The Setup programs are where you will create and modify the information that drives your Service Manager system and controls the way it operates.

The installation and configuration of Service Manager is generally undertaken by a Sage 300 Solution Provider.

General Setup

This collection of programs allows you to maintain the basic administrative records associated with the way your business operates.

Options

The Options setup program is used to maintain company-wide settings that determine how Service Manager will operate.

Options include: company contact information, document defaults, processing functions, commission settings, numbering conventions, tracking options for financial distribution statistics, graphic file locations, custom statuses and business hours.

The G/L Integration setup program is used to maintain company-wide G/L options.

Note: You will not be able to change the Options while other users are using Service Manager or you are working on certain screens, such as Document Entry.

Custom Fields

The Custom Fields setup program allows you to create and maintain Custom Field Templates.

Custom Field Templates can contain unlimited fields of varying types, each with its own caption and value. The Templates are then associated with Site, Equipment, Employee or Solution records stored in Service Manager, to customize those records with industry specific or tailored information.

This information can be displayed and edited in many locations throughout the system. Each Custom Field Code can have many individual field types such as text, date, time, numbers and predefined drop-down lists. All master records that are associated with the Custom Field Code will inherit the defined list of fields. Therefore if you add, modify or delete a Custom Field inside a Custom Field Template, all records using that Template will inherit that change.

Class Types

Class Types provide a way to classify records into particular groupings.

For instance, a Personal Computer may belong to a particular Model Group class called "2Ghz PCs". An Industry Class Type might be "Information Technology", a Sector Class Type might be "Public Sector", etc. The sample data includes many more examples of Class Type codes.

Note that Statistics can be maintained for each Class Type.

Class Types include: Model Groups, Site Industries, Site Sectors, Site Markets, Site Channels, Site Profiles, Site Zones, Employee Skills, Document Descriptions, Task Disciplines and Fault Groups.

Employees

The Employee setup program allows you to maintain the Employees you wish to use and track in Service Manager.

These include Employees who enter documents and those who are assigned to Jobs. Personal and processing options relating to Employees, such as Defaults, Loadings, Commission details and Skills can also be defined in this program.

Note:

•Only Active Employees can be assigned to Jobs. The number of Active Employees you are permitted relates to the Service Manager Employee Packs you have purchased. Refer to the Technisoft End User License Agreement for more information on licensing issues.

•It is suggested that you create an Employee for each Sage 300 User that will be using the Service Manager program. These users do not have to be Active to simply enter details and/or post documents.
 

From Service Manager 5.6A: Subcontractors, Internal Equipment and Employees are all considered to be Resources which may be assigned to a Job and scheduled with time entries. (Prior to Service Manager 5.6A, only Employees were considered to be Resources.)

Work Groups

The Work Group setup program provides a means to group active Employees together into specific Groups so they may be assigned collectively to a Job by assigning that Group.

Note: For statistical tracking purposes, an Employee can only be associated with one Work Group even though they can be allocated to many.

Services

There are three specific types of Service:

•Standard

•Labor

•Subcontractor

Each Service can be tailored in many different ways to suit a company's individual billing requirements. Services include Defaults, Processing Options, General Ledger accounts and Taxation Overrides.

Each Service may have Rates associated with it. Labor Service types can have individual rates for each Employee in Service Manager. If you operate a multicurrency company, rates can be specified in each currency supported by that company.

Job Phases

Every document entered in Service Manager must have at least one Phase.

Phases allow you to group Service Information and Billing within a document. Resources are assigned to Phases. Each Phase can have default Response details specified. This information can be used to set the normal starting period and duration of the Phase.

Work Groups may be allocated to Phases. When a Phase is added to a Job that includes a Work Group, employees assigned in that Work Group are automatically assigned to that Phase in the Job.

Phases also include Commission and Budget information if selected as a Billing Option.

Job Types

Job Types can be used to categorize an entire Document in Document Entry.

Document defaults can be specified in a Job Type so when a Document is created using a particular Job Type, it inherits defaults from that Job Type.

Defaults include: Status, Priority, Budgeting and Commission flags, Inventory defaults, Comments, Override General Ledger accounts, and default Phases.

If default Phases are specified when setting up a Job Type, they will be added automatically when that Job Type is used to create a Document in Document Entry. You also have the ability to override the Phase Response settings for each Phase specified in a Job Type. A graphical tool is available to assist in setting up Phase Response Tracking in the Job Type setup program.

Schedules

The Schedule setup program is where you define default scheduling information that can be used by the recurring process facilities in Service Manager.

For instance: how often you wish to read a particular Meter, at what frequency you wish to post a Recurring Billing Document, and so on.

If you modify a particular Schedule, all Documents using that Schedule will inherit those changes. Schedules can be defined using Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly criteria.

Subcontractors

Subcontractors are used to add outsourced or third-party Services to a Document. Subcontractor information includes address and miscellaneous details.

From Service Manager 5.6A: Subcontractors, Internal Equipment and Employees are all considered to be Resources which may be assigned to a Job and scheduled with time entries. (Prior to Service Manager 5.6A, only Employees were considered to be Resources.)

Agreement Plans

Agreements use a default Agreement Plan. Sites covered by one Agreement can have different plans. Individual items of Equipment can have different plans.

The Agreement Plan includes: Basis of the Tax calculation, Response Period, Override G/L Account if applicable, Default Job Type, Billing Service and Price List, Hours of Cover with an optional Warning message if work is performed outside specified periods, Specific Cover - allow or disallow cover for all or particular Standard Services, Labor Services, Contractor Services, Items and Item Categories. When you Allow Cover, you must specify the Cover %.

Ship Via

Enter the details of any shipping, courier, carrier transportation methods that may be used in the transportation of goods between locations.

Tasks

Tasks are used to define work requirements for a particular individual or subcontractor. Tasks can be Site Related or Model/Equipment Related.

Site Tasks relate to general Site activities, e.g., cleaning of buildings, security or surveillance issues, environmental tests, cabling systems, light globe replacement, rubbish collection, etc.

Model/Equipment Tasks relate specifically to Equipment records. Tasks are set up by Model so Equipment of a specific Model will inherit all Tasks for that Model.

Although mainly oriented toward the support of the Service Manager Advanced Maintenance Add-On, Tasks are included as part of the core Service Manager product and can be inserted manually into the Document tree.

Category Accounts

Select this menu option to edit I/C Category accounts.

Service Centers

If the Service Manager Service Center Add-On is installed, the Service Center Profiles, Numbering System and Business Hours are edited through this menu option.

G/L Integration

The G/L Integration setup program is used to maintain company-wide G/L options. All other company-wide Service Manager options are set in Company Options.

Note: Prior to Service Manager 5.5A, G/L related company-wide options used to be set in Company Options.

Site Setup

The Site setup programs are where information relating to Sites is maintained.

Sites

The Site setup program is where Customer Sites are created or modified. Site data is geographical in nature whereas Customer data relates to billing information. Often a one to one relationship exists between a Customer and a Site record, but it is possible to create many Sites with the same Customer or Bill To. For example, where a Head Office / Site relationship exists.

Service Manager is Site driven opposed to Customer driven.

Documents are maintained by Site. The Site setup program allows you to specify default settings to be used when entering Documents for a Site, including: Site Type, Site Status, Default Job Type, Custom Field Template, Comments, Map and Callout Details, Zone and Carrier Details, Primary Contact, Commission Splits, Default Assignments, Marketing Classifications and Hours of Operation.

All these details come together to control the way Service Manager handles Site information.

Note: The Tax Group for a Site defaults from the master Accounts Receivable (Bill To) Customer associated with that Site. It is possible to override this value by setting an Override flag in the Profile tab in Site Setup and specifying a different Tax Group.

From Service Manager 5.6A: A Company may use its own Equipment on Jobs or rent out its Equipment. In this case we recommend that you first create an Internal Site and then create Internal Equipment records for that Site. Equipment created for an Internal Site will automatically be marked as Internal. Internal Equipment may be assigned to a Job and scheduled with time entries as you can for Employees and Subcontractors.

Contacts

Contacts are Site related. Each site can have unlimited Contacts associated with it. Each Contact record contains information about the Contact including: name and position, contact telephone and fax numbers, email address, a photo ID, and up to five events that you would like the contact to be associated with. An example of an Event might be a Newsletter, Upgrade Notice or Birthday greeting.

This program also provides you with the ability to add Notations to the Contact and email the Contact directly using your default email program.

Auto Create Sites

The Auto Create Sites program allows you to quickly initialize a new Service Manager database by copying Accounts Receivable Customer information to Site and Contact records in Service Manager. This is an automated process and is on a one to one basis, record for record.

There are several default settings and filters that can be specified when creating new Sites.

Equipment Setup

This collection of programs maintains information specific to Equipment records in Service Manager. These programs can typically be chained to from within Document Entry and other entry programs.

Models

The Model setup program allows you to define all the Models that your company services.

Each Equipment record must be associated with a particular Model and will inherit that Model's characteristics. A Model may also relate to an item in Inventory that you sell.

Information maintained includes: Manufacturer Details, Model Group Class, Release Date, Comments, Warranty Defaults, Maintenance and Meter Details, and Fault Codes that may apply to that Model.

Equipment

The Equipment setup program allows you to define new Equipment records and automatically add them to Site records in Service Manager.

An Equipment record cannot be created without first linking the Equipment to a Model.

Equipment information includes: Site and Contact, the Model, Serial Number, Installation Date, Last Service Date, Warranty Details, and Sales and Purchase information. You can also view Custom Field information specific to an Equipment record, Pictures of the Model, History, associated Agreements, Meters and Maintenance details.

The Equipment automatically inherits many of the above features from the associated Model record.

History includes Billing Details, Notations, Audits, Jobs, and other information.

Equipment can be transferred between Sites.

Note: Equipment can be created "on the fly" during Document Entry or using the Equipment Setup desktop icon.

From Service Manager 5.6A: A Company may use its own Equipment on Jobs or rent out its Equipment. In this case we recommend that you first create an Internal Site and then create Internal Equipment records for that Site. Equipment created for an Internal Site will automatically be marked as Internal. Internal Equipment may be assigned to a Job and scheduled with time entries as you can for Employees and Subcontractors.

Meter Types and Meters

Meters are created and modified using the Meter program. Each Equipment record can have many meters, and each meter can be read at different intervals and processed separately. The Meter will inherit much of its setup information from the Model. This includes the Schedule used to drive the recurring readings for the Meter. Several tailoring options exist in the program to specify how to track the readings. Meter reading history is also maintained.

Item Relationships

The Item Relationship setup program allows you to link Items of Inventory to Models in Service Manager and/or Universal Product Codes (bar codes).

Therefore it is possible to sell an Item of inventory by scanning in its Universal Product Code (UPC), and after posting the Item to an Invoice, auto create an Equipment record for the Site from the sale of that Item by automatically associating the Item's Model relationship to the Equipment record.

Auto Create Equipment

The Auto Create Equipment program allows you to create Site Equipment records from a batch for Serialized Items posted on Invoices.

This program can be run after each Invoice is posted from Document Entry or directly off the Sage 300 desktop.

During Document Entry, Serial Numbers are specified for Items shipped. These Serial Numbers can be optionally specified to create Equipment records of a particular model type. The Item Relationship aids in this process by associating a Model to an Item.

After you have posted a batch of Items in Auto Create Equipment, Custom Fields for each Equipment record created can be modified as required.

Fault Setup

The Fault setup group of programs allows you to configure Fault Analyzer. Setup programs include Faults, Symptoms and Solutions. These can be imported from Manufacturer information (if available) or created "on the fly" during the analysis of the problem.

Faults

When an Equipment record is added to a Job, it is possible to specify a Fault or many Faults against that Equipment.

These entries are termed Fault Registrations and collectively form the basis for the Fault Analysis component of Service Manager.

Fault Setup allows you to specify the Model and Fault Grouping, General Comments, related Symptoms, available Solutions, and the Models that they apply to.

Symptoms

Symptoms may apply to many Faults and Faults may have many Symptoms. This program allows you to define Symptoms relating to a Fault, which in turn associates those Symptoms with a Model.

Other information included in Symptom records are: Keywords that aid in searching for Faults and Solutions related to the Symptom, and an Internal and External Comment.

Solutions

Solutions may apply to many Faults and Faults may have many Solutions. This program allows you to define Solutions relating to a Fault, which in turn associates those Solutions with a Model.

Also, note that a Billing Group from a Billing Template can be attached to a Solution. When a Solution is chosen in Document Entry as part of a Fault Registration, the Billing Group attached to the Solution can be auto loaded directly into the Document. The Billing Group might include Service charges and Parts to effect the repair.

Other Solution information includes: a Keyword for quick lookup ability, Internal and External Comments, Estimated Repair Duration, Graphics, External references including File Attachments, Email Addresses and Web URLs.

Custom Fields can be added to Solutions to determine which fields to display when creating a Fault Registration in Document Entry.

Note: The Email and/or URL properties can be used to launch your default email program or web browser respectively.