Field
|
Description
|
Contract Type
(mandatory)
|
A Contract can be created under one of the following types:
The contract type is set when you create a new Contract, and the system automatically tracks the status of contracts according to their type. Read more about Tracking the Contract Status.
When adding Charges for a Contract, the Billing flag will be automatically set according to the Contract type. You can read more in How is the 'Billable flag' determined.
|
Contract Code
(mandatory)
|
The Code field is the unique ID of a Contract, which can contain numbers and letters as desired.
The Code field is used for the following:
| • | Easily selecting a Contract for Charges, Ticket etc. by typing its code in the Contract field, rather than clicking on the magnifying glass and searching for it |
| • | If you use a sortable notation for the codes, you can easily sort your Contracts and Charge reports. For example, you can group several contracts of an Account (like 1550-P001 and 1550-P002) so that you can see them together or print Charge reports together (note that Charge reports can be filtered by a Contract Code Range – this can be very helpful in many cases) |
|
Contract Name
(mandatory)
|
The Name field describes the purpose of the Contract. This field is displayed whenever viewing the Contract in various windows (e.g. when creating a new Ticket).
The Contract Name is a non-unique identifier (you may have several Contracts with the same name).
|
Start Date
(mandatory)
|
Indicates the date the Contract starts being active and can be used for Charges/Tickets.
|
End Date
(mandatory)
|
Indicates the date the Contract stops being active and should not be used for Charges anymore. The system will warn the user when an expired Contract is being used for a Ticket/Charge.
Also, the system will automatically select the most appropriate Contract according to the relevant dates. Read more about How does the system select a default Contract.
|
Description
|
The Description (Desc.) field holds the description of this specific Contract. The Description is displayed whenever selecting to use this Contract (in a new Ticket window) and in the Ticket's Contract/Asset tab.
|
Internal
|
The Internal field holds internal comments about the Contract, which will be displayed only to employees (Customers viewing the Contract via the Web Interface will not see this field).
The Internal comments are displayed when a Contract is selected for use (in a new Ticket window), and in a Ticket's Contract/Asset tab.
|
Default Items
|
It is possible to set default Items (per Parts, Labor or Expense) to be used when adding Charges to the Contract. Using default Items streamlines adding new Charges - the default Item will be automatically selected when creating a new Charge. The user can then modify the Item if needed.
|
Status
|
The status field may contain the following possible values:
In a typical lifecycle, a contract will start as Active, and when it passes the End Date, it will be set as Completed by the employee handling the Account.
Suspended and Canceled statuses are to be used for special cases. For example, if a customer has not yes paid a debt and should not be receiving regular support, or if the payment agreement has been modified and a new Contract has been issued instead. If any of these statuses are set, the system will warn you when attempting to use this Contract for new Tickets/Charges.
|
Used x
out of y
|
When the Contract is a "Block of…" contract, the field next to the Contract status will show the status of the block. For example, a Block of Time Contract will display the amount of used hours out of the block (for example "Used 3 out of 15 hours").
When the Contract exceeds it's terms, this text will appear in red.
|
Custom Pricing
|
If you define Custom Pricing for a Contract, each time you create a Charge for this Contract, CommitCRM automatically pulls up the correct custom price for it. Contract's Custom Pricing replaces the Account's Custom Pricing (if defined). You can read more about this in Custom Pricing section.
|