Using CommitCRM for tracking AYCE MSP Contracts

[Support Team]

Re: Using RangerMSP for tracking AYCE MSP Contracts

Hi ascendnet,

I believe the options which already exist in the application were covered along this thread. This doesn't completely cover the specific scenario you have described (in regards of the MSP contract with specific labor and parts items not being covered), and this is something we have noted for us to check how we can cover this kind of use case. A fully customizable contract (which lets you define how each item behaves) is something which is on our radar for a while now, and has been mentioned in the past.

At the moment, you may consider tracking items which are usually not supposed to be covered by your MSP contracts, using Charge reports. You can filter the report by the item, and by the billable flag, and see whether you have non-billable charges with this item which were logged this way by mistake (i.e. should be "billable"). This is not a fully automated solution, but should help you make sure you don't miss on any billable items.

I hope this helps.

Ethan

[lpopejoy]

Re: Using CommitCRM for tracking AYCE MSP Contracts

I'm curious about this statement:

A fully customizable contract (which lets you define how each item behaves) is something which is on our radar for a while now, and has been mentioned in the past

When do you anticipate this feature? I would say this and decent email integration are the immediate things that we need improved. I'm trying to be really patient for this, but it would sure help to see a development roadmap to see where this product is going.

I know you've promised better email handling in 5.2 or 5.3... That's great, and I'm looking forward to it, and I appreciate your responsiveness to the community.

Thanks,

Luke

[AN-Tech]

Re: Using CommitCRM for tracking AYCE MSP Contracts

Those are also the two biggest items I need here as well. I am currently trying to put into place workarounds for my MSP contracts and it takes alot of work to create them. If I knew the contract update would be a month or two out I probably wouldn't bother with the workarounds and just wait.

So any timeline would be great.

Thanks

[Support Team]

Re: Using RangerMSP for tracking AYCE MSP Contracts

Thanks for the follow-up. As you mentioned, Luke, the enhanced Email Threading is currently planned to be added on in the next release (we may release a mid-term release with other features earlier, or release all new features, including the threading, in a single release, it hasn't been decided yet). As for the the enhanced contract options - this is not something which is currently being worked on, we will probably get to it in one of our future releases.

Ethan

[AN-Tech]

Re: Using CommitCRM for tracking AYCE MSP Contracts

Sorry to hear that there is no timeline on the contract updates but at least I know that I should move forward with finding work arounds for them.

Thanks for the updateCommitCRM.

[lpopejoy]

Re: Using CommitCRM for tracking AYCE MSP Contracts

You know, would it be possible for us to see a feature timeline? If we could, I bet you guys could get some good feedback on what was important or not to your users! I know you are probably afraid of saying you will provide features, and then not delivering and making people mad... I think it would be helpful.

--Luke

[AN-Tech]

Re: Using CommitCRM for tracking AYCE MSP Contracts

Might be time to think about setting up a pole again. Throw 10-20 features (or however many you want). Then give us the ability to rank them from least to most important. Would be a great way to see what it is the majority need fromCommitCRM.

[Support Team]

Re: Using RangerMSP for tracking AYCE MSP Contracts

Thanks guys, we will seriously re-evaluate this idea, we still need to find the magic combination... The feedback we get here and directly by email is great and guides when we prioritize our tasks. In any case, I can say that the main feature that we're currently working on is the enhanced email threading - a capability that was strongly requested in other forum threads. The solution consists of several aspects and we're moving in that direction.

Besides, we're working on some other enhancements, some will serve as the building blocks for the enhanced threading, some will just make the system work better. We are currently considering releasing a mid-term version, before the enhanced threading release, this will enable us to release new features instead of holding them until the major threading release.

Thanks,
Sherry

[AN-Tech]

Re: Using CommitCRM for tracking AYCE MSP Contracts

I do appreciate that I no longer have to manually add the replies from customers back into the ticket. Definately saves us alot of work.

Thanks

[AN-Tech]

Re: Using CommitCRM for tracking AYCE MSP Contracts

Commit,

Can we get some kind of time frame on when better handling of contracts will be coming? We are going all Managed Services and the current way that CommitCRM handles contracts is not going to work. I really want to stay with CommitCRM but if this is going to be more then a few months out I'm afraid I might also need to look at Connectwise or TigerPaw.

Please don't take this the wrong way. The two things I need most from CommitCRM are better email integration and more options for contracts, especially ones geared toward managed service providers. The email is definitely moving the the right direction and I'm hoping that the contracts shouldn't be too hard to enhance.

Thanks in advance

[Support Team]

Re: Using RangerMSP for tracking AYCE MSP Contracts

Hi,

Thanks for posting this great feedback.
The RangerMSP system has some options for MSP management that we wanted to make sure that you were aware of.

When using all you can eat contracts, we suggest using block of money contracts, so that you can better monitor the profitability of the contracts that you offer your customers. Each Block of money contract can have a single price that gets charged to the customer in the Charges - Contract Price tab, while all other charges that are created (save product/item) created in the Charges tab will be marked as not-billable by default, but always subject to your own digression.

The [hightlight]Email Connector [/hightlight]can be configured to take most MSP software tickets, and create tickets for your customers in RangerMSP, while online asset monitoring and remote desktop services can be configured to be run from RangerMSP using the customizable [hightlight]Online Services [/hightlight]tools.

We release several new versions of the software that include new features and enhancements to existing features which also include topics mentioned here in this post; since our features are mostly decided based on popularity.

We wish to express our appreciation for the quality of the feedback submitted in your comments, and for letting us know how we can make RangerMSP better for your business workflows.

• For more information regarding Contract price charges, please click here
  
• For more information regarding Block of Money Contracts,
• Email MSP Integration ([hightlight]Automated Emails[/hightlight]), please click here.
• For more information regarding Online Services Documentation & Samples, please click here.

Thanks again guy...
Reno Breen

[AN-Tech]

Re: Using CommitCRM for tracking AYCE MSP Contracts

Hi Reno,

Please read through the thread and you will see why the block of money or any of the current contracts really don't work well for MSP's. I think my post on July 21st, 2009, 11:42 AM describes a great starting point by just adding one or two new contract types. All it would have to be is similar to the existing Block of Time or Block of Money contracts with the addition of a list of items that are or are not billable. That way we never have to rely on whether or not the tech properly checked or unchecked the billable box. It really isnt the job of the tech to make those decisions anyway.

[lpopejoy]

Re: Using CommitCRM for tracking AYCE MSP Contracts

Agreed, this really needs to be improved if CommitCRM is going to keep it's customer base. I love the product and people, but limitations (such as these) are about to move me to another system! ...but... Keep up the great work! :)

--Luke

[Support Team]

Re: Using RangerMSP for tracking AYCE MSP Contracts

Hi guys,

We're a customer driven company at all levels and provide a customer driven product at a very reasonable price. As we said plenty of times - all feedback is noted, we learn from it, appreciate it and try to implement the best system for as many users as possible within each release of our softtware (our growth teaches us that we must be doing something right). Obviously we can't implement all requests (I guess this is always the case with software products) and some other requests are put on hold so we'll be able to focus on other highly requested features.

Doron

[AN-Tech]

Re: Using CommitCRM for tracking AYCE MSP Contracts

Where are things at with improving the functionality of contracts in CommitCRM with some of the items discussed in this thread? About 90% of our business is done with clients that have some type of contact with us. I would love to be able to use them but they just don't work well.