 |
 |
Contract Maintenance (CT30)
|
Index Contract Maintenance (CT30) Contract Maintenance (CT30) Contract Maintenance (CT30) Contract Maintenance (CT30) Contract Maintenance (CT30) |
Creating a New Contract
Contracts are created whenever equipment is sold or rented to a customer and/or a service agreement is sold to a customer. Contracts can be created from the Enter Inv/Direct Bills/Credits (IN41) program or from the menu.A contract is created for a customer/location and can be for more than one piece of equipment, each one having its own service and/or preventative maintenance program(s). Locations are defined in Maintain Ship-To Addresses (SU14). Each location can identify a building where equipment is located or may be as detailed as the location of the equipment in the building. In this case, only one piece of equipment would be entered per contract and service call.
Contract Numbers may be manually assigned or automatically generated. This option is configured in the Sales Office (CT01) program.
The Information folder is used to enter general information relating to the whole contract. All other folders in Contract Maintenance (CT30) will deal only with the currently selected equipment on the contract. Another piece of equipment on the same contract may be selected from within these folders. The Information folder has a list of equipment already entered on the contract. Clicking on an item in this list will make information for that piece of equipment automatically be re-called on the other folders.
Adding Equipment to a Contract
Equipment is added to a contract on Equipment folder of Contract Maintenance (CT30). There is no limit to the number of equipment put on the same contract. The information on this folder will be for the currently selected equipment, including the start and end date of the contract. Contract renewals are performed on Equipment, not on the whole contract.If the equipment has a meter, and either contract billing or preventative maintenance scheduling is to be performed based on meter usage, then the number of meters on the equipment must be entered on the Equipment folder.
Assigning Billing Programs to a Contract
Contract billing is performed for each piece of equipment on a contract, not on the whole contract. Each piece of equipment may have it’s own billing program(s) attached to it. The Billing Program folder is designed to set up billing programs against a contracted piece of equipment.Multiple Billing Programs may be set up against one piece of equipment by assigning each one to a different Sequence Number. Multiple Billing Sequences billed on the same customer invoice will appear on the invoice in Sequence Number order.
The Billing Program determines the type of billing (Flat/Metered/Block/No Charge) to be performed. For a detailed explanation of the Billing Types click here.
The Next Bill Date and Frequency fields determine when billing is to be performed.
Meter Rates may only be entered if at least one meter was entered in the Total Meters field on the Equipment folder and if the Billing Type is Metered or Block.
Setting up the Service Program
The Service Program folder of Contract Maintenance (CT30) is used to maintain defaults to speed up the creation of a service call in Enter Service Calls (SE30) and to define whether parts and labor charges on service calls are covered by the contract. The information entered here is optional. If no information is entered then by default parts and labor charges will be billed to the customer.
Controlling PM's Contracts can be configured to automatically generate Preventative Maintenance type service calls.
PM schedules are maintained on the PM folder of the Contract Maintenance (CT30) program. Contracts can be set to be due for a PM in 3 different ways:
- by number of months or days, e.g. a PM will be done every 6 months.
- if the equipment is metered, a PM can be scheduled when any meter hits a specified number, e.g. a photocopier under warranty may require a PM be done after 100,000 copies have been run off. This would be a one time call only.
- if the equipment is metered, a PM can be scheduled by a range of meter usage, e.g. a PM can be generated every time a further100,000 copies are run off. This would be used for recurring PM visits based on usage.
The Preventative Maintenance Due Report (CT50) can be run off at any time. It will go through all contracts to determine if, based on the above parameters, any are due for a PM call. On acceptance of the report, an option is given to generate service calls for the printed contracts.
The PM folder of Enter Service Calls (SE30) displays the Preventative Maintenance schedule (See PM Program Tab)set up in Contract Maintenance and includes flags to indicate which component of the PM schedule has been completed on the current service call. When the Invoice Listing & Creation (SE42) program updates the service call, the contract master is updated with the Last/Next PM dates and, if applicable, updates the meter readings at the time of the PM.
Maintaining Future Contracts (Renewals)
The Future Contracts folder is intended for setting up new rates to take effect when the current contract expires. Renewals are typically initiated by running the Future Contract Notices (CT52) Worksheet format, which prints contracts expiring up to a certain date. On acceptance of the report, the current billing sequences are copied into the Future Contract files as a starting point for entering the new rates. Billing sequences may then be modified, deleted, or new sequences may be added to the equipment in this folder. Creating Contracts from Enter Inv/Direct Bills/Credits (IN41).After an invoice has been entered for a customer, a contract may be created for certain items on that invoice. By generating contracts through Enter Inv/Direct Bills/Credits (IN41) the operator can quickly setup new contracts at the same time as entering the order. Information from the invoice is carried over into the Contract Master, avoiding much duplication of data entry. Within Enter Inv/Direct Bills/Credits (IN41) only Transaction Types ‘Invoice’ and ‘Direct Bill’ will allow access to the Generate Contract menu bar option (from the Tools menu).
Once the contract has been generated, the Contract Maintenance (CT30) program is launched so that billing/service program/PM program information may be entered.
