Generating a Maintenance Contract Quote

Generating a maintenance contract quote involves the following:

If the Customer or Location is inactive, while you can create a maintenance contract quote, you will not be able to create a new contract from the quote.

Inactive task codes and task lists are filtered out from displaying in any lookup and cannot be assigned to any new contract, equipment, or service call. If a task list has any inactive task codes, only the active task codes will be assigned.

When generating a maintenance contract quote that has a task list with inactive tasks, only the active task codes will be assigned to the contract quote. You can print a report before generating the quote by selecting Print > Quote Inactive Tasks which shows any inactive tasks or task lists on the contract quote. This report will automatically print after generating if there are any inactive tasks or task lists that were not added to the new contract quote.  See Setting up Maintenance Task Codes and Task Lists.

Step 1: Complete the Upper Half of the Contract Quote Window

1. Select Cards > Service Management > Service Manager.
2. Select a customer and select Quote.
3. Complete the following fields in the upper half of the window.
   • Quote Number
     If you chose during setup to use the auto numbering feature for maintenance contracts, this applies to contract quote generation as well. Both contract and quote numbers increment using the same list of numbers: they do not increment independently of one another. If the quote is turned into a contract, notes entered using the notepad button in this field transfer to the contract.
   • Billing Frequency, Invoice Billing Day
     These fields can be edited in this window and can also be changed when a maintenance contract is generated from the quote.
   • Service Call Day, Contract Start Date, Contract Expiration Date
     These dates will be used to generate the task schedule. The contract period cannot be longer than one year.
   • User-Defined
     These labels are the same as those in the Maintenance Contract window. You may have labeled these fields during setup. See Labeling user-defined fields . If you chose to validate the first and second user-defined fields in the Location window during setup, lookup windows will be attached to the fields and users will be prompted before adding to the lookup data. See Choosing Service Options .

Step 2: Attach Equipment to the Quote

1. Select the Coverage button to open the Quote Coverage window. Use this window to view all equipment and tasks covered by the maintenance contract quote. Items display by sublocation, equipment, task list, and task code. Component equipment records display indented. You assign equipment, tasks, and task lists to a maintenance contract quote from the Quote Coverage window.
2. Select the Equipment button to open the Quote Coverage Maintenance window.
3. Select an equipment record in the left scrolling window and select Insert >>. Even if a piece of equipment is covered by a maintenance contract, it can be inserted on one or more contract quotes. When you convert the quote to a contract, the equipment will then be on multiple contracts.

You can select to include task lists associated with equipment types and to include components when inserting equipment records on the quote by marking the appropriate checkboxes.

Mark the Display Equipment Components checkbox at the bottom of the window to view equipment component records. Component records appear indented under their has-components record.

To add a new equipment record to the location, select the Equipment button and then complete the Equipment window.

Step 3: Assign Tasks and Subtasks to the Quote

After equipment is attached to the quote, tasks and subtasks can be added to the quote.

1. Close the Quote Coverage Maintenance window to return to the Quote Coverage window.

2. Select Tasks to open the Quote Task Maintenance window. 

   Tasks may already be attached to the equipment if an equipment type with attached tasks was assigned to the piece of equipment.

3. Use the browse buttons in the Equipment field to select an equipment record or use the lookup to open the Quote Equipment window where you can use the Find button to locate an equipment record by serial number. Use the Quote Task List ID field to attach tasks to the quote using task lists.

4. Select Redisplay.

5. Add tasks and subtasks by selecting a record in the left scrolling window and choosing Insert >>. For more information on selecting tasks in the Quoted Task Maintenance window, see the section Using task code lookup. If you select a record in the Quote Coverage window before choosing the Tasks or Task Lists button, that information will default in the Quote Task Maintenance window and the Copy Task List window.

Step 4: Assign Task Lists to the Quote

You can assign a task list to a quote by creating a quote task list or by copying an existing task list. To learn how to create a quote task list, see Creating a Quote Task List. To copy an existing task list to a quote, see Copying a Quote Task List.

Step 5: Edit Tasks and Subtasks Attached to the Quote

1. In the Quote Task Maintenance window, select a record in the bottom scrolling window and zoom on the Task Code field to open the Quoted Tasks window.
2. You can determine if the task is required by marking the Required checkbox. The Required column will be disabled if the task is part of a quote task list that is controlling the frequency and suggested schedule.
3. You can edit the Schedule Date and Est. Hours for a task by selecting a field and making a new entry.
4. Select the Subtasks tab to view subtasks attached to the quoted task.
5. Select the Estimate tab to open the Quoted Tasks Estimate window where you can view the estimated costs, hours, and billable amounts for the quoted task. You can edit these amounts.

To define materials required for a quote task or sub-task, refer to the section below, then proceed to Enter the Estimated Costs for the Quote.

Defining Required Materials for Quote Tasks or Subtasks

When technicians go out on a maintenance task that may arise from a quote, they need to know what, if any, materials are required to do the job. You can specify which materials are required for tasks or subtasks. If task materials were pre-defined at the task code level, you would only need to define them at the quote level if an item is unique to this quote. For detailed instructions on defining required materials for tasks and subtasks, see Assigning Materials to a Task.

Step 6: Enter the Estimated Costs for the Quote

When you return to the Contract Quote window, the Task-Based Cost column is populated with the sum of the cost estimates of the assigned tasks.

A red asterisk next to any row indicates there is a difference between the task-based cost and hours, and the estimated cost and hours.

Costs must be manually entered in the Estimated Cost column. You can use the Task-Based Cost column as a guide when entering estimated costs. This allows you to adjust costs if necessary.

For instance, you could charge a customer a lower price if there were numerous identical tasks to be performed at a single location. This also allows you to preserve the initial estimated cost for use as a benchmark since these figures are not automatically updated as costs change. 

The numbers entered in the Estimated Costs column are used to calculate the billing for the quote.

When you generate a contract from the quote, the estimated costs are transferred to the Estimate and Forecast columns of the Revenue/Costs window, since they are initially the same.

Step 7: Calculate Billing for the Quote

Select the Calculate button in the Contract Quote window.

Billing amounts are automatically calculated and populate the Billing column when the Calculate button is selected. These amounts can be edited. If billing amounts were manually entered before selecting the Calculate button, they will be overridden.

The billing amounts are automatically calculated from the amounts entered in the Estimated Cost and Margin columns. The formula used is: billing = cost / (100 - margin) x 100, where 100 minus margin equals the available-to-spend percentage from the contract type. If a contract type is selected for the quote, and that contract type has an available-to-spend percentage for the cost category, that percentage will be used to calculate the billing amount.

The Margin column in the Contract Quote window displays the difference from 100 of the available-to-spend percentage. For example, if a quote was assigned a contract type of PREVENTIVE, and the Equipment available-to-spend percent is 20%, then 80% would be the margin amount.

Margin is a percentage and is calculated based on the following formula: (billing - cost) / billing x 100.

If no contract type is specified for the quote, the Calculate button will be disabled. If there is no available-to-spend percentage entered for a cost category in the Contract Type Costing Setup window, the billing amount cannot be automatically calculated.

If a billing amount is manually edited, then the margin is recalculated. However, the billing and margin amounts will be overridden if you select the Calculate button.

Step 8: Generate a Maintenance Contract from the Quote

1. Select the Contract button in the Contract Quote window to open the Generate Contract From Quote window.
2. Complete the following fields, as necessary.
   • Contract Number
     Enter the Contract Number to be generated.
   • Contract Start Date, Contract Expiration Date, Service Call Day
     These dates come from the Contract Quote window. You can change this information, but we recommend keeping the length of the contract the same as the length of the quoted contract. That is, if your quote was for a 12-month contract, the contract generated from the quote should be for a 12-month contract.
   • Division
     Enter a Division for the contract.
   • Delete Quote on Contract Generation
     Mark this checkbox if you want to delete the quote once the contract is generated.
   • Start Task Schedule based on first available service date
     Mark this checkbox if you want the maintenance tasks on a contract to be scheduled on the first available service call date, regardless of the task's schedule.
3. Select Generate New Contract. If the equipment attached to the quote is already attached to a contract, you will receive an error message indicating this. You must detach it from the contract before proceeding.
4. The Maintenance Contract window opens, where you can enter and edit contract information. Save the contract.

Step 9: Print the Contract Quote Reports

There are seven contract quote reports. Five reports are printed from the Contract Quote window by choosing the Print button. Two reports, Quote by Salesperson and Quote by Contract Type, are accessed from the Reports menu. 

• Quote Summary 1 - Quote Summary report
  Lists information from the Contract Quote window. The report includes the billing amount. 
• Quote Summary 2 - Quote Summary Report with Estimated Costs
  Lists information from the Contract Quote window, including billing amounts, estimated costs and hours, and task-based costs and hours.
• Quote Detail 1 - Quote Detail Schedule report
  Lists information from the Contract Quote window, as well as billing amounts and the equipment and tasks attached to the quote. 
• Quote Detail 2 - Quote Detail Report with Estimated Costs
  Lists information from the Contract Quote window, including billing amounts, estimated costs and hours, and task-based costs and hours. It also lists the equipment and tasks attached to the quote, as well as the cost estimates for the tasks.
• Quote Detail 3 - Quote Detail Report with Estimated Hours
  Lists information from the Contract Quote window, including billing amounts, estimated costs and hours, and task-based costs and hours. It also lists the equipment and tasks attached to the quote, as well as the estimated hours for the tasks.
• Quote by Salesperson report and the Quote by Contract Type report
  These reports are printed by choosing Reports > Service Management > Maintenance > Contract Quotes.

To print a contract quote report:

1. Enter a Start Date and an End Date for the report. All quotes with a date in this range will print.
2. Select to print the Quote by Salesperson report or the Quote by Contract Type report. If you select to print the report for an individual salesperson or contract type, complete the applicable field.
3. Select Print.