Association Service Contracts

Summary: This article provides an overview of Association Service Contracts and configurations. 

Table of Contents

• Association > Services
• Contracts Overview
• Auto-Post
• Approvals
• Payments
• GL Detail
• Setting up Association Service Contracts through the Reconciliation Process

Association > Services

Service Contracts are created by navigating to Association > Services. Service contracts are association specific, so be sure to select the appropriate association. 

If necessary, create a new Service Type by selecting the + New Service button. 

Next, select the Service Type from the drop-down list.  This list is managed in the Service Providers > Service Types menu.

Short Description is a required field and can either mimic the Service Type or include a subcategory of the Service Type (shown below).  Full Description is not required. 

Best Practice:  If utilizing Short Description for a subcategory, consider how the invoice is structured.  If an invoice is bundled, i.e. cable/internet/phone on one invoice, it is a best practice to name the Short Description with a subcategory that encompasses the entirety of the subcategory. 

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Contracts Overview 

To add a new contract for an association service, drill into the Service and click the + New Contract button. 

The Service Contract will open to the below window.  Basic contract details can be entered in the first group of fields.

• Account No: Enter the account number from your statement/invoice.
  • Best Practice for Management Fees: To easily search for management fees, Vantaca suggests the account number for management fees have some consistency across associations, such as MGTFEE+AssocCode.  Using this example, Presidential Hills' (Assoc Code 100) management fee account number would be MGTFEE100.
• Provider: To search for a provider, first clear the field, and then type at least two letters before the dropdown menu will give you a list of providers.
• Provider Contact: The Provider Contact will default to the Primary Contact for the service provider.  If additional contacts exist (managed in Service Providers > Provider Contacts), they can be selected in the drop-down list.
• Start Date: The contract start date or left to the current day for existing contracts.
• End Date: The contract end date, if known.  If the contract end date is not known, this field can be left blank.
  • Best Practice: End Date should be added when the contract is terminating

Note: In order for Auto-Approval, Auto-Pay, and GL Detail functions to pull into an invoice, The contract MUST have an Account Number, Provider, and be after Start Date. When coding invoices, the Account Number is what ties this contract to that invoice, and will not utilize the Contract features if no Account Number is present. 

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Auto-Post Method: 

This determines if an invoice will be created and auto post for contract. 

- None: invoice never automatically created.  A register description can be added.

- Auto-Post: Invoice is automatically generated on a recurring day of the month.  Fixed Date postings can pre-post on a specific day for a specific amount.  A register description can be added.

Complete the additional information fields as shown below to Auto-post on a fixed, recurring date. 

- On Reconciliation: Invoice is automatically generated and reconciled when bank item hits Vantaca.  

When On Reconciliation is selected you may click the Preview button to past bank register items would have been auto-reconciled with the register description. 

Note: The register description is the information that will be used in conjunction with amount, account number etc to auto reconcile the item. (% at the beginning and end is used a "wild" - to state that this fragments could be contained within other information)

The review threshold can be used to send bank items over a certain value to a review step.  To use this feature set the Review Threshold  field to the desired amount and the Review Step field to the desired step in the invoice process. 

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Approvals 

Use the Approvals section to determine approval settings for the contract as shown below. These settings can be used to override the default association settings established on the Association > Settings page.

• Amount: The amount in which the Auto Approve field utilizes.
• Auto Approve Method: Service contracts can bypass the approval step, which is the manager step.  Several options for auto-approving exist
  • Do Not Auto Approve: The contract will never auto-approve past the manager.  The manager will need to approve in Accounting > Approve Invoices.
  • Exact Amount: The contract will auto-approve for an exact dollar amount. 
    • Best Practice: Management fees or invoice amounts that do not change
  • Less Than Amount: The contract will auto-approve for a dollar amount less than in the Amount field.
  • Within Amount from Last Invoice: The contract will auto-approve within an amount from the last invoice on this service contract.
• Board Approval:
  • Use Association Setting: Board approval will default to the configurations in Association > Settings > A/P Payments > Require Board Approval.
  • Require Board Approval: This contract will always require board approval, regardless of the Association Settings.
  • No Board Approval: This contract will never require board approval, regardless of the Association Settings.
    • Best Practice: If management fees do not need board approval, the contract should be set to No Board Approval, rather than making any changes on the association level.
• Signature Approval:
  • Use Association Setting: Signature approval will default to the configurations in Association > Settings > A/P Payments > Signature Threshold.
  • Require Signature Approval: This contract will always require signature approval, regardless of the Association Settings.
  • No Signature Approval: This contract will never require signature approval, regardless of the Association Settings.

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Payments

Use the Payments section to selected payment method and Auto-Pay. The Payment Method will override the default payment method for that Service Provider. The Auto Pay flag will override the Ready for Payment step of the Invoice action item.

• Check: The service provider will receive a check from the association that will be printed in Vantaca’s Check Queue.
• ACH: If the service provider has ACH credentials set up in Vantaca (Service Providers > Payment Method), funds can be pushed to the provider via ACH when the invoice is paid.
• Auto Draft: The service provider has the bank account credentials for the association and will draft the association on a specific day for the invoice amount outside of Vantaca. 
• In-Office Check: If utilizing a third-party printing service, In-Office Check pay type can differentiate checks printed in-office.
• Misc Check: Miscellaneous checks are utilized on the Reconciliation screen and would not apply to contracts.
• Auto Pay: The service contract will auto-pay subject to a minimum balance.  The invoice will not need to be paid from the Pay Invoices screen unless the invoice stops in the Warning tab due to the minimum balance threshold.

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GL Detail 

Use the GL Detail section to pre-populate GL Detail information for the contract. 

Click into the GL Account field and begin typing the name or code for the GL to populate a list of GLs.  Select the GL in the drop-down list.  Click New GL Item to add additional GLs.

Fund:  If funds are set up (Association > Funds), click into the field and select a fund from the drop-down list.  If no fund is selected, the fund will default to the primary operating fund.

Description:  Click into the Description field to type a description. 

- Best Practice:  Because the contract will remain month-to-month, choose a description that is not time specific.

Amount:  Choose the dollar amount for the GL.

Percentage:  If the dollar amount is not known, percentage can be utilized to apply 100% (or another percentage) to the GL.  This will prevent the GL from stopping in Manager Complete Data Entry for GL entry.

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Setting up Association Service Contracts through the Reconciliation Process

A Contract can be selected from the Post Expense window by clicking the Select button. 

If a contract does not exist for the expense that is being posted, a new contract can be created by clicking the + New Contract button.

 From here, follow the steps outlined above in this article to set up a new Contract. 

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