| □ | Use the Service Tracking System to help with the specific tasks that should be performed periodically (and routinely) to keep your Service Department running smoothly. |
| • | The outline below provides a good overview of the repetitive tasks that must be performed from time to tome through the month. |
| □ | Ensure Quality Customer Service - Providing a consistently high level of Customer Service is the best way to ensure the ongoing success of your Service Department (and your business). The reports and system functions listed below will help you accomplish this: |
| • | Unassigned Service Requests - When a Subscriber calls for Service, they actually expect to get Service. The Unassigned Service Requests report will produce a list of pending Work Orders that have yet to be assigned to a Technician. |
| • | Tech Status - Where is your workforce? What are they doing? The Technician Status screen will provide this information in a virtually real-time basis. |
| □ | Complete & Print Time Sheets - Typically, labor is your highest individual expense. |
| • | Time Sheets - Maintaining accurate Time Sheets as each Technician completes a Work Order. |
| • | Time Sheet Report - Printing the Time Sheet Report to account for their time, and prepare your Payroll, will help you get a much better "handle" on where the time goes (the Technician's time, that is). |
| □ | Create the Recurring Service Work Orders |
| • | Auto Service - Generate the required Recurring Service Work Orders. |
| • | Technician Scheduling - Using this tool to manage the influx of work created by the posting of your Recurring Service Requirements |
| • | Time Sheets - Accurately recording the time and charges it takes to complete this work is also very important. |
| □ | Review, Complete & Invoice Work Orders |
| • | Timely follow through, once a Technician has provided the service requested on a Work Order, is critical to smooth operation. |
| □ | Keep Your Database Current - Garbage In = Garbage Out is the standard axiom that's used when speaking about a computer maintained database. Unfortunately, it is true. Unless a conscious effort is continuously made to maintained the accuracy - and more importantly - concurrency of your data, your database slowly erodes in quality. The database tools listed below are designed to allow quick access to accurate information, and so should always be updated with the most current information. |
| • | Service Information - The basic information in the Subscriber's Service Info tab should be verified whenever a Subscriber has a service call. Did their Service Agreement change? Do you need additional System Notes entered? Are better Directions required? The simplest way to remind yourself to do this, is to make it a point to update the date of Last Service field on that Form as you examine their data. |
| • | Equipment - Has the Subscriber's installed equipment - because of system additions or substantial component upgrades - changed in any way? |
| • | Monitoring - Has the Zoning, Call List, Open and Closing schedule or verification rules changed for any Subscriber? Make sure you have a systematic way to ensure that these types of changes get posted as they are received - not "when you can get around to it". |
| • | Insurance - Has their been damage to a Subscriber's system? Can you notify their Insurance Company? Have you sent an Alarm Certificate to every new Account? Having an up-to-date file on the Insurance coverage, provider and agent for your Subscribers gives you a way to provide this customer friendly service in a quick and easy way. |
| • | Transfer Service - Is a new Account taking over an old Account's system? Be sure to transfer the previous Service History to the new Subscriber. |
| • | Purge Appointments - Particularly for larger companies, be sure to Purge old completed Appointments representing completed Service Requests from past months to maintain the speed of the Technician Scheduling system. |
| □ | Solicit New Service Contracts - A new Service Contract is just as valuable as a new Monitoring Contract. Why? Because of its residual value to your business, and because it assures that your Subscriber's system will continue to operate reliably for years keeping that customer happy. The three reports listed below will provide the information you need to successfully market Service Agreements to your Subscribers. |
| • | Eligible for Service Contract - Who should you contact to suggest they subscribe to a Service Agreement? The report will list those Subscribers whose Warranty is about to expire, and as time allows, all Subscribers that have not yet subscribed and so are out of warranty. |
| • | No Service Since - Ignored Accounts will eventually drift away. When there has been no contact from your Company for some time - one, two, even three years with no equipment tests, no alarm tests, no solicitation calls - they forget who you are and are ripe for loss. Additionally, this lack of contact means their system may not be working at all, or at least not the way it should be, and you also may have a liability (not to mention, a poor customer service) situation on your hands. Use this report, in conjunction with the Monitoring module's Panels with No Signals Since report, to identify those Accounts. |
| • | Subscribers with No Contract - You also may be providing Monitoring or Extended Warranty related services without a signed Contract. Locate those individuals with the report. |
| □ | Other Management Reports - There are three critical management related areas within your Service Department that, if not managed properly and effectively, will quickly erode it's profitability and your customer service level. |
| 1. | Having Subscribers - particularly those with Service Agreements - have continual service frequencies that make the customer unhappy and cost you far more than you're collecting. |
| 2. | Having Technicians who are demonstrably less productive than their peers. |
| 3. | Having Work Orders that are not Invoiced in a timely manner. The longer it takes to get the bill to the customer, the more likely they will have forgotten what great service you've provided - or worse, they will think it was "free" - and so the less satisfied they will fell about that service when the bill finally does arrive. |
The three reports listed below address each of these issues:
| • | Technician Performance - How are they doing? This report will show you how much actual "work" each Technician is getting done. |
| • | Work Orders Not Invoiced - As hard as you try, there will still be Work Orders that don't get Invoiced. This report will show you the ones. |
