Subcontractors working your tickets
Give a ticket to an outside firm, such as a lift or fire-system specialist. Their people accept it, visit, and log hours, materials and notes on their own Jobs pages and app. You keep the ticket, the customer and the billing.
PLANSScale only
Why it matters
Most service firms hand some jobs to specialists, and then lose sight of them. The job goes out by phone and the visit is not recorded. Hours and parts arrive weeks later on a paper bill, and the response time is missed unnoticed. In SmartMy Desk the job stays your ticket. The firm's people see only what they need: the instructions, the problem and the site with access notes. They also see the equipment and the time it is needed by. They never see your customer's conversation, prices or margins. Their visits, hours and materials land on the ticket as they work, costed at their rate. You bill the customer with your markup and close as usual.
The problem it solves
- Jobs given to specialist firms are tracked on WhatsApp, outside the ticket.
- You learn that the subcontractor never went when the customer complains.
- Their hours and parts reach you weeks later, after you invoiced the customer.
- Sharing your system with an outside firm would show them your customer's messages and your prices.
How it works
- Register the firm under Helpdesk > Customers > Subcontractors with its Subcontractor Cost per Hour, and give its people a portal login.
- On a ticket, a team lead chooses the Subcontractor and writes the Instructions for the Subcontractor. The firm's people get an email with Open the job, and Subcontractor Answer shows Offered.
- They accept, or decline with a reason. Once accepted, they plan visits and check in and out with their position. They log hours, materials at their own cost, notes and photos.
- You see it all on the ticket as it happens. Their hours cost the firm's rate. Their materials come in at their cost and are billed to the customer with your markup, after a team lead approves them.
- When they finish, they report the work done with what they found and did. You get a to-do to check it.
- You solve the ticket with the customer as usual, or press Send Back to the Subcontractor if it is not right. To take the job back, clear the Subcontractor field.
Everything it does
What the firm sees
- The instructions, the problem and the customer's answers, the customer, the issue type and the priority
- The site: address, area and exact spot, the contact with phone, access hours and notes, a map link or directions
- The time the customer prefers, and whether the technician may enter when no one is there
- The equipment: name, make, model and serial number
- Needed by: the ticket's next response deadline
- Their own visits, hours, materials and notes
What the firm never sees
- The customer's conversation with your team
- Prices, your costs and margins
- Your internal notes, and other people's hours or materials
- Tickets not given to their firm, or ones they declined
Their actions
- Accept the job; decline with a reason; give the job back later with a reason
- Plan a visit: date and time, hours expected (2 to start with, between half an hour and 24) and purpose; not in the past
- On the Way, Check in, Check out with what was done, No access; position recorded where the browser or phone allows it
- Hours worked: date, hours (up to 24 a line), what was done
- Materials: name, quantity and their cost each
- Notes and photos for your team, never sent to the customer
- Report the work done, after checking out of any open visit
Your side
- Only team leads give, change or take back a job
- A firm needs at least one person with a portal login
- Subcontractor Answer: Offered, Accepted, Declined or Work Reported Done, with Subcontractor Says
- Their hours and materials go through the usual approval and billing
- Their costs count in the ticket's labour and material cost, and in profit reports
- Jobs list on the web: To Do, Reported Done and All; statuses To accept, In hand, Reported done, Finished, Cancelled
Who uses it
Team LeadGives jobs to a firm, checks their work, sends it back or takes it back.
Subcontractor's peopleAccept jobs, visit, log hours, materials and notes, and report the work done.
Service ManagerRegisters firms, sets their cost per hour and reads the cost and profit.
CustomerSees the visits and confirms the fix with you as usual.
Where you use it
- Web: the ticket's Subcontractor group, and Helpdesk > Customers > Subcontractors (team leads and above)
- Subcontractor's pages: Jobs on your portal address
- The SmartMy Desk app: Jobs in the Menu for the firm's people (built and in testing, not in the app stores yet)
- Not an invoice between you and the firm: their hours and materials stay on the job for your records
- Not offered to firms by issue type: Does Issue Types on the firm is for your reference, and you choose the firm yourself
What you control
Settings
- Subcontractor Cost per Hour per firm
- Does Issue Types per firm, for your reference
- Markup on bought materials, which also prices the firm's materials to the customer
Approvals
- Ticket time and Ticket material: the firm's hours and materials are approved by your team leads like any line (chains from Growth)
Notifications
- New job: an email to the firm's people with a link to the job, and a notice in the app's Inbox
- Sent back: a notice to the firm's people in the app's Inbox
- Declined, a note, or work reported done: to the ticket's technician, else the team lead, in the app's Inbox. It comes with a to-do for declines and reports
- App push is built and not switched on yet
Questions
Can the subcontractor see our price to the customer?
No. They see the job, the site, the equipment and their own hours and materials. Prices, costs, margins, the customer's conversation and your internal notes are hidden.Do subcontractors count as users we pay for?
No. A firm's people work on their own pages and in the app and are not counted as agents.How are their parts billed to the customer?
They type what each part cost them. The line is priced at that cost plus your markup, approved by a team lead and billed with the ticket.What if they do a poor job?
Press Send Back to the Subcontractor and the job returns to their To Do list. Or clear the Subcontractor field to take it back and give it to someone else.Does the customer know a subcontractor did the work?
The customer sees the visits on the ticket with the technician's name. The conversation and the closing stay with your team.Which plan has subcontractors?
Scale.Related features
WORKING A TICKETSite visits with check-in and check-outPlan each trip to the site inside the ticket. The customer agrees to the time and is told when the technician is on the way. Check-in and check-out record the time and the phone's position, start and stop the timer, and meet the arrival target.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.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.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.PHONE APPThe technician appYour technicians work their tickets on the phone. They get a queue with the time left on each target, the ticket with directions and a call button, and the timer. They wait, resume and solve with the customer's closing code or signature.
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.