Tutorial

This tutorial walks you through how to generate an Estimate, including Parts, Labor and Jobs, Customer approval, and Invoicing.

Your Profile must be set up in order to produce Estimates relevant to your business. This tutorial assumes your profile information has been entered. For more information on setting up your profile see this section.

The following information will be used in the tutorial.

Category	Input
Customer	Use a test name and address
Vehicle	2000 GMC Sierra 1500 V-8 4.8L
Job Type	Replace Water Pump

1. Start a New Estimate
Log-in to Service Estimator.	Click images to see a larger view.
Navigate to Parts and Service Tab.
Click on Select Customer.
Select Add a New Customer.
Enter Customer Information and Submit.
Enter as much Customer Information as possible for future contact needs and follow-up.
2. Select Vehicle Now that the customer is entered and selected, a vehicle for the Estimate is selected.
Select I will search Vehicle by catalog.	Click images to see a larger view.
Select 2000 in the Year column.
Select GMC Truck in the Make section.
Select Sierra 1500 PICKUP in the Model column.
Select V-8 4.8L in the Engine column.
In addition to identifying the vehicle type by make and model number, the vehicle VIN can be used to locate the vehicle type in the database. If the vehicle requiring service is not in the vehicle catalog, select I could not find vehicle in catalog to manually enter the vehicle information.
Add optional Attributes and click Submit. This vehicle information is now saved to the customer's profile.
Multiple vehicles can be saved to a single customer profile.
Enter any vehicle symptoms or customer concerns in Symptoms field.
Navigate to Jobs tab.
It is recommended to always maintain up-to-date mileage information for future service reminders.
3. Add Jobs Jobs provides a way to look up both parts and labor together by searching for the type of repair being done. For example, selecting the job “Water Pump”, will display both the Water Pump and related parts as well as the labor time to replace the water pump. Parts and Labor are vehicle-specific. You must have selected a vehicle to proceed.
On Jobs page, click on Repair.	Click images to see a larger view.
Select cooling.
Scroll down results to select Water Pump.
Click Search.
Select Specific Conditions.
Click on Select & Continue button.
Specific conditions depend on the manufacturer product lines being viewed. Specific conditions may or may not be presented for other vehicles selected.
From the Search Results, select the parts required.
Multiple parts may be required -- if they are not listed in the results, they can be added later.
Selecting parts will not automatically order them -- if you have some of the required parts in stock, you can delete them from the order once the Estimate has been accepted by your customer.
Scroll down the page and add Related parts if applicable.
Select Labor items.
If you have additional labor items to add to the Estimate, you will be able to do that using the Labor tab.
Click Add to Estimate.
To save all the information entered on your Estimate, click on Save Estimate.
Navigating away from the Estimate without saving will lose the Job information entered so far. Customer and Vehicle information will remain intact but any information entered or selected specific to the Job will be discarded.
4. Select Parts and Labor Items To provide a complete Estimate, select the parts and labor applicable to the Estimate.
Select Water Pump parts.	Click images to see a larger view.
In the Related Parts section, select water coolant.
Enter 2 Gallons of Coolant.
Enter (Mfr Code) “PRE”.
Enter Part Number “001”.
Enter List Price “8.99”.
Enter Sell Price “8.99”.
Select Remove and Replace Water Pump.
Select the relevant add-ons: +A/C interferes add +PS interferes add.
Click Add to Estimate.
Different add-ons are presented according to the vehicle type selected at the beginning of the Estimate process.
5. Edit Estimate The Estimate is now ready based on the standard items selected. In some cases, additional fees might apply to the Job, this section shows how to do that.
Click on Edit Parts and Labor Items.	Click images to see a larger view.
Enter 4.00 in Shop Supplies.
Select Disposal Fees and enter 11.00 into Amount Field.
Click Select and Continue.
Click on Save Estimate on the next page.
6. Review Estimate with Customer & Authorize The Estimate is now ready for presentation to the customer. In order to convert the Estimate to an Invoice, customer authorization for the Estimate must be recorded. Activant Service Estimator will auto-populate the date and time to present date and time for Authorizations. You can edit these fields if necessary.
Select method of authorization from drop down menu.	Click images to see a larger view.
Add comments if necessary.
Click on Authorize button.
7. Order Parts Once an Estimate is approved, the parts required for the job can be ordered.
From the Estimate page, click on Order Now button.	Click images to see a larger view.
Review the Part Order Summary.
Enter a note (if needed) and select delivery method.
Click Submit.
An Order Confirmation including a Supplier Confirmation and a Gateway Confirmation that indicates the Supplier received the order will be returned.
This order confirmation will also be sent via email to the email address in the Service Estimator profile.
8. Convert Estimate to Invoice Once the Job has been done, an Invoice for the work is created for presentation to the Customer for payment.
From the Order Confirmation, click on Home.	Click images to see a larger view.
Scroll down the page and click the Create Invoice button.
The Estimate must be authorized in order to create an Invoice.
9. Print Invoice
To make a print of the Invoice for presentation to the customer, click on Print Invoice.	Click images to see a larger view.
10. Adjust Invoice On occasion, a part or labor item originally included on the Estimate was not used and must be removed from the Invoice.
Uncheck item from Invoice.	Click images to see a larger view.
Click on Recalculate Total for the updated Invoice amount.
11. Recall Invoice If the Invoice is no longer on screen, it must be recalled to access it.
Navigate to Parts & Service.	Click images to see a larger view.
Click on Select Customer.
Enter search information and click Search Existing.
Select View/Reprint Invoice.
12. Accept Payment & Finalize Invoice
To record customer payment, select payment type from drop-down menu.	Click images to see a larger view.
Payments can be applied via a single payment type or apply multiple payments using different payment types. The Activant Service Estimator will calculate the balance remaining if multiple payments are entered.
Once the balance is paid in full, the Invoice must be finalized. By finalizing the Invoice, it will show up as a completed job in the reporting system. Click on Finalize Invoice button.
This concludes the Activant Service Estimator tutorial. If you have additional questions, please see the Frequently Asked Questions section.