Powerful and Affordable Management Software for Service
Organizations
Welcome to the ServiceLedger Service Management System, the most powerful, affordable, and fully customizable service management software system available. We are very excited that you’ve chosen to join the ServiceLedger family and look forward to assisting you in growing your service company by automating your service operations with ServiceLedger.
ServiceLedger is an integrated suite of service management tools designed to help track and automate your service operations. ServiceLedger provides tools to allow you to quickly and easily accomplish the following major tasks:
· Keep track of prospects and customers
· Create estimates for the goods and services you provide to your customers
· Create and schedule jobs for the services your technicians perform
· Track information and service history for equipment services in jobs
· Use service contracts to manage billing for covered and recurring services
· Invoice customers for services provided and track invoice aging and balances
· Keep track of item sales, including inventory, locations, and serialized items
· Create purchase orders and bills for your item vendors
· View reports on all aspects of your service organization to keep track efficiency, usage, and profitability
The more information you track in ServiceLedger, the more value it can give back to you through reporting and instantly-available information in the software such as history and profitability figures.
For aspects of company management that ServiceLedger is not well-suited to handle, it is able to export to, import from, and integrate with certain third-party products such as the QuickBooks and Peachtree accounting packages.
The tools that ServiceLedger provides to your organization are organized into six major areas:
1. Company – This section contains the tools you will use to set up and organize your company information. You will be working with this module the most while you get started, and will return to it regularly as your business grows and requires new features or different organization.
2. Inventory – This section is where you keep track of which items you sell, including your parts and inventory, different categories of labor, and types of equipment & contracts. Even if you do not track inventory counts, you will use this section to enter your items and review their use history.
3. Customers – This section is where you keep track of the customers you perform service for, as well as the service or billing locations for each customer, customer contacts, equipment installed at the customer's site, and any service contracts you have with each customer.
4. Service – This section is where you will spend the majority of your time once you’ve finished setting things up and start using ServiceLedger for your daily needs. This section is where you track estimates, jobs, and projects, as well as the tasks you perform as part of this work.
5. Scheduling – This section is where you will create, review, and update your service schedule, which allows you to keep track of which jobs need what work performed when and by who. It also includes a dispatch board with special features useful to dispatchers in organizations that closely monitor technician activity.
6. Receivables – This section allows you to keep track of invoices for parts and services you provide your customers and the payments they have made for those services.
7. Payables – This section is where you keep track of the vendors from which you purchase parts, purchase orders for those parts, and the bills you receive to pay for parts and services provided to you by your vendors.
In addition to the core features listed above, ServiceLedger offers several add-on modules and some companion programs that focus on specific organizational needs. These modules are not generally required by service organizations, but in special cases can provide useful extra functionality. The features of these modules are described in depth in the user's guides that accompany each module.
Add-on modules integrate directly with ServiceLedger and provide additional or more powerful features directly within the ServiceLedger program. As of January 2012, the following add-on modules are available:
1. Sales Orders & Returns Module – allows you to track Sales Orders for your customers and process customer returns, which are referred to in ServiceLedger as RMAs. These features work in conjunction with existing ServiceLedger features (such as Invoices, Credit Memos, and Vendor Credits) to allow you to better track information on item sales.
2. Repairs Module – allows you to track item repairs separately from jobs. Repair Orders can be used in conjunction with Sales Orders & Returns to efficiently handle repairs for returned items, or by themselves to handle repairs for businesses that have separate teams for customer work and in-house repairs.
3. ServiceLedger QuickBooks Link – allows you to import and export important data such as customers, items, invoices, and bills to and from the QuickBooks accounting product. This add-on module is included with the purchase price of the software and is strongly recommended for all organizations that currently use QuickBooks.
4. ServiceLedger Peachtree Link – allows you to import and export important data such as customers, items, invoices, and bills to and from the Peachtree accounting product. This add-on module is included with the purchase price of the software and is strongly recommended for all organizations that currently use Peachtree or Sage accounting.
5. ServiceLedger Tech Exchange Link – allows you to export your technicians’ schedules to Microsoft Exchange and show up in your techs’ Microsoft Outlook calendars.
For more information about these add-on modules, contact your ServiceLedger sales representative to acquire the user’s guide for the module you’re interested in.
Companion programs require you to have an active ServiceLedger database, but are designed to be run independently of ServiceLedger to provide special-purpose access to your data to specific persons. As of January 2012, the following companion programs are available:
1. ServiceLedger Tech Portal – allows your technicians to remotely view and update their jobs via your company website.
2. ServiceLedger Customer Portal – allows your customers to remotely view information about their estimates, jobs, invoices, and so on via your company website.
3. ServiceLedger SalesDesk – provides a specialized interface to the ServiceLedger database specifically oriented towards your sales staff, focusing on customers, estimates, and the scheduling of internal staff activities.
4. ServiceLedger Call Center – provides a task-based time tracking tool for activities your office staff perform on behalf of yourself and your customers, including automatic fine-grained time tracking, issue history, and resolution status. Can integrate with ServiceLedger to create estimates, jobs, and invoices from the time tracked on calls.
5. ServiceLedger TimeSheet – provides a detailed minute-by-minute time tracking tool for time your employees spend on internal tasks, jobs, and estimates. Augments the tech time entry features already provided directly within ServiceLedger for time tracking.
For more information about these programs, contact your ServiceLedger sales representative to discuss these programs and get information about how to obtain them.
In addition to the QuickBooks and Peachtree add-on modules described above, ServiceLedger can be integrated with practically any commercial software database application via ODBC and/or XML interfaces. If you are interested in having ServiceLedger integrate with another application, contact our services department to set up a meeting to discuss the integration requirements.
ServiceLedger provides free support for your product via our knowledge base, available at:
http://support.serviceledger.com/kb/
When you purchased the ServiceLedger product, your purchase may also have included direct support, training, and/or customization or integration services. If you did not purchase these services with the product, you can purchase them separately on an as-needed basis.
The terms for all support and services ServiceLedger provides are laid out on our website at http://www.serviceledger.com/.
In addition to training and support, ServiceLedger offers a variety of custom services, including installation assistance, database cleanup, product customization, and new product development. Custom services can be an excellent way for your organization to save time and money if you need to accomplish something that isn’t already built in to our products.
Since we must take time out of our staff’s normal duties to perform custom services, all custom services are billable and not included in either the support plan or training plan. If you anticipate a significant need in this area, affordable service plans are available where you can pre-pay hours at a discounted rate.
The terms for all support and services ServiceLedger provides are laid out on our website at http://www.serviceledger.com/.
Someone in your organization will need to know how to manage the infrastructure needs of the ServiceLedger program. This includes at a minimum backing up and restoring your database, and updating ServiceLedger. For larger organizations, it can also include installing the software on workstations, managing a database server, setting up your network, and a number of other things depending on the size and setup of your computer systems.
Your ServiceLedger database will likely be one of the most important pieces of data in your entire organization, so it’s critical that you understand how to protect it by making regular backups.
Important Note: Most backup tools on the market WILL NOT successfully back up your ServiceLedger database! Making regular backups according the instructions in this guide is the only way to ensure you are protecting your valuable ServiceLedger data. If you plan to use another system to back up your ServiceLedger data, back your data up using this method first and then test your alternate method to be absolutely certain it works before relying on it to keep your data safe.
All data (including any customizations and files) is stored within the ServiceLedger database for safety. The ServiceLedger database itself consists of multiple files that are constantly locked by Microsoft SQL Server, the database system that ServiceLedger uses. The locations of these files are irrelevant, as working with these files directly is not recommended and seldom successful.
Rather than working with these database files, you can back the entire ServiceLedger database up into a single, easy-to-track file using the backup facilities provided within ServiceLedger’s administration window and the ServiceLedger updater.
To back up or restore your database, use one of these two methods. The administration window is described in the guide below, and information about the updater is available in our knowledge base.
From time to time, you may wish to or might be asked to make sure your copy of ServiceLedger is up to date. Software updates are released on a regular basis and are issued to correct any issues that have been discovered with the software.
You can update your database using either the tools available in ServiceLedger’s administration window or using the ServiceLedger Updater directly.
The administration window is described in the guide below, and information about the ServiceLedger Updater is available in the Site Administration Guide and in our knowledge base.
If you just use one computer, updating consists of simply backing up your database, making sure only one copy of ServiceLedger is running and then choosing clicking the update button in the administration window.
If you use more than one computer, the above process may not be sufficient. Extended information on how updates work and what steps you might need to follow to update if you use more than one computer are available in our knowledge base. If you use more than one computer, please take the time to read and understand the specifics of how updates work so that you can avoid and, if necessary, deal with any problems you might encounter as part of an update.
This document does not directly provide any information regarding the installation, system requirements, network requirements, or database management needs of ServiceLedger.
If you are a network administrator or handle your company’s IT needs and need information about how to deploy ServiceLedger within your company, please contact ServiceLedger to obtain the ServiceLedger Site Administration Guide.
ServiceLedger provides a consistent interface that makes it easy to get around the system once you’ve learned the basics. This section outlines the common patterns you’ll see across the entire system. If you’re new to ServiceLedger, we recommend looking through this section briefly to familiarize yourself with how ServiceLedger works.
When you open ServiceLedger, the first thing you see is the launch window. This window provides access to all the major features of ServiceLedger and serves as a desktop for all the windows you open within ServiceLedger.
Running along the top of the launch window is the main menu (1), from which you can access most major features.
Below the menu is the navigation toolbar (2), which provides quick, easy access to the most common features of ServiceLedger. Clicking on any of the navigation buttons will reveal additional buttons relevant to the section clicked, and shows the relationships between various parts of the software.
On the left side of the window are the folder list, your favorites, and your history (3). The folder list provides access to ServiceLedger's help and training section, as well as any custom links or add-on navigation. Favorites is a place you can store links to the features you use most frequently, and history shows what you’ve worked on most recently and provides quick links back to the records you were working with.
Important Note: Collectively, these three features live in a collapsible pane on the left. You can entirely show or hide this section by clicking on the Links & History button in the navigation bar. You can also resize the pane by dragging the right edge of the pane (where your mouse cursor changes to a resizing icon) to the left or right. The pane can be completely collapsed by clicking once on the right edge of the pane in the same place. It can be restored by clicking once on the remaining thick border on the left side of the launch window or dragging the border out from the left side.
The main, dark area of the window is the workspace (4) you’ll use within ServiceLedger. It acts as a sort of desktop for ServiceLedger windows, and most windows ServiceLedger provides will appear within this area. You can use the window menu in the menu bar to view a list of which windows are open in this area and switch between the windows you have open.
Along the bottom of the window is the status bar (5), which occasionally is used to provide information while ServiceLedger is doing something that takes a while.
You might have noticed that the main menu and the navigation bar have a very similar structure. Both of these areas provide access to the features of ServiceLedger, and are nearly identical in terms of which features they provide access to. While the navigation bar is often a faster way to get where you need to go, the main menu provides a more comprehensive index of available features and better organization. You can use whichever of these two areas you’re more comfortable with to get around the software, or both.
The specific contents of the menu bar and navigation bar can and do change over time, so their structure is not listed in this guide. You might want to take the time to explore them and find out what features are shown where in each place. Throughout this user’s guide, we will provide specific instructions for each feature on how to reach it through the menu and/or user’ guide.
Most of the things you work with in ServiceLedger are called records. This is because they are places where you can record information about the people you work with or the work you do. Some examples of the kinds of records you’ll be working with include things like your customers, jobs, invoices, and items.
In order to see to these records, find them, and create new ones, you will usually start from a special kind of window called a record list. Each specific record list is named with the kind of record it shows. For example, the job list shows the jobs you’re currently dealing with.
Each list window consists of three main parts: a toolbar at the top, the list of records in the main area of the window, and a status bar at the bottom. The toolbar allows you to add and remove records, navigate through the list, filter the list, and search the list; we’ll go over what each button does below. The main area shows the records you’re looking at; for example, in the Customer List, the list will show the customers you have in the system. The status bar, at the bottom, shows you how many records you’re looking at, which one you’re on, and how you have the list filtered.
Important Note: These lists don’t always show all records in the system. In fact, most lists automatically open showing only the records that are considered to be active. This helps you work more quickly by not wasting time on records that you’ve finished working with. If you need to see all of the records of a given type in the system, you can use the status filter to make sure all are included.
The toolbar buttons available vary from view to view. All lists will have some or all of the buttons listed below:
1. Close – closes the list.
2. Add New Record – creates a new record of whatever type you’re looking at.
3. Print – when this button is available, it will print the currently selected record.
4. Delete Record – deletes the record you have selected in the list below.
5. Refresh – this button will refresh the list. You can use it to make sure you have the most up-to-date information in case other users have been making changes. Please note, however, that this is generally not necessary as most lists will automatically refresh when changes are detected.
6. Field Filter – this button opens a filter dialog, which allows you to show only a subset of the records that would otherwise be showing. See below for details on filtering.
7. Status Filter – this button opens the status filter, which allows you to show and hide records based on their status. Typically, inactive records will be automatically hidden, but you can use this button to show them when needed.
8. Export – this button exports the current list to a CSV (comma-separated values), tab-delimited text, or HTML file so you can use it in other programs like Microsoft Excel or put it in a website or an email.
9. Show Group – in some lists, this button appears and allows you to expand or collapse the hierarchy of records.
10. Search
– this field allows you to search the list based on the active column (denoted
by the 
icon in the
column header). The search is incremental, so you should with the first part of
the name or number you’re looking for, and the closest matching record will be
highlighted as you type.
Important Note: ServiceLedger also offers a
filtering (iTunes-style) search that narrows down the list as you type and
works with the entire list rather than only the beginning of the active column.
To access this search, click on the search button with a magnifying glass icon
beside the search field. This will switch the list to search mode—you can click
the same button again to go back.
11. Actions – used in some special lists to perform repetitive operations, like batch posting jobs or batch posting invoices. Also provides merge and print functionality.
Additional buttons may be available on some lists. To get a hint of what any button does, you can hover over the icon to view the hint, which should give an idea of what it does.
To open a record in the list, double-click the row you wish to open. You can also press enter to open the currently-selected record. For example, if you’ve used the Search field to find the record you need, you can simply press Enter to open it rather than switching to the mouse to double-click it.
In some lists, you can perform additional actions on records directly from the list by right-clicking the records. Examples of the kinds of things you can do with this are check the record’s change history, quickly add new estimates, jobs, invoices, etc. to customers without having to open the customer window, mark bills as paid, and so on.
Almost all lists have at least the ability to check a record’s change history. For more information on change history, see Appendix A: Using and Understanding Change History.
Most record lists will remember the column sizing and positioning you've last used, and allow you to choose which columns to display via the "Choose Columns" option in the Actions menu. If you ever find that you're missing information or have a problem with the list, you can choose "Reset Column Layout" from the Actions menu to restore the original layout.
The Status Filter 
is
the most important and most common way to filter a list. Generally, you do not
need to see inactive customers, closed jobs or invoices, and so on. By default,
these inactive items are not displayed in most lists; this helps you work more
quickly by not wasting time on records that you’ve finished working with. The
status filter allows you to override these defaults to ask the system to either
further limit or not limit the view.
To change your status filter settings:
1. Click
the Status Filter
button in the list toolbar.
2. Use the checkboxes to select which statuses you’d like to show, or use the All or None buttons to check or clear all checkboxes. Note that you must have at least one checkbox checked to continue.
3. Click the Close button in the status filter window to apply your filter.
Your current status filter settings are displayed for you in the lower status bar of the list:
For instance, in the above image, only records with the status ‘Active’ are currently visible.
The Field Filter 
is
another important way to filter records in a record list. This filter allows
you to show a subset of the entire list of records based on criteria you set
for a specific field being shown. Common examples of ways to use the field
filter include:
1. Only showing jobs that are assigned to a specific technician.
2. Only showing customers in a certain city.
3. Finding only locations that have a certain area code in their phone number.
Filters are composed of one or more criteria. Each criterion applies to a specific field, and contains a specific value or range that that field must contain. Once the filter is applied, the list will only show records that match all the criteria you’ve entered.
To add criteria:
1. Select the field you wish to filter from the Fields list
2. Enter the value that must appear in that field
3. Select the Search Type you wish to use
a. Exact Match requires an exact match with the provided value in the last step, which is useful for filters involving fields such as zip codes, but poor for names.
b. Partial Match at Beginning will require that the selected field begin with the value.
c. Partial Match Anywhere will require that the field value appear somewhere in the field, not necessarily the beginning.
You can continue adding as many criteria as you wish using the above method. To review the criteria for a given field, click on that field in the Fields list; the filter criteria you entered will appear on the right.
Once you are done adding criteria, click the OK button to filter the list.
If you select a field that represents a numeric value, you will be provided a range filter so that you may select the start and end range for the filter on the field.
For example, the above filter shows all jobs with a total that is at least one cent, but no more than $1000.00.
To remove criteria:
1. Click on the field name you no longer wish to filter
2. Click the Clear button
The second time you open the filter window, only fields you have already searched will be shown by default. You can use the tabs below the field list to switch between showing all fields and only the ones you’ve already applied filter to.
You may also click New Search to remove all filter criteria and start over.
Important Note: The status filter also affects which records are shown, and is applied before the field filter. Just because you’ve used the field filter to show only records that match certain criteria doesn’t necessarily mean that those are the ONLY records that match those criteria; it just means they’re the only records matching those criteria out of the current list, which may already be filtered to show only records with a certain status.
You can export the records that the list is currently
showing using the Export button 
in the toolbar.
When you click this button, you will be asked where to save the list and what
format to save it in.
CSV is a file format used frequently with databases and spreadsheets. Essentially it is a comma-separated list of values in a text file that uses estimates to encapsulate any data that already has commas. This file format is most useful for Excel, Open Office, and imports with other programs.
Tab Delimited (.txt) is a text file similar to the CSV file, except that tabs are used rather than commas to indicate the next field. This format does not use estimates to encapsulate data. This is useful for some imports with other programs. Excel and Open Office will read this format also.
HTML is a format that displays the information in a more pleasing way. It can be opened with a web browser and printed or copied and pasted into any program that supports tables, such as your email client or Microsoft Word. This format is not generally used for imports.
Record lists also have a merge feature that can be used for mass mailing and so on. You can perform merge from any list, but it’s most useful on the customer & estimate lists to send out mailers to your customers.
To create a list merge, you first need to add at least one template for what should be shown for each record. To do this, click the Actions button in the list toolbar and choose Create Merge File…. After a short pause, a new text template window will appear; this will be a template you can use for merges in this list. You should begin by giving it a name (such as “Welcome Letter”, for example) and then modify the text below to be what you’d like to print for each record.
When you first create a new merge template, the text of that template will contain a long list of fields available for use with the list you’ve created it for. These are the lines that look roughly like <%=client.name%>. When you actually use the merge template for a merge, these variables are replaced with the relevant values from each record in the list.
Generally, you’ll want to pick out the variables you think you might need (or post to our forums to get advice on which ones you want) and then set up some test text including all of these variables to experiment and find out which ones you want. You may safely delete any variables you’re sure you won’t need; many will not make sense to you, as they are used by various functions in the database. Once you’ve run the test merge, you can come back and remove any variables you don’t need after all and finalize the text to be used.
An example of a simple, but useful merge template is below:
<%=client.name%>
<%=client.address_1%> <%=client.address_2%>
<%=client.city%>, <%=client.state%>
<%=client.state_province_id%>
Hello, <%=client.contact_name%>.
I’m writing to remind you that we’re still waiting on a response from you about
your interest in our product. If you’re still interested, please contact us at
sales@example.com.
Sincerely,
John Doe
Sales Manager
Example Company
If the above example were created for the customer list, a merge would print a copy of this letter for each customer showing in the list, with the customer’s actual name, address, and contact information instead of the variables above.
One you’ve saved your merge template, you will need to refresh the list. Then, filter your list either by the status button or the filter button to limit the scope of the merge, if desired (for example, only show estimates with a status of Pending). Finally, select Action->Merge Print ‘template name’ where template name is the name you created for your merge template. The results are immediately sent to your default printer.
Most record lists have a set of default columns that are useful to a broad range of service companies, and many have additional columns available through the Choose Columns action under the actions menu. However, if a column would provide significant benefit to your office and is not present, ServiceLedger can alter the record lists in your system to display different information, including additional columns and custom fields. If you feel that you would benefit from customized record lists, please contact your sales representative to obtain additional information.
In most cases, record lists can be customized for small fee and don’t require any consultation or any of the other usual requirements for services performed.
Once again, most of the things you work with in ServiceLedger are called records. Examples of the kinds of records you’ll be working with include things like your customers, jobs, invoices, and items. You will usually get to records by double-clicking them in the appropriate record list.
Record windows are the way you view and edit records in your database. All records of a given kind share the same record window, but different kinds of records each have their own window. For example, all customers in the system are edited in the customer window and will have exactly the same structure, but each customer will fill that structure with different data. All jobs in the system share a different window from the customer window, but once again, all jobs will use the same window and have the same structure.
The following picture illustrates the Customer window, which has a structure that includes Customer Name, phone numbers, the Parent Account, Contacts, and so on. This Customer window currently has a specific customer open, and shows the information for that customer in the white fields corresponding with each label. If you open a different customer, different values will appear in these fields. Generally, ServiceLedger only allows you to have one of each kind of record open at a time.
If you’re having trouble figuring out which kind of record you’re looking at, it can be helpful to note that most kinds of record include a large, grey heading in the content area that indicates clearly what kind of record you’re working with. For example, in the above screenshot, we are looking at the Account window.
Additionally, many records also state in the title bar which specific record is open. For example, in the above customer window, we’re looking at the “SL Demonstration, Inc.” customer, which you can see not only from the Name field, which might be hidden, but also from the title bar at the top of the window and visible all the time.
Each kind of record contains its own toolbar with functions specific to that record, but almost all toolbars share some features. In particular, almost every record toolbar will contain at least the following buttons:
1. Save & Close / Close Window – this button changes depending on whether the record you’re editing has been altered, and will either save any changes and close the window or, if no changes have been made, simply close the window.
2. Save – this button saves the changes you have made, but leaves the window open.
3. Cancel – this button cancels any changes you have made and closes the window. If you’re creating a new record and haven’t saved it yet, clicking Cancel will completely remove it.
4. Delete – this button deletes the record you currently have open. If the record can’t be deleted for any reason, ServiceLedger will let you know and may allow you to inactivate it instead. In general, you should inactivate old records rather than delete them if they were ever used.
5. Refresh – this button refreshes the record to make sure you have any changes made by other users. Please note that this is generally not necessary, as ServiceLedger will attempt to automatically refresh any records that other users have changed. The refresh button can also be used to cancel any changes and revert to the last saved version without closing the window.
6. Print – many, though not all, records can be printed. The print button will usually print the record you’re looking at in the most straightforward manner possible. Frequently, there are additional options in a dropdown menu immediately to the right of the print button. In some cases, these options must be accessed by right-clicking the Print button.
7. Copy – several kinds of records can be copied using this toolbar button. If additional options are available, they will be presented when you click the Copy button.
8. Actions – most records will contain some additional actions under the Actions menu, which always appears on the right hand side of the toolbar. If you have worked with ServiceLedger to provide any customized actions, they will also appear under this menu.
Whenever kinds of records have special toolbar buttons that perform a special function, they will be noted in this guide. The Feature Reference contains in-depth information about the features available for each kind of record.
Most record windows offer certain keyboard shortcuts that remain consistent from window to window. A list of common shortcuts follows below:
· Ctrl-S – saves the current record.
· Ctrl-Shift-S – saves the current record and closes the window.
· Ctrl-R or F5 – refreshes the current record.
· Ctrl-W – closes the current window.
· Ctrl-A – opens the attachment window, which allows you to review and manage attachments for the current record. See Appendix B: Using Attachments in ServiceLedger for more information about attachments.
· Ctrl-Shift-L – opens the change log for the current record. See Appendix A: Using and Understanding Change History for more information about change history.
· F10 – centers the current window in the ServiceLedger work area.
· F3 – brings up the Quick Find window, which can be used to bring up any record by its number.
Some records may define additional keyboard shortcuts, and customizations can also make extra actions available via unused keys, commonly including Ctrl-1 through Ctrl-9.
Many records have internal information that is too complex to show directly on the record window. When this happens, a detail window is used to view and make changes to these details. Common examples of detail windows include invoice items and job costing on jobs, job tasks, equipment service notes, and so on. When you have a detail window open, you generally cannot do anything else in the system until you’ve finished working and either save or cancel the information you’re working on.
Detail windows do not have a toolbar and usually don’t have any tabs. When you’re done looking at the detailed information, you can either cancel changes, save those changes and return to the main window, or save those changes and create a new detail item.
You should think of these details as a subsection of the main window you’re working with. For example, if you’re editing invoice charges on a job, you’ll still need to save the job once you’re finished even though you’ve individually saved the line items as you added them.
Most detail windows have the following three buttons at the bottom:
· Cancel – cancels any changes to the current line (or the new line) and returns to the main window.
· Save & Close – saves the current line and returns to the main window.
· Save & New – saves the current line and creates a new one, leaving the details open.
When entering items on an invoice or estimate, it’s often easiest to use the Save & New button to keep entering all your data at once before closing the detail window and saving the main record.
You can quickly cancel any changes and close most detail windows using the escape (ESC) key. This is convenient when reviewing several existing detail rows on a record in quick succession.
Administrative windows, unlike record windows, always show the same information. They are used to control how ServiceLedger works, and the common record actions such as create, update, and delete don’t make sense for them.
The below image shows a typical administrative window.
Administrative windows typically contain a toolbar with Save & Close and Cancel buttons, and a content area below that shows the options and settings that the window controls.
After making changes in the content area, use the Save & Close button to save your changes and close the window. If you decide that you don’t want to make any changes after all, you can use the cancel button to discard changes and close the window.
Most settings found in administrative windows apply to all users across the entire system. A detailed explanation of all administrative windows can be found in the Feature Reference.
Tool windows, like administrative windows, don’t act like records and don’t require creating, updating, or deleting. Unlike administrative windows, there’s usually nothing to save either. Tool windows are used to accomplish a specific purpose and usually just present a few options and then have a button or menu option that tells them to go ahead and process any changes.
The Equipment PM Schedule window below represents a typical example of a tool window.
Tool windows typically do not have a toolbar, but some (like the batch completion and batch posting/invoicing windows) do have a record list toolbar to assist with the selection of desired records.
Generally, you will use tool windows only when you need to accomplish their specific purpose. Each tool window is described in the Feature Reference under the appropriate section.
Most record detail windows contain blue links to other parts of the system. You can use these links to navigate the ServiceLedger system quickly, including to create new records on the fly if necessary.
The following window illustrates some blue links and shows how they appear in context in the job window:
In this example, the Type, Priority, Payment, Agreement #, and Project # fields are linked, which means they provide an easy way to get to these respective parts of the system. You can click on these links to do one of three things:
1. If the field is already filled in, jump to the record that is in the field.
2. If the field is empty, create a new record of the appropriate type for the field. This new record will then be either automatically chosen for you or will become available to be chosen.
3. In certain cases, links don’t point to records but instead allow you to review and modify the options available in the dropdown menu.
You can also cause ServiceLedger to add a new record even if one is already chosen by holding down the shift key while clicking on the link.
Once you’ve learned which parts of the system are which, blue links can provide a very quick and easy method of getting around the system. For instance, if you’re looking at a job for John Hill and want to check his customer balance, one way to do so is as follows:
1. Note that the customer listed on the job is ‘John Hill’
2. Open the customer list and click on the Name field to search by name
3. Type ‘John Hill’ in the search box
4. Double-click the ‘John Hill’ customer or press enter to open the customer window.
However, the blue customer link on the job window beside John Hill’s name provides a much quicker method: simply click on the link to be taken directly to the customer window for John Hill.
Once you get used to navigating the system via links, you will find that you seldom need to use the record lists at all.
Another quick and easy way to get around the system, if you’re familiar with the numbers ServiceLedger automatically assign (or you decide to enter) for your records, is to use the Quick Open window. At any time, you can hit the F11 key or choose File->Quick Open to reach this window. From there, you simply choose which kind of record you need to open, type in its number, and hit Enter or click Go. If the record is in the system, it will be immediately opened.
More information on the Quick Open feature is available in the Feature Reference.
This section provides in-depth information about all available features of ServiceLedger. You can use this reference any time you need more information on how to use a particular feature or accomplish a particular task in any section of the software.
The features below are organized into the following sections:
1. Navigation, Information, & Tools
2. Administrative Features
3. Customers
4. Service
5. Scheduling
6. Inventory
7. Receivables
8. Payables
Within each section, you will find information about the windows and features relevant to that section.
These special windows provide overall navigation and company information, and a few functions that aren’t specific to any one section of the software.
The quick open window allows you to quickly locate and open a record if you know it’s identifying number.
You can access the quick open window at any time by either pressing the F3 key on your keyboard, choosing File > Quick Find from the main menu, or clicking Quick Find in the folder list on the left.
To open a record, click on the type of record you wish to open, type its number in the box, and hit enter or click on the Go button.
If the record you’re looking for is in the system, it will be opened for you and the quick open window will close automatically. If it cannot be found, ServiceLedger will notify you and leave the quick open window open.
This process is often considerably faster than opening the relevant record list, sorting by number, and searching through the list until you find the one you’re looking for. If you don’t know the number of the record you’re looking for, however, you’re probably better off searching through the list.
Instead of using the mouse, you can also use the alt key along with the underlined letters to select the kind of record you need.
For example, to open Account number 1152 using only the keyboard, you could use the following steps:
1. Press the F11 key to open the quick open window
2. Press Alt + C to select the Account radio button
3. Type the numbers 1152, which will appear in the box
4. Press the Enter key to open the window.
This process usually represents the fastest possible way to get to an arbitrary record in the system, being slower only than an actual blue link to the record you’re looking for.
You can use the Escape key on your keyboard to close the quick open window if you decide you don’t need it after all.
The company overview window gives you the overall status of your entire service company at a glance, and gives you the option to drill down to a fair level of detail and easily get to relevant parts of the system.
Although it’s not necessary for you to do so, many users find the overview to be an excellent starting point for their day-to-day tasks in ServiceLedger.
The company overview can be reached from the folder list on the left by choosing Company Overview.
The company overview window consists of several tabs along the top and an information area below. The Dashboard tab contains graphs, charts, and tables you can use to visualize information about your company’s performance, while the other tabs include sections and lists on the left and help and links on the right. (An image below shows the layout of the other tabs.)
On the dashboard tab, four graph areas allow you to monitor how your company is doing. The available graphs are outline below. Each area can be shown as either a graph/chart or a table. Most graphs and charts allow you to choose a date range and possibly a date period using the dropdown boxes at the top of the graph area. The change buttons at the top right of each area allow you to choose a different graph or chart to display in that area.
Your choices are remembered and preserved on a per-user, so next time you open the overview, you’ll see the same information you chose last time. Each user’s choices are remembered separately, so a sales manager, for example, can focus on entirely different data that a service manager.
The remainder of the tabs provide specific, numeric information on how you’re doing in each of the various tasks ServiceLedger can track, and provide shortcuts to commonly used tasks for each area.
Within these tabs, the information displayed will be that relevant to the tab chosen, with a special exception for the Today tab, which shows a basic summary of the daily duties you should fulfill in each of the other tabs to the right.
In each tab, the area on the left will contain one or more sections, each of which will contain several grids that provide numeric overview of the status of relevant records. Each grid can be expanded to show the individual records that make it up, and provides links to the records in question.
On the right, tasks related to the current section are shown, followed by reports that might be useful. For example, in the Invoices tab, tasks include things like printing all unprinted invoices and reports include items such as the Account Aging report.
The following graphs and charts are initially available to the dashboard window. It is possible to add new graphs or charts to the system by contacting ServiceLedger to either request the custom charts you need or to obtain training on how to build your own.
1. Revenue
a. Total Revenue
b. Revenue on Won Estimates
c. Revenue History (Bar Chart)
d. Revenue History (Line Chart)
e. Service Revenue
f. Top 10 Customers by Revenue
g. Top 10 Open Invoices
2. Estimates
a. Estimates Lost by Reason Code
b. Estimates Won by Reason Code
c. Estimate Count by Sales Rep
d. Estimate Totals by Sales Rep
e. Top 10 Open Estimates
3. Service
a. Schedule Count
b. Service Profitability
c. Job Count by Technician
d. Service Profitability by Technician
e. Job Count
4. Analysis
a. New Customers by Marketing Source
b. Revenue by Marketing Source
c. Revenue by Territory
d. Top 10 Items by Revenue
e. Top 10 Estimate Lost/Expire Items by Revenue
f. Top 10 Estimate Pending Items by Revenue
g. Top 10 Estimate Won Items by Revenue
In addition to graphs and charts, it is also possible to customize the sections and graphs in the remaining tabs. The built-in graphs provide a comprehensive and complete view of your organization provided you use ServiceLedger in the intended manner, but certain customizations or usage patterns may be able to benefit from additional lists or sections.
If you feel that additional sections or lists might be helpful, contact ServiceLedger to either request the custom lists you need or to obtain training on how to build your own.
The SAF Import / Export window provides advanced import and, if added, export capabilities for your ServiceLedger database. To access this window, go to File > Import/Export > SAF Import/Export.
Generally, you should NOT use this window without having first received training on it from a ServiceLedger representative. However, ServiceLedger does provide standard CSV imports for customers and items, with instructions available in the following two knowledge base articles:
· (T0088) How Do I use the Default Customer Import Map in ServiceLedger?
· (T0089) How do I use the Default Item Import Map in ServiceLedger?
ServiceLedger can provide additional import maps through custom services. Alternatively, you can write your own import maps with an understanding of the ServiceLedger database schema and basic XML.
Important Note: Our accounting links, such as the ServiceLedger QuickBooks link and ServiceLedger Peachtree Link, provide their own import and export capabilities that is independent of this window. Please see the user's guides for these products for more information on importing and exporting data from your accounting system.
ServiceLedger provides an advanced utility to allow you to import your own data provided you have the expertise or training to do so. ServiceLedger uses a combination of an XML field map and an ODBC data source to perform the import.
Almost all imports are performed by ServiceLedger, however the information is presented here for those who have, or know someone who has the technical knowhow to facilitate their own imports. This information is presented as is with no warranty or support. ServiceLedger telephone support cannot answer questions about your own imports, they can only recommend you have ServiceLedger developer perform the import. If you have a question, please direct it to support@serviceledger.com so they may forward it to a developer for consideration.
To begin, you must have a data source. Your data source may be an Excel file, CSV or tab delimited text file, Access database, or any other source that can be reached via an ODBC driver.
To Create the ODBC Data source:
1. Click on the windows Start menu, then choose Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Data Sources(ODBC)
2. Click on the System DSN tab
3. Click Add
4. Select the source of your data
5. Click Finish, please name the data source ServiceLedger Import
6. Follow all prompts necessary for your data; it is recommended for text drivers and access that you define fields as character 255 under define format.
7. Save your ODBC data source (usually an OK button that takes you back to the original ODBC window)
This ODBC data source can now be used in ServiceLedger imports.
To Create a map:
1. Open ServiceLedger
2. Go to File->Import/Export->SAF Import/Export.
3. On the import map tab, click on the New Connection button and walk through the steps to choose the ODBC data source you created above
4. In the Select Table prompt, choose the table containing the data to import
5. In the Select Destination Table prompt, choose the table you would like to import to
6. ServiceLedger will automatically create an import map containing the data source you chose and the XML necessary to import data into every field in the destination table.
7. The map will contain example values for each field—remove these and replace them with fields from your data source. You can double-click a field in the list at the top right to insert it in the XML below at the current cursor position.
8. Click Save to save your map. A map has an extension of .SMP (ServiceLedger Map File)
More information on the XML generated and used in the import/export window is available in the SLXML Reference at the end of this document.
To Use a map:
1. Load a map from the SAF Import/Export window “Load Map” button.
2. You should receive no error. If you get one, please check the ODBC settings and the Table name at the top of the map.
3. On the import results map, please click Create SAF.
4. Once complete, please save your SAF file
5. Now click Process Map.
ServiceLedger will now process the ServiceLedger Automation File. You may be able to review its progress by checking the status bar at the bottom left corner of the application. However, if you switch to another application or your computer goes to sleep, the progress percent will stop updating. ServiceLedger will continue to process the import until showing a message box indicating that processing is complete.
Generally, you will export any data you need using the functionality of the record list (see Exporting List Information under Record Lists in the ServiceLedger Core Concepts section for details,) but some exports are more complicated than can be accomplished using that method. All such exports must be purchased as a custom service, and once developed, will appear in the export tab of this window. When you purchase a custom export, you will receive specific instructions on how to use it.
The email notification processing window(s) allow you to manually send out any email notification you have previously set ServiceLedger up to send. To access this window, go to File > Email Notification > Process Standard Notifications.
Although generally emails should be sent automatically, you can use this window if you’re having trouble or simply wish to force email to go out.
To send any pending email notifications, simply click the Manual Run button. If you see any prompts or error messages after clicking this button, you have a problem with your email setup and should reference the Email Notification Setup section of this document to correct the problem.
For additional information on how to set ServiceLedger up to send email, please see Defaults.
For additional information on how to set up a specific computer send emails automatically rather than using this tool each time you want to send email, please see Appendix D: Setting up automatic email via Outlook Express.
These windows and tools provide the bulk of the configuration options for ServiceLedger. Administrative features consist of both setup windows (listed first below) and the core records that significant portions of your database rely on.
It is critical when you first start using the software that you start by setting up the various sections under Administration to serve your company best. For general advice on how to do this, please see the Getting Started & Initial Setup section of this document.
The administration window contains your company information, several administrative options, and some tools that you or ServiceLedger support personnel can use to control your database.
To reach the administration window, choose Administration > Administration from the main menu.
The Administration window has several tabs, each of which serves a different function. Each tab and its contents are described below.
This tab allows you to enter and, if necessary, change your company’s contact information. This information is important because it will be shown on any printed records or reports intended for your customers.
This tab allows you to import your company’s logo from an image file. This logo can be shown on printed records such as jobs and invoices and appears on some other reports, but is not visible on most printed records by default. For additional assistance with setting your company logo up to print, please see our knowledge base, which has detailed instructions.
This tab allows you to re-sequence account, work order, invoice, purchase order, and other numbers throughout the system. You should not use this tab without the assistance of either the online knowledge base on company keys or a ServiceLedger support technician.
This tab allows you to add or review company options, including many that can more easily be changed in other parts of the application. You should generally use this tab only under the guidance of a ServiceLedger support representative, knowledge base article, or documentation. For more information on working with global preferences, see Setting up Multi-User Mode below.
This tab allows you to review, alter, and add to the list of postal codes ServiceLedger knows about. See Using Postal Codes to Assist Data Entry below for more information on the time-saving features ServiceLedger offers for postal codes. Postal codes are not initially loaded into the administration window. To view or add postal codes, you must first click the Open button.
This tab contains some buttons which allow you to perform various advanced functions on your entire database. You should not use any of these tools unless specifically instructed to do so by a ServiceLedger support technician or product documentation.
This tab allows you to back up, update, and restore your ServiceLedger database, which includes all of the information you have entered in ServiceLedger.
When using this tab, you should have a general idea of how to manage ServiceLedger and its data. For an overview, please see the Site Administration section above.
The functions available in this window are as follows:
· Back up your Database – this button will create a backup file for your ServiceLedger database. You can use this file later to restore that data if you lose or corrupt your data. It is important to back up your database regularly.
·
Restore from a Backup – this button
will restore your database from a backup file created using the button above.
Important Note: This will replace all of the
data in your database with the data from your backup! You should generally only
restore a backup if you’ve made a serious error in data entry or processing and
haven’t made any other changes you want to keep since your last backup.
· Empty your Database – this button will completely empty your database, including your registration data, and allow you to start from scratch. You will typically only do this once, immediately after you stop evaluating ServiceLedger and begin using it to help run your company.
· Update to the Latest Version – this button will update ServiceLedger to the latest available version. Updates generally fix bugs, improve performance, and occasionally add new features.
· Run Custom Update – as explained on the window, this button can be used to run a special one-time update rather than a general update of the software. You will typically use this button only when instructed to do so by ServiceLedger personnel.
Important Note: You will generally want to be the only person using ServiceLedger before performing any of the above actions.
The History tab allows you to perform a search of the history of changes ServiceLedger automatically records as you use it. Please see Appendix A: Using and Understanding Change History for more information on change history.
This tab allows you to monitor which users are currently connected to the ServiceLedger database. This can be useful if you’re trying to see where your licenses are in use, or if you’re checking to see whether everyone is out for an update.
This tab shows all the application files stored in the database and allows removal if necessary. Please see the Site Administration Guide for more information on application files. Generally, you should not use this tab without the assistance of a ServiceLedger support technician.
This tab shows all of the attachments stored in the database and allows removal if necessary. Please see Appendix B: Using Attachments in ServiceLedger for more information on attachments.
This tab is used in conjunction with record windows to allow advanced editing when necessary for support purposes. You should not use this tab without the assistance of a ServiceLedger support technician.
Whenever you close the Administration window, you will be notified that you should restart ServiceLedger before continuing. Since the information you can enter in this window (such as company data, global preferences, keys, and postal codes) does not frequently change, it is wise to do so (and have anyone else who is currently using ServiceLedger do so) before proceeding.
One function of the Miscellaneous tab that you will probably use and that is explained here is the checkbox for multi-user mode, Enable Multi-User. This checkbox appears on the Miscellaneous tab only when you have created at least one user above and beyond the built-in administrative user. Once you have done so, you can should use this checkbox to put ServiceLedger in multi-user mode.
When ServiceLedger is not in Multi-User Mode (the default for demonstration and empty databases), no login is required to start using ServiceLedger after launching it; the software simply assumes that all users are the administrator. You can still have as many people using the software at once (all as the administrator) as your licensing allows, but some features such as user-specific change tracking, notes, email, and permissions will not operate or be useful since everyone appears to be the same user to ServiceLedger.
When Multi-User Mode is enabled, all users will be required to log in (or be automatically authenticated by their Windows NT domain and username) before using ServiceLedger. This allows ServiceLedger to know who is responsible for each change, any notes, and so on as each user does their work.
Important Note: Before enabling multi-user mode, make sure you have entered and committed to memory a password for each user or, at the very least, the administrator! If you have not entered or can’t remember the passwords for any user, you will need the assistance of ServiceLedger’s support team to get back in to your database.
Additionally, as you create users, please make sure you enter each user’s ID first, and then their password, as the passwords are encrypted based on the user ID and become invalid when it changes. See the Users section for more information on creating users.
Sometimes you will be asked to set a global preference or company option (the terms are used interchangeably) to a certain value. You will use the Global Preferences tab to do so. This section describes this tab and gives basic instructions on how to add or modify company options.
In cases when you do need to make changes using this tab, it can be helpful to have a basic understanding of how it is laid out:
The buttons along the top left control editing of the currently selected option, and the Export button exports all options in much the same way that a list view does.
The large drop-down box on the right provides rapid search functionality, and is the best way to find an option if you know its name, or to reach a certain part of the list. As you type in this box, the list of options below will scroll to the first record matching what you’ve typed. So, if you know an option’s name completely, you can simply type it in the box. If you don’t but do know how it starts, for example if you’re sure it starts with ‘ticket’, you can just type that and have the list automatically scrolled to the options that start with ‘ticket’.
The grid shows the number (name) and value for each option. If you like, you can make changes directly in the grid. The style column generally doesn’t need any attention, and will automatically set itself to RW if left blank.
The large text area below the grid is another view of the value column and will always show the same information as the value column of the currently selected option. It is provided to make it easier to edit company options with multi-line values, such as list and report definitions.
You can use the following step-by-step list to find and modify an existing company option or, if necessary, add a new one and set it to the correct value. You will need to have been provided with an option name and the value that it should be set to.
1. Choose Administration > Administration from the main menu or folder list.
2. Select the Global Preferences tab.
3. Start typing the name of the option you’re looking for into the box in the upper-right-hand corner of the window. As you type, the grid will scroll to the closest matching option. If you can find the option:
a. Make sure the option is selected. The currently selected option will have a highlighted background and an arrow pointing to it on the left.
4. If you can’t find the option:
a. Click the Add button.
b. A new record will appear above whatever record is currently selected.
c. Select this record and type the option name exactly as given.
5. Type in the desired option value in the large field below the grid.
6. Press
the Save button just above & nearest to the grid
to save your changes.
Important Note: Most versions of this window
have two save buttons; you must press the one nearest the grid and not the
large Save & Close button on the toolbar.
7. Finally, press the Save & Close button on the toolbar.
Once these steps have been completed, the option has been changed. If the behavior change you expect does not seem to be working, please first try restarting ServiceLedger if you have not already done so. If after restarting the behavior still hasn’t changed, return to this tab and verify that the option name and value were entered exactly according to the directions you were given.
ServiceLedger can use postal codes to look up and populate city, state, and territory information while you’re entering new records. Having these postal codes in your system can save a great deal of time during data entry.
If you’d like an up-to-date list of all U.S. postal codes in your system, ServiceLedger provides a one year postal code subscription for $99.00, which includes quarterly updates if desired. Alternatively, you can choose to add only the codes you plan to work with manually (see below). For more information on the postal code subscription, contact ServiceLedger Sales at 940-497-2834 or sales@serviceledger.com.
Postal codes are not initially loaded into the administration window. To view or add postal codes, you must first click the Open button. If you have any postal codes in the system, this action will cause them to be displayed in the grid below.
To manually add a postal code, click on the Add button and enter the postal code, city and state. The rest of the columns are available if you want to capture additional information, however they are not necessary for ServiceLedger to use the postal code in most circumstances. Click on the Save button to save the postal code.
Once postal codes have been added here, they will be available to territories and will be used in the customer and location windows to auto-fill city and state based on postal code.
Important Note: After adding any postal codes, you should restart ServiceLedger.
Your company name is important once you have registered the software. The company name cannot be changed after you register the software, and will be read-only in this window. In order to change the company name after registration, you will need to acquire a new registration key.
The defaults window allows you to change certain program defaults that apply across the board. To reach the defaults window, choose Administration > Office Admin > Defaults from the main menu or folder list. Most of these are default values for common fields, such as job type.
These default values control what data will be present whenever you create a new record of the associated type. Existing records will not be changed in any way by setting a new default.
The Accounts tab controls default values for new customers. Whenever a new customer is created, these values will be used by default. Each of the fields on this tab also appears on the customer window.
The Jobs tab controls default values for new jobs. The type and duration fields appear on the job, while the job message is simply shown when a job is printed and can’t be modified anywhere but here. The values selected in the type and duration fields will appear on new jobs.
The Contract tab controls default values for new contracts. The fields on this tab also appear on the Contract window; whenever a new contract is created, these values will be used by default.
The profit threshold should be entered as a decimal fraction between 0 and 1, i.e. 0.30 for 30%, 0.95 for 95%, and so on.
The Estimate tab controls default values for new estimates. Each of the fields on this tab also appears on the Estimate window; whenever a new estimate is created, these values will be used by default.
The estimate message appears in the Estimate window’s Text tab, and in turn when an estimate is printed. Unlike the job message, this message is visible on the estimate window and can be modified on a per-estimate basis.
This tab controls how ServiceLedger sends email, both automatically and manually via the email buttons that appear throughout the system.
Four email options are available:
· MAPI with Microsoft Outlook XP or earlier
· MAPI with Outlook 2003 or later or other mail clients
· SMTP without authentication
· SMTP with authentication
The two MAPI options take advantage of your existing email setup on each computer to send email, while the two SMTP methods allow ServiceLedger to send its own mail directly. Each method has benefits and drawbacks that you should be aware of when choosing, which are discussed below.
The email address field is important when SMTP is used to send email; the address in this field is where the email ServiceLedger sends will appear to have come from, and is where any delivery failure notifications or replies will be sent. Some MAPI clients may also choose to have the email appear to come from this address.
The SMTP settings are only relevant if an SMTP method is used.
MAPI (Messaging Application Programming Interface) is a method of sending email that relies on an existing mail program to send email. ServiceLedger is one of many programs that can use this interface to send email through your normal email client.
The main benefit of using MAPI to send email is that any messages you send using this protocol will appear in your own email outbox. However, there are several potential drawbacks to using MAPI to send email:
· If you don’t have email set up on a particular computer, you won’t be able to send email from that computer.
· If you don’t use an email program, but instead use web-based email customers such as Hotmail or Google Mail, you won’t be able to send email using MAPI.
· Your email client may require explicit authorization every time a program tries to automatically send email. This can be annoying and effectively prevents this method from being useful if you wish to have ServiceLedger send email automatically.
If you use ServiceLedger alone and use Outlook, Thunderbird, or some other mail program, this option may be a good fit for you. Likewise, if you work in a large company and use ServiceLedger with others, and all of you use Microsoft Outlook with an exchange server, this method might be useful. However, in many cases, the greater reliability of SMTP is preferable.
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is a protocol used by all programs to send email. If you have access to a working SMTP server, you can configure ServiceLedger to communicate with it directly to send email, rather than sending messages via a proxy application (MAPI).
The main advantage of using SMTP to send email is that you only need to configure email in this window rather than having to worry about configuring it on each computer. Assuming it is set up correctly, every computer with an internet connection will be able to send email from ServiceLedger without any other configuration, such as setting email up on each computer. As a result, this method can be much more reliable.
The main drawbacks of using SMTP to send email are as follows:
· SMTP does not inherently include a record of each email sent, and ServiceLedger does not log these messages itself. If you would like to monitor outgoing automatic email, ServiceLedger allows you to send a copy of every message it sends to an address of your choice. This address is specified in the email notification setup window – for more information, see Email Notification Setup below.
· SMTP does not directly provide a way for you to be notified when a message that is automatically sent can’t be delivered, or when someone replies to a message. The email address you specify on this window is very important if you choose SMTP, because that address will receive any replies or delivery failure notifications.
· If you’re not familiar with your SMTP server and and/or authentication information, you might need to get help from your IT staff or ISP (Internet service provider) in order to set it up.
SMTP is usually the best option if you plan to have ServiceLedger automatically send email when job or estimate status changes, and so on.
The Registration window, which can be reached under File > Registration Key in the main menu, is where you can go to enter or review your registration details. Generally, you will only use this window once to enter your registration information when converting a demonstration or empty database into a registered database.
You will generally be provided with all of the above information by email. For accuracy, we recommend that you copy and paste all of the above information directly from the email when registering your database.
To reach this window, choose File > Tech Web Access from the main menu. If you’ve purchased the Tech Portal product, this window will allow you to assign your technician licenses to your active resources. Please see the guide for the Tech Portal for more information on tech licensing and how to use this window.
You can set ServiceLedger up to send status notification emails to your customers, technicians, and other internal staff whenever certain key events happen in the lifetime of a job or estimate. Sending these notifications requires working email and a dedicated computer. For more information on how to make sure your email setup is correct, see Email Setup above and Appendix D: Setting up automatic email via Outlook Express.
To reach the email notification setup window, choose Administration > Email Notifications > Email Notifications from the main menu.
Once you have a working email account set up, you can use the Email Notification Setup Window to configure email notifications in ServiceLedger.
Requirements:
When you do this, you will be presented with the following window.
In this window, you can set up basic options that apply to all automatic email notifications ServiceLedger sends out. You must enter at least the following two options for ServiceLedger to be able to send email:
1. The name of the computer or ServiceLedger User that should automatically send status email.
2. The email address from which these emails should appear to come. If you are using Outlook Express, this may be replaced by the actual customer for whom you configure Outlook Express.
Important Note: Whenever there is mail to send, ServiceLedger will completely take over any copies of SL running either on the computer or logged in as the user specified to send that email, so it's not usually a good idea to choose a computer or user that people might actually be using. Additionally, email will only be processed when there is a copy of ServiceLedger running on the specified computer or logged in as the specified account.
If you’re having trouble with this our services team can help you configure your server to process email as a Windows Service so that nobody has to manually run ServiceLedger to process email.
Returning to the setup window: optionally, you can set up an internal email address to which copies of these notifications will be sent. If you use SMTP to send mail, (see Email Setup under Defaults above,) this capability is useful as it gives you a copy of every email that was sent. Additionally, in the event that an email cannot be sent because of a problem in ServiceLedger (such as when a customer’s email address is not defined), ServiceLedger will instead send a failure notice to this email address.
We recommend that you set this address up to be that of your service manager or lead technician.
The minimum age of a job, specified in minutes, controls how old a new job must be before any email notices will go out. Specifying a number here can be useful if you save your jobs before you’re done setting them up, for instance by scheduling them. Giving yourself or your office staff 10 minutes to completely finish creating each job before your new job notification goes out, for instance, can make sure the information you send is the final and complete information you intended, whereas with no delay it might be possible for a notice to go out while the job hasn’t been entered completely.
The three options for sending notices to customers affect how customer email notices, if set up below, are sent. The first causes ServiceLedger to send email to either the customer’s main email address (if no contact is chosen in the Requested By field on a job) or the contact’s address if a contact is chosen. The second causes ServiceLedger to send notification emails to every contact for the customer regardless of which contact is chosen, if any. The third option forces it to send email only to the main customer email address, even if a contact is chosen.
Regardless of the above three options, each customer and/or contact can be opted in or out of email notifications entirely on the Contacts tab of the Customer window.
All of the above options control the specifics of how email notifications are set. None of these options will cause specific notifications to be sent; to set up which notifications should go out, click on either the Job Email Notification Settings button or the Estimate Email Notification Settings button.
In this window, you can choose which events in the lifetime of a job should generate email notifications, and choose the templates that should be used when these events happen. From the Email Notification Setup window, click on the Job Email Notification Settings .
When the conditions for one of the events above are satisfied, an email will be sent to the addresses you’ve chosen using the template chosen. If no template is chosen or no email addresses are specified for a particular event, no emails will be sent for that event.
The addressing possibilities for job emails are as follows:
· Account (‘Acct’) – this option will cause an email to be sent to the job’s customer email address, which is usually either the customer’s main email address, the address of the customer contact chosen on the job, or all contacts on the customer.
· Technician (‘Tech’) – this option will cause an email to be sent to the job’s tech email address, which is usually the job’s main technician.
· Sales Rep (‘Rep’) – this option will cause an email to be sent to the main email address of the sales representative chosen on the job.
· Other Address– this option gives you the ability to send email to an arbitrary address or set of addresses, such as your sales or product managers or tech dispatcher.
In this window, you can choose which events in the lifetime of an estimate should generate email notifications, and you can choose the templates that should be used when these events happen. From the Email Notification Setup window, click on the Estimate Email Notification Settings button.
When the conditions for one of the events above are satisfied, an email will be sent to the addresses you’ve chosen using the template chosen. If no template is chosen or no email addresses are specified for a particular event, no emails will be sent for that event.
The addressing possibilities for estimate emails are as follows:
· Account (“Acct”) – this option will cause an email to be sent to either the customer’s main email address, the address of the customer contact chosen on the job, or all contacts on the customer.
· Sales Rep (“Rep”) – this option will cause an email to be sent to the main email address of the sales representative chosen on the estimate.
· Other Address – this option gives you the ability to send email to an arbitrary address or set of addresses, such as your sales or product managers or tech dispatcher.
In order to send notification emails, you will need to have templates set up for the notifications you wish to send. ServiceLedger comes, by default, with three text templates to support the Email Notification module. These are:
· Default New Job Notice
· Default Reassignment Notice
· Default Status Change Notice
There are no notices for estimates in the system by default; if you wish to send estimate email notifications, you will need to build them from scratch.
You can alter the text of these notices, or set up new templates, using the Text Template list, available under Administration > Office Admin > Text Templates.
The only types of template available to the notification module are of type Job, which these three default templates all use, and Account Estimate, which you should use for any estimate email notifications. If you create additional templates, you should choose one of these as the template type.
The actual text of the template is sent as a plain-text (for RTF templates) or HTML (for HTML templates) email to the customer and, if defined, any extra addresses (usually the service manager). Rich text, pictures, and advanced formatting are supported by RTF Text Templates in general, but will be ignored in status notification emails. Rich text, pictures, and advanced formatting in HTML templates will be sent in the status notification email.
There are two special kinds of text that you can enter in a template that will either (1) be replaced with data from the specific job that the template is being used for, or (2) be removed and instead used as another part of the email.
Variables, the first of these two special kinds of text, have a format as follows:
<%=table.field_name%> or <%=table.link_field>link_table.link_field.field_name%>
If you have any questions about what fields are available, please consult the Text Templates section of this documentation or post your questions to the ServiceLedger forums under the “Technical, Dev, Imports, Exports & Automation” forum.
Subject replacement, the second kind of special text, must be the first line of your text template, and must read:
Subject: (text you want to appear in the subject line)
You may use variables in the subject line, just as you would anywhere else. The Default New Job notice gives a good example of how to do Subject replacement.
For more information on text templates in general, please consult the Text Templates section of this document.
To reach this window, choose File > Tech Exchange Access from the main menu. If you’ve purchased the Tech Exchange Link product, this window will allow you to assign your technician exchange licenses to your active resources and associate those resources with Exchange mailboxes. Please see the guide for the Tech Exchange Link for more information on tech licensing and how to use this window.
Users in ServiceLedger are the office staff that will be able to log in and use ServiceLedger to create, view, and modify records. In addition, your users are also considered your sales representatives. To open the user list, choose Administration > Users from either the main menu or the folder list.
Every person that needs to be able to use ServiceLedger must exist in ServiceLedger as a user, unless you are using single-user mode, in which anyone who opens ServiceLedger will automatically be logged in as the administrator. Generally, each member of your office staff, possibly including some or all of your technicians, will be a ServiceLedger user. The user system allows you to keep notes and other information for, set certain preferences for, and control the security of each of the users in your system individually.
Although your technicians may also happen to be users, users are not the same as technicians. Users log in and work directly in ServiceLedger, whereas technicians and subcontractors are the resources you assign jobs to and schedule to work on jobs.
The number of active users in your system is limited by the number of user licenses you have purchased. You’ll generally want to have as many user licenses as you have office staff; as you hire new staff you may need to purchase additional user licenses. When anyone leaves your company, you should inactivate old user records to free up the licenses they consume.
The user window allows you to enter basic information on each user, keep track of notes and contact information, set user preferences, and control the security permissions of each of user.
The information at the top of the window includes:
· User ID – this is how most of the system will refer to the user. For example, when entering notes or choosing the sales rep. on a given record, this is the name that will appear.
· User Name – this is the full name of the user, which is generally displayed only in this window. This is for your reference only.
· Status – this is the status of the user. Users can be either Active, which means they can log in to the system and be used as sales representatives, or Inactive, which means they cannot log in and won’t appear anywhere else in the system. Inactivating users also removes the user from the User List View and all references to users on user drop-down boxes.
· Password – this is the password this user will use to log in to ServiceLedger.
You can change the name of any user, including the administrative user. The tool tip in the top right corner of the window shown above makes clear which user is the administrator even if that user has been renamed.
If you use a Windows NT Domain, you can have ServiceLedger automatically log in by giving your users IDs that begin with the domain name and a backslash. For instance, if your domain is TESTCO and your Windows user name is Bill, you can bypass manual login by setting your user ID to TESTCO\Bill.
The Notify Me When New Jobs Have Not Been Assigned For At Least X Minutes checkbox allows you to set certain users up to be shown a notification dialog every x minutes once a new job has been created and not yet scheduled or assigned. This feature is useful specifically for dispatchers that need to monitor new jobs as they come in and make sure they get placed on the schedule.
The Notes tab allows you to keep notes on your users. This is a free-form field and can be used in any way you see fit. Many ServiceLedger users find it useful to keep track of additional contact information and any special circumstances or events affecting their users in this field.
This tab allows you to keep track of the address and contact information of your users. This information is not used in ServiceLedger elsewhere; it can be simply stored here for convenience and consistency.
Managing User Security section below for more information on this feature.
This tab allows you to specify an email signature to be appended whenever this user sends email from ServiceLedger. Some parts of the application, such as automated job and estimate emails, do not utilize this signature.
This tab, which may not appear, allows you to keep track
of custom information about the user. Please see Almost any window in
ServiceLedger can have documents, images, or other files attached to it. To
access the attachments for a given record, press Ctrl-A, or use the attachment
button in the record’s toolbar. 
This will show
the attachment window.
From this window, you can click the Add button to add a new attachment to the system, or Delete to remove an attachment. The small Save and Cancel buttons are used to save notes, not the actual attached file. The Save as… button can be used to save a copy of an attached file to your local computer, or you can double-click an attached file to open a temporary copy.
ServiceLedger stores attachments in a separate filegroup in your database, so attaching files will not cause performance issues with the main ServiecLedger database. However, attaching large numbers of very large files can cause database backups to grow (as they include all attachments) and can accelerate the need to upgrade to a full version of Microsoft SQL Server. For this reason, ServiceLedger also offers an alternate attachment system that causes attachment links to simply refer to a file in the filesystem rather than store the file directly. Contact ServiceLedger or check our knowledge base for more information about this alternate attachment system.
Appendix C: Using Custom Fields for more information on using custom fields.
This tab allows you to set certain users up as dispatchers, which essentially means that they are responsible for scheduling specific technicians or subcontractors and consequently allows them to see only those resources in the schedule. For more information on setting up dispatchers, see Setting up Users as Dispatchers below.
User permissions allow you to give each user or group of users access only to specific parts of the system. The permissions available in ServiceLedger are very fine-grained and can take some time to set up, but allow almost any needed user security setup.
There are nine kinds of security:
· Full Access – grants all possible actions on a window or group of windows to the user.
· Create – grants the user the ability to create new records of a particular kind.
· View Any (View) – grants the user the ability to view all of a particular kind of record.
· View Own – grants the user the ability to view only the records of a given kind that belong to that user. This only applies to certain kinds of record; some are not owned.
· Edit Any (Edit) – grants the user the ability to modify all of a particular kind of record.
· Edit Own – grants the user the ability to modify only the records of a given kind that belong to that user. This only applies to certain kinds of record; some are not owned.
· Delete Any (Delete) – grants the user the ability to delete all of a particular kind of record, provided that those records aren’t unable to be deleted for other reasons such as currently being in use.
· Delete Own – grants the user the ability to delete only the records of a given kind that belong to that user. This only applies to certain kinds of record; some are not owned.
· Post – grants the user the ability to post certain kinds of records that can be posted, such as invoices and jobs. Posting generally implies that records are ready, have been sent to the customer or vendor, and should not be modified.
Not all security types appear for each area; most have only the security types needed for that section to operate. Also, note that some privileges automatically assume other privileges. For example, even if you don’t give a user read privileges to a window, if you give them write privileges they will be able to enter the window.
To speed up the process of defining user permissions, two buttons and a template / group feature are available to you. The Check All button allows you to check all permissions; after doing this, you can uncheck each permission not granted to the user. The Clear All button will clear all permissions for the user. Templates, described below, allow you to apply one user’s permissions to any other number of users that should have the same permissions.
If you have several different users that have the same role in your organization and need to have the exact same permissions as each other, you can use one of those users as a template instead of setting up the same permissions for each user.
Templates completely bypass and replace a given user’s permissions; they are not copied by selecting a template but are instead ignored, and the template’s permissions are used instead. This is advantageous because it allows you to administer groups of users’ permissions from a central location. However, if you wish a user to have slightly different permissions from the template group at some point, you will need to start from scratch.
To set a user up as a template, click on the Set as Security Template checkbox. This allows you to choose this user as a template when you have other users open. Then, for each other user who should have the same permissions as the first, choose that first user from the Use Security Template drop-down.
For example, you have three salespeople named Bob, Richard, and Jim that should all only be able to access customers and estimates. You could set Bob up with those permissions, set him up as a security template, and then choose him as the template for both Richard and Jim. By doing this, you’ll guarantee that all three salespeople always have the same permissions: those chosen on Bob’s user window.
For some companies, it is helpful to have certain personnel dedicated to the job of scheduling and keeping track of company resources such as technicians, subcontractors, and internal equipment.
Dispatchers typically spend most of their time working in the service schedule, and as such only generally need to see a subset of the technicians, resources, and company equipment available. This window allows you to define for your dispatchers which resources are relevant.
If you add any resources to this grid for a certain user, ServiceLedger will limit their view of the schedule so that it shows only the resources in this grid. You can also choose some resources that can be seen, but not scheduled; to do this, uncheck the Can Modify checkbox for these resources.
If you later decide not to use this feature, you can simply remove all rows from this grid and the user will be able to see all technicians and other resources that ordinarily show in the schedule, as before.
Important Note: Unless you are modifying your own user record, you will not see any changes in the schedule as you modify this grid. These changes only apply when the user you’re editing logs in to ServiceLedger. If that user is currently logged in to ServiceLedger as you make changes, he or she may need to log out and back in before they will take effect.
Please see Setting up Multi-User Mode under Administration for more information on multi-user mode.
ServiceLedger requires you to define each of the tax rates and, if you wish, each of the individual taxing jurisdictions under which you collect taxes. To open your tax rate list, choose Administration > Office Admin > Tax Rates from the main menu.
Many businesses collect taxes on parts, labor, and other services they sell. These taxes are usually recorded and collected separately from the items’ individual prices, and the rates may vary among the different physical locations in which a business may operate.
ServiceLedger allows you to define different tax rates for different taxing jurisdictions and choose individually which specific items need to have taxes collected. Each customer and/or customer location record can be set up with the appropriate tax rate, and each job, invoice, and so on can use even a different rate if necessary, which allows you to always collect the appropriate tax for items that are taxable.
Important Note: Although ServiceLedger does keep track of tax information and does provide reports that allow you to see what tax you’ve collected under each rate you define in a given period of time, you will probably want to use accounting software to generate most tax reports for tax reporting purposes.
ServiceLedger is in many ways a much more complicated piece of software than most accounting packages, and while determining how much tax you’ve collected in accounting software is usually quite straightforward, in ServiceLedger it can be quite complex due to the sometimes extended lifecycle of jobs, estimates, and invoices.
Additionally, ServiceLedger is frequently not an adequate tool for tracking ALL of your income and expenses; it was designed specifically for the service side of your business, and you will probably find it more convenient to use different tools for other areas of need.
The tax rate window is quite basic and contains only the fields necessary to identify and use your tax rates.
These fields are as follows:
1. Name – this is the name you’ll use to identify the tax rate throughout ServiceLedger. When you choose a tax rate from a drop-down list, this is the name you’ll choose.
2. Description – this area is provided for you to enter a more complete description of the tax rate, if for instance the name has been shortened for usability.
3. Tax Rate – this is the total percent tax to be changed under this rate, i.e. 7.0% or 8.25%. Important Note: If this tax rate represents tax paid to multiple entities, for example a 6.5% state sales tax and a 2.0% county sales tax, it should be the combined rate for all entities, i.e. 8.5%.
As with most records, the Status field allows you to control whether the tax rate is currently in use and should appear in drop-down boxes throughout the system.
Important Note: Inactivating a tax rate does not affect any customers, locations, or transactions that currently make use of the rate; if you inactivate a tax rate, you will need to make sure none of your customers or locations is still using it manually.
Canadian customers deal with both General Sales Tax and Provincial Sales Tax. In ServiceLedger, the tax rates you define here represent PST rates. You can set up GST using global preferences so that both GST and PST are calculated separately on each job and/or invoice.
To set ServiceLedger up to charge GST and set the GST rate, you must first go to the Administration > Administration > Global Preferences tab. Follow the directions under the Adding and Modifying Global Preferences
section of this document for additional information on how to modify the following options; in addition, you may have to add these manually add these options to the list before you can edit them.
Set the company.tax_2_rate option to the desired tax rate, represented as a decimal fraction between 0 and 1. For example, if you need to charge a GST rate of 6.0%, you should set the company.tax_2_rate option to the value 0.06.
By default, GST will be calculated on a line-item basis. This means that, for each item on a transaction, if the item is taxable, GST will be charged, and if the item is not taxable, GST will not be charged.
In many cases, you will need to have GST calculated instead on the sub-total of all line items, regardless of their individual PST taxability. ServiceLedger also provides for this system of taxation.
To make ServiceLedger use this second method, set the company.tax_2.apply_to_subtotal preference, which is usually above the company.tax_2_rate option, and set its value to 1. (A value of 0 will cause ServiceLedger to revert to the default behavior.)
Once the GST rate has been set up, you will be able to charge GST on your jobs and invoices.
On jobs, you will find the dual taxes on the Invoice Charges tab. The first tax rate will be PST and the GST rate will follow. You can elect to turn off GST tax calculation by clearing the GST checkbox to the left of the GST rate and total.
On invoices, you will find the dual taxes on the Invoice Charges tab.
Other than GST and PST, ServiceLedger does not allow you to charge more than one tax rate on a given transaction. Many users, however, find it useful to keep track of amounts owed to different taxing authorities separately. In some accounting packages, it is possible to define tax groups that contain multiple individual taxes and then generate reports for the individual taxes within the group, regardless of how many different groups the tax was used in.
Although ServiceLedger does not have this feature, it is nevertheless useful to create tax rates that represent these groups, and with some accounting packages it is possible to integrate these rates with the groups in the accounting package. If you plan to use an accounting package, please make sure to consult its documentation to verify the correct way to enter and use tax rates.
If you do not use an accounting package, the recommended method for using tax rates to represent combined jurisdictions is to create a tax rate for each combination. For instance, if you operate in a state that charges 6.0% state sales tax and operate in two counties, Aaron and Bradford, that charge 1.5% and 2.25%, respectively, you’d need two different tax rates: Aaron County, with a combined tax rate of 7.5%, and Bradford County, with a combined tax rate of 8.25%.
You would use these rates for your customers in these counties, which would allow you to draw up tax totals for each county by subtracting the 6.0% state sales tax from the reported totals.
To obtain totals for the state tax, you’d need to generate all county reports, subtract the county total from each, and add the remainder to the same for each the other counties.
Although the process is cumbersome, this strategy will allow you to keep track of different jurisdictions’ taxes using only ServiceLedger. Please remember, however, that we recommend that you use your accounting package for sales tax reports as they make it much easier to both generate accurate tax reports and to track different taxing authorities.
Territories represent the major areas in which you do business. To open the territory list, choose Administration > Resources > Territories from the main menu or folder list.
Different companies use different territories in different ways. The following are some common uses of territories:
· defining specific areas of service and assigning certain technicians to each territory
· grouping customers or locations for reporting purposes
· grouping customers for proximal scheduling purposes
· associating customers or locations with trip charges based on location
These uses are not the only possible uses, and they are often combined. For instance, a common setup includes putting groups of zip codes into territories, assigning technicians to each territory, and associating a trip charge for each territory based on its distance from the home or territory office.
Territories are often useful in limiting travel time and keeping your resources in a limited area, when possible. If used correctly, territories can improve efficiency and profitability by allowing your resources to do more in less time within a defined geographical area.
If you plan to use territories to assist in scheduling, it is important to decide in advance exactly how you plan to use this feature to ensure maximum efficiency when scheduling. In particular, the size of each territory is very important in making them useful during scheduling. If a territory is too small, you may frequently need to schedule technicians across multiple territories to fully utilize their time; this process is very cumbersome and can waste your office time. On the other hand, if territories are too large, you may have to take unnecessary time to find the most efficient routes and order of jobs within your large territories and split jobs into groups for each tech.
Some companies may breakdown territories by quadrants within a defined service area such as East, West, South and North. Other companies may breakdown territories by postal code or even neighborhood. The general rule of thumb is to have enough territories to maximize scheduling efficiency; however, having too many territories becomes difficult to manage and maintain and can actually make scheduling more complicated.
The territory window contains the fields necessary to identify and use your territories and an optional list of postal codes will automatically assign the territory while creating customers and locations.
The basic fields of a territory are as follows:
1. Territory ID – this is the name you’ll use to identify the territory throughout ServiceLedger. When you choose a territory from a drop-down list or see it elsewhere in the system, this is the name you’ll see.
2. Territory Name – this area is provided for you to enter a more complete description of the territory, if for instance the ID has been shortened for usability.
3. Default Trip Charge – whenever you choose a territory (or have it chosen automatically by postal code) on a customer or location, the trip charge here will be copied to the customer or location window. If you don’t intend to use trip charges, you can leave it at $0.00.
Below these fields is a list of the postal codes that are associated with the territory. These are discussed below.
Trip charges give you the ability to have an automatic fee any time you provide service in a specific area. This feature is especially useful if your techs must drive from a central location to the customer’s house or building each time you respond to a service call. By utilizing trip charges, you can charge a specific fee to customers based on their territory.
For example, you might charge nothing for customers in the same city as you, but a $50 trip charge for customers in nearby cities and $75 for customers over a certain number of miles away.
In addition to setting up trip charges on the territory window, it is important to understand how these trip charges cascade from record to record to ultimately be billed to the customer so that you aren’t caught by surprise when a change in one place doesn’t affect another:
1. The trip charge you define on the territory window represents a kind of default: customers that you assign to that territory will have the territory’s trip charge copied to their main customer or location window.
2. The trip charge on the customer or location window serves as a default for new jobs for that customer or location. When a new job is created, it will copy the current trip charge from the customer or location window.
3. The job represents the final place the trip charges will be set. If you need to override and change the trip charge on an individual job, you can do so here and it will affect the actual trip charge collected for that job.
At any point along this path, you can override the trip charge. For instance, if all customers in the NW territory have a $45 trip charge by default, you can nevertheless take a certain customer who is in the NW territory and assign to her a $60 trip charge if her house is particularly out of the way. Likewise, if you decide not to charge for services on a given job, you can simply update the trip charge on the job to $0 without needing to change it on the customer or territory window.
When you do something like this, only the customer or job you change will have the modified trip charge; any new customers or jobs will continue to use the normal charge.
If your database has been populated with the postal codes that you work in (see Using Postal Codes to Assist Data Entry in the Administration section), you can assign those postal codes to your territories. Once you’ve done so, the territory that a postal code is assigned to will be chosen automatically for you when you enter the postal code for a new customer or location.
To assign a postal code to a territory, open the territory that should contain the code, click the Add button on the Postal Code tab, choose the postal code from the dropdown box, and then click the small Save button on the Postal Code tab.
Important Note: A postal code can only belong to one territory at a time.
Once your territories have been set up, you will want to make sure that each customer and location in the system is assigned to the correct territory.
Additionally, you may wish to specify which territories each of your technicians and subcontractors can work in. For more information on setting this association up, see the Resources section below.
Finally, to utilize territories while scheduling, you will need to use the scheduling assistant and/or territory filters on the schedule. Please see the Service Schedule section for information on using these two features.
You can use Skills to represent technical knowledge or requirements that certain jobs may have which only some of your technicians and subcontractors are capable of providing. To open the skill list, choose Administration > Resources > Skills from the main menu or the folder list.
Skills are useful if you have different technicians with different skill sets, technical certifications, licensing, etc. that might be required in certain jobs. By defining the skills and attaching skills to your different resources, you can ensure that the technicians you assign and schedule for each job are capable of performing the job you’ve given them. Additionally, these skill constraints can be used when scheduling, much like territories, to simplify the task of splitting jobs up between your technicians.
The skill window contains the fields necessary to identify and use your skills.
1. Skill ID – this is the name you’ll use to identify the skill throughout ServiceLedger. When you choose a skill from a drop-down list or see it elsewhere in the system, this is the name you’ll see.
2. Description – this area is provided for you to enter a more complete description of the skill, if for instance the skill ID has been shortened for usability.
Once you have defined your skills, you will want to make sure your resources are set up to use them. For more information on doing so, please see the Resources section below.
In addition to setting skills up for your resources, you will also want to make sure to choose the needed skill for each job that requires a certain skill set. This can be done on the job window’s Details tab.
Finally, to use skills in scheduling, you will need to utilize the scheduling assistant and/or skill filters on the schedule. Please see the Service Schedule section for information on using these two features.
Company equipment represents important company resources that can be assigned to your technicians for long periods of time. Company equipment can be tools, equipment, computers/laptops, and so on. Company equipment must be assigned to techs, and should not be confused with equipment resources, which can instead be scheduled directly to jobs.
To open the Company Equipment list, choose Administration > Resources > Company Equipment from the main menu or folder list.
Company equipment is property that belongs to your company that is used by technicians to perform services. Company equipment should not be confused with equipment resources, which are also your company’s property but can be assigned to a job regardless of which technicians work on it. Furthermore, company equipment does not include parts or equipment that you sell to or service for your customers.
Some examples of company equipment include tools, equipment, computers or laptops, and so on. By contrast, equipment resources might be a specific van or trailer, and equipment could be an air conditioner installed at a customer’s site.
The Company Equipment window contains all the fields you need to identify and keep track of your equipment, as well as a place to keep notes on each piece of equipment.
The following fields are available on the company equipment window:
· Equip ID – this is the name you’ll use to identify the equipment throughout ServiceLedger. When you see this equipment item elsewhere in the system, this is the name you’ll see.
· Description – this area is provided for you to enter a more complete description of the equipment, if for instance the equipment ID has been shortened for usability.
· Cost – this area allows you to keep track of the original cost of the equipment.
· Serial # – this field allows you to keep track of the equipment’s serial number in case you need to identify it later
· Date of Purchase – this field allows you keep track of the age of the equipment.
· Assigned To – this field allows you to choose the technician, if any, to which the equipment is assigned. You can also assign company equipment to assign technicians from the resource window.
At this time, the status field is not used in ServiceLedger, other than that it may be set to inactive if you try to delete a company equipment record that is in use elsewhere in the system.
Tracking equipment can be important for companies that need a listing of all company-owned tools, etc. that are assigned or loaned to a technician. At any time you can open an individual equipment record and change or clear the tech to which it is assigned.
In addition to checking and assigning company equipment individually on the Company Equipment list, you can view a list of all equipment assigned to a given technician, assign new equipment, and return assigned equipment in the Details tab of the Technician window. See Resources below for more information.
ServiceLedger allows you to keep track of your marketing sources and track customers and revenue to those sources. To open the marketing source list, choose Administration > Office Admin > Marketing Sources from the main menu.
While not required, marketing sources can be useful if you want to track marketing effectiveness of your various marketing campaigns. For example, if you spend $1,000 on a given marketing campaign, you might want to know the results of the campaign; specifically, how many leads and how much revenue it generated. By noting the marketing source that led each customer to you as you create new customer records, you can keep track of how your marketing campaigns are doing. As time goes by, you can review this information and make informed business decisions about whether to continue marketing campaigns based on their results.
The Marketing Source window displays the fields you need to identify each marketing source and provides some quick information on how well it’s serving you. This information is automatically updated with no effort on your part required other than properly tracking each customer to the correct marketing source.
The following fields are available:
1. Source ID – this is the name you’ll use to identify the marketing source throughout ServiceLedger. When you see this marketing source in a drop-down box or elsewhere in the system, this is the name you’ll see.
2. Source Cost – the total cost of the marketing source, used for calculating cost per result.
3. Description – this area is provided for you to enter a more complete description of the marketing source, if for instance the Source ID has been shortened for usability.
4. Result Count – this calculated field shows the number of customers that have been tracked to this marketing source. It is used to calculate the average cost per result.
5. Avg. Cost Per Result – this is the calculated average cost per result, based on source cost and result count.
At this time, the Status field is not used by ServiceLedger, other than that it might be set to inactive if you try delete a marketing source that is already in use.
As mentioned above, ServiceLedger calculates your marketing results based upon the number of customers that are created and assigned to the marketing source. Results are automatically generated within ServiceLedger, requiring no effort on your part to track other than to be sure that when a customer is created it is assigned to a marketing source for marketing tracking.
Resources are the technicians, subcontractors, and equipment you will assign or schedule to your jobs. To open the resource lists, choose one of the following:
· For technicians, choose Administration > Resources > Technicians from the main menu.
· For subcontractors, choose Administration > Resources > Subcontractors from the main menu.
· For company equipment, choose Administration > Resources > Equipment from the main menu.
Resources can be employees, business partners, or portable equipment owned by your company. These things are collectively referred to as resources because they all share the property of being the means you use to do work for your customers.
Another way of looking at these records is that resources are the things you assign or schedule to jobs in order to complete them. The flexibility of different kinds of people, organizations, or things you might use to complete jobs is the reason why several different underlying kinds of things are referred to as a resource.
Important Note: The equipment resources you own and schedule are not the same as the pieces of equipment you service at your customers’ sites, even if you own those pieces of equipment. Equipment resources represent something you use to do work on various jobs, whereas Equipment represents things that you work on. An example of an equipment resource might be a trailer that contains special tools, while an example of a piece of equipment might be an air conditioner installed on a customer’s building that you occasionally need to service.
Technically, there are three different resource windows in ServiceLedger, but all three look very similar and operate in nearly the same way. The kinds of resource are Technicians, Subcontractors, and Company Equipment. When any of the features below only apply to some of these kinds, that limitation will be specifically noted.
The information at the top of the window under details represent the most important information your resources. This information includes:
· Tech ID, Sub ID, or Equip. ID – these fields are how most of the system will refer to the user. For example, when entering notes or choosing the sales rep. on a given record, this is the name that will appear.
· Name – this field allows you to provide a more detailed description, such as a tech or subcontractor’s full name if the ID is abbreviated for usability.
· Status – this can be set to either active or inactive to control whether the tech or subcontractor is still available and should appear in drop-down lists.
· Type – for subcontractors only, this field allows you to categorize these resources into contractors, subcontractors, and vendors. They can be sorted by type in the subcontractor list.
· Show in Dispatch & Schedule – you can use this checkbox to control whether this resource appears in the schedule and can have jobs scheduled to it. By default it is checked for technicians and not checked for subcontractors and equipment resources.
Under defaults, you can control the default rates used elsewhere in the application and the resource’s position in the schedule:
·
Default Labor Item, Rate, & Cost –
these fields let you choose which labor item, rate, and/or cost should be used
by default when you add an entry for this resource’s time. It is very important
for accurate job costing to make sure you set this up with a good approximation
of the resource’s hourly cost, although different rates, costs, and items can
be entered manually on the entry if desired.
Default Comm. Rate – this field controls the default
commission percentage awarded to this resource for items on which commission is
tracked. If you do not use commissions, you can safely leave this field at
0.0%.
· Ranking – this field controls the resource’s position in the schedule; resources with the lowest ranking (1) will be displayed first, followed by resources with higher and higher rankings.
All remaining information, including some expanded details of some of the information entered here, is organized into the tabs below.
The Notes tab gives you a free-form text area to keep track of any information about your resources that you might find useful. Many ServiceLedger users find it useful to keep track of additional contact information and any special circumstances or events affecting their technicians in this field.
The Address tab gives you fields to keep track of the resource’s contact information. This tab is only available for technicians and subcontractors.
Most fields on this tab are self-explanatory, but the following two deserve some comment:
· Web Password – this field is used by the tech portal and other technician-based products to control technician logins. It is encrypted based on the technician or subcontractor ID, and must be changed if that ID changes.
· Notify By – this field can be used by certain add-ons and/or customizations to indicate how the technician should be contacted, in the case that contact is necessary. ServiceLedger does not directly use this field.
For technicians, two additional fields are available:
· ActiveSync Dir. – this field is used by certain add-ons and/or customizations to associate a technician with a specific folder for Microsoft’s ActiveSync technology. ServiceLedger does not directly use this field.
· Associated User – this field is used to associate a technician with a user in ServiceLedger in the case that they both represent the same real person. Some products use this association to facilitate communication between tech-based products and user-based products such as ServiceLedger. A user can only be associated with one technician.
This tab is only available to technicians. It is used to specify periods of time that the tech should not be shown as available in the schedule. Please see the Specifying Time Off section for more information on this process.
This tab allows you to indicate in which territories this resource operates and is not available for equipment resources. Please see Assigning Territories below for more information on this process.
This tab allows you to indicate which skills this resource possesses, and is not available for equipment resources. Please see Assigning Skills for more information on this process.
This tab lets you specify the different labor rates and costs this resource has available and is not available for equipment resources. Please see Setting Labor Rates & Costs for more information on how to enter these rates and how they are used.
This tab allows you to review a resource’s item commissions, assigned company equipment, contacts, and documents. Contacts are only available to subcontractors, and commissions are available only to technicians and subcontractors.
The Assigned Equipment feature allows you to 1) track which equipment is currently assigned to the technician, 2) assign unassigned equipment, and 3) return currently assigned equipment. More information on company equipment is available in the section above.
The Documents feature allows you to keep track, by name, of which documents you have for each resource. If you wish to attach the actual documents themselves, you should use the Attachments feature in conjunction with, or instead of, this feature.
The Contacts feature, available only to subcontractors, allows you to keep a list of basic contact information for the contacts associated with the subcontractor.
The Commission tab allows you to review item commissions earned by a technician. It is also possible to add a commissioned item directly from this tab rather than on the job window.
This tab, which may not appear, allows you to keep track of custom information about the user. Please see Appendix C: Using Custom Fields for more information on using custom fields.
The Time Off tab is where you indicate any special time your during which technicians should not be scheduled for work. This can be used solely for unexpected events like vacations and doctor’s appointments, or you can use it to block out everyone’s holidays as well if you feel the need to visually indicate these days as unavailable on the schedule.
The Description is for your reference, and the first part of it will be shown on the dispatch board along with the area blocked off for time off. The Start Date Time and End Date Time are fairly straightforward, except that you should make sure you don’t accidentally leave the end date time at 12:00AM on the same day as the start time.
Important Note: Pay attention to the time on the end date. If you want to have a resource off for an entire day, select the End Date for the following day and set the time to midnight or set the end time to 11:30 PM.
Territories help you maximize scheduling efficiency by limiting your resources to specific geographic regions. For more information on using territories, see the Territories section of this document.
Important Note: You must have territories defined before you can use this feature.
In many cases, your resources will work a specific subset of the territories you have defined, but you can also set some or all of your resources up to work all territories, possibly with a different rating based on the territories’ distance.
The Territory column contains a dropdown list that allows you to select an existing territory.
The Rating column allows you to indicate how well suited a particular resource is to each territory. When you use the scheduling assistant to schedule jobs, you can filter the techs it chooses by territory rating to start with only the resources most ideally suited for the job, then gradually expand the time slot search if no resources are available.
To add an existing territory to the list, use the Add button.
To add all existing territories to the list, use the Fill button.
To add a territory that does not yet exist to the system and make it available for the list, click the Add Territory button. This button acts as a shortcut and will bring up a blank territory window and allow you to enter the new territory. Once you have saved this new territory, you will be able to add it to the tech’s list. This process is no different from going to the territory list to add the territory.
Skills allow you to track the skills, certifications, trades, licenses or other skill of your resources. For more information on how to use skills, see the Skills section of this document.
Important Note: You must have Skills set up to use this feature.
The Skill column contains a dropdown list that allows you to select an existing skill.
The Rating column allows you to indicate how well-suited a particular resource is to each skill. When you use the scheduling assistant to schedule jobs, you can filter the techs it chooses by skill rating to start with only the resources most ideally suited for the job, then gradually expand the time slot search if no resources are available.
To add an existing skill to the list, click the Add button.
To add all existing skills to the list, click the Fill button.
To add a skill that does not yet exist to the system to make it available for this list, click the Add Skill button. This button acts as a shortcut and will bring up a blank skill window and allow you to enter the new skill. Once you have saved this new skill, you will be able to add it to the tech’s list. This process is no different from going to the skill list to add the skill.
Different labor rates and costs can be tracked in ServiceLedger for each resource to allow for accurate job revenue and costing. Each resource in the system can specify its own rates and costs for the kinds of labor for which the resource is capable. An example of how labor rates are frequently used is available below the field and button descriptions.
Important Note: You must have Labor Items defined in ServiceLedger before you can enter labor rates and costs.
You should fill the list here with each of (and only) the kinds of labor that this resource is capable of performing for you. Also, please note that choosing a default labor rate in the main area of the window will automatically add that rate to this grid for you. The columns are described as follows:
· Item ID – this allows you to select which labor item you’re adding to the list. Once you select a labor item here, the default rate, cost, and description from the item window will appear in the following columns.
· Rate – this is the price that will be charged to your customers whenever the resource performs this kind of labor. Update this column if necessary to specify the correct rate.
·
Cost – this is the cost to your
company for each hour this resource works. Update this column if necessary to
specify the correct labor cost.
· Important Note: Unless you are very careful with how you configure permissions and any tech-oriented products, you will probably want to use an average cost and not actual payroll cost, as ServiceLedger displays this cost in numerous areas and reports.
· Description – this is the description associated with any invoice charges or job costing items for this kind of labor. However, generally the description from your tech work entries will be used instead of this description. You can use this column for comments on this labor rate for this technician if you like.
To add an existing labor item to the list, click the Add button.
To add all existing labor items to the list, click the Fill button.
To add a labor item that does not yet exist to the system to make it available for this list, click the Add Item button. This button acts as a shortcut and will bring up a blank item window and allow you to enter the new labor item. Once you have saved this new labor item, you will be able to add it to the tech’s list. This process is no different from going to the item list to add the item.
An example of how many companies use this feature is as follows: Let’s say your company only really does one kind of labor, but has a junior tech and a senior tech.
Ideally, you would create one labor item called Labor, set its price, say, $60.00/hr, and leave its default cost at $0.00. (Doing this ensures that you will be able to easily pick out if you’ve forgotten to enter the real cost at any point later.)
After that item has been created, you would open the senior tech, add the item, leave the rate at $60.00, and change his cost to the appropriate amount, say $40.00/hr. Then, you’d do the same for the junior tech and do the same but use the junior rate for cost, say $32.00/hr.
After setting the rates up in this way, you will be able to accurately gauge labor costs on your jobs based on the amount of time each tech spent working, but charge the same amount regardless of which tech performs the work. Alternatively, if different rates are desired as well, it’s easy to specify those separately for each tech as well.
Important Note: Once again, please note that you may wish to average all labor costs if you don’t plan to spend time making sure your technicians aren’t able to see the rates you’re paying other employees.
Text templates are a tool ServiceLedger uses to generate text, often including record values, over and over again without relying on you to type that text.
To create and review text templates, open the text template list by choosing Administration > Office Admin > Text Templates from the main menu or the folder list.
At their most basic, text templates are a way to simply save certain text that you use and save time by making it possible for you not to have to type or copy and paste the same boilerplate text over and over when creating certain kinds of records.
On the other end of the spectrum, text templates can be used to automatically produce detailed information about your data for presentation to yourself or customers, again, without you having to go to the effort of finding that data more than once.
The main uses of text templates are for:
· Estimate text and contract certificate text
· Estimate and job email notifications
· Equipment preventative maintenance email notifications
· Merge prints from record lists
From the text template list, you can review existing templates and add new ones as needed.
There are several types of text template available, each for a specific purpose. Generally, if you are asked to create a template, you will also be told which type you need to use. If you’re creating one automatically from within the software, the correct type will be chosen for you.
To create a new template, click on the orange icon with the plus sign at the top of the window.
Text templates can be composed in either RTF or HTML. Each type serves a different need, but both can be chosen and will be converted back and forth if necessary. This conversion causes any formatting to be lost, however, so it’s advised that you start with the correct type before putting together your text template.
The RTF format for text templates allows advanced formatting and is ideal for text that should appear printed on reports, such as estimate text (terms & conditions) and contract certificate text. It can also be used effectively for list merges.
If the RTF type is used for email, any text in the template will be converted to plain text.
Important Note: Although the RTF format itself supports embedded images, ServiceLedger cannot use these images and will discard them when the template is used.
The HTML format for text templates allows advanced formatting and attached images, and is ideal for templates intended for use in email, such as job, estimate, and equipment email notification text.
Generally, you can write a text template as you would any other document; just type the text you need and apply any relevant formatting.
In addition to standard text, however, there are two other useful things you can place in a text template: variables and replaced lines.
Variables are a special kind of text that will be replaced with data from the record the template is being printed with. Variables have a format that looks like one of the following three lines:
<%=special_value%>
<%=table.field_name%>
<%=table.link_field>link_table.link_field.field_name%>
The first line represents a special variable that will automatically be replaced with data not related to the record, like the current date and time or the user that is currently logged in.
The second line represents simple fields from the table that drives the record being printed.
The third line represents linked fields from other tables related to the main table which might also appear on the record being printed.
If you’re not familiar with the ServiceLedger database or how databases work in general, you can get a list of all available fields for a given kind of record by going to that record’s list and generating a merge template for the list. This template will include most available fields for that kind of record.
If you’ve looked through the available fields provided by the list merge and still can’t find the data you’re looking for, you can post on the ServiceLedger forums to try to get help from other ServiceLedger users and occasionally our staff.
Replaced lines are intended specifically for templates that will be sent as email, allowing you to control some of the important things about an email that don’t appear in its body.
These lines should be the first lines of your text template, should not be formatted in any way, may contain any of the variables above, and should always be composed of a the replaced field, no space, a colon, a space, and then the value that should be used.
An example of a replaced line is below:
Subject: Email Notification for Job <%=ticket.ticket_number%>
In this example, the Subject field of the email will have a value of Email Notification for Job XXXX, where XXXX is the number of the job the template was generated for.
At this time, Subject is the only email field available for line replacement.
Text templates can’t be used directly; you simply set them up in the administration window. To actually see how a text template looks in context, you’ll need to go to the place it is used and choose it in that part of the application.
The two most common places to use text templates are the estimate window under the Estimate Text tab and the email notification setup windows.
Classes allow you to organize and categorize your transactions. You can review and add classes the class list, which can be reached by choosing Administration > Office Admin > Classes from the main menu.
Classes allow you to organize and categorize your transactions with useful divisions for reporting purposes. They also can be useful, if you use the QuickBooks Link, in setting ServiceLedger records up with QuickBooks classes for advanced QuickBooks reports.
The Class window provides only the basic information necessary to identify each class. All advanced features and uses of classes are elsewhere in the application and discussed below.
Classes require the following fields:
· Class ID – this is the name you’ll use to identify the class throughout ServiceLedger. When choose this class from a drop-down box or see this class elsewhere in the system, this is the name you’ll see.
· Parent ID – enter the class’s parent ID here.
· Description – this area is provided for you to enter a more complete description of the class, if for instance the class ID has been shortened for usability.
Most records have a Class field along the top of their content area. This field allows you to choose the class for the entire record. Records that can be assigned to a specific class also frequently let you divide the individual parts of that record up into further different classes.
For example, on an invoice, you can choose an overall class on the main invoice window:
In addition to the main class on the invoice, you can choose a different class for its individual line items by changing the class in the line item detail window:
Similar fields exist on other records throughout the system.
Once you’ve begun entering information using classes, you can start to take advantage of that data by using the class-grouped reports throughout the system and creating class-based charts and graphs in the overview.
The reports that can separate data by class are listed below:
· Profitability by Account & Class
· Profitability by Invoice Type & Class
· Profitability by Item & Class
· Credit Memo Summary by Class
All of these reports can be reached from the Reports menu.
In addition, if you use the QuickBooks link, class is exported along with your transactions and can be used to populate all the class-based reports in QuickBooks.
Some other features of ServiceLedger similar to classes, in terms of grouped reporting, also exist: several reports and dashboard charts separate transactions by territory and marketing source.
ServiceLedger allows you to set up price levels to make it easy to charge different prices to different classes of customers for the same items. To review and add price levels, choose Inventory > Inventory Admin > Price Levels from the main menu.
Price levels allow you to set up alternate sets of prices for your items for different types of customers. The basic idea of price levels is best understood through illustration:
Let’s say you sell only three items: Labor, Sockets, and Widgets. Ordinarily, you charge $100 for labor, $50 for each socket, and $10 for each widget.
Let’s also say that some of your customers take advantage of your goods and services very frequently, and you want to reward them for their loyalty by giving them across-the-board 10% discount. The easiest way to do this would be to create a price level called Loyalty Discount or 10% Off and reduce the prices in this price level to $90, $45, and $9.
Once you’d set the price level up, you could then open each of the customers you want to reward and set them up with this price level. From this point on, any time you add one of these items to a job, estimate, or invoice for one of the customers with this price level, the discounted price you set up would be used instead of the standard price.
Price levels are very flexible. While it can be time consuming to do so, you can set up an individual price for each and every item in your database at each price level. Or, if you don’t need that level of detail, you can apply batch operations to set prices in a certain way for all items at once.
Important Note: Work order tasks also have a Price Level field which should not be confused with these price levels. The Task Price Level system works differently and is completely independent of item price levels. It’s best to use either Item Price Levels or Task Price Levels, and not both.
The price level window contains the information necessary to identify a price level, the actual item prices that are part of the price level, and a tool to batch update those prices based on certain criteria.
A price level consists of an ID which will be used to refer to it, a list of item prices, and a section to perform batch updates on all item prices. In the list of prices, both the base price and base cost from the item window are shown in addition to the adjusted price used in the price level.
To change the price of each item in a given price level, click on the row you’d like to change in the grid in the price level window, click on the Adjusted Price column, and then type the price you’d like to use. You can use the up and down arrows move through the list if desired.
It is often easier to start by applying a batch update to all items, and then if necessary go in and change any exceptions to the general rule. To batch update item prices, use the Batch Update section below the items grid.
Available batch updates are:
· Increase from base cost – sets prices to a percentage markup from base cost
· Decrease from base price – sets prices to a percentage discount from base price
· Increase from base price – sets prices to a percentage markup from base price
· Decrease from adjusted price – sets prices up to a percentage decrease from whatever their current adjusted price is
· Increase from adjusted price – sets prices up to a percentage increase from whatever their current adjusted price is
To actually use a price level once you’ve set it up, you can choose the price level on the Price/Cost tab on the Customer window. Once you’ve set the price level here, any new items on estimates, jobs, and invoices for this customer will start with the price from the price level.
This is the only way to cause price levels to be used.
The customers section is where you will keep track of the customers you work with, including basic customer information, information about different service or billing locations, information about which people or contacts you have with each customer, and lists of the equipment installed on customers' sites and contracts you have with your customers.
Accounts are the record of the customers your business serves. To view the customers in your system, choose Customers > Customers in the main menu to open your Customer List.
Your customers are the core of your service business. ServiceLedger allows you to keep track of all your current and past customers and any prospects or sales leads, and ties all information relevant to a given customer together. The customer window is often used as a starting point for everything else relevant to a given customer, including items in other sections such as receivables.
In addition to the records that belong to each customer, ServiceLedger allows you to keep track of useful information about each customer, including notes, contacts, and service locations.
Important Note: If you are using either the QuickBooks or Peachtree Accounting Link, you should import your existing customer list from either QuickBooks or Peachtree into ServiceLedger via the link. This is necessary if you plan on transferring invoices from ServiceLedger back to either QuickBooks or Peachtree.
The customer window has several tabs, each of which serve a different function. Each tab and its contents are described below. To the right of these tabs are several action buttons you can use to quickly generate common transactions and other records for the currently open customer.
The customer details tab is where you will start when setting up a new customer. It includes the main customer contact and address information and a number of defaults for records associated with the customer.
The following identification and contact information fields are available:
· The Account Number is a unique number to identify the customer. You can use the default customer number or change as necessary. Account numbers don’t necessarily have to be numeric, but it is often useful to have customers organized in a numeric sequence.
· The Account Name is the name of the customer.
· Parent Acct is the hierarchical parent of the customer, if any. Leave blank if no parent customer is needed or if you are not using a customer hierarchy.
· Contact is the main contact of the customer. The name you type here when creating a customer will automatically be used to create a contact when you create a new customer. Once the customer has been saved, you can choose existing contacts from a drop-down menu.
· Address, City, State/Prov., and Postal allow you to record the customer’s main address. This address information is used to automatically create the customer’s Main location, which is maintained using these fields.
·
Main Phone, Alt. Phone, Fax, Website, and Email allow you to record the customer’s contact
information. This information is also used automatically when creating the
default contact and Main location. You can click on the 
and 
buttons,
respectively, to open the customer’s website and send an email to the customer.
The …
button beside the email address allows you to control email options for the customer.
In addition to contact information, the right-hand side of the details window allows you to specify some other information about the customer and some defaults for transactions you create for the customer:
· Type allows you to classify your customers with different customer types, for instance to sort them by type in the customer list or filter them for mail merges.
· Status lets you keep track of customers by status. Standard statuses are Active and, for customers you don’t work with anymore, Inactive. You can add other customer statuses as necessary.
· Source is where you can select the marketing source for the customer, i.e. how the customer heard about you. This is useful in marketing source tracking.
· Rep. is where you can select the user that is responsible for the customer, i.e. sales representative. This rep is in some cases used for transactions associated with this customer as well.
· Territory is the territory in which the customer resides, and is used for scheduling.
· Priority Level allows you to set the priority level for the customer and is useful if you want to prioritize your customers or jobs. The priority selected here will be the default priority for any jobs or other prioritized transactions generated for this customer.
· Payment Method allows you to set the default payment method for the customer. The payment method selected here will be the default on any jobs created for this customer, and can be used to let your technicians know how or whether they should collect payment on the job.
· Sales Tax is the selected tax rate that will be calculated on jobs or invoices for sales tax purposes when you do work for this customer at the main customer location.
· Trip Charge is the default charge that will be added to all jobs created for the customer for travel charges at the main customer location.
· Map ID allows you to track cross-streets or other mapping information to allow your technicians to easily find a location. This field can be used in customizations, but is not normally used by ServiceLedger directly.
· Custom 1 is a custom field to store any information you wish.
· Custom 2 is a custom field to store any information you wish.
· Web Password is for the ServiceLedger Customer Portal and is where the customer password is stored.
The customer record stores all the information on your customers and prospects. Knowing where to find this information is critical when trying to quickly respond to any customer requests. In addition to the Details described above when creating customer records, there is so much more you can track in ServiceLedger.
At the bottom of the customer record is the receivable aging information to allow you to quickly see how much the customer owes you.
The notes tab allows you to keep track of miscellaneous notes on the customer. You can use the Add Note button to add a date, time, and user stamp and the Print Notes button to send the customer notes directly to a printer. (You can also copy/paste into a word processor for more control over how the notes print out.)
The history tab is where you can view the transactions and records associated with the customer. Use the View Type drop-down box to select the type of record you are looking for (e.g. jobs, invoices, estimates,) and then see those records in the list below. You can double-click on any row to open the record for more details. Several other list features are available, including the status filter, with a key difference being that by default customer history lists start by showing all statuses, including inactive and/or closed records.
The above behavior can be change using the client.history.show_all_status company option; adding it and setting it to 0 using the directions under Adding and Modifying Global Preferences will cause the initially-visible statuses to be the same as those in the normal record list.
The locations tab is where you can view the service locations for this customer. ServiceLedger allows you to store an unlimited number of locations for each customer record, but there will frequently only be one: the Main location. (See Customer Locations below for more information.)
You can also set up the Default Bill-To and Default Site locations for any customer at the bottom of this tab. This is useful as new jobs will use these sites for service and billing by default. If, for instance, you want to set up a separate billing location, you will probably want to set the new billing location as the default bill-to location for new jobs.
The contacts tab is where you can view the contacts for this customer. In some cases, you may deal with multiple contacts and want to note each one in ServiceLedger so that you will havetihs information for future reference. (See Customer Contacts below for more information.)
If you charge the customer a special amount for certain items, you can use the price/rates tab to choose a customer price level or enter specific items that should be charged at a different item than usual.
You can also set the customer’s default Invoice Terms (i.e. in how many days they should pay their invoices from the invoice date) on this tab.
The tasks tab is where you can enter special task setup and pricing and/or any recurring tasks for a customer. For a more detailed description of working with customer tasks, see Using Account Tasks to Override Task Data Using Account Tasks for Recurring Tasks sections below.
This tab, which may not appear, allows you to keep track of custom information about the user. Please see Appendix C: Using Custom Fields for more information on using custom fields.
Several kinds of records associated with a customer do not appear along with the action buttons and can only be accessed from the Actions menu in the toolbar.
You can use the locations feature to keep track of customers who might own and have you do work at several different job sites. These are shown in the locations tab and also in the combined location list. Please see the Customer Locations section below for more information on using customer locations.
If a customer has several people you may need to get in touch with, you can add as many contacts as necessary and keep track of separate contact information and contact preferences for each. These are shown in the contacts tab and also in the combined contact list. Please see the Customer Contacts section below for more information on using customer contacts.
If you have office tasks that must be performed for a customer, such as a follow-up phone call or thank you letter, you can use customer reminders to keep track of these needs. These are shown in the history tab under reminders in the dropdown, and in the combined reminder list. Please see the Customer Reminders section below for more information on using customer reminders.
One use of customer tasks, frequently combined with the recurring feature discussed below, is to override the data usually associated with a service task for a particular customer.
For example, say you have a yard work service task that usually takes about 2 hours and for which you usually charge 2 hours of labor at $30.00/hr. If you have one customer with an exceptionally large yard, you can add this task as a customer task to override the standard values and instead set it up (for this customer only) as a 3-hour task for which you charge $25.00/hr for a total of $75.00.
Essentially, any time you add a task to a job for this customer, the data for that task, which would generally be copied from the task window, will instead be copied from the task that you have set up on this tab.
If desired, you can also specify a task multiple times and choose a different location for each time you’ve entered the task; this will allow you to further specialize your task data down to each individual location.
The default tech and information in the recurring section are not important if you’re simply using customer tasks to override normal task values, but you can use them in conjunction with these other changes to create specialized recurring tasks as well.
The other use for customer tasks is to set up certain service tasks, other than those associated with equipment service, that need to be performed on a periodic basis.
When you are setting a task up as a recurring task, you will need to check the associated checkbox and specify the recurrence pattern and next date the task should be performed. Doing so adds the task to the task scheduler, which generates jobs for these recurring tasks and is described in detail in the Task Schedule section.
By default, tasks are recurred based on their last scheduled date. However, if desired, you can use the Recur from date completed checkbox to force ServiceLedger to set the next date based on when tasks are completed rather than when they were originally scheduled to occur.
You can use the copy button (
)
to create a duplicate copy of the customer. Only the main customer information
will be copied; contacts, locations, and history will remain only on the
original customer.
You can use the summary button (
)
to review summary information of how you’ve dealt with the customer and totals
for profitability and so on.
If your technicians spend time on a customer that is not associated with a job or estimate, you can use customer time entries to keep track of this time.
Note that you will generally prefer to add entries either to a job, where you can bill for your time and keep track of associated job costing, or on an estimate, where time entries can ultimately be converted job entries and again track at least job costing.
Account time entries entered directly from the customer window will appear in entry reports, but can’t be billed or have their job costing tracked.
To add these entries, choose Add > Account Time Entry from the Action menu in the customer toolbar.
Customer locations are the service and billing locations you enter for your customers. To review customer locations for a specific customer, open the customer from the customer list. To review all customer locations for all customers, open the customer location list by choosing Customers > Locations from the main menu.
Customer Locations are the service locations and billing locations for each customer. An customer may have one or more customer locations; each customer will always at least contain the special Main location, which is created automatically and maintained from the details tab of the customer window. You cannot edit the basic details of this Main location from the location window, but you can use the other tabs as with any other location.
Locations can be entered and viewed from either the customer window or the customer location list; unlike most records, locations at times appear to be both a main record and a detail of the customer record.
Every estimate, job, invoice, and often pieces of equipment and contracts will be associated with locations, generally as the service location and also a bill-to location in the case of transactions like jobs and invoices.
If your customers are residential homeowners with only one home, the main location generated by the customer window will suffice. However, when you work with customers that own more than one physical location or need to have bills sent to a different address, customer locations will be necessary.
The customer location window consists of several tabs, each of which serve a different function, and several action buttons on the side that facilitate adding new records for the location. Each tab and its contents are described below.
The details tab includes contact information and some other information and default values for transactions associated with the location. The following fields are available:
· Location # – this is how most of the system will refer to the location. For example, when choosing a location in a drop-down box, this is the name that will appear.
· Name – this is the name that prints with the location's address. By default, it will be set to the customer name.
· Contact – this is the main contact for the location.
· Address, City, State/Prov., and Postal allow you to enter the location’s address information.
· Phone, Alt Phone, and Fax allow you to keep track of contact information for the location.
· Territory – this is the territory in which the location is geographically located.
· Map ID allows you to track cross-streets or other mapping information to allow your technicians to easily find a location. This field can be used in customizations, but is not normally used by ServiceLedger directly.
· Service Charge is the default charge that will be added to all jobs created for the customer for travel charges at the main customer location.
· Sales Tax is the selected tax rate that will be calculated on jobs or invoices for sales tax purposes when you do work for this customer at the main customer location.
· Web Login and Password are used with the ServiceLedger Customer Portal to allow given customer locations to log in.
The contacts tab is where you can specify which of the customer's contacts are associated with each location. Note that you do not generally create contacts over and over for each location; instead, you create them once (usually on the customer window, though you can do so here as well) and then simply associate them in this tab by adding a row to the grid and choosing the contact from the drop-down list. You can double-click each row to open the contact window for that contact.
This tab, which may not appear, allows you to keep track of custom information about the user. Please see Appendix C: Using Custom Fields for more information on using custom fields.
The notes tab allows you to keep track of miscellaneous notes on the customer. You can use the Add Note button to add a date, time, and user stamp and the Print Notes button to send the customer notes directly to a printer. (You can also copy/paste into a word processor for more control over how the notes print out.)
The history tab is where you can view the transactions and records associated with the location, much like the same tab under the customer window. Only the transactions associated not just with this customer, but only this specific location are visible.
Use the View Type drop-down box to select the type of record you are looking for (e.g. jobs, invoices, estimates,) and then see those records in the list below. You can double-click on any row to open the record for more details. Several other list features are available, including the status filter, with a key difference being that by default customer history lists start by showing all statuses, including inactive and/or closed records.
The above behavior can be change using the client.history.show_all_status company option; adding it and setting it to 0 using the directions under Adding and Modifying Global Preferences will cause the initially-visible statuses to be the same as those in the normal record list.
Like with the customer list, you can search for locations via the customer location list. This is useful if you want to pull up the customer location record directly instead of the customer record. To review and search through all customer locations, choose Customers > Locations from the main menu.
If a customer has changed and needs to have an already-existing location used as the main location from now on, you can preserve the location-specific history by promoting that location to the main location and demoting the old main location. This is generally preferable to simply overwriting the address and contact information on the main customer window, which can create a confusing history as transactions that appear to have come from two different locations will appear under a single actual customer location window.
You can promote a non-main location to be the new main location for the customer by choosing Set as New Main from the Actions menu on the location toolbar.
Contacts are the people you deal with when you work with your customers. To review customer contacts for a specific customer, open the customer from the customer list. To review all customer contacts for all customers, open the customer contact list by choosing Customers > Contacts from the main menu.
Each customer can have one or several contacts, which represent the people you deal with when doing work for that customer. Each customer will always have at least one contact, which was created automatically based on the contact name and information from the customer’s details tab.
Contacts can be entered and viewed from either the customer window or the customer location list; unlike most records, contacts at times appear to be both a main record and a detail of the customer record.
The customer contact window includes fields important to the contact and a large notes section for internal notes you’d like to keep track of associated with that contact.
The following fields are available:
· Account Name – this is the customer the contact is associated with. It can’t be changed.
· Contact Name – this is the contact’s full name.
· Address, City, State/Prov., and Postal – these fields allow you to keep track of the best address information for this contact.
· Email, Phone, Mobile, Pager, Work, and Fax – these fields allow you to keep track of contact information for this contact.
· Web Login and Web Password – these fields are used by the ServiceLedger Customer Portal to allow contacts to log in and review contact-specific information.
The large area below is for notes specific to this contact. You can use the Add Note button to add a date/time/user stamp to the notes when adding new information.
Like with the customer list, you can search for contacts via the customer contact list. This is useful if you want to pull up the customer contact record directly instead of the customer record. To review and search through all customer contacts, choose Customers > Contacts from the main menu.
Customer reminders offer you a way to keep track of internal sales or service activities you’d like to track for a given customer. Reminders are customer-specific: each customer has its own reminders separate from each other customer.
To review customer reminders, open the customer reminder list by choosing Customers > Reminders from the main menu. From the list, you can review existing customer reminders and add new ones.
The reminder window contains fields with basic information about the reminder, and several buttons that allow you to take action based on the reminder’s resolution.
Customer reminders consist of the following fields:
· Customer – this is the customer the reminder is associated with.
· Type – this is the reminder type. Types are limited to Sales, Service, and Contract, and can be used to filter the reminder list to show only certain types of reminder.
· Summary – this is a short, one-line summary of what the reminder is for.
· Complete – this indicates whether the activity yourself of has been completed.
· Date – this is the date the reminder should be completed by.
· User – this is the user that should complete the reminder. By default, it will be whichever user created the reminder in the first place, but you can assign it to another user.
· Notes – this field allows you to describe in detail what needs to be done or anything that has already taken place on a given reminder.
The buttons at the bottom can be used to easily create records from the reminder window if necessary.
At this time, the reminder list is the best way to keep track of which reminders are in the system. The reminder list opens showing all reminders, and you can filter it down to include only those for a given customer, of a certain type, or due within a certain date range using the list’s field filter.
Please see Filtering Records using the Field Filter in the ServiceLedger Core Concepts section of this guide for more information on how to filter the reminder list.
Customer Equipment is used to keep track of equipment that you sell to your customers and spend time maintaining and servicing. Using customer equipment records in ServiceLedger allows you to track equipment service history, preventative maintenance schedules, meter billing, and more.
Important Note: ServiceLedger offers the ability track both Customer Equipment and your own company’s equipment (Company Equipment). Throughout this section of the documentation, use of the word equipment in this section will refer only to Customer Equipment. For more information on tracking your own company’s equipment, see the Company Equipment section above.
To access the Customer Equipment window, go to Customers > Customer Equipment > Equipment.
There are two kinds of records associated with customer equipment, both of which are necessary for equipment to be used properly. These are:
· The Item that the equipment is represented by in inventory. This acts as a sort of template; it represents the kind of equipment, whereas the actual equipment records represent each specific piece of equipment. This must be an item of type Customer Equipment.
· The Customer Equipment records themselves, which represent the individual, specific pieces of equipment for which you’re tracking service history.
You will generally have many more individual equipment records than you have equipment items, and you will generally create at least one piece of equipment (a customer equipment record) for each equipment item (the item whose type is Customer Equipment) in the system.
Let’s consider an example service company that sells air conditioners:
This company sells two types of air conditioner: the AC100 unit, for smaller houses, and the AC250 unit for larger ones.
To keep track of these different kinds of air conditioner, they’d have an item called AC100 and another item called AC250, both with their type field set to equipment.
Assuming they’ve sold the AC100 unit to 3 customers and the AC250 unit to 2 other customers, they would have five different customer equipment records in their system. Three would use the AC100 equipment item (the kind of equipment it is), and the other two would use the AC250 item.
Every company that works with equipment does things slightly differently, and the specific level of detail in the above example might not represent the best level of detail for your company. For example, you might wish to have just one customer equipment item for all air conditioners and use different Type, Model, and Manufacturer data to keep track of different types of equipment, or, conversely, you might prefer to go into even more detail on the item side to get better usage reports.
Before setting up your equipment items for the first time, you should consult the sections below for much more information on how customer equipment works in ServiceLedger.
To create a new Customer Equipment record, click on
the 
Add New Record button at the top of the Customer Equipment
list.
· Account – this field specifies which customer to which the equipment belongs.
· Location – the location field allows you to select the specific location where the equipment is to be serviced. Locations are taken directly from the Customer record.
· Sub Location – this field allows you to specify where the equipment is located within a customer location. For example, a specific floor or area of a warehouse could be a sub-location. Sub-locations are for your use and are not used by ServiceLedger.
· Equipment Description – the text in this field is taken directly from the Description field on the equipment item’s record and contains any information you consider relevant in identifying the item.
· Status – by default, the equipment status is Active. If the status is set to Inactive, you will no longer be able to schedule jobs for equipment servicing.
· Install Date – this field allows you to specify the date when the equipment was installed and can indicate either when your company or another installed the equipment.
· Warranty Exp. – this field specifies when any warranties you’ve extended to the customer for that item expire.
· Serial – in this field, you can enter the equipment serial number.
For more details on creating equipment records, see the common tasks section below.
· Item ID – this is where you will specify the equipment item.
· Item Price – ServiceLedger will automatically populate this field with the price you defined when creating the equipment item. You can override that value for this specific piece of equipment by typing a different price in the field.
· Renewal – the amount that the piece of equipment contributes to a contract renewal rate if the equipment is on an equipment-calculated contract.
· Condition – this field allows you to enter notes about the equipment’s condition.
· Equipment Type – ServiceLedger will automatically populate this field with the type you defined when creating the equipment item. You can choose a different type by selecting from the dropdown, or create a new type by clicking directly on the “Equip. Type” text.
· Manufacturer – ServiceLedger will automatically populate this field with the manufacturer you defined when creating the equipment item. You can choose a different manufacturer by selecting from the dropdown, or create a new manufacturer by clicking directly on the “Manufacturer” text.
· Model – ServiceLedger will automatically populate this field with the model you defined when creating the equipment item. You can choose a different model by selecting from the dropdown, or create a new model by clicking directly on the “Model” text.
Sub-equipment refers to any additional equipment that is associated with the parent equipment but may have its own serial number, preventative maintenance schedule, etc. Sub-equipment items are also items of type Equipment and have their own record as a piece of equipment, yet they are still tracked as being related to the parent item.
Components are non-equipment items associated with the equipment you are servicing. Equipment components may be any items you’ve created that require periodic service but do not require separate tracking of their service history.
This tab controls preventative maintenance scheduling. Preventative maintenance schedules allow you to schedule recurring tasks for the specific equipment item. See Creating Equipment Preventative Maintenance Schedules for more information on preventative maintenance scheduling.
This tab allows you to set up tracking for metered equipment.
· Track Meter [x] Usage – this checkbox enables meter tracking.
· Meter Item – this field specifies the actual m etered item. This item is created independently of the equipment record, and ServiceLedger will create the actual line item on the job invoice from the information entered when creating the item.
· Last Meter Reading – this field records the last meter reading. Each time you service the equipment on the job, you will be prompted to update the meter count.
· Coverage – this field is for your records only and may be used to specify at what meter reading a warranty expires; at what meter level your service plan with the customer ends; or any other task you choose.
· Rate –this field specifies the rate charged for each unit of the item. For instance, if the meter is tracking electricity usage, the unit for the meter item might be kilowatt-hours, and the rate may be 10 cents per kilowatt-hour.
· Meter PM Due – this field is for your records only and may indicate how often your technicians should check the meter (i.e., every 10,000 meter units); when the next job is due (i.e., when the meter reaches 15,000); or it may be used for any other task you choose.
Each equipment record will have a Service History tab where you can view the service history. This is useful if you need to see the history on an equipment record and the details of past PM jobs. You can view the details of any job by double-clicking on the row to open the job and equipment service notes.
This tab allows you to view the invoices associated with past PM jobs. This is useful if you need to track what you have invoiced the customer for on that particular equipment record.
This tab will list any contracts established with the customer for that piece of equipment.
Before a Customer Equipment
record can be created, an item of type Equipment must first be created. To
create an item, click on Inventory > Items to
open the Item List and view existing items in the system. Click on the 
Add New Record
button at the top to add a new item. To set its type to Equipment, set the Item
Type to Equipment.
The Manufacturer Info tab can be especially important when creating items that will be used for customer equipment. This tab allows you to specify the equipment type if you have already defined equipment types, or you can create a new one by clicking directly on the “Equip. Type” label.
This tab also offers fields to enter information about the manufacturer, terms of warranties you may extend to your customers, and information about the item’s distributor. See the Items and Manufacturer Info sections for more information about creating items and editing equipment manufacturer information.
There are two primary ways an equipment record can be created in ServiceLedger. The first way is a manual creation of the equipment by directly entering information into an equipment record. This is the primary way of entering existing customer equipment. The second way is an automated creation of the equipment record, in which case the equipment record is created after you sell it to a customer on either a job or invoice. This section will explain both of these methods of creating equipment records.
To manually create an equipment record, click on Customers > Customer Equipment > Equipment to access
the Equipment list. Click on the Add New Record
button at the top of the Customer Equipment list. This will open the Equipment
window, allowing you to enter the relevant equipment information in the
appropriate fields. See Getting Around the Customer Equipment Window for more
information about the Equipment window.
When you are finished editing the new equipment record, click Save & Close at the top of the window to save the record.
Alternatively, you can create an equipment record from a customer record by clicking on the Add Equipment button at the top of the Customer window. When you add from a customer record, ServiceLedger assumes that the equipment record is being created for the customer from which you opened the Equipment window.
To create equipment automatically based on posted jobs or invoices you will use the Batch Equipment Creation window. See Batch Equipment Creation or an explanation of how to automatically generate equipment records.
Important Note: While you can sell equipment to your customers, you can also enter existing equipment items that your customers already own, perhaps because they were sold to the customer by another party or because your company does not sell items directly to customers. Thus, equipment records in ServiceLedger are intended to track any equipment you service, whether or not your company actually sold the equipment.
You can create equipment preventative maintenance (PM) schedules by adding equipment tasks for equipment that needs to be serviced on a regular basis. Any PM tasks on an equipment record will alert you via the PM Schedule of equipment that is due for preventative maintenance, service, inspection, or repair.
The Add Equipment PM window allows you to add or edit new PM tasks. To access this window, click on the Equipment window’s Maintenance tab. You can then click on an existing PM task in the list to edit the task, or you can click on the Add PM Schedule button to add a new PM task to the equipment record.
· Task ID – this field is where you specify the PM task to be performed. Select an existing task using the dropdown, or create a new one by clicking the blue Task ID link before choosing a task.
· Description – ServiceLedger automatically populates this field based on the description entered when you created the task.
· Duration – ServiceLedger automatically populates this field based on the duration specified when you created the task. You modify the duration for this specific equipment record if necessary.
· Recur from date completed – checking this box will cause ServiceLedger to schedule the next PM date from the date of the last completed PM job rather than automatically scheduling based on the default recurrence schedule.
· Recur – this field allows you to specify how often a PM job will recur and can be entered in several possible time units.
· Next Date – the Next Date field is automatically populated based on the recurrence schedule.
· Default Tech – if a particular technician will be handling PM maintenance for this equipment, you can specify that technician here.
Scheduling preventative maintenance is not the only way to create jobs for equipment. ServiceLedger allows you to create one-time jobs directly from the equipment record by clicking on the Create Job button at the top of the Equipment window. This will create a job for the customer, and ServiceLedger will automatically open the Attach Equipment Service Note window. ServiceLedger will automatically populate many fields in this window with information taken from the equipment record from which you created the job.
See the Attaching Equipment section for more information on adding equipment to jobs.
You can use problem codes to quickly identify problems and resolutions on the Add Equipment Service Note window. These codes will be applied to specific pieces of equipment. If you have existing problem codes in ServiceLedger, you can add them to the Equipment Service Note, and you can easily add new problem codes as well.
To access the Problem Code window, you can go to the Charges & Problem Codes tab from the Attach Equipment window, or you can go directly to the Problem Code list from the main menu by going to Customers > Customer Equipment > Problem Codes.
Clicking the Add New button on the Charges & Problems
tab will open the Equipment Problem Code window, which allows you to create a
new problem code. Alternatively, you may click the Add New Record
button at the top of the Problem Codes list.
· Problem Code ID – ServiceLedger will automatically create a numeric ID number for the record; however, you can change it manually if needed.
· Status –either active or inactive; setting the code to inactive will remove it as an option for adding existing problem codes to the service note.
· Problem – this field describes the issue the customer may be having with the equipment. Alternatively, this field may simply indicate that preventative maintenance is required.
· Resolution – enter the resolution to the problem here. You may enter this before a job is completed if you know what steps need to be taken to resolve the problem, or you can enter detailed information about the resolution after the job is complete.
The top half of the Add Equipment Service Note window allows you to attach problem codes to the service note.
· Add – this button allows you to add an existing problem code to the record.
· Add New – this button opens the Equipment Problem Code window, allowing you to add a new problem code to the system.
· Problem Code # – ServiceLedger automatically populates this field using the information entered when you created the problem code.
· Problem – ServiceLedger automatically populates this field using the information entered when you created the problem code.
· Resolution – ServiceLedger automatically populates this field using the information entered when you created the problem code.
· Summarize to Details – this button summarizes all of the problem codes and places the information in the Problem and Resolution fields under the Details tab of this window.
This ServiceLedger feature allows you to track the invoice charges for each specific equipment record. ServiceLedger will automatically add equipment-specific invoice charges to the job record. This feature is useful if you want to track the total invoice charges billed to the customer for equipment, which gives you more information about equipment-specific service than would adding charges directly to the job record.
Click the Charges & Problem Codes tab from the Equipment Service Note window to access this feature.
· Add Invoice Charge – click this button will take you directly to Add Job Charge window, in which you can add line items to the equipment service note.
· Sub-total – this field displays the sub-total for all of the invoice charges entered.
Important Note: All invoice charges will be updated on the job invoice charges. Adding invoice charges from the equipment record is necessary only if you want to track the revenue you generated off of that specific piece of equipment.
If the equipment record is set up for meter tracking, you can update the meter usage by entering the new meter count into the Current Meter field. You can access this feature by going to the Meter Tracking tab from the Add Equipment Service Note window.
· Last Meter – the last meter reading.
· Current Meter – the current meter reading.
· Meter Usage – ServiceLedger calculates usage by subtracting the last meter reading from the current reading. The difference
· Cycle Coverage – this field is for your records only and may be used to specify at what meter reading a warranty expires; at what meter level your service plan with the customer ends; or any other task you choose
· Quantity (‘Qty’) – the quantity of the item based on the meter usage.
· Meter Rate – ServiceLedger will automatically populate this field based on the price per unit you specified when creating the metered item. You can override this default value by entering in a new, job-specific value here.
· Meter Charge – this field shows the total charges, which ServiceLedger calculates by multiplying the Quantity field by the unit charge in the Meter Rate field.
· Process Meter Invoice Charges – clicking this button will automatically add the current meter charges to the job invoice.
The Batch Equipment Creation feature in ServiceLedger automates the process of creating equipment records. When equipment items are added to a job (see the Attaching Equipment section), ServiceLedger can automatically create customer-specific equipment records, saving you the time of having to enter each record individually.
When items of type Equipment are sold on jobs and invoices, those items appear in the Batch Equipment Creation window. From the window, ServiceLedger will create the proper equipment records as soon as you process them. To access the Batch Equipment Creation window, go to Batching > Office Management > Batch Equipment Posting from the main menu.
· Process – clicking the Process button processes the selected items, creating equipment records for each item.
· Post – check the boxes in these columns to individually select which items you would like to process.
Once the equipment records have been processed, you can view their records by going to the Equipment list, or you can access them through the History tab of the Customer Account window.
Contracts are used in ServiceLedger for a variety of reasons, including recurring billing, limited coverage and usage tracking, profitability tracking, and, in some cases, scheduled work and equipment warranties or maintenance.
Although many uses of contracts are simple, contracts and contract plans can be one of the most complicated areas of ServiceLedger. It is strongly advised that you read this guide before setting up any contracts. In particular, make sure you understand:
· How contracts use contract plans to define coverage.
· How the contract renewal processes work, and which one to use.
Understanding these key elements before setting up your contracts can save you hours or even days of unnecessary effort. Once you understand them, contracts are very easy to use, but their flexibility makes it equally easy to get off on the wrong foot without guidance.
There are three kinds of records associated with a contract, all of which are necessary for contracts to be used properly. These are:
· The Item that the contract is billed as. This must be an item of type Service Plan or Recurring.
· The Plan that the contract uses to establish coverage and basic details. That is, a plan is a kind of contract. Plans are used as templates for building individual contracts.
· The Contract itself, which is built using the plan and item.
You will generally have either the same number of contract items and contract plans or a slightly larger number of plans than items. You will almost always have many more contracts than plans or items.
As an example of how these relate to each other, consider an imaginary service company that offers equipment maintenance contracts. This company has two basic kinds of plans: standard, which covers labor only, and premium, which covers both labor and any parts used.
When setting up these plans, they might set up two contract billing items to match the plans: one called “Standard Maintenance Contract”, and one called “Premium Maintenance Contract.” These names appear on the invoices that are sent to customers.
Once these plans and billing items have been set up, someone entering a new contract can simply choose the plan, and the majority of the contract details, including the billing item and coverage, will be filled out automatically.
Naturally, everyone handles contracts differently, and the above example may not apply directly to your business. You should consult the sections below for much more information on how these three pieces of the contract system fit together.
Contract items are the items that will appear on any invoices you create when billing your customers for their contracts. ServiceLedger ships with two built-in contract items: Default Recurring Plan and Default Service Plan. Although it is possible to create contracts using these default items, you will probably want to create your own contract items for use. Creating and choosing the right contract items can be important for two reasons:
1. You will likely need different Item ID and Description entries for invoices depending on the specific customer.
2. You may need to associate contract billing with a specific item in your accounting system to ensure that contract invoices are tracked to the correct revenue account.
You can create contract items just like any other item; the only difference is that, when creating the item, you must set the item type to either Recurring or Service Plan. Item creation is covered in detail in the Inventory section of the documentation.
If you are not already familiar with contract plans and items, please review these earlier sections in this guide before proceeding. You should not set up any contracts until you already have an understanding of these sections and a plan for how to implement contracts in the way that best matches the needs of your organization.
Contract creation begins with the selection of a customer and, optionally, one of the customer’s locations. Contracts with no location chosen are valid at all locations. Once this basic information has been entered, you will generally choose a contract plan, which will in most cases automatically set the remaining contract details for the contract you are creating.
After choosing the plan, you will usually set the contract’s coverage dates and review the invoicing information copied from the plan. Typically, you save the new contract after selecting a plan and verifying the billing details. For many contracts, no further action is necessary.
It may be useful to indicate which equipment is being covered and, if any, which scheduled work other than equipment PMs should automatically generate agreed-upon recurring jobs.
As the contract is used, any revenue generated by contract invoices, as well as costs coming from covered items, is tracked under the contract ledger. This tab shows the overall profitability of the contract based on contract invoices and covered expenses.
As items are billed to the contract, the remaining and consumed coverage can be seen in the usage tracking tab. Unlike the ledger tab, this tab is not related to cost, revenue, or profitability – it simply shows what is covered, in what amounts, and what has been used.
A contract will end its life in one of two ways: It will either expire or become depleted. In either case, you can use other sections of the Contract Manager to either replace or renew it.
To create a contract, go to Customers > Customer Contracts > Contracts from the main menu, which will open the Contract list.
Contracts can also be created automatically from an estimate that has been won if it contains contract items. In this case, the contract will be brought up for your review, and ServiceLedger will have already filled in many of the fields with information from the estimate.
Once you’ve created a new contract, the Contract window will appear.
1. Select the Account you are creating the contract for
2. Select the Site Location that contract coverage is valid at. If the contract isn’t tied to a specific location, you can leave this field blank. This will allow the contract to be used at all of the customer’s locations.
3. Select a Contract Type or leave the type alone. Contract types are for tracking purposes only and have no effect on behavior or coverage.
4. Select the Contract Plan that this contract should use. Although a plan is not required, we strongly recommend using plans with all of your contracts. If you’re not sure about why you need a plan or which one to choose, please review the Contract Plans section above and the Using Contracts without Plans section below before proceeding.
5. Confirm the Response Rate, Priority, Payment Method, and Job Type set by the plan. These fields are used with jobs you apply this contract to: when you select this contract on a job, its priority, payment method, and type will be set to the values selected here.
6. Select the Coverage dates. The start date defaults to the current date, and the end date is set automatically based on the invoice frequency and number of cycles, which are generally set by the plan.
7. Confirm the Item and Description that should appear on invoices for this contract. This is the item that will appear on any invoices for this contract, and must be an item with a type of Service Plan or Recurring Billing. The item and description are usually already specified on the contract plan.
8. Review the Billing Frequency and Amount per bill. These are usually already set up by the contract plan.
9. Confirm the Billing Type. The default, fixed, allows you to set the billing amount manually. The equipment calculated billing type causes the billing amount to be automatically calculated based on attached equipment, and is discussed in the Understanding Contract Invoicing section below.
10. Select the billing Start Month, Year, and number of Cycles. Generally, the billing start month and year should be set to the same month and year as the coverage start. The number of cycles determines the number of bills that will be sent and, combined with the billing frequency, the length of the contract. For example, if you have an annually billed contract with 5 cycles, it will last 5 years before expiring and be billed once a year. If you have a contract billed monthly for 6 cycles, it will last for half a year and then expire.
11. If desired, set the contract to Auto Renew and set the Renew Percent that the amount should automatically increase by when automatic renewals occur. See Understanding Contract Expiration and Renewals below for more information on automatic contract renewal.
12. Click the Save button to save the contract.
ServiceLedger expects you to send an invoice or periodic invoices to your customers for their contracts with you. There are three main ways to invoice a contract in ServiceLedger:
1. Automatically by cycle using Recurring Invoicing
2. Manually within the cycle using the Create Invoice button
3. Manually outside the cycle using the Create Invoice button
The first of these two methods above are well suited to contracts in which you charge your customer a specific amount on a recurring basis. These methods invoice the contract based on the item, amount, frequency, and number of cycles chosen under Invoice Details on the contract. Collectively, they are called recurring invoices.
Based on a contract’s billing start month, start year, frequency, and number of cycles, ServiceLedger determines the months that a contract should be billed in and makes it available to the Recurring Invoicing or Create Invoice windows during the appropriate months. (See Creating Contract Invoices below for more information on how these methods work.)
All contracts are expected to generate recurring invoices, even if they will only be invoiced once. If a contract should only be invoiced up front, you should set its frequency to the amount of time the contract is good for and the number of cycles to 1.
The third method is generally used to supplement the first two, and has nothing to do with the information listed in the contract’s Invoice Details section. This option simply allows you to create an extra invoice for the contract and put whatever line items you want on it.
Please note that only invoices generated using one of the above three methods will appear in the contract’s Ledger tab and count towards its profitability.
Based on their start date, invoicing frequency, and number of cycles, all contracts have an expiration date. Once a contract expires, one of two things can happen:
1. The contract’s status changes to Expired. It will no longer be selectable from a job and it can no longer have charges billed to it.
2. If the auto-renew box is checked, the contract’s start date is changed to the old end date and the contract remains active.
If you use the first method, you can sell replacement contracts using the Contract Renewal Manager. This method is best for contracts that require customer action to be renewed.
If you use the second method, the original contract simply remains active continuously unless you do something to stop it. This method can be best for cases when a contract remains active unless a customer specifically asks to end it. However, there are some important things you should know when using the auto-renew checkbox which may make the first method preferable.
Please see the section titled section titled How Contracts Auto-Renew for more information on using auto-renewal.
Over time, your contracts will build up a ledger of activity that can be used to track how much money they are making or costing you. This information can be reviewed under the Ledger tab on the Contract window.
This tab shows revenue from any invoices associated with the contract if they have any revenue, and cost from job items that were billed to the contract if they have any cost. Items that do not have any associated cost or revenue for the contract are not shown in this tab.
To quickly get to any of the invoices or jobs listed in the ledger, you can double-click the row in the grid to open the associated record.
A common point of confusion in the contract module is the rule for whether to look in the Ledger tab or the Usage Tracking tab to find what was billed to a contract. The answer in this case is the Usage Tracking tab. The Ledger does not necessarily show all items that were billed to the contract: it only shows those with a cost associated.
On the other hand, if what you’re looking for is a running total of what a given contract is making you and costing, you, the Ledger tab is the perfect place to look for this information, as it shows all (and only) the necessary information related to this total.
When you assign a contract plan to a new contract, part of the information that is copied over from the plan includes its coverage, which can be reviewed in the Usage Tracking tab.
This tab shows all of the coverage conditions under which items can fall, what they cover, their current balance, contract price & renewal info if relevant, and most importantly, gives you the ability to drill down into a given coverage and see a full log of the balance and all changes to it over time, as well as the reason for each of those changes.
It is important to note that it is also possible to create contracts without plans or plans without any coverage. In this case, there will be no information in the usage tracking tab, and if no plan is present, some special rules apply.
Contracts without plans can cover any given charge based on the discretion of the user entering data into ServiceLedger. By default, they will cover all new items added to jobs for the contract.
Due to the lack of a plan, these items, and the fact that they were covered, do not show in the usage tracking tab (as there is no coverage to track them to!) and may not show in the ledger either.
Because of these facts, ServiceLedger strongly recommends using a plan that contains itemized coverage with all contracts, even those that do or can cover anything. In these cases, a plan with an <All>/<All> coverage line is suggested.
Sometimes you may need to add new coverage to an existing contract. You can do this by clicking the Add Amount / Units button in the Usage Tracking tab. This will bring up the Add Contract Coverage window:
The top half of this window is used to generate an invoice for the new coverage. Choose an item, description, and price that you would like to appear on the invoice. If you do not wish to invoice immediately for the new coverage, you can simply delete the invoice that is generated.
The bottom half of the window works just like the Covered Items section of a contract plan. Please refer to the Setting Plan Coverage section of this document for more information.
Once you have specified the coverage you wish to add, you can click the OK button to generate the invoice and add coverage. Additionally, you will be given an opportunity to update the contract’s overall amount to include the contract price on the new coverage lines.
Click on the Usage Tracking tab from the contract record and click on the Add Amount / Units button.
Enter the invoice item and amount to be invoiced plus the additional coverage options. See the Contracts section for information on adding additional coverage. Click Save & Close to save the additional coverage and create an invoice.
If you simply need to change the balance of an existing coverage line, you can use the Adjust Amount / Units button in the Usage Tracking tab to do so.
The Adjustment Amount / Usage field indicates the amount the current balance should be adjusted by. It can be either positive or negative.
For example: if you have a contract that covers labor by amount, and the current balance for labor coverage is 6.10 hours, you could bring the balance up to 10 hours by entering an adjustment for 3.90 hours. (6.1 + 3.9 = 10)
It is possible to associate your contracts with one or a number of pieces of equipment using the Equipment tab.
There are three main benefits to associating equipment with your contracts.
First, if you have multiple contracts of the same type for different pieces of equipment, specifying which piece of equipment each contract covers gives you a way to tell the difference between otherwise similar contracts.
Second, if you wish to have a contract cover multiple pieces of equipment and want the contract’s price to be calculated based on the equipment covered, you can set the contract’s billing type to Equipment Calculated. This causes the amount to be set automatically based on the renewal rate for each piece of equipment in the Equipment tab.
Finally, you can use contracts to control whether Equipment PMs are generated. The Equipment PM Scheduler can be set not to show PMs for equipment whose contract has a status of Expired. More information on the Equipment PM Scheduler is available in the Getting Started guide for the Equipment module.
An contract can be set up to automatically generate jobs during certain months of the year. This is similar to equipment PM tasks, customer tasks, and recurring jobs, but less flexible.
Generally, you should avoid setting up scheduled work on contracts if one of these options is available. For equipment in particular, PM tasks offer much better scheduling and tracking. However, in some circumstances, the contract’s Scheduled Work tab is an ideal solution.
You can set scheduled work up using the Scheduled Work tab.
Click the Add button to add a month, and then type a description of the work that should be performed.
Once you have set contracts up with scheduled work, you can find and create jobs that should be generated each month (a process often called ‘harvesting’) using the Contract Recurring Jobs window.
This window can be reached by choosing Contract Jobs in the Service menu, or by choosing Process Jobs under the Contracts folder in the navigation pane.
Simply choose the month and year to generate jobs for, click Preview to see a list of jobs that contracts have been set up to require, and Process to actually create these jobs.
When printing contract certificates, it is possible to use a text template to print similar text on several contracts and/or fill data from the contract into your certificate text.
This text is entered in the contract’s Contract Certificate Text tab.
Use the Copy… button to copy in an existing text template, or to re-copy the current one to update its data.
Use the Edit… button to open the text in a separate window with extra text editing controls. From this window, you can hit Ctrl-S to save the text and return to the contract window.
Finally, you can use the Create… button to create a new template for contracts which can then be copied. This template will include all possible data fields, but you can (and are expected to) remove all but a few of them and keep only the fields you want.
Please review the ServiceLedger Interface Guide for additional information on how to use text templates and work with data fields.
You can use the Print button on the toolbar to print contract certificates, contract statements, or custom contract reports:
The contract statement is a date-limited report showing all contract coverage activity during a given range, and includes the contract certificate text below the activity.
The contract certificate simply lists the covered items and other important contract information, and also includes the contract certificate text below the coverage list.
Before creating any contract invoices, be sure you understand how contracts are invoiced. You can review this information in the section titled Understanding Contract Invoicing above.
Contracts are typically invoiced using the Recurring Billing window, which can be reached by choosing Recurring Invoicing from the Receivables menu, or by choosing Process Invoices in the Contract folder in the navigation pane.
The recurring invoicing window shows all contracts that must be billed in any given month, as well as information about what will be billed and what period each bill is for as set by the contract’s frequency.
Generally, this window shows only contracts for the selected month and year, which by default will always be next month. However, if there are any contracts that should be billed in the month before, they will also appear. This helps give you a second chance in case a contract for one reason or another escapes billing during its initial month.
If all contract invoices for a month have already been processed, the list will be empty and the Process button will be disabled.
You can also invoice your contracts manually by selecting Create Invoice from the Actions dropdown in top right hand corner of the window.
Depending on the contract’s current billing state, you will be able to:
1. Either invoice the current or next cycle, just as you would using the Recurring Invoicing window
2. Invoice the remainder of the contract and inactivate it, which can be useful when a customer has depleted a prepaid contract and wants to pay it off and start a new one
3. Create an extra invoice that will not interfere with the normal billing cycle
One of the primary uses of contracts is to cover specific items on jobs and, as a result, remove or reduce the price the customer is expected to pay.
In order for a contract to be able to cover items on a job, the job must be set to use that contract. This is done using the Contract dropdown box in the job’s Details tab.
When you select a contract on a job, certain information is copied from the contract to the job: Priority, Payment Method, and Job Type. Additionally, if any charges already exist on the job, you will have the option of applying those charges to the contract if possible.
When a job is using a contract, any new invoice charges that are added will be charged to the contract if possible. If only some of a given invoice charge can be billed, as much as possible will be billed to the contract and the remainder will remain directly billable.
For example, let’s consider a contract which covers all labor items and has 6.5 hours remaining on that coverage. If you have a job attached to this contract and enter an invoice charge for 10 hours of labor at $100 per hour, 6.5 of those hours will be covered and the remainder will be billable. In this example, the invoice charge’s extended price would be $350 (10 – 6.5 = 3.5; 3.5 * $100 = $350).
It’s also important to know that this process happens regardless of how invoice charges are created. Many invoice charges are not entered manually, such as charges from service tasks and charges created by job entries.
One common way to use ServiceLedger that takes advantage of this fact is to set up an item for on-demand labor with a standard rate, but then sell contracts to cover that labor at a cut aggregate rate. When a job is performed for this labor, the tech simply enters their time in entries and lets the entries automatically create accurate invoice charges for their time. Up to the number of hours sold on the contract, these invoice charges will be covered and have a price of $0. However, once the contract is depleted, hours will be billed at the standard rate.
A common shortcut when doing work against a contract is to start by looking up the contract and then, if everything on the contract looks good, (say, it’s not depleted or about to expire, or it has sufficient or the correct coverage,) create a job.
Rather than go to the trouble of creating a new job and then choosing the customer and contract, the contract window provides a quick shortcut in the form of the Create Job button, which will create a new job and automatically select the current contract.
You can also take any existing job and apply a contract to it. To do this, simply open the job and choose the contract from the job’s dropdown box.
If for some reason you don’t see the contract you wish to use, double-check the following situations:
1. Make sure that the contract is active and not depleted
2. Make sure the contract is for the same customer as the job
3. Make sure that the contract is at the job’s site, or that the contract has no specific site chosen
When you choose a contract, any existing invoice charges will be applied against the new contract if possible. (If a different contract was already chosen, they will no longer be applied to that one at all.)
A job can only use one contract. If you have some work that needs to be billed to one contract and some that needs to be billed to another, you will need to split your job and its invoice charges up into two parts. This can be done manually by using the copy job button and then removing or reducing the quantity of invoice charges on both copies so that the correct parts are billed to the correct contracts.
As you use contract’s coverage, the coverage balances will be reduced. If at any point in its life all of a contract’s coverage lines have a balance of zero, the contract will be marked as depleted. You will no longer see it as an active contract for the customer.
Unless you add coverage to it, a depleted contract will remain so until either you inactivate it or it expires naturally. If you need to bill the remainder of a depleted contract that still has several billing cycles remaining immediately and create a new contract for the customer, you may wish to use the Create Invoice button to do so. This process will inactivate the contract.
If you have a contract set to auto-renew, the contract will automatically renew itself once it expires. The start date will be advanced to the previous end date, and the end date will be advanced by the same amount. Depending on how the coverage items are set up, they may have their balances left alone, reset, or have an amount added to them. If the renew percent is set, the contract’s amount will be increased by that percentage.
As far as changes to the contract go, auto-renewal is fairly straightforward: the above changes are all that happen. However, one area of auto-renewal can be complicated if you don’t understand it: billing.
Normally, contracts will show up in the Recurring Invoicing window during the month that the bill needs to be sent out and the month following. Because the Recurring Invoicing window automatically shows you next month’s invoices, you will generally generate invoices for you contracts just prior to the month in which they are due.
When a contract is set to auto-renew, the billing dates and amount will change as soon as possible starting exactly one month before it expires.
The actual start and end date of the contract and coverage updates will take place as soon as possible once the contract has actually expired.
These two changes take place at different points in time in order to allow you to continue billing regularly. It’s easiest to explain why and how this works by example:
Consider a contract that starts on January 1, 2007 and is billed monthly for 12 cycles. This contract will generate bills each month, with the last bill being for December 2007.
Assuming you process your contract bills just prior to the month they’re for, you will generate your December bill in late November. Likewise, if the contract is set to auto renew, you would also want to create the first bill of the renewed period in late December. However, if the contract’s billing dates were left alone, the final billing date would still be 12/07 up until January, which would prevent the contract from appearing in the recurring invoicing window. In order to facilitate early billing, the contract’s billing dates are updated one month in advance, so that the next period’s first invoice can be generated on time.
There is one danger of this system that it is important to be aware of, which is this: if you have not billed the final cycle of a contract that auto-renews by the time you’ve reached a month before the contract’s expiry, you will not be able to!
Let’s consider the example again:
Assuming you process your contract bills during the month they’re for, you will generate your December bill sometime during December. Or, at least, you’ll try to, but it will not be available for invoicing! This is because the contract’s billing information rolled over to the next period on December 1st.
If we alter the contract a bit and say that it instead starts on January 15th, we’re granted a little leeway: it will still be possible to bill the December invoice up until December 15th. If we start the contract on January 31st, we have even more leeway. But, this may not be desirable if the coverage must start and stop on a specific day.
If you must bill contracts during the month they’re due, it may be best to not use auto-renew and instead create new contracts for each period using the Contract Renewal Manager.
To summarize:
1. If you use auto-renew, create your contracts’ invoices during the month prior to the billing cycle.
2. If you must create invoices during the actual month of the billing cycle, either make sure your contracts all start later in the month and bill as soon as possible, or don’t use the auto-renew feature and instead use the Contract Renewal Manager.
Contract plans represent the different kinds of contracts you can have with your customers. In ServiceLedger, contract plans fulfill two major functions:
1. Plans allow you to define contract coverage. If you intend to have specified coverage and usage tracking, it is not possible to specify this directly on the contract; you must use a contract plan to set it up.
2. Plans serve as templates for your new contracts. If you are creating a large number of contracts should all have the same or similar billing information, length, renewal settings, and items, you should use a plan to store this information once and save yourself the trouble of manually setting this information on each new contract.
Contract plans are created from the Contract Plan List. To create a contract plan, you must open this list either by clicking on View Plans in the navigator pane or by choosing Contract Plans from the Contracts menu. Once you are in this list, you can create a contract plan by clicking the Add New Record button.
Once you do this, a blank contract plan will appear.
1. Enter a Plan Name. This will be used to choose the plan when creating a contract, and appears by the contract number on contract reports.
2. Select the Plan Type. Contract types are for tracking purposes only and have no effect on behavior or coverage.
3. Select the Response Rate and Priority. These are copied to the contract when you select this plan, and are ultimately set on any jobs that contracts with this plan are applied to.
4. Select the Item that should appear on any invoices generated for contracts with this plan. If you have not yet selected an item and you would like to create a new item specifically for this plan, you can click the blue link to bring up a new item window with the item number, type, and description automatically filled out for you.
5. Set up the Frequency of bills, number of billing Cycles, and billing Amount for contracts using plan. Keep in mind that these are only defaults and can be overridden on a per-contract basis if necessary.
6. If desired, check the Auto Renew box to cause contracts that use this plan to automatically renew once they expire. If this box is checked, you should also enter a Renew % that the amount should automatically increase by when automatic renewal takes place.
7. Click the Save button to save the contract plan.
In addition to filling out the basic details of a plan, you should also fill out the plan’s coverage in the Covered Items tab. This coverage information is passed on to a contract when this plan is selected.
Contracts that use covered items and usage tracking will automatically cover items that are set up to be covered under the plan, and cannot be used to cover items that are not set up to be covered. Therefore, it is important that you set the coverage on the plan correctly to prevent either billing for items that should have been covered, or inadvertently covering items that should be billed.
Plans can have any number of different combinations of coverage conditions. These are listed one per line in the coverage grid under the Covered Items tab.
Coverage is specified in terms of both the items covered and the unit or amount coverage.
Which items are covered is something that is set by the Item Type and Item # dropdown columns in the coverage grid. Depending on how broad your coverage is, you can set a line of coverage one of three ways:
1. Lines with no item type selected and no item selected (<All> / <All>) can be used to cover anything and everything.
2. Lines with an item type selected but no item selected (i.e. Part / <All>) will cover any items of the selected type.
3. Lines with both an item type selected and an item selected (i.e. Labor / Equipment Service) will cover only the specific item chosen.
When determining whether an item is covered, and under which line it should be covered, the system looks at each line and chooses the most specific line possible.
In addition to which items are covered, the amount of coverage is important. There are two ways of tracking how much of a given line is covered: by unit and by amount. Unit coverage is used to cover a certain quantity of something, regardless of its price, while amount coverage is used to cover a specific amount of money, regardless of which or how many units contribute to that total.
To add a line of coverage, click the Add button above the coverage grid.
1. Choose the Item Type to be covered, or leave it blank to cover all items
2. Choose the Item to be covered, or leave it blank to cover items of the selected type.
3. Choose the Coverage type, either Unit or Amount.
4. Enter the Amount covered, in terms of either money or quantity depending on the coverage type.
5. Enter the Contract amount that this coverage contributes to the overall price of a contract. Please see below for information on how to set this field up and when it is important.
6. Select the Renew Type for this coverage to be used if a contract using this plan is automatically renewed. Please see below for more information on the different renewal types.
7. If you changed the renewal type, enter a Renew Usage/Amount for renewals. Again, more information on this feature is below.
8. Click the Save button to save the coverage. You may now click the Add button again and repeat this process to add additional coverage.
The Contract amount used when setting up contract coverage is important if you ever need to add coverage to an existing contract; this amount allows you to specify how much each line of a contract’s coverage contributes to the overall price for the contract.
Since you often don’t know in advance that you will be adding to a plan sometime in the future, it’s important to set contract amounts when you initially create your plans. The specific contract amount for each line item is up to you, but the contract amounts from all coverage rows should add up to the plan amount.
For example, let’s say you have a $1,500 plan that has coverage for all parts and up to 5 hours of equipment maintenance:
The specific amounts don’t matter, but you should make sure that the numbers in the Contract column add up to the plan’s Amount. In this case, $1,000 + $500 = $1,500.
The Renew Type and Renew Usage / Amount control what happens to a specific line of coverage whenever a contract is automatically renewed. They are not important when you don’t use auto-renew and instead send out estimates for new contracts each time a contract expires.
There are three different types of renewal for line items:
1. None – coverage does not change with renewal. No matter how many times a contract is renewed, coverage is never increased.
2. Reset – coverage is reset to a specific unit or amount on renewal. Regardless of how much has been used in the last term, the coverage will be reset to the specified amount.
3. Rollover – the specific renewal unit or amount is added to the remaining coverage when the contract is renewed. This works exactly like rollover minutes on a cell phone.
When setting up a large number of similar plans or creating a new plan that is similar to an established one, you may find it useful to simply copy an existing plan instead of starting from scratch. This feature can be found under the Actions button on the Contract Plan window.
To copy a plan, simply open the plan you wish to copy, click
the 
Copy button at
the top of the window. A new plan will be created that is an exact duplicate
of the old plan, except that its Plan Name will have the word “Copy” on the
end. It is then up to you to alter the plan further if necessary and save the
new plan. If you change your mind and haven’t saved the new plan yet, you can
simply click the Cancel button.
When your contracts are about to expire, if you do not have them set to auto-renew, you can use the Contract Renewal Manager to create estimates for new contracts. These estimates can then be won and have the real renewal contracts created automatically.
To renew contracts, first set the date ranges you would like to check for. Any contracts that will expire (technically, cease to be billed) during that period will appear as long as they are not already on an estimate.
Second, if you wish to apply a text template to the estimates you will generate, choose it from the dropdown box. Finally, once you’re satisfied with the contracts you’ll be generating renewal estimates for, click the Process button.
This tool works best with contracts that follow a standard plan exactly. If every contract from year to year is the same, you should have a plan that defines that contract in order to simplify contract creation. The estimate can then use that plan to set up your new contract.
If you typically need to alter a contract’s coverage and have that alteration preserved from year to year, you will need to reapply the alteration every time you process renewals, or use the auto-renew feature instead if possible.
Once you win the estimates for these new contracts, you can automatically generate the renewal using the Create Contracts action on the estimate.
This will generate a new contract for the customer using the plan that was estimated. If you need to update the start dates or any other information, you should do so immediately after generating the new contract.
The service section is where you will spend the majority of your time once your database has been set up properly. The service section includes the windows and tasks you need to track the day-to-day service needs of your company, from quoting to the point where your work is complete.
Tasks represent services that you perform for your customers, and are often used to track which parts of a job your technicians have completed. To review or add tasks, choose Service > Tasks from the folder list or from the main menu.
Service Tasks are the common task you perform on your jobs. Tasks are useful for assigning tasks to resources on jobs, recurring tasks you perform for customers, updating the estimated job duration based upon how long you believe the task should take, updating invoice charges on the job associated with the task to eliminate duplicate entry of the invoice charges later and tracking productivity and efficiency of your resources by comparing actual time against estimated task time.
The task window consists of basic information about the task and a list of items associated with that task which will be added to jobs along with the task whenever it is added.
The main fields in this window are as follows:
· Task ID – this is the name you’ll use to identify the equipment throughout ServiceLedger. When see this equipment elsewhere in the system, this is the name you’ll see.
· Description – this is the description that will appear on the job for your technicians and/or customers. The description can be a short description suitable for the customer, or possibly be used to enter specific instructions of what needs to be performed on this task.
· Type – this field can be used to categorize your tasks, for instance in the task list using sorting and filters. To add types, use the blue link to the left of the field.
· Duration – this is the estimated for how much time you expect the task to take.
The Calculate Duration Based on Labor Items checkbox allows you to have the duration automatically calculated based on the total quantity of all labor items associated with the task, and can improve consistency and save time if you always want the duration to match the labor charges.
The tab and grid in the bottom half of the window allow you to associate items with the task and review totals for the items you’ve added. See the next section for information on how to use task items effectively.
Task Items allow you to automatically insert invoice charges on jobs where you add the task. Task Items are useful if you have any fixed rate pricing associated with a task and you want to ensure you invoice the customer for the task when the job is closed.
Important Note: While the items will automatically be added as invoice charges on a job when you add the task to the job, you can always delete or modify the invoice charges later if you like.
To add a task item to a task, click the Add Item button on the Items tab.
1. Select the Item ID from your Item List.
2. Use the default Description for the item or modify as necessary for the task.
3. Enter the Qty of the item to be added to the job.
4. Use the default Price or modify as necessary for the task.
5. Use the default Cost or modify as necessary for the cost.
6. If the item must be purchased prior to scheduling, you can select the Add Item to PO checkbox to flag ServiceLedger that the item needs to be ordered when added to a job.
7. The Show on Job checkbox allows you to flag the item to print on the job. This is useful if the item is used primarily to update job costing and you do not want your customer to see the item on the job.
8. The Show on Invoice checkbox allows you to flag the item to print on an invoice. This is useful if the item is used primarily to update job costing on the job and you do not want your customer to see the item on the invoice.
9. Each task can have multiple task items associated with it. If you want to add multiple items to the task, follow the steps above until all items have been added to the task.
There are two basic philosophies behind task items and how they should be used. A brief description of them each follows.
If you always perform a task at a given price, you will probably want to include the item or items you charge for with that price on the task. For instance, if you always replace a certain product for $150 (3 hours labor at $50/hr), you would set the task duration to 3 and include a $50/hr labor task item with a quantity of 3. If the task also always includes certain parts, you can include them as well.
Generally, if you use flat rate pricing, the invoice charges from the task are the only ones on the job that will have a price. If you generate entries later, your tech’s labor rates for the entries will generally be for job costing purposes only and will be priced at $0.00.
If you use tasks to predict or specify the work you’ll be doing, but you bill based actual time spent, you probably will not want to include any task items at all. In this case, the actual charges will come from the entries you add to the job after the work is completed and you know how long you’ve spent.
If certain items, such as parts, will always be necessary to complete a certain task, you may still want to go ahead and include them as task items so that they’re already on the job for the technician to see when he receives it.
Once you’ve set tasks and/or task groups up, you can use them on your jobs to represent the specific work tasks your technicians need to accomplish.
It is also possible to set certain tasks up as recurring tasks for certain customers. These recurring tasks are used to generate and schedule new jobs for those customers each time a recurring task needs to be completed.
Task Groups allow you to group multiple tasks into a single group to eliminate the need to add multiple tasks to a job individually. To review and add task groups, choose Service > Task > Task Groups from the folder list or Administration > Task Groups from the main menu.
When you create task groups, you will be able to add a task group to a job and have each of the tasks in that group automatically added to the job for you. Just like when adding tasks regularly, all items and invoice charges associated with the individual tasks in the group will appear on the job under Invoice Charges.
The task group window consists of identification, a list of tasks in the group, and totals for the tasks in the group.
The Task Group ID is the name that will be used to identify this task group elsewhere in the system. When you are choosing a task group on a job, this name is what will appear for you to choose.
The Tasks tab and list within allow you to specify which tasks you want in the task group. The tasks that you add to this list are read-only, other than the dropdown menu that allows you to choose a task.
The Total Price and Total Cost fields at the bottom of the window allow you to quickly and easily see the accumulated totals for all tasks within the group.
Estimates allow you to keep track of the estimates you give to customers and prospects. You can track and forecast each estimate, track reason codes on why you win or lose business, and convert your estimates into jobs, contracts, and invoices.
You can create an estimate for any customer from the customer record by clicking on the Add Estimate button or by going to Estimates > Estimate List from the folder list to view existing estimates and add new estimates.
Click on the 
Add New Record button from the Estimate list to add a new estimate.
1. Select the Account you are creating the customer for.
2. Select the Service Site the estimate is for.
3. Enter an Estimate Title. This can be any free-form text you wish to enter.
4. Enter a Type of estimate if you wish to report on the different types of estimates you are providing. You can add additional types by clicking on the Type hyperlink and adding new estimate types.
5. Enter the Sales Stage the estimate is in. This is useful for forecasting and you can update sales stages with probability of closing percentages for more accurate forecasting. You can add your own sales stages by clicking on the Sales Stage hyperlink button and adding a stage and probability percentage.
6. Enter the Exp. Close Date. This is the date you expect the estimate to be closed by and is used in forecasting.
7. The Estimate Total is read-only and is calculated automatically based upon the items you add to the estimate.
8. The Probability is used for tracking probability of close percentages and is used to calculate Forecast Totals. It may automatically be set by the Sales Stage if you enter Probability % for each sales stage.
9. The Forecast Total is a read-only field and is calculated automatically based upon the Estimate Total times the Probability %.
10. Enter the Rep that is responsible for the estimate. By default, it will default to the user who creates the estimate OR you can overwrite with a new representative.
11. Click the Save button to save the estimate.
Click on the Add Item button to add new estimate items to the estimate. This is where you can add one or multiple items to the estimate.
1. Select the Item ID you are quoting.
2. Use the default description for the item or update the Description for the item you are quoting as necessary.
3. Select the Qty of the item you are quoting for.
4. Select the D/M Type you want to use. By default it is set to None that will pull the default price from the item file. D/M Type is Discount or Markup and is used to either discount off of the price or markup off of the cost. If you select Discount, it will discount the default price by the percentage you enter. If you select Markup, it will markup the default cost by the percentage you enter.
5. If you use Discount or Markup, you can enter the percentage you want to discount or markup the item.
6. The Price is the price you are quoting the item for.
7. The Base Price is the default price pulled from the item file and is read-only and is used to compare the actual price estimated to the default price of the item.
8. The Cost is the cost of the item you are quoting for to track profitability of the estimate.
9. The Base Cost is the default cost pulled from the item file and is read-only and used for calculating markups on cost.
10. Ext. Price is read-only and is calculated automatically based upon the Qty times Price.
11. Ext. Cost is read-only and is calculated automatically based upon the Qty times Cost.
12. If the item needs to be purchased when you convert the estimate into a job, you can click on the Add to PO checkbox to flag ServiceLedger that the item needs to be purchased when the estimate is converted to a job.
13. If the item is taxable, you can click on the Taxable checkbox to flag ServiceLedger that the item is taxable. By default, it will be checked or unchecked based upon if you setup the item to be taxable or not.
14. If you want to add the item as an option and do not want it to update the Estimate Total, you can click on the Optional checkbox to add it as an option. Optional items are only used to inform the customer on the estimate of options they can elect with the price, however it does not estimate them for the item on the estimate. All optional items are included on the estimate under Optional Items. If they elect an optional item, you will need to uncheck it prior to converting the estimate into a job or invoice to add it to the job or invoice.
15. Click Save & New to add more items or Save & Close when you are finished adding items.
If you add contract items to an estimate, you have the ability to have ServiceLedger automatically create the contract record for you when you convert the estimate. As a time-saving step, you can add the Contract Plan to the item so when you convert it to a contract there will not need to be any additional information required for the contract. Any item you have defined as a service plan or recurring item when you create the item will provide you with the option to add a contract plan when you convert the estimate to a contract.
For more information on Contracts and Contract Plans, see Getting Started on the Contract Manager.
The Notes tab allows you to track notes specific to the estimate. You can click on the Add Date/Time Stamp button to date, time and user stamp any notes added to the estimate.
At the bottom of the Notes tab you can view information like Reason Code (why you won or lost the business) with a Reason (more detailed information) as well as the Create By User, Create Date, Closed By User and Closed Date fields.
ServiceLedger allows you to manually enter estimate text that will print at the bottom of the estimate you print out of ServiceLedger or to copy templates you have already created. This is most often used to add terms and conditions to the estimate.
Click on the Estimate Text tab to either manually enter the estimate text or copy existing text into the field. Click on the Copy button to copy an existing text template into the estimate. (See Getting Started with the Administration Manager for more information on creating text templates.)
This is a free-form field where you can store competitive information or use as you wish. The information entered is specific to the estimate and is not used anywhere else in the system.
You can print estimates by clicking on the Print button at the top of the estimate record. Optionally, you can elect to print estimates with pricing, without pricing and with sales taxes by clicking on the down arrow and selecting the estimate you wish to print. For example, if you provide your customers with a job estimate and do not wish for the customer to see the individual line item pricing, you can print the estimate without line item pricing and the customer will see the items and only a total for the estimate.
You can email estimates by clicking on the Email button at the top of the estimate record. When you email estimates, it will convert the estimate automatically to a .PDF document that the customer can open using a PDF Reader.
When emailing an estimate, you can add a short message to the email by entering the message in the Message box and clicking OK to send.
You can create a common estimate record that you can re-use later for the same or different customers. This is a time-saving step that allows you to build common estimates and quickly copy the estimate for the same customer or another customer.
Click on the Copy button and
select either Copy to Same
Account/Site or Copy to Blank Account/Site. If you copy to a blank customer,
you will need to use the Account
drop-down to select the customer.
When an estimate is won, you can convert the estimate to a job, contract or invoice. Converting the estimate eliminates the need to duplicate effort by manually creating the job, contract or invoice later.
Click on the 
Convert Estimate
button from the Estimate window to convert the estimate.
Select the type of conversion you wish to make. For example, if you want to create a job, use the Create Job option (jobs will create invoices later). If you want to create an invoice, use the Create Invoice option (no jobs will be created). If you want to create a contract, use the Create Contract option (must have contract items on the estimate for this option to be enabled).
You will get a confirmation message asking if you are sure you want to convert the estimate. Click Yes if you want to proceed.
Next ServiceLedger will convert the estimate into the option you chose. For example, if you convert to a job, it will create the job and the job record will open. If you convert to an invoice, it will create an invoice and the invoice record will open. If you convert to a contract, it will create a contract and the contract record will open.
Important Note: When you convert to a contract, it will only handle the conversion and create a contract record only. If you have any additional items on the estimate, you will need to convert them to either a job or invoice.
When converted, you can find the record it created with a hyperlink to the record on the Details page above the Estimated Items. Click on the hyperlink to open the record created from the estimate.
Important Note: If an estimate was originally created from a job, some of the items on the estimate can only be converted back into the original job. For the remaining items, you have the option of either posting them into the original job or posting them into a new job or set of jobs.
In the Estimate Conversion window, you may only choose the original job in the conversion dropdown for items that came from that job. However, for other items and item groups, you can choose "New Job" in the Convert to… dropdown to create new jobs.
Any estimate in ServiceLedger that has not been Won, Lost or put on Hold will have a status of either Pending or Expired. All pending estimates will be any active estimate where the Exp Close Date of the estimate has not passed. All expired estimates will be any estimate where the Exp Close Date of the estimate has passed. To reset an Expired estimate to Pending, you need to reset the Exp Close Date to a date that has not passed.
When you lose business or need to put an estimate on hold, you have the ability to update the reason codes to track why you lost it or put it on hold. Click on the Status drop-down from the estimate record and select either Lost or Hold.
Important Note: If you select Lost, you will not be able to do anything with that estimate in the future. If you select Hold, you can always change the status from Hold to Pending at a later date.
The following administrative options are available to help you get the most out of the Estimate Manager of ServiceLedger. While the options are optional, it is recommended that you take advantage of these features to get the most out of the Estimate Manager.
Estimate Types allow you to categorize your estimates and report on different types of estimates. By creating Estimate Types, you can run reports on the different types of estimates in your system instead of having to deal with all estimates.
To add Estimate Types, click on Service > Estimates > Estimate Types from the Navigator to view existing estimate types you have in the system.
Click on the Add button to add a new type and type in the name for the estimate type. Click the Save button to save the estimate type.
Important Note: You can start by editing existing estimate types if you elect not to use any of the default estimate types in ServiceLedger before adding new ones. You cannot delete estimate types once they are created.
Click on the Quote Type field name from the Details tab of the Estimate window to create a new quote type.
Sales Stages is a very useful feature in ServiceLedger to let you know where you are at in the sales stage on any estimate. Many companies learn from experience based upon certain milestones on how close the estimate is to being closed and as certain milestones are crossed the probability that the estimate will be won. Using this feature will help you in your forecasting and allow you to have greater accuracy in how you forecast your estimates.
To add Sales Stages, click on the Sales Stage field name from the Details tab of the Estimate window.
Click on the Add button to add a new sales stage.
1. Enter the Sales Stage name.
2. Enter the Probability %. This is based upon your experience that when an estimate is at a certain stage, you feel comfortable forecasting x %. You must enter the information using in .xx (don’t forget the decimal first) format. For example, you would enter .05 for 5%, .10 for 10% and 1.00 for 100%.
3. Enter the Sort Order to identify the sorting for each sales stage. For example, 1 would be stage one and 5 would be the fifth stage.
4. Click the Save button to save the record.
Important Note: You can start by editing existing sales stages if you elect not to use any of the default sales stages in ServiceLedger before adding new ones. You cannot delete sales stages once they are created.
Reason Codes allow you to track why you won or lost an estimate and report on why you are winning or losing business. This is an important tracking tool to allow you to track the success or failure of your estimates.
To add a Reason Code, click on the W/L Code field name at the bottom of the Notes tab on the Estimate window.
Click on the Add button to add a new reason code.
1. Select if the reason code is for estimates you Won, Lost or on Hold.
2. Enter a Reason for the reason code. For example, you create a reason code of Won for Price. You would enter Price would be the Reason.
3. Click the Save button to save the reason code.
ServiceLedger provides many reports on the Estimate Manager you can use for management of your estimates. Click on Reports > Estimate Reports to view a variety of estimate reports.
Work orders are used to track the work you do for your customers. Work orders should be used to track any time your technicians spend and any labor they perform on a customer’s behalf, including service jobs, contract or recurring labor, equipment installation or service, and so on. All work that you track in ServiceLedger ultimately ends up on a job, even if it’s part of a project or contract with a customer.
Work orders can be used to track many different aspects of your work, from expectation to actual tracking to invoicing. A brief summary of the kinds of details you can track on a job and how they relate to each other follows. For more details, see the section below titled Creating Jobs and the following sections.
After choosing a customer and other basic details, the first thing generally added to a job are tasks. These indicate the work you’re planning to do, and when you’ve added all your tasks, your overall job duration will give you a good idea of how much time the job will take. Depending on how your tasks are set up, adding tasks may also have given you an accurate total for billing by automatically adding invoice charges.
Once the tasks have been added, you will generally schedule the tasks, either individually from the Tasks tab or all at once using the Schedule button on the details tab. These schedules are the specific times and dates you intend to send your technicians out to perform work.
Once a schedule has been fulfilled by a technician, you will generally create an entry, or Tech Work Entry, to track how much time the tech actually spent working and when, as well as a description of work performed. Depending on how you invoice, the entry may result in invoice charges for directly billed time, or job costing for work that already has invoice charges from a task.
Finally, if any extra charges or costs need to be entered, they can be added manually in the invoice charges or job costing tabs.
Finally, once all work has been completed and you post the job, (or at any time or times during the above process with progress invoicing,) a job can be invoiced to generate an actual invoice for the customer which you can track payment against.
ServiceLedger offers a variety of ways that jobs can be created broken down into automatic creation of jobs and manual creation of jobs. How you create jobs will depend on what is best for your organization. Depending on the services you perform for your customers, you may use several of the methods mentioned below.
1. Equipment PMs – Using the Equipment PM Scheduler, jobs can automatically be created based upon the frequency they are due. If you perform Equipment PMs, and place your equipment on a recurring service schedule, then this feature will be useful to you. More information on this feature can be found in the Getting Started with the Equipment Manager guide.
2. Recurring Tasks – Recurring tasks are useful if you want to recur service on a regular basis. Recurring tasks are similar to recurring Equipment PMs, except it doesn’t require you to setup equipment. All recurring tasks create jobs via the Task Scheduler. More information on this feature can be found in the Getting Started with the Task Manager guide.
3. Converting Estimates – From any estimate, you have an option to convert it to a job under the Actions button. This will create the job and insert all estimate charges to the invoice charges of the job.
1. Creating Jobs From the Job List – You can open the Job List and create jobs by clicking on the Add New Record button. The Job List will list all jobs in the system and provides filter options if you want to filter the list to your preference.
2. Creating Jobs From Accounts – From any customer record you can click on the Create Job button to create a job for the specific customer. This is useful if you need to create or lookup a customer record first before you create the job.
3. Creating Jobs From Contracts – In some cases, you may have customers call in with a contract or contract number. You can look up the contract or contract number from the Contract List, open the record and create a job directly from the contract by clicking on the Create job button.
4. Creating Jobs From Equipment – In some cases, you may have customers call in with an equipment number or serial number. You can look up the equipment record using the Equipment List, open the equipment record and create a job directly from the equipment record by clicking on the Create job button.
5. Creating Jobs From Projects – If you are going to use the Project Manager, you have the option of creating jobs directly from the project.
6. Creating Jobs From the Scheduler – You have an option to create a job directly from the calendar by right-clicking on any cell on the day and for the resource you want to schedule the job for and right-clicking on your mouse and selecting the Add Job Here option. This is useful if you need to look at your calendar first before you can schedule and create a job.
While there are many ways a job can be created, we will take the most basic approach and create the job from the Job List.
Click on the Add New Record button in the Job List to add a new job. Once you have done so, a blank job window will appear.
1. Select the Account you are creating the job for.
2. Select the Service Site. If a customer has multiple service sites, you can select the site for the work, or add one on-the-fly.
3. Select the Bill Site where you want to send the invoice to.
4. Select the Type of work. This is useful if you want to report on different types of services you perform.
5. Select the Priority of the job.
6. Select the Payment Method, or how you want to be paid.
7. If the job is attached to a contract, you have the option to select the Contract to charge the job to. The contract will only cover the costs of items that are covered by the contract and any additional items not covered will be charged to the customer.
8. If the job is attached to a project, you have the option to select the Project to link the job to. This is useful if you want to track the revenue and costs of the job to a project.
9. Enter a PO/Ref #. This is useful if you receive a purchase order number or reference number from the customer.
10. Enter a Contact Phone #. By default, it will default to the service site phone number.
11. Select a Sales Rep.
12. Enter the Request. This can be the problem the customer is having, installation instructions for a job, or any other relevant information for the benefit of the resource that will be assigned to scheduled to the job.
13. Click the Save button to save the job.
Job Statuses are important to ServiceLedger from a tracking perspective. Statuses allow you to track the status of a job from New, Past-Due, Scheduled, Completed and Closed, as well as additional statuses you may add to the system.
1. New jobs will have a status of New until you schedule or assigned them.
2. Scheduled jobs will have a status of Scheduled to let you know that the job has been scheduled.
3. Past-Due jobs will have a status of Past-Due to let you know that the job is past-due.
4. Completed jobs will have a status of Completed to let you know that the job is completed.
5. Closed jobs will have a status of Closed to let you know that the job is closed.
6. Hold jobs will have a status of Hold to let you know that the job is on hold.
If you need to revert a Completed or Hold job to its natural status, you can set its status to Reset. When you select the Reset option, it will revert the status to the automated status based upon the condition of the job; i.e. New, Scheduled or Past-Due.
You can also create custom statuses in ServiceLedger by clicking on the blue Status label. Custom statuses are manual status changes requiring you to manually select the custom status. Unlike automated statuses that changes automatically based upon the condition of the job, custom statuses have no automation and any custom status will remain at that status until it is manually changed to another status. As with jobs that are on hold or completed, you must use the Reset option from the Status drop-down box to restore the natural automatic status handling.
Adding tasks to jobs allow you to update the job duration of the job based upon your estimate of how long each task should take. Managing tasks on jobs allow you to accomplish several things including tracking the job duration of the job, tracking individual tasks that need to be performed by one or multiple resources, and inserting invoice line items based upon each task to be performed.
For purposes of this guide, it is assumed that you have added tasks and task groups to ServiceLedger. For more information on tasks, see Getting Started with the Task Manager.
You can add tasks to a job by clicking on the Add Task button on the Details tab of the job or clicking on the Task tab and then Add Task button.
1. Select the Task ID from the drop-down box.
2. The Duration will automatically fill based upon the duration assigned to the task.
3. If you have any invoice items associated with the task, you will be able to view them in the Items tab.
4. Click Save & New to add more tasks or Save & Close to save the current task to the job and close.
5. If the task had invoice items associated, you will see the invoice items under the Invoice Charges tab of the job.
Task Groups are similar to tasks except it allows you to take multiple tasks and group them together instead of adding each one individually to a job. To add a Task Group, click on the Task tab and click on Add Task Group button to add a task group.
1. Select the Task Group.
2. Click OK to add the task group to the job.
3. All tasks associated with the task group will display on your job and all invoice charges will be displayed on the Invoice Charges tab.
You have the option of adding invoice charges at the time you create the job or after the work is completed. You can click on the Invoice Charges tab to view existing invoice charges on the job and you can add new invoice charges by clicking on the Add Invoice Charge button.
1. Select the item to be added on the Item ID drop-down box.
2. Use the default Description or modify as necessary.
3. Enter the Qty sold.
4. Use the default Price or overwrite, if necessary.
5. Use the default Cost or overwrite, if necessary.
6. Click Save & New to add additional invoice charges or Save & Close to close the Add Invoice Charge screen.
When you add invoice charges, you have the option of whether or not to show the charges when you print the job or, eventually, the invoice associated with it. These can be controlled using the Show on Job and Show on Invoice checkboxes.
The default behavior is to show all items on both the job and the invoice. However, you may wish to uncheck these boxes in certain cases to suppress display of a line item charge. One common case is to hide internal information such as parts and tech entry job costing items from the invoice you present to your customer.
You can attach equipment to any existing job if the customer has equipment records. To attach equipment, click on the Equipment tab of the Job window and click Attach Equipment.
· Equipment ID – this field specifies the specific equipment record for which the job is being created. If you’ve created the work order from the equipment record, ServiceLedger will automatically populate this field. Otherwise, select an existing equipment record from this field, or create a new record by clicking directly on the Equipment ID field name.
·
Task Duration
– clicking on the 
box will take you
directly to the Tasks tab, which can also be accessed at the top of the window.
From here you can specify the tasks to be performed on the piece of equipment.
You do not have to enter a task, but doing so will automatically add the
correct line items to the work order and allows you to more precisely track
equipment-related jobs. If using the PM Schedule to create work orders,
ServiceLedger will automatically add the equipment’s associated PM tasks to the
work order.
· Total Duration – this field allows you to enter the actual duration of the job once the job has been completed.
· Technician – this field specifies the technician who will be completing the equipment service.
· View Service History – clicking on this button will take you directly to the Service History tab in the equipment record, allowing you to view all records of past service for that equipment.
· Print History – clicking on this button prompts ServiceLedger to generate a report listing all of the equipment’s service history, which you can then print if necessary.
· Problem – this field allows you to enter notes detailing the issues to be addressed when the equipment is worked on. The field might explain in detail any specific problems with the equipment, or it may simply indicate that the job is for routine or preventative maintenance. This field can be especially useful because it relates directly to the equipment being serviced, and these notes recorded separately from any general notes that might be recorded on the work order.
· Resolution – the resolution field records notes related to the actual work performed on the equipment. Notes in this field will generally be recorded after the work is complete. This field can be especially useful because it relates directly to the equipment being serviced, and these notes recorded separately from any general notes that might be recorded on the work order.
The Tasks tab is where you will specify the service that needs to be performed on the equipment. Equipment tasks do not have to be specified on the work order, but they are helpful because they will automatically populate invoice and job costing charges based on the task items.
In addition to using the Equipment window, the Meter Tracking tab allows you to record any metering information relevant to maintaining the equipment. ServiceLedger will automatically populate these fields with any metering information you have previously specified on the Equipment window. See the section on Meter Tracking for more information.
Additionally on equipment, you can use Problem Codes to track common problems with common resolution notes. For more information on adding Problem Codes, see Adding and Using Problem Codes on Jobs.
You can schedule the job based upon whatever scheduling preference you have determined under your Scheduling Preferences. Click on the Schedule Tech button to schedule the job. For purposes of this guide, it is assumed we are scheduling via the Dispatch Board. If you will be scheduling using the Time Slot View, Time View or Day View you can consult the Getting Started with the Scheduling Manager documentation for more information.
1. Select Day from Dispatch Board.
2. Select Resource to schedule.
3. Left-click cell where you are scheduling.
4. When prompted to Confirm Schedule, click Yes.
After your resources have completed the jobs, you may need to update the job with additional information prior to closing it and creating an invoice. Updating jobs allow you to track history on the job including work performed, invoice charges, equipment serviced, time on the job, etc. To ensure accurate invoicing, it is important that you update the job with all information prior to posting the job and creating an invoice.
If you are using the Task Manager, you may have performed additional tasks on the job and need to update the tasks to ensure they are recorded on the job and all related invoice charges are updated.
If you are creating an invoice from the job, it is important that all invoice charges be applied to the job prior to posting the job and creating the invoice. Once the job is posted, you cannot go back to add additional invoice charges to the job.
A Time Entry is a powerful feature of ServiceLedger allowing you to capture the time your resources spend on jobs. You can have one or multiple time entries for the same job and/or one or multiple time entries for the same job for multiple technicians.
Time entries will allow your resources to bill for their time based upon the labor rates associated with different labor items. If you plan on using time entries to bill for time, you should update all resources with their labor rates and costs on the resource record.
From any job, click on the Time Entries tab or the Add Time Entry button to add a time entry for a resource.
1. Select the resource from the Technician drop-down box.
2. The Date will default to the present day or you can click the down arrow to open an editable date picker.
3. Enter the Start Travel Time.
4. Enter the Work Start Time.
5. Enter the Work Stop Time.
6. The Travel Duration and Work Duration fields will automatically populate if you enter a Start Travel, Work Start and Work Stop Time. Otherwise, you can manually put in the Travel Duration or Work Duration and bypass the actual time.
7. If you are billing for the time, you can select a Rate from the drop-down box.
8. The Rate, Cost and Charges will automatically populate based upon the rate selected. You can override the Rate or Cost for the particular time entry.
9. If you bill for mileage, you can enter the Beginning Miles, Ending Miles or manually enter the Total Miles and the Mileage Rate for a Total Charge for Mileage.
10. In the Description field you can enter the work performed by the resource.
11. Click OK to save the entry for the resource.
In some circumstances, you may wish to mark items on a job for purchasing. Some common scenarios include:
1. You don’t have enough of the item in stock
2. You have the item in stock but don’t wish to deplete your inventory
3. You don’t keep standing inventory and purchase items as needed
4. You intend to have your vendor drop-ship the items to the customer
5. All of these cases can be handled by marking the item on the job with the Purchase Item checkbox. This checkbox indicates to ServiceLedger that the item should be purchased before the job can be completed or closed.
Depending on your situation, you may wish to immediately create a purchase order for the items you’ve marked for purchasing, or you may wish to simply leave them marked and generate a purchase order for this and other jobs later.
If you would like to immediately generate a purchase order specifically for this job, you can use the Create Purchase Order button on the Invoice Charges tab of the Job window. This will create a purchase order specifically for this job. It will contain all items on the job that have been marked for purchasing but have not yet been placed on a PO.
On the other hand, if you prefer to consolidate purchasing from several jobs onto a single purchase order per vendor, you may wish to simply leave the items alone and later use the Job Purchasing window to generate these Purchase Orders. This window is discussed in greater detail in the Getting Started with the Payables Manager guide.
Once all work on a job has been completed and all information entered, you will typically post your jobs to indicate that no further changes will be made. By default, at this point in time, an invoice will be generated for the customer and you will be allowed, if you’ve already received it, to enter the payment for the job.
It is also possible to have jobs not generate invoices immediately when posted and instead have batch invoices generated on a regular basis for each customer including all the work at each site that was done during the period. For more information on Batch Job Invoicing, see the Getting Started with the Receivables Manager guide.
Important Note: In some cases, a job may not generate an invoice. For example, jobs tied to projects by default will not generate invoices. Depending on how your company is set up, it is also possible for jobs with a total of $0.00 not to generate invoices.
Sometimes, it’s necessary to bill out part of the work on a given job but leave the job open for additional work. This practice can also be called progress invoicing. In this circumstance, you will not post the job, but instead simply generate an invoice for some or all of the items as they currently stand.
To create a progress invoice, use the Create Progress Invoice button on the Invoice Charges tab. You will be presented with a window listing all the current charges. In this window, you can select which ones you’d like to appear on the current invoice and then click Process to create the progress invoice.
If you need to bill a given line item partially, you may need to split it into two line items with separate quantities. For instance, if you wish to invoice a job with 10 hours of labor in three parts, you might split your single 10-hour line item into three separate line items containing 5 hours, 2.5 hours, and 2.5 hours, and then invoice each line item separately.
At this time, ServiceLedger does not support invoicing by percentage and cannot calculate for you the splits or amounts necessary to bill by percent. For percentage billing, you will need to split your items up manually.
You may decide after beginning a job for a customer that an approved estimate is necessary in order to proceed, or that some additional work is worth doing but needs to be quoted separately before you add it to the job. In these cases, you can create an estimate from the job. This estimate will automatically include any charges present on the job that haven't yet been invoiced, and allows you to adjust these charges and add any additional charges if necessary before converting the changes back to the original job and/or a new one.
To create an estimate from a job, choose Create Estimate from the Actions menu on the job toolbar. The newly created estimate will appear for you to review.
After creating an estimate, the line items on the job that were copied to the estimate can no longer be modified on the job. The job will be updated with any changes on the estimate if it is accepted.
When you win and convert an estimate that was originally from a job, the items that originally came from that job will always be posted back into the job with any changes. Any additional items on the estimate may be converted either back into the original job or into a new one, if desired. For more details about how to convert estimates, please see the Estimates section elsewhere in this document.
Projects allow you to consolidate multiple jobs from ServiceLedger under a single organizational unit. The main benefit of project tracking is that it allows you to consolidate revenue and costing information from each job up to the project level to allow you to perform project revenue and costing reporting. Projects also can serve as a convenient place to tie related jobs together, and can be set up as templates to allow you to easily generate similar groups of jobs for several customers.
Important Note: It may not be necessary for you to use a project even for relatively large jobs due to the fact that jobs allow multiple tasks scheduled for different techs on different dates. Review the differences between using jobs and projects together and using just jobs carefully and decide which method suits your needs better.
When creating projects, you start by either creating a project from an estimate or creating from the project list and then linking the project to a customer. Once the project is created, you use it as a starting point and create all associated estimates jobs, change orders, and invoices from the project or link them to the project using the Project dropdown box on their respective windows.
Based upon the project’s invoice type, either the project, estimate, or project’s jobs handle the billing for the project. Regardless of how invoices are created, all revenue and costing information from all the records related to a project are visible on the project for overall profitability information.
Projects are not directly scheduled, but the jobs that make up those projects usually can and will be scheduled. To schedule work on any project, you need to drill-down to the job and schedule the job.
When invoicing your projects, you can elect to have either have project jobs each generate their own invoices, generate invoices directly from the project, or have only estimates generate the project’s invoices.
The section below describes the different project billing methods in more detail; you should take the time to read about these billing methods before creating any projects.
There are three invoice types available to your projects:
· Project Only Invoicing
· Estimate Only Invoicing
· Job Only Invoicing
You must choose the invoice type you wish to use before you save the estimate for the first time. Once a project has been created, it has already been set up for the original invoice type and can’t be changed.
Under project only and estimate only invoicing, project jobs do not generate invoices when posted. Under job only invoicing, jobs behave normally when posted, and this is the only way invoices for the project can be created.
Under project only and estimate only invoicing, charges from jobs and estimates, respectively, are accrued and saved in the progress invoicing tab until they are actually invoiced from that location. Then, depending on the type, invoices will be generated for either the relevant job or estimate using the progress invoicing window.
The Project Manager is a component of the Service Manager and to launch the Project List you can click on Service > Projects from the main menu or clicking on Service > Projects > Project List from the navigator. Click on the Add New Record button to add a new project.
1. Select an Account for the project pulled from your customer list.
2. Select the Location for the project pulled from your customer’s location list.
3. Select
the Invoice Type for the project.
Important Note: Once you save the project, you
cannot change this type!
4. Select the Type of project (this is optional and primarily used for reporting purposes only).
5. Select the Priority of the project.
6. Select the Manager, if applicable.
7. Enter an Expected Start Date.
8. Enter a Target Completion Date.
9. Enter a Project Summary.
10. Click Save to save the project information.
The project’s Expected Completion Date is based on the project’s jobs. It will be the last scheduled date of any job attached to the project.
Work orders and invoices can be either created directly from the project or attached after the fact using the Project ID dropdown on the job and invoice windows, respectively. Once linked, the records will be considered part of the project and will be used to calculate totals and the Expected Completion Date.
If projects are created from an estimate, the initial estimate is automatically attached. If additional estimates are needed on any kind of project, you must create them directly from the project window.
Important Note: It is not possible to create an estimate and then choose the project it should be attached to after the fact.
The summary tab presents overall profitability information and totals for the entire project.
As you add jobs, change orders, invoices, and estimates to a project, this tab will automatically always reflect the latest total values from these records. (If you leave the project window open while working with other records, you may need to click the Refresh button in the project’s toolbar to get the latest information.)
The project plan represents the work you originally expect to do as part of the project. You can review and quickly open these jobs from the Plan tab and add new jobs as needed from that tab as well.
The project plan shows a total number of estimated hours, a grand total of all job subtotals, and a grand total of all jobs’ costs. As the jobs are used, the totals in the project window will change, and their contributions to the project summary will also be kept up-to-date.
When a project’s needs change, you can elect to use a change order, which is really a special kind of job, to keep track of the additional work you need to do due to the change.
Change orders can be tracked much like jobs can under the Change tab, including double-clicking to get to any change order in the list and creating new change orders as needed.
The Project Invoices tab can be used to review and quickly get to the invoices associated with a project. To open a project invoice, simply double-click the row for the desired invoice. Totals for invoices’ revenue are displayed below the invoices grid and contribute to the totals shown in the project’s summary tab.
If you are using the project only or estimate only project invoice types, the progress invoicing tab will appear on the project window. This tab accrues invoice charges from the jobs or estimates associated with the project and makes them available for progress invoicing.
Depending on the invoice type, as you add jobs or estimates to the project, their billable items will appear in this tab. At any time until you have billed all items, you can create progress invoices for the billable items that have been added so far. It is generally preferable to create invoices only after all initially billable items have been added via either estimates or the project plan.
The progress invoicing tab also allows you to hold a retainage against the billable items; this is an amount considered to be earned, but that will not actually be paid until the project is complete. Once the project has been completed, the Create Retainage Invoice button allows a final invoice to be created for this held-back amount.
The costing tab consolidates the plan and change tabs into a single place to review all costing information. Once again, any jobs in the list under the costing tab can be easily opened by double-clicking the job row, and an up-to-date total for job cost is shown below.
A consolidated view of all schedules on all project jobs is available under the schedules tab, including a total duration for all schedules.
The estimates tab shows information about and provides easy access to any estimates associated with a project, as well as a consolidated total from all estimates. If the customer requests additional services as part of the same estimate, you can add estimates from this tab.
Batch Job Posting allows you to take all (or a subset of) completed jobs and automatically post them all at once.
Important Note: Before processing any large batch in ServiceLedger, it’s always a good idea to back up your database first in case you make a mistake. If you have a backup available, undoing the damage is as simple as clicking Restore.
The Service Escalation Manager is a specialized job list designed to help you track jobs as they progress through their lifecycle. This list is similar to the job list, but allows you to:
1. Filter the list using a search term
2. Filter the list by Resource or Priority
3. Instantly see job status through color representation:
a. Green jobs have not been assigned yet
b. Black jobs are assigned and on-schedule
c. Red jobs are past-due
If necessary, the Service Escalation manager can be customized by ServiceLedger to show different columns, different colors for the same or other circumstances, and so on.
Important Note: the Company Overview, particularly the Service tab, offers another perspective on tracking your jobs. Which method you use will ultimately depend on what works best for you.
As you enter jobs into ServiceLedger, you automatically build up an internal Service Knowledge Base for the work you’ve done. This feature allows you to search existing jobs for key terms so you can see what you’ve done in the past to solve a particular problem.
The Service KB searches old jobs by Request, Notes, and the Description of Work Performed, which comes from the Description fields on the job’s Tech Work Entries.
If your business operates by handing physical job printouts to your techs for use on the job, this tool can make it easy to keep track of which jobs have yet to be printed and print them out each day.
Each job keeps track of whether it has been printed or not via a Printed checkbox; this window will show all jobs that haven’t been printed and allow you to print them in one batch, saving you the time of going to each one individually and printing it.
To print all jobs in the list, just click Print.
ServiceLedger offers a very powerful service schedule that allows you to review and update your technicians’ schedules, as well as several other tools that work together with the service schedule to make every kind of scheduling task as easy as possible. This section explains in detail all of the scheduling options that ServiceLedger makes available to you.
Important Note: A common question about ServiceLedger is whether it allows you to schedule multiple resources on a single job, or multiple days of work for the same job. The answer is yes: ServiceLedger gives you the flexibility to schedule jobs for as many techs on as many different days as necessary.
The service schedule is ServiceLedger’s comprehensive tool for tracking, creating, and updating your jobs’ schedules.
Before using ServiceLedger for scheduling, you need to do two things:
1. You must create at least one technician to assign schedules to.
2. You must review the scheduling preferences to confirm your preferred start and end of workday. If you haven’t done this already, the preferences window will be opened for you when you first open the schedule.
ServiceLedger offers four distinct service schedulers and one additional read-only view to schedule your jobs. The following information is provided to give you an understanding of each option so you can decide for yourself what option is best for you in various situations.
All scheduling views allow you to drag and drop schedules from one technician to another, cut and paste schedules from one day to another, and copy and paste to add another resource to the job.
Although it’s not required, we recommended that you set up ServiceLedger to use whichever view makes the most sense for your business as the default scheduling view via the Scheduling Preferences window. See Scheduling Preferences in the Administrative Features section above for more information on how to make this change.
Scheduling a job to the Dispatch Board is ideal for companies that need to schedule a job for a specific day and for a specific technician, however you do not require to schedule the job to a specific time. You also have the ability to schedule jobs to Unassigned meaning no technician has been specified for the job at the current time. The Dispatch Board is where you will also handle the dispatching function of your organization and track the status and whereabouts of your resources on any given day.
The Slot Scheduler is where you can define
time slots or time windows you schedule in. For example, if you give your
customers a window of two or four hours, etc., you can drop a job into the slot
and ServiceLedger will track the capacity of the slot for each technician to
ensure you do not over schedule any slot. You also have the ability to select Untimed and Unassigned if you
don’t know when or who will do the job. The Slot Scheduler is most often used by
residential service companies that schedule using time windows. 
The Time Scheduler allows you to schedule jobs to a specific time. You also have the ability to select Untimed and Unassigned if you don’t know when or who will do the job. For example, if you have a two hour job and you tell a customer you will be at a location at 8 AM, you can use the Time Scheduler to note that the job has a specific time associated with it.
The Day Scheduler allows you to schedule a job across multiple days and is useful if you have a job that will take more than one day to complete. For example, you have a job that will take a week to complete and you want to schedule the job over a one week period.
Before you start to use the service scheduling or dispatching functions of ServiceLedger, it is required that you setup your Scheduling Preferences. In addition to the preferences, you must have Resources defined in ServiceLedger.
Please see Scheduling Preferences in the Administrative Features section above for more information on how to set up your scheduling preferences.
Any time the schedule is open, it will be either viewing current schedules or will be additionally trying to add a new schedule around them. This second state is referred to as Scheduling Mode and is automatically entered any time you are in the process of scheduling a job from a job.
Another way to enter scheduling mode is to grab a schedule by right-clicking it and choosing Grab Schedule. The dispatch board (only) also temporarily places itself in scheduling mode any time you drag and drop a schedule to a different location.
While the schedule is in scheduling mode, a job will be attached to your mouse pointer, following it as you move the cursor around.
When the schedule is in scheduling mode, it will remain so until you schedule the job by dropping it somewhere in the grids representing your techs, times, and days. If you close the Dispatch Board or Service Calendar prior to dropping or pasting the job, no schedule will be created.
When you are on the Dispatch Board or any of the other schedulers, you can navigate between different days by using the Date Selection date drop-down box or the Previous or Next button. The Date Selection allows you to select a specific date and the Previous and Next button will scroll to the previous day or next day. The current day you are viewing is always captioned on the upper left hand corner of the scheduler.
There are many ways you can schedule jobs in ServiceLedger. Most jobs are scheduled directly from the job by clicking on the Schedule Tech button. This method allows you to schedule immediately after you create the job in ServiceLedger. You can schedule one or multiple technicians to any job. You may also elect to use the Scheduling Assistant from jobs to schedule your jobs.
You can also use the Job Scheduler from the Dispatch Board to view existing jobs that need to be scheduled, or may need to be rescheduled. Similar to the Job Scheduler, ServiceLedger offers a Job/Job Roll-Over feature that allows you to roll over uncompleted jobs from one day to the next.
The Equipment PM Scheduler and Task Scheduler can automatically schedule jobs for you if you have Auto-Schedule turned on.
From the job you wish to schedule, click on the Schedule Tech button to schedule the job.
This will open the Dispatch Board or Service Calendar depending upon your preferences and allows you to schedule the job. Note that you are in scheduling mode when you schedule the job, and the job will not be scheduled until you drop the job onto the schedule by left-clicking to drop the job onto the schedule.
You can confirm the schedule or click No if you want to keep the scheduler open.
The Scheduling Assistant is a useful feature if you want to have your users allow ServiceLedger to recommend schedule options instead of having users use the scheduling calendars to schedule the jobs. This non-visual approach to scheduling allows ServiceLedger to look at your existing schedules and determine options based upon the preferences you define. It is useful for organizations that does heavy scheduling and need to maintain optimal scheduling efficiency or fill in the gap on existing schedules for technicians.
The Scheduling Assistant can only be used while you are in Scheduling Mode, meaning you have an “active” job available to schedule. It is recommended that you click on the Scheduling Assistant from the job you are trying to schedule. You will not be able to open the Scheduling Assistant from the Dispatch Board unless you are in Scheduling Mode.
On an existing job or job, click on the Scheduling Assistant button in the lower left-hand corner of the job.
This will open the Scheduling Assistant and allow you to enter additional information before ServiceLedger provides you with scheduling options.
1. The Expected Duration will default to the Job Duration field you enter manually or may be updated automatically from the Task Manager on the job.
2. If you want to filter by territory, click the In Territory checkbox and select the territory from the drop-down box you want to filter on. This option will only show you options for technicians who are already scheduled in the specified territory.
3. If you want to filter by date range, click on the In Dates checkbox and select a starting and ending date. This option will limit the date range options and provide options during the date range specified.
4. If you want to filter by a specific time range, click on the Only During checkbox and select the time range you want to schedule for. This option will only show you options based upon the availability of the time range.
5. If you want to filter by technician skill, click on the Techs with Skill checkbox and select the skill required for the job. This option will only show you technician options based upon what technicians have the skill required for the job. Additionally, you can select a Skill Rating that will filter out any technicians that do not meet that specific rating required for the job.
6. If you want to filter by a specific technician, click on the Only Show Tech checkbox and it will only show options available for that specific technician.
7. When you have entered your filter criteria, click the Update Schedule button to let ServiceLedger process scheduling options for you.
Once ServiceLedger has processed the scheduling options for you, you can review the options and determine what option is best for the job. Click on the option so that it is highlighted in blue and then click on the Use Selected button to schedule the job.
The Job Scheduler Panel allows you to schedule jobs directly from the Dispatch Board. This is useful for companies that create jobs and schedule the jobs at a later time.
From the Dispatch Board, open the Job Scheduler Panel by clicking on the Job Scheduler to the left of the Dispatch Board.
You can have the panel
stick by clicking on the 
Thumbtack.
To allow the panel to close, click on the Thumbtack again. It
will collapse to the left after a few seconds.
1. You can filter the jobs by Job Status. For example, if you only want to see new jobs, select New as the status or if you only want to see past-due jobs, select Past-Due as the status.
2. The list will refresh based upon the status you select.
3. Select the job you want to schedule, left-click and hold the job to put ServiceLedger in scheduling mode and drag the job to the cell you want to drop in and unclick to drop the job to schedule it. You must schedule the job by un-clicking it or no schedule will be created.
4. As you drag jobs off the Job Scheduler, the job will disappear from the Job Scheduler list since it has been moved and scheduled.
The Job Rollover feature allows you to copy schedules for jobs that have not been completed from prior days to the current day or a day in the future. This feature is useful if you have a lot of uncompleted jobs on one day and need to roll the jobs over to another day in one step instead of having to go to each job and cutting and pasting to a new day.
Click on the 
Job Rollover
button at the top of the Service Schedule window to launch the Job Rollover
window.
1. The Status Filter allows you to filter to just the jobs you want to rollover based upon the status of the job. For example, if you only want to see past-due jobs, you can select Past-Due.
2. You can click the Check All button to check all jobs that need to rollover.
3. You can individually check jobs by clicking on the X checkbox to check the job to rollover.
4. You can enter a Reschedule Date for the current day or a future day.
5. You can select the option you prefer to rollover the job.
a. Reschedule for the above technician and time period will reschedule the job for the same technician and time originally scheduled on the new scheduled day.
b. Reschedule for the above technician, untimed will reschedule the job for the same technician in the untimed category.
c. Reschedule for unassigned, untimed will reschedule the job for the new day and leave the technician unassigned and the time will be untimed.
6. Click OK to reschedule the jobs.
The Auto-Schedule feature is a custom option you can setup if you wish to have ServiceLedger automatically schedule new jobs onto the dispatch board. It is useful for companies that do preventative maintenance schedules, or have a job importer that is importing jobs for you, or if you allow customers to create jobs via the Customer Portal. The purpose of the auto-schedule feature is to automatically take new jobs created in ServiceLedger and schedule them based upon the scheduling preferences you define on the job.
When using the Auto-Schedule feature, it is important to note that ServiceLedger will automatically schedule jobs based upon the Assigned To and Job Start date you define when you create the job. If no technician is assigned, or no job start date is defined, then it will create a schedule for the current day and leave the schedule unassigned and untimed.
To activate this feature, follow these instructions:
1. Administration | Administration and open the Administration Window.
2. Click on ALT and F8 simultaneously to open the Global Preferences tab.
3. Click the Add button on the Global Preferences tab to add a new option.
4. Enter work_order.auto_schedule and set the value to 1.
5. Be sure to click in another row to ensure that the option is saved then close the window.
The Equipment PM Scheduler allows you to schedule preventative maintenance jobs for equipment due for service base on frequencies you set up, and is another way to schedule jobs. For more information, please refer to the Equipment PM Schedule section below.
The Task Scheduler allows you to schedule recurring tasks for your customers based upon the frequency of service you define on the recurring task. It is also capable of automatically creating schedules for the jobs it creates. For more information, please refer to the Task Schedule section below.
Some companies prefer to view their schedules first before creating new jobs. This is useful if you have a customer on the phone and they need to know if you can do a job first before they will schedule it. ServiceLedger refers to this as Reverse Scheduling since you are scheduling the job before you create the job.
To add a new job, find the day, time and technician (based upon your scheduling preference) and right-click on the cell to add the new job.
Click Add Job Here to add the job. This will open the job and allow you to create the job, however the job will already be scheduled for the technician on the date and time you specified on the scheduler.
ServiceLedger provides a basic recurring schedule feature on the Dispatch Board that allows you to recur a schedule based upon any frequency you select for a single job. This is useful if you want to create a single job that may take several days to complete or require multiple visits over several weeks or months. ServiceLedger strongly recommends that you use Recurring Tasks for your recurring scheduling needs.
Click any job and right-click and select the Copy to New Dates option.
This will open the Copy Schedule to Future window.
1. Enter if you want to copy the schedule over the next few days (useful if it is a longer job) or if you want to recur the schedule.
2. For recurring schedules, enter the frequency and number of occurrences ServiceLedger should schedule for.
ServiceLedger provides the ability to drag and drop schedules, copy and paste schedules and cut and paste schedules. As you drag schedules, copy or cut schedules and paste schedules, all the scheduling information on the job will be updated on the job. This feature allows flexibility in your scheduling to easily shift jobs scheduled to one tech to another using any of the following options:
You can drag any job scheduled to a technician to another technician or unassigned on the same day by left-clicking on your mouse in the cell of the schedule you want to drag and holding the job and dragging it over to another technician and then dropping it into the cell by un-clicking the mouse. In the dispatch board, the job will be attached to your mouse pointer to allow you to see the job you are dragging from one cell to the other; in other views, the job will remain on the schedule with a line indicating where you are dragging it from.
If you need to switch views or scroll around to find the best place to put a job, you can also grab the job using the appropriate option from the job’s context menu. Once grabbed, the job will be attached to your cursor and follow it around to indicate you are in scheduling mode.
Important Note: When you have grabbed a job, it is required that you drop the job onto a cell before you leave the scheduler. If you leave the schedule prior to dropping the job, the job schedule is deleted.
You can copy any schedule for a technician and paste it to another technician on the same or a different day by right-clicking your mouse on the cell of the schedule you want to copy and selecting the Copy Schedule option. When you copy a schedule you are adding resources to the same job, however the original schedule will not change. This feature is useful if you schedule a job and then want to add additional resources to the job by copying the job and pasting for the other resources.
After you have copied the schedule, you can click on another cell and right-click on your mouse and select the Paste Schedule option.
Important Note: If you copy a schedule, you must paste the schedule to another technician to copy the schedule. If you close the calendar before you paste it, no copies of the schedule will be made.
You can cut any schedule for a technician and paste it to another technician on the same or a different day by right-clicking your mouse on the cell of the schedule you want to cut and selecting the Cut Schedule option. When you cut a schedule you are removing the original technician from the job and adding another technician. This feature is useful if you want to cut a job on one day and add it to another day, however dragging and dropping the schedule is recommended if you are doing it for the same day.
After you have cut the schedule, you can click on another cell and right-click on your mouse and select the Paste Schedule option.
Important Note: If you cut a schedule, you must paste the schedule to another technician or else the job will not be scheduled. Cutting a schedule is like removing the schedule from the job and if you do not paste it before the calendar is closed, it will remove the original schedule from the job.
ServiceLedger provides the ability to track the resource load of each technician. You can get a count of how many jobs are scheduled for the technician on a given day and the total expected duration of all jobs combined. This feature is useful in keeping technicians from becoming overscheduled and allows you to manipulate your schedules to balance the workload among all of your technicians.
You can manually change the hours scheduled for a technician on any job by clicking on the job from the Dispatch Board and right-clicking and selecting the Change Schedule Duration option.
Enter the new duration and click the OK button to update the duration.
ServiceLedger allows you to filter the Dispatch Board or other calendars using filtering by either Territory, Skill or Tech. This is useful if you only want to view certain information on the calendar.
Click on the 
Filter button.
The Filter toolbar will appear at the top of the window.
1. Select the Filter options of Dispatcher, Territory, Skill, Tech, Account, Project, Job, or a combination of each.
2. Use the drop-down on each option to filter to the specific records you are looking for.
3. Click the Close button to close the filter.
Important Note: When you are in filtered mode, the Dispatch Board and other calendars will remain in that mode until you reset the filters or close the Dispatch Board or calendar.
The Job Information panel can give you more specific information on the Dispatch Board without having to open the job to get to the information. Click on the Job Information button to the left of the Dispatch Board to open the Job Information panel.
You can pin the panel open by clicking on the Thumbtack.
To allow the panel to close again, click on the Thumbtack again. It
will collapse to the left after a few seconds.
Once the panel has been pinned, you can click on a job in either the job scheduler or on the schedule and the Job Information panel will display more information about that specific job.
From the Dispatch Board you can open a technician or subcontractor record and schedule time off for a technician. From any technician cell, right-click and select either Open or Schedule Time Off to open the technician record or schedule time off.
When scheduling time off, it will open the technician record and allow you to enter the time off via the Time Off tab of the technician record.
The Scheduling Preferences window allows you to choose how your jobs are scheduled and how the service schedule works during everyday use. If you’re setting up your company for the first time or aren’t familiar with the service schedule, you might wish to read the Service Schedule section first.
To reach the Scheduling Preferences Window, choose Scheduling > Scheduling Preferences from the main menu or click on the Preferences button in the toolbar of the service schedule.
The most basic and important scheduling preferences are those that define your workday. These are used by the schedule, scheduling assistant, and payroll system to show and place schedules automatically during the workday and determine technician load.
The start and end of day options control define when ServiceLedger understands your workday to start and end. This need not actually be a solid period of work; if your workday is 10 hours and your technicians work in shifts, you start and end should include the entire normal range of work for your techs.
The maximum schedulable hours is used to control how the scheduling assistant places jobs and how the service schedule displays daily load. Despite the label, you are allowed to schedule more than this number of hours if you are scheduling your technicians manually; however, the schedule will optionally show a warning when you try to schedule more than this number of hours.
The tabs below control various other aspects of the scheduling system and are discussed below.
The Scheduling tab controls how jobs are scheduled.
The first selection allows you to choose which scheduling view will appear whenever you schedule a job from the job window. The different scheduling views are discussed in detail in the Scheduling section; you should choose the view that most closely represents how you schedule your jobs.
The first checkbox controls whether you should be able to alter schedules that are in the past. By default, ServiceLedger protects your past and current schedules. If you need to be able to move and delete schedules that should have already occurred, you can check this box to disable these protections.
The Warnings tab controls which warnings the schedule should show when you are modifying existing schedules and, for some options, adding new ones.
The options here work as follows:
1. If you check Display a warning when a slot becomes overscheduled, the schedule will warn you when you drop a job or task into a slot that doesn’t have enough time. This option only applies when you are using the slot view.
2. If you check Warn me if I schedule a job beyond its expected duration, the schedule will show a warning if you schedule a job for more hours than are expected. The expected number of hours is shown on the job’s Details tab.
3. If you check Warn me when I change an unassigned item’s time slot, the schedule will warn you if you try to drag a job from unassigned to a technician into a time slot different than what you promised the customer. This option only applies when you are using the slot view.
4. If you check Warn me when I change an untimed item’s technician, the schedule will warn you if you try to change the assigned technician for a job. This option only applies when you are using the slot view.
5. If you check Warn me when a job is taking longer than expected (every x minutes), the schedule will show a reminder any time you’ve entered a start time for a job but haven’t yet entered and end time and the current time is later than when the job was expected to end, based on its duration. The notification will occur every x minutes, depending upon the number of minutes you enter.
6. If you check Warn me on open purchase orders (with the color …), the schedule will display jobs that have open purchase orders with a different color than would otherwise be used. This color override applies regardless of which schedule view and color set you’ve chosen.
The Display tab contains options that control how the schedule views look.
The load color options control the colors that the slot, day, and month views use to indicate how full a given time slot or day is. This color is shown in the cell background surrounding a job or group of jobs.
Load is simply a factor of how many hours are scheduled in a slot versus how much time that slot has available: for instance, a 4-hour slot that contains 3 hours of jobs is 75% loaded.
The Different Colors option allows you to set three distinct colors for slots that are loaded less than 50%, from 50% to 80%, and 80% to 100%, respectively. The Color Intensity option uses different shades of a single color to represent load: mostly empty slots will be nearly white, and the amount of color will increase up to the color you’ve actually chosen at full load.
The Use a special color for overscheduled slots option allows you to have a separate color just for slots that are overscheduled. A slot is overscheduled if it has any load over 100%.
The Show lines separating technicians in Chart View option causes a bolder line to appear between each technician in the chart view. Depending on the number of jobs you tend to have each day, this may make the schedule easier to read.
The Show load colors in Chart View option controls whether the load colors chosen above are displayed in the background of the day (chart) view. Depending on whether you schedule multiple jobs in a day, these colors may be unnecessary.
The schedule’s slot view allows you to schedule jobs into specific time slots; say, for example, you have each of your techs do two jobs in the morning and two in the afternoon. This tab is where you define the time slots that the slot view of the schedule uses.
Your time slots do not necessarily have to line up with the start and end of the workday, but it is often convenient for them to do so. You are also allowed to define slots outside of the work day. For example, you might choose to have the following slots: Morning, Lunch, Afternoon, and After Hours, leaving a one-hour lunch slot in the middle of the day to be kept usually open.
The name of the slot is displayed in the schedule, while the description is only visible here and is for you to use to remind yourself if necessary of what a given slot is for or why you created it.
Important Note: The schedule generally expects you to have consecutive time slots without gaps between. Although you can leave gaps between your time slots, anything that is scheduled completely within those gaps (using another view) will show up as untimed in the slot schedule. If a job is at least partially within a time slot, it will appear in that slot.
If you choose to change your slot definitions at some point, even old schedules using the old slots will be shown using the new slot system. Consequently, your old schedules will likely appear doubled up and/or spread out across the new slots. To avoid this, try to choose your slots with care or change to the old slot definitions when reviewing older schedules for an extended period of time.
This tab allows you to control the dispatch statuses you’ve defined for the dispatch board, and choose which colors should be associated with each status.
A schedule’s dispatch status is used to track your technicians’ progress as they work their way down the day’s schedules. Typical dispatch status for a job includes things like confirmed, on site, off site, and so on. Additionally, you can associate a color with each status; this color will be used on the dispatch board (only—the other views use the job color) to indicate quickly and visually which jobs have what dispatch status.
You can change status names by clicking on the status name you’d like to change in the grid, then clicking on the status name once again or pressing F2 so that the text is selected and editable.
The description is read-only and indicates how ServiceLedger will use the status. You are welcome to rename built-in statuses, but they will still function in the way ServiceLedger originally used them.
You can double-click a row to change the color, or type a color directly into the field. The colors are represented using a hexadecimal RGB format similar to HTML.
You are also free to add new statuses; however, ServiceLedger will not automatically apply them. Any custom statuses must be chosen manually in the dispatch board, and once they have been added, they cannot be removed. For more information on dispatch status, see the Service Schedule section.
On the dispatch board, and when dragging a job on other views, one to three lines of information are shown to identify each job. By default, these are the customer name, job number, status, and scheduled time and duration. However, you can change these to show whatever information is most important to you, within limits. This tab is where you enter the dispatch text you would like to use.
Dispatch text can contain any literal text you want, as well as certain fields that will be replaced. The available fields are in the grey text area at the top right, and the text that you’ve chosen is in the white box in the bottom right.
If you have any trouble with getting the dispatch text you want, be sure to check that the brackets (“[ ]”) are surrounding each field, and that the fields are spelled correctly. If you’re still having trouble, you can always start over using the Reset to Default Dispatch Text button in the bottom left.
As an example, the dispatch text above would cause the following to show on the dispatch board for a certain job:
The [AcctName] field has been replaced
with “Barley, Renee”.
The [jobNumber] field has been replaced with “1022”,
the job number. After that, there is a space, just like in the Dispatch Text
tab.
The [jobStatus] field has been replaced with
“Scheduled”; this field shows either the dispatch status, if there is one and
it’s not Finished, or the job status otherwise.
The [ScheduleTimeDuration] field has been replaced
with “Untimed: 5.00 Hours”, because the job is not scheduled to a specific time
and is 5 hours long.
Regardless of which dispatch text you choose, most job information will always be available in the hint that appears when your mouse hovers over a job for a few seconds.
The Task Schedule allows you to identify and schedule any recurring tasks you’ve set up for your customers on their customer records.
To launch the task scheduler, choose Scheduling > Task Schedule from the folder list.
By default, the task scheduler will default the date range to the current month.
You can change the date range by updating the start and ending date to filter out task schedules you are not ready for yet by using the drop-down boxes to define a new starting or ending date. Click the Preview button to refresh the list after you enter the new date range.
Use the checkboxes beside each task in the list to select which tasks you’d like to process. You can quickly check all checkboxes by clicking the Check All button below the list.
You can change the date a task will be performed and select which technician should perform the task by clicking on the task grid, clicking on one of these columns, and then changing the value. When you process the tasks to create jobs, those jobs will be scheduled on the date you’ve chosen for the technician selected in the grid.
When you process tasks, you can choose to create a separate job for each task, put all tasks at the same location & same date on a job together, or put all tasks at the same location, regardless of date, on a job together. The radio buttons under Job Options allow you to choose between these behaviors.
You will need to choose the option you’d like to use before processing the tasks, as jobs will have already been created at that point in time.
When you are ready to process the tasks and create jobs, click on the Process button. The tasks will have their next schedule date updated based on their recurrence pattern and will disappear from the list.
Depending on the consolidation options you’ve chosen, a job will be generated for each task or for each group of tasks at the same location and possibly same date. No matter which option you select, each task will be placed on the schedule using the date and technician associated with it in the grid.
The Equipment PM Schedule allows you to quickly identify what equipment is due for a specific time period and process jobs to create jobs for the equipment preventative maintenance.
To launch the PM scheduler, click on Scheduling > PM Scheduler from the folder list.
By default, the PM schedule will default the date range to the current month.
You can change the date range by updating the start and ending date to filter out equipment schedules you are not ready for yet by using the drop-down boxes to define a new starting or ending date. Click the Preview button to refresh the list after you enter the new date range.
Use the checkboxes beside each piece of equipment in the list to select which ones you’d like to process. You can quickly check all checkboxes by clicking the Check All button below the list.
Be default, the PM Date will default to the Next PM Due Date as defined on the equipment record. You have the ability to change the schedule date of the preventative maintenance on each equipment pm by selecting the equipment record to be serviced and updating the PM Date as necessary.
Like PM Dates, you can update the Technician to be assigned to an equipment pm by selecting the equipment record to be serviced and updating the Technician as necessary. This is useful if you want ServiceLedger to automatically assign and schedule the job to a specific technician when the job is created.
When you process PM schedules, you can choose to create a separate job for each task, put all PM tasks at the same location & same date on a job together, or put all PM tasks at the same location, regardless of date, on a job together. The radio buttons under Job Options allow you to choose between these behaviors.
You will need to choose the option you’d like to use before processing the PM schedules, as jobs will have already been created at that point in time.
When you are ready to process the PM schedules and create jobs, click on the Process button. The PM tasks will have their next schedule date updated based on their recurrence pattern and will disappear from the list.
Depending on the consolidation options you’ve chosen, a job will be generated for each task or for each group of tasks at the same location and possibly same date. No matter which option you select, each PM task will be placed on the schedule using the date and technician associated with it in the grid.
Contracts allow you to schedule seasonal jobs that will be generated as long as the contract is active. To create these schedules, you will use the contract jobs tool.
To reach this window, choose Contracts > Process Jobs in the folder list.
You will be able to choose a month and year for which you’d like to create jobs; by default, the current month and year will be chosen. If you choose a different date, you will need to click the Preview button to show the jobs for that month and year.
The list below shows all contracts for which jobs are scheduled to be created during the chosen month. If no contracts are shown, there are no jobs scheduled to be created during that period.
To process the period and create its associated jobs, click the Process button at the bottom of the window.
Important Note: Work orders for a given month and year can only be processed once. If you accidentally process the jobs before you were ready or create a new contract that needs a job immediately, you will need to create it manually.
The Schedule Exceptions window is a powerful tool that allows you to view and deal with any schedules you have created but that were not fulfilled according to plan. Using the scheduling window can ensure that every promise you make to your customers is kept and allow you to rapidly deal with any situations in which a job is running late or was forgotten.
You can reach the schedule exceptions window by choosing Scheduling > Review Exceptions from either the folder list or the main menu.
The window shows several options on the top that control which exceptions should be shown and a list below that contains the actual schedules that are exceptions.
The options are as follows:
· Dispatcher: If you have set your users up as dispatchers and specified which techs each dispatcher is responsible for, you can use this dropdown box to choose which dispatcher’s exceptions you’d like to see.
· Date Filter Options: You can choose to show exceptions from all dates or show only exceptions from a specific date range. The date range defaults to the prior day.
· Fulfillment Conditions: These options control how the system should determine whether a schedule was fulfilled or not. Unfulfilled schedules are the exceptions you see in the list.
You can right-click each exception in the list to show a context menu for that schedule that gives you options on how to deal with the fact that it wasn’t fulfilled.
The inventory section contains all of the inventory and item-related tools ServiceLedger provides for tracking sales and managing inventory. Every item you estimate or sell will be in your item list, and you may also choose to track inventory, locations, and even serialization for items and equipment that require individual tracking.
Items are used by ServiceLedger to keep track of the parts, labor, services, contracts, and equipment you sell to your customers. Every line item that appears on an invoice you send will be associated in ServiceLedger with an item record.
Setting items is very important, as there are a large number of reports that separate your profit and expenses by item. A well thought-out item list can make these reports very powerful and your estimates, jobs, invoices, and tasks very easy to work with.
Items are a critical part of ServiceLedger. Without them, you are unable to keep track of costs associated with completing jobs, specific tasks necessary to complete jobs, charges appearing on invoices, and other tasks essential to running your business efficiently.
ServiceLedger allows you to create five types of items. It is important to know about each type before you start creating items in ServiceLedger. Each type is defined by the Item Type field and certain rules apply to each item.
· Labor Items – these items are for the services you perform and are generally related to the service or labor you provide to your customers.
· Part Items – these items refer to parts and material that you sell to your customers and may or may not be inventoried.
· Equipment Items – equipment items are items that you will create equipment records for your customers. You must set the item up as Equipment if you wish to create equipment records for the item for equipment service history tracking.
· Recurring Items and Service Plan Items – these items are the same and are used for your service contracts. If you plan on using contracts, you must create recurring or service plan items for the invoicing of your contracts.
You may have additional item types available to you if you use either the QuickBooks Link or Peachtree Link. These items types, such as Discount, Freight, Expense, etc., are used by their respective accounting systems when you create the items in ServiceLedger. However, ServiceLedger doesn’t have any special rules applying to these items.
To create an item, click on
Inventory > Items to open the Item List and view
existing items in the system. Click on the Add New Record
button at the top to add a new item.
The Item Window allows you to create and edit items and contains a variety of features available to customize the items required to efficiently run your business.
The top left of the Item window is the General Information section, which contains the following fields.
· Item Type – Item Types are predefined categories that the items you create will fall into. These include Parts, Labor, and Equipment, amongst others. The item types themselves cannot be modified. Item Type is important in ServiceLedger and it is critical that you use the correct type when you create the item.
· Item ID – this is the unique identifier used by ServiceLedger when you are looking up an item.
· Description – the Description field allows you to enter an extended description of the item and can include any information that is helpful to you in distinguishing that item.
· Parent Item – if the item is a child of a parent item, you can select the Parent Item checkbox and then select the parent for the item you are creating.
This area of the Item window allows you to modify the following properties of items:
· Item Status – the Item Status will default to Active. Only active items can be estimated or sold on invoices.
· Item Category – this field allows you to create custom item categories that allow you to classify, track, and set properties for items.
· Price -- this will be the default price; however, it can be changed on specific estimates or invoices as needed.
· Cost – this will be the default cost; however, it can be changed on specific estimates or invoices as needed.
· Tax – if the item is taxable, click on the Taxable checkbox to mark that the item as taxable.
· Warranty Period – enter a Warranty Period for the item in days. For example, one year would be 365 days.
This area of the item window contains features that allow you to implement inventory tracking and set up items for automatic reordering. See the Inventory Tracking section below for more information.
Item Inventory – checking the Item Inventory box enables inventory tracking. This will flag ServiceLedger that you are inventorying the item and need to track the quantity of a given item that is available, committed, etc.
· Serialized – if the item is serialized, click on the Serialized checkbox. This will flag ServiceLedger that the item is serialized and allow you to track individual items by the serial number. Serialized items must be measured as quantities, not labor hours or any other unit of measure.
· Item Kit – if the item is a kit, click on the Item Kit checkbox. This will tell ServiceLedger that the item is a kit. See the Creating Item Kits section below for more information.
· Automatic Reorder – checking this box will tell ServiceLedger to automatically reorder the item when its available quantity falls below the minimum quantity.
· Preferred Vendor – this dropdown field allows you to specify the default vendor to be used when reordering this item. Specifying a preferred vendor is necessary for setting up job purchasing (see the Job Purchasing section for more information).
· Minimum Quantity – this field allows you to enter the minimum quantity of an item that can be on hand before ServiceLedger automatically reorders more of that item. In order to use this field, automatic reordering must be set up.
· Reorder Quantity – this field specifies the quantity to be purchased when an item falls below its minimum quantity. In order to use this feature, automatic reordering must be set up.
By default, there will be a minimum of five items created for you: Default Labor, Default Part, Default Equipment, Default Service Plan and Default Recurring. These items are used to provide at least a single item of each item type for proper use of the system and can be edited or deleted as necessary.
The Manufacturer Info tab allows you to track information specific to the item manufacturer. It is useful for equipment items that will automatically populate the type, manufacturer and model on equipment records.
· Equipment Type – select the equipment type using the drop-down box or add a new equipment type by clicking on the Equip. Type hyperlink (click directly on the “Equip. Type” text). Equipment Type is not used by ServiceLedger, but creating your own types may be useful to you in tracking equipment.
· Manufacturer – select the manufacturer using the drop-down box or add your own manufacturer by clicking on the Manufacturer hyperlink (click directly on the word ‘Manufacturer’).
· Model –select the model using the drop-down box, or add your own model by clicking on the Model hyperlink (click directly on the word ‘Model’).
· Manufacturer’s Warranty Period – this field is for information purposes only and is not used by ServiceLedger.
· Annual Contract Renewal Rate – for your service contracts, you can have ServiceLedger update the price of a service contract based upon equipment renewal rates. If you are going to use this feature, you can put the annual contract renewal rate in this field. See The Contract Renewal Manager section for more information.
The Notes tab allows you to enter any additional information that is helpful to you in keeping track of the items you create. Clicking on Add Note will stamp the entry with the date, time, and user before you begin typing.
This section shows you the inventory status for the current item. Information will only be displayed in this tab if you have set up the item to be inventoried.
· On Hand Quantity – the quantity you have on hand ready to sell.
· Committed Quantity – the quantity that is currently committed to other jobs and/or invoices that have not yet been posted. Clicking on the ‘+’ Box in the Committed column will display more detailed information.
· Collapse Bins– if you are using Bins as item locations, you have the option to expand or collapse bins. If you check the Collapse Bins checkbox, it will roll the entire inventory quantity for the bin into the main location.
· Total Qty. On Hand – located on the footer of the window, this is the total quantity across all item locations.
· Total Qty. On PO – located on the footer of the window, this is the total quantity of the item on open purchase orders that have not yet been received.
The Serial Number tab will display information about each serialized item you currently have in stock, as well as those you have sold, returned, or otherwise removed from inventory; you can also view all serialized items by clicking the All button. The item list shows a variety of information about the item, including its specific serial number, the vendor, and other information pertinent to the specific items listed.
The Kit Components tab lists all items that comprise the current item kit. On this window you can add or modify existing kit components by clicking directly on the cells in each component item. See the Creating Item Kits section for more information.
Important Note: The Kit Components tab will only be visible if the current item is set up as a kit. To set the current item as a kit, you must first check the Item Kit box in the Inventory Information area of the Items window.
This tab displays information about item receipt and sales history. Use the View Type dropdown box to switch between receipt and sales. Columns displaying information relevant to item receipts and sales will update accordingly.
Because items can be measured in a variety of ways, different units of measure can be specified so that items in ServiceLedger are accurately specified. For instance, labor items can be measured hourly, parts can be accounted for individually or as a group of multiple items, and other items may be measured by units of weight. Each (‘Ea’) and Hour (‘Hr’) are present by default in ServiceLedger, and you can also add your own as needed. To add your own units of measure, go to Inventory > Inventory Admin > Units of Measure.
Tracking inventory is an important part of accurate inventory control. If you require accurate inventory counts and need to track the availability of any item, you should set the item up for inventory tracking. Tracking inventory has many benefits you should consider, such as tracking item quantities by location and setting up automatic reordering when inventory is low.
Many accounting programs will not allow you to sell an item on an invoice if the item is not currently available. ServiceLedger does not impede or get in the way of you creating jobs/jobs or invoices for items that are not available. ServiceLedger allows Negative Inventorying (except for serialized items) so that you can quickly get invoices out to your customers without having to wait for your inventory to be updated.
Important Note: If you are going to track inventory in your accounting program, it is suggested that you do not use the ServiceLedger Inventory Control function, as it is difficult to reconcile two separate inventory systems and may require duplicate data entry.
Inventory tracking is enabled by checking the Item Inventory box in the Inventory Information section of the Items window.
See the Item Adjustments section below for information on how to adjust the inventory for specific items.
A useful feature in ServiceLedger is the Automatic Purchasing feature that allows you to automatically generate purchase orders when the quantity of an item falls below the minimum quantity you wish to keep on hand. When inventory falls below this level, ServiceLedger will prompt you to reorder a predetermined quantity from a preferred vendor that you define.
As displayed above, the preferred vendor, the minimum quantity, and the reorder quantity are located in the Inventory Information section of the Items window. Once you enter this information and save the record, ServiceLedger will automatically add the item to the Automatic Purchasing window (Payables > Automatic Purchasing) when the available quantity falls below the specified minimum value.
Additional information on the Automatic Purchasing feature can be found in the Automatic Purchasing section under Payables.
Important Note: The reorder quantity can be adjusted prior to creating the purchase order if you decide to purchase more or less than your default reorder quantity amount.
Item kits refer to parent items that are made up of sub-items in ServiceLedger. For example, you may build computers and need to list the individual components of the computer as sub-items of the computer. ServiceLedger offers basic item kit functionality so that you can set an item up as an item kit, list its components, and use the Kit Assembly window to record the number of kits you have built. When you build the kit, all inventory is depleted from the sub-items and the kit quantity is increased based upon the number of kits you specified to be built via the Kit Assembly window.
Item Kits are items made from multiple sub-items, and you must assemble the items before you can actually sell the kit.
To set up an item kit you must do the following when creating the item:
· Set the Item Type of the item to either Part or Equipment.
· Check the Item Inventory checkbox for the item.
· Check the Item Kit checkbox for the item.
This will provide you with a new tab called Kit Components on the item that will allow you to define the components that make up the kit.
1. Click the Add button from the Kit Components tab to add a new sub-item.
2. From the Item # drop-down box, click the sub-item.
3. Enter a Quantity of the item required for the assembly.
4. Click the Save button to save the sub-item to the kit.
5. Repeat the process until all items have been included.
Please see the Item Kit Assembly section below for information on assembling kits.
Serialized inventory refers to tracking the individual serial numbers on items you receive from vendors and sell to customers. Serializing inventory has many benefits but also requires more inventory management.
Serialized inventorying requires you to enter serial numbers for each item you receive from a vendor and each item you sell to a customer. Because tracking the serial number is so important for serialized inventory, ServiceLedger does not allow you to receive a serialized item without a serial number or post a serialized item to an invoice without selecting one of the existing serial numbers.
Important Note: Careful consideration should be made before you implement serialized inventory. Entering serial numbers for each individual item can be a time-consuming task, and you can easily become backlogged if serial numbers are not consistently entered for newly purchased items.
ServiceLedger provides you with the ability to track inventory in multiple item locations. An item location can be a warehouse, a specific bin in a warehouse, or a truck. You also have the option of defining different item locations to extend your inventory control and track the availability and quantity of any item down to the item location level.
Click on Inventory > Item Locations from the main menu to open the Location List window and view all existing locations. By default, there is always a Main location added for you.
Location Types allow you to differentiate between different types of item locations in ServiceLedger. For example, you may have trucks setup as locations and they need to be linked to a technician, or you may have sub-locations (or bins) setup as locations and they need to be linked to branches (or main locations).
· Arbitrary Locations – these are locations where you define a separate address for the location. Typically, it is used when you want to track inventory at third-party sites. You will need to enter the address information for the location if you select this location type.
· Sub-locations – sub-locations are locations within your warehouses where the item can be found. They are most often referred to as Bins. You will need to link the Sub-location to a parent location.
· Technicians – these locations represent the trucks your technicians drive. Using this location type allows you to track inventory to the specific you truck have in the field. You will need to link the Technician Location to a specific technician.
Click on the Add New Record
button from the Location list to add a new item location. This will bring you to
the Item Location window.
· Location ID – enter a unique ID (can be words or numbers) that will identify this location in ServiceLedger.
· Location Type – select the location type for the location (see Understanding Item Locations for more information on location types).
· Item ID and On Hand Quantity – if you are editing a preexisting location, the items already associated with that location, as well as the quantity available, will be displayed in these columns.
The remainder of the window header will display different fields depending upon the location type you choose. The following will explain these different fields in greater detail.
Selecting the Arbitrary location type will display address fields into which the address the address for this location should be entered. Because Arbitrary locations are not associated with other locations or technicians, there are no other fields that require information.
Selecting the Sub-location type will cause a dropdown Parent Location field to display. Sub-locations are locations within locations, such as a specific part of a warehouse. Therefore, you must link sub-locations with the parent locations of which they are a part.
Selecting the Technicians location type will create a dropdown Link to Tech field. Technician locations generally refer to vehicles assigned to specific technicians where items are kept. Therefore, a specific technician must be linked to the location.
Properly accounting for inventory transactions are crucial to the proper functioning of your business. It is essential, therefore, to understand how ServiceLedger handles transactions and makes the process of selling and purchasing inventory more efficient.
There are three separate inventory transactions available in ServiceLedger.
· Item Adjustments – this feature in ServiceLedger allows you to adjust item quantities manually.
· Item Transfers – item transfers allow you to record item transfers between different item locations.
· Item Receipts – item receipts record transactions in which items are received from a vendor.
If you require adjusting any quantity available for an item, you can use the Item Adjustment transaction to adjust the quantity. This will allow you to enter a starting quantity or update the quantity if a physical count of inventory shows more or less than what you have available in ServiceLedger.
Click on Inventory > Transactions > Adjust Quantity from the main menu to open the Inventory Adjustment Transaction window.
· Trans action ID –this is a unique identifier for the transaction. ServiceLedger will assign a default value if you do not enter an ID.
· Type – this is the type of inventory transaction and will default to Adjustment for item adjustments.
· Item – this dropdown field is where you will select the item to adjust. Important Note: The item must be set up for inventory tracking in order to adjust its quantity. See the Inventory Tracking section for more information.
· Location – this dropdown field will is where you will select the location for which you are adjusting item quantity. A location must be specified in order to complete the transaction.
· UoM Quantity – this column displays the unit of measure quantity previously specified in the item’s record. It is recommended that you not change the value here and instead do so through the item’s record. Please see the Items section for more information.
· UoM – this column displays the default unit of measure specified in the item’s record and can be modified by selecting the cell and using the dropdown feature. For example, this column is useful if you would like to order a pallet of that item rather than individual units.
· Quantity – enter the adjustment as a positive number to add items to inventory. To reduce the item’s inventory count, enter a negative quantity.
· Note – clicking directly on this cell will allow you to enter any transaction-specific notes you would like to record.
Important Note: If the transaction is modifying quantities of serialized items, you will need to enter the serial number of each individual item unit being adjusted. ServiceLedger will prompt you to enter the serial numbers when you click the Save & Close button in the bottom right-hand corner of the window.
If you have multiple item locations, you may need to transfer items from one location to another. ServiceLedger’s Item Transfer feature makes it easy to account for location transfers.
Click on Inventory > Transactions > Item Transfer from the main menu to open the Inventory Transfer Transaction window.
· Transaction ID –this is a unique identifier for the transaction. ServiceLedger will assign a default value if you do not enter an ID.
· Type – this is the type of inventory transaction and will default to Transfer for item transfers.
· Item – this dropdown field is where you will select the item to adjust. Important Note: The item must be set up for inventory tracking in order to transfer quantities between locations. See the Inventory Tracking section for more information.
· From Location – this dropdown field allows you to select the location from where you are transferring the item.
· To Location – this dropdown field specifies the transferred items’ destination.
· UoM Quantity – this column displays the unit of measure quantity previously specified in the item’s record. It is recommended that you not change the value here and instead do so through the item’s record. Please see the Items section for more information.
· UoM – this column displays the default unit of measure specified in the item’s record and can be modified by selecting the cell and using the dropdown feature. For example, this column is useful if you would like to transfer a pallet of that item rather than individual units.
· Quantity – enter the transfer as a positive number to add items to inventory. To reduce the item’s inventory count, enter a negative quantity.
· Note – clicking directly on this cell will allow you to enter any transaction-specific notes you would like to record.
Important Note: If the transaction is modifying quantities of serialized items, you will need to enter the serial number of each individual item being transferred. ServiceLedger will prompt you to enter the serial numbers when you click the Save & Close button in the bottom right-hand corner of the window.
Item receipts are automatically recorded by ServiceLedger when purchase orders are marked as received. Therefore, it is recommended that all item receipts be handled automatically through the creation of purchase orders. However, ServiceLedger does allow you to enter item receipts directly if you would like to record transactions without first creating a purchase order.
This is accomplished by clicking on Inventory
> Transactions > Transaction List from the main menu and clicking
on the Add New Record
button to add a new receipt transaction
The instructions for adding Item Receipts is the same as Item Adjustments except that the Type should be Sale or Receipt.
· Type – if generated from a purchase order, ServiceLedger will automatically mark the transaction as a receipt.
· Item – this column lists the specific items that were purchased in the transaction.
· Location – ServiceLedger will use the information on the purchase order from which the receipt was generated to assign the location.
· UoM Quantity – this column displays the unit of measure quantity specified on the transaction’s associated purchase order.
· UoM – this column displays the unit of measure specified on the transaction’s associated purchase order.
· Quantity – this column shows how many units of an item were purchased.
· Note – clicking directly on this cell will allow you to enter any transaction-specific notes you would like to record.
Click on Inventory > Transactions > Item Kit Assembly from the folder list to open the Item Kit Assembly window.
· Item To Assemble – this dropdown field lists all items that have been marked as kits and is where you specify which kit will be assembled.
· Description – this field will display the description information you entered for the kit item when you initially created it.
· Qty To Assemble – this field specifies the number of kits being assembled.
· Item # -- this column lists the items that comprise the kit. This information cannot be modified here. In order to change the items that comprise the kit, you must edit the kit’s item window directly. See the Kit Components section for more information.
· Quantity – displays the quantity of the item that is used for each individual kit. This column cannot be modified here. See the Kit Components section for more information.
· Cost – this field displays the cost for each item in the kit. The cost cannot be modified here and must instead be edited in the item’s specific record.
· Extended Quantity – this field will list the total quantity of that item needed to assemble the number of kits needed. For example, each Computer kit shown in the above screenshot uses two hard drives. The extended hard drive quantity for two computers, therefore, is four.
· Assemble & Close – once you click this button, ServiceLedger will assemble the kit and update the quantity of the item kit available for sale.
Once the item has been assembled, the kit component’s inventory quantities (if they are inventoried) will be reduced by the appropriate amount, and the newly created kit will be added to your inventory (if the kit item is inventoried). If the kit item and/or its components are also serialized, you will be prompted to enter the serial numbers of the items you are consuming and/or the new serial number of the kit item created.
If you are using serialized inventory, it can be cumbersome to go through item windows to find out which item has a certain serial number. To quickly find items with a given number, you can use the serial number lookup window.
To open this window, choose Inventory > Serial Lookup from the main menu.
To search for a specific serial number, enter some or all of the number in the text box and then click on the Exact Search or Partial Search button. If you know the exact serial number, enter it in the field and click Exact Search. If you know only part of the number, enter the partial serial number in the text field and click the Partial Search button. ServiceLedger will return all numbers that contain those numbers.
If any items with a matching serial number are in the system, they will be displayed in the lower half of the window.
You can also click on the item name in the list to jump to go directly to that item’s record window. This allows you to confirm the serial number’s status.
The payables section contains tools that allow you to manage your vendors, purchase orders, and vendor bills and credits. In addition to keeping track of the above records, you can also simplify your purchasing by automating the purchasing process, including automatic reorders based upon minimum quantities and reorder quantities, as well as automatic job purchasing to collectively order parts and materials for your jobs.
To better understand how the ServiceLedger Payables Manager can benefit you, it is recommended that you understand the different ways you can use this module to simplify your purchasing process. The module is designed primarily around the purchasing of items for inventory and/or jobs.
1. Vendors –create vendors to keep track of the people that you purchase items or services from and pay money to.
2. Purchase Orders –create purchase orders when you want to purchase items in ServiceLedger and track the receipt of those items.
3. Vendor Bills & Credits –create bills or credits to keep track of money owed to your vendors or money your vendors owe to you. Bills are typically associated with a purchase order.
4. Job Purchasing – you may want to flag items for purchase on jobs in ServiceLedger to let someone in purchasing know you need to have that item purchased. The Job Purchasing window collects these flagged items together for batch purchasing.
5. Automatic Purchasing – you may want to maintain minimum inventory quantities of a specific item and want ServiceLedger to prompt you to purchase more of that item when the quantity of the item falls below a minimum quantity you want to keep on hand. The Automatic Purchasing window collects such items together for batch purchasing.
To use the module effectively, you must first create vendors and items in ServiceLedger. Vendors are discussed in detail below, and items are discussed in the Inventory section above.
Vendors are the companies from which you will purchase parts, materials, equipment, labor or other items that you will in turn sell to your customers. You must have your vendors created in ServiceLedger before you can create and issue purchase orders to those vendors. To create a vendor, go to Payables > Vendors, then click on the orange box with the plus sign at the top of the window to add a new vendor.
The Vendor window allows you to track basic information about your vendors, such as name, address, and notes on the vendor. No information beyond the vendor name is required to create a vendor record in ServiceLedger. You can also view vendor history, such as purchase orders and bills, and review item pricing specific to the vendor.
· Vendor Name – the name used to identify the vendor on other records. This appears in dropdowns and on lists.
· Vendor Status – allows you to specify whether vendor relationship is active or inactive.
· Account # – optional field that allows you to specify your account number with the vendor.
· Terms – this box allows you to specify vendor payment terms.
Contact information is where you can enter the contact name, address, and other contact information for the vendor. The email address is necessary if you want to email purchase orders to the vendor.
The Notes field allows you to keep track of any notes regarding your history with the vendor, such as phone calls, promises for special pricing, additional account numbers, and so on. For more information on tracking vendor notes, see the Tracking Vendor Notes section below.
This tab shows all current purchase orders and RMAs for the vendor. This list includes all POs that are not yet closed or canceled, as well as any RMAs that have not yet been processed.
This tab shows all purchase orders and RMAs in the vendor’s history.
This tab shows all bills and vendor credits in the vendor’s history.
The Items tab shows any special item pricing established with this vendor. Such prices are frequently referred to as a vendor price book. It is not possible to adjust prices directly from this tab. Please see the Items section for information about entering vendor pricing for each item.
You can record miscellaneous notes about your vendors using the Notes field on the vendor record. This field is useful in recording conversations or other important information about a specific vendor. Clicking on the Add Note button will date stamp, time stamp, and user stamp each note, allowing you to track the date, time and user who created the note entry. Clicking on the Print Note button will allow you to print all the notes for that specific vendor.
ServiceLedger allows you to track the pending purchase orders and all purchase orders submitted to a specific vendor. Click on either the Pending POs & RMAs tab or the All POs & RMAs tab to view the appropriate purchase orders.
Pending POs will track all purchase orders still considered pending when the status is anything other than closed.
All POs will track all purchase orders including closed purchase orders that have been fully received.
ServiceLedger allows you to track all vendor bills you receive from the vendor for the parts, material, equipment and/or labor purchased. Vendor bills are defined as the invoices you are receiving from the vendor for the purchased parts. You can track all vendor bills on the Bills tab of the vendor record with the ability to double-click on any line to open the specific bill.
ServiceLedger allows you to track the Accounts Payable balances for each vendor on the bottom of the vendor record. The balances are calculated based upon the vendor bills received. For pending purchase orders not received, the On PO balance (located on the footer of the Vendor window) will calculate all outstanding items on the purchase order to determine a balance.
If you have a subcontractor in your system and need to create a corresponding vendor record for the subcontractor, you can open the subcontractor record (Administration > Resources > Subcontractors) and click on the Create Vendor button. This will create a corresponding vendor record for the subcontractor.
Purchase Orders are the purchasing contracts you send to your vendor to purchase parts, material, equipment or labor at a specified price. Generally, purchase orders will list the terms of the purchase order and the date you expect to receive the items purchased. To create a purchase order, go to Payables > Purchase Orders, then click on the orange box with the plus sign at the top of the window to add a new purchase order. You can also create purchase orders by using any of the methods below:
· Clicking on the Create PO button from a vendor record (see image below).
· Automatically generating purchase orders from the Automatic Purchase List.
· Automatically generating purchase orders from the Job Purchase List.
Purchase Orders allow you to separate the order and receipt of parts or services from your vendors. When you issue a purchase order, you are letting a vendor know that you would like to order certain parts or services and giving the vendor time to prepare and ship those items or perform those services. Active purchase orders which have not been received and closed give you a way to keep track of the items you’re still missing or for which you’re still waiting on a bill.
In many cases, you will simply purchase items directly from a vendor’s storefront—in these cases, where you pay for and receive all intended items at the same time and don’t need the additional tracking provided by a purchase order, you can instead enter the bill directly. Please see Vendor Bills for more information on receiving vendor bills. However, you must have a purchase order to associate the cost of any items with a job.
During a purchase order’s lifetime, it will typically move through several statuses, with each of these statuses except cancelled naturally following the prior one.
· Open – the PO is new and has not yet been sent to the vendor
· Issued – the PO has been sent to the vendor and is awaiting receipt
· Cancelled – the PO has been cancelled; any items remaining that have not yet been received should are no longer expected to be received
· Partial – some of the items on the PO have been received, but others are still waiting
· Received – all items on the PO have been received; it is still possible to adjust the PO such as adding additional ordered items if necessary
· Closed – all items are received and no further changes are possible
Additional information is available in the Managing Purchase Order Statuses section below.
The purchase order window allows you to track the details of each purchase order, including the vendor and terms, shipping location, items to be ordered, and receipt history.
· Vendor Name – the vendor from whom you are purchasing items.
· Terms – this box allows you to specify vendor payment terms.
· Account # – optional field that allows you to specify your account number with the vendor.
· Expected Date – the date you expect to receive the items on the PO
· Status – allows you to choose from a variety of possible statuses for the purchase order. Generally you will not manually adjust the status field. For more information on the status field, please see the Managing Purchase Order Statuses section below.
· Class – the class associated with the record. See Classes for additional information.
· Reference #– allows you to optionally enter a vendor’s reference number for the PO, such as an invoice number or receipt number.
· Vendor Confirmed – this checkbox allows you to record whether a vendor has confirmed receipt of the purchase order.
· Printed – the Printed checkbox indicates whether a purchase order has been printed by ServiceLedger. If purchase orders are successfully batch printed, this box will automatically be checked.
The footer of the Purchase Orders window displays the creation date of the purchase order, the expected cost for the purchase order as well as the current cost of the purchase order. The expected cost is the expected total cost of the purchase order based on the prices for items you have previously entered. The current cost represents the actual amount you currently owe based upon items that have been marked as received. See the Receiving Items against a Purchase Order section below for more information on marking items as received.
The Details tab is where you can add and remove items from your purchase order and specify where the order should be shipped. You can also view address information for both the vendor and the shipping location. Items on your work order will be displayed in the field below the Add Item button, displaying a variety of information about items on the purchase order. The listing is useful in tracking items ordered, items received, any balance to be received, and the expected cost by unit and extended cost.
The Shipping Location area of the Details tab allows you to specify where your items will be shipped, whether being drop shipped to specific customers or sent to your business directly. Within these shipping locations, you can also specify internal sub-locations where your items will be going. If you choose Drop Ship to Account in the Ship-To dropdown list, an Account field will appear, allowing you to specify which customer will be receiving the items.
The Add Item button allows you to add items to the purchase order. Clicking this button or double-clicking an existing item will open the Purchase Order Item window where you can select the items you wish to purchase.
· Item # – this field identifies the specific item being ordered.
· Description – this field allows you to enter an extended description of the item if needed. It will automatically populate based on the item chosen and can be adjusted as necessary.
· Quantity – quantity of that specific item being purchased.
· Unit of Measure and Transaction Quantity – indicates the unit (i.e. Each, Box, Pallet, etc.) represented by the quantity field and the associated number unit quantity for inventory.
· Work Order – this field allows you to link purchased items to a job for job costing and profitability purposes. You must choose a job when you initially enter the item, as it cannot be edited afterwards.
· Class – the class associated with the line item. See Classes for additional information.
Important Note: You must already have items created in ServiceLedger before you can add items to a purchase order. Please see the Items section for more information.
This tab allows you to record any notes relevant to the purchase order. Clicking Add Date/Time Stamp records the exact date and time the notes were recorded.
This tab allows you to review and enter item receipts and bills associated with this purchase order. Receiving items with a bill allows you to include a bill for financial tracking, while receiving items only receives items into inventory without financial information. See the Receiving Items against a Purchase Order section below for more information.
Important Note: If you receive items without a bill using the Receive Items Only button, you cannot receive a bill later. If you need to enter a bill for financial tracking or export to your accounting system, you should always use the Receive Items & Bill button, even if you have actually received only the items or the bill.
Vendor messages allow you to record a message to the vendor. For example, you might want to add a message on the purchase order for the vendor to call you for a credit card for payment. Other messages may be to have the vendor call you if they cannot deliver by the expected date or to call if they expect any problems with the shipment of the items. To record a vendor message, click on the Message tab and enter the message you wish to have printed on the purchase order.
Purchase Order statuses allow you to track the status of the purchase order from creation through receipt of the items. The Status field will automatically adjust during the purchasing process as follows:
· The status will be Open when the purchase order is created but not issued to the vendor.
· The status will change to Issued when you print the purchase order or if you change it manually. Issued means you have issued the purchase order but haven’t received any items yet.
· Cancelled means you have cancelled the purchase order, and it is no longer valid. Note: If you have issued a purchase order to a vendor, it is assumed you have notified the vendor that the purchase order is cancelled.
· Partial means that you have received a partial shipment on the purchase order and that there are still items remaining. By default, ServiceLedger will change the status automatically to Partial if you have received some, but not all, purchased items.
· Received means you have received the full shipment of the items on the purchase order, but haven’t received the final bill from the vendor yet for costing purposes.
· Closed means you have received the full shipment of the items and recorded the vendor invoice into ServiceLedger. By default, ServiceLedger will prompt you if you want to automatically change the status to Closed when the full shipment arrives. If you haven’t received the vendor invoice yet, it is recommended that you select No to keep the purchase order at Received status until you receive the vendor invoice.
You can print the purchase order directly from the purchase order you created by clicking on the Print button on the top of the purchase order window. Note: You can modify the layout of the purchase order with a copy of Crystal Reports or you can hire ServiceLedger to modify the purchase order for you.
If you want to print multiple purchase orders at once, you can print all unprinted purchase orders by clicking on Batching > Inventory/Purchasing > Batch Print Purchase Orders. This will print all purchase orders that haven’t been marked as printed yet.
By default, ServiceLedger will change the status of the purchase order to Issued when you print the purchase order.
When you receive items against a purchase order, open the purchase order to record the receipt in ServiceLedger. Click on the Item Receipt Transactions tab, and then click on the Receive Items & Bill button to record the receipt and create a vendor bill.
By default, ServiceLedger will assume you are receiving a full shipment of the items. You can adjust the quantity received by clicking on each line item and adjusting the item quantity if you only received a partial shipment. Partial shipments will automatically change the status of the purchase order to Partial, alerting you that you have only received a partial shipment. You can also adjust the cost if the cost if different than the expected cost. Click the Save & Close button to save the item receipt and create a vendor bill.
A purchase order can have one or more item receipt transactions. Each transaction will record the receipt of the items and adjust your inventory if the item is marked for inventory. Note: If the item is not marked for inventory it will not be noted in the balance of the item on your inventory logs. In the case of each additional item receipt transaction, ServiceLedger will adjust the quantity remaining on the purchase order accordingly, assuming that each time you are receiving the full balance on the purchase order. You can adjust each additional item receipt transaction until you have received all items on the purchase order.
If an item is serialized, you will need to record the serial number for each serialized item before you can save the item receipt transaction. This will record the serial number for inventory tracking purposes.
If you adjust the cost of an item that is ordered for a specific job, the cost will adjust on the cost of the item on the job to keep your job costing numbers accurate.
Vendor bills are the bills or invoices you receive from your vendors requesting payment for parts or services ordered. Bills contain the vendor to be paid, payment terms, and the items purchased, and are usually created from purchase orders. To create a vendor bill directly, go to Payables > Vendor Bills in the main menu, then click on the orange box with the plus sign at the top of the window.
Important Note: When entering items on a vendor bill or a vendor credit, a positive transaction total indicates that an item is being purchased from a vendor, and is therefore a bill, while a negative balance indicates that an item is being returned or refunded, and is therefore a credit. ServiceLedger will save the transaction as either a vendor bill or a vendor credit based on this positive or negative transaction total. When creating a new vendor bill, therefore, quantities for the items entered must be positive.
Vendor Bills are the financial transactions associated with purchasing from a vendor. If a bill is for inventory restocking or parts on a job, it will typically be associated with and will have been created from a purchase order. Every bill that includes inventory items will automatically create an inventory transaction to adjust your inventory counts when saved. For this reason, it is useful to enter purchase orders for items you’ve ordered, and only enter the bill when you receive the items, even if you have paid for the items up front.
The bill record consists of information about the bill and the items appearing on it. If any items are inventoried, an inventory transaction will automatically be created to place the items in inventory when the bill is saved.
· Vendor – the vendor who sent you the bill.
· Reference Number – optional; the vendor’s reference number for the bill, such as an invoice number or receipt number.
· Status – the bill status; the credit status; typically either Open or Paid.
· Class – the class associated with the record. See Classes for additional information.
This tab allows you to track the details of the bill, including date and terms fields and the list of items purchased that appears on the bill.
· Created – the date the bill record was created.
· Received – the date the bill was received, or the bill date provided by the vendor.
· Terms – the payment terms, based on the received or bill date.
· Due Date – the date the bill is due, based on the received date and payment terms.
The buttons and list of items below these fields allow you to enter and review the line items on the bill. Clicking on the Add Item Charge or double-clicking an existing item in the list will show the bill line item window. The Delete button allows you to delete line items, while the Arrow buttons allow you to reorder the items on the credit record.
· Item # -- the specifc item you are adding to the bill. Item IDs may be names, numbers, or a combination of the two.
· Description – this required field allows you to enter a more detailed description of the item being entered.
· Location – this field can indicate either the location items will be shipped or, if items are being returned, a vendor location.
· Quantity – enter the number of items to be billed, as well as the unit of measurement for that item.
· Cost – how much the item costs.
· Class – the class associated with the record. See Classes for additional information.
The footer of the Vendor Bills window shows the total bill amount, the amount currently owed on the bill, as well as the due date for payment.
This tab allows you to enter any relevant notes into the bill that might be valuable for future reference. In order to add notes, first click the Add Note button, which creates a time, date, and user stamp for the notes, then begin typing. All notes for the record can be printed by using the Print Notes button.
You can review the bills that are currently outstanding from the Vendor Bill List. Any bill with a status of Open is considered to be entirely unpaid in ServiceLedger and will contribute to its vendor’s AP balance.
To pay a bill, right-click on any bill from the Bill List View and select the Mark as Paid option. This changes the status of the bill to Paid and deducts the payment from the vendor balance.
Vendor Credits represent money owed by your vendor back to you. You will primarily generate vendor credits whenever you ship defective goods back as part of a vendor RMA. Vendor credits can also be used to indicate refunds for any services that were agreed upon with the vendor. To review your vendor credits, choose Payables > Vendor Credits from the folder list, then click on the orange box with the plus sign at the top of the window.
Important Note: When entering items on a vendor bill or a vendor credit, a positive transaction total indicates that an item is being purchased from a vendor, and is therefore a bill, while a negative balance indicates that an item is being returned or refunded, and is therefore a credit. ServiceLedger will save the transaction as either a vendor bill or a vendor credit based on this positive or negative transaction total. When creating a new vendor credit, therefore, quantities for the items entered must be negative.
Vendor credits are transactions associated with returning or being credited for items that are sent back to the vendor or otherwise refunded by the vendor. In ServiceLedger, vendor credits are not created from purchase orders or bills but are instead recorded by directly accessing the Vendor Credits window (Payables > Vendor Credits from the main menu). Although vendor credits and bills are very similar transactions, credits are not directly linked to purchase orders or vendor bills in ServiceLedger. It is important, therefore, to keep track of what items you need to record as credits separately from the usual process of creating records for purchase orders and generating vendor bills.
The Vendor Credit window is very straightforward and is effectively identical to the Vendor Bills window. The most significant difference from a bill will be in the blue highlighted Quantity box on the line item. Please note that the quantity is negative, indicating that the items are being returned or refunded.
· Vendor – the vendor who is crediting your business.
· Reference Number – optional; the vendor’s reference number for the credit, such as an invoice number or receipt number.
· Status – the credit status; typically either Open or Paid.
· Class – the class associated with the record. See Classes for additional information.
This tab allows you to track the details of the credit, including date and terms fields and the list of items purchased that appears on the credit.
· Created – the date the credit record was created.
· Received – the date the credit was received, or the credit date provided by the vendor.
· Terms – allows you to specify payment terms of the vendor credit.
· Due Date – the date the credit is due, based on the terms of sale with the vendor.
The buttons and list of items below these fields allow you to enter and review the line items on the bill. Clicking on the Add Item Charge or double-clicking an existing item in the list will show the bill line item window. The Delete button allows you to delete line items, while the Arrow buttons allow you to reorder the items on the credit record.
· Item # -- the specifc item you are adding to the credit. Item IDs may be names, numbers, or a combination of the two.
· Description – this required field allows you to enter a more detailed description of the item being entered.
· Location – this field can indicate either the location items will be shipped or, if items are being returned, a vendor location.
· Quantity – enter the number of items to be credit, as well as the unit of measurement for that item.
Important Note: In order for the transaction to be recorded as a credit, the item quantity must be negative.
· Cost – how much the item costs.
· Class – the class associated with the record. See Classes for additional information.
The footer of the Vendor Credits window shows the total amount of the credit, as well as the remaining repayment balance for the vendor. The due date for the credit represents whatever due date is expected for the credit to be paid in total. Note that, because this is a credit, not a bill, the balances shown are negative.
This tab allows you to enter any relevant notes into the credit that might be valuable for future reference. In order to add notes, first click the Add Note button, which creates a time, date, and user stamp for the notes, then begin typing. All notes for the record can be printed by using the Print Notes button.
You can review credits that are currently outstanding from the Vendor Credit List. Any bill with a status of Open is considered to be entirely unpaid in ServiceLedger and will contribute to its vendor’s AP balance.
To mark a credit as paid by the vendor, right-click on any credit from the Credit List View and select the Mark as Paid option. This changes the status of the credit to Paid and deducts the payment from the vendor balance.
The Job Purchasing List allows you to view all items that need to be purchased before completing upcoming jobs. All items on the Job Purchasing List are linked to the jobs associated with them. This allows you to view a listing of all items to be purchased for all jobs without having to go through each individual job to determine what items need to be ordered.
For an item to be added to the Job Purchasing List, the item must first be marked for purchasing on the job record itself. This is accomplished by opening the job records directly and opening each item in the Invoice Charges tab individually.
When adding an item to a job, click on the Add Item to PO checkbox to add the item to the Job Purchasing List. This lets ServiceLedger know that the item needs to be purchased. Please see the Service section of the documentation for more information on adding items to jobs.
Once the item has been added to the job, it will display on the Job Purchasing List. To open the list, click on Payables > Job Purchasing from the main menu.
The Job Purchasing List will allow you to view all items that need to be ordered. You can search for items that need to be purchased by Job #, Account #, Vendor #, Vendor Name, or Item #.
To order the items on the list:
1. Select the items to be purchased by clicking the checkbox in the leftmost column.
2. Specify the desired vendor for all checked items using the Vendor # or Vendor Name dropdown. If the item has a preferred vendor set up on the item window, these fields will already be filled in. Even if they are filled, you can choose another vendor if desired.
3. Click the Generate PO button to generate the purchase orders for the items. All items for the same vendor will be placed on a single purchase order together.
If an item does not have a preferred vendor, the vendor columns will be blank, and you will need to specify a vendor (step 2 above) before you can order the item.
You can print all generated purchase orders by clicking on Batching > Purchasing & Inventory >Batch Print Purchase orders to print all of the purchase orders at once.
The Automatic Purchasing List is a powerful tool to allow you to automatically generate purchase orders when an item falls below a minimum quantity or if you have a negative quantity of any item. To use this, you must first specify the item to be set up for automatic reorder, minimum quantity and reorder quantity when the quantity falls below the minimum quantity. Even if you do not set up items for automatic reorder, you can use this feature for items with a negative quantity if the item is set up for inventory tracking. For more information on creating and editing items, see the Items section above.
To open the Automatic Purchasing List, click on Payables > Automatic Purchasing from the main menu.
The list will display all items that need to be ordered based upon the minimum quantity, reorder quantity, or negative quantities. From the Automatic Purchasing List window you can specify a vendor, adjust the amount and cost of the item to be ordered, and select what items you want to purchase. You have the ability to select only the items you want to be reordered, leaving the other items in the window for later.
To select an item, click on the checkbox to the far left of the window. In order to make modifications, click once on each field to select it, and enter the appropriate information. Double-clicking anywhere on the item row will open the Item window, allowing you to make other changes to that item’s properties.
The footer of the Automatic Purchasing List window features the Check All checkbox, which is useful if you plan on reordering all items listed. The Consider Main Location Only checkbox causes ServiceLedger to only list items that have fallen below the minimum quantity in the main location’s inventory only; the inventory levels of those items located in other locations will be ignored.
When you have completed the task of selecting the items to be ordered and defined a vendor and cost for the item, you can click on the Generate Purchase Order button to generate purchase orders for the items.
Important Note: Work orders cannot be closed if they have any open purchase orders linked to them.
You can print all generated purchase orders by clicking on Batching > Purchasing & Inventory >Batch Print Purchase orders to print all of the purchase orders at once.
If you keep track of which purchase orders have been issued by whether they’ve been printed or not, you can print and mark all new purchase orders as issued using the Batch Print Purchase Orders window.
The window contains a list of all purchase orders that have not yet been printed and a button to print the listed purchase orders.
Once you print the purchase orders, a confirmation dialog will appear to confirm that the purchase orders were printed successfully; if so, all listed purchase orders will be marked as printed and have their status changed to Issued.
The receivables section contains tools that help you manage the invoices, credit memos, and payments you send to and receive from your customers. Additionally, you can run aging reports and statements for customers as well as take advantage of several advanced options in ServiceLedger, including Recurring Invoicing, Batch Job Invoicing, and Batch Invoice Posting.
Invoices are the documents you send to your customers indicating the products or services you have sold them and soliciting payment for those products and services. Sometimes invoices are just the formal document that backs up an informal transaction, such as cash paid on site during a service call. Any time you collect money from a customer, you will need to create an invoice in ServiceLedger.
To access the Invoices list, go to Receivables > Invoices from the main menu.
To create a new invoice, click
on the Add New Record
button at the top of the Invoices list.
Although ServiceLedger allows you to create and edit invoices directly, you will generally not have to do so. Posting jobs will automatically generate an invoice for the line items listed on the job. ServiceLedger recommends you post jobs to create invoices. If you do need to edit an invoice that has already been created, or you wish to create an invoice directly without an associated job, the Invoice window will allow you to do so.
· Bill to Acct – the Bill to Account field specifies the customer that will be receiving the invoice.
· Service Site – the Service Site field shows the specific site where work was completed.
· Pmt. Terms – the Payment Terms fields specifies the payment arrangements for the invoice.
· WO –the Work Order field is automatically filled in by ServiceLedger if the invoice is generated by a completed job. If the field is populated, you will be able to click on it to go directly to that work order’s record.
· Invoice Date –the date the invoice was created.
· Due Date – the invoice due date is specified by you based on your established payment terms.
· Status – the Status field cannot be directly modified; until posted, the status will remain Open.
· Class – this field can be populated based upon the classes defined by you previously.
· Close Date – this field is automatically populated by ServiceLedger when the invoice is posted.
· Paid Date – this field indicates when you received payment for the invoice.
The Details tab is the first tab you will see when opening an invoice or creating a new one. This tab contains detailed information regarding different aspects of the invoice.
· Inv. Type – the Invoice Type field allows you to categorize the type of transaction for which the invoice was issued. You can choose a type from the dropdown list, or you can create a new one by clicking directly on the “Inv. Type” text.
· Project – this field allows you to associate the invoice with a project that has already been created. See the Projects section for information on creating projects.
· Sales Rep. – if a particular sales representative is associated with the job and/or associated invoice, you can specify that person in this dropdown field.
· PO Number – this field is automatically populated by ServiceLedger lists the purchase order associated with the invoice if one exists. You are not able to directly edit this field.
· Invoice Message – this text field allows you to directly enter information that will be displayed on the printed invoice. This might include information about how to make a payment, a simply thank-you message, or any other information the customer should know about the transaction. All text in the Invoice Message field will display in the bottom left corner of the printed invoice.
The lower half of the details tab displays information about the line items on the invoice.
If you are directly entering a new invoice into this window, you can click on the Add Invoice Item button to add a new line item to the invoice. The Remove button will remove selected line items, and the arrows to the right allow you to reorder how items appear on the invoice.
Trip Charge – if technician trip charges are directly billed to customers, the trip charge will appear in this field. See the Using Trip Charges section for more information.
In this area of the window you will also see fields for adding sales tax at rates you have previously defined, and ServiceLedger can also apply the Canadian General Sales Tax to orders if necessary. The footer of the Invoices window displays the total invoice amount, the remaining balance on the invoice, as well as the close date if the invoice has already been closed.
This tab lists any existing payments that have been applied to the invoice.
This field allows you to enter any internal notes relevant to the invoice. Unlike the Invoice Message field on the Details tab, text in the Invoice Notes tab will only be seen by ServiceLedger users.
Invoices can be created manually from the Customer window, the Invoice list, or more commonly via one of several automated methods.
An invoice can be generated from an existing estimate by simply converting the estimate into an invoice. When you convert an estimate into an invoice, you are bypassing the conversion of the estimate to a job and invoicing the customer for the items listed on the estimate.
Important Note: You should only convert estimates to invoices if you have no need to create a job and schedule for any work on the estimate.
To convert an estimate into an invoice, open the estimate record (Service > Estimates), click the Actions dropdown menu in the top right-hand corner of the window and select Create Invoice.
You have several options on jobs to invoice in phases or to invoice when the job is closed. The benefit of phase invoicing is that you can keep the job open for additional scheduling, invoice charges, etc., and allow each job to create multiple invoices. When you close a job, it will create a final invoice and you will no longer be able to schedule, add, or modify additional invoice charges on the job.
To create a progress invoice in ServiceLedger, open any job via the Job List, click on the Invoice Charges tab and click on the Create Progress Invoice button.
Next, select the items you want to invoice, and click the Create button to create the progress invoice.
· x – this columns allows you to select which line items you need invoiced by checking or unchecking the box.
· From Equipment – any line items related to equipment will list the relevant equipment record here.
· From Task – if the work order contains task items, the task from which they came will be listed in this field.
· Complete – this box will be checked for tasks that are complete.
ServiceLedger will automatically create invoices when you post jobs. If you have created any progress invoices, it will skip those items previously invoiced and only add to the final bill items that you have not yet invoiced.
Click on the Post button from the job record to post the job and create the final invoice for the job.
All of your contract invoices should be generally handled via Contract Invoicing. However, from time to time you may want to invoice directly from the contract record. For instance, you may need to add coverage or options to a contract and create a one-time invoice for the additional coverage or options.
You have the option to create an invoice for additional coverage for a contract. This is useful if you are adding options or coverage to the contract and need to invoice the customer for the additional options or coverage.
An invoice in ServiceLedger is not considered final until it is posted. By default, ServiceLedger posts all automated invoices created from estimates, jobs, or contracts. However, custom options allow you to turn off posting of invoices. Typically, you only want to post invoices when you consider them final. While you can still change un-posted invoices, any posted invoice can no longer be modified.
ServiceLedger offers a Batch Invoice Posting list that allows you to view all invoices that are currently open and un-posted. From this list you can post all or some of the invoices with a click of a button.
You can print invoices by clicking on the Print button from the Invoice window or clicking on Batching > Invoic from the main menu.
If you require a custom invoice design, ServiceLedger can help you with customizing your invoices; contact ServiceLedger for an estimate on customizing your invoice form. ServiceLedger can also provide instructions on how to print custom invoices you have designed in Crystal Reports Professional instead of the generic invoice ServiceLedger provides.
A Credit Memo is basically a negative invoice. When you create a credit memo for a customer in ServiceLedger, you are creating an invoice and flagging it as a credit memo with a negative amount. Click on Receivables > Credit Memos to add a credit memo.
1. Inv. Type – from this field, choose Credit Memo from the dropdown if it is not already selected.
2. Add Invoice Item – click on this button to open the Add Invoice Charge window. When adding an item for a credit memo, be sure its quantity is negative.
3. Post – after adding your invoice line items, click Post at the top of the window to complete the credit memo.
When you post a credit memo, a window with a dropdown field will appear. (To post the memo, click the Post button at the top of the Credit Memo window.)
Click Okay to process the credit memo. A new payment of type Credit Memo will be created and opened for you to apply to existing invoices.
Once you’re done applying the credit, you can save and close the credit payment, which will complete the credit memo. See the Payments section below for more information about the Payments window.
ServiceLedger allows you to enter payments on invoices so that you can accurately track your aging from the customer record for each customer.
To record a payment, click on Receivables
> Payments from the main menu and click on the Add New
Record button to add a new payment in ServiceLedger.
· Account – the account of the customer making the payment.
· Amount – the amount of the payment.
· Unapplied – the amount not yet paid on the invoice.
· Date – the date of the payment.
· Status – the status of the payment, either applied or unapplied.
· Method – how the payment was made.
· Check # –if payment was made with a check, the check number can be recorded here.
· Credit Card # – if payment was made with a credit card, the last four digits of the card can be entered here.
The Details tab lists all invoices that have not yet been fully paid. The right-hand side of the Details tab shows the invoices and amounts for payments that have already been applied to the account.
The Notes tab allows you to enter any notes pertinent to the payment; only ServiceLedger users can view these notes. Click Add Note to stamp the user, date, and time, then begin typing.
Select the invoice to be paid and click the Apply button to apply the payment to the invoice. You can apply payment against one invoice or multiple invoices. The Unapplied balance will remain and the Status will remain Unapplied until the full payment has been applied.
Recurring invoices are all of the invoices you create from your service contracts or recurring invoicing contracts in ServiceLedger. This feature allows you to batch all of your recurring invoicing and create invoices for each contract with one click of a button. This important time saving step is preferred over individually creating invoices from each contract record.
Click on Batching > Invoicing & Receivables > Contract Invoicing to open the Contract Invoicing window.
· Month / Year – in these fields you can enter the month and year for which you wish to run recurring invoices.
· Print Preview – clicking on this button will generate the Recurring Billing Report, which shows the unprocessed accounts displayed in the Batch Recurring Services/Contract Invoices window.
· Process – clicking this button generates invoices for all the unprocessed account contracts listed in the window.
If you deal with a large number of jobs, it can be easier to post many completed jobs in one batch and have them generate their invoices automatically rather than posting them individually. To batch invoice your jobs, choose Batching > Service/Projects > Batch Job Posting in the folder list.
Important Note: Before processing any large batch in ServiceLedger, it’s always a good idea to back up your database first in case you make a mistake. If you have a backup available, undoing the damage is as simple as clicking Restore.
The batch job invoicing window shows all jobs that have been completed but not yet invoiced.
1. Select the jobs you want to post either by individually checking each job under the Post column.
2. Click the Process at the top of the window to post all selected jobs.
3. As each job is posted, an invoice will be created for all items on the job that have not yet been invoiced.
Batch Invoicing is a powerful feature of ServiceLedger that allows you to consolidate multiple jobs for the same customer into a single invoice.
Important Note: If you need to use this feature, it is important to note that all job invoicing when the job is posted will be turned off, and you must use the Batch Job Invoicing screen to process all invoices for closed jobs. ServiceLedger will not create invoices when jobs are posted using this feature.
To turn the Batch Job Invoicing feature, click on Administration > Administration from the main menu to open the Administration window. Select the Global Preferences tab.
1. Find the work_order.batch_invoice_closed_work_orders variable, change the value from 0 to 1, then click the Save button in the top left corner.
2. Find the work_order.posting_creates_invoice variable, change the value from 1 to 0, then click the Save button in the top left corner.
Important Note: If you wish to turn off the Batch Job Posting feature, manually reset the two variables to their original values.
When you have changed the variable values, click on Batching > Invoicing/Receivables > Batch Job Invoicing to open the Batch Job Invoicing window.
The window will display all posted jobs that have not yet been invoiced.
· Start Date Range – the Batch Job Invoicing window allows you to specify a specific period of time from which you will select jobs that need to be invoiced. Enter the beginning of that range here.
· End Date Range – this is the end date of the time period from which you will be selecting jobs that need to be invoiced.
· X column – the checkboxes in this column allow you to select the specific records you wish to invoice.
· Process – when clicked, this button processes all jobs and creates a single invoice for each customer.
If you generate large numbers of invoices, it is often easier to simply create them and delay posting until a later date, at which time you can post all the invoices at once. Another good reason to leave invoices open and post later is if they must be reviewed before being passed on to your accounting software.
You can post large numbers of open invoices quickly by using the batch invoice posting window, which can be reach by choosing Batching > Invoicing/Receivables > Batch Invoice Posting in the main menu.
The batch invoice posting window shows you all invoices that have not yet been posted, i.e., all open invoices.
1. Select the invoices you would like to post by checking the boxes in the Post column.
2. To post the selected invoices, click the Process button in the top left corner of the window.
Important Note: Before processing any large batch in ServiceLedger, it is always a good idea to first back up your database in case you make a mistake. If you have a backup available, undoing the damage is as simple as clicking Restore.
If your business operates by mailing physical invoices to your customers, the Batch Print Invoices tool makes it easy to print all invoices that have not yet been printed. To access this feature, go to Batching > Invoicing & Receivables > Batch Print Invoices.
The Batch Print Invoices window will show all invoices with a Paid or Closed status that have not yet been printed, allowing you to print them in one batch. This can be a significant time savings, as you will no longer need to individually print each invoice you post.
To print all invoices in the list, just click the Print button.
The following sections contain general reference information for features or ideas that aren’t explicitly listed as standard features or aren’t part of the software at all. The following features are discussed:
· Appendix A: Using and Understanding Change History
· Appendix B: Using Attachments in ServiceLedger
· Appendix C: Using Custom Fields
· Appendix D: Setting up automatic email via Outlook Express
· Appendix E: SLXML Reference
Please see the following sections for more information about these features.
Whenever a change that is tracked is saved, the date, time, and user making the change are recorded. In addition, the old value and new value are available with each change. Every time you save a record, each and every field you changed are saved to this history.
Due to the very large number of changes accumulated over time, the change history is itself too big to directly view. Filtered pieces of it can be called up from at least 3 different places :
1. The
history button 
on most records’
toolbar shows an easy to read summary of the history of that record.
2. Pressing Ctrl-Shift-L on any record window will show the advanced change history for that record.
3. The History tab in the administration window allows you to search all history for a specific word or number.
The history button in the toolbar of most records can be used to get a quick, easy to read list of changes to that record. This window is organized into change sets (one for each time the record is saved) that list the changes that were introduced in that set, including an initial change set for when the record is created.
The Right and Down arrow buttons can be used to reorganize the change sets in either sequential or reverse date order, allowing you to see either the most recent changes first or the changes in the order they were made. The rightmost button opens the advanced change history for the record.
The advanced change history window can be reached from the basic change history window, or by pressing Ctrl-Shift-L on a record.
Not all fields that you can see in this window will be immediately useful; for instance, any field ending in id will contain a special number that does NOT represent the IDs you’re used to working with in ServiceLedger. Several columns, however, such as city, contact, request, email, and so on, should be self-explanatory and may be useful.
If you need assistance with change history due to a specific support issue, ServiceLedger’s support staff will be happy to work with you or for you in using the complex details of the change history to resolve it.
The Administration window has a tab which allows you to search the entire change log for specific information. This search is very time-consuming and should only be used when other methods of finding change history are not available.
After clicking search, the window will show a list of matching changes.
Over time, the information saved to provide change history can become extremely large, often completely overwhelming the amount of space you’ve devoted to your business records and any attachments. This generally does not affect ServiceLedger’s performance in any adverse way, (except when searching through changes,) but can increase backup sizes drastically.
ServiceLedger previously provided a way to trim the change log periodically so that it only includes information from the last six months via the history_maintenance update code. However, changes to the format of the change log introduced in ServiceLedger 2011 have significantly reduced the amount of space taken up by the log. In addition, recent versions of ServiceLedger automatically remove any history that is more than 365 days old, further reducing storage requirements.
At this time, there is no reason to and no way to trim the change log in ServiceLedger. If you believe your change log may have grown too large, contact ServiceLedger support for assistance.
From this window, you can click the Add button to add a new attachment to the system, or Delete to remove an attachment. The small Save and Cancel buttons are used to save notes, not the actual attached file. The Save As… button can be used to save a copy of an attached file to your local computer, or you can double-click an attached file to open a temporary copy.
ServiceLedger stores attachments in a separate filegroup in your database, so attaching files will not cause performance issues with the main ServiecLedger database. However, attaching large numbers of very large files can cause database backups to grow (as they include all attachments) and can accelerate the need to upgrade to a full version of Microsoft SQL Server. For this reason, ServiceLedger also offers an alternate attachment system that causes attachment links to simply refer to a file in the filesystem rather than store the file directly. Contact ServiceLedger or check our knowledge base for more information about this alternate attachment system.
· The Custom tab, which you will find on most records
· User-defined Custom Fields, which can be set up on any record
The fields available on the Custom tab of most records are built-in and, although they can be renamed, will always be referred to as Custom 1, Custom 2, and so on in the database, and with few exceptions can only contain generic text. You can enter data into these fields without any prior setup required, and can double-click the names of the fields to adjust the field names.
Although you are welcome to use these fields, we generally recommend that you contact us to set up user-defined custom fields if needed, as they offer greater flexibility and are easier to generate reports for.
Most records can be set up to accept user-defined custom fields. These fields can be defined and entered by clicking the Custom Fields button on a record’s toolbar.
From within this window, you can click on the Add field… link in the top right corner to define new fields. New custom fields can be any of several types, and are given names in the database similar to the names you enter when adding the field. The following field types are supported:
· String – A short amount of text
· Memo – Several lines of text
· Integer – Whole numbers only
· Decimal – Decimal numbers only
· Currency – Decimal numbers only; treated as currency
· Percent – Percentages; internally stored as a decimal between 0 and 1
· Datetime – Generally dates; times can be entered by using the right arrow key
· Lookup – Pre-defined list; you can edit the list using the blue link once the field is created
· Checkbox – Can be checked or unchecked
Please contact us for free assistance in setting up user-defined custom fields.
This appendix covers the steps necessary to have ServiceLedger automatically send emails via outlook express on an unattended computer. While ServiceLedger generally recommends using SMTP to send automated email, Outlook Express or Windows Mail can be used as well, in case access to an SMTP server is unavailable.
ServiceLedger can be configured to send automated email in response to certain events, such as the creation or scheduling of a work order, or when an estimate is posted, and so on.
These automated emails can be sent via either SMTP or MAPI based on the mail settings available in the Defaults window. When using MAPI to send mail, ServiceLedger coordinates with your mail client to send the mail, while with SMTP, ServiceLedger communicates directly with the mail server.
We generally recommend that you use SMTP to send automated mail. SMTP sends mail faster, uses fewer resources, and is less error-prone. However, it is possible to send via MAPI if desired. Many mail clients, including Microsoft Outlook, will prompt the user to allow each individual message ServiceLedger tries to send. Obviously, this behavior is not appropriate for a server that sends dozens or hundreds of messages automatically. Outlook Express and Windows Mail can be configured to send messages automatically without permission from the user, and are thus recommended for sending automatic mail via MAPI. This guide covers how to configure Outlook Express—the steps for Windows Mail are similar.
The following directions provide a step by step guide to configuring Outlook Express to send messages automatically.
Before you can start sending out notifications, you will need to choose a computer to send the mail, and set ServiceLedger’s email options up so that this computer will be able to send emails automatically. The most common setup is described below.
Usually, the easiest way to send out automatic email notifications is to configure Outlook Express as the default email client on your notification machine and allow it to automatically send out email notifications without intervention on your part.
The first part of this—setting up Outlook Express as the default email client—can be done from the Internet Options control panel. Depending on your windows version, you can do this either directly in the Programs tab, or by clicking the Set Programs button from within the Programs Tab. Screenshots for Windows XP and Windows 7 are provided below.
Open the Internet Options control panel, then change the dropdown labeled “E-mail:” in the Programs tab.
First, open the Internet Options control panel.
Then, click on the Set Programs button.
This will show the Default Programs dialog. Click on “Set you default programs”.
And finally, choose Windows Mail and click “Set this program as default”.
Now, you’ll need to configure Outlook Express to, at a minimum, reach your SMTP server in order to send email. Usually, you’ll want to set it up with access to an email inbox as well, even if you won’t actually use it to receive mail. This is done under Tools -> Accounts. You will need to know your POP3/IMAP and your SMTP server in order to set up a customer—ServiceLedger does not know and cannot provide these values for you. There are an abundance of articles available on the internet that can provide assistance with setting up email customers. If you’re having trouble, please contact your network administrator or Internet Service Provider for extra instructions.
Once you’ve configured Outlook Express to send and receive mail, (we recommend you verify that it can send mail by sending yourself a test message,) you should set it up to allow other programs, like ServiceLedger, to send messages automatically. This can be found under Tools -> Options, in the Security tab. In order to allow this, you’ll need to make sure the Warn me when other applications try to send mail as me checkbox is NOT checked.
Finally, you’ll need to configure ServiceLedger to use your default MAPI client (Outlook Express) to send email. This can be done in the Email Setup tab of the Defaults window, under Administration -> Defaults. The appropriate choice for Outlook Express is MAPI with other mail clients.
Once this is done, you can test that ServiceLedger is able to send mail via Outlook by going to Help -> Email ServiceLedger Sales, then changing the To: address to your own address and trying to send a test message. If everything is configured properly, once you hit Send in ServiceLedger’s mail window, Outlook Express will automatically place the message in your outbox and send it within a few minutes.
At no point in this process should you see Outlook Express ask whether it’s alright to send the message or show the message in a Compose window.
ServiceLedger processes commands (and can be integrated with and automated) using a special language called the ServiceLedger Extensible Markup Language (SLXML), which is a specific set of general XML tags and attributes.
ServiceLedger does not provide a full reference to this language, but some simple examples are below.
The basic structure of an SLXML document is as follows:
· A document root tag: <slxml>
· A single request or response tag: <slrequest> or <slresponse>
· The object commands or responses that compose the reqest or response
When saved, SLXML files are generally named ServiceLedger Automation Files (SAF), which contain requests, and ServiceLedger Automation Responses (SAR), which are automatically created by ServiceLedger in response to an SAF and contain the responses. This request/response cycle can also take place through ServiceLedger's automation DLL, which is registered as a COM server on install.
Individual object tags in a request will typically contain:
· The tag name representing the object that should take action
· An optional id attribute that uniquely identifies the request
· An action, such as locate, add, or delete
· Additional attributes that may be required to carry out the action
· If necessary, a dataset attribute that specifies which dataset to work with
· Child tags which correspond with field names within the dataset
Each object defines its own applicable actions; however, most support the following basic set:
· locate – locates a record based on its id
· add – adds a new record to the selected or default dataset
· modify – modifies the current record in the selected or default dataset
· delete – deletes the current record in the selected or default dataset
· save – saves the current record in the selected or default dataset
· close – closes the window associated with the object
· reconcile – a combination of locate, modify, and save in a single request object
Chains of command objects can be used to create detailed records, such as work orders with line items or tasks attached.
With the above knowledge, let's look at an example SAF which locates and adds a line item to a job:
<slxml>
<slrequest session_space="example">
<ticket id="10" action="locate"
ticket_id="39"/>
<ticket id="20" action="add"
dataset="ticket_item">
<item_id>163</item_id>
<description>This item was added
automatically</description>
</ticket>
<ticket id="30" action="save">
</slrequest>
</slxml>
Important Note: The ticket_id attribute and item_id field in the example above refer to records' internal ID fields, and NOT to the "ID" or "#" fields shown in the application. For example, the item with id 163 might have a part number of "Labor", or "F1A973 (OEM)", and so on. The fields ServiceLedger's user interface typically calls "ID" or "#" is generally named with the suffix "_number" instead of "_id".
The automation file above might generate the following response. Note that each object in the request tag is matched by the same object again in the response tag, although the attributes have changed.
<slxml>
<slresponse>
<ticket id="10" status="ok"
result="39"/>
<ticket id="20" status="ok"
result="1974"/>
<ticket id="30" status="ok"
result="39"/>
</slresponse>
</slxml>
Note that the results correspond with the internal _id fields of the objects or datasets that were involved. For instance, request 10 indicates that it successfully located the job with ticket_id 39, and request 30 indicates that it successfully saved the job with ticket_id 39. Requset 20 in the middle indicates that the new record has ticket_item_id 1974.
The above provides a basic introduction; however, a full explanation of SLXML is beyond the scope of this reference at this time. ServiceLedger provides paid development training and assistance to customers interested in working with the SLXML dispatch system to integrate with other applications or import data.
The following examples can be used with the import/export window and assume that the fields surrounded by colons (e.g. :BILL COMPANY:, :ADDRESS:, etc.) correlate with fields in the data source. For actual SLXML to be executed, these are replaced by the values from the data source, resulting in valid SLXML.
Ex 1:
<client action='reconcile' id=':increment_id:' visible='true' automated='true' filter='client_number = ':uppercase(:CUSTOMER ID:)''>
<name>:uppercase(:BILL COMPANY:) :uppercase(:BILL FIRST NAME:) :uppercase(:BILL LAST NAME:)</name>
<client_number>:uppercase(:CUSTOMER ID:)</client_number>
<address_1>:BILL ADDRESS:</address_1>
<address_2>:BILL ADDRESS 2:</address_2>
<city>:BILL CITY:</city>
<state_province_id>:BILL STATE:</state_province_id>
<postal>:BILL ZIP:</postal>
<phone_1>:BILL PHONE:</phone_1>
<contact_name>:uppercase(:BILL First Name:) :uppercase(:BILL Last Name:)</contact_name>
<custom_21>:BILL FIRST NAME:</custom_21>
<custom_22>:BILL LAST NAME:</custom_22>
</client>
Ex 2:
<client action='reconcile' id=':increment_id:' visible='true' automated='true' filter='client_number = ':CUSTNUM:''>
<name>:NAME:</name>
<client_number>:CUSTNUM:</client_number>
<address_1>:ADDRESS:</address_1>
<city>:CITY:</city>
<state_province_id>:PROVINCE:</state_province_id>
<postal>:POSTALCODE:</postal>
<phone_1>:TELEPHONE:</phone_1>
<contact_name>:FIRSTNAME: :LASTNAME:</contact_name>
<custom_24>:lastname:</custom_24>
<custom_23>:firstname:</custom_23>
<custom_22>:salesrep:</custom_22>
<custom_21>:inspcost:</custom_21>
<custom_20>:filter:</custom_20>
<custom_19>:instdate:</custom_19>
<custom_18>:monitored:</custom_18>
<custom_17>:downloaded:</custom_17>
<custom_16>:labwardate:</custom_16>
<custom_15>:equwardate:</custom_15>
<custom_14>:sysnum:</custom_14>
<custom_13>:systemmake:</custom_13>
<custom_12>:extzones:</custom_12>
<custom_11>:intzones:</custom_11>
<custom_10>:entdelay:</custom_10>
<custom_9>:extdelay:</custom_9>
<custom_8>:custnum:</custom_8>
<custom_7>:name:</custom_7>
<custom_6>:passcode:</custom_6>
<custom_note_1>:LOC:</custom_note_1>
<custom_5>:poldep:</custom_5>
<custom_4>:polphone:</custom_4>
<custom_3>:firdep:</custom_3>
<custom_2>:firphone:</custom_2>
<custom_1>:srcphone:</custom_1>
</client>
Ex 3:
<client action='reconcile' id=':increment_id:' visible='true' automated='true' filter='client_number = 'BBT1-:CUST ID:''>
<client_number>BBT1-:CUST ID:</client_number>
<address_1>:ADDRESS:</address_1>
<address_2>:ADDRESS2:</address_2>
<city>:CITY:</city>
<state_province_id>:STATE:</state_province_id>
<postal>:ZIP:</postal>
<phone_1>:PHONE:</phone_1>
<fax_1>:PHONE:</fax_1>
<contact_name>:CONTACT:</contact_name>
</client>
Ex 4:
<client action='reconcile' id=':increment_id:' visible='true' automated='true' filter='name = ':sqlencode(:uppercase(:First Name:)) :sqlencode(:uppercase(:Last Name:)) :sqlencode(:uppercase(:COMPANY:))''>
<name>:uppercase(:First Name:) :uppercase(:Last Name:) :uppercase(:COMPANY:)</name>
<client_number>:uppercase(:First Name:) :uppercase(:Last Name:) :uppercase(:COMPANY:)</client_number>
<address_1>:HOME ADDRESS:</address_1>
<city>:HOME CITY:.</city>
<state_province_id>:HOME STATE:.</state_province_id>
<postal>:HOME ZIP CODE:.</postal>
<phone_1>:HOME PHONE:</phone_1>
<phone_2>:jobRK PHONE:</phone_2>
<fax_1>:HOME FAX:</fax_1>
<contact_name>:uppercase(:First Name:) :uppercase(:Last Name:)</contact_name>
<notes>:NOTES:</notes>
</client>
<contract action='reconcile' id=':increment_id:' visible='true' automated='true' filter='contract_number = ':maccountnu:''>
<contract_number>:maccountnu:</contract_number>
<client_id>:client_id:</client_id>
<item_id>6</item_id>
<amount>:monitprice:</amount>
<frequency_id>:frequency_id:</frequency_id>
<start_month>:start_month:</start_month>
<start_year>:start_year:</start_year>
<status_id>1</status_id>
<custom_1>:moncondit:</custom_1>
<custom_2>:monordernu:</custom_2>
<custom_3>:montype:</custom_3>
<custom_4>:monincreas:</custom_4>
<custom_5>:monindate:</custom_5>
<custom_6>:po:</custom_6>
<custom_7>:paybasis:</custom_7>
<custom_8>:pcn:</custom_8>
<cycles_total>:cycles:</cycles_total>
</contract>
<item action='reconcile' id=':increment_id:' visible='true' automated='true' filter='item_number = ':ITEMID:''>
<item_number>:ITEMID:</item_number>
<description>:DESC:</description>
<price>:PRICE:</price>
<cost>:COST:</cost>
</item>
ServiceLedger can be hired to create, or work with you to create, additional import maps. If you are interested in learning more about our import system, please contact our sales team to discuss setting up a development training session.