Service Agreement Wish List

[sjaeger]

Just started playing with Service Agreements, but wanted to start a list of things that we would like improved or added (Deleted).

1. Better way to create the price.  We need to be able to charge using our price book.  For example use our current labor rate, services, and material.  

2. Would like to show the customer what each visit will cost along with the total cost.  For their budgets, they want to know what the cost will be for each visit.  Yeah, they can divide the total by the number of visits, but they're still not 100% sure that's correct.

3. Would like a better way of showing the auto-renew on the invoice.  Currently, it's a true or false field.  I would rather see a conditional logic-type answer.  If auto-renew is marked yes, then just insert something like this:

• This agreement will automatically continue in force on a yearly basis, starting from the initial term, unless one of the parties provides written notice to the other party indicating the intention not to renew. Such notice must be given no later than thirty (30) days before any anniversary date of this agreement

If auto-renew is not marked, print something like this:

• This agreement will naturally conclude upon reaching the specified end date, which is ({{Scheduling.EndDate}})

The actual wording can be changed to the tenant's specifications, but not having "True" or "False" would be nice.

So far I am really loving the new Service Agreements and Document Templates.

That's all I have for now.

[lynn_shu]

I know I'm later to the game that the two Titans above, but I'm just starting to dig into Service Agreements and am adding my 2 cents.

I like the ability to calculate the cost vs. actual, however I agree that we need to be able to input our calculated price - allowing us to add a service/task from Pricebook that has the pricing we want to charge is a much needed option.

Additionally, we have one commercial property manager for whom we do these on a time & materials basis - it would be great to be able to use this to keep track of/schedule upcoming visits and determine materials we need to order and then charge according to what we actually performed/materials used at each service after the fact....that would allow us to determine what the profitability of the T& M jobs are vs. the jobs we've bid.

Additionally, maintenance/cleaning is the ONE thing we have to charge tax on in our state. I would like to be able to make this (or the underlying service/task) taxable.

I would also like to change the column widths.  The task summary should be a longer field than the dates/ # visits - having the columns all the same size means that the document is spread out over more pages than it needs to be because the description is narrow and long.

Thank you for letting me add on! Excited to see where this feature goes as more people begin to add their ideas/input.

[esmith · Accepted solution]

Thanks so much for taking the time to share these notes - responses below:

I like the ability to calculate the cost vs. actual, however I agree that we need to be able to input our calculated price

This option is coming out in the spring release!

Additionally, we have one commercial property manager for whom we do these on a time & materials basis - it would be great to be able to use this to keep track of/schedule upcoming visits and determine materials we need to order and then charge according to what we actually performed/materials used at each service after the fact....that would allow us to determine what the profitability of the T& M jobs are vs. the jobs we've bid.

I'd love to learn more about this case and share the options available today, could we connect? https://calendly.com/esmith-st/service-agreements

Additionally, maintenance/cleaning is the ONE thing we have to charge tax on in our state. I would like to be able to make this (or the underlying service/task) taxable.

This is possible today by marking the underlying service as taxable and setting the location's Tax Zone - happy to walk through this together on a call

I would also like to change the column widths.  The task summary should be a longer field than the dates/ # visits - having the columns all the same size means that the document is spread out over more pages than it needs to be because the description is narrow and long.

If you are referring to the PDF document generated from the agreement, you are not alone in this request; the team is adding more flexibility to that table, but also the ability to directly edit the generated document in ServiceTitan to make adjustments before delivering it to your customers (much more coming in this area in the first half of this year!)

Thank you again!

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[espielman]

"If you are referring to the PDF document generated from the agreement, you are not alone in this request; the team is adding more flexibility to that table, but also the ability to directly edit the generated document in ServiceTitan to make adjustments before delivering it to your customers (much more coming in this area in the first half of this year!)" 

This would be a major change! We are currently unable to use Service agreements for this reason. We need to be able to directly edit the doc before it gets sent.

Additionally, I have the following wish list:

1. We need the ability to send out the contracts directly to the customer for signature, like we can for estimates.
2. The "Authorization" item you can place in the template needs to be editable. We will be using Service Agreements as our contract for one-time services, mainly because they are completely customizable and look professional. 
3. We need to have the option to have merge tags for employee name and phone number (whoever is logged in and creating the agreement should hove their info populated). 
4. Enable the ability to edit the size of each item in the template and place wherever we need it. Also, to be able to draw boarders, as most items (like the generic "Text" item), cannot add borders to it.  
5. Create an item where customers can enter information in specific areas of the document. For example, we offer 3 different warranty options, and want the customer to be able to type in which one they choose. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this! I think Service Agreements have a lot of potential to be highly useful for companies, but they still need a lot of progress before at least our company can utilize them.

[esmith]

Thanks so much @sjaeger - I will reach out to follow up and dive into each of these topics with you.

RE: #3 the Auto-renew component in the "Service Agreement - ST Default" document template has already been updated to a dynamic field:

• If auto-renew is enabled, the generated document will display: "This agreement will continue in effect from year to year thereafter unless either party gives written notice to the other of intention not to renew."
• If auto-renew is disabled, the generated document will display: "This agreement will conclude after the end date."

We are also working to allow you to customize this language for the Auto-renew true cases.

[sjaeger]

 A couple more things came up that would be nice.

1.  An alert for when a new Service Agreement (SA) is created.

2. A tag that could be designated in the SA template so the account will get assigned a specific tag when an SA is activated.

3. This one might be more difficult in execution - We do not want the Techs to have the ability to change the invoice (pricing) of the job that the SA visit is booked into.  I could continue with the beatings, but my hand is getting sore 🙂 

[nate_cra]

Thanks for starting the thread.  I really like your suggestions.  

Our process is pretty unique.  Our proposal is a large multi-page template with information about maintenance, our capabilities as a company, a full task list broken down by month and type of equipment, a full equipment list, a list of materials, and a page that breaks down how much they will be billed and when the billings occur.  We even include branded customer graphics and drone shots of the facility with a labeled roof map. 

We don't typically do even payments because our contracts are customized and when you add something simple like cleaning coils to a single visit on a commercial contract with 80+ units, it has a huge impact on the annual price.  Because of this, we like to bill for the scope completed at the time of service.  

The biggest thing that we need is an ability to put the cost information into the system in a way that does not require a 'work around.'  I love the idea of an estimation tool and think it is a good thing for a lot of companies, but we have a proprietary estimation process that incorporates and balances multiple profitability metrics.  There needs to be an option to build agreements, manage the visits, and report on performance without using an estimation tool.  

Another tool that would be helpful is a graphic that displays aggregate agreement information (by company or business unit).  We already have this in an external format including charts and graphs that show total maintenance hours and dollars broken down by month.  This allows us to take our peak season into account and stack our shoulder seasons with the highest number of maintenance hours.  It is a very important tool for managing a multi-million dollar portfolio of commercial agreements.  

[esmith]

Hey @nate_cra thank you, let's connect. This is important feedback and I want to make sure that the team and I are moving in the right direction for you. Following up via email and can share the outputs of the conversation here for the sake of the larger group.