty by the vendor. We need to be able to return this equipment for replacement.

Answer

You would have already received the equipment into stock because it was already sold to the customer. When you sold the equipment to the customer you included the serialized item on the invoice and charged the customer for labor. If the customer is only charged for labor and a discount is used then their invoice total would reflect labor only. Once the equipment is deemed faulty you need to return it to the vendor as it is under warranty. To do so in the system, you would then create a customer credit. You may do so by going to the original invoice, edit the invoice, go to menu; create; credit memo. You will receive a message asking you to create a credit for the entire amount of the invoice, go ahead and click yes. The credit will appear on your screen and you will see the credit is for both the serialized equipment and the labor. Delete the line entry for labor because we still want to charge this to the customer. If a discount was used on the invoice to discount off the equipment price, you will enter in a retail price of zero for the serialized equipment so we can properly but the equipment back into stock (to later be returned to the vendor) and have a credit with no balance. If the equipment was sold to the customer at full price, you will make sure this price is reflected on the credit. This will create a credit for the customer which will need to be applied to the customer’s invoice.

The credit amount will be the exact amount of the equipment and the invoice will be the equipment plus the labor. You will do a receive payment for that customer to apply the credit to the invoice, leaving a balance on the invoice for just the labor. (Again this is only if the equipment was not discounted on the customer’s original invoice).

Your next step is to create the vendor credit for the vendor who covers the equipment sold. Because you have created a customer credit putting that serialized item back into stock, you can now select that item on the vendor credit to return to the vendor as faulty equipment. If the vendor sends a replacement piece of equipment, you will receive that equipment into stock and enter a bill for that vendor with the new serial number. Once the bill is entered you can apply the vendor credit to the vendor bill leaving a $0 balance on both.

You will then need to create a new invoice for the customer selling the new piece of equipment back to them. If you did not discount the equipment on the first invoice and applied the customer’s credit to their first invoice, you will need to discount off this equipment as it is a replacement to them they are not responsible for paying. You can either use a discount invoice item on the invoice, or you can do a receive payment and in the invoice line item on the receive payment, select the discount account, date and amount.

Customer Equipment & Service Agreements

Creating Planned Maintenance Work Orders for Service Agreements

Accessing the Planned Maintenance Form

Step-by-Step Planned Maintenance Work Order Creation

Field and Button Definitions in the Planned Maintenance Window

Help Topics Related to Planned Maintenance and Service Agreements

Using Equipment Types to Organize and Classify Equipment

Equipment Type Form Access

Equipment Type Form Fields

Using the Equipment Type Feature

Items and Customer Equipment

Tips

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Accessing the Batch Renewal Utility Form

Important Note on Batch Renewals

Step-By-Step Batch SA Renewal

Tips on SA Batch Renewals

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Where to Open the Service Agreement List

Purpose of the Service Agreement List

Entering and Updating Service Agreements

The Purpose of the Service Agreement Form

When and Where From to Enter a Service Agreement

Service Agreement Item Type

Service Agreement Form Access

Service Agreement Form Field Definitions

Service Agreement Menu Button Definitions

Step-By-Step Service Agreement Creation

Service Agreement Tips

Help Topics Related to Service Agreements

Using the Customer Equipment List

Customer Equipment List Access

Using the Form

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Adding and Editing Your Customer’s Equipment

Accessing the Customer Equipment Form

Customer Equipment Form – Field and Button Definitions

User Defined Fields (UDFs)

Menu Functions Found on the Customer Equipment Form

Tips Related to Customer Equipment

Customer Equipment Related Content

How Service Agreement Escrow Accounting Works

A More Detailed Explanation

Income Recognition Methods

How to Activate SA Escrow Accounting

Overview of the Process

Overview of the Escrow Accounting Transactions

Creating Service Agreement Invoice Items

Selling an Escrow Accounting Service Agreement

Creating Escrow Accounting Service Agreements

Creating Planned Work Orders

The Escrow Movement List

How to Open the Escrow Movement Form

Using the Escrow Movement Form

Editing an Escrow Movement Transaction

Service Agreement Cancellation

Cancellation Before Any Work Orders Are Completed

Issuing a Credit Memo or Refund Check

Cancellation After Some Work Orders Are Completed

Important Notes

Common Q&A

Related Content

Introduction

Warranty FAQ

Question

Answer

Question

Answer

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