Maintenance Estimation

INTRO

Maintenance Estimates are created after the Services have been setup in the Costbook. Please view the video for that process prior to creating a Maintenance Estimate if you have completed that process. We have included a video that goes over the Maintenance Estimation process below, and there are also notes below it to provide additional insight.

CREATING AN ESTIMATE #

Before jumping in and creating a Maintenance Estimate, an Opportunity will likely have been created for this (as part of the standard Account – Opportunity – Estimate process). If any of those prior items have not previously been created, then you will be prompted to do so during the Estimate creation process. There are also videos that can help withe Account creation and Sales Tracking (Opportunities) workflow in Manage360.

There are three places from which you are able to create a construction estimate

1. The Maintenance Estimates tab of a customer account
2. The Maintenance Estimates tab of an opportunity
3. The Sales > Maintenance Estimates menu

Make sure you have the appropriate Division selected on the opportunity before creating your new estimate.

Once you have your estimate tied to an opportunity, you will be prompted to select an estimate template. You will not have any estimate templates on a brand new site, so simply select “Blank Estimate” if you have not yet created any templates. See this section on estimate templates to learn what they are and how to build them.

If you are starting from an existing Opportunity, it is recommended to update the Sales Phase and any other relevant information. Doing this will help to keep the Opportunity and Estimate information up to date and make those list pages much more useful.

STANDARD WORKFLOW OVERVIEW #

• Start new estimate – blank or from template.
• Make sure estimate name and employee assignments are correct.
• Record notes if desired.
• Build the estimate by adding Services.
  • Other Costbook items can be added to the Services if needed
• Define a payment schedule
• Print out proposal and submit to client.
• Mark estimate as won or lost based on outcome.

INITIAL ESTIMATE PAGE #

Upon creation, a new Maintenance Estimate has 2 tabs, and has not yet been saved. If the process is cancelled at this point, no Estimate will exist in Manage360. The Estimate needs to be saved once before we can add additional information, including the Services and Payment details.

DETAILS TAB #

In the Details tab, everything is auto filled based on default settings in Manage360 and by pulling forward information from both the linked Account and Opportunity. The Contract Start/End can be left blank at this point, but will need to be filled in if the Estimate is to be Won.
The fields on this tab are broken down as follows:

• Account Name & Information (including Billing) – Clicking the Account Name will open the linked Account (or linked Billing Account)
• Opportunity – Clicking on the Opportunity Name will open the linked Opportunity.
• Division  – The Division is non-editable and is pulled from the Opportunity. The Markups and Profit margins are determined based on the Division settings.
• Estimate Name  – You can change the Estimate name by typing into the Estimate Name area, this will default to the Opportunity Name.
• Primary Contact – The Primary Contact as selected on the Opportunity
• Billing Contact – The Billing Contact as selected on the Opportunity
• Estimation Date – The Estimation Date will default to the date that is was created, but you do have the option to edit this date, this date can be displayed on the Proposal.
• Expiry Date  – The Expiry Date is the date on which this estimate expires (based on the Days to Expiration) – this can be displayed on the Proposal
• Days to Expiration  – The Days to Expiration is generated based on the information provided in the Division Settings. On existing Estimates, this will be calculated based on the Expiration Date minus Estimate Date.
• Contract Start Date / Contract End Date – This are blank initially. They are required only if the Estimate is to be Won. They can be displayed on the Proposal.
• Status – This is set to Open by default, once you save this you can change this to Closed or Cancelled. This is only changed by changing the Sub-status.
• Sub Status – This is set to In Progress by default. Each Status has specific Sub Statuses:
  • Open – In Progress, Draft Review, Submitted to Client
  • Closed – Won, Lost
  • Cancelled – Old Version, Expired
• Sales Person – The Sales Person will be set based on the Salesperson in the Opportunity but you can change the person who is preparing and delivering this estimate.
• Estimator – The Estimator will be set based on the Estimator in the Opportunity but you can change this based on the person who is preparing or creating the estimate.

NOTES TAB #

The notes tab has four different sections for notes which will display their contents in different places.

Proposal Notes are displayed near the top of the proposal, under the estimate name and proposal header and above the estimate contents. Note that this is a rich text field, so you can format how you would like these notes to be displayed before the proposal is generated.

The Opportunity Notes area simply takes the notes that were on the opportunity and displays them here, so that the estimate can reference any notes that were taken on the opportunity before the estimate was created. They are read only on the Estimate.

Crew Instructions will be displayed on the Timesheet for the crew to see, so any special instructions related to the work the crew is required to perform should be entered here. You can edit these instructions at any time, and this notes area will be available later on when you have won the estimate and created a job. These notes will be visible on both the paper timesheets and on the timesheets found in the mobile app.

Private Notes do not display anywhere else in Manage360 except for right here. This area is for the estimator to write down any notes they would like to reference later, and are usually related specifically to the estimate you are working on.

SAVED ESTIMATES #

Once it has been Saved, 3 additional tabs are available. The Details and Notes tabs are still there and fully editable. The Services tab is where you are likely to spend most of the time, as this is where you add and then adjust the necessary Services. The Billing tab is where we can set up how the client will be paying – Per Visit, Periodic Billing over a date range or a prepayment of the whole contract. The Proposal tab is where you can select your proposal template and then generate the Word document.

SERVICES TAB #

Once you have added Services you will be able to Expand all and Collapse All the items. Once the your services are added, they will be under Included, Included T&M, Optional, As Needed or On Demand depending on the setup of the Services. The Services can also be moved to another section depending on the requirements of the specific Estimate. The features in the Services tab is shown below.

Click Add Service button then click on the Service that you would like to add (the Services will be filtered by the Division of the Estimate), the Service pop up will appear with the Details and Notes for the Service.

In the Details Tab, the following are non-editable: Name, Division, Service Category, but you can change the Display Name which is the name customers will see on the quotes, invoices, etc.. You can choose if this is an Optional Service, change the Charge Type to Per Visit or Time and Material, further details can be found in the Services section. You can also choose the Include options of As Needed, On Demand, In Contract as well the Recurring options.

In the Notes tab, you can see and edit the Crew Instructions and the Customer Description.

Click Add Service to add this Service to the “Shopping Cart” OR Cancel to discard the addition.

Add more Services, if necessary or click the Add Services button, if you are done or Cancel to discard this addition.

You will now be brought back to the Maintenance Estimate screen. If you need to add additional items into the Service by expanding the service then clicking the +Add Items button. This will open a shopping cart where the other Costbook items can be added directly to the Service (Kits (same Division), Plants, Materials, Labor (same Division), Equipment, Subcontractors or Misc Items). If you need to change the General Conditions for the Service click Add or Edit General Conditions.

Once the Service have been added to the Estimate, they can be fully edited:

• Click on the pencil icon to be able to edit any of the Service details including the crew instructions and customer description.
• Clicking on the Service Name will expand the Service itself. This is where more detailed information can be entered, including the customer specific information including the Area to be worked on, or the number of trees to pruned  – this will depend on the Service being done. Kits can also be expanded and edited as needed if they are being used.
  • This is where the pricing of the Service is determined
  • The number of Visits can also be adjusted (depending on customer needs)
  • The final price of the Service can also be adjusted – either for the individual visit, or for the total service price
  • The drag handle can also be used to move the Service into a different section (or to re-order within a single area)
  • Overall summary of Estimate price is at the bottom – this only includes the ‘Included’ services, as the others may not be done at all or may be done multiple times (On Demand and As Needed are billed on Completion of the work).

After you have added all your Services and Items, you can view the Analysis in the Service Area or Estimate area.

Clicking on Analysis under the Service will allow you to view the Cost/Visit, Overhead, Breakeven, Subtotal/Visit, Profit, Total Price/Visit, Labor/Visit & Hourly Revenue. Click on Analysis at the bottom of the Estimate will allow to view the Cost, Overhead, Breakeven, Profit, Grand Total, Labor & Hourly Revenue

BILLING TAB #

The Billing tab is where we will determine how the client will be billed if the Estimate is Won and the work is completed. There are different options available, depending on the Services being provided as well as the client’s preferences.

1. Discount for Prepayment – This can be used if the client is interested in potentially prepaying the whole contract amount. A discount can also be offered based on either a percentage or amount, but is not required (0 can be used).
2. Manual / Per Visit Billing – The client will be billed as the Services are done. As the Services are completed, they will be available for billing in either the Billing tab of the Job, or the Billables area (Production – Billing)
3. Periodic Billing – The client will be paying over a specific number of months (typically). This can also be set to weekly if desired. There is the option of making all payments equal, or having a deposit for the 1st amount. Select the date of the first payment, and the number of payments and click Prefill. The payment schedule will be shown – these will become ready for Billing (in either the Billing tab of the Job, or the Billables area (Production – Billing)) on the day of the payment.

PROPOSAL TAB #

Once the Maintenance estimate is complete, you can View the Proposal to print for your customer. To do this, either click View Proposal or Select a different proposal Template from the drop down then click View Proposal. There is a Proposal video that covers the available proposal options in more detail.

Please Note: Proposal Templates created in Maintenance and Construction Modules (if applicable) are shared.

ACTIONS BUTTON #

There are several actions that are available to any saved Estimate. They are detailed below:

• Reports – Either a Maintenance Estimate Analysis report or Work Order report can be run.
• Refresh Pricing – This will allow the Services that are on the Estimate to have their Pricing refreshed to the current Costbook values (if they have changed since the Estimate was created
• New Version – If the customer requests changes and you would like to keep the original estimate for reference, this option will create an exact copy of the Estimate. The only difference is that a ‘.1’ will be appended to the Estimate number.
• Create Template – All the information from the Service tab will be on the newly created Template (you will need to assign it a name when it is created). This can be useful for creation similar Estimates across different customers.
• Estimate Won/Lost – This is the culmination of the Estimation process. Each Estimate should be either Won or Lost (depending on the outcome).
  • Win – creates Job – closes Opportunity
  • Lose – loses estimate and closed the Opportunity (can be re-won if customer changes mind)
• Delete Estimate – Will delete the estimate if it is no longer needed. Manage360 will ask for confirmation during this process.