(1-1) Phase 1 - Pre-Session 1 Homework Follow

It is highly encouraged to have Midnight open and follow along with the videos and/or webinars as you progress through each topic. Hands-on practice helps reinforce the concepts being covered, increases familiarity with the system, and allows you to immediately apply what you learn in your own Midnight database.

(01) Admin → Departments (Employees)

The Departments table is used to create and manage the departments that employees are assigned to within Midnight. Departments should represent the functional areas of your business where employees work. 

Important: Departments are assigned to employees and should not be confused with Service Types (also known as Production Departments). Departments are used for employee tracking and reporting, while Service Types are used to categorize services for estimating, production, and job costing.

View the training recording here: ▶️ Departments

For additional information see the Midnight Knowledge Base article: Departments (Employees). 

Editing Employees: Employee records are used for production scheduling, reporting, time tracking, and shop floor data collection. Keeping employee information current helps ensure accurate labor tracking and workflow assignments. 

View the training recording here: ▶️ Employees

For additional information see the Midnight Knowledge Base article: Employees.

Security: Controls user access and permissions throughout Midnight. Security roles determine which modules, screens, and functions each user can access. 

View the training recording here: ▶️ Security

For additional information see the Midnight Knowledge Base article: Security and Permissions.

(03) Admin → Estimate/Order → Terms

The Terms table maintains the payment terms available for estimates and orders. Payment Terms define when payment is due and communicate payment expectations to customers.

Common examples include Due Upon Receipt, Net 15, Net 30, Net 45, Net 60, and other organization-specific payment arrangements.

Payment Terms are commonly assigned to customer records and flow automatically to estimates and orders, helping ensure consistency in billing and collections.

The following fields are available:

  • Code – The payment term code.
  • Description – A description of the payment term.
  • Days Till Due – The number of days before payment is due.
  • Active – Indicates whether the payment term is available for use.

Terms are assigned to a customer record in the CRM.

Terms are assigned to a vendor record in the Purchasing / Vendors tab.

View the training recording here: ▶️ Terms

For additional information see the Midnight Knowledge Base article: Terms

Tax Codes and Tax Jurisdictions: Work together to determine how sales tax is calculated. Tax Codes define taxability, while Tax Jurisdictions define the applicable tax rates and rules. 

View the training recording here: ▶️ Tax Codes and Tax Jurisdictions

For additional information see the Midnight Knowledge Base article: Tax Setup.

Vendors: Store information about the suppliers, manufacturers, and service providers your company purchases from. Accurate vendor records support purchasing, inventory management, and job costing.

View the training recording here: ▶️ Vendors

CRM: Provides a centralized location for managing customers, prospects, contacts, activities, notes, and sales opportunities. 

View the training recording here: ▶️ CRM

For additional information see the Midnight Knowledge Base article: Understanding the CRM in Midnight and How to Add New Customers.

(07) Admin → CRM → Customer Types

The Customer Types table defines the categories used to classify customer records within Midnight. These classifications help distinguish between different types of organizations and track the relationship status of each account.

Common examples include Customer, Prospect, Reseller, or other business-specific classifications. Customer Types provide a way to organize and segment customer records based on how your organization interacts with those accounts.

When creating or editing a customer record, a Customer Type can be assigned to indicate the account's role within your organization. Consistent use of Customer Types can improve reporting, customer segmentation, and account management processes.

Note: Midnight's standard Customer List Reports are designed to report on Customer Types of Customer and Prospect. If additional Customer Types are created and reporting is required for those values, a custom report may be needed.


The following fields are available:

  • Name – The name of the customer classification.
  • Active – Indicates whether the Customer Type is available for use when creating or editing customer records.

View the training recording here: ▶️ Customer Types

Account GLIDs and Account Item Codes: Configure the General Ledger IDs (GLIDs) and Item Codes used by Standard Services, Inventory Items, and other transactions throughout Midnight. If you plan to export accounting data to QuickBooks or another accounting system, these codes should be mapped exactly to the corresponding accounts and item codes in your accounting package to ensure accurate financial reporting and data synchronization.

View the training recording here: ▶️ Account GLIDs and Item Codes Training Recording

(09) Admin → Service Types

The Service Types table provides the foundation for how your organization categorizes and manages services within Midnight. Service Types typically represent production departments and serve as high-level groupings for Standard Services. The Service Types screen allows you to add, edit, or deactivate Service Types, as well as control the order in which they are displayed throughout the system. You may use the preloaded Service Types as provided, modify them to fit your workflow, or create your own based on your service offerings and pricing structure.

The fields on the screen are as follows:

  • Code – two digit code to be used in linking services to the correct department or service type
  • Name – display name of the department to be seen in estimates and orders and on reports
  • Sort – order in which the department tabs will be displayed
  • Icon – a way to visually identify service types easier
  • Color – assign a color to easily find service types
  • Kiosk Hide – flag to indicate services from this department will not be displayed on the kiosk for job costing purposes
  • Active – flag to indicate whether or not the department/service type is currently in use
  • Edit – Standard edit functionality
  • Delete – Standard delete functionality

You can create as many or as few Service Types as needed. The structure of your Service Types should reflect how you want to organize your workflow and how information should be grouped on estimates, work orders, invoices, and management reports.

For optimal reporting, we recommend maintaining no more than 10 active Service Types whenever possible and assigning each a sort order between 1 and 10. The Sales: By Customer / Service Type report is designed to display up to ten Service Types.

View the training recording here: ▶️ Service Types

For additional information about Service Types, see the Midnight Knowledge Base article: Service Types. 


 

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