Available on: UK: Customer Journey and above | US and Canada: All-in-one and above

Setting up a customer contract ensures structured service delivery, clear communication, and predictable revenue. Contracts define service expectations, mitigate risks, and improve compliance, ultimately strengthening customer relationships and business efficiency. This guide provides a step-by-step approach to setting up contracts, including invoicing, PPM scheduling, and service allocation.

Contracts setup

Below are the steps to set up a contract for a customer.

➡️ Locate the customer record > Quick links > Contracts

Note: The contract template must be Active to add it to a customer.

Navigation

Every step may involve filling out a simple form or tackling multiple smaller forms or sub-steps. Approach them systematically, addressing each one in turn.

	Indicates the step's progress.
	Indicates a step or sub-step is in progress.
	Indicates the step or sub-step is complete.

Add new contract

➡️ Locate the customer record > Quick links > Contracts > Add new contract

Step 1 Basic details

Complete the form. Below is an explanation of each field.

Contract name: connect the relevant contract template.
Contract start date: defaults to today but can be adjusted.
Contract end date: system-generated based on duration.
Contact person: this may be a specific person in a business, and is likely the same as the main customer for a residential contract.
Where did the contract come from: the advertising source the customer found your service through.
Salesperson: the user who sells or administers your contracts.
Click Next to proceed.

Step 2 Invoicing

When selecting the pricing plan and completing the form, the options displayed vary depending on the contract template. If the Invoicing step is set to "No" in the contract template, this step is grayed out and auto invoicing is disabled. In that case you need to use the invoice portal or manually add the invoices.

Choose the Price plan from the dropdown.
Select the Invoice contact.
If enabled, set the Override invoice price to Activate to allow price adjustments, or Disable to retain fixed pricing.
Define the Price options, which vary by contract setup: fixed price per contract, price per property, or price per asset.

Field name	Function
Price plan	Derived from the billing period and pricing in the contract template.
Invoice contact	Person responsible for invoice communications.
Activate	Allows the contract price to be overridden.
Disable	Retains the contract price plan cost.

Tip: If the invoice options step of the contract template is set to "Can change per customer," you see an additional option.

Override invoice price: Activate/Disable

The invoicing schedule displays a list of invoices that will be automatically generated.

Configure the Invoicing schedule. This auto-generates based on contract length and billing period, and the number of schedules you can add is limited by the price plan. For example, Yearly can only have one invoice schedule.
Adjust the invoice dates if necessary.
Click Next.

Field name	Function
Add new invoice date	Add a deleted line.
Invoice date	Edit the invoice date manually by selecting a new date from the calendar.
Action	Delete an invoice from the invoice schedule.

Note: Invoice communications are sent to the invoice contact.

Step 3 Address included

When selecting the customer and work addresses included in the contract, note the following.

For a single property:

The customer's name and address are displayed.
The checkbox is automatically pre-selected.

For multi-property:

The customer's name and address are displayed for each property.
The checkbox for the main customer is automatically pre-selected.
The checkbox for including work addresses on the property is deselected by default.

Step 4 Asset, PPM, Services and Job allowance

This step allows you to configure the assets, PPM, services and job allowance against each address if included in the contract template. The system counts the number of assets, PPMs and services included in the contract template. The options displayed are based on Job details: PPM being set in the contract template.

Asset

Ensure that the contract accurately reflects the assets covered, streamlining contract management and ensuring comprehensive service provision for the customer.

➡️ Asset > Edit

Use the search bar to locate specific assets, or select from the list of assets associated with the customer.
Check the box next to each asset that should be included in the contract.
Once all the assets you want are selected, click Save.

PPM

Schedule the planned maintenance tasks efficiently.

➡️ PPM > Edit

Navigate to PPM > Edit.
Select a PPM template on the left to display the scheduler.
Set the schedule manually, or use Set weeks to auto-populate jobs based on frequency.

Adding a PPM

➡️ Click Add PPM

Search for the PPM template name.
Click Add PPM and complete the side panel details.
Click Add PPM again to save.
Additional PPMs can be added to a contract if they have been created as PPM templates beforehand.

Deleting a PPM

➡️ Click Delete next to the PPM

Type delete to confirm.
Click Delete to remove the inline PPM template.

Adding a task

➡️ Click Add task

Complete the side panel details:
- Task title
- Notes
- Criticality level: Discretionary, Function-Critical, Mandatory, or Statutory/Legal
- Task occurrence, for example weekly, monthly, or annually
Click Add task to save.

Checking for missing tasks

➡️ Click Check for missing tasks

Any tasks that are partially scheduled are highlighted in red.

Optimizing the PPM schedule

➡️ Click Suggest optimisation

Click the yellow square to accept the suggestion. This feature suggests combining tasks to minimize visits.

Downloading the PPM schedule

➡️ Click the Download icon

An Excel spreadsheet is exported, and the file downloads automatically to your default location.

Note: If the PPM name is longer than 31 characters, or contains the special characters / or \, it cannot be downloaded due to an Excel limitation.

Scheduling PPM jobs

PPM jobs can be scheduled in two ways.

Automatically scheduling jobs

➡️ Click Set weeks

Select the start week or start month.
Click Set weeks again to confirm.
The system schedules jobs automatically based on the selected pattern.

The default settings are every 1st month and every 1st week. If jobs are added manually, the system does not override them.

Manually scheduling jobs

Click the squares in the scheduler to build the schedule. Each square represents a job occurrence.
Ensure all task requirements are met to complete the schedule.

Key details to look out for:

Frequency, for example 1M means once a month.
Number of occurrences, for example 0/12 means 0 out of 12 scheduled jobs. You cannot add more jobs than the required amount.
Each task has a circle indicating the occurrence frequency.
Tasks can be edited, deleted, or skipped as needed.
Color-coded segments help differentiate schedules, and only one job per segment is allowed.
To complete the PPM schedule, at least one asset must be associated with the property.

Important: A red warning triangle appears if no asset is added, or if all tasks are not scheduled. Once complete, this changes to a green tick.

Modifying scheduled jobs

Jobs can be adjusted within the scheduler if required.
If changes are needed after jobs have been created, manually adjust the schedule or reapply Set weeks.

Color key for PPM tasks

A color-coded system indicates the status of tasks within the PPM scheduler.

Color code	Meaning
Blue	Job is planned.
Dark red	The job wasn't created because the contract start date was set in the past.
Light red	Skip task.
Pink	The task was skipped.
Light green	Job is created.
Light blue	Job is scheduled.
Yellow	Task suggestion.
Purple	Task suggested to another window.
Dark green	Job is complete.
Green	Job is closed.
Dark brown	The job was deleted by a user.

Services

Service reminders help automate scheduling and notifications for contract-based services. Follow these steps to add and link a service reminder to a contract.

➡️ Services > Edit

You see a list of service reminders linked to the contract template.

Set the service reminder date

Click Select date and enter the preferred date.
If the selected date falls within your busy season, it is highlighted in yellow with a warning message.

Note: If the selected date is in the past, or does not align with the "Send reminder on" date, the system does not create a job or send a reminder when the contract is activated.

Auto-populating service reminder dates

If a service reminder already exists for a customer, it populates automatically when adding a contract, as long as it is linked to the contract template "Job details: Services".

Set the service reminder contact

Click Contact and select the designated service contact.
This person receives all service reminder communications.

How busy we are

The heat map on the right provides a monthly overview of scheduled services.
Hover over a square to view the number of services booked for that month.
Use this information to schedule reminders during less busy periods.

Job allowance

Job allowance settings define the number of jobs a customer can book per contract period.

➡️ Job allowance > Edit

A list of job descriptions appears, as added in the contract template under "Job details: Call outs and breakdowns".

Add or edit a job description

➡️ Job description

Use the search and select the required job description.

Set job allowance

➡️ Maximum number of jobs allowed

Enter the required number of jobs a customer can book per contract period.

Set chargeable status

➡️ Click Chargeable

Select from the available options:

No, FOC on completion
Yes, labour and parts
Yes, labour only
Yes, parts only

Set FOC reason (if applicable)

If "FOC on completion" is selected in the Chargeable column, choose a FOC reason from the dropdown.
This option is disabled if any other chargeable option is chosen.

Delete a job allowance entry

➡️ Click Action > Delete

Type Delete to confirm and remove the entry.

Step 5 Summary

The summary section provides a breakdown of charges at the beginning of the contract, allowing you to review all associated costs before proceeding to payment.

Reviewing the summary

You see a detailed breakdown of the charges, including:

Description: the name of the service being charged.
Quantity: the number of services included in the contract.
Unit price: the cost per service before VAT.
VAT: the applicable VAT rate.
Total (exc. VAT): the total cost before VAT is applied.

Breakdown of charges

A summary table displays the following:

Total price (exc. VAT): the total cost before VAT.
Total VAT: the calculated VAT amount based on the applicable rate.
Grand total: the final amount, including VAT.

Step 6 Payment

What you see at this step depends on the payment option set in the contract template. For a card payment you enter or select the customer's card details. For a bank payment you set up a new mandate, use an existing one, or import a mandate from GoCardless.

If the template is not set to let Commusoft take payment, this step is skipped.

Note: For the full steps on each option, see Take contract payments.

Activating the contract

Once all setup steps are complete, a pop-up appears prompting activation.
Type Activate in the text box.
Click Activate. Alternatively, leave the text box blank and click Save as draft.
You are taken back to the customer record, where you can click View to see the contract timeline and details.

How to set up a customer contract