With the constant development of the simPRO software to improve functionality for our users we have decided to share tips & tricks with you regularly so that you can get more out of simPRO. This month we are going to have a look at a couple of smaller tips to get you using your system more effectively.
February’s Tips and Tricks include – Employee activity, Un-invoiced jobs, Online Resource, Convert tasks to jobs/invoices
Employee activity
Ever wanted to know about what was happening in your simPRO system by whom? Traditionally you could always look at the log of a job or quote to find out what has happened, though what about an entire activity report so you can ensure that you’re getting the productivity you require or retrace your own steps to find that missing link of some changes you have made.
Enter the employee History log. Simply this report reads through all the audit trails on the modules with auditing enables, groups it by users and presents the data across the board. It is a fairly easy report to run, simply go to Reports->Employee->History Log, apply the filtering you are after and click `submit’.
Un-invoiced jobs
Ever wished you could just see at a snapshot all the jobs you have worked on this month that have not yet received an invoice? Another simple and effective report to use that is often underutilised is the job activity report. There are heaps of options on this report and one of the most useful filters is the “Un-invoiced” option.
Simply head over to Reports > Jobs > Activity apply some filtering (for example current or last month) and turn on the “Un-invoiced” option at the bottom right then click `submit’. A simple report that will show you any job that has had activity on it (based on your filters) that has not yet had been invoiced.
Online Resource
Over the past year we have been generating many articles in to what we dub the “simPRO wiki”. In there you can find plenty of how-to’s, explanations, videos, product walk throughs and technical information. As we continue to develop new applications and features into simPRO these articles are updated and added into the wiki.
Even the online help system your already familiar with is interfaced with these articles… it is literally a treasure trove of information you can access about your system.
To search for help, articles or tips, simply go to Help > Online Resource
Convert tasks to jobs/invoices
If you are in the business of receiving many breakdown calls that can be rectified remotely (telecommunications, security etc…) and would like to send a single invoice to your customer each month with a tally of all the time spent on their work and keep track of it all separately so you can see each time they have contacted you, then simPRO has a few different solutions.
One of them and most likely the best for this scenario is the use of tasks. With tasks you can identify who the client and contact is that is calling in, identify stake holders for people that need to be kept informed of progress to the request (including client contacts), logged date time, due date time, completed date time and keep track of a whole range of other information in relation to the support call. There is even a timer if you would like to get right down to the really fine details of it all.
As the tasks are being created there is a tick box that says “Billable”. Turn that on as you are creating these tasks. Then when you are ready to roll it all up into one single bill to be sent to the client, simply navigate your way to Projects > Tasks > View and search for the tasks you marked as billable (make sure you include closed tasks as well if you are closing them off as you are going). Then either tick the tick box on at the top of the page (to select them all) or go through and select the tasks individually and click the “convert” button in the options for tasks at the bottom.
This will create jobs out of all the tasks that have been selected (and merge the tasks for the same client/location together onto single jobs) which can then easily be invoiced with details from each task they have given to you throughout the period.
This is yet another powerful and simple tool provided by simPRO to help you get the most out of your business. If you would like more information on this or any other simPRO module, please feel free to contact us anytime.
For more information on these or any other benefits simPRO can deliver for you, please feel free to contact us anytime.
Tags: convert tasks, employee activity, online resource, uninvoiced jobs
Thanks for the heads up on the uninvoiced jobs report. Reporting is an area that I am not on top off yet & as such found this article very helpful.