Table of Contents
Overview
During estimating, services are added to a contract opportunity. Later, when your client agrees to proceed with the work, you mark the opportunity as won. At the time that you win the opportunity, Aspire will generate the appropriate number of work tickets based on the number of occurrences for each service on an opportunity.
However, in some scenarios, it may not be known how many tickets will be needed at the time of estimating. In this case, Aspire allows a service on an estimate to be marked As Needed.
This can be used on contract services with an invoice type of T&M or Per Service.
If you choose the As Needed checkbox for an opportunity service while creating an estimate, tickets are not generated at the time that the opportunity is won. Instead, a production manager can generate a ticket at the time of scheduling.
For scheduling purposes, work tickets for As Needed opportunity services display in the work ticket list with a ticket number of zero (0).
When the production manager places the As Needed ticket on the schedule board, Aspire generates a work ticket and assigns a non-zero ticket number. Time and materials are then applied to that work ticket as you would normally.
⚠️ Services can only be marked As Needed for T&M or Per Service contract services. The As Needed option is not available on work orders.
Typical examples of when As Needed services are used include:
Snow-related services
Irrigation repair services
Additional mow services beyond the contracted amount
How to Set Up As Needed Services
To set up a service that is As Needed, click into the service on the estimate screen of the opportunity as shown below. We're clicking the Spring Clean Up service.
Once you are in the Service Details screen, check the As Needed box.
❗ Remember that the Invoice Type for the service must be either T&M or Per Service in order for the As Needed checkbox to be available.
Last, click the Save icon in the top right corner.
🧠 A service flagged this way is called an "As Needed Opportunity Service" or sometimes shortened to "As Needed Service".
Creating the As Needed Work Tickets
After you have created the As Needed service(s) on the contract, and have won the contract, Aspire will not automatically generate the tickets like it does for services that are not marked As Needed.
In the example above, only the Spring Clean Up service has been marked As Needed. Aspire will generate tickets for the other services upon winning the contract but will not generate tickets for the Spring Clean Up.
📌 Note: Aspire will allow you to go back into the opportunity service on a contract estimate after it has been won and check the As Needed checkbox. This can be valuable such as running out of mowing tickets at the end of the season.
As Needed tickets are created in one of four ways:
Adding As Needed Services on the Schedule Board
As shown in the image below, you can search by property name (Firelands Regional Medical Center) to focus on the property for which we estimated As Needed services in the earlier example.
After narrowing your search, As Needed opportunity services show up in the work ticket list on the Schedule Board screen.
Since the work ticket does not exist yet, the work ticket number in the search list shows as zero (0). You can drag the opportunity service onto the Schedule Board by clicking on the dot symbol on the left side of the ticket number.
When you drop it onto the schedule board, Aspire immediately creates the work ticket and assigns a non-zero work ticket number.
If you right click on the newly created visit plaque on the Schedule Board, you can select the Open Work Ticket option to view the work ticket.
In the image below, the Spring Clean Up As Needed service has become a work ticket with an assigned work ticket number. It is also now in a Scheduled status.
📌 Note: The Spring Clean Up service will still continue to appear in the work ticket list with a ticket number of zero (0). This allows you to continue to create additional tickets from this service as you need them.
Adding As Needed Tickets from the Crew Mobile App
Did you know that the crew leader can create an As Needed ticket from Crew Mobile on their mobile device?
The crew leader can create the As Needed work ticket by:
Going to the Schedule option on the Crew Mobile home screen.
They will then click the New button in the lower right-hand corner of the screen, and select the property for which they want to create a new ticket.
They will then select the service that they will be performing.
Adding As Needed Tickets on the Time Entry Screen
In some scenarios, an As Needed ticket may need to be assigned from the time entry screen. Perhaps a crew leader clocked time to a ticket other than the As Needed ticket.
To add an As Needed ticket to the time entry screen:
Click the plus sign next to Direct Job Time, and choose Add Existing Ticket. This will display a list of available work tickets.
Since the work ticket has not yet been created, it will display in the list with a ticket number of zero (0).
Upon selecting the service, it will be added to the time entry screen and a non-zero ticket number will be assigned.
Adding As Needed Tickets with the Schedule an Event Function
The Schedule an Event screen can be found by clicking the three-dot menu in the upper right of the Schedule Board and choosing Schedule an Event.
This provides a search list of opportunity services to support the preparation or mass scheduling of customer visits for an As Needed service based on an event, like snow fall.
Two Bulk Actions can be performed from this screen:
Set Route and Sequence # -- For advanced preparation, you can prepare for mass scheduling by establishing a route and sequence number for each relevant opportunity service.
For example, at the beginning of snow season, a scheduler can choose to set the default route for all As Needed shoveling services to the Shoveler route.
The default route for all snow plowing As Needed services can be set to the Snow Plowing route.
First, specify search list criteria to identify and list the As Needed services for which you want to schedule visits in the Schedule an Event screen all together.
Select the As Needed services you want to schedule visits by placing checkmarks in front of them. You can select all the opportunity services by clicking the checkmark in the header if you've narrowed your list down.
Click on the Bulk Actions icon and select Set Route and Sequence #
Choose a default route and sequence number for the selected properties and services when the As Needed service visits are created.
Click Save when finished. When an actual event is created based on the As Needed service, Aspire will use these defaults to create and schedule the As Needed tickets.
Mass Scheduling --
To mass schedule, like before, specify search list criteria to identify and list the As Needed services for which you want to schedule visits in the Schedule an Event screen all together.
Select the As Needed services you want to schedule visits by placing checkmarks in front of them. You can select all the opportunity services by clicking the checkmark in the header if you've narrowed your list down.
Click on the Bulk Actions icon and select the Create/Schedule Visits option from the triple dot menu to display the Create/Schedule Visits screen.
Select the date on which the visits should be scheduled and the route that should be used (if a default route is not provided for the service opportunity).
When you click the Save icon, Aspire will create work tickets based on the selected As Needed services and place the visits on the Schedule Board.
Changing an As Needed Service
You can change an As Needed Service without having to create a new Work Ticket if there are no work tickets under the Opportunity.
This eliminates the need to create a new work ticket that will need to be deleted later in the event you need to create a change order.
📌 Note: If work tickets exist under the Opportunity that you are trying to change, a list of the current open work tickets will populate and you will need to select one of the work tickets before submitting a change. You can only add a change to a new or open Work Ticket. That change will then be applied to the selected and following work tickets.
To change an as needed service without a work ticket, go to the Opportunity containing an As Needed service without a Work Ticket.
Click the 3 dot menu on the Opportunity details screen.
Select Change.
Change the date to reflect when the updated As Needed Service is to begin.
Click Save.
You will be redirected to the estimate.
Open the 3 dot menu of the As Needed service you wish to change, and select Change to initiate a change to the service.
A new field under your service appears to input your change. Every time a change order is saved, it will be denoted with a version number to the left of the Add icon.