IT services company - how to efficiently track/invoice time?

1
Hi,
We just installed ERPNext (the ubuntu virtual image that has been published in the tech forum) and are playing around with it before considering purchasing it...
We buy and re-sell IT hardware to our customers, which seems to be nicely handled by ERPNext, but our main benefits come from offsite/onsite support to customers.
Most of it is not based on a scheduled maintenance, but consists on quick fixes so that we do not really know in advance what's the schedule of the day (in other words, we can't really create a project, or a task).
So my question is : how can we track and invoice every hour that has been spent at each customer ? Also, the invoice should mention all details, including the dates when onsite/offsite support has been provided...
I had a look at the timesheet feature, which could be useful. The basic idea is : every time we had a call from a customer, or visited a customer for onsite support, we input this in the timesheet, with start/end hours and customer name.
At the end of the month, we invoice all these service hours to the customer.
I suppose we can't really use the timesheet feature like this, but is there any approach so we can we reach it ?
 
I've seen that other people create a 'service' items with different pricing (on site support, offsite support, tech, consulting ...), but the problem is that we can't track WHEN the services have been provided (and mention it on the invoice).
Furthermore, that would mean we need to create a sales order eveytime we provide support (20 times per day?)

Thanks,
Thomas
2

Dear Thomas,

Thanks for your interest in our product.

Your both the approach towards support billing fits in product.

Better option would be to create timesheet after every call you had. In case of site visit, you can also create maintenance visit in the system for reference.


It will be good to create sales order (for services items) against which you can do billing to. ERPnext has copy feature using which you can copy data on old invoice and make new invoice quickly.

Finally, maintaining timesheet will be best fit to keep track of support hours provided. Then, you can raise SO or invoice in reference to timesheet.


Hope this helps.

–
Thanks and Regards,

Umair Sayyed
um…@erpnext.com
www.erpnext.com

---- ERPNext - World's most affordable ERP ----


On Wed, May 30, 2012 at 2:58 PM, Thomas <th…@nextservices.be> wrote:

Hi,
We just installed ERPNext (the ubuntu virtual image that has been published in the tech forum) and are playing around with it before considering purchasing it...
We buy and re-sell IT hardware to our customers, which seems to be nicely handled by ERPNext, but our main benefits come from offsite/onsite support to customers.
Most of it is not based on a scheduled maintenance, but consists on quick fixes so that we do not really know in advance what's the schedule of the day (in other words, we can't really create a project, or a task).
So my question is : how can we track and invoice every hour that has been spent at each customer ? Also, the invoice should mention all details, including the dates when onsite/offsite support has been provided...
I had a look at the timesheet feature, which could be useful. The basic idea is : every time we had a call from a customer, or visited a customer for onsite support, we input this in the timesheet, with start/end hours and customer name.
At the end of the month, we invoice all these service hours to the customer.
I suppose we can't really use the timesheet feature like this, but is there any approach so we can we reach it ?
I've seen that other people create a 'service' items with different pricing (on site support, offsite support, tech, consulting ...), but the problem is that we can't track WHEN the services have been provided (and mention it on the invoice).
Furthermore, that would mean we need to create a sales order eveytime we provide support (20 times per day?)

Thanks,
Thomas





3
Hi Umair,
Thanks for your quick answer...
By reading your email I understand I should be able to create an invoice from a timesheet ? Or, when adding a new Sales Invoice, get the data from timesheets for jobs that have not been invoiced yet, for a specific customer ?
When creating an invoice, I see I can get items from a Sales Order or Delivery Note, but first I need to 'transform' the timesheet in a sales order...
Also, please remember that I need to see the visits dates on the invoice, so that my customer can check on his side that everything is correct. But I can't see anywhere a 'date' field in the sales order or sales invoice...
 
4

Dear Thomas,


Sales order or invoice will not be made against timesheet. Both these records will be independent. But for customers reference, you can send across both the records for his review.


Thanks and regards,
Umair Sayyed

On Wed, May 30, 2012 at 4:01 PM, Thomas <th…@nextservices.be> wrote:

Hi Umair,
Thanks for your quick answer...
By reading your email I understand I should be able to create an invoice from a timesheet ? Or, when adding a new Sales Invoice, get the data from timesheets for jobs that have not been invoiced yet, for a specific customer ?
When creating an invoice, I see I can get items from a Sales Order or Delivery Note, but first I need to 'transform' the timesheet in a sales order...
Also, please remember that I need to see the visits dates on the invoice, so that my customer can check on his side that everything is correct. But I can't see anywhere a 'date' field in the sales order or sales invoice...