Incorporate Flat Rate Pricing with P21 Service Module

P21 Service Fees without Charging Parts & Labor

Flat rate pricing is alternative model for companies to charge a fixed rate for services.  Idealistically, it helps to provide straightforward pricing to customers who may appreciate knowing what they are going to spend up front.

In P21’s Service Module, there is no automated solution to incorporate flat rate pricing.  We’ve had a few organizations request a solution so parts can be added without charging the customer more than the agreed amount.

Setting-up the Solution

1. First, we created a Other Charge Item (OCI) to use to use as the flat rate service charge in parts/labor/service. This is a ‘sister-code’ to the Item on the Item Tab.
2. Create a separate product group for any service fee items. This segregates the Service Fee from Inventoried Parts and keeps the General Ledger nicely organized.
3. Create an On-Save Business rule to zero out the price/extended price for any item which is not in the Service Fee product group when the status is equal to ‘Completed – Picked.’

How it Works:

1. The customer item is entered on Items tab within Service Order Entry.
2. The Service fee (OCI) is added within the parts section of Parts/Labor.
3. Parts are also added within the parts section of Parts/Labor, as needed.
4. When the Line Status is changed to “Completed – Picked,’ only the Service Fee price remains.

Viewing the Service Fee from Items Tab

On Items Detail Tab, we created a UDF called ‘Service Fee.’  This would display pertinent transparency on the line level, so the end user can see the total service fee without having to move to another tab.

Three-Part solution Workflow Rule

• The rule will recalculate the Repair price for all items and update the field, accordingly.  This is designed as a catch all to “resync” the Repair Price UDF after a save.
• A field edit converter rule throws a warning if the end-user tries and edits the field.  This lets the user know that this is an information only field, and that edits must be done in Parts/Labor.
• The SQL Stored procedure is executed from the workflow rule to update repair price on all fields.

How it works:

• The Service Fee Item ID price is entered/updated in Parts/Labor Tab.
• Business Rule fires to sum up the total price of the Service Fee.
• The total is written to the Repair Price UDF located on the line level of the Service Items tab.
• After the user saves the record, a process runs to sync the Repair Price field for every line on the order.

Service Fee Displays Even With Parts Extended Price

Once the status is ‘Completed – Picked,’ the remaining parts zero out and only the Service Fee remains