Setting up SM8 to work with Property Management companies

[Rakesh Singh]

Hi all,

First post so please bare with me :) 

I’ve been running a Property Maintenance company for a few years and we recently signed-up to start using ServiceM8. We previously used a semi-manual email-based system, but it was time to upgrade to something more professional and stable.

99% of our business comes through Property Management companies, so I’m keen to get SM8 optimised for that purpose.

Question 1: 

We currently have a job sheet  that’s emailed to our engineers, that contains info like access arrangements (via tenant, via keys from estate agent, etc.) and materials that need to be collected from particular locations (inc. items name, order numbers, contact names, etc.)

Other than simply writing  all this info into the “Description” box, is there anywhere else this can be included and clearly highlighted? Is this something the Job Templates addon can help with?

Question 2:

Property management companies we work with generally have several property managers who are all responsible for their respective portfolios, and we work with many of them. In this context, which way is best to setup SM8 to add jobs, invoice, etc.

1) Each property manager setup as as a separate client, with each property setup as a site 'underneath' them,

2) Each Property management company setup as a client, with each property setup as a site underneath them, but then the Property Manager setup as the main contact?

I guess they could both work, and probably the latter is the rights way to do it, but it feels slightly alien to me as all of our correspondence is with the Property Manager and not any other part of the company.

Thanks in advance for your help :)  

Rakesh.

[Digital Data Designed, LLC]

Hello Rakesh,

Great to hear you now on ServiceM8! 

The questions you raise are common situations a team like yours would find themselves in. Lets dig in!

Question 1 - Where to put key information which is vital to your team's unique workflow which ServiceM8 is not designed around?

• As mentioned before this is a common situation which comes up from time to time. In your case there are a few options, but the first or second option is what I would recommend.
  • Custom Fields
    • ServiceM8 Custom Fields provide up to 10 fields of varying types which can be made available on the Job &/or Client records.
    • Custom Fields which are on both will have the details of the Client Record applied when a new Job is made, so the Job will be pre-populated with the content found on the corresponding Custom Field within the Client Record.
      • Example: You have a custom field titled "Access Information" which is assigned to both the Job and Client records. On the Client/Site Record you place in this field "Key #1125", which corresponds to the location of a copy of the key you keep on hand. When a new Job is created for this same client, the details of this Custom Field from the Client Record are automatically applied to this new Job, so that the same Custom Field on the Job will also read "Key #1125".
    • Should you need to update the details of the Custom Field for this specific Job you can without making the "global" change to the Client Record.
    • The benefits of this workflow are with its simplicity, however since they are just fields there is no "log" to see changes over time (which could be a problem should you need to perform an audit on access details or who has had access).
    • ServiceM8 charges a one-time fee for applying Custom Fields to your account, which is $140 USD (in the USA market, price may vary in other markets).
    • Working with Custom Fields can only be done my ServiceM8 Support or a ServiceM8 Certified Partner (like us!). If you would like assistance with this, please feel free to reach out to us at https://www.dddesigned.com/contact
  • Assets
    • ServiceM8 Assets are a powerful way to organize customer or company items, and track their usage over time.
    • Asset items are tagged and logged in your ServiceM8 Account, and every time you interact with them the goal would be to complete some sort of Form against the Asset, which provides you a log entry for the interaction.
      • Example: You have an Asset Type for "Access" [to the property] setup for a Site where the key is kept with the Estate Agent. The Asset will state that the access item is with the Estate Agent. When your Staff goes to pick up the access item, they would complete a simple Form within ServiceM8 to note they are picking up the item. When they return it, they are again completing a Form to do so.
        • This can be this simple for all, but I recommend a slightly more complex workflow when the access item is housed on-site at your office where the access item is moved between a Client record of your name, and Client/Site in question. In this workflow the access item is in a lock box on your property with a location ID stored for it, and when the key is stored at your location the Asset item is logged against your Client record in ServiceM8 (as opposed to the Client/Site record it is for). When your Staff would pickup this Key, they would complete a Form in the Job for the Client/Site to identity they picking up the access item, moving the Asset item from your Company Client Record to the that of the Client/Site of the Job. When your Staff is finished with the access item and return it, they would do so on a Job which is for your Company Client Record. While it sounds a little complicated, the reason for this is actually quite simple: to know which access items have not yet been returned. Any access item which is not with your Company Client Record (or similar Estate Clients), then it is still "checked out".
  • Notes
    • You can simply create a quick note details the access information about this Job,
    • Similar to Custom Fields, Notes saved to the Client/Site Diary are made available to the Job Diary, so if the access info is always the same, you can use the Note saved to the Client/Site as the access details.
  • Forms
    • ServiceM8 Forms are a powerful aspect of ServiceM8. As noted with Assets, they are a critical part of that workflow. However they could be used as a stand-alone workflow where you can note the access details on that Job within a Form. Since all items on the Job are saved to the Job Diary, This Form with it's unique name make it easy to find should the Job Diary get rather long with a number of items stored within the Job.
    • The benefits to this rather than a Note is that Notes are not "named", so the "Access" note would be right next to the note about the call with the client and the other note about needing permits… it's just mixed in there. While a Form would be "mixed in" as well, you have the Name of the Form as your visual cue.
  • Job Description
    • Obviously this is always an option as well, however on some Jobs these can often get a little carried away with content, making what you might be trying to find quickly an annoying problem.

Question 2 - How to best organize properties which are managed by specific Property Manages for the same company?

• This one comes up more often then most would realize, but we helped team through the options before. The options you mentioned are basically what is available, but here are some details around each:
  • Setup each Property Manager as their own "Parent Client Record" or "Head Office" within ServiceM8 using the Client/Sites Add-on
    • This is our most common goto solution to this problem.
  • Setup each Property Manager as a Contact within the Client, and then assign the specific Property Manager as a Site Contact when setting up the Site
    • This can be done, however when taking into account the workflow for creating Sites, this can often be an workflow hurdle for many teams.
• Keep in mind the purpose of the Client/Sites Add-on… Billing. The purpose of this Add-On was to simply the billing where you have a number of Job Location, but all of their Invoices were to be sent to a single central location. This is where you have the "Head Office" foe the billing (which my team will often refer to as the "Parent Client"), and their "Sites" (which is where the actual Job Address is). This workflow allows you to have just a few Sites to hundreds of Sites under a single "Head Office" or "Parent" Client Record, and all of the Invoices from the Jobs under those Sites will be sent to that "Head Office" or "Parent" Client as the "Billing Entity". It's also important to note that if you have connected with an integrated Accounting Package with ServiceM8, that the Invoice will be applied to the "Head Office" or "Parent" Client record in your Accounting Package. The Site will be listed on the invoice as where the service took place, but the Invoice will not be applied to Customer Record for the Site (which one exist).

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask further questions here, or you can email us directly at sup...@dddesigned.com, or reach out to us at https://www.dddesigned.com/contact