AMC contracts and what they cover
Each annual maintenance contract says which kinds of issue, sites and units it covers. It also says whether labour, parts, call-outs and after-hours work are free or billable. Every ticket is checked against it and marked Covered, Partly Covered or Billable. A team lead can override that with a reason.
PLANSFrom Growth
Why it matters
An AMC contractor loses money in the gap between the contract file and the job. The technician cannot tell whether this AC is under a comprehensive AMC or a labour-only one. Parts are given free that should be billed, or billed when the customer had paid for them. SmartMy Desk keeps the contract's cover in the system. It checks every ticket against it when raised: the customer, the dates, the kind of issue, the site and the unit. The ticket says Covered, Partly Covered or Billable before anyone leaves the office. Each line of time and parts follows the same rule. When a lead decides otherwise, the override needs a reason and stays in the ticket's history.
The problem it solves
- Contracts sit in a cupboard or a shared drive, and the desk cannot say what a customer is entitled to.
- Parts are given free on a labour-only AMC, or billed on a comprehensive one, and the customer disputes the invoice.
- After-hours call-outs are done for free because nobody checked that the contract excludes them.
- A contract expires and the team keeps working as if it were active.
- When someone waives a charge, there is no record of who decided and why.
How it works
- A Service Manager opens Helpdesk > Customers > Contracts, creates a contract with its title, Customer, Account Manager, Starts and Ends dates.
- In the Cover tab, choose what it covers: Issue Types Covered, Sites Covered and Equipment Covered. An empty field means all.
- Under Free of Charge, set Labour and Parts, and tick Call-outs Free and After-hours Work Free as agreed.
- Under Service Level choose its SLA Policy and Service Hours, and under Rates its discounts and markup. Write the conditions in Terms to keep them with it.
- Click Activate. From now on each ticket of the customer gets the contract that covers it and its Coverage: Covered, Partly Covered or Billable.
- Each line of time and parts is free or billable by the contract's rules. A call-out, after-hours work or a part beyond the free amount can be billed on a covered ticket.
- A team lead who decides differently clicks Override next to Coverage, chooses the coverage and gives a reason. Back to Contract Rules undoes it.
Everything it does
The contract
- Number (given by itself), title, Customer, Account Manager, Starts and Ends
- States: Draft, Active, Expired, Cancelled. Activate a draft; a contract whose end date has passed becomes Expired by itself the next day
- Cancel: its open tickets are checked again and lose its cover. Back to Draft for a cancelled contract
- Terms: the written conditions, kept on the contract
- Tickets button: the contract's tickets. Filter Ending in 30 Days in the list
- A contract belongs to one Entity and covers tickets of that Entity
What it covers
- Issue Types Covered: empty means every kind; sub-types are covered with their parent
- Sites Covered: empty means every site of the customer
- Equipment Covered: empty means every unit on the covered sites
- When several active contracts fit a ticket, the most specific wins: one that names sites, then units, then kinds of issue, then the newest
Free or billable
- Labour: Billable, Free (the default), or From Prepaid Hours
- Parts: Billable (the default), Free up to an Amount (the total cost of free parts over the whole contract), Listed Parts Free, or Free
- Call-outs Free: on to start with. After-hours Work Free: off to start with
- Covered: labour and all parts free. Partly Covered: some of it free. Billable: nothing free
- Without a contract, a ticket is Billable when its kind of issue is Billable by Default (on to start with)
- Internal requests, from employees or residents, are never covered and never billed
Rates and service level
- Labour Discount (%) and Parts Discount (%) on what is billed
- Markup on Bought Materials (%): -1 means use the customer's, the kind of issue's or the Entity's (15 % to start with)
- SLA Policy: wins over the general policies for the contract's tickets
- Service Hours: the working hours its targets count in; empty means the team's
Coverage on the ticket
- Worked out when the ticket is raised, and again when its customer, site, unit, kind of issue, contract or Entity changes
- Worked out again on open tickets when a contract is activated, cancelled or expires
- Override: team leads and above, with a reason; written in the ticket's history. An overridden ticket keeps its coverage until Back to Contract Rules
- Customers never see costs or margins; they see what is free on the portal's Contracts page
On the contract, from the same screen
- Prepaid Hours tab, when Labour is From Prepaid Hours
- Preventive Maintenance tab: the plans that raise their own tickets
- Fees tab: the fee per period and its invoices
- Propose Renewal, Renew (Draft Only) and the renewal reminder
Who uses it
Service ManagerWrites, activates and cancels contracts and sets their cover and rates.
Team LeadChecks the coverage of tickets, overrides it with a reason, and approves time and parts by the contract's rules.
TechnicianSees Covered, Partly Covered or Billable on the ticket before the visit, in the back office and the app.
Account managerOwns the contract, gets its renewal reminder and is told of its late tickets.
Customer adminReads the contract on the portal: what is covered, what is free, the response times, maintenance plans, fee and prepaid hours.
Where you use it
- Web: Helpdesk > Customers > Contracts; Coverage with Override on each ticket
- Customer portal: Contracts, with cover, free items, service level, maintenance plans, fee and prepaid hours
- The SmartMy Desk app: the coverage on each ticket for the technician (built and in testing, not in the app stores yet)
What you control
Settings
- Labour: Free; Parts: Billable; Call-outs Free: on; After-hours Work Free: off
- Renewal Reminder: 30 days before the end
- Markup on Bought Materials: -1, so the customer's, kind's or Entity's markup applies
- Billable by Default on each kind of issue: on
Approvals
- Ticket time and Ticket material: the team leads approve by default; the contract decides whether each approved line is free or billable
- Overriding the coverage is not an approval chain: a team lead does it with a reason
Notifications
- Contract Expiring and Contract Renewal Proposed: see Contract fees and online renewals
- Prepaid Hours Low: see Prepaid hours and hour packs
Questions
Can one contract cover only some units at a site?
Yes. List them under Equipment Covered. You can also limit a contract to some sites and some kinds of issue.Can a customer have two contracts, say a comprehensive AMC for the lifts and a labour AMC for the rest?
Yes. Each ticket takes the most specific active contract that fits it: one that names sites, then units, then kinds of issue.What happens to open tickets when a contract expires?
The contract becomes Expired the day after its end date, and the open tickets of that customer are checked again. Without another contract they become billable.Who can waive the contract's rule on a ticket?
Team leads and above, with Override and a reason. The ticket's history shows who did it, when and why.Can the customer read their contract online?
Yes. The portal's Contracts page shows what is covered, what is free, the response times, the maintenance plans, the fee and the prepaid hours left.Related features
CONTRACTS AND MAINTENANCEPrepaid hours and hour packsA contract can hold a bank of prepaid service hours. Each approved time line draws its billable hours from the bank, and hours beyond it are billed on their own line. The customer's admins are told when the balance runs low. Your office sells top-up packs as a sales order.CONTRACTS AND MAINTENANCEContract fees and online renewalsA contract's fee is invoiced by itself each month, quarter, half-year or year until the contract ends. Before it ends, the account manager is reminded and proposes the next term in one click. The customer's admin accepts or declines it on the portal, or signs a renewal quote for the whole term.CONTRACTS AND MAINTENANCEPreventive maintenance raised ahead of the due datePlans on a contract raise maintenance tickets by themselves, a set number of days before each due date. A plan covers a type of equipment or listed units, every so many days, weeks or months. You choose one ticket per unit or one per site, and the plans stop at the contract's end.RESPONSE TIMESArrival-on-site targets and a contract's own response timesFor work at the customer's site, set how fast a technician must arrive; the target is met when the technician checks in on the visit. A contract can carry its own response times and service hours, which take the place of your general ones for that customer.QUOTES, BILLING AND PURCHASEBilling of approved time and materialsApproved, billable time, parts and call-outs go on an order at the customer's prices, with contract discounts and markup. A draft invoice follows for your accounts team. A customer's ticket does not close while billable work is left unbilled, unless a service manager waives it with a reason.CUSTOMER PORTALSites, equipment and contracts on the portalYour customers see their sites with the equipment installed there, each unit's service history, and their contracts. A contract shows what is covered, the response times per priority, preventive maintenance, fees and prepaid hours left. Admins answer contract renewals online.
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