What Your Vendor Should Be Sending You Every Month
An invoice tells you what you paid. A report tells you what you got. Most buyers only receive the first one.
Volume, Not Just Cost
Tickets opened, tickets closed and anything still open past a threshold. Three numbers, on the same page every month, tracked against the month before.
The Recurring Problem List
A good vendor flags the issue they keep fixing and proposes ending it, even when the repeat visits are profitable for them. Watch whether that list ever shrinks.
The most valuable line in a service report is the one that recommends work the vendor will not be paid for.
Verification, Not Assertion
Backups tested, inspections completed, filters changed. Photographs and timestamps rather than a checkbox somebody filled in from memory at the end of the month.
Reporting requirements belong in the agreement. Requested later, they become a change order.
