3.0 Department Setup

Department Setup

This is where you will need to set up all of your “Department Specific” information.  You should have a Department set up for all revenue areas that you would like financial and reporting exposure on.  

Standard/Recommended Department splits:             

10      New Equipment Sales                       

20    Used Equipment Sales                      

 30     Allied Sales                               

 40    Road Service                              

 45     Shop Service                              

 47    PM Service                              

 50    Parts Sales                               

 60    Rental Sales

To set up a department you will first need to identify a Branch under which this Department will be used.  Thus, each Branch can potentially have a different set of departments than the others.  However, it is recommended to set up each Branch with the same list of departments, if appropriate.    

Department # - On the previous page we listed the recommended department splits.  These are what most dealerships use.  So if you are setting up a department for Road Service you would enter 40 for the Department #.   

Title - Enter the department name here.  For example:  Road Service (This is what appears in the Department drop down boxes when opening a work order.)

Sales Group - These were set up on the ‘Company’ screen.  Enter the appropriate group #.  These will be used to run commission reports later.  If you are setting up department 40 for Road Service, the Sales Group will most likely be 4.  If you are setting up department 10 for New Equipment Sales, the Sales Group will most likely be 1.  

Reporting Group - Sales, Service, Parts, Allied, or Rental (this applies only to your reporting desires) 

Mechanic Group - The Sales Group that mechanics may be assigned to just as salespeople are assigned.  Ties back to the Sales Groups that were set up in the ‘Company’ screen.  This way, not only a Salesperson can be assigned to a work order, but a Mechanic can be assigned to a work order in the same manner.    

Terms Override - You may override the default terms which are normally set for a customer.  For example, if a customer normally has NET terms of some kind (i.e. Net10), but the current department is a New/Used Equipment sales department, you may want the standard NET terms to be shown as Due Upon Receipt or Cash instead.  However, if the customer that is being used has Cash or COD type of terms, this override will not have an affect.  

Invoice Type - This controls what defaults appear and what fields may be required on an Invoice.  

Invoice Name - Softbase will put ‘Invoice’ behind what you enter here.  For example, if you enter Road Service in this field, the invoice will print “Road Service Invoice” at the top.  

Invoice French - This field needs only be used by our Canadian customers where there is a requirement to have invoices printed in French.  

Allow Parts Pricing Override - Clicking this option will allow for parts ‘sell‘ pricing override when placed on a work order.  This can still be restricted per user in the Security screen.    

Initial Comments - Clicking this option will bring up the comments entry screen automatically when a work order is opened.  (Used most generally on Service Department work orders.)  

Suppress Labor Hours - Most companies do not wish to display the actual labor hours on a service invoice.  Instead they prefer one labor line with a total dollar figure.  Clicking this option will suppress labor hours and in return will only print a total currency for labor.  

Suppress Parts Pricing - Clicking this option will allow for parts and quantities to print but no pricing will print.  Instead there will be a total for parts pricing.   

Tax At Dealer - If your tax laws state that you are to tax at the dealer regardless of customer location, click this option.  Also, even if you normally set sales tax based on where the customer is, you may need to check this option for certain departments such as the Shop Service or Parts department.    

No Credit Check For Quotes - If you are creating a quote for your customer rather than an actual work order, your customer is still subject to    credit limitations according to how their account is set up and what remains outstanding on their AR account.  If you do not want quotes to be subject to credit approval, if necessary, choose this option.  

Labor Account - This is the labor inventory account that will be relieved     when a work order is invoiced for this department.  If the department does not use a labor inventory account, just put in any labor account.  The program will only try to relieve this account if it has labor entries on the invoice.  The Branch & Department that a mechanic is assigned to will be the Branch & Department the program will look up for the appropriate Labor Inventory Account regardless of the actual department of the sale itself.    

Equipment Account - This is the equipment inventory account that will be relieved when a work order is invoiced for this department.  If this department does not relieve equipment then just put in any equipment account.  If the work order does not have equipment entries it will not try to relieve this account.  

Cash Account - If a department has an account # here, and the terms are a Cash or COD type, then when the invoice is closed, the user will be prompted if they want to record posting of cash immediately.   

Credit Card Account # - ***See documentation on PayJunction***

Added By and Changed By - These, of course will show who last added or changed this department setup and when.  

On the right side of this screen you have six tabs which contain more detail for setting up your department.  

Additional -

Under the additional tab you’ll find two sections.  The top section is where you can enter Miscellaneous charges that you would like to have set up for this department to use as needed when invoicing customers.  Any charges entered here will be available as an F5 function when invoicing for this department.  The bottom section is for additional labor charges.

Misc Description - Enter the name you want to display on the invoice for this miscellaneous charge.  For example:  “Fuel Surcharge” or “Shop Supplies”.

Misc Percentage - If this charge is based on a percentage of a total, enter the percentage here.  For example:  if this is based on 5% of total labor, enter 5 here.  If you are wanting to use a set amount instead of a percentage, enter 100 in this field and use the Max and Min to control that specific amount.  

Misc Sale Account - Enter the GL account # to which this revenue (credit) should be applied when the work order is invoiced.

Max Amount and Min Amount -  With a percentage in the ‘Misc Percentage‘ field, you can set a minimum amount and a maximum amount for the miscellaneous charge to be.  If you would like to set up a flat charge which does not fluctuate, you can enter the amount in both of these fields to indicate a flat charge with the percentage at 100%.  For example:  for a flat $5.00 charge you would enter 5 in the ‘Max Amount’ field as well as 5 in the ‘Min Amount’ field.  Or if you have a 5% charge which requires the amount to be at least $5 but not to exceed $75, you would enter 75 in the ‘Max Amount’ field and 5 in the ‘Min Amount’ field.  

Taxable - Select this option if this miscellaneous charge is taxable.  

Calc On Labor Only - If using a percentage to calculate this miscellaneous charge and the amount should calculate based only on total labor, select this option.  

Calc On Parts Only - If using a percentage to calculate this miscellaneous charge and the amount should calculate based only on total parts, select this option.

If using a percentage to calculate this miscellaneous charge and the amount should calculate based on total invoice, leave them both unselected.   

Any time you add or change a Misc charge entry be sure to use the ‘Update’ button located just above the Misc Description field within the Additional tab.  You may add as many Misc charges as appropriate for each department.  

Add’l Labor Hours - You can set up additional labor hours to be charged on work orders in this department if you have a need to do so, but with no cost associated with those hours.  

Mechanic # - You can have a “ghost” mechanic set up for these hours.  

Add’l Labor Sale Account - Enter the GL account to which the revenue is to be applied when the work order is invoiced.     

Doc #’s/Dates - 

The Doc #’s / Dates tab is where the document number sequences are set.  It is also where you can set the Transaction Date Range parameters. 

Internal Customer # - Enter the department’s internal customer # here. 

Next Invoice # - This is set up at the time of installation and should not be changed.  This controls the next invoice number for this department.  

Next Quote # -  This controls the next quote # for this department.  

Print Verbiage - By default (when this field is blank), quotes will print the word “Quote” when printing.  (e.g. Service Quote #, etc.).  However, some dealers would rather use the word “Estimate” or some other word besides “Quote”.  This is where you’d make that change for the Default word.  With all of that said, each individual quote can have it’s own unique word to be used independent of this default setting.  

Print Verbiage French - This is the same as above, but when the customer requires the quote printed in French, this is the default word to be used.   

Next PO # - This controls the next PO # to be used by this department.  This is set up at time of installation and should not be changed.  

Next Rental Contract - This controls the next rental contract # to be assigned by this department. 

Quote Expiration Days - This controls the # of days before a quote generated by this department will be considered “expired”.  

Open WO Watermark - Text entered here will appear in grey across the center of open work orders when printed. 

Transaction Date Range - This controls and limits labor entry dates being posted to work orders.  Update this monthly to limit labor entries into a payroll period that has already been paid.  To update this field, select one department, set the dates as needed, then “Update”.  Then you can use the “Set” all button (labeled “set All Depts To The Same”) to set the other departments to the same dates.    

Rental/Parts -

Rental Proration Days: - This section controls the rentals defaults in invoice for rentals.  These settings set the system defaults for the start and end dates.  

    Rental Billing Hours In A Day - typically 8

    Rental Billing Days In A Week - typically 5

    Rental Billing Days In 4 Weeks - typically 28 

    Rental Billing Days In A Month - typically 30 

    Rental Billing Days In A Quarter - typically 120 

Default Return Status - Select the status to be selected by default when the rental equipment is returned off rent.    

    Parts Routing Priorities: - This section sets default values for parts ordering. 

    Default For BO’s - Select default routing # for back orders

    Default For Stock - Select default routing # for stock orders 

    Emergency Cost Priority - Select default routing # for emergency cost priority orders

Quote - 

Comments to appear on quotes - Comments entered here will appear in small print at the bottom of each quote produced by this department when printed.  

Invoice - 

Comments to appear on invoices - Comments entered here will appear in small print at the bottom of each invoice produced by this department when printed.  

Mobile - 

Softbase Mobile Signature Disclaimer -  (currently not being used) 

Softbase Mobile Disclaimer - When sending a field work order from Softbase Mobile with the customer’s signature, this is the disclaimer text to be printed at the bottom of the re-cap work order.