Procedure for maintenance contracts

For handling a maintenance contract with periodical services, proceed as follows:

When creating a contract, you can use a template based on an already existing contract, or capture the master data in a new contract.

• Create a new contract for the customer (company) (Service New/Contract).
• If templates already exist, they are offered. Or, find a corresponding template, e.g. "Lubri­cation equipment maintenance for... [Customer]".

Adjust the master data or enter it again (in this case primarily the red mandatory fields).

• Keyword
• Contract partner (customer)
• Contract type and contract category
• Status (drawn up is already automatically set)
• Check the Dates and deadlines (if necessary the Start date is set  automatically to the next day).

Check the invoice data. Here you are supported by select menus and the calendar control.

Next to the automatically applied contacts, at least a direct contact person at the customer with the Customer contact role should be assigned.

Here you can select service objects (automatically preset with the top service objects (plants) of the cus­tomer), or jump from the contract to the customer installation to drag and drop service objects from there into the matrix.

Using Select service, you can automatically create further columns in the matrix with the services you can assign (using check marks).

The scope of service lets you specify the services or the scope of supply of the contract. If required, you can assign a customer service object to the position and choose a predefined interval.

You can toggle the selectable views between interval and scheduling.

Intervals can be defined to the exact date.

The Calculation function lets you determine the quantities and prices, create appointments according to the interval definition (scheduling view), as well as calculate the contract price per year.

The calculated contract total price per year can be entered in the Master data (turnover values per year).

The calculation can be done manually or based on

• work units (one maintenance hour costs n €) or
• the unit (one maintenance costs n € ).

Under Configuration/Additional text, you can predefine and then modify all necessary additional text from a template (depending on the contract type). From a catalog, you can add further additional text (Select additional texts).

You can print the contract document as a report (standard Print function), or store it as a PDF file. When selecting the report, further documents are selectable as attachments (e.g., the Terms and Conditions) that are then stored in the contract.

From the contract, you can create an email with the contract documents and send it directly. You can check in the docu­ment signed by the customer as a letter, and store it in the contract document as a version.

After the customer has signed the contract, it is active (set the active status), and locked from then on. Now, amendments are only possible by contract versioning.

The order and appointments are generated in the background. Billing orders and maintenance appointments are generated in the contract under Service orders, e.g., as billiing orders with a duration and accounting period,  under Acti­vities as maintenance appointments, e.g., the first two appointments per service object (inspection and maintenance), according to the planning horizon (default = 1 month).

In the planning board for appointment and resources planning, the created maintenance appoint­ments are displayed in blue, planned and unplanned service appointments (service events, mainte­nances) in different colors. The release process is marked by a traffic light icon in the appointment.

In the planning board for resources, personnel resources with skills (among other things) can be assigned to maintenance missions (partly automatically), and appointments are released.

If there is no planning instance (arrangement, field assembler, …), the created appointments can be released by the system automatically and be displayed in the Entry portal of the service technician as working stock.

A service technician can accept appointments directly in their field service client, for example, where they can see their maintenance appointments in the Entry Portal, open a maintenance appointment and view the basic pieces of information (subject with service object, customer, place, remark).

After the service appointment, the service technician opens the accounting sheet (automatically created by the system) matching the appointment using the Open accounting sheet function, with automatically created activities and articles, work schedule, prepared time record, expenses or disbursements list.

Here, the service technician can

• specify the duration,
• maintain comments,
• create the accounting sheet to sign it (preview function),
• set the response to the closed status,
• apply accounted services.

If required, she or he can leave comments, information and documents at the appointment, or provide the appointment with a follow-up activity.

After the mission, the appointment needs to be closed in any case.

Contracts are largely billed automatically. The corresponding service order is best opened from the contract via General/Orders (Service).

In the Processing/Products/Services tab, the actual scope of supply (including additional material or ser­vices, if applicable) is listed:

• the general contract positions per service object for accounting,
• status of the activities agreed by contract,
• reported and planned activities,
• calculation type (On contract, in this case.

Contracts can be automatically transferred to the ERP system for invoicing after the status of the positions has been checked. The contract settlement takes the settlement types "lump sum" and "resource-related" into account.

One item is created for each service object, and one "Others" item, if needed. The total project price of the top items from the contract is divided by the billing interval, summed up for each service object and entered at the SO item. A top item without a service object assignment is treated in the same way and entered in the "Others" item.

One item is created for each service object, and one "Others" item, if needed. The unit price of the top item from the contract is multiplied by the execution quantity per order, totaled for each service object, and entered at the service object item. Top items without a service object assignment are treated in the same way and entered in the "Others" item.

In both cases, the items are assigned the "on Contract" calculation type.

The entire service history is visible in the customer installation or, respectively, in the service object.

If you open the customer installation via the contract or the customer, you are offered the contract, generated maintenance orders and maintenance activities for the service object selected in the service history.

Under Documents, the technical department will find all documents in the life cycle of the service object (of the system) in an organized manner.