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Client Central Home > Customer Master > Update Letters > 21.2 Customer Master Update Letter

Customer Master 21.2 Update Letter

Enhancements have been made to the Customer Master software application. Please take time to review these changes, which become effective with Version 21.2 of Customer Master.

This section of Client Central provides an overview of the changes made and added functionality included in the latest version of the software. Click on the Modules listed below in the table of contents for complete details. Each page refers to the changes by Module, followed by a brief summary of the enhancements included in that Module.

Customer Master’s online help has also been updated to include information on the latest enhancements. Please refer to the help documentation for an in-depth explanation of the enhancements included in this letter or contact your MACC Customer Master Software Support Representative. Web training sessions on these enhancements are also available.

Table of Contents

Click on each section to view content.

Billing

Automated Billing Approval

Companies on Print Notify, utilizing the Billing Email Notification process in Customer Master, can now enjoy automated billing approval with the click of a button. During billing, communication with MACC to get bills out the door in a timely manner is important. Updates were made to the Bill Cycle Processing screen to allow companies to approve their billing from step 5 of the billing process, instead of calling or e-mailing MACC to approve bills.

Billing Suite | Maintenance | Billing Email Notify: A new billing approve button in the Bill Cycle Processing screen will only be visible if a company is set up for Print Notify in the Billing Email Notification Editor. If the radio button “Yes” is selected in the Print Notify group box, and the End Bill Date is not in the past, then a new billing approve button will display on step 5 of billing. This functionality includes multiple bill cycles if they too are flagged “Yes” for Print Notify.

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Billing Suite | Processing | Bill Cycle Processing: The new button was added to step 5 in the Billing Process screen, just to the right of the description. The button and its flyover hint are labeled “Load Next Bill Cycle Recurring Chgs and Approve Billing.” The new button will be grayed out/disabled until step 5 of billing is completed.
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After clicking on step 5, the existing Load of recurring charges message displays, and a new informational message will also display letting the user know to return to the Billing screen to approve bills after they receive notification to proceed. Click OK to continue. Once step 5 is complete the new Approve Billing button will be enabled.
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Once users have reviewed some bills via Billing Inquiry, and are ready to approve their billing, they can click the new Billing Approval button to notify MACC of the approval.
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A Specify the transmission method window will appear and users will need to confirm the transmission method of F=FTP and click OK to continue. Once OK is selected, step 6 of billing will be enabled, and the Billing Approval button will once again be disabled/grayed out.
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At this point a file will be automatically created and sent into MACC letting us know your company has approved billing. This will trigger the completion of the bill cycle’s processing at MACC.

If for some reason a company needs to back out of billing, and re-run the billing steps 3 through 5, the approval will also be undone. Users will need to click the button on step 5 again during the retransmit to re-approve their billing. The approve billing button will display in the disabled view (grayed out) on historical bill cycles where the approval button was clicked. If users want to know who approved billing (clicked the Approve Billing button) and when, the flyover hint will have this information when hovering over the button.

In addition, an update was made to default the Bill Cycle Field in the Billing Process screen when a database only has one Bill Cycle. Previously, companies with only one bill cycle had to select their bill cycle from the Bill Cycle drop-down in the screen. Now it will be automatically populated for them and users just have to select the Bill Date.

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New Credit Class Filtering for Bill Ad/Bill Message/Drop Inserts

The ability to filter by Credit Class was added to the Bill Ad/Message/Drop Insert Criteria feature. This enhanced filtering allows users to send a Bill Ad, Bill Message, or Drop Insert to a group of accounts with a particular credit classification, or the credit rating assigned to an account.

Billing Suite | Maintenance | Bill Add/Message/Drop Insert Criteria: A Credit Class radio button was added to the Criteria Level group box in the Bill Criteria Wizard. The new Credit Class filter can be utilized for Bill Ads, Bill Messages, and Drop Inserts.

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When Credit Class is selected, and the Next button is clicked, a new Credit Class screen allows users to “Select all Credit Classes to include.” After Credit Classes are selected, the setup is saved, and the bill message linked, then the bill message will go to the targeted accounts with an Excellent or Average credit rating.
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Additionally, the Bill Ad/Msg/Drop Insert Accounts report and the Bill Ad/Msg/Drop Insert Criteria reports will now include the new Credit Class information.

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Inquiry

Inquiry Search by IP Address

Additional searching based on IP Address was added to the Internet Options in the Inquiry search. This new search functionality will be useful for technicians out in the field to easily locate Internet tiers in Customer Master by the IP Address.

Account Management tab | Inquiry: The ability to search by IP Address, IPv4 Address and IPv6 Address was added to the Internet Options in the Inquiry Search. The IP Address search field appears when a Network Type of Internet has been selected. The IP Address is a free form field, and partial searches are allowed. An IPv4 Address and IPv6 Address can also be typed in the IP Address field to find the Internet tier where they are populated.

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Maintenance

Employee Picture Can Be Added to E-mail Notifications

A picture is worth a thousand words, and companies now have the ability to send a picture of a technician with e-mail notifications to customers. Having the picture of a technician arriving for an appointment provides another level of communication that is both a convenience and comforting for customers.

Maintenance | Common | Employee | Employee Editor: The Employee Editor has a new image box to upload or paste a picture of an employee. Right-clicking in the image box displays a menu with an option to Load, or upload, a picture from a user’s workstation.

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In this example the technician Steve Apple’s picture was loaded in the Employee Editor. If e-mail notifications are also set up to include pictures, Steve’s picture will be included in those notifications.

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Once an image is uploaded for an employee, the right-click menu includes additional options to Cut, Copy, Delete, Save As, and Rotate Image. In addition, a new column in the Employee Editor grid called “Employee Picture” will have a checkbox populated to show when an image is present and saved for an employee.

Note: To achieve a clear picture in your notifications, MACC recommends using an image size of 80 x 100 px. Images cannot be larger than 10MB in size. An error message will display if an attempt is made to upload a picture larger than 10MB, and the image will not be loaded to the screen.

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Maintenance | Messaging | Notification Setup: Two Notification Setup Trigger Points now include an employee picture option for selection from the Usable Information in the Configuration Setup screens. When Employee Picture is selected/saved in the notification setups, and the employee has a picture loaded in the Employee Editor, these e-mail notifications sent to customers will include a picture of the employee. This feature will let the customer know who they should expect to arrive at their location to complete the assigned work. The two notifications with this new feature include the Appointment Notification and the Trouble Ticket Notification to Account Holder when Trouble Ticket is Cleared Notification.

Appointment Notification Trigger Point: An Employee Picture option was added to the Usable Information in the Configuration Setup screen. When an appointment is assigned to an employee in the Scheduler Module, the e-mail sent to the customer will include a picture of the employee.

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In this example of the Appointment Notification e-mail (Plain Text) an appointment was assigned to Steve Apple, and the appointment e-mail contains his picture as an attachment. Verbiage in the body of the email indicates “See Attachment.” The attached picture can be clicked on to enlarge the image.

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Note: Previously the Email Type radio buttons in the Configuration Setup screens were grayed out/disabled for the Appointment Notification. They have both been enabled, and both Plain Text e-mail and HTML (web-page style) e-mails can be utilized. The Employee Picture option can be used for both types of e-mails. Additionally, at this time the image attachments of employees are only available for e-mail notifications, not SMS (text) notifications.

Trouble Ticket Trigger Point: The Employee Picture option was also added to the Notification to Account Holder when Trouble Ticket is Cleared notification type. The new Employee Picture Useable Information can be selected to be included in the Trouble Ticket notification.

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When a Trouble Ticket is cleared by an employee, the e-mail sent to the customer will include a picture of the employee as an attachment.

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For HTML e-mail notifications, instead of Useable Information, the employee picture is embedded in the Body as HTML text (highlighted yellow). The picture command line must have the image size (width and height) included.
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In the example of an HTML Trouble Ticket cleared e-mail notification, the employee’s picture is embedded in the email, rather than as an attachment. If the Employee Picture is not available (HTML) when the notification is sent, the picture tag will be displayed in the e-mail as “Employee Picture not Available.”
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Service Availability by Plant Area

Many services in Customer Master such as Cellular Rate Plans, Toll Codes, Bundles, USP Codes, and Variable Rate USP Codes are based on specific plant details. With this in mind updates were made to allow users to associate plant areas with specific service selections. This will provide additional flexibility to target/set certain services for your company-defined Plant Areas, as well as Serving Equipment Areas representing the geographic footprint of your access network. These updates will also allow Web Self Care administrators to better target specific services to be displayed to their Web Self Care end users based on Plant Area, and/or Serving Equipment Area assignment.

Maintenance | Plant | Serving Equipment Area | Assigned Services icon: A new Network Type column was added to all the existing Assigned Services windows throughout Customer Master. This will allow users to see the network type assigned to the services, and aid in selecting the service(s) to be assigned to the Service Equipment Area. Note: An example of a service with a network type assigned would be a USP at Maintenance/Common/USP Code with a network populated in the Network Type field.

Service Availability by Plant Area

Maintenance | Plant | Plant Area: Users will now be able to assign services based on Plant Area. The Assigned Services icon was added to the Plant Area grid, and functions just as it does in the Serving Equipment Assigned Services window. Clicking the new icon in the Plant Area grid will open the new “Assigned Services for Plant Area” window. In the example below, the Plant Area ARL “ARLINGTON” has been assigned the following services which will carry over to Quick Start:

  • Toll Code “104”
  • USP Code “ADJEE”
  • Variable Rate USP “CREEL”
  • USP Code “CTMC”
  • Bundle “DP”
  • USP Code “IDSLF”
  • Cellular Rate Plan “M103”

Note: The services are indicated in the second column, and display as their applicable icon. The columns filter drop-down menu will display the name of each service; i.e. Rate Plan, Toll Code, USP Bundle, USP Code, Variable Rate USP Code.

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Account Management tab | Quick Start | Service Order Quick Start: A new option “By Plant Area” was added to the Service Selection drop-down menu in Quick Start, and can be used to assign services based on Plant Area.

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When “By Plant Area” is selected a Service Address, Plant Area, and Bus/Res filters are available, and are required fields. Use the Service Address ellipsis to search for and select an address. If a Plant Area is tied to the service address via Auto Assigned Values on the address (Maintenance/Common/Address/Auto-Assign Values tab,) the Plant Area will be automatically populated in the Plant Area field. If not, select a Plant Area, and click the Load button to load the grid with services assigned to the Plant Area.

In the example of Quick Start below, “By Plant Area” is selected from the drop-down menu, as well as an address, and a Plant Area of ARL. As described previously, multiple services were assigned to Plant Area ARL with the Assigned Services feature. Only those services set up for Plant Area ARL will be available for selection in the Quick Start grid. Select the services desired for the account, and click the Next button.

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The Tier Customization screen will build the tiers of the account with the selected services by Plant Area.
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Reports Suite | Processing | Grid Reports | Report Type – Assigned Services: A new Grid Report was created to provide reporting on Assigned Services, and see data for all the services for each of the Assigned Service Types.

Updates to Work Order Invoicing

The Work Order module was improved to provide a more robust Work Order/Job Costing interface, expanding on the invoicing capabilities within Customer Master. Work Orders can now be associated to multiple accounts, and be assigned at any tier, not just the network level. Additionally, Invoices will only be associated to one account but can be on any tier.

Maintenance | Common | Company | Accounting Company & Editor: A “WO Invoice Starting #,” and a “WO Invoice Template File” field was added to the Accounting Company Editor. The Work Order Invoice Starting number field is used to set the starting invoice number for the work order invoices. Before any invoices are created after the upgrade to 21.2, the number must be entered and saved. The Work Order Invoice Template File field is used to set the path to a customized Work Order Invoice template, which will be used to print all Work Order Invoices for the selected Accounting Company. The field can be left blank if users want to continue using the MACC default Work Order Invoice template. A new Edit Template icon to customize Work Order Invoices was added to the Accounting Company Editor toolbar. It can be used to customize/edit Work Order Invoices for the selected Accounting Company to include things like a logo. The template was also updated to include the new invoice information. Two columns were also added to the Accounting Company grid which displays a “WO Invoice Starting #” field, and the “Template Directory” path.

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Invoice information was added to the printed Work Order Invoice. The Invoice Number was added to the upper right section, as well the Work Order Number and Invoice Number to the middle section. A Tier Type and Tier Number were added to the OCC Detail section. Work Order Invoice Comments will display and can contain up to 80,000 characters.

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At the bottom of the invoice the Service Address will print in the Service Address section if the Invoice OCCs are on the network tier. The service address will not print, and instead, display the account name in the Service Address section if the Invoice OCCs are on the Account or Customer tier. Note: If there are multiple network tiers on the invoice, the oldest, active network’s Service Address will print for the represented OCCs.
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Maintenance| Billing | Work Order Invoice: A pipe (|) was added to the menu and grid name at Maintenance| Billing | Work Order Invoice to indicate there is now both work order and invoice functionality in Customer Master. A new column was also added to the Work Order | Invoice grid labeled “Invoice Count,” and it will display the number of invoices for each work order.

Maintenance| Billing | Work Order Invoice | Work Order Invoice Editor: New features were added to the Work Order Invoice Editor screen to view invoice information associated with the work order. A Print Invoice icon and drop-down was added to the toolbar to print a single invoice or run an invoice report. A new grid was added to the bottom of the Work Order Editor with two tabs: Invoice and Tier.

  • Invoice tab: The Invoice tab contains a list of invoices associated with the Work Order, as well as an OCC sub grid displaying OCCs tied to the invoice. The Invoice Comments field was moved to a comment bubble in the Invoice grid. When the comment bubble is clicked the Invoice Comment Editor will open and display any comments associated with the invoice. Comments can be edited, canceled, or deleted within the editor.
    • OCC sub grid on Invoice tab: An additional sub grid will display the OCCs associated with the invoice and include all the usual OCC information.
  • Tier tab: The Tier tab contains all tiers associated to the selected work order. Use the slider bar at the bottom of the Tier grid to see an Invoice Number tied to the tier.
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Additionally, a right click menu on Invoice tab grid provides the ability to:

  • Print Invoice: An Invoice can be printed from the grid.
  • Remove from Account: The Invoice associated with an account can be removed from the account if there has not been an OCC created. Removing the invoice’s association with an account will free up the invoice to be used on additional accounts.
  • Delete Invoice: An invoice can be deleted if there has not been an OCC created. This action will mark the invoice as deleted and will not allow the invoice to be associated with any accounts going forward.
  • Both the Invoice and Tier grids information is exportable to .CSV using the Export Grid option.
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Service Order | OCC node | Modify/Create Work Order Invoice OCCs: The existing icon labeled “Modify/Create Work Order Invoice OCCs” existing on the network tier’s OCC node was added to the account and customer tiers. This change will allow users to create Work Order Invoices, and their OCCs at any tier, not just the network tiers. This includes the OCC nodes found in Service Orders, Sales Leads, as well as manual OCCs from Inquiry.

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When the icon is selected the Work Order Invoice OCCs screen opens. The screen has been remodeled to make room for the new Invoice functionality and provides the ability to create invoices from Work Orders within Customer Master. Work orders can now be associated with multiple accounts, but an Invoice can only be tied to single account. Work orders are selectable from multiple tiers (account, customer, or network) on the same account.

  • Update Work Order | Invoice button: The previous Update Work Order button was renamed “Update Work Order | Invoice” to include updating the invoice. Previously the button only updated Work Orders, but now updates Invoices as well.
  • WO | Invoices button: A new button called “WO | Invoices” was added to the toolbar and is only enabled when a Work Order has been selected from the Work Order drop-down menu. Clicking the button will open the Work Order | Invoice grid filtered by the selected account and displays work orders in the grid. The Account Filter button to can be used to view work orders filtered by “All Accounts” or “By Selected Account.”
  • Invoice: A new Invoice dropdown menu was added for selection of existing Invoices, and it lists all invoices related to the Account. The Invoice Number is sequential by the setting in the Accounting Company Editor and is tied to an Account when an OCC is being Inserted into the lower Grid.
  • Create New Invoice button: A new Lightning bolt button labeled “Create New Invoice” was added next to the Invoice drop-down menu to auto-create the next invoice number and populate the number in the field.
  • Invoice Description field: An Invoice Description field was added and is used to describe the invoice. The text field can contain up to 40 characters. If an invoice already contains a description, it will be populated in the Invoice Description field upon selection of the Invoice.
  • Invoice Comment: If an invoice contains comments, they will be populated in the Invoice Comment field upon selection of the Invoice. Comments are now linked to the invoice not the work order, and the Comments field was updated to allow unlimited characters.

The Invoice Number was added to the Extended Description in the lower OCC section in the Format “Inv #XXX.” A separator bar was placed between the top editor and the OCC grid, and it can be used to size the grids. Once the OCC is posted, the Invoice Number will display in the OCC screen and grid.

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Service Order/Sales Lead | Network | Equipment | AM Inventory | Accounting Master Inventory Transactions | Accounting Master Inventory Editor: Updates were made to the Accounting Master Inventory Editor so users can select an invoice or create a new invoice number from the editor. In addition, users can now select and link work orders across multiple accounts, however invoices stay with one account, and invoices can be across multiple networks on the same account. An Invoice dropdown, and a “Create New Invoice” button (lightning bolt) was added to the editor screen. The Invoice drop-down and Create New Invoice button will be enabled, and required, when a Work Order is selected.

  • Invoice drop-down: The Invoice drop-down will contain any open (available) invoices associated to the selected work order for the Accounting Company. The Invoice Number and Description will display in the drop-down grid.
  • Create New Invoice button (lightning bolt): Selecting the button will generate a new invoice for the work order. The invoice will remain pending until the transaction is posted, at which point the Invoice Number will be linked to the account, and the OCC will be created.
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A Work Order Invoices icon was added to the CM Equipment/AM Inventory toolbar for easy access to the Work Order | Invoice screen. When the icon is selected the Work Order | Invoice grid will populate with work orders associated to the account. The AM Inventory grid will now display the Invoice Number.

The OCC created from the NII transaction will contain invoice number (Inv #XXX) in the extended description column.

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Account Management tab | Inquiry: A WO/Inv# (Work Order/Invoice Number) field was added to the Inquiry screen so users can search and find all matching accounts associated with the entered work order or invoice.

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Account Management tab | Inquiry | Account Overview: A Work Order/Invoice tab was added to Account Overview to view work orders associated to the selected account. The work order row(s) can be clicked to open the Work Order | Invoice Editor screen to view additional information. Both the grid and the editor are view-only, and the report icon can be used to print the invoice or the invoice report.
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Reports | Billing | OCCs – Work Order Invoice: The OCCS – Work Order Invoice report was updated to include work order invoice information. A new group box labeled “Invoice Options” was added to the screen to select invoices linked to the selected work order. Some of the group-box options were updated and rearranged as well. Users can select a single invoice to print or all invoices linked to a selected work order. The invoice number has also been added to the .CSV export file of the report.

Employee Locations for MACC Mobile Users

Customer Master now has an option to flag employees for tracking purposes during their work days/hours. This tracking feature is utilized by collecting location data from a mobile device while logged into MACC Mobile. MACC has also aligned itself for additional third-party device tracking integration, as applicable. Customer Masters Map-It feature has been enhanced to show the latest and/or past employee locations, and MACC Mobile’s Map-It feature displays the current location. Note: Utilizing a third-party tracking device requires MACC API integration. Contact your MACC Account Manager to coordinate work efforts.

Maintenance | Common | Employee | Editor: A Tracking tab has been added to the Employee Editor to set up an employee for location tracking via MACC Mobile. A Track Employee checkbox is used to flag the employee to track, so that MACC Mobile will pull the employees device location. The Retain Tracking Data for Months field is used to set the length of time to keep the tracking data, with a maximum of 12 months. The Device ID field is only used for companies wanting to use their own third-party tracking device, instead of MACC Mobiles tracking. The field should be left blank when MACC Mobile is being used for tracking.

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Maintenance | Common | Company | Company Editor: The Starting Zoom fields in the Company Editor were updated to be compatible with the new tracking capabilities. A Zoom field now has up/down arrows to selected the starting zoom setting, with a range between 1-18. The higher the setting, the more zoomed in the map will be. Note: The number entered in the Zoom field will be the starting zoom level for the Map-It feature in Customer Master. In MACC Mobile this is the default zoom level, which can be changed, and is stored by the website.
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Web | Web Map-It: The Map It feature has been enhanced to show latest, and/or past locations of employees. A new group box for tracking was added to the bottom of the Map-It screen. Unselect the existing Trouble Tickets, Service Orders, and Sales Lead options to view only the new employee location pins on the map. The Tracking checkbox can be checked to include the latest, and past employee location pins on the map. The Employees drop-down menu is used to select which employee(s) locations you want to view on the map. An “All Employee’s” option is available in the drop-down menu to quickly select all employee locations. The Begin/End Date drop-down menus can be used to set a date range of employee locations to view. A Most Recent Only check box can be used to view only the most recent employee tracking pins on the map. In addition, the View Map and Clear buttons were moved to the upper left of the Map It screen. Note: For location tracking to work from Customer Masters Map It feature, employees must be logged into MACC Mobile, and their device must be active (not asleep) to be pinged by the service.
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After the tracking selections are made, and the View Map button is clicked, new pins for employee locations will be visible on the map. Green pins indicate the latest location of employees (when the service pinged them at that location,) and has an employee symbol next to the pin. Red pins indicate the past/historical locations of employee (when the service pinged them at that location.)
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Clicking on an employee location pin opens an information window on the left side of the map, and displays the date/time the employee was pinged at the location. In addition, Trouble Tickets, Service Orders, and Sales Lead pins on the map will now be viewed from information window on the left as well.
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Reports

 

HUBB Reporting for Modifications and Deletions

As users change speed capabilities at their locations, they need to be able to modify the HUBB location records at USAC. There is a separate file format for those changes, as well as deletes. With this in mind, fields for modifications and deletes were added to the Address Editor and the FCC HUBB Report now has the ability to create separate files for new records, modifications, or deletions.

Address Suite | Processing | Address | Address Editor | Internet Deployment tab: Several new HUBB fields were added to the Address Editor’s Internet Deployment tab to track new, modified, and deleted HUBB records. These include:

    • HUBB Location ID: The HUBB Location ID is a system generated number assigned by the HUBB for each location submitted.
    • Deleted Reason: This field represents the reason for requesting the deletion of this record. Select a Deleted Reason from the list of USAC reason codes in the drop-down menu. The Deleted Reasons include:
      • Unserviceable
      • Mapping Improvement
      • Error
      • Network/Provisioning Change
      • Other (requires Reason Explanation)
    • Modification/Delete Date: This field should be populated with the date of any modifications to the Internet Deployment information. If no Deleted Reason is populated then this date represents a modification to the location. If a Deleted Reason is populated, then then this date represents a deletion for the location.
    • Other Deleted: This field is used to describe specific justification why this location should be deleted and allows 1000 characters. The reason should be different than one of the pre-defined reasons identified in the Deleted Reason field.
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Address Suite | Processing | Address |Mass Edit icon: The Modification Date was added to the Address Mass Editor so mass editing of the field is available.

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Address Suite | Processing | Address | Address grid: The new HUBB fields are also included in the Address grid and can be edited from the grid using the Enable Grid Editing button on the toolbar. Editing can only occur if the HUBB Location ID is not blank.

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Packages | Internet | FCC HUBB Report: The HUBB Report History tab was renamed “HUBB Broadband Locations Report History.” A column for Report Type indicates which of the three processes were run to gather HUBB information. Upon the upgrade to 21.2, an update script will update the historical reports with the type of “New.” All reports accessed from the toolbar will be applicable to the Report Type/row selected from the grid.

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Clicking the Create New Report button (+) now offers a drop-down menu with the following options:

    • New Broadband Locations
    • Modifications
    • Deletions
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New Broadband Locations: Selecting the New Broadband Locations Report option opens the familiar New HUBB Report screen, which was renamed “New Broadband Locations Report.” The New Broadband Locations Report contains all HUBB records that have not been modified or deleted. The name of the grid appearing during this process was renamed “FCC HUBB New Broadband Locations.” The Help, Create, and Cancel buttons were moved from the bottom of the window to the toolbar at the top. Note: The Missing Data Report will appear as usual.

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Modifications: To create a Bulk Modification File, select the Create New Report icon, and choose the Modifications option. The HUBB Modifications Report window will appear and the report will include all records with a modified date from the last modified file processed to the entered report date. The Missing Data Report will appear to identify any missing data for the modification file and the Modification file has a HUBB Location ID column.
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Deletions: To create a Bulk Deletions File, select the Create New Report icon and choose the Deletions option. The HUBB Deletions Report window appears and the report will include all records with a delete date from the last deletion file processed to the entered report date. The Bulk Deletions file format is different from the New and Modifications files and includes the HUBB Location ID, Reason Code, and the Reason Explanation. Note: The Missing Data Report will not appear for deletions.
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Edit Address Information: When using the Edit button from the created reports grids, the Edit Address Information tab for all three files now include the new HUBB fields. Both the New and the Modification file has the Location ID for editing. The Deletion file has the Location ID, Reason Code ID, and Reason Explanation for editing.

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Updates for Performance Measures Testing

Updates were made for Performance Measures testing to assist users in tracking network addresses which USAC has identified for audit/testing purposes. Multiple updates to tables, tools, reports, and alerts are included.

Maintenance | Common | Address | Internet Deployment Tab: A group box for Performance Measures testing information and HUBB Location ID is now available on the Internet Deployment tab of the Address Editor. Although they are not required, populating these fields will produce the ability to run reports, import data, and receive messages and alerts for accounts with the network address.

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Tools | Mass Processing | Importer | Import Type – Address: The Performance Measures fields from the Internet Deployment tab were also added to the Address Importer Tool. With these fields in place, users have the ability to import data from the file provided by USAC to their addresses.
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Reports Suite | Reports | Network | Internet-Performance Measures Testing: To obtain a report of addresses with the Performance Measures data, a new Internet-Performance Measures Testing report is available from the Network menu. The new Performance Measures fields were also added to the Address by Network grid report (Grid Reports | Report Type | Address by Network.)
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Maintenance | Common | Alerts | Inquiry tab: A new Performance Measures Testing Alert is a convenient way to let users know when an account’s network address is included in Performance Measures testing. Check the alert so applicable accounts will display the alert in the Inquiry Alerts window.

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Service order | Internet Network Disconnect or Internet Network Address Change: A message will display upon applying a Service Order with a disconnect of an Internet network where the address is included for Performance Measures Testing. The message will also display on an address change of an Internet network where the address is included for Performance Measures Testing. Note: The message will only display when there are no other active Internet networks attached to the address.

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Scheduler

 

Exciting New Advanced Scheduler Module

MACC is introducing an all new Advanced Scheduler module with greater flexibility to undertake meeting and appointment scheduling through a practical, convenient experience within Customer Master. The new Scheduler brings a modern look to the management of ticket-based work, which includes options to acknowledge work, drag and drop events, assign tickets across days and employees, and a variety of other exciting mobility features. Your company can gain control of various schedule-based notifications or utilize an option to integrate with other calendars. In addition, an employee’s paid time off (PTO) from TMS can be viewed in Scheduler.

Maintenance | Scheduling | Scheduler Preferences: A new Scheduler Preferences screen can be accessed from this maintenance table, the Scheduling Suite, as well as an icon in the Scheduler screen. It contains all scheduler settings and options in one convenient location. Some of the options are new, and others were moved to the screen from various locations. All existing settings will carry over to the Scheduler Preferences screen. A scroll bar on the right side, or a mouse scroll wheel, can be used to view the entire screen. Due to the size, the details of the screen will be described in sections.

Scheduler Selection section: The familiar radio button setting for Advanced Scheduler, Standard Scheduler, or Both display in this group box, and the existing company setting will be selected. If Advanced is selected only advanced options display in the Scheduler Preferences screen. If Standard is selected only standard options display, and if Both is selected, both advanced and standard options display on the screen. Note: There are no changes to Standard scheduler, and when CM Security is utilized, the Scheduler Selection section is visible only if the user has an Admin security role.

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Advanced Options section: This section contains all the options for Advanced Scheduler which includes group boxes with settings for “My Options” and “Database Options.”

  • My Options group box: This group box contains the user’s Scheduler options/settings, including work hours, days, and several new options which are discussed in detail in the Employee Editor section. The fields in this group box match the Scheduler fields in the Employee Editor and will sync with those fields when changes are made.
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  • Database Options group box: The Notify Entering Party on Change or Delete checkbox, Delete Future Appointments group box, and Send Appointment Reminder group box was moved from Tools | Options | Scheduler and now reside here. The Delete Future Appointments options was changed from a prompt, to action items. Checking any of the options will delete future appointments. A new checkbox labeled “Allow use of scheduled tasks” was added so users can choose whether or not to use tasks in the Schedulers Event Editor. Tasks are no longer mandatory for Scheduler functionality, but they can be used if desired. A slider bar labeled “Auto-Refresh Pending Grids (Minute)” was added so users can set how frequently the grids in the Scheduler screen will refresh, to catch all the ongoing changes. Note: When CM Security is utilized, the Database Options group box is visible only if the user has an Admin security role.   
    • Schedule Types – The types here are the same as those at Maintenance | Scheduling | Schedule Types, with some new options. The ellipsis button can be used as a shortcut to the maintenance table, so that users can add/edit/delete schedule types within the preferences screen. Schedule Types can also be color coded to display as a certain color in the Scheduler calendar. Clicking on a types color bar will produce a drop-down arrow to select basic or pastel colors, as well as an ellipsis button to customize the color for the type.
    • Status – Check the Status box to enable this new Scheduler option that is intended for employees to show the status or progress of scheduled work. Status ‘Steps,’ and visual indicators for the steps can be set up for each schedule type, with the ability to insert/delete steps. The Schedule Types drop-down selections are schedulable tickets such as Service Order, Sales Lead, Trouble Ticket, Stages, or Locate Tickets. The Steps to show the progress of scheduled work includes Scheduled, Acknowledged, Started, and Completed. Indicators for each step can be used as a visual aid to quickly identify the status of work in the Scheduler calendar. For example, a Service Order with a status of Scheduled will display in the Scheduler calendar with backward diagonal lines, and Trouble Tickets with a status of Acknowledged will display with cross bars.
    • Carry-over items to next day – This feature provides the ability to carry over any unfinished work to the next day if a scheduled appointment is not cleared/completed. Status steps can be set up to carry over, with the ability to select a destination on the calendar. Destinations include Time Slot, Holding, Start Time, and Same Time. Carry overs are set to a 30-minute timeframe. An example would be a status of Acknowledged or Started that can be set up to carry over to the employee’s start time the next day.
    • Employee Information – This editable grid displays scheduler information for all employees, with a bottom scroll bar to view all the columns. Note: If CM Security is utilized, only users with ADMINISTRATOR_1, MAINT_ADMINISTRATOR, and MAINT_COMMON roles will be able to see/edit the Employee info grid.
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Standard Options section: The Work Group Month Setup Defaults grid displays the Standard Scheduler settings. Each Work Groups AM/PM Units per Day, as well as the work day selections, can be changed from the grid. When the Scheduler Selection is set to Both, the Standard Options group box will display at the bottom of the Scheduler Preferences screen. It does not display if set to Advanced scheduler.

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Maintenance | Common | Employee | Employee Editor | General Info tab: The Employee Editor was remodeled and now includes new, and updated fields, in the Schedule group box. If the Start Time, End Time, and Work Week selections are populated before the upgrade to 21.2, they will be retained. Any new employees added after the upgrade, or existing employees who don’t have work hours set up, will get the following default values for scheduling purposes:

    • Start/End Time = 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
    • Work Week = (Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri)
    • First day of Week = Sunday

Note: The Schedule fields will match and sync with the options in the new Scheduler Preferences screen. Any changes to the fields, will also occur in Scheduler Preferences. 

Several new options were added including “First Day of Week,” “Auto Send to Third Party Calendar,” and “Notifications for today only.” First Day of Week can be used to set the first day of an employee’s work week, which determines the first workable day that displays in the Scheduler calendar for the employee. The new Auto Send to Third Party Calendar check box can be used to automatically send or sync scheduled appointments to an employee’s third-party calendar on their workstation, such as Google Calendar or Outlook Exchange. The Notifications for today only check box can be checked to ensure the employee only receives scheduler change notifications (insert/update/delete) of ticket type schedules that occur today/per day.

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The example shows a Sales Lead, Service Order, and Trouble Ticket scheduled as appointments in the Scheduler automatically sent to Outlook (third-party calendar) using the new Auto Send to Third-Party Calendar option. Like any third-party calendar, the appointment can be accepted or declined. The user must have the following items in place for the Third-Party Calendar feature to work:

    1. The employee’s email must be populated in the Email field of the Employee Editor.
    2. The “Auto Send to Third Party Calendar” flag must be checked in the Employee Editor.
    3. The Scheduler Export trigger default must have a “From Address” in the Notification Trigger Defaults.

Additionally, the Scheduler Export Tool in the Scheduler Suite | Processing | Scheduler Export Tool was updated to work with any third-party calendar.

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Scheduler Access from Service Order | Sales Lead | Trouble | Stages | Locates | Inbox: For expanded access to Scheduler, the Scheduler icon was added to all the search grid toolbars including Service Order Search/Sales Lead Search/Trouble Search/Locate Search/Inbox. Users can click on a ticket in the any of these search grids, click the icon to open Scheduler, and see the ticket highlighted and italicized in a new grid within Scheduler. Greater mobility to move around and minimize the Scheduler screen is possible and users no longer have to close the scheduler screen to access other areas of Customer Master. In addition, these search grids contain new columns labeled “Scheduled,” with a checkmark indicating when tickets are scheduled. If the company Scheduler setting is Both, there will be two columns in the grids labeled “Advanced and Standard.”

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The Scheduler icon was removed from the Service Order/Sales Lead network tiers and added to the Service Order/Sales Lead and Inbox toolbars for easy access.

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If the company Scheduler setting is set to Both, then all Scheduler buttons in all the search grids, as well as the opened tickets will have an arrow drop-down menu next to it for scheduler selection. Additionally, the ”Sched/Scheduled” field in the tickets was updated from a date/time to a read-only checkbox which will be checked if a schedule exists for either the ticket or stage.
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When accessing the Stage screen from a Service Order/Sales Lead/Trouble ticket, click the Scheduler button to schedule the stage. The same stage can be scheduled multiple times, which automatically creates a copy of the stage for each additional schedule (one schedule per stage), and it will display the multiple stages in the Stage screen. When the stage is deleted in the Stage screen, it will also delete the appointment.
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Suites | Scheduling Suite | Scheduler: The Scheduler screen has an all new look and feel with greater mobility, views, and functionality from one screen. This screen is a “one-stop shop” for all Scheduler functionality without leaving the Scheduler screen. The multiple panels in the Scheduler screen can be collapsed or pinned in place to view only what the user wants to see. All existing employee schedules will be carried over to the new Scheduler upon upgrade. In the example below a view of “Work Week” is selected for the employee.
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Before we discuss scheduling tickets, let’s take a quick look at the new Advanced Scheduler window. We’ll review these items in more detail as we move ahead, but it’s helpful to first understand some general navigation and options. Across the top, icons in the Event group box make it easy to create a New (miscellaneous) Event and a New Recurring Event. We’ll come back to those topics later in this document. Use the Navigation group box to navigate Backward, Forward, to Today, and to the Next 7 Days. The Arrange group box allows users to arrange the calendar by Day, Work Week, Week, Month, Timeline, and Agenda. When Week or Month is selected in the Arrange group box, the Compress Weekends Layout selection result in the calendar’s layout to display Saturday and Sunday in a compressed view. When the Working Hours layout is selected, the display will be set by working hours rather than starting at 12 a.m. The Time Scale layout will change how blocks of time are organized in the calendar. The Preferences button will take users into the Scheduler Preferences screen, and Refresh will perform an immediate refresh of data in the calendar and grids. The Map-It button is a shortcut to the Map-It tool. Of course, it’s always good to use the Help button when needed.

Scheduler Control: This panel on the left includes a date navigator Calendar, the Work Group/Employee selection, and can be collapsed.

    • Calendar: Use the date navigator calendar to select a date(s) to view the work group/employee schedules in the main calendar. The panel can be sized by clicking and dragging to show multiple calendars in the panel.
    • Work Group/Employee selection: As before any employees selected from this tree view will display on the calendar, and it will continue to show employees/work groups from all databases for Enterprise Scheduler users. Previously Work Group was required when scheduling. Now any employee can schedule if they are in the Employee table. If an employee is not assigned to a Work Group, they will be in the Work Group tree under a new group labeled “Unassigned.” The buttons at the bottom left of the main calendar (left/right arrows/plus/minus) can be used to quickly manipulate the employees users want to view in the calendar.
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Main Scheduler Calendar: The calendar in the middle of the Scheduler screen always matches the date navigator calendar on the left. Users can place events (appointments) for Service Orders, Sales Lead, Trouble Tickets, Stages, and Locates anywhere on the calendar into the blocks of time. The event blocks can be dragged and dropped to extend the appointment to the desired length of time. The events are color coded according to the Preferences settings, and the visual indicators change with the status of the appointment. Technicians can acknowledge their appointments from their MACC Mobile device so staff know they are aware of their schedule for the day. Depending on the preferences selected, the calendar displays the following: 

Hovering over an event displays all its information in a color-coded pop-up. Right-clicking on an event offers more options for the event, including the ability to Show Time As busy or Out of Office. Users can also set the Status (scheduled/acknowledged/started/completed) of the event from the right click menu, which will set the visual indicator (diagonal/horizontal/cross lines) selected in preferences for the schedule type. The tickets (Service Order/Sales Lead/Trouble Ticket/Locate) can be opened from the right-click menu as well. Right-clicking in the calendar grid offers additional shortcut calendar options. If the Carry-Over option is set in preferences, any uncompleted work will carry over to the next day’s destination setting.

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Event Editor: The Event Editor can be accessed by clicking on the New Event icon or double-clicking on an existing appointment/event in the calendar. When the New Event icon is selected the event editor will open, and can be used for non-ticket Schedule Types such as meetings. Users can select the Show As, Schedule Type, Work Group, Employee (defaulted to user) Tasks (not required), and Start/End Times. The Subject field will be set to the selected Schedule Type upon save, and a Location can be typed in. An “All day event” checkbox is available, and notes can be typed in at the bottom of the screen. Additionally, the event can be set to re-occur by clicking the Recurrence button, which opens the Event Recurrence screen to select the time/day/range.

Double-clicking on a ticket in the calendar will also open the Event Editor and will display the ticket type/number at the top, as well as in the Subject field. In our example Service Order 13812 is the Schedule Type and is color-coded with its preferences setting. The Schedule Type will be defaulted to the schedule type, and the Status field drop-down menu allows users to update the status of the event. A Reminder checkbox can be checked to receive a reminder notification for the event, with drop-down menus to select the number of minutes/hours and the Notification setup to use. Tabs at the bottom can be selected to view (no editing) the Event, Stages, Equipment, and Comments associated to the ticket. If the event is for a Stage, clicking on the Stage tab will show all the stages, and the row matching the event’s stage displays in italics, with a background color matching the color for the schedule type. The event can be deleted using the Delete button after it is saved.

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Pending/Workable grids: The tabs at the bottom of the Scheduler screen contain grids labeled Holding, Service Order, Trouble, Sales Lead, and Locates. Each grid contains “workable,” or pending tickets and auto-refreshes according to the setting in Preferences. As users schedule appointments from Service Orders, Trouble Tickets, Sales Leads, and Locates, they are placed in this pending grid under the applicable tabs. The Holding tab contains any previously scheduled items moved to a holding state, or temporarily unassigned, and replaces the previous Appointment Holding Area. To schedule the appointments users can drag and drop the tickets from any of the grids to the scheduler calendar and/or right-click on a ticket in the grid to schedule the appointment. Scheduling with either option opens the event window, and creates the schedule once it’s saved. The columns in each grid pertain to the selected tab and can be filtered. Hover over scroll bars on the right and bottom of the grid can be used to scroll to see all the ticket information. Enterprise Scheduler users will see all data from each database, and the database name/number displays in the Database column of each grid. However, assigning work will only allow assignment of employees within the same database.
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Associated Panel: This panel displays all associated schedules created for a selected ticket (and/or stages) assigned to employees. It is a quick reference feature used for viewing only. Clicking on an item in the Calendar or pending grids populates the panel with associated items. Clicking on an item in the Associated Panel will locate and display the schedule on the Calendar. In addition, hovering over an item in the Associated Panel will display the details in a pop-up window. Enterprise Scheduler users will see the Database name/number in the pop-up.
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Printed tickets: Printed Service Orders/Sales Leads/Trouble Tickets, and Scheduled Appointments Report: A new option called “Schedules” was added to the Service Order Ticket Options screen, and the Trouble Preferences Editor (Trouble Suite | Maintenance | Trouble Preferences). When checked, any scheduled tickets will display the Schedule Date/Time, Employee, and Status on the printed Service Orders and Trouble Tickets. This information will also print on scheduled Sales Leads. The Units and Work Group will print if the Scheduler is set to Standard or Both, but if only Standard scheduler is selected, the Employee and Status fields will not be visible.
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In addition, the Scheduled Appointment Report (Tools | Reports | Reports | Miscellaneous) was updated to include the new scheduler Status field for reporting purposes.

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Account Management Ribbon | Inbox: Service Order and Sales Lead Tickets are now included in the Service Order/Sales Lead “My Inbox” grids. Now that both stages and tickets can be viewed from these grids, tickets will not have a stage populated in the Stage column, indicating it is a ticket. A “Scheduled” column was also added to the grids for Service Order and Sales Lead and will be checked to indicate the ticket was scheduled.
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In addition, Trouble and Locates will now show stages and tickets assigned to you, as well as scheduled to you. A Scheduled column was added to the Trouble and Locate grids and will be checked if a stage/ticket is scheduled. Because Trouble and Locates can be assigned, as well as scheduled to an employee, only one row will show in the grids when this occurs. In the example, Trouble Ticket 653 is both assigned to and scheduled to employee Cindy Webster, and only one row displays.

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Messenger Suite | Maintenance | Notification Setup: The scheduler notifications were updated to be triggered from the Advanced Scheduler with some new conditions. When the “Notifications for today only” check box is checked in the Scheduler Preferences, the employee only receives scheduler change notifications (insert/update/delete) of schedules that occur today (per day). If it is not checked, the employee will get notifications of all changes. The “Notify Entering Party on Change or Delete” option in Scheduler Preferences is not affected by the “Notifications for today only” flag. The “Notify Entering Party on Change or Delete” option sends appointment change/delete notifications to the user who created the appointment, if they aren’t the one who made the change. This action is very similar to the Appointment Change notifications, except they also specify who made the change.

Inbox now accommodates both assigned Stages and scheduled Tickets. The Service Order Inbox Trigger Point located in the Messenger Suite | Maintenance | Notification Setup | Notification Setup Editor was updated so scheduling a Service Order and Stage ticket will generate the appropriate Inbox notifications. Identical updates were made to the Sales Lead Inbox Trigger Point so that scheduling a Sales Lead ticket will generate the appropriate Inbox notifications.

    • Default Service Order Stage Inbox Notice delivers an email based on the Stage(s) selected. It is a simple notification with pre-defined message elements to let the assigned employee know they have received a new Stage in their Inbox.
    • Default Service Order Inbox Notice delivers an email based on the Service Order ticket being scheduled to an employee. It is a simple notification with pre-defined message elements to let the assigned employee know that they have received a new Service Order ticket in their Inbox.
    • Service Order Inbox Miscellaneous Notice delivers an email based on the Service Order ticket being scheduled to an employee. This notification allows the message to be customized with Usable Service Order and Scheduler Information fields for inclusion in the message.

Maintenance | Scheduling | Scheduling Type: A new feature is available which allows an employee’s paid time off (PTO) from TMS to be viewed in Advanced Scheduler. This feature requires a service to be running in the background that will pull all paid time off (PTO) requests from Accounting Master (AM) and create Customer Master scheduled appointments for PTO. AM PTO items can be manipulated within AM/TMS even after they are approved and will be updated in Customer Master Scheduler. Enterprise Scheduler users can utilize this feature as well.

Once the service brings the employee’s PTO over from AM, it will display on the employee’s Scheduler calendar for the days/times set in TMS. If the appointment is opened, the employee’s paid time off will show in the Schedule Type, Subject, and the Start/End time fields of the Event Editor. There are limited editing capabilities in the editor, as only the Location, Reminders check box, and the Notes section can be edited.

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Service Order

New Spellcheck Functionality Available in Customer Master

Spellcheck functionality is now available in Customer Master’s paragraph based, multi-line memo fields. This convenient data entry functionality allows users to check their entries for correct spelling in the Comments, CRM, and Bill Message screens, just to name a few. If a word is misspelled it is underlined in red, and the spellcheck options are available in a right-click menu.

In the example the word Comment is misspelled in the Comment Editor as “Coment.” The misspelled word is underlined in red and right-clicking on the underlined word produces spelling suggestions for selection. The correct spelling of “Comment” can be selected from the menu to correct the word. Other typical spellcheck options in the right click menu include Ignore, Ignore All, Add, and Spelling.

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Selecting the Add option to add a word not in the dictionary can be helpful for those frequently used words that may be company specific and would not typically be in a dictionary. In the example, MACC is typed in the Bill Message screen and is recognized as a misspelled word. It underlined red because it is not in the dictionary. Clicking the Add button will add the word “MACC” to the user’s dictionary so it will no longer be recognized as misspelled. For a complete list of Customer Master screens with spell check functionality contact your MACC Software Support Representative.

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Auto fill Stage Fields in Service Orders, Sales Leads, and Trouble Tickets

As a convenience for Stage users a new option is available to auto fill Stage fields when they are not populated in Service Orders, Sales Leads, and Trouble Tickets. This is a quick way to fill in Stage fields and reduce the number of clicks to enter data.

A company preference was added to Tools |Options | General in the Miscellaneous group box labeled “Autofill Stage Assignments when Started/Completed.” There is a checkbox option for Service Order, Sales Lead, and Trouble Ticket in the group box. Any or all options can be checked to auto fill Stage assignment fields when they are blank in Service Orders, Sales Leads, and Trouble Tickets.

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When any of the options have been checked, the Stage assignment fields in Service Orders, Sales Leads, and Trouble Tickets can be auto-filled by clicking the Populate Current User (lightning bolt) next to the Started By or Completed By fields. Additionally, users can select an employee from the Started By/Completed By drop-down menu. In other words, the Stage assignment fields will cascade up when the Started By or Completed By fields are filled in. In the example, the Stage fields are not populated, they are blank when the Populate Current User button is clicked next to the Completed By field.
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The Completed By field will be populated as well as the Assigned To and Started By fields. The Date/Time fields will also be populated with matching dates/times. This functionality will also occur when clicking on Started By to populate the Assigned To and its Date/Time, if the Assigned To was not populated. Any previously populated Stage assignments and their dates/times will be retained and not be changed to match the Started By or Completed By.

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If either or both of the Assign To, or Started By/Date & Time Stage fields were previously filled in when the Completed By is selected, only the Completed By information will be populated. A validation of time stamps will occur to prevent saving out of order, and a message will display to let the user know when they are saving out of order.

Notifications will not be sent to the employee for each Stage assignment field when they are auto populated. Only the Completed By notification will be sent. Note: Careful consideration of you company’s Trouble reporting and Trouble Escalation practices should be examined before turning on this new option.

Editing Selective Bundles in Service Orders Allowed

Saving time is always a bonus, and users now have the ability to edit/update an existing selective bundle on accounts within the service order process. This new functionality eliminates the manual work of out dating the old bundle and in dating a new one. This new editing functionality is only available for active tiers with a selective bundle and does not include static bundles.

Within the service order process, users can edit a selective bundle at any tier, and be able to select and unselect elements to change, or switch out the bundle elements. In a Service Order right-click on the selective bundle you want to change and select the new menu item of Edit.

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The bundle will be displayed and expanded in the USP Selector window. Select OK.

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All bundle elements existing for the bundle will be displayed for editing. The existing bundle elements (USPs) will appear blue and the unselected bundle elements white. Users can select or unselect the desired bundle elements/USPs. Mandatory bundle elements cannot be unchecked. The Max allowed, Min needed, and Selected values will change at the bottom of the window as the elements are checked/unchecked. Users cannot move on until the requirements are met. The Assign To tier can be changed, but is not required, so users will have to remember to change the Assign To tier if desired.

Upon post the old bundle will be Out Dated, and the new bundle will be In Dated with the same date (Effective Date.) The new bundle’s Start Bill Date can be changed using the drop-down calendar in the In Date column. The selected changes to the bundle won’t occur until the Service Order is Completed and Applied. The old bundle is moved to the history tab of the Service Order after it is applied. Billing Inquiry will show both a debit (new bundle) and credit row (old bundle), but the bundle price will not change.

In the example, the existing bundle elements CPHBO and TCF03 (highlighted yellow) that were unchecked are not in the new bundle, and the new bundle elements CPSHO and TCF09 (highlighted green) that were selected are in the new bundle.

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Show on Tickets Defaulted

Service Order | Account Tier | Account Contact Information icon: The Show on Tickets checkbox in the Account Contact Information grid is now defaulted to be checked when entering a new contact/row of contact information. This little convenience will ensure contact information always prints on Service Orders and Trouble Tickets, and users no longer have to remember to check the box. After adding the name row, and expanding the tier, the Show on Tickets checkbox is automatically checked when the Insert Detail (+) button is clicked.

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Ability to Update Network Name/Description on Service Order Cascade

A new automatic update option will update the Network Description field when changing an Account or Customer tier name. This enhancement will keep the tier labeling in sync and avoid manual updates. Note: The automatic update does not occur when done outside of a Service Order using View from Inquiry.

Tools | Options | Service Order Defaults: A Description check box was added to the Cascade Information Defaults in the “What to Update” group box. Having the Name, Description, and Networks options checked will default the Name and Description checkboxes to checked in the Cascade Information pop-up during the Service Order process. When a name change is completed at the Account or Customer tier, the network description will be updated. Users will have the ability to deselect and not update the network tier description if they don’t want to update it with the name change.

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In the example Joanie Cunningham is the description on the Video network tier. The name gets changed to Joanie & Chachi Cunningham at the Customer Tier. The Update Subordinate Information pop-up has the Name and Description boxes defaulted to checked. Upon posting the name change, the Video tier’s description was changed to Joanie & Chachi to match the new Customer Tier name.

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Tools

Updates to Address Geocoding Tool for 2020 Census Data

The new 2020 census data, which may contain updates to Census Tracts and Blocks, is proposed to be available sometime after September, 2021. In preparation, an option to extract the updated data has been added in the Customer Master 21.2 upgrade package. The Address Geocoder will continue to use the 2010 census information until the updated census data is available from www.ffiec.gov.

Tools | Mass Processing | Address Geocoding: A new check box labeled “Update Census Tract ID’s to 2020 data” was added to the Address Geocoding screen. When checked, the option will attempt to extract all the information for the selected addresses that have a Census Tract populated.

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Trouble

Ability to Add/Update Equipment and Inventory from Trouble Tickets SO Equipment Screen

To refine Trouble Ticket capabilities when issuing CM Equipment and AM Inventory, users now have the ability to add/edit equipment or inventory without leaving the Trouble Tickets SO Equipment screen. Icons were added to both the CM Equipment and AM Inventory grids in the SO Equipment screen to expand its functionality.

Trouble Ticket | SO Equipment button | CM Equipment and AM Inventory grids: Toolbar icons were added for the CM Equipment and AM Inventory grids, which allow the same functionality as the icons found in the Equipment node of the Service Order. The CM Equipment toolbar in the SO Equipment screen now has the following icons:

  • Insert CM Equipment
  • Delete CM Equipment
  • Edit CM Equipment
  • CM Equipment Comments
  • Work Order Invoices
  • Status Filter
  • Equipment Use Report

The AM Inventory toolbar in the SO Equipment screen now has the following icons:

  • Insert AM Inventory
  • Delete AM Inventory
  • Edit AM Inventory
  • AM Inventory Comments
  • Return AM Inventory
  • Status Filter
  • Equipment Use Report

When a row is clicked in the CM Equipment or AM Inventory grid that has a pending Service Order tied to it, the row will be blue, and the Pending Service Order and number will display at the top of the screen.

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When inserting or editing CM Equipment/AM Inventory a pending Service Order is created, and a message displays letting the user know adding CM Equipment/AM Inventory requires a pending Service Order. Clicking Yes opens the Equipment Editor or the Accounting Master Inventory Transactions screen to add Equipment/Inventory. Note: The Service Order will be locked during the insert/editing process and will be unlocked when the process is complete.

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If a Service Order(s) exists for the account when Insert/Edit is clicked in either grid, the Open Service Orders screen appears. The screen allows users to open a new Service Order or select an existing Service Order to edit. A new Trouble Ticket column was added to identify the pending Service Order by the Trouble Ticket number.

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A Trouble Ticket column was also added to the Open Service Orders screen when accessed from the “Go To Service Order” button. If more than one Trouble Ticket is opened on the same Service Order, they will be separated by a pipe (|). Note: If a company utilizes CM Security, the user’s Service Order Security Roles will determine the Service Order editing ability.

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Deleting a CM Equipment or AM Inventory row is only allowed when the Equipment/Inventory is pending. The blue ‘N’ (new) symbol will be next to the row indicating its pending status. The Delete icon (-) will only be illuminated if the Equipment/Inventory row highlighted in the grid is pending. Deleting will remove the Equipment/Inventory from the current Service Order. If the pending Service Order was applied before an attempt to delete occurs, a message will let the user know the Service Order was applied.

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