Document Programs
Contents
The Document programs are the central entry point for most business transactions on a daily basis. This collection of tools allows you to enter, group, copy, multi post and query these documents.
Document Entry
Document Entry is the main Service Manager program. With this program you can enter or view
•Jobs
•Sales
•Quotations
•Templates
•Site Agreements
•Meter Agreements
•Warranty Agreements
•Historic Jobs
•Recurring Jobs
These are collectively termed Documents.
Document Types
Jobs
Jobs are the primary type of Documents most businesses will use when working in Service Manager. Jobs can be Standard, Recurring, or Work in Progress (WIP) documents, and can include Response Tracking, Commission Tracking and Budgets, as well as various other options.
Sales
Service Manager provides a quick and easy method to sell Services and Items without having to create a Job.
Quotations
Quotations allow you to generate entire Documents without affecting inventory levels or financial details. Quotations can be copied to Sales Orders or Jobs once accepted by a customer. Using the Sage 300 Print Destination options, Quotations may be faxed or emailed directly to Customers.
Templates
Templates allow you to set up base Documents that can be used to create other Documents quickly. You can also selectively load Billing Groups from Templates into Documents.
Agreements
Site Agreements are Contracts sold to Customers in advance. They allow you to cover Services or Items that may be billed to Jobs covered by an Agreement during the term of that Agreement. i.e., the Customer will not be charged for the Services or Items provided, effectively having prepaid for them when purchasing the Agreement in advance.
Meter Agreements can be used to process the automatic billing of Meter readings. Meters are often read on a recurring basis, and the Meter Document is processed based on the meter values logged at the time of reading. Service and Item detail lines on a Meter Agreement can be set up to allow for many different types of calculations based on the usage or reading value. These can then be used to raise an Invoice document based on these calculations.
A Warranty Agreement is a "service agency" agreement that you have with Manufacturers or Vendors. Warranty Agreements cover Equipment only and can be used to maintain claims to the Manufacturer of the Equipment for service work and parts used to repair the Equipment covered under Manufacturer warranty.
Document Tree
Documents are maintained in an explicit hierarchical tree structure. This highly visual structure gives you a clear view of the contents of each Document and allows you to control the Service and Sales process effectively.
As each node in the tree is selected, more detailed information becomes available such as Customized Field Lists, Totals and Setup Options.
Several tools are available in Document Entry to find the information you require quickly to create new and maintain existing Documents.
Nodes that can be added to a Document to build the Document structure are:
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Header |
Each document contains a single header and many detail transactions. The Header contains global information for the Document such as Site and Customer details, Job Type, Description, Reference and Entry Details. Detailed document Totals are maintained at this level. |
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Phase |
A Phase groups related work processes together. Response tracking, Commission details, Budget information and Resources are assigned to Jobs at Phase level. Detailed Totals are also maintained at this level. |
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Assignment |
You may drag and drop Resources to the Document Header to assign the Resource to all Phases, or to a particular Phase to assign the Resource to that Phase only. |
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Equipment |
Equipment is added to a Phase. It is at this level that you specify the problems and faults associated with the Equipment. Warranty details and other information pertaining to the Equipment will be displayed. Equipment can be specific Site Equipment or simply Miscellaneous Equipment. Miscellaneous Equipment can be changed into Site Equipment when further details about the Equipment have been collected. The same Equipment can be added to the same Phase or more than one Phase. |
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Billing Group |
Billing Groups serve as a grouping mechanism for Services, Items, or Notations. Totals are also maintained at this level. Billing Groups allow you to prorate billing lines by either a proportion of Sell or Cost. Billing Groups can be applied to Phase or Equipment transactions. If applied to an Equipment record, the billing details contained in the group will be associated with that Equipment. This is an important concept to understand as it affects the way statistics and history are recorded. Templates can be used to load predefined Billing Groups directly into Documents. |
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Task Billing Group |
This represents a Task, i.e., one that has been inserted into a Job manually. |
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Maintenance Task Billing Group |
This represents a Task that has been inserted by the Service Manager Advanced Maintenance Add-On. |
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Service |
Services are attached to Billing Groups and allow you to bill non-inventory details such as Labor, Freight or Subcontractors. Services can be specified as Time Tracking services, Cost Only Services, Quantity based Services and can be set to allow Commission tracking or allow Agreement Cover. |
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Item |
Items are also attached to Billing Groups and allow you to bill Items directly from Sage 300 Inventory. |
Serial Number |
Items can be tracked by Serial Number. If, for example, you sell a Quantity of three (3) of a particular Item and track the Serial Numbers of those Items, each of the three Items will show under the Serial Numbers node. Related Topics Refer to the Inventory Items » Serial Nos. tab section in the Service Manager User Guide for additional information. |
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Lot Number |
Items can be tracked by Lot Number. If, for example, you select Items from two Lots, these two Lots will show under the Lot Numbers node. Related Topics Refer to the Inventory Items » Lots tab section in the Service Manager User Guide for additional information. |
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Purchase Requisition/ |
The Service Manager Purchase Orders Add-On enables direct integration of Service Manager with the Sage 300 Purchase Orders module. This integration enables you to generate Purchase Order Requisitions or Purchase Orders directly from within Service Manager Jobs, or from the Service Manager desktop using a program called Requisition Manager. The current status of a Requisition or Purchase Order in Service Manager is always visible in the Document tree and you can drill into the Requisition or Purchase Order at any time to view it in detail. |
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RA |
When a Customer wishes to return Equipment to you, or when you need to send Equipment to the Vendor/Manufacturer for repair or service, you can set up and issue an RA (Return Authorization), to track the movement of the Equipment. RAs can include Notations and Material Requests. |
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Time Entry |
Time entries can be created in Time Manager, Job Manager or Document Entry. In Document Entry they are visible on the Time tab. Time Entries can be retrieved into Documents to create Service records for billing or costing purposes. |
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Fault Registration |
When Equipment is added to a Job, it is possible to record (register) a Fault or many Faults against that Equipment. These entries are termed Fault Registrations and collectively form the basis for the Fault Analysis component of Service Manager. |
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Meter |
Equipment Meters are added to Meter Agreements. |
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Notation |
Notations allow you to specify unlimited comments to any of the above transaction types. |
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Notation Object |
You also have the ability to attach unlimited objects to Notations. These can be pointers to other files on your system such as word processing documents, spreadsheets, CAD files, HTML files, etc. Notations can contain email and Web URLs as well as Follow-Ups. Follow-Ups can be managed using the Monitor program. |
Projects
Projects can include a collection of Documents created in Service Manager, i.e., they can include Quotations, Jobs, Sales or Agreements.
Project Documents must be for the same Bill To Customer.
Projects include comprehensive budget and profit analysis from Phase and Document detail level to Totals for the entire Project.
Agreement Setup
The Agreement Setup program is used to maintain Site Agreements, Meter Agreements and Warranty Agreements. Agreements can also be maintained in Document Entry.
Copy Documents
Copy Documents allows you to create new documents from existing ones. You can copy Quotations to Jobs, Templates to Jobs, Jobs to Jobs, etc.
Customer and Equipment details may be changed during the copy function.
When copying Quotations, the Quotation can be used to form a Budget for the new Document being created.
Posting Schedules
The Posting Schedules program allows you to create or review Recurring Billing schedules for Documents in Service Manager.
This facility allows you to automate the Recurring Billing function and is especially useful when billing Agreements or similar Documents.
Criteria can be specified to select a range of Documents due for billing. The same criteria can be used to review existing schedules.
Multi Post Facility
The Multi Post program allows you to post in batch a range of Documents that are due for billing.
Criteria can be specified to select Documents due for billing.
Document Query
The Document Query program can be used to find Documents using specific filtering criteria.
You can then simply note the Documents found, or launch either Document Entry or Job Manager to maintain them.
Queries can be saved so they can be reused as standard filter mechanisms.
Posting Inquiry
The Posting Inquiry program allows you to view Invoices, Credit Notes and Cost Only posting generated from source Documents in Service Manager.
A Document can have multiple postings within it to allow for partial billing, backorder shipments, held items or services, or various other issues.
Adjust Pricing
The Adjust Pricing program allows you to adjust price or cost on billing lines in a Document.
Quick Document Entry
Quick Document Entry provides a quick and streamlined method of entering Jobs, Quotations and Sales Orders into Service Manager from a single form. It is not intended to replace Document Entry, which provides more comprehensive data input.
Request Manager
Request Manager is a call center style application that enables requests for break down service or preventative maintenance to be logged and then managed. With Request Manager, support staff can post Requests to Service Manager Jobs and manage both the Request and Job easily from a central point.
Requests can be entered directly into the Request Manager or they can be sourced from the optional Service Manager Customer Web Portal, which allows your Customers to use the Web to quickly log and monitor requests.