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Requests

Contents

IMPORTANT NOTE

If you are using the optional Service Manager Customer Web Portal, please refer to the Using the Request Manager with the Customer Web Portal help topic. There is additional functionality in the Request Manager when using the Customer Web Portal which is not reflected in the help topic that you are currently reading.

Note:

If the Service Manager Customer Web Portal is installed, "On-line Customer Web Portal is Installed" will be displayed at the bottom left corner of the screen of the Request Manager window. If the Service Manager Customer Web Portal is not installed, "On-line Customer Web Portal NOT Installed" will be displayed.

Overview

Request Manager is a call center style application that enables requests for break down service or preventative maintenance to be logged and then managed. With Request Manager, support staff can post Requests to Service Manager Jobs and manage both the Request and Job easily from a central point.

Requests can be entered directly into the Request Manager or they can be sourced from the optional Service Manager Customer Web Portal, which enables Customers to use the Web to quickly log and monitor requests.

About the Service Manager Customer Web Portal

The Service Manager Customer Web Portal allows your Customers to access and transact with your business online using a web browser. This speeds up response times providing better customer satisfaction and as an added benefit, business overheads and costs are reduced as less time is spent on telephones logging information or answering questions.

Customers can log new job requests, view the status of existing jobs, check their site and equipment details including billing history, purchase details, total cost of ownership, agreement/contract information, preventative maintenance schedules, and job related tasks and activities. Equipment, model and site searches are also readily available.

In a typical scenario, a service company provides its customers with a link to a secure login page to its Customer Web Portal. Customers log in to the Customer Web Portal and then create and monitor requests and access related information. The service company controls who will be able to access its Customer Web Portal and defines the security rights of each user.

An email notification will be sent automatically to the service company when a request is created in the Customer Web Portal. Support staff can process the request and post it to a Service Manager Job or take other action, as required.

If you are an End User and would like more information about the Service Manager Customer Web Portal, please contact your Sage 300 Solution Provider.

If you are a Business Partner and would like more information about the Service Manager Customer Web Portal, please contact Technisoft at technisoft@technisoft.com.au.

Starting the Request Manager

Note:

Request Manager and the Request desktop icon will only be available if Request Entry security is set for the user. Refer Service Manager security.

Click the Request desktop icon.

The Request Manager window will be displayed.

Reviewing Requests

1. Specify the Search Criteria

You would normally review Requests that meet certain criteria, e.g., Requests for a particular Customer, Site, Contact, Model, Equipment, Date Entered, Reference, Request State, Urgency and/or Allocated To Employee.

You can limit the display of Closed Requests to those Entered

Note that a "LIKE" (or "contains") match is performed on the Reference field. e.g., typing "76" in the Reference field will return any Request that contains "76" anywhere in the Request Reference field, such as "PO 7623563".

State

Request State	Description	Allowable Actions
Pending	This Request State is set automatically when Creating or Reactivating a Request. It indicates that the Request has not yet been posted to a Service Manager Job.	A Pending Request may be held, canceled or deleted. A Pending Request cannot be reactivated.
Held	This Request State is set automatically when Holding a Request using the Hold selected Pending Requests right-click menu item. Only Pending Requests can be Held.	A Held Request may be canceled, reactivated or deleted. Held Requests can be reactivated using the Reactivate selected Requests right-click menu item. A reactivated Request will be set to Pending.
Canceled	This Request State is set automatically when deleting the associated Job or Canceling a Request using the Cancel selected Requests right-click menu item. Only Pending or Held Requests can be Canceled. You cannot cancel a Job In Progress Request.	A Canceled Request may be reactivated or deleted. Canceled Requests can be reactivated using the Reactivate selected Requests right-click menu item. A reactivated Request will be set to Pending.
Job In Progress	This Request State is set automatically when the Request is posted to a Service Manager Job.	The Request State of a Job In Progress Request cannot be changed manually. Service Manager will however set the Request State to Canceled if the associated Job is deleted, or to Job Completed if the associated Job is Completed.
Job Completed	This Request State is set automatically when the Job Status is set to Completed.	A Job Completed Request may be closed.
Request Closed	This Request State is set automatically when Closing a Request using the Close selected Completed Requests right-click menu item.	A Closed Request may be deleted.

Press to show a Request State Workflow Diagram.

Urgency

The Urgency is set initially when the Request is created. The Urgency may be modified.

Allocated To

An Unallocated Request is one that has a blank Allocated To field, i.e., the Request has not been allocated or assigned to anyone.

2. Run the Search

Click Go .

The results will be displayed in the lower Results pane. An example is shown below.

You can Include, Exclude and change the order of the columns in the Request list. To do this, use Tools » Options.

3. Review the Requests

To review a Document Request, double-click the relevant Document Request line.

The Request will be displayed in the Modify Request window.

A Request is allocated initially to the Employee who is the Standard Assignment for the Site (the first Standard Assignment will be used if there is more than one). If the Site does not have a Standard Assignment, the Allocated to Employee will be blank.

The Request may be allocated to another Employee.

Chat notes can be logged on the request

Posting Requests to Service Manager Jobs

Only Pending Requests may be posted to Jobs.

Click the Post icon on the Request Manager toolbar. The Post Requests to Document window will be displayed.

Tick the check box of each Request to post.

Type or select: Job Type, Description, Entered By, Phase. These values will be retained and displayed by default the next time this window is displayed.

Click the relevant radio button to create one Job per Request, one Job per Site or one Job per Equipment.

Select the checkbox to use the Document Request Number as the Document Number.

Click [Post].

A Warning message will be displayed. Click [Yes] to continue.

A Confirmation message will be displayed showing the number of Jobs created. Click [OK] to continue.

When a Job has been created, a link will be provided to the Job. The Request State will change to Job In Progress.

Creating New Requests

Click the New icon on the Request Manager toolbar to log a new Request. The Enter New Request window will be displayed.

Enter the required information and then click [Accept].

Printing Requests

Select the Requests to print. Alternatively, you can print all Requests listed.

You may wish to sort the Requests before printing them. Click a column name to sort on that column before printing. Requests will be printed in the sequence that they are listed.

Click the Print icon on the Request Manager toolbar to print Requests. The Print Requests dialog box will be displayed.

Tick the Print in Detail check box to include all the Request details in the report.

Click [Print].

Other Functions

The right-click menu can be used to select a number of functions.

Highlight one or more Request lines and then right-click. The following menu will be displayed. Note that only functions that are allowed on the currently selected Request(s) will be available. The other functions will be disabled (grayed out).

Insert New	Refer Creating New Requests.
Properties	This function is only available for a single Request. It will be disabled if you select multiple Requests. Use this function to display either the Request or the Job associated with the Request.
Clear	Resets the search criteria.
Go	Runs the Request search based on the search criteria.
Select All	Selects all Requests in the list.
Post Pending Requests to Jobs	Select this function to post Pending Requests to Jobs. Refer Posting Requests to Service Manager Jobs.
Delete highlighted Requests	Delete all highlighted Pending, Held, Canceled or Closed Requests. Requests with a state of Job In Progress or Job Completed cannot be deleted.
Hold highlighted Pending Requests	Hold all highlighted Pending Requests. The Request state of these Requests will change to Held.
Reactivate highlighted Requests	Reactivate all highlighted Held or Canceled Requests. The Request state of these Requests will change to Pending.
Cancel highlighted Requests	Cancel all highlighted Held or Pending Requests. The Request state of these Requests will change to Canceled. Requests with a state of Job In Progress or Job Completed cannot be canceled.
Close highlighted Requests	Close all highlighted Job Completed Requests. The Request state of these Requests will change to Request Closed.