Field Service – Accounts (Billing and Service)

August 20, 2016

Within Field Service for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 you have a number of additional parameters that can be completed on service accounts and billing accounts. In this post I will explain the meaning of these additional fields.

Service accounts are any accounts that are eligible for service. In Field Service terms this implies accounts that will be associated with work orders.

Note: It is important to know that work orders always relate to accounts. (Unlike CRM cases which can be for a contact or a case.)

A billing account is one that will pay for the services completed. The billing account is optional, without a billing account the service account would act as the billing account.

Geocode the accounts address

Firstly, a comment about addresses, Field Service uses the Geocode of addresses quite extensively to work out travel times and routes for field agents. As addresses are entered CRM will try to identify the address being entered, this process will hopefully automatically geocode the address. (Geocode meaning to set the latitude and longitude, essential for the mapping capabilities of Field Service.)

Sometimes addresses won’t be recognized or maybe you simply want to see them on a map to be confident the correct geocode has been assigned. If you wish to manually geo code an address simply choose the “GEO CODE” option from the ribbon bar.

You will then be able to see (and change) the address details. To update the account’s details, you can select the “Change” button if the required address is displayed.

Tip:
You can drag the “pin” on the map to position in exactly the correct position if required.

Additional Fields

On the main account form you will find a Field Service tab that contains a number of additional fields.

Field	Meaning
Service Territory	The sales territory is the Field Service territory which is used when allocating work orders to field agents. As the resources needed to attend the work order must work in this territory. Territories are optional. Note: “Service Territory” field differs from the “Territory” field on the account.
Preferred Resource	If a particular engineer typically attends this account, then they can be set as the preferred resource. The scheduling assistant will then recommend this engineer whenever possible.
Travel Charge Type	The travel charge types are hourly, mileage, fixed and none.
Travel Charge	If the travel charge type is hourly, mileage or fixed the unit charge amount is entered here.
Work order instructions	These are instructions that will be added to all work orders created for this account. This could be used for multiple purposes including things like recording how to gain access to the building out of hours etc etc.
Billing Account	If blank the service account will be the billing account. If invoices for services conducted on this account need to go to another company this is recorded here. Notes: On sub accounts the billing account is defaulted to the parent account. When a work order is created the billing account will default to the accounts billing account but it is possible to override this information when required.
Tax exempt	Yes / no field to define if the account is tax exempt
Tax exempt number	The tax exempt number (Entered if tax exempt is yes.)
Sales Tax Code	Holds details of sales tax code. Which in turn holds the % tax to be paid. (Entered if tax exempt is no.)

This has been a short simple post! The concept of service and billing accounts is a simple one but important as all work orders have to relate to a service account. J