It is hard to come up with systems and features, right off the bat, that cater for every conceivable situation. Indeed, it is nigh-on impossible. All that remains is to make changes when experience says they are necessary.
Different arrangements present different challenges
Previously, technicians have had the option to add to work orders in the field by adding time as a service item to the job billing. But what if time is not a parameter upon which billing is calculated because of the specifics of that service contract? A customer who negotiated to have labor set at a flat rate will be surprised and dismayed to find they are being billed for overtime.
Instead, a Shepherd user can arrange for additional services to have a fixed price and it is this fixed price that a technician can add to accurately represent the work they have done, allowing billing to be done more easily, and faster, as opposed to having the manager complete information manually after the fact.
A selection of fixed rate additional services, accessible through the mobile app.
Tracking technician progress or tracking contract profitability
It can also potentially help Shepherd users track which service contracts are most profitable. If a particular contract is regularly requiring additional work to be billed to do the job correctly, it stands to reason that the service contract was not drafted effectively to begin with, given the Shepherd user could be realistically asking for more on a service-by-service basis, and the client is having higher bills than they had been required to budget for.
Indeed, this is not entirely dissimilar to the real-life situation that made this additional feature necessary. An existing Shepherd client has a planned service whereby the technician arrives, starts their “time on the job” do the work, and then ends their “time on the job.” All this is listed under a particular service function. All this time keeping is just for internal records, not billing.
No delays for maintenance or invoices
During the course of that service, additional tasks become evident. But they can’t log time for these items as that is not how the customer is billed. Admittedly, there is the courtesy of discussing it with the paying customer beforehand, but it does mean that this record edit can allow for adding costs to a job that the contract would not otherwise permit.
This fixed price, once agreed with the customer, and service manager, gives greater flexibility to the technician and ensures that the customer does not need to plan downtime for a separate visit for the tasks identified as needed.
It is essentially the ability to edit an existing service order, on the go, based on new information. There can even be a predetermined list of possible additional tasks, pre-negotiated prices for each, that both the manager and client are aware of that can be used in such cases. This approach will certainly reduce the need for on-site approval for these added jobs.
Indeed, this feature could be linked to the previously discussed recommended parts feature: recommended parts could form the basis for which pre-agreed fixed-fee additional services ought to be negotiated ahead of time. Get in touch with Shepherd for more details.
