Overview
We recommend Aspire Mobile for subcontractors, but they can also report their snow work in the Subcontractor Portal. They add the services they performed, enter their crew's time and the materials they used, and submit it. You then review each day's entries in Time Entry, accept them or send them back, and accepted work turns into an expense you can pay.
Use this article to understand what your subcontractors report and how to review it after each storm.
Things to know
Subcontractors only see services that have an auto expense set up for their company. The auto expense also sets what you pay for the work. For more information, visit Subcontractor Auto Expenses Overview.
Subcontractors can only add materials that have an auto expense for them on that service.
The portal relies on time entered after the work is done. If you need live, GPS-tagged clock-ins during a storm, have your subcontractors use Aspire Mobile instead. For more information, visit Reporting Time and Materials in the Field.
When a subcontractor completes a seasonal (Fixed Payment) ticket in the portal, the ticket stays open, the same as in Aspire Mobile. Someone in the office completes it at the end of the season.
A T&M overage service linked to a seasonal contract stays hidden in the portal until the visit limit is reached or the contract end date passes.
A subcontractor's partial occurrence percentage doesn't change the customer's price. It's guidance for the office when you set the partial occurrence on the ticket.
Nothing the subcontractor reports becomes a cost until you accept it.
Requirements
The Subcontractor Portal must be turned on, and your subcontractor must have accepted their invite. For more information, visit Setting Up Snow Subcontractors.
To let subcontractors add services that aren't scheduled, turn on Enable Tickets to be Created From Sub Portal in Administration > Configuration, on the Time Reporting tab.
To let subcontractors enter a partial occurrence, turn on Enable Partial Occurrence to be Specified From Sub Portal on the same tab.
To review and accept subcontractor time, you need access to Time Entry.
To apply a partial occurrence, you need the Partial Occur permission and either Full Access to Schedule Board, Read Only Access to Schedule Board, or System Admin.
Steps
Know what your subcontractors report
Share these steps with your subcontractors before the first storm, along with the Subcontractor Portal Training Guide.
Log in to the portal.
Select your company.
Set the date at the top of the screen to the day of the work.
Expand your route. Visits the office scheduled for you are listed under it.
To report work that wasn't scheduled, select Add Service.
Select the property and service from the list.
Select Add Item > Crew Member.
Enter start and end times or total hours for each crew member.
Select Add Item > Material.
Enter the quantity of salt or other materials you used.
For Per Service work you couldn't finish, select the Partial Occurrence icon.
Enter the percentage you completed.
Select Submit.
When asked, select the tickets you finished to complete them, or skip this step to keep them open. Remember that seasonal tickets stay open even if you complete them here.
Important: Entries that aren't submitted are lost when the subcontractor logs out. Remind your subcontractors to submit before they close the portal.
Note: Each crew member can have only one time entry per ticket per day. If a crew member worked a ticket twice in one day, enter their total hours and leave the start and end times blank. Subcontractors set up to report crew size select their crew and enter the crew's total hours.
Review submitted time and materials
Go to Time Entry for the subcontractor's route and the day of the storm.
Look for the Subcontractor Portal icon next to each entry. Its indicator shows whether the entry is submitted, denied, or accepted.
Check the hours, materials, and tickets against what you expected for the storm.
Accept the entries
On Time Entry, make any corrections the entries need.
Important: If materials are wrong, deny the entries so your subcontractor can correct and resubmit them. Materials you add or change in Time Entry don't generate a subcontractor auto expense.
Select Save.
Saving accepts all of the subcontractor's time and materials on the screen for that day.
Note: If a crew member has time on two routes, accepting their time on one route also accepts it on the other.
Send entries back for correction
On Time Entry, select the three-dot icon to open the action menu.
Select Deny Submitted Subcontractor Portal Time.
Enter a note explaining what needs to change.
Select Save.
Your subcontractor sees your note on that route and day in the portal, and the entries become editable so they can fix and resubmit them. If the subcontractor's company has an email address, Aspire also emails them the note. To review notes you've sent, select the three-dot icon to open the action menu, then select Subcontractor T&M Denial Notes.
Set a partial occurrence from the subcontractor's percentage
A subcontractor's partial occurrence percentage doesn't change the price, so set it on the ticket yourself.
On the Work Tickets screen, add the Sub Partial % column to your list.
If your subcontractor completed the ticket when they submitted, uncomplete it first. Partial Occurrence only works on tickets that aren't complete.
Select the Per Service tickets that have a percentage.
Select Bulk Actions > Partial Occurrence.
Enter the percentage.
Select Save.
For more information, visit Reviewing Snow Work Tickets Pending Approval.
What happens next
For T&M and Per Service work, the subcontractor's expense reaches the Purchasing Assistant once you accept the time and the ticket is in Pending Approval or Complete.
For seasonal (Fixed Payment) work, generate the expenses yourself with Work Tickets > Bulk Actions > Trigger Auto Expense Creation.
Denied entries don't generate an expense until your subcontractor resubmits them and you accept the corrections.
To pay your subcontractor, create a purchase receipt from the expense. For more information, visit Paying Snow Subcontractors.
Troubleshooting
For help with common portal problems, such as a service or material that doesn't display for a subcontractor, visit Snow Troubleshooting. If an expected expense doesn't appear, visit Troubleshooting Auto Expenses That Didn't Generate.