Creating a variation

“Variations in Fergus are a great way to track jobs that share the same customer and site address but require separate quoting or invoicing. They’re especially useful when an additional piece of work is added to a job, allowing you to track it independently if you want to. Let’s dive into how to use variations in Fergus.

To create a variation, start by opening a job card. Under the overall job title, click the variations button.

Here, you’ll see any existing variations for this job and the option to create a new one by clicking create variation.

Fergus will ask whether this variation is a quote, estimate or charge up. In other words, do you need to quote the work or are you just adding cost to the job as you go?

Once you’ve made your selection, a new job card will be created for the variation.

Need to create a variation on the go? Fergus Go has you covered. First, find the job by either selecting it from your home screen or using the search option.

Make sure you’re on the overall job card, not just a job phase since only the job card allows you to create a variation.

Once you’re on the job card, scroll down to the variations section.

Here, you’ll see any existing variations and the option to create a new one.

Click create variation and fill in the details such as whether the variation needs a quote, its title and description.

When you’re done, tap save in the top right corner.

Every variation sits under the parent job, the original job this variation was created from, which you can access by clicking the variations button at the top of the job card.

Each variation has its own job number and moves through the status board independently, giving you full control and visibility.

To jump between variations, you can select them directly from the status board or open the parent job and click the variations button to view all associated variations.

Finally, let’s talk invoicing variations.

You have two options when it comes to invoicing variations.

Invoice the variation alongside the rest of the job or invoice the variation on its own.

Let’s talk about invoicing variations with the parent job first.

Head to the parent job and select invoicing from the menu on the left.

Click the drop down arrow and choose ‘add costs from job’. This opens a screen where you can select what to include in your invoice.

On the left side, you’ll see the original job along with any variations.

For example, the parent job was originally quoted, so I’ll start by adding the original quote to the invoice.

If you’re adding a quote to the invoice, select quote at the top and choose the details to include. If you’re adding costs directly from the job, click costs at the top instead and select the relevant items.

Then I can click the variation on the left and follow the usual invoicing process.

Once you’re happy with everything, click add to invoice in the bottom right. Then continue as per normal.

To invoice a variation on its own, open the variations job card instead. Go to the invoicing on the left and create the invoice as you normally would. For more details on invoicing, check out our help guide.

And that’s all there is to it. Variations are a powerful tool to keep your jobs organized and on track.”