Service Contracts

Form ID: (FS305700)

On this form, you can enter new service contracts and view and edit the details of existing ones. In a service contract, you can specify the applicable customer, the billing settings, the schedule that determines when services are needed, the services to be provided, any inventory items to be sold as part of each service order of the service contract, and the prices of the included services and inventory items.

Form Toolbar

The form toolbar includes standard buttons and form-specific buttons and commands. For the list of standard buttons, see Form Toolbar and More Menu. The form-specific commands can be shown as buttons on the form toolbar, as commands on the More menu, or in both places. These commands are listed in the following table in alphabetical order.

CommandDescription
Activate If the contract has the Draft status, changes the status of the contract to Active so that you can generate service orders, appointments, or invoices for the contract. If the contract has Suspended status, when you click this command, the system opens the Activation Contract dialog box, in which you specify the date of contract activation and the effective recurrence start date for each active schedule of the contract; you then activate the contract.

This command is available if the contract has the Draft or Suspended status.

Appointment History Navigates to the Appointment Summary (FS400100) form, on which you can view the history of appointments related to the contract.
Cancel Opens the Terminate Contract dialog box, in which you specify the cancellation date of the contract.

This command is available if the contract has the Active or Suspended status.

Contract Schedule Details Navigates to the Contract Schedule Detail Summary (FS400600) form, on which you can view all the stock or non-stock items associated with the schedules of the contract.
Copy Copies the service contract. The system creates a new contract with the Draft status with most of the same settings (and similar generated schedules) as those specified in the original service contract.
Customer Contracts Navigates to the Contract Summary (FS401200) form, on which you can view the history of contracts related to the customer.
Customer Contract Schedules Navigates to the Contract Schedule Summary (FS401100) form, on which you can view the history of contract schedules related to the customer.
Email Quote Sends by email the generated service contract quote report to the customer specified in the service contract.
Note:
This command is available if the selected service contract has at least one service contract quote report generated.
Forecast & Print Quote Opens a dialog box in which you specify the start and end date for the service contract quote report. Then you click OK in the dialog box, and the system generates the Service Contract Quote report, and opens it in a print-friendly form.
Renew Renews the service contract. That is, the system updates the date in the Expiration Date box based on the period specified in the Duration box, and inserts the new date in the Renewal Date box, that is the day after the previous expiration date.
Note:
This command is available when a renewable service contract—one with Renewable selected in the Expiration Type box in the Contract Settings section—has been activated.
Service Order HistoryNavigates to the Service Order History (FS400300) form, on which you can view the history of service orders related to the contract.
Suspend Opens the Suspend Contract dialog box, in which you specify the suspension date.

This command is available only if the contract has the Active status.

Table 1. Activate Contract Dialog Box

In this dialog box, you specify the starting date when the suspended contract is activated in the system. If the contract has schedules assigned to it, you can change its recurrence settings if necessary.

This dialog box appears if you activate a service contract that has the Suspended status.

ElementDescription
The Selection area of the dialog box includes the following elements.
Activation Date The starting date when the service contract is active in the system.
The Schedules table includes only the standard buttons. For the list of standard buttons, see Table Toolbar. The table has the following columns.
Ref. Nbr. The reference number of the schedule associated with the contract. You can click the link in this column to open the schedule on the Service Contract Schedules (FS305100) form.
Recurrence Description The recurrence setting of the schedule associated with the service contract. The value in this column is a combination of the settings selected on the Recurrence tab of the Service Contract Schedules form for the selected schedule.
Change Recurrence A check box that indicates (if selected) that the recurrence of the schedule will be changed after contract activation. When you select this check box, in the Effective Recurrence Start Date column, you can change the start date when the service orders and appointments can be generated after the contract is activated.
Effective Recurrence Start Date

The starting date when the service orders or appointments can be generated for the schedule when you activate the contract.

This column is available for editing only if the Change Recurrence check box is selected.

Next ExecutionThe date when the service orders or appointments can be generated again.
The dialog box contains the following buttons.
OK Closes the dialog box and activates the contract.
CancelCloses the dialog box without applying your changes.
Table 2. Suspend Contract Dialog Box

In this dialog box, you specify the date when the service contract becomes suspended in the system.

ElementDescription
The Selection area of the dialog box includes the following elements.
Suspension Date The date when the service contract becomes suspended in the system.
The dialog box contains the following buttons.
OK Closes the dialog box and suspends the contract. The system deletes the documents that were generated for the dates that are the same as or later than the suspension date and changes the status of the contract to Suspended.
CancelCloses the dialog box without making your changes.
Table 3. Terminate Contract Dialog Box

In this dialog box, you specify the date when the service contract is canceled in the system.

ElementDescription
The Selection area of the dialog box includes the following elements.
Cancellation Date The date when the service contract is canceled in the system.
The dialog box contains the following buttons.
OK Closes the dialog box and cancels the contract. The system deletes any documents that were generated for dates that are the same as or later than the cancellation date, and changes the status of the contract to Canceled.
CancelCloses the dialog box without changes.

Summary Area

This area contains general information about the contract, such as the customer, customer location, branch, branch location, and status.

ElementDescription
Service Contact ID The identifier of the contract; the system generates this identifier by using the numbering sequence specified in the Service Contract Numbering Sequence on the Equipment Management Preferences (FS100300) form.
Customer

The identifier of the customer associated with the contract. When you are defining a new contract, you select the applicable customer.

The list of values is limited based on the current user's access role. You can select a customer whose visibility is not restricted for the branch or company to which the user's role is assigned (the Restrict Visibility To box on the General Info tab of the Customers (AR303000) form contains this company or branch, or is empty).

LocationThe unique identifier of the customer location associated with the contract.

This box appears on the form only if the Business Account Locations feature is enabled on the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form.

Customer Contract Nbr. Read-only. The reference number of the service contract for the particular customer. The system automatically generates this number for each customer independently of its generation of the number for other customers. Thus, multiple customers can have service contracts with the same customer contract number, such as 00001.
Project

The project to which this service contract is related.

This box appears on the form only if the Projects feature is enabled on the Enable/Disable Features form.

Default Project Task

The project task to be used by default for items associated with the contract. If a default project task is specified on the Task tab of the Projects (PM301000) form for the project specified in the Project box, the system fills in the identifier of the default task in this box.

This box appears on the form only if the identifier of a project is selected in the Project box.

Master ContractThe identifier of the master contract associated with the service contract, if applicable. You create a master contract on the Master Contracts (FS204700) form.
Description A brief description of the service contract.
Status Read-only. The status of the service contract, which the system sets to one of the following:
  • Draft: The contract is a draft and has not yet been activated, so you cannot generate service orders, appointments, and invoices for the contract. You can activate or delete a contract with this initial status.
  • Active: The contract is active in the system, so you can generate service orders, appointments, and invoices for the contract. You can suspend or cancel a contract with this status.

    The contract is assigned this status when the Activate Contract action is invoked on this form.

  • Suspended: The contract is on hold and can be activated at any time. You cannot generate service orders, appointments, or invoices for a contract with this status. You can activate or cancel a contract with this status.

    The contract is assigned this status when the Suspend Contract action is invoked on this form.

  • Canceled: The contract has been terminated and cannot be reactivated on this form; it is read-only. You cannot generate service orders and appointments from a canceled contract.

    The contract was canceled when the Cancel Contract action was invoked on this form.

  • Expired: The expiration date specified for the contract has passed, and no further activities for the contract can be performed.
Effective from Date Read-only. The date when the current status of the contract became effective in the system.
Upcoming Status Read-only. The status that the contract will have after the date specified in the Effective Until Date box.
Effective Until DateRead-only. The date until which the current status of the contract is effective in the system.

Summary Tab

On this tab, you can enter, view, or edit the contract and billing settings.

Table 4. Contract Settings SectionIn this section, you set, view, or edit such contract settings as the following: contract dates, the vendor that provides services, and the salesperson that is associated with the service contract.
Column Description
Start Date The date when the service contract becomes effective and the services of the contract can be performed.
Expiration Type The type that defines whether the contract expires or not. The following options are available:
  • Expiring: The contract has an expiration date, which you can specify in the Expiration Date box.
  • Unlimited: The contract does not have an expiration date.
  • Renewable: The contract can be renewed. When you select this option, the Renew menu command becomes available on the More menu.
Duration

The period until the expiration date. The following options are available in the drop-down box: Month, Quarter, Year, and Custom (days). If you select Month, Quarter, or Year, you specify the number of months, quarters, or years (depending on the selected option) in the adjacent box on the left of the drop-down box. After you have specified these settings, the system calculates the expiration date and inserts it in the Expiration Date box. If you select Custom (days), the Expiration Date box becomes available for editing. When you manually select the expiration date, the system calculates the number of days before the expiration date and inserts it in the Duration box.

Note:
This box is available if you select Expiring or Renewable in the Expiration Type box.
Renewal Date The date when the service contract was renewed.
Expiration Date The date when the service contract expires. The system calculates this date according to the period specified in the Duration box. This is also the last date when the schedules related to the contract can be generated
Schedule Generation Type The type of the document that is initially generated for the schedules of the contract. The following types are available:
  • Service Orders
  • Appointments
  • None (this option is available if the End-Period Plus option is selected in the Billing Type box on the Summary tab)
Vendor

The vendor that provides services for the contract, if applicable. If you specify a vendor, the vendor is added as a default staff member on the Staff tab of the Appointments (FS300200) form for the appointments generated from the service contract.

The list of vendors available for selection may be limited based on the role or roles assigned to the user account to which you are signed in if the Customer and Vendor Visibility Restriction feature is enabled on the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form. In this case, the Restrict Visibility To box appears on the Financial tab of the Vendors (AP303000) form. With the feature enabled, a vendor is available for selection if one of the following is true:
  • The Restrict Visibility To box is empty for the vendor—that is, the vendor’s visibility is not restricted.
  • A branch, company, or a company group is specified in the Restrict Visibility To box for the vendor, and your user account has the role specified in the Access Role box of the Configuration Settings section of one of the following: the Branch Details tab of the Branches (CS102000) form for the selected branch, or the Company Details tab of the Companies (CS101500) form for the selected company or a company within the company group.
Contact The identifier of the contact person from the customer. This contact will be specified on the Service Orders (FS300100) form and Appointments (FS300200) form for service orders and appointments, respectively, generated from this service contract.
Salesperson ID The salesperson associated with the service contract. If you select a salesperson, this salesperson is assigned to the service orders or appointments that are generated for the service contract.
Commissionable A check box that indicates (if selected) that commission is paid on the items of the contract to the salesperson.
Table 5. Billing Settings SectionIn this section, you set, view, or edit the settings related to the billing.
ElementDescription
Branch The branch that handles the service contract. By default, the current branch is selected.
Branch Location The branch location that handles the service contract. By default, the branch location specified in the Default Branch Location box on the User Profile (SM203010) form for the currently signed in user if the current branch is the branch specified in the Default Branch box.
Billing Type The billing type of the contract, which defines how the contract will be billed. The following options are available:
  • At Time of Service: The type that is used for contracts for which the billing occurs after appointments have been attended, and billing documents are generated that include the provided items and services during appointments.
  • End-Period Plus: The type that is used for contracts for which the items to be provided for the service contract have been agreed upon. A billing document is generated at the end of each defined billing period; it includes the agreed-upon amount as well as any overage and non-covered items used during the appointment of the period.
  • Beginning-Period Fixed: The type that is used for contracts for which the billing occurs at the beginning of the contract period. Any additional services or inventory items that have been used in appointments during this period are not billed. An AR invoice is generated at the beginning of the contract period; it contains the fixed price agreed upon. If any additional services or items have been used during an appointment, the system generates another AR invoice that contains these additional services or items with the 0 price.
  • Beginning-Period Plus: The type that is used for contracts for which the billing occurs at the beginning of the contract period. Any additional services or inventory items that have been used in appointments during this period are billed separately. An AR invoice is generated at the beginning of the contract period; it contains the fixed price agreed upon. If any additional services or items have been used during an appointment, the system generates another AR invoice that contains these additional items with their actual prices.
Bill ToThe setting that defines the customer account to be billed for the service contract, which is one of the following options:
  • Specific Account: The account to be billed is the account specified in the Account box of the current section.
  • Customer Account: The account to be billed is the account specified in the Customer box in the Summary area of the form.
Billing Customer

The customer to be billed for contract services.

This box is available only if the Specific Account option is selected in the Bill To box of this section.

The list of values is limited based on the branch specified for the document. You can select a customer whose visibility is not restricted for the branch (the Restrict Visibility To box on the Customers (AR303000) form contains the current document branch, company, or is empty).

Billing Location

The customer location the contract is billed to.

This box is available only if the Specific Account option is selected in the Bill To box of this section.

Table 6. Billing Type Settings Section
ElementDescription
Take Prices From The source of the prices included in the contract. Select one of the following options:
  • Contract: The system uses the prices of services and inventory items that are specified on the Prices tab in the service contract.
  • Regular Price: The system uses the prices of services and inventory items that are specified in the Default Price box of the Non-Stock Items (IN202000) or Stock Items (IN202500) form or in the price list on the Sales Prices (AR202000) form.

This box appears on the form only if At Time of Service is selected in the Billing Type box of this tab.

Period The billing period, which is defined for the following billing types: End-Period Plus, Beginning Period Fixed, Beginning Period Plus. The following options are available: Week, Month, Quarter, Half a Year, and Year.

This box appears on the form only if End-Period Plus, Beginning Period Fixed, or Beginning Period Plus is selected in the Billing Type box of this tab.

Last Billing Date The most recent date when the service contract was billed.

This box appears on the form only if End-Period Plus, Beginning Period Fixed, or Beginning Period Plus is selected in the Billing Type box of this tab.

Next Billing Date The next date when the service contract should be billed.

This box appears on the form only if End-Period Plus, Beginning Period Fixed, or Beginning Period Plus is selected in the Billing Type box of this tab.

Table 7. Default Values Section
Note:
The section is available if in the Project box of the Summary area, a specific project is specified (that is, a project that is different than the non-project code, which by default is X but may be different in a particular system).
ElementDescription
Default Project Task

The project task to be used by default for items associated with the contract. If a default project task is specified on the Task tab of the Projects (PM301000) form for the project specified in the Project box, the system fills in the identifier of the default task in this box.

This box appears on the form only if the identifier of a project is selected in the Project box.

Default Cost CodeThe default cost code, which is required if a specific project is selected in the Project box of the Summary area. The system inserts this default cost code in the Cost Code column of the following tabs:
  • The Services per Period tab of the current form for lines a user adds to a service contract
  • The Details tab of the Service Contract Schedules (FS305100) form for lines a user adds to a schedule
Note:
This box is available if the Cost Code feature is enabled on the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form.

Schedules Tab

On this tab, you view information about the schedule or schedules that determine when the services associated with the contract are performed. You can also bring up the Service Contract Schedules (FS305100) form to define a new schedule for the contract.

This tab is not available if None is selected in the Schedule Generation Type box in the Contract Settings section of the Summary tab.

Table 8. Table Toolbar

The table toolbar includes standard buttons and buttons that are specific to this table. For the list of standard buttons, see Table Toolbar. The table-specific buttons are listed below.

Button Description
Add Schedule Navigates to the Service Contract Schedules (FS305100) form, where you can add a schedule to the service contract.
Table 9. Table Columns
ColumnDescription
Schedule ID The reference number of the schedule related to the service contract.
Service Generation TypeThe document type that is generated for the schedules of the contract. The options are Service Orders and Appointments.
Service Order Type The identifier of the type of service orders that are related to the schedule.
Location ID

The identifier of the customer location associated with the schedule.

This column is available only if the Business Account Locations feature is enabled on the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form.

Active A check box that indicates (if selected) that the schedule is active in the system.
Recurrence Description The recurrence setting of the schedule associated with the service contract. The value in this column is a combination of the settings selected on the Recurrence tab of the Service Contract Schedules form for the selected schedule. This value is read-only.

Prices Tab

This tab appears on the form only if the At Time of Service type is selected in the Billing Type box on the Summary tab of this form.

The table toolbar includes only standard buttons. For the list of standard buttons, see Table Toolbar.

Table 10. Table Columns
ColumnDescription
Inventory ID The identifier of the service or non-stock item.
Line Type The type of the line involved in the service contract schedule.
Unit Price

The price of the specified unit of this line item.

If the Regular Price option is selected in the Take Prices From box in the Billing Type Settings section of the Summary tab of this form, the system inserts the price according to the rules of automatic price selection.

If the Contract option is selected in the Take Prices From box on the Summary tab, you manually can specify the prices of the line items.

UOM The unit of measure used for the item specified in the Inventory ID column.

The system populates this column with the unit of measure specified for this item in the UOM column of the Details tab of the Service Contract Schedules (FS305100) form.

If in the row of the service contract schedule, the Service Template option is selected in the Line Type column and a service template is specified in the Service Template ID column, then the system instead populates the current column with the unit of measure specified for the item in the UOM column on the Service Templates (FS204900) form.

Currency The currency of the price.

Services per Period Tab

On this tab, you define the information for End-Period Plus, Beginning-Period Fixed and Beginning Period Plus billing types, such as the hours or quantity of services and non-stock items to be provided during the next billing period. You can also specify the overage item price that will be used in the billing if the contract amount is exceeded. You can also see the usage of the current billing period, as well as the history of past billing periods.

This tab appears on the form only if End-Period Plus, Beginning-Period Fixed or Beginning Period Plus is selected in the Billing Type box on the Summary tab of this form.

Element Description
Actions The action that is performed in the table of the tab:
  • Search by Billing Periods: Makes it possible to select a period in the Billing Period box and view in the table the service and non-stock item details related to the period.
  • Modify Upcoming Billing Period: Makes it possible to modify the details of the next billing period in the table and activate it.
Billing Period The date range of the billing period. If the Search by Billing Periods option is selected in the Actions box, you can select the period for which you want to view period details in the table. If the Modify Upcoming Billing Period option is selected in the Actions box, this box contains the billing period after the last period for which an invoice has been generated, and the box is not available.
Reference Nbr.

The reference number of the invoice associated with the period.

This box appears on the form only if the Search by Billing Periods option is selected in the Actions box.

Contract Total The total amount to be billed by the contract.

The table toolbar includes standard buttons and buttons that are specific to this table. For the list of standard buttons, see Table Toolbar. The table-specific buttons are listed below.

Table 11. Table Toolbar
Button Description
Activate Period

Activates the billing period that is shown in the Billing Period box of this tab.

This button appears on the form only if Modify Upcoming Billing Period is selected in the Actions box of the tab, and it is available only if an invoice has been generated for the previous period.

You can set the system to automatically activate the next period after the invoice is generated for the current period by selecting the Automatically Activate Upcoming Period check box on the Equipment Management Preferences (FS100300) form. This button is not available in this case.

Table 12. Table Columns
Element Description
Line Type The type of line involved in the service contract. The line type is one of the following options:
  • Service: The record is a service.
  • Non-Stock Item: The record is a non-stock item with a type other than Service.
Inventory ID The identifier of the service or non-stock item that is covered by the contract.
Target Equipment ID The identifier of the equipment entity that is serviced.
Billing Rule The billing rule applied to the line, which is filled in by the system when you select a service. You can override this value, if necessary, for a period that is not yet activated. The billing rule is one of the following:
  • Time: The service is billed depending on the time that was spent delivering the service. The price of the service is defined per unit of time.
  • Flat Rate: The service is billed regardless of the time that was spent delivering the service. The price of the service is fixed and defined for service delivery.
  • None: The service is free of charge. No price is specified for the service.
Value The quantity of the line item that will be covered by the contract and that will be included in an invoice with the price specified in the Recurring Item Price column.
UOM The unit of measure used for the item selected in the Inventory ID column.

When you select an item in the Inventory ID column on the current tab, the system populates this column with the UOM specified in the Sales Unit box of the General tab of the Non-Stock Items (IN202000) form.

Recurring Item Price The price of the unit of this line item covered by the contract.
Total Recurring Price The total price for the line item, which is the amount multiplied by the recurring item price.
Overage Item Price The price of the unit of this line item if the quantity of the item (specified in the Value column) has been exceeded during the period.
Remaining Period Value The quantity of the line item that is covered by the contract and not yet been provided to the customer. The system calculates this column value as follows: Value minus Used Period Value.
Used Period Value A value that can be either of the following:
  • If the billing cycle assigned to a customer in the Billing Cycle box on the Billing tab on the Customers (AR303000) form is configured to run billing for appointments, this is the value (or the sum of values) specified in the Actual Quantity column on the Details tab on the Appointments (FS300200) form for the appointment of the Closed status.
  • If the billing cycle assigned to a customer to a customer in the Billing Cycle box on the Billing tab on the Customers (AR303000) form is configured to run billing for service orders, then this is the value (or the sum of values) specified in the Estimated Quantity column on the Details tab of the Service Orders (FS300100 ) form for the line items with the Service Contract Item check box selected.
Scheduled Period Value The remaining quantity for the current period of the item if the billing type is Flat Rate, which is the quantity minus Used Period Value.
Project Task

The project task to which this line item is related.

By default, the system fills in this column with the value specified in the Default Project Task box in the Summary area of the form. You can override this value if necessary.

This column appears on the form only if the Projects feature is enabled on the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form. This column is available only if the identifier of a project is selected in the Project box in the Summary area of the form.

Cost Code

The cost code with which this item is associated.

This column appears on the form only if the Cost Codes feature is enabled on the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form. The column is available only if the identifier of a project is selected in the Project box in the Summary area of the form.

Deferral Code

The deferral code assigned to the item specified in this line.

On release of the billing document, the system generates a deferral schedule or multiple schedules based on the settings specified for this deferral code. For details, see Processing Deferrals.

The column appears on the form only if the Deferred Revenue Management feature is enabled on the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form and if the Beginning-Period Fixed or Beginning-Period Plus option is specified for a service contract in the Billing Type box of the Summary tab of the current form.

By default, the system inserts the deferral code specified for the item in the Deferral Code box on the Deferral tab on the Non-Stock Items (IN202000) form.

Billing Documents Tab

On this tab, you can view billing documents generated for a service contract.

This tab is available only if the End-Period Plus, Beginning-Period Fixed or Beginning Period Plus option is selected in the Billing Type box on the Summary tab of the current form.

Column Description
Service Contract Billing Period The date range of the billing period.
Contract Period Status The status of the billing period.
Doc. Type The type of the document that has been generated, which is one of the following: sales order or AR invoice.
Reference Nbr. The link of the document generated in the system, which you can click to view its details on the applicable form. The link consists of the abbreviation of the generated document and its reference number.
Description The description of the document.
Date The date of the document.
Status The status of the document.
Amount The amount of the billing document. For a sales order, this is a value specified in the Order Total box; for AR invoice, this is a value specified in the Amount box.

History Tab

On this tab, you can view the actions that have been performed upon the contract and its schedules.

Table 13. Table Columns
ColumnDescription
Type The type of the document upon which the action listed in the row has been performed. The following options are available: Contract and Schedule.
Action

The action that has been performed upon the contract or its schedule. For the contract, the following actions are available: Create, Activate, Suspend, Cancel, and Expire.

For the schedule, the following actions are available: Create, Inactivate Schedule, and Delete.

Date The date when the action was invoked.
Effective Date The date from which the action is effective in the system.
Schedule ID The reference number of the schedule if the type is Schedule.
Change RecurrenceA check box that indicates (if selected) that the recurrence of the schedules associated with the contract has been changed (after the contract has been reactivated).
Effective Recurrence Start DateThe date from which the system calculates the recurrence if the type is Schedule.
Recurrence DescriptionA description of the schedule recurrence.

Attributes Tab

On this tab, you can view the list of attributes for the service contract, specify the values of the attributes, and change these values, if necessary. This tab is populated with the list of active attributes (and any default values) that have been defined for the Service Contract entity type on the Project Attributes (PM202000) form.

The table toolbar includes only standard buttons. For the list of standard buttons, see Table Toolbar.

Column Description
Attribute The description of the attribute.
Required A read-only check box that indicates (if selected) that a value must be specified for the attribute. This setting is copied from the Project Attributes form.
Value The value of the attribute.