Recurring Contract Billing

Leases, subscriptions, service contracts, and other scheduled billings are becoming a key management tool for many businesses.  The recurring billing tool within EBMS is used to create a repetitive invoice each week, month, year, or other recurring schedule.  The recurring process creates an invoice from the pricing, service codes, and descriptions recorded on the contract proposal.  An optional date range is inserted into the sales invoice to complete the billing document for multiple clients using a single process.  A credit card or ACH payment for all or some of these billings completes the recurring process.  Combine this feature with job costing to compare recurring revenue with the labor, parts, and other costs associated with a specific contract.

Scenario: A mechanical contractor offers a service contract to manage the HVAC units for an office complex.  The contract covers the preventive maintenance supplies and labor as well as minor repairs and adjustments.  This popular service gives the customer the peace of mind that the mechanical equipment is being maintained and serviced to maintain consistent operation of the HVAC equipment, reduce maintenance costs, and maximize the life of the equipment.  The monthly billing assists the mechanical contractor’s cash flow and simplifies the customer’s cost management.  Technicians record labor and parts within the EBMS task system to give the business owners the information they need to manage the profitability of individual contracts.

Scenario:  A lift truck sales and service company includes service contracts for their client’s equipment.  These contracts organize regular equipment service to maximize manufacture warranties, increase equipment up-time, and reduce emergency service calls.  The billing consists of monthly electronic invoices that are paid using ACH payments to minimize overhead costs.  Equipment specifications and service part details are recorded within EBMS to manage the stocking of supplies, streamline the preventive maintenance service calls, and manage the contract.  The service contracts are scheduled in a way to maximize labor efficiency and motivate and reward technicians.  A visual organization of preventive maintenance tasks allows technicians to organize and schedule these recurring events.

Complete the following steps to process recurring contract billings:

  1. Create a recurring billing proposal from the job or open an existing proposal.  The following job information is copied from the job to the recurring billing settings within a proposal.  
    1. If the Status of the Proposal > Recurring setting in proposal is set to Open then the Job > General tab > End Date will be copied to the attached Proposal > Recurring > End Date.
    2. The Proposal > Status will be set to Closed when the Job > Status is changed to Completed or Closed.   Note that the Proposal > Recurring > Status setting will not reopen if the Job > Status is changed from Closed to In Process.
  2. Configure the recurring settings within this proposal:  Review [Sales] Recurring Billing > Scheduling a Recurring Invoice for important settings to configure a recurring sales order.
  3. Launch the recurring billing process:  Review [Sales] Recurring Billing > Process for instructions to create recurring billing sales orders on a regular basis.
  4. Use Batch billing to process the sales order into an invoice including payment options:  Review [Sales] Recurring Billing > Process for instructions to review recurring invoices, process invoices, and optionally process credit card and direct payment processed.  
  5. Enter costs into the job to measure profits:  Review the following instructions to assign various costs to the job:
    1. General expenses billed from a vendor:  Review Job Costs > Allocating Costs from a Purchase Order or Expense Invoice for instructions.
    2. Supplies from inventory:  Review Job Costs > Inventory Transfers to apply supplies cost and to reduce inventory of products used from inventory.  
    3. Labor:  Review Job Costs > Payroll Expenses to apply labor costs from tasks or the labor module.
    4. Rentals:  Review Job Costs > Rental Costs to apply rental costs from an internal rental department.  Use the expense invoice option (#1) to capture costs from an outside rental company.
  6. Generate job status and profit reports for each contract.