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Time & Material
Billing by Time and Material
(as opposed to Flat Rate) has been the
standard for years, but Command Post 3000
brings some important new thinking to
the mix by providing you powerful (and
flexible) control of your bottom line,
AND simplifying the invoicing process
in the bargain.
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(also known as straight time, at no premium
charge) is configured using basic information
that you customize to fit your competitive
environment (including minimum diagnostic
charges, truck charges, etc.). Each valid
block of billable time has a simple associate
code that is easy to understand: the letter
"L" signifies regular labor charges,
and the four digits behind the "L"
translate to decimal hours. For example, two
and a quarter hours of regular time is represented
by L0225. You create your OWN Time & Material
Book yourself with Command Post 3000, using
a 4-tier system (as opposed to the 6-tier
+ Add-on system used in Flat Rate pricing).
You select which tier represents your standard
pricing, and which represents your discounted
value rate for service contract customers,
and print the pages on either your own paper
or on special papers available from Service
Dispatch Systems, Inc. |
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Overtime charges apply
once the technician's daily hours exceed
the state-defined threshold. Command Post
3000 uses the letter "V" to
precede the code for overtime charges
(to avoid having the letter "O"
occur in front of the number zero, which
would only be confusing). While you can
set the billable overtime rate to the
standard time-and-a-half, Command Post
3000 doesn't force you to do so if you
can't be competitive under those circumstances.
If you're only interested in recovering
the overtime wages, rather than marking
them up fully, you can easily configure
Command Post 3000 to deliver adjusted
overtime pricing to meet that need.
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Holiday time (double time)
usually means you're paying your technicians
double. As with overtime, Command Post
3000 doesn't require you to double billable
rates if doing so is anti-competitive
in your market (see above on overtime).
All holiday time codes are preceded by
the letter "H." The first three
pages of the Time & Material book
you produce with Command Post 3000 will
be the Regular Time, Overtime, and Holiday
Time rate pages at the tier levels you've
selected. The rest of the book includes
all the inventory items you've tagged
for inclusion in the Time & Material
book, which are marked up according to
your configured tier structures. Each
inventory item has its own code as well,
to simplify invoicing at the end of a
job.
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You configure your own
Time & Material system, and determine
your own minimums, labor markups, even
the routing of proceeds to special employee
funds to cover vacation, tools, training,
etc., if you wish to do so. Once you make
changes, you're ready to reprint your
Time & Material books to put into
the hands of your technicians and/or salesmen.
You always know exactly where you stand,
and how you've arrived at your pricing
schedules, with Command Post 3000.
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As with the Command Post
3000 Flat Rate System, you print your
own Time & Material books directly
out of Command Post 3000. You can customize
what will appear in various bands on the
special customized papers available from
Service Dispatch Systems, Inc., so that
you can speak to your customers in your
own way. You can reprint the entire book,
or selected pages, as desired. You can
also prepare multiple books at different
tier levels, which can often be appropriate
based on the nature of the clientele you
service.
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With most installation companies, getting
costing and sales commissions paid on
a timely basis is hampered by the lack
or tardiness of material coming in from
the field, coupled with poor communication
between salespeople, the office, and the
field staff. Tracking begins in the salesman's
flat rate book, which generates the estimate
and the breakdown for the system. All
material is printed and relayed to the
construction manager with a complete inventory
and equipment breakdown. A flat rate job
number is assigned to every new system,
which is then pulled from existing jobs
and tweaked to meet the needs of that
individual customer. Using the job number
permits immediate costing, which pays
the salesman, pays the mechanics, pulls
stock from inventory, and gives the owner
an immediate breakdown of profit. You
often encounter jobs you regretted taking
on, but with this system that should only
happen once, because it can identify and
eliminate jobs that aren't costed properly,
while preventing your salesmen from being
either underpaid or overpaid. This only
scratches the surface of how Command
Post 3000 puts control back in
your hands.
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