EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE

The Equipment Maintenance program is used to track charges and usability of a piece of road equipment over its life. If you charge your customers for equipment usage and track depreciation and replacement costs, then you should set up an equipment file. The file will be used, primarily, in conjunction with Payroll Post, but it will also be used by Fixed Assets Calculation, Inventory Post, and the Work Order and Preventive Maintenance programs.

When you first run the program, the opening screen will be displayed. Here, you can select an existing equipment code to examine or modify in one of three ways: (1) Scroll through the list and double-click on the one you want to view; (2) click inside the "FIND" box, enter the equipment code and click the FIND button; (3) Use the first, next, previous, and last buttons to locate the record you’re looking for in the equipment list grid, then double-click on the item to view it.

Each equipment record consists of seven screens: General, Fixed Assets, Vehicle Details, Components, Specifications, Tires, and Lease. Also, each equipment record has Work Orders, Preventive Maintenance, History and Meter Readings screens. The Equipment Tab’s General screen will be described first.

To set up a new piece of equipment, click the NEW button. Enter a code, name, type, category, serial number, make, model, and model year for the equipment (see above for screen sample).

There are two equipment types: Single and Multiple. This is a place holder for the old BETA "Single/Multiple" equipment types. You should not enter anything in this field when setting up new equipment. Equipment groupings (multiples) are set up during Payroll Post by the "Save Group" option.

If you wish to group the equipment into a specific category, such as trailers, radios, under-body scrapers, etc., enter that category here. Also enter the Make, Model Number and Model Year for the new equipment.

The General Screen

The General Screen contains information about the purchase of the equipment and its charge-out rates. On the fields requiring dates, if you wish you may click on the Calendar Icon to select the date from a graphic calendar.

Note that the purchase date and date of delivery may differ.

In the Value Added field enter any value you added to the equipment. This could be something as simple as test-driving the equipment before you send it out on the road or as complex as adding a trailer hitch to the equipment to haul trailers or salt spreaders.

If you use a fueling system, you may enter the Fuel System Card Number for this equipment (if applicable) on this screen. Next, enter any warranty information for the equipment.

You may apply different charge rates for your equipment, depending on its usage. The various rate fields are:

 Rate This is the normal hourly rate you charge for this piece of equipment.

 Extra PR Rate If an employee’s hourly rate increases when he uses this piece of equipment, enter the amount of the additional rate here (e.g., the employee earns an additional $3/hour when he uses this equipment).

 State Rate This is the hourly rate you charge the state for this piece of equipment.

 FEMA Rate: When/if this equipment is used to perform work covered under FEMA, enter the rate you will charge for its use.

The only other thing to enter on the General screen is the State Equipment Code. Click the Fixed Assets tab at the bottom of the screen.

Fixed Assets Screen

The Fixed Assets Screen contains information about the equipment from a fixed assets point of view. Enter the Revenue Account number that you would credit when this piece of equipment is used. The Asset Group/Number/Suffix fields relate to the information for this equipment in your Fixed Assets file (see Fixed Assets Maintenance). The depreciation fields will be automatically calculated when you run the Fixed Assets Calculation program. The white box to the right of the Asset Grp/Num/Suffix fields, in addition to displaying the Fixed Asset code, shows the to-date depreciation. This information is displayed only; it cannot be deleted nor modified.

When you dispose of the equipment, enter its disposal date and any gain or loss you realized from its disposal. The Extended Life Investment field contains the dollar amount you spent to fix the equipment for extended usage. The Replacement Parts field may be used to indicate part numbers not covered on the other information screens.

Enter any other equipment codes associated with this piece of equipment. Separate the multiple codes with commas. Click the Vehicle Details tab at the bottom of the screen.

Vehicle Details Screen

The Vehicle Details Screen contains information about the equipment’s location, fuel type, capacity, etc. Most of the information is self-explanatory with the exception of Miles Or Hours and Estimated Miles-Hours/Year.

If you want to track the equipment by miles (in the case of, say, a truck or automobile), enter an M here. If you want to track the equipment by hours in use (for a radio or an under-body scraper, for instance), enter an H here.

Enter the estimated miles or hours per year for this equipment usage. Note that you should enter the number of miles if you entered an M in the Miles or Hours field. If you entered an H in the Miles or Hours field, you should enter the number of hours.

In the case of new equipment you won’t need to enter a Meter Change Work Order Number or Meter Change Date; however, you will need to enter the starting Odometer Hours. Older pieces of equipment will already show this information when applicable. Click the Components tab at the bottom of the screen.

Components Screen

The Components Screen contains information about the equipment’s engine, brakes, suspension, etc. All the information on this screen is self-explanatory. Click the Specifications tab at the bottom of the screen.

Specifications Screen

The Tires Screen shows what tires and how many of each are on a piece of equipment. The information on this screen is used by the Equipment Wheel Hour Calculation program.

Note that this grid has its own set of buttons. Use these buttons to enter information pertaining to tires. To add tires to a piece of equipment, click the NEW button, enter a tire code and a quantity. Then, click SAVE to save the tire information.

The Tire Code/Tire Quantity grid displays all the tire codes currently assigned to this piece of equipment. To remove a tire code, highlight it in the list, then click the DELETE button. You will be asked if you’re sure you want to delete the tire code. If you do, click the YES button; otherwise, click the NO button to keep the tire code.

To change the number of tires assigned to this piece of equipment, first highlight the tire code in the grid then click the EDIT button and make the necessary change. Be sure to click the SAVE button to save the change.

Lease Screen

The Lease screen should be filled in with the appropriate information relating to this piece of equipment. Note: If the equipment is leased, you should not enter any information for purchase-related prices or depreciation.

Enter the Lease Cost, Lease Value, and Lease End Date on this screen. Lease payments made need to be posted to 201-0-510-510-0-xxx-950, where "xxx" is the equipment code.

When you’re through entering the main information for the equipment, you can click the top tabs ("Work Orders," "Prev Maint," "History," and "Meter Readings") to view the screens.

Work Orders Screen

After you have generated work orders to perform maintenance on a piece of equipment, you will see items and information relating to work orders on the Work Orders screen.

You will need to use the scroll bars at the side and bottom of the Work Order area to see all the pertinent information. The information contained on this screen is:

•Work Order Number: Issued by the Work Order Calc program

•Work Order Date: The dates the work orders were created by the Work Order Calc program

•Closed Flag: The status of the work order; flags are closed in the Work Order Maintenance program

Note 1: The only way to access this program is to double-click on the work order line you want to modify.

•Description of Work: This description is created by the Work Order Calc program and is retrieved from the information in the Preventive Maintenance program

Note 2: The only way to access this program is to click the "Prev Maint" tab, then double-click inside the grid.

•Cause: The cause for the work order’s issue is displayed here. The cause is set up in the Preventive Maintenance program (see "Note 2" above)

•Authorized By: This information comes from the Work Order Maintenance program (see "Note 1" above)

Preventive Maintenance Screen

The Preventive Maintenance screen relates to the PM Line Items involved in the preventive maintenance process. To examine a PM Line Item record, double click on the line item of interest. This process launches another "sub-program," Equipment PM Item Maintenance." It is only accessible from within Equipment Maintenance and only when you’re viewing the "Prev Maint" screen.

History Screen

The History screen contains five screens: Services, which shows all the Work Order Numbers and Work Order Line Item Numbers that have been issued; Labor, which shows all the labor transactions that were posted relating to repairs to the equipment; Parts, which shows any parts that were placed on the equipment; Fuel, which shows fuel used during equipment repairs; Notes, which displays any notes that relate to the equipment. Also, on the Notes screen, if you double-click on a note in the grid, you will launch the Equipment Note History Maintenance program. This is the only place where you may access this program.

Meter Readings Screen

This final screen shows the history of any meter readings that were done. To see the detail on a record, double-click on the line item of interest in the grid. This action launches the Equipment Meter Read Maintenance sub-program. This is the only way this program can be accessed.

Summary

While this seems like an awful lot of screens and sub-programs to be included with the Equipment Maintenance program, these screens mostly maintain themselves and help to make your fleet management effortless and up-to-date.

If you don’t plan on using the Work Order System, the only screens you’ll need to address are on the main Equipment tab.