How Do I Enter New Equipment for a Customer?

Knowing what equipment your customers have onsite can be valuable information when they are calling for repairs or when it's time for maintenance.  New equipment items can be added from any screen that has an Equipment tab- such as the Customer screen or the Dispatch screen.  

To add equipment to a customer's record, open the Equipment tab and click the Add New button.  

In the Add Equipment screen, you'll have several available fields for recording information about each unit you enter.  Only the Manufacturer field is necessary for saving a record, but you'll want to record as much information as possible for each piece.

The Manufacturer field, Location field and the Type field can be setup with a list of items to choose from.  The Model number will need to be manually entered.  Other available fields include...

• Equipment ID - Also known as an asset tag, this field allows you to assign your own unique number to the item that you will use to identify it. This number must be completely unique and once it has been assigned it cannot ever be changed.  Customers using this field will typically have pre-numbered labels created that include their contact information on them. The labels are then placed on the unit where they will be visible to the end user.
• Serial Number - This field is for recording the serial number issued to the unit by its manufacturer.
• Mfg Code - Some units may be issued a Manufacturer's Code, which can be recorded here to make searching and reporting easier down the line.
• Install Date - The date the equipment was installed.
• Warranty - The expiration date for the Warranty on the installed equipment.
• Agreement - When a particular piece of equipment is attached to an agreement, that agreement number will appear in this field to indicate that the equipment is being covered under a maintenance contract.  If the customer has an open agreement that the equipment is not attached to, the agreement number can be selected in the Add Equipment screen in order to tie the unit to an open agreement.
• Sort - This field allows up to 3 characters and is used for searching and reporting purposes.  You can use this to code particular pieces of equipment that you need to track or to record revisions to the model.
• Equipment Location - Much like the Manufacturer and Type fields, the Equipment Location can be selected from a pre-defined list of locations, such as "Above garage", "Under sink" or "East Wall".  This is especially helpful for technicians that need to service a particular unit in a larger home or business.
• Notes - The perfect field for any and all information that doesn't fit within the provided fields.  

If you're looking to record or provide a certain type of information that is not already provided on the General tab, you can click the Define Custom Fields button and add up to 8 custom fields.  Each field can be either a free-form field or contain a pre-defined list of items to choose from.  

In addition to the variety of fields provided in the General tab, you'll also have a separate Documents tab that allows you to attach documents to a particular piece of equipment.  This is great for saving certificates, warranty information, forms and any other documents or files pertaining to the unit.