tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22311364.post2315197564034237606..comments2024-03-27T21:40:39.130-07:00Comments on Small Biz Thoughts by Karl W. Palachuk: What is Project Labor?Karl W. Palachukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10854725002875547297noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22311364.post-33102434100829312622017-08-18T04:39:24.426-07:002017-08-18T04:39:24.426-07:00I basically take the approach that minor updates a...I basically take the approach that minor updates and quick patches are included. If experience shows us that an update is minor and takes less than 1/5 hour, it's covered. Major updates, including all version updates and service packs, are not covered.<br /><br />This applies to all software.<br /><br />Note on Line of Business apps: Client must pay for maintenance with the vendor. If not, all work on LOBs is billable. If we can call tech support and sort things out quickly, it's covered. But if we can't call tech support or have to pay for the call, then it's all billable.<br /><br />Admin services are either maintenance (covered) or add/move/change (not covered). So adding users or ailiases is not covered. I have talked to some MSPs who include an hour a month of minor stuff like adding users. If you have a lot of this, you might raise your rates a bit and include it.<br /><br />Thanks, Frank.Karl W. Palachukhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10854725002875547297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22311364.post-26869991784272096062017-08-17T09:04:09.850-07:002017-08-17T09:04:09.850-07:00Thanks Karl. Here are a few other examples of whe...Thanks Karl. Here are a few other examples of where we sometimes struggle to delineate:<br /><br />- Quickbooks updates, both R# maintenance releases and new year upgrades (i.e. 2016 to 2017)<br />- Line of business application maintenance/updates, both minor patches and major versions<br />- Run of the mill IT Admin activities such as a new user account, add an alias to an email account, etc<br /><br />I would love to hear how you handle these examples.<br /><br />Thanks,<br />FrankAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14309152181864655598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22311364.post-3686787565576885302017-08-02T07:00:04.973-07:002017-08-02T07:00:04.973-07:00Thank you for the kind words, Frank.
Good questio...Thank you for the kind words, Frank.<br /><br />Good question: Break/Fix. I use that term generically to speak about work not covered by Managed Service. For the most part, I try to use Break/Fix when talking about something outside a managed service contract. Within a managed service contract, I refer to billable labor as Add/Move/Change.<br /><br />Defining the line between "covered" and billable is extremely important. Here's the example I always use for clients and employees:<br /><br />1) If you ask me to install Outlook on a computer, that is an Add/Move/Change and is billable.<br /><br />2) As soon as it works properly, then we will fix it for no additional charge if something goes wrong (e.g., bad patch).<br /><br />To me, that's maintenance of the operating system and software (my definition of what's covered).<br /><br />What's not maintenance? Let's say you have a share meeting room resource set up in Outlook so people can schedule time to use the conference room. You decide to create a new meeting room, can't figure it out, and somewhere along the line, you removed the old shared resource. Now it's all messed up.<br /><br />Fixing that is not maintenance. It's fixing something you messed up. Showing you how to use your software is not included in managed service.<br /><br />My experience over the last 20 years is that this does not result in a contentious relationship. Clients pretty much know when they do these things. And sometimes they even flag them as billable themselves. My favorite attorney client used to always screw things up and then enter a ticket that started with, "I was messing around on the server over the weekend . . .." That was code for "Please bill me."Karl W. Palachukhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10854725002875547297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22311364.post-10402515814708218902017-08-02T06:45:39.789-07:002017-08-02T06:45:39.789-07:00Karl,
As always, I appreciate all of the content ...Karl,<br /><br />As always, I appreciate all of the content and advice that you bring to the industry and you've done a tremendous amount to move it forward over the years.<br /><br />This is one of the more thought-provoking posts (and accompanied videos) you've ever posted, at least to me. We have a major problem with profitability on our MSP services. There are many reasons for this, but the biggest is that we give away labor that should be billable. This isn't an isolated problem, unfortunately it is how I built the company from day one, so it's woven deeply into our fabric and culture. As a result, it is preventing us from further growth.<br /><br />Everything you have written makes sense and I consider it to be the best practice on how to run an MSP business and maintain profitability. But I have one question on the semantics - and that is on the topic of "break/fix". You seem to throw that in the bucket of A/M/C, but then say that Outlook opening in Safe Mode is "maintenance". I've always known this to be break/fix or more commonly Help Desk, which we include as part of MSP services.<br /><br />So to clear it up, would you define break/fix as "the client broke something and now I have to fix it", which in your world is billable? If so, there just seems to be a LOT of grey area with that statement, and working from that premise seems like it would produce a contentious relationship with the client and a lot of finger pointing. I.e., billing the client for something they accidentally broke, and then being asked to prove it.<br /><br />There are always egregious matters, such as "my son installed XYZ on my laptop and now I have ads popping up", but the general day to day stuff is not done with nefarious intentions. And in general, it should be minimized by having good protections in place, users not having admin rights, etc.<br /><br />I guess I've had a misunderstanding of the term break/fix all these years - which was "if something breaks, we will fix it under managed services at no additional cost". I could benefit from more explanation and perhaps examples of items that are covered under your "maintenance" and items that are not - specifically when something breaks.<br /><br />Thanks again,<br />FrankAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14309152181864655598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22311364.post-52533978132429881242017-08-01T00:18:36.651-07:002017-08-01T00:18:36.651-07:00Thanks to a brilliant effort in publishing your ar...Thanks to a brilliant effort in publishing your article. One can be more informative as this. There are many things I can know only after reading your wonderful article. <a href="http://www.obcoffice.com/" rel="nofollow">miami office cubicles</a>James E Lutzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15737115218751255501noreply@blogger.com