Services

What it is for

Services is for companies that provide services — repairs, installation, maintenance, consulting and the like. Unlike trade, where you sell a finished item, in services what matters is cost: how much material went in, how many hours were worked and at what rate. Atlas lets you describe the composition of every service, calculate the planned cost automatically and suggest a price before you ever quote the client.

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Main scenarios

Scenario 1: describe what a service consists of

Composition is configured on the item card (when type = "Service").

1. Open Inventory → Items, find the service or create a new item with type "Service".
2. On the card go to the "Composition" tab. Click "Add material" — pick the material, unit and quantity consumed per single delivery of the service. Click "Add labour" — enter the work description, hours and hourly rate.
3. Click "Save composition".

Scenario 2: review the planned cost and write the price back

Once the composition is saved, scroll to the "Planned cost" block:

• Choose a "Price type" (wholesale, retail and so on) — the system picks up the matching rate and markup factor.
• The block shows "Material cost", "Labour cost", "Total" and "Suggested price" with your markup applied.
• If a component has no recorded cost, the system warns you: "No recorded cost for N component(s)". Receive that material first or set its price.
• Click "Write to price list" — the suggested price goes straight into the price list and will be filled into new documents.

Scenario 3: register the work (Work order)

1. Services → Work orders → Add work order. Enter the customer, the description and the planned date.
2. Click "Start" — the order moves to "In progress".
3. When the job is finished click "Complete" — status "Completed". You can now issue the act.

Scenario 4: issue a service act

1. Services → Service acts → Add act. Link the work order, set the date, currency and the warehouse materials are issued from (if the service has a material component).
2. Check the act lines — they show the services and the materials actually being issued.
3. Click "Post": materials leave the warehouse at their recorded cost and an expense entry appears in the journal. The "Material cost" field on the act shows the actual amount issued.

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Tips

A service composition is a template, not a rule. The quantity actually issued when posting the act may differ from the planned composition — edit the act lines before posting.

The suggested price depends on actual purchase prices of materials. The more often material prices are refreshed in the system, the more accurate the suggestion. Recalculate price-list prices after each receipt at a new price.

If a service needs no materials, the "Issue materials from warehouse" field on the act can be left empty. It does not block posting.

For large projects, create a separate work order per site or scope of work. That way it is always visible which acts are still missing and which orders have no closing documents.