Billing of approved time and materials
Approved, 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.
PLANSFrom Growth
Why it matters
An AMC contractor loses money quietly: the extra part, the night call-out, the second visit nobody billed because the ticket was already closed. In SmartMy Desk a customer's ticket cannot close while it has billable time, materials or call-outs that are not approved and billed. Someone has to bill them, or a service manager has to waive them with a reason that stays on the ticket. The customer is never held up: they confirm the fix as usual, and the ticket closes by itself once the billing is done. Covered work, prepaid hours and internal requests are left out, so only real extras are chased.
The problem it solves
- Extras are done on site and forgotten by the time the month's invoices go out.
- Night and holiday call-outs are billed at the normal rate, or not at all.
- Each invoice is typed by hand from job cards, with the wrong discount for the customer.
- Hours are invoiced twice, or changed after the customer was billed.
How it works
- Technicians log time, materials and call-outs on the ticket. Each line is marked billable, covered by the contract or drawn from prepaid hours.
- A team lead approves the lines, or your approval chain does.
- On the Quote and Billing tab, the team lead presses Bill Time and Materials. Approved, billable, uncovered time, materials and chargeable call-outs go on an order: the accepted quote if there is one, else a time-and-materials order.
- Time goes on by work type at its billable hours with the contract's labour discount. Stock parts go on at their price less the parts discount, and bought parts at cost plus markup. The lines are now marked Invoiced and locked.
- Create Invoice makes a draft invoice for the accounts team. Once it is posted, the customer sees it on the portal and can pay online where you offer it.
- If the customer confirms while work is unbilled, they see Confirmed by you. The team lead gets a to-do, and the ticket closes once billed or waived.
Everything it does
What is billed
- Time: approved, billable, not covered; grouped by work type at the billable hours (after rounding and minimum)
- Materials: approved, billable, not covered
- Call-outs: visits with Charge a Call-out, done or no access, unless the contract covers call-outs or the ticket is covered
- Prepaid hours: approved lines draw the contract's hours first; hours beyond the balance become billable
- Not billed: covered work, the customer's own parts, internal requests
Prices
- Labour at the customer's price list, less the contract's labour discount
- Parts from stock at their sales price, less the contract's parts discount
- Bought parts at cost plus markup (contract, customer, issue type, then the Entity's 15 %)
- Work on a quote's product is added to that line as delivered; anything else is flagged Beyond the Quote
The closing check
- A customer's ticket does not close while it has billable lines still To Approve, approved lines not on an order, or call-outs not billed
- Waive Billing: service managers only, with a reason written on the ticket; a waiver also lifts the issue type's quote requirement
- Auto-close waits too: the team lead gets the to-do instead
Invoices and records
- Draft invoices only; the accounts team posts them
- Orders and Invoices buttons on the ticket, for people with sales rights
- Lines on an order are locked; invoiced parts come back only with a credit note
- Portal: Invoices with To pay, Partly paid, Overdue or Paid, the PDF, and Pay online where offered
- With Scale, team leads see Revenue and Margin on the ticket, and profit by customer, contract and kind of issue
Who uses it
TechnicianLogs the time, parts and call-outs.
Team LeadApproves lines, bills them and creates the draft invoice.
Service ManagerWaives billing with a reason, and approves at further levels of the chains.
Accounts teamChecks and posts the invoices and records payments.
Customer adminSees and pays invoices on the portal.
Where you use it
- Web: the ticket's Quote and Billing tab (Bill Time and Materials, Create Invoice, Waive Billing), Orders and Invoices buttons
- Customer portal: Invoices, and the invoices of each ticket on its page
- Not in the app: billing and invoices are on the web; technicians log the work in the app
- Not posted by itself: invoices are drafts until your accounts team posts them
What you control
Settings
- Prices: the work types' and parts' sales prices, and each customer's price list
- Labour discount, parts discount and call-out cover per contract
- Billable by Default per issue type: on to start with
- Markup on bought materials: 15 % per Entity to start with
- Ticket time and Ticket material approval chains: team leads to start with
Approvals
- Ticket time: the team leads to start with; add levels (Growth)
- Ticket material: the team leads to start with; add a chain for costly lines with the service managers (Growth)
Notifications
- Time / Materials to Approve: to the approvers of a level when it is not the person who pressed Approve, in the app's Inbox. App push is built and not switched on yet
- Confirmed while billing is open: a to-do for the team lead (else the technician) on the ticket
Questions
Can a ticket be closed without billing the extras?
Only if a service manager presses Waive Billing and gives a reason. The reason stays on the ticket. Otherwise the ticket waits until the work is billed.Does the customer have to wait for our billing?
No. They confirm the fix as usual and see Confirmed by you. The ticket closes by itself once your team bills or waives the work.Are invoices sent to the customer automatically?
No. Bill Time and Materials makes the order and Create Invoice makes a draft. Your accounts team checks and posts it; the customer then sees it on the portal.What about work the contract covers?
Covered lines are not billed and do not hold the ticket open. Prepaid hours are drawn first, and only the hours beyond them are billed.Can a billed line be changed?
No. Once a line is on an order it is locked. A correction is made with a credit note in invoicing.Which plan has billing?
Growth and Scale. Revenue, margin and profit reports come with Scale.Related features
QUOTES, BILLING AND PURCHASEQuotes the customer accepts or declines onlineFor work the contract does not cover, the technician prepares an estimate on the ticket and a team lead sends it as a quote. The ticket waits and its clock pauses until someone of the customer with a high enough approval limit signs it or declines it online.WORKING A TICKETTime on tickets with a timer, work types and timesheetsTechnicians log time on each ticket with a timer or by hand, by work type: normal hours, after hours, holiday, emergency, call-out or travel. The team lead approves the hours before they are billed, and each line can also land on the technician's timesheet.WORKING A TICKETMaterials used on a ticketRecord every part used on a ticket and where it came from. It can be your stock, bought for the job, bought by the customer or supplied by them. Each source is priced its own way, and a team lead approves the lines before they are billed.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 MAINTENANCEAMC contracts and what they coverEach 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.REPORTSProfit by customer, contract and kind of issueSee what each job, customer, contract and kind of issue earned against what it cost you in labour and parts. For an AMC, see the fees invoiced plus the work billed on its tickets, less the cost to serve it.
See one of your own jobs run through it.
Tell us how a complaint reaches you today and what you bill for. We will show you the same job in SmartMy Desk.