Services & Software (SaS) Example

This article provides steps for implementing and utilising a Services & Software (SaS) item, using an example scenario.

Scenario

We'll add a Professional Services item, so it can be used in a Quote, and subsequently tracked in the Trailing Revenue Dashboard.

We want to be able to provide a service to a customer at a cost of $5000 to the customer, and your revenue from the service is $5000. This $5000 received from your customer represents your revenue and not the GP from the service.

Settings

We need to add the Professional Services item in the SaS Settings:

In the Add new Services & Software (SaS) item section, complete the fields as shown:

The fields used in this example are as follows:

  • Item Description: The item name as it will appear on a Quote.
  • Customer Subscription: In this example, Yes, (i.e. non-inventory item).
  • Category: Select a Category. In this example, the Consulting category has been specified. The Category must be configured in Leads Services & Software (SaS) Categories (Settings) prior to creating the SaS item.
  • Contract Name: Select a Contract Name. In this example, the Professional Services contract name has been specified. The Contract Name must be configured in Settings > Customer Settings > Contract Names prior to creating the SaS item.
  • Contract Period: The term of the contract (12-120 months).
  • Contract Type: Select the type of contract (this will determine the visibility of some of the available fields)
    • Casual: month-by-month
    • Roll Over: the contract will roll over unless cancelled at the anniversary of the first term
    • Fixed Term: the revenue will be received for the full term
  • Customer Price: What the customer will pay each month (this does not affect GP for SaS items) and if the specified price includes tax (default).
  • Revenue (ex-tax): The revenue you receive from the customer (or vendor). This figure will populate the Trailing Revenue Dashboard.
  • Buy Price (ex-tax): In this example the field is unticked because there is no Buy Price for this item.
  • Contribution to GP: The percentage of revenue that will contribute to GP. If the item incurs no cost to you, then Contribution to GP will be 100%. If there is an overhead or ongoing costs, the Contribution to GP is likely to be less than 100%. The result of this field forms the GP, and is reflected in the Lead, in Reports, and in the New Leads and Closed Leads sections of the Sales Dashboard. If Buy Price had been ticked, and a price entered into the Buy Price field, the Contribution to GP field would be calculated automatically.
  • GP Shown in Dashboards: The way in which the GP is represented in the New Leads and Closed Leads sections of the Sales Dashboard, when the GP is ongoing. This option does not impact the Trailing Revenue Dashboard.
  • Business Division: The Division to which the quote line will be applied. Business Divisions are configured in Settings > Leads Settings > Business Divisions.

Creating a Quote

When creating a Quote, choose the SaS option in the Method dropdown list:

Then select the required SaS Item:

In the example image, the SaS Categories (Uncategorised and Consulting) have been expanded (by pressing on the category name); by default, the categories are collapsed and, typically, you would only expand the required category.

SaS items can also be included in Quote Favourites (Settings > Leads Settings > Quote Favourites), or they can be added to the line item using the Search option.

Successful Lead / Quote

When the Lead is made Successful, and a Quote containing an SaS item has been selected as an accepted Quote for that Lead, a Contract will automatically be created in the Customer record for each SaS item.

Current Contracts can be viewed, modified, and cancelled in the Contracts tab of the Customer record (assuming required permissions):

The Contracts screen is displayed as shown in the following image:

A bold font indicates that a Contract is unconfirmed, and thus, will not be included in the Trailing Revenue section of the Sales Dashboard.

It may be considered best practice to configure a Task in a related Workflow, with associated instructions provided in the Info column of the Workflow Task, as highlighted in the following image:

Please refer to Workflow Tasks (Settings) for information relating to the configuration of the Task Information field, which may be either a short text hint, or a document (for example, a formal process document).

Contracts can be confirmed in the following ways:

  • Within the Contracts tab of the Customer screen, if an adjustment to the contract is required
  • Using the Unconfirmed Contracts summary panel, which requires just a single press

The following image shows the Unconfirmed Contracts summary panel on the CommTrak home screen:

Once a Contract is confirmed, it is commissioned, and the outcome will be displayed in the Trailing Revenue section of the Sales Dashboard.

Trailing Revenue Dashboard

The Trailing Revenue Dashboard is located in the Sales Dashboard:

Contracts can be filtered in the Contract Name field; press the field (visible in the previous image) to display a drop-down list of available Contract Names.

The names associated with the Contract and Trailing Revenue (not GP) is the Sales Rep assigned to the sales role on the main Customer screen:

Permissions

The following permission is required for confirmation, modification, and cancellation of Contracts:

See the article FAQ - Change User Permissions for an example of how to modify permissions for a user.