Table of Contents
Purpose
If there was a large snow event that resulted in more snow than originally estimated for your customer’s job, the invoice pricing would increase. To have more transparency with the costs billed to your customer, showing weather event information directly on invoices is helpful!
Adding Event Types, and using Log Event allows you to add a description and associate the event with an invoice batch so that the event description is included on all the invoices in the batch. This allows you to provide special communications to customers related to the event.
An event is weather that can last multiple days, or visits, especially during snow season.
📌Note: Events are not displayed by default on Invoices. If you want Events displayed on invoices, you would need to submit a layout request to get Event details published on your invoices.
📑To learn more about Invoice Layout types, please review our Layout Catalog, found here.
Adding Event Types
You can add Event Types in Administration. Event Types help you categorize weather events with batches of invoices.
To begin, navigate to Settings, and then Administration.
Then, Application select Lists and from the drop down menu, select Event Type.
Click New to create your new Event Type and Save to add it to the Event Type list.
Then, when you go to log an Event, the invoice batches will be categorized by Event Type.
Next, you can log the Weather Event in Invoicing, add the event type, and then tie it to your invoice batches.
Logging an Event
After the Event Type is created, you need to log the weather event that occurred. This is the information that is eventually displayed onto your final invoice to your customer, so be as descriptive as possible! This same information is also displayed on the Weather Events Report, which will be discussed next.
📌 Note: Log Event will not work unless the event is within 30 days of when you are trying to invoice, so make sure you are keeping your invoicing dates in mind!
Navigate to the Invoicing module.
Select Log Event.
Click on the New button to create a new Event.
The New Event window appears for you to complete with information.
📌Note: The Zip Codes field is grayed out on this screen, but becomes available for use when the Branch, Start Date/Time, and End Date/Time fields are completed.
Create an Event Name.
Add the Location of where the event occurred.
Select the Branch that is tied to the event you are logging.
This tells Aspire on which branch the event happened. When adding the Event to invoices batches, your options are available based on the Branch.
Select the Event Type to categorize the weather event. This helps organize weather events on the Weather Event Report.
Enter the Start Date/Time and End Date/Time.
🧠 Make sure the date and times are accurate; this allows you to select the Event to invoice batches in the same time frame.
Select the Zip Codes.
The Zip Code field pulls the zip codes of any property for work tickets that have time or materials allocated during the time range of the event.
Click Save.
Using the Weather Event on an Invoice Batch
🧠Remember: Events are not displayed by default on Invoices. If you want Events displayed on invoices, you would need to submit a layout request to get Events published to your invoices.
To add a weather event to an invoice batch, you will need to start on the Batches tab in the Invoicing module.
Select your invoice batch and then on the Batch screen, under Related Event, select your Event Type from the drop down.
Then, when printing or emailing invoices in this batch, your invoices will show the event information!
Here is an example of a invoice with event information displayed:
When weather events are recorded on Invoice Batches, they also get added to the Weather Event Report. Navigate to the Reporting module next to see what type of information is available for use!
Reviewing the Weather Events Report
You can group Events based on their property name, zip codes, review Work Tickets tied to each weather event and identify invoices that are tied to weather events here. You can use this report to improve estimates, and to understand which service areas are most impacted during snow or weather seasons.
📌Note: Zip codes are required when you are logging an event if you want the event to be displayed on the Weather Event Report.
Navigate to the Reports module.
Click on Standard Reports and then the Weather Events Report under Production.
Your Weather Event list will appear and you can filter and review work tickets that have events logged for their invoice batches.
