OVERVIEW
Before we get started
The recurring job
Adding a brand-new customer!
Preparing a work order for a contract!
Preparing a work order for a team!
The job!
Invoicing!
But what about other payment types?
Additional notes: how to create a job item
Additional notes: how to create a team
Video tutorial

Overview

Welcome to the second of our ongoing "Day in the Life" series, in which we'll guide you through some of the more common processes associated with running a field service business similar to yours. Today, we'll be tackling the ins and outs of how Method Field Services can be used to schedule a recurring job. The example industry we'll be using is lawn mowing, but there are many industries in which you might need to schedule a one-time job, including pool services, residential or office cleaning, and any other field that provides a service the customer might want to have happen on a regular basis.

??A quick disclaimer: our "Day in the Life" documents and videos are meant for users who are already familiar with how QuickBooks works and who have a working understanding of the Method environment as well. If this is your first time dealing with Method Field Services (for QuickBooks Desktop) or Method Scheduling and Invoicing (for QuickBooks Online), we'd recommend you check out our documentation and videos outlining the basic functionality of Field Services before delving into this content.

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Before we get started

This document is designed for you to follow along and see how Method Field Services / Scheduling and Invoicing works in practice. But if you try to fix your sink without a wrench, the results are going to be messy - similarly, you'll need certain prerequisites in place in your Method Field Services account in order for this example to work the same way in practice as it does on the page. Here's what you'll need to get started:

• Job item - This Day in the Life will require three unique job items: Lawn Mowing Contract, Lawn Mowing Visit, and Weed Preventative. It will be easier for you to follow along if these are already saved in your account, so to find out how to add job items, click here!
• Team - You will want to have a team prepared before starting on this Day in the Life tutorial. NOTE: You will have to use your own users to populate this team, since Robin and her employees are not real people and therefore don't have Method accounts (and you shouldn't purchase licenses for imaginary people!) To find out how to create new teams, click here!

All set? Onward!

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The recurring job

Robin Lefler has been the Lawn Queen for a long time. Her teams are well-known for providing quality lawn care service, a reputation Robin attributes partly to her use of Method Field Services to schedule and keep track of lawn maintenance jobs all around her area of operation. By syncing with QuickBooks, Method gives Robin the ability to access her customer records, create work orders, and invoice for jobs done all in one convenient place. The following is an example of how a typical day in the life of Robin Lefler, Lawn Queen, might play out.

Lawn care is essential in the spring and summer months, and since grass tends to grow at a fairly predictable pace, it's not uncommon for Robin's customers to sign up for weekly maintenance. The best way to do this in Method Field Services is to set up a recurring job.

When the spring season started, the calls came rolling in, the first of which was predictably our old friend Bob Crenshaw, who wanted to secure weekly maintenance for his jungle of a front lawn. Considering the state of Bob's property, Robin suggested that Bob might benefit from signing up for a monthly contract for her services. This means Bob will pay a flat rate per month for an agreed-upon number of visits.

But before we can set up a contract, the first thing Robin needs to do is create a customer record for Bob (who, for the purposes of this example, we'll assume none of us has met before).

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Adding a brand-new customer!

1. Navigate to the Tab Groups drop down menu and click on Field Service Operations.
2. Click on the Customers tab link.
3. In the Customer name field, type in Bob Crenshaw.
4. If you want Method to be able to plan your route, make sure you include a valid address in the Bill to field.
5. Click Save to save the new entry - Bob Crenshaw is now in your existing customer list! If you refresh the Existing customers grid, you'll be able to see him - and he'll be available to choose from the Customer drop down list on the Work order screen.

Now that Bob is an official customer of Lawn Queen, it's time to create a work order pertaining to Bob's monthly contract. Since this is the overriding work order for the monthly payment and not indicative of the individual visits to Bob's place, this work order will be considered a series.

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Preparing a work order for a contract!

1. Navigate to the Work order list and click on New work order.
2. From there, choose the newly-created Bob Crenshaw from the Customer drop down list.
3. Under Job item, choose Lawn Mowing Contract and click Update. This will automatically name the job as well!
4. Click on the Recurring Dates subtab and click on Recurring.
5. Click "monthly" and choose the date range from April 1 to September 30 (since that's usually when grass grows!)
6. Click on "Insert recurring dates", which will populate the grid below.
7. Return to the Tasks and Materials subtab and click "Save & Close".
8. Now Bob has a contract that requires him to pay $200 a month for Robin's team to come and mow his lawn!

The first work order was for Bob's contract, and not for the team actually going to do the work, which means Robin will need to create a second work order to fill in those details.

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Preparing a work order for a team!

1. Navigate to My Calendar and, next to Assigned To, click Change.
2. Filter the calendar by clicking on the check boxes next to the two users you previously assigned as Team Leads to your two teams. Click on Apply filter.
3. Once your two users are displayed in the Calendar, click and drag to select the 1:00-2:00 time slot on Monday and click on the arrow. Then click New. This will bring up the Add/edit work order screen with the Assigned to field filled in with the user you chose, and the Date Start/Date End fields will show 1:00 and 2:00 on the day in question.
4. Choose Bob Crenshaw from the Customer drop down.
5. Under Job item, choose Lawn Mowing Visit and click Update. You'll notice the cost is $0, because Bob is paying for this service on the other work order, pertaining to his contract.
6. Click on the Recurring Dates subtab and click on Recurring.
7. Since Bob wants Robin's team to come over weekly to cut his grass, choose Weekly and set your preferences to have the date recur every 1 week on Monday from 1:00 to 2:00.
8. Set the start and end dates from April 1 to September 30.
9. Click on "Insert recurring dates", which will populate the grid below.
10. Go back to the Tasks and Materials subtab and click Save & Close.

Now Robin can keep track of each day work should be done at Casa Crenshaw, and it's time for the first team to head out and do some work!

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The job!

In order for the team to know where they're going, it might be helpful to bring up a map of directions. To do this:

1. From the My Calendar screen, select the column pertaining to the day of the job.
2. Click on Mapping > Map selected column. Assuming you have set up a home address for your business (please see Settings and Preferences for more details) this will bring up a map of directions from your office to Bob Crenshaw's house, which you can print out for your team! If you have multiple work orders for the same day, the map will display the best route to take to hit all your jobs for the day.
3. Once you arrive at the job site, all members of the team can log into Method Mobile using the user ID of the Team Leader you chose.?
4. From the drop down at the top of the screen, choose Work Orders and select Bob Crenshaw's work order from the last. Then click Start Timer and get cutting grass!
5. Part way through the job, Bob runs out of the house to ask you to spray some weeds that have been clogging up his front walkway. Thankfully you have Weed Preventative in your truck (and in your Job items list!) so to keep track of this unexpected part of the job, select Bob's Work order from the list, navigate to the Items tab, and choose Weed Preventative from the drop down list. Click Save & New to add it to the work order.
6. When the weeds have been sprayed and the grass has been cut, go back into Method Mobile, click on the Details tab, and click Stop Timer. The time will be automatically updated on Method Field Services when you log in on your office computer, and the work order status will change to Complete.

Time to pack up the lawn mower and head back to the office!

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Invoicing!

Let's fast forward a few weeks - it's the end of the month and it's time for Robin to do her invoicing. Here's how she'd go about it.

Remember, we have created two separate work orders for our work on Bob's lawn - a work order for the Contract and a work order for the daily visits. First we'll deal with the Contract work order.

1. From the Work order list, navigate to the Filter by view drop down list and choose "Not started before To date". The work orders displayed will be Robin's monthly contracts.
2. Select the work orders you want to invoice by clicking on the check box next to them. If you want to select all, click the check box at the top of the column.
3. Navigate to the Update selected work orders subtab, change the status to Completed, and click Update.

Now we'll deal with the work order for the weekly visits.

1. Navigate back to the Work order list and choose "All completed and to be invoiced" in the Filter by drop down menu. This will display the work orders you just marked as Completed.
2. Select the work orders you want to invoice as above and click on More actions > Invoice all. Click Okay on the dialogue box that appears, then click Create invoices. When prompted, click Okay again. This will take you to the Invoice list.
3. When you select Bob's invoice from the Existing invoices grid, you will see the Contract, Lawn Mowing Visit, and Weed Preventative all in the Job item section along with the total owing. Depending on how your preferences are set up, Method will email Bob Crenshaw to tell him his invoice is ready.

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But what about other payment types?

You may be asking "what if I don't charge a flat monthly rate? What if I charge for each individual day I go to mow Bob's lawn?" The answer is simple! Remember when you created the "Lawn Mowing Visit" job item? If you aren't charging a flat rate, you can attach a Sales price value to that job item (say $20), and simply don't include the "Lawn Mowing Contract" job item when you create the work order!

"Aha," you might be thinking, "but what if I charge a monthly fee and a cost per visit?" Just as simple! Attach a Sales price value to the "Lawn Mowing Visit" job item, and be sure to also choose "Lawn Mowing Contract" when inputting your job items on the work order. It's that easy!

And that's it! You've successfully created a series of occurrences (in Method speak) or, in regular business parlance, you've scheduled a recurring job! Below, you'll find some additional information you might find useful to help walk you through this example.

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Additional notes: how to create a job item

1. From the Work order list, choose the work order you'd like to edit.
2. Under the Tasks & Materials subtab, click on the ellipses button (...) next to any of the Job Item spaces. This will bring up the New Item screen.
3. For the "Lawn Mowing Contract" and "Lawn Mowing Visit" job items, click on "Service". For the "Weed Preventative" job item, click on "Inventory part".
4. In the Name / Number field, type in "Lawn Mowing Contract", "Lawn Mowing Visit", or "Weed Preventative" (depending on which item you're creating).
5. For the "Lawn Mowing Contract", ensure you include your sales price (in our video, we have chosen to use $200 if you do not also charge by visit or $100 if you do). For the "Lawn Mowing Visit", if you charge by the visit, also include sales price (our example lists $30 if you also apply a contract and $60 if you don't). For the Weed Preventative, include the cost and sales price (since you've clearly bought the spray somewhere, the cost refers to how much you paid for it and the price refers to how much you are charging the customer to use it).
6. For the "Lawn Mowing Contract" and "Lawn Mowing Visit" click on the Income account drop down list and choose "Services".
7. For the "Weed Preventative", click on Inventory information > Asset account and choose Inventory asset.
8. Click Save & Close to save these records.

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Additional notes: how to create a team

1. From the Dashboard, go to Settings > Team members.
2. Choose a team name for your team and type it into the field (e.g. Pipe Queen).
3. Under Team Leader, choose your personal user name from the drop down list.
4. Under Employee/Vendor 1 and 2, choose two other users from your Method team.
5. Click Save & Close to save this record.

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Video tutorial

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