ESC Software Quote Screen

There is a new Webinar available that covers creating and using quotes in Version 11 of ESC software.

The Webinar: Quoting in ESC Version 11 – Time: 47:38 – In this Webinar, Enrico Chatman, one of dESCO’s Support Technicians, presents all the new quoting features of ESC Version 11.

The Webinar is broken into two sections: a 30 minute presentation on working with quotes in version 11 of ESC and 15 minutes reserved at the end to address audience questions.

Enrico covers everything from how to create quotes on the new screen and accepting them to turning quotes into dispatches and invoices. You will see how to use the Quote List report to track the status of quotes and increase your closing ratio. If you have ever wanted your service business to create quotes for your customers and prospect more effectively, this is the video for you.

The ESC quoting module is a powerful tool for taking control of your service company’s quoting process. ESC Software’s new independent quotes module allows you to enter, edit, and manage quote status from its own screen.

With the ESC quoting module, you can to create quotes and tie them into multiple dispatches or have multiple dispatches tied into one quote. You can also create invoices and quotes from the same dispatch, letting your customers pay the bill for the service you performed, as well as letting your technicians quote for additional services while they are at your customers’ location.

You can also track which sales person made each quote for the customer, letting you monitor how they perform from the time when the quote is created. You can see the closing ratio and even see how much higher or lower the final invoice is from the quoted amount.

You’re now able to create a dispatch from a quote you’ve made when your customer accepted your quote, letting you send your technicians out to do the quoted work. This dispatch can bring over the parts from the quote so your technicians will be prepared with everything they need to complete the quoted work.

You can also create dispatches that are not billable if you want to send a sales person or technician to a prospect’s location with the sole purpose of creating a quote. The sales person can then make a quote from that dispatch that will not be billable until the quote is accepted.

Here is a summary of the new Quoting Features:

• The updated Quote List Report gives a number of different sorting options as well as summary statistics (such as quote status and closing ratios) for each individual sales person.
• There is a new screen that allows you to selectively cost out the parts on a quote when making it into a dispatch, making dispatching from an accepted quote an easy one step process.
• There is now a “Status” drop down, which allows you to keep track of whether a quote is pending, accepted, or rejected. ESC automatically updates the status to “Accepted” when you create a dispatch or invoice from the quote.
• There is a new search screen in the Quotes Module that makes it easy to recall recently modified invoices without having to enter in detailed search criteria.
• You can also make templates from the quotes you create, reducing the time you spend on common or re-occurring quotes involving many line items.
• The Quotes Module also has a new “Markup%” field, which allows you to adjust your markup percentage on individual line items as you create the quote.
• Any equipment or service agreements you attach to a quote will also carry over to the dispatch you create from the quote.

You can find a full listing of new features in Version 11 of ESC here.

Any additional questions about working with quotes in ESC software can be directed to support [at] desco-soft.com.

There are many more ESC Software Webinars available here to help you get the most out of your service software.

DIY website, eHow, has a short tutorial on selecting HVAC Service Software for a service management company.

HVAC service software is an integral tool for mechanical service management companies. You will want to find a solution that helps coordinate your customers’ needs in such a way that maximizes tasks completed, customer visits, and gross revenue while simultaneously lowering overall costs. Follow these steps to help in identifying HVAC software for your company.

eHow suggests looking for HVAC service software that works on mobile devices and can handle functions like dispatching, invoicing, and communicating with the office. It also suggests looking for software that will integrate well with your current account package.

eHow encourages readers to make sure the HVAC Software provider has a quality phone and email support system that you can reach during your working hours. eHow suggest finding service software that is tailored to work with your HVAC business. Finally, they suggest choosing HVAC service software based on its ability to to give you good and relevant reports about your business.

You can read the full guide at: How to Choose HVAC Service Software | eHow.com.

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However, its just a patented system at this point, but keep your ears open for a commercial model in the future.

The new, patented system abandons the power-hungry compressor-driven refrigeration process used in many domestic (and virtually all commercial) air conditioners in favor of a couple of high-efficiency pumps and fans. But it also uses water for evaporative cooling — a concept familiar to many people living in the arid West who have roof-mounted “swamp coolers.” Swamp coolers work well when the outside air is dry, as evaporating water carries away heat, cooling and moistening the air that is re-circulated into the house.

Version 11 of ESC is here and available for upgrade. It’s packed with new features and functions to make managing your service business easier than ever. Overall, this release is about improving your workflow. From qualifying your customers, to creating quotes, to dispatching technicians to complete the quoted work, to creating invoices, the whole process has been streamlined even further and puts you in control of the process.

Sales Invoicing

The Sales Invoicing Module underwent a complete redesign, which made it even more intuitive, added time-saving functions, and made more useful information readily available.

• The sales invoicing module has a new and clearer design and is now in the .NET framework.
• There is a new “View Details” button, which lets users with the right permissions view the costs of parts and labor used on an invoice, making it easier to see the profitability of each invoice.
• You are now able to adjust the quantity of assemblies, which will automatically calculate the quantities and costs of all the components that make up that assembly.
• This version also lets you adjust the quantity of flat rate parts on an invoice.
• You are now able to make templates out of the invoices you create, which will dramatically reduce the time you spend on creating common invoices involving many line items. Rather than having to create each invoice from scratch, you can just load the template you created and make any necessary modifications before saving.
• A new search screen in the Sales Invoicing Module makes it easy to recall recently modified invoices without having to enter detailed search criteria.
• The Sales Invoicing Module now supports barcode scanning, letting you scan parts and items directly onto an invoice.
• You can now modify the details of equipment you sell from within the sales invoicing module.
• The “Tender” button is now available right on the Sales Invoicing toolbar.
• You can create a credit memo directly from a saved invoice’s activities menu.
• The credit memo function now has its own screen, making it simpler to create a credit memo from an invoice.

Quotes

ESC now has an independent quotes module that allows you to enter, edit, and manage quote status in its own screen.

• The updated Quote List Report gives a number of different sorting options as well as summary statistics (such as quote status and closing ratios) for each individual sales person.
• There is a new screen that allows you to selectively cost out the parts on a quote when making it into a dispatch, making dispatching from an accepted quote an easy one step process.
• There is now a “Status” drop down, which allows you to keep track of whether a quote is pending, accepted, or rejected. ESC automatically updates the status to “Accepted” when you create a dispatch or invoice from the quote.
• There is a new search screen in the Quotes Module that makes it easy to recall recently modified invoices without having to enter in detailed search criteria.
• You can also make templates from the quotes you create, reducing the time you spend on common or reoccurring quotes involving many line items.
• The Quotes Module also has a new “Markup%” field, which allows you to adjust your markup percentage on individual line items as you create the quote.
• Any equipment or service agreements you attach to a quote will also carry over to the dispatch you create from the quote.

Qualification Screen

The Customer Qualification screen is the most visibly modified screen. It underwent a complete redesign with drag and drop functionality that provides the ability to modify your screen layout so it displays the information that is most important to you.

• You are able to choose from a number of our included layout templates, or create your own templates.
• There is a new “Refresh” button on the Qualification Screen tool bar which allows for a quick view of how the changes you made in different modules affected the customer.
• A “Create Quote” option is now under the Activities menu.
• There are three new columns of information in the Invoices/Quotes panel of Qualification Screen: Billed %, Associated Quote, Quote Status.

Dispatching Module

The Dispatching Module and the Dispatch Ticket Layout Designer both have new features to put you in control of the information that appears on printed tickets and what shows up in your customers’ history.

• The dispatch ticket layout design now has multiple grow-able body fields and grouping so that all the information you need on your printed tickets will appear.
• There is also a line spacing option to make your customized tickets fit onto pre-printed forms.
• The ticket designer provides the option to print the customer’s entire equipment list or only the equipment that is attached to that dispatch.
• You can now decide to post dispatch notes to the invoice and to the customer history.
• There is a new pull down menu to select which billing code to use in posting dispatch notes.
• There is also an option to select which billing code to use for dispatch notes that are posted to the invoice.

ESC Accounting Software

The ESC Accounting Software package also has some expanded features and updates, including recurring credit card transactions and “work-in-progress” options.

• You can now set up automated, recurring credit card transactions from several screens; including: “Enter Customers”, “Enter Agreements”, and “Sales Invoicing”.
• There is a new “work-in-progress” option, a WIP Enabled checkbox, and Closing Account drop down in Enter Chart of Accounts for asset and liability accounts.
• If you set the status of a job that has money in WIP accounts to “Closed”, a journal entry screen will come up that moves money from the WIP accounts to the closing accounts when you save.

Miscellaneous

• A new data structure makes auto-fill searching much faster in large databases.
• There is now a summary page that shows which invoices posted after you use the “Post Monthly Invoices” screen.
• ESC Version 11 is now compatible with Peachtree 2011.
• Version 11 works with the new HST Canadian tax.
• History and billing codes can now be up to 36 characters long, and you can make them inactive.
• There is a new billing code type called “Agreement” that maps to the Agreement column on the sales reports.
• Version 11 supports job classes in the ESC Mobile Client and ESC Front Office.
• We improved grouping in the layout designers, making it easier to create custom layouts.
• When you modify parts on an invoice that post to equipment, it automatically updates the information in the Equipment tab in the customer’s information screen.
• The inventory module now has spell check and date\time stamp for the Inventory Entry Notes tab.
• Also, inventory part adjustments are now date sensitive.