Running AMC contracts without spreadsheets

Where the spreadsheet starts to hurt

Most service companies start the same way: contracts in Excel, technicians dispatched on WhatsApp, paper service reports signed on site, spares in a separate stock register, and renewals remembered when a payment stops. At twenty contracts it works. At two hundred, the cracks show:

• A customer, not your team, notices a missed preventive visit.
• A contract lapses because nobody saw the expiry date.
• Nobody can say which spares went into which contract, so comprehensive contracts quietly lose money.
• Response times are argued from memory, because no clock started when the call came in.
• Two copies of the sheet disagree, and the person who knows which is right is on leave.

Large buyers already expect proper records. The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) standard service level agreement for electrical equipment AMCs asks the provider to keep a service and breakdown register endorsed by the user department, a complaint register with the date and time of every complaint, and a spares register with serial numbers and in and out times for parts taken off site.

The AMC lifecycle, step by step

Every AMC, whether for lifts, air conditioning, UPS systems, medical equipment or software, moves through the same nine stages. Each one produces records the next one needs.

1. QuoteScope, assets covered, visit frequency, response times, price and payment terms. Price from data: the asset list, number of sites, travel and the history of similar contracts.
2. ContractComprehensive (breakdown repairs and parts included) or non-comprehensive (scheduled maintenance, with parts charged separately). Write down exactly which parts and consumables are covered. That one line causes most billing disputes.
3. Assets and sitesEvery covered asset with make, model, serial number and location, filed under the right site with its contact and access rules.
4. Preventive maintenance scheduleVisits generated from the contract terms, monthly, quarterly or as the manufacturer recommends, each with its own checklist.
5. Tickets and dispatchEvery breakdown call becomes a ticket with a timestamp, a priority and an SLA clock, then goes to a technician with the right skills and parts.
6. Service reportsWork done, readings, parts used, photos, time in and out, signed by the customer on site.
7. SparesParts issued against a ticket or visit, marked covered or chargeable, with serial numbers for anything valuable.
8. SLA escalationWhen a clock nears breach, a supervisor hears first, then the customer, before they have to ask.
9. RenewalReminders at 90, 60 and 30 days, and a renewal quote built from the year’s actual service history.

The fields worth tracking

You do not need hundreds of fields. You need these, captured once and linked to each other.

Scroll sideways to see every column →

SLAs, uptime and escalation

Agree three numbers and write down how each is measured: response time (from the call being logged to a technician starting work), resolution time (until the equipment works again) and uptime over a period.

GeM’s standard SLA for electrical equipment is a useful reference, even for private contracts. It expects a complaint to be attended within four hours when no part change is needed, and sets 48 hours as the maximum for fixing a defect. Uptime is worked out each quarter as equipment-days minus breakdown-days, divided by equipment-days, against a 98% target. Resolution delayed beyond 48 hours through the provider’s negligence costs ₹500 a day per complaint, and total penalties are capped at 10% of the contract value for the period.

To see how the uptime sum works: 40 UPS units over 60 working days is 2,400 equipment-days. If breakdowns add up to 36 unit-days, uptime is (2,400 − 36) ÷ 2,400, or 98.5%.

Whatever you agree, settle these in writing before the first breakdown:

• When the clock stops: delays on the customer’s side, site access refused, parts awaiting the customer’s approval.
• Who is told about a ticket at 50%, 80% and 100% of its allowed time, by name.
• How penalties or service credits are calculated, and where they are capped.
• How repeat faults on the same asset trigger a root-cause visit.

Billing and renewals under GST

An AMC provided over more than three months with periodic payments is a continuous supply of services under the CGST Act. Section 31(5) then sets when each invoice is due:

• If the contract fixes payment due dates, invoice on or before each due date.
• If it does not, invoice before or at the time you receive payment.
• If payment is linked to an event, such as completing a visit, invoice on or before that event.

So an AMC worth ₹2,40,000 a year, payable quarterly in advance from 1 April, has four due dates (1 April, 1 July, 1 October and 1 January) and four invoices of ₹60,000 plus GST, each raised on or before its date.

If a contract ends early, invoice when the service stops, for the service actually supplied. And if your aggregate turnover is ₹10 crore or more, e-invoices must be reported to the Invoice Registration Portal within 30 days of the invoice date, a rule in force since 1 April 2025. So put payment due dates in every AMC and let the system raise invoices from them. Check the specifics for your business with your chartered accountant.

Renewals need the same discipline. Start 90 days before expiry with a summary of the year: visits promised and done, tickets and response times, parts used and uptime. That record is your case for the renewal price, and it is far stronger than “costs have gone up”.

Moving off spreadsheets in five steps

Do not try to move everything over a weekend. Go in this order, and keep the old sheet read-only for a month as a safety net.

1. Clean the contract masterOne row per contract, duplicate customers merged, GSTINs and end dates checked. Start with contracts renewing in the next 90 days.
2. Build the asset registerSerial numbers by site, critical and high-value equipment first. Ask technicians to confirm them on their next visit.
3. Generate visits from the contractLet the frequencies in each contract create the PM schedule, instead of typing visits into a calendar.
4. Log every call as a ticketPhone, email and WhatsApp all end up as a ticket with a timestamp. Technicians close tickets with a signed digital service report from their phone.
5. Connect spares, billing and renewalsIssue parts against tickets, raise invoices from payment due dates and run renewals from expiry dates. Then retire the spreadsheet.

What to look for in AMC management software

Ask every vendor to show these in a demo with your own contracts, not in slides.

Also ask how a quotation becomes a contract. If the quote lives in one tool and the contract in another, someone retypes it, and that is where scope errors begin.

How Effred One handles AMC

AMC Management in Effred One covers customers, sites and assets under contract, preventive schedules, service tickets, technician dispatch, signed service reports, spares, SLA escalation and renewals, with a portal for your customers.

It is connected to the rest of the workspace. A quotation built in Docs & Quotation can be accepted by the client through a link and converted into an AMC. Each contract keys off the same Project PIN as its expenses, documents and legal records. AMC expiries show on the company dashboard, and EVA, the assistant inside Effred One, can tell you which contracts expire in the next 30 days and draft renewal quotations from that list for you to check and confirm.

The AMC portal is available on the Business and Enterprise plans. See pricing, or book a demo and bring your own contract list.

Common questions

Sources

1. GeM: Service level agreement for AMC of electrical equipment (opens in a new tab)↗gem.gov.in
2. CBIC: CGST Act 2017, section 2(33), continuous supply of services (opens in a new tab)↗taxinformation.cbic.gov.in
3. CBIC: CGST Act 2017, section 31, tax invoice (opens in a new tab)↗taxinformation.cbic.gov.in
4. IRIS IRP (GST e-invoice portal): Revised time limit for e-invoice reporting, AATO ₹10 crore and above (opens in a new tab)↗einvoice6.gst.gov.in