Setup the Service Agreement Module

Before you can begin setting up individual agreements, you'll need to setup the defaults for all agreements.  To do this, go to Company → System Setup → Agreements:

1. If you have a particular numbering system that you are already following for customer contracts, you can enter the starting number in the Starting Counter field.
2. Set your Default Department to the financial Department that you want all agreement invoices categorized under.
3. The Default Technician will already be set to Serv Agr 9999.  We recommend leaving this as-is, unless you have a different technician created for posting Service Agreement dispatches.  
   Note: We do not recommend posting agreement dispatches to individual technicians unless it is for designated routes.  If a particular technician leaves the company and is removed from the EDB, dispatches may be posted to them by accident and end up getting lost.
4. The default Priority for all dispatches posted from Agreements will be SA.  However, if you have created a different Priority, you can change that here.
5. Dispatches posted from Agreements may have a different numbering scheme than other dispatches if you choose.  Keeping them as 'Sequential' in the Type of Dispatch Number field is recommended.  Switching dispatches to the 'Customer Number + Date' option may cause problems since the year is not included and can result in dispatches trying to reuse the same dispatch number year after year.
6. If you choose the check the "Auto-update renewal..." box, then the Expiration and Renewal Dates of the agreement will automatically be pushed ahead by one Contract Period each time an invoice associated with the agreement has a payment applied to it.  This makes maintaining your agreements even easier, because you won't have to update the dates of an agreement manually.
   Note: this option does not work if payments are applied through an integrated accounting program.
7. When posting invoices from your agreements, you'll have the option to put them all on hold.  By checking the "Put posted...on hold" box in this screen, that option will automatically be selected for you each time agreement invoices are posted.
8. ESC's Service Agreement module gives you an Estimate tab in which you can add up all your estimated costs.  This helps you to price out the agreement appropriately to ensure a profit.  The Estimate Cost Default field here will allow you to choose what inventory costs your Estimates are based on: Last Purchase Price or Average Cost.
9. You can also choose the default Markup % that will be applied on the Estimate tab here.
10. The "Allow Invoice Amounts Per Task" box will provide you with the ability to assign Invoice items per Task.  This means that for every item you add to the Invoice tab in the Service Agreement module, you'll be able to select a Task from the Schedule tab to associate the item with.  This is a great feature if different items or charges will be billed on separate visits.

Service Agreement Usage

The Usage feature of Service Agreements allows the tracking of quantities of some material or service per agreement.  In the HVAC industry, the addition and recovery of refrigerant may need to be tracked.  In the copier industry, the number of copies that a customer has used may need to be tracked.  In the computer industry, support hours may need to be tracked.  The totals may be viewed by clicking on the Usage tab on the Enter Service Agreements screen and/or a report may be printed by heading to Agreements → Reports → Agreement Usage.  Before Usage can be tracked, there are a few preliminary setup steps:

1. In Company → System Setup → Agreements → Usage, you'll need to check the "Track usage...".  This will not only produce new default fields in this tab, but will also make available a Usage tab in the Enter Service Agreements screen.
2. Enter Usage as Meter Readings - Usage can be entered as either the amount of parts or services used during a service call or period of time or as an ongoing meter reading. Companies tracking chemicals/refrigerant/hours used will want to leave this box unchecked. Copier companies and other industries that track equipment with meters on them will want to check this box.
3. Default Usage Label (1 & 2) - Use these fields to enter a name for the parts or services being tracked. For example a computer company may use a label such as hours or incidents while a copier company may use B&W and Color to track different types of copies. These labels may be changed per individual agreement if desired.
4. Usage History Code (1 & 2) - Only used if Enter Usage as Meter Readings is selected. Use these fields to associate an existing history code with each label you set up. This history code will be used when creating service agreement invoices based off of meter readings entered on the Enter Meter Reading screen.
5. Overage Billing Code - Only used if Enter Usage as Meter Readings is selected. Use this field to select an existing billing code that will be used on invoices when customers exceed their usage allowance for a specific period. Note that the rate on the billing code will be overwritten by the overage rate on the service agreement.