In this month’s update:
- A closer look at Shepherd’s flagship feature for its service departments,
- A quick reference list to all the latest blogs and their topics,
- And how to easily get your company name and story out there.
Shepherd’s Angular PTM. Ready and waiting for activation
Some might frown at blowing our own trumpet. But when it’s about something that makes life easier for service managers, account managers, and the CFO overseeing it all, it seems a dereliction of duty not to. Surely everybody deserves to know the tune this trumpet is playing.
In this case, it is Shepherd’s PTM, or Parts, Time, and Materials, now run on an Angular framework. It’s probably the single biggest contributor to accurate, first-time invoicing, and avoiding the need for corrections, withdrawals, and reissuing that come when invoicing is not correct the first time around. That in turn has a huge role to play in how customers view you and trust you.
Read on, or check out these introductory slides:
When you’re managing complex service operations, accuracy isn’t some finishing touch you can use or ignore. It’s pretty much the cornerstone of trust, profitability, and professionalism. In other words, your entire reputation. Now, while Shepherd’s Angular PTM can’t claim to hold your reputation in its hands, it can do things that mitigate the risks to that peer opinion you’ve worked so hard to cultivate.
And where your standing may have suffered due to past unfortunate outcomes, it can help rejuvenate it. All by giving you clarity and control, transforming how you review, correct, and finalize service data, thus bringing speed, simplicity, and precision to every part of your post-fieldwork workflow.
No reason to delay
But PTM has been in Shepherd’s arsenal, and therefore yours, for ages, so why fix something that’s not broken? Because this is not a fix. It’s a significant improvement. Consider a regular car: it may work perfectly well, but would you really turn down a complimentary upgrade to an executive spec model? Probably not, and the same applies here:
Angular PTM is easier to use and navigate. The functions you know and use are all there, so no searching and relearning, plus it works so much faster. You don’t need specific training. If you know PTM, you’re going to know its Angular brother too: it’s that simple.
The Angular version of PTM has a user interface redesign, both in the way it appears and the way it performs. From the moment you open a service order, the interface responds instantly, despite navigating hundreds of lines of data at once. Data loads quickly, pages switch smoothly, and you spend less time waiting and more time working.
Angular’s performance means that however many service orders, purchase orders, or time logs your system holds, everything feels light and immediate. The system handles large data volumes effortlessly, so you can navigate without lag, which is a big plus for those who deal with extensive service histories or complex projects.
A one-stop shop for service and invoice data
Instead of hopping between modules or screens, PTM brings all your post-service data together in one organized workspace. You can move through categories in a logical flow: check the hours logged, confirm the parts used, adjust quantities or rates, and validate the final total.
If a technician logged extra hours or a part was swapped during the job, you can make quick corrections right where you find the issue. There’s no need to backtrack through NetSuite or export data elsewhere. Clickable links connect you to related records instantly, keeping everything transparent and traceable. Conversely, if the technician forgot to log some hours in a bid to get everything done, add them retrospectively is a simple task too.
This centralization doesn’t just save you time; it builds confidence. You know every billing entry and material cost reflects what really happened in the field. And because PTM syncs directly with NetSuite, those corrections ripple across related processes automatically, keeping data consistent across the system.
Precision for reliable reputations and revenue
Every service organization knows how easily billing errors can creep in. Maybe a new technician overlogged their hours. Maybe a customer was charged for a part that was covered under warranty. PTM gives you the tools to catch those issues before they reach the invoice. Alterations don’t stop there: service contracts can also be changed. Say a new contract is agreed with a customer due to a change of terms or conditions, this can be updated in PTM too, with any newly-applicable billing rates or criteria applying from that point on.
Editable time entries let you adjust hours or rates in real time. You can even change billing methods or reassign time to the right technician or service order. If more in-depth adjustments are needed a service order can equally be reopened and have changes made. If the cost of a part has gone up and you need to protect your margins, you can adjust the sale rate. If a client deserves a courtesy reduction, you can apply it with equal ease. Similarly, in the parts section, you can correct quantities or items, or apply discounts where necessary. When this happens the relevant bin or inventory will be updated accordingly. Items can also be deleted from the service order, whether or not you want to add alternative parts through the “additional items,” adding them to the sales order that follows.
Each decision you make in PTM helps you safeguard profitability while keeping the billing fair and transparent. By getting the details right the first time, you avoid awkward customer calls, reissued invoices, and lost trust later on.
Oversight is not just about billing
PTM’s value extends far beyond accurate invoices. It acts as a checkpoint for data integrity throughout your operation. That visibility lets you explain deviations clearly, both internally and to customers, and justifies every line item on the final invoice. The end result is data you can rely on, both clean and accurate, and ready for reporting or analysis.
Whether your work revolves around field service, equipment rental, or internal maintenance, PTM meets your needs. It can track and adjust any time or material your company pays for — whether it’s billable to a client or a cost of doing business. The same clarity that improves your service billing also helps you evaluate profitability, monitor resource use, and refine operational processes.
You also have full control over how billing data is presented and applied. Costs can be reassigned to different projects, spread out to accommodate customer preferences, or withheld temporarily if review is required. This flexibility gives you not only accuracy but also strategic control over how and when revenue is recognized.
Further uses to discover
If all that is not enough and you want even more scope, then this is for you: for rental scenarios, PTM can allow you to bill service orders that are created specifically for rental-related activities, such as delivery, inspection, pickup, or similar services. PTM plays a role in the beginning and the end of the rental lifecycle. In practical terms, this means that you process the delivery service order first, and that service activity is used to generate the sales order for the rental delivery and related charges.
You can also benefit from a feature you may have read about in our blogs: consolidated billing means that multiple service orders can be grouped together and billed on a single sales order, be it rental or service-based. This helps simplify billing and reduces the number of transactions that need to be managed.
Vendor piecemeal billing is a term that means vendors can be billed either by an hourly rate or as a single consolidated amount. It is possible to create a vendor bill directly from the PTM. You might order parts, the vendor delivers them, and may also install them. That vendor then enters their time into the system. Once the work is complete, the service manager processes the PTM, and based on that, a bill is created for the vendor. Easy to execute and easy to track.
That’s quite a lot of functionality, you’ll probably agree, and to use it yourself is simple. Your next step (if you’ve not done so already) should be crystal clear: get in touch with your system admin, or Shepherd implementor, and get the Angular PTM activated so you can start working better and faster. You’ll be wondering why you’d waited so long.
Check out the recent blogs on Shepherd’s Website:
This blog introduces what seems like a small detail in the bigger picture, but is actually a firm favourite of customers, before they even know it exists. You may be one of them. Have a read to see if you are.
Shepherd: the Leading CMMS solution
It seems that Shepherd is the leading NetSuite naitve solution for field service, as well as offering more than the competition does when it comes to hybrid, asset-based solutions. That’s not our verdict, but that of an independent reviewer who specialises in the NetSuite ecosystem. Read his conclusions in this blog.
Become a Shepherd Case Study
If you read the november newsletter, this will be old news to you, but still relevant if you’ve not taken the plunge: Shepherd continues to publish real-life case studies, and the invitation to feature your company is still open.
A Shepherd case study is a chance to shine a light on what makes your business unique: it might be your most recent achievements, the all-or-nothing story of how you started out, or perhaps a look at what’s on your horizon.
It’s free publicity, hosted on Shepherd’s website and entirely under your control. Nothing gets published without your approval.
The end result is a professional feature you can share with your contacts, amplify across your social media, or use in your own marketing. If you’d like to see the kind of exposure this creates, visit the Case Studies section of the Shepherd website.
Your company name could be listed there, and getting involved is quick and straightforward: one conversation, a draft to review, a few edits, and it’s complete. Just write to newsletter@shepherdcmms.com with “We’d like to be a case study,” and we’ll take it from there.
Wishing you a restful festive season
While this newsletter was a chance for you to discover a real game changer for managers in your organisation, it is also an opportunity to wish you, its readers, a restful, festive holiday season.
For Shepherd, 2026 will hope to build on what has gone before with new ways to keep your results good, and your hurdles few, and, with that, here’s looking forward to successful outcomes for you, your projects, and teams.
