Internal Repair Order (IRO)

An Internal Repair Order is a convenient way to track the repair expense of a unit. It helps track availability to make sure a downed unit isn’t reserved unknowingly and subsequently overbooked, resulting in unhappy customers. If used consistently, it will tell the user which items tend to have high repair costs and help price the sale of a rental asset.

Topics Included in this article

• IRO Setup

• Creating an IRO after Closing a Contract

• Creating an IRO from the New Contract Menu

• Creating a Customer Bill

• Add Repairs as an Improvement

IRO Setup

 Create a “Repairs” customer. You can have as many as you want. The key must start with REPAIRS-.

Creating an IRO after Closing a Contract

1. If an item is returned from a rental and needs repair, you can create an IRO after printing the closed invoice. Click on Create IRO. Step 2 illustrates creating an IRO at the closing of a contract.
   
   
   
2. A new box showing all items rented on the contract with a check box will pop up. Select the broken item and click the “Proceed” button. Please note that the Item Key and Name will be displayed when creating an IRO for a broken item and closing the contract.
   
   • If multiple items on a contract are marked to create an IRO when closing the contract, the counter person will be asked whether they wanted a separate IRO for each item or just an IRO for all the items grouped.
   • If you are an equipment store and wish to track cost, only put one item on the IRO.
   • If you are an event store and want to pull multiple items out of inventory and do not wish to track costs (like linens while they are getting washed), then you can select multiple items. 
     

Creating an IRO from the New Contract Menu

1. Follow the path for your product:
   • Expert - Program Meun > Counter System > New Contract > Internal Repair Order
   • Elite - Transactions > New Contract > Internal Repair Order
     
     
     
     
2. A list of repair customers will appear (like the one you created in the previous section). Select one. Since this is an IRO and you are taking the item out of service, ensure you do not select a Maintenance customer (this will not take the item out of service; it will create an internal maintenance order). If needed, you can change the customer at a later date by modifying the IRO and right-clicking on the customer name and selecting 'Change Customer'. No security setting controls this.
   
   
   
3. Next, add the item to be repaired (if you opened the IRO at contract closing, the item will automatically be selected). You will be prompted to enter how long the item will be out of commission. We recommend selecting one month to ensure you do not overbook an item that has not been repaired.  Please note that you can put a serialized item on as many internal repair orders as you want, but it will only ever show out once in item availability or overbooking.
   • If the item is a serialized item and on an open contract, you will be prompted to create a service call. If you do not create a service call, the IRO will be converted to an IMO to avoid putting the inventory out again and before it's ready.
     
     
4. Enter comments in the Comments tab. There is space available tab to outline the Complaint, Cause, and Correction if desired. These will print on the contract and carry over to any customer billing created.
   
5. You can now add parts and labor to your repair contract. The parts and labor costs will be shown as the price and added to the repair cost in the item record. If you need to add a part you do not carry in Inventory, click the “Add Part Item” pull-down and choose “Special Order.”
   
   
   
6. You will be prompted to create your Special-Order Part. The only required field is the name, but we recommend you include the purchase price and, if you use the Purchase Order Module, the Vendor.
   
   
   
7.  If you have the PO module, you can create a purchase order for the special-order parts by right-clicking on the line in the processing screen and selecting Order Item (Illustrated below).
   
   
   
8. You will see a message saying a purchase order has been added, and the PO number will be given to you. If the purchase price of the item ordered increases, the cost of the item in the repair order will increase once the item is received. It will never decrease the cost of the purchase order drops.
   
   
9. You can click ”Select Operation” on the contract processing screen to track the repair progress. Point of Rental has five operations pre-set: Waiting on diagnosis, Waiting on parts, In repair, Repair complete, and Billed customer.
   
   
   
10. You can add new operations by going to:
    • Expert: #9: Configuration > Transaction Configurations > Contract Operations.
    • Elite:  Gear Icon > App Configurations > Transaction Configurations > Contract Operations.
      
11. When the equipment is fixed, you can close the IRO like any other contract, and the item will be returned to inventory. 

Creating a Customer Bill

If you determine that a customer is responsible for damage during the repair process, you can create a Customer Billing directly from the Internal Repair Order.

To create a Customer Billing

1. Open the Internal Repair Order.
   

2. Click Tools.

3. Select Create Customer Billing (or Tools > Bill Customer).

Referencing Related Contracts

From the Contract Processing screen, you can easily reference either contract from the other:

• Go to Reports > Related Contracts.

Notes on Historical Reporting

• When creating an Internal Repair Order for item repairs, decide if the customer was at fault before billing them.

• The historical repair cost shows the repair costs previously paid by the customer.

• To maintain accurate historical reporting, the Reports contract will be zeroed out when billing a customer for damage.

How Items Are Represented on the Customer Bill

When a customer bill is created:

• Miscellaneous items represent the repaired item and all associated parts, labor, and other costs.

If you want the cost of goods entries for the parts/sales items to go against the customer invoice (instead of the repair contract):

1. Open Elite Browser Configurations.

2. Go to the Transactions section.

3. Enable the configuration IRO Customer Billing.

With this enabled, the actual parts/sales items will appear on the customer invoice rather than being grouped as miscellaneous items.

Add Repairs as an Improvement

For Elite Only:

Once the repair order is closed, you can add the repair cost to the value of the item.  If the repair cost is added as an improvement, a purchase line for the value of the repair will be added to the rental asset.  It can then be depreciated. Security under the ‘Transactions’ area of the security grid controls who can and cannot do this.

For Expert Only:

For repairs valued at $1000 or higher, you can add the repair cost to the value of the item.  This option appears after the repair order is closed.  If the repair cost is added as an improvement, a purchase line for the value of the repair will be added to the rental asset.  It can then be depreciated.