The Call Center screen has the following important attributes related to case management:
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Organization—Organization may default from the logged-on user if Use Default Organization is selected on the Call Center Setup screen. Otherwise, you may enter it manually or it may default from organization of the selected contact.
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Status—System Codes status entity "COST."
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If you change the status to ‘Follow-up’ and the selected Service Code has a Follow-up Service Code filled in and the timing is set to this status, then the system will also create a follow-up work order based on Follow-up Service Code.
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If you close or cancel the request, all duplicate service requests will also be closed or cancelled if they are not closed or cancelled yet.
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Source—System Codes entity "CRSC."
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Type—System Codes type entity "COTP."
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Reference—Enter a reference as required, for example a reference to an external document.
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Duplicate Request—Enter a currently open (not closed or cancelled) request that has the same equipment and service code. On the Call Center Setup screen, you can also select Check Duplicate Open Requests. When selected at insert of a new service request the system will automatically check for duplicate service requests and open the lookup if any were found. When Duplicate Request is entered, the system will prevent you from creating or linking a work order to this service request.
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Recurring Request—Enter an already closed request that has the same equipment and service code. On the Call Center Setup screen, you can also select Check Recurring Closed Requests. When selected at insert of a new service request the system will automatically check for recurring service requests and open the lookup if any were found.
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Case—If a service code is selected where Auto Request Case is checked, then the system will create a new case automatically at insert. This case will be created in a requested status and the generated case number will be filled in here. It is a nice feature that makes sure you never forget to create a case when needed. Note that if used indiscriminately, you may get more cases than expected or needed.
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Case Type—Type of the case. This may come from the service code if no case is linked yet. Otherwise, the value is determined by the case itself.
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Duplicate Case—You can always enter this field manually, but if a service code is selected where Auto Request Case is checked and a case already exists for the same equipment and service code and that case still has status requested or open, then the system will not create a new case but will instead fill in this field automatically with the found duplicate case number.
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Priority—System Codes entity "SRPR."
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VIP Status—System Codes status entity "VIPS." Note: This entity does not follow the status authorization matrix.
For searching and handling contacts, you can enter all contact information manually on the screen in the Contact Information section, or you can use existing contact information by searching and finding the relevant contact. Having Contact Information pre-defined is not necessary.
If contact information is predefined, you can search a contact using:
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Find Contact By—Select the contact field you want to search. Select Global Search to search for a certain value across all fields.
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That contains—Enter your search criteria and hit Enter or click Search.
If exactly one contact matches your search criteria, all contact information will be populated. If multiple matches are found the system will bring up a selection window where you can select the desired contact.
When searching phone numbers, the system strips all non-numeric characters, so you do not have to worry about the way the area code was separated from the rest. This also works on the Global Search. E-mail searches strip the @ sign, the dot (.) and the dash (-). These characters are not stripped for the Global Search because they may be relevant for address or name searches.
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Campus—The Campus will default from the selected contact if provided there. Campus, Building, Floor and Room/Unit are all related to each other. Changing to a different building for example will clear the lower levels, i.e., the floor and the room selection. If the contact has values in these fields the lowest level entered will also default as Equipment, providing that field is still blank.
The following icons are in the Contact Information section:
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Save Contact as New—If this is the first time you are interacting with this contact you can create a new Contact Information record for future reference directly from the Call Center screen. This option may or may not be available, depending on the Call Center Setup.
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Save Contact Changes—For existing contacts, incorrect or changed contact data can be entered on this screen and will be stored on the service request. This data will not update the contact information automatically. You must click this icon to also save the updated Contact Information for future reference.
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Additional Information—When you click the Additional Information icon the system will open a popup with fields and values based on the GIS Attributes tab of the Call Center Setup screen. This data should provide answers to the frequently asked questions by a contact related to the address of that contact. This data is stored as attributes in the GIS Address layer for each address. For example, the contact is on the phone and wants to know where they go to vote. You enter their address in Address 1 and click this icon. If Voting Location is an attribute that was associated on the GIS Attributes tab for Call Center Setup for the map being displayed, then the Additional Information popup will show the voting location for the contact.
Icon only available if GIS is installed.
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Event Log—The Event Log allows you to quickly check the progress of a service request. It is a quick way to see events including work order creation, email request to a supplier (contractor) or escalation to another call center employee. You can also add events to the log manually as required. Note that the event type selection may be constraint by the event log type filter settings.
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Create New Service Request—Clicking this icon will reset the screen so you can enter an additional service request. It works a little different than clicking the usual New Record icon, in that it leaves the entered contact information intact. A handy option if the contact has more than one service request.
Knowledge Base searches can be launched directly from the Call Center screen. Searches can be done anytime, but when Service Code Validation is set to SDM or Simplified SDM Equipment must be entered first, or the search fields will remain protected.
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Search Criteria—Enter your search criteria.
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Determine where you want to search (radio buttons)
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Keyword Search—The system will search the Keywords of the Knowledge Base Article.
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Full Text Search—The system will search the Article Text of the Knowledge Base Article.
The text of any hyperlinks included in the article text is not searched.
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Add additional search criteria, if required, to limit the lists of articles:
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Department
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Supplier
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Service Category
The above fields are also used when creating the work order.
You cannot search on service code because the code is already known.
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Click the Search icon to activate the search. This will bring up the Knowledge Base search screen. Searches can be changed here, as required. Similar search criteria can be entered as on the Call Center screen. Note that the Supplier, Service Category, and Service Code field can be displayed on this search screen as well. Make sure you select the appropriate checkboxes on the Call Center Setup screen for this purpose.
In the Search Results area of this screen, you can select the article you want to use on the service request. Simply click the checkbox (hover text will say Add to Service Request). The knowledge base article code will be copied into Knowledge Base Article on the service request. If populated the Department, Supplier, Service Category, and Service Code will also be copied to the service request. Unselecting the checkbox will remove the article again. Selecting another article will replace the one you previously selected.
You can also click the article hyperlink to see the details of the knowledge base article. Once the detail view is up you can again click the + icon to add the article to the service request or the – icon to remove it again. On the detail view, you can also change the status of an article. If you came across one that discusses a building that was demolished six months ago, you know that article may be obsolete, instead of active.
Searches on the Knowledge Base Search screen default with Service Code Validation Filter unselected. That usually returns more articles, but also may bring back articles that do not pass the Service Code Validation filters. This means the Department, Supplier, Service Category and Service Code combination may be invalid once copied to the service request. With this checkbox selected only valid articles will be returned. If you prefer the default to execute the validated search, you can create an Install Parameter KBAVALRV (not pre-delivered). If set to YES, then the value of the Service Code Validation Filter checkbox will be reverted, i.e., if unselected the search will filter valid articles.
If required, the label of the Service Code Validation Filter checkbox can be adjusted on the Text tab of the Screens screen (CSKBSP), to match the install parameter setting.
In the Action Request section, you determine the equipment relevant to the request and what type of work is required on that equipment. The following fields are included:
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Service Code—The service code selection is important since it controls the work order creation and may also create a case on the Case Management screen. Both work order and case creation may be manual or may be set to be done automatically.
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Standard WO—Value determined by the selected Service Code.
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WO Class—Will default from the selected Service Code.
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WO Priority—Will default from the selected Service Code.
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Equipment Usability—‘State’ of the equipment when this service code is selected. You can define these codes on the Call Center Setup screen on the Equipment Usability Codes tab. Value will default from the selected Service Code.
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Temporary Fix Promise Date—Will default to the current system date and time plus the specified Temporary Fix Turnaround from the selected Service Code.
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Permanent Fix Promise Date—Will default to the current system date and time plus the specified Permanent Fix Turnaround from the selected Service Code.
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Deadline—Will default to the current system date and time plus the specified Standard Response Time from the selected Service Code.
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Hours to Deadline—Will display the hours until the deadline is reached. Refreshes once a minute.
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Landmark—On the Contact Information screen you can enter Address Alias. These aliases can be selected here as a landmark. This may be useful because the contact may not always know the address for the location that needs work. A landmark is much easier. If you select a landmark the address associated (Address 1) from the landmark’s contact information record is copied to Work Address.
Create contact information with an alias and address only to establish a list of landmarks relevant to your environment.
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Work Address—Enter the address where the work needs to be performed.
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Equipment—Equipment selection is only relevant if a work order needs to be created. Otherwise, you may leave it blank. If Service Code Validation is SDM the system will protect Department, Supplier, Service Category and Service Code for as long as Equipment is blank. Similar, if Service Code Validation is Simplified SDM, the system will protect Supplier and Service Code.
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Location—Defaults from the selected Equipment.
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If the selected equipment is linear, you can enter the linear reference fields:
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From Point, Ref. Description and Geographical Ref.
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To Point, Ref. Description and Geographical Ref.
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Inspection Direction and Flow
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Work Order—You can create a work order specifically for the service request or you can link the request to an existing work order if applicable. The system treats these two options slightly different:
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If you create a work order this field will show the work order number and will be protected. No changes can be applied after the work order is created. The link cannot be broken. Duplicate WO will be unselected in this case.
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If you link a work order this field will show the work order number but will remain unprotected, meaning you can apply changes and break the link. Duplicate WO will be selected to indicate another work order already existed, and is associated to another request, although this may not be true. You can link a work order by typing the work order number directly in this field, by using the lookup or by selecting to link a work order from the list of duplicate work orders after you clicked the Create WO icon.
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WO Status—System displays the status of the associated work order.
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Follow-up WO—If a follow-up work order was created this work order will be listed here. Follow-up work orders will only be created for work orders created from this screen. Meaning if you linked the work order then Follow-up WO will remain blank.
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Follow-up WO Status—System displays the status of the follow-up work order.
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Auto Create WO—You can select this checkbox during insert only. It may also default from the selected Service Code. The work order for the service request will be immediately created if this checkbox is selected. No duplicate work order check will be performed. Be careful, you may get more work orders than expected or needed.
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Work Order Org. —This field is only needed if the system cannot figure out which organization to us for the work order creation. Which means Default WO Org. on the call center must be empty. See Call Center Setup screen above.
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Requested Start Date—You can enter a requested start date that will be copied to the work order.
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Requested End Date—Similar to Requested Start Date.
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Workspace—Select an optional work space attached to the selected Equipment.
The following icons are in the Action Request section:
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Create WO—Click this icon to create a work order for the service request. If you have set up the call center to check for duplicate work orders the system will automatically search for duplicates and if any are found, bring up a window where you can select from these possible duplicates. Then you have two options
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Link an existing duplicate to the request
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Create a new work order
If no duplicates were found this window will not appear and the system will go ahead and create the work order. Service Code, Supplier, Department, and Service Category are copied to the work order. Changes to these fields after the work order is created are not synchronized to the work order anymore.
The work order is created using the data defined in the Work Order Details section of the selected Service Code applying the following priority:
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If a Standard WO is entered this will be used to create the work order.
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Otherwise, if a Task Plan is entered the work order will get one activity based on the selected task plan. This may include jobs and plan labor records depending on the task plan setup. If a Job Plan was selected on the service code, then only this job plan will be used.
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If Task Plan is blank as, well the system will try to create an activity with the supplied Trade, Estimated Hours, and People Required.
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If those are blank as well no activity will be created, just the work order header.
The follow-up work order is created in a similar way but will be based on the Follow-up Service Code of the selected Service Code.
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Perform Map Search—The GIS Map Search window is opened and automatically searches for the Work Address as entered on the service request. Once the equipment of interest is located on the map, you can select the equipment in the grid and return it to the service request.
Icon is only available if GIS is installed.
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Select Contact Equipment—When you click this icon you will get to a screen where you can see the equipment attached to the selected contact. Pick an equipment from that list and the system will place that in the Equipment field.
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Additional Equipment—Just like work orders can cover multiple equipment, so can the service request. When you click this icon, the system brings up a window where you can select additional equipment. When you have two or more equipment on the list and close the window and return to the Call Center screen you will see that Multiple Equipment is now selected. You can go back and change the selection anytime, but after a work order is created changes are not allowed anymore.
Multiple equipment is not allowed if Service Code validation is SDM.
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Additional Information—Similar to the icon in the Contact Information section, but now gives details on the Work Address.
Icon is only available if GIS is installed.
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In the Remarks section, you can enter free text relevant to the service request.
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Remarks—Free text area.
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Copy to WO Comments—If selected the text will also be copied to the work order when a work order is created from the service request.
The Bulletin Board section shows both knowledge base articles and bulleting notices.
Bulletin notices are displayed based on their start date and end date. A priority icon indicates high and low importance notices. Notices are also sorted by their importance. Note that there is no limitation to the number of notices that will be displayed. Using start and end date so that notices are automatically removed is highly recommended.
The top ten knowledge base articles are shown in this section as well. Note that if there are multiple articles that share the tenth spot, they all will be displayed. Click on an article to see the details.
Both knowledge base articles and bulletin board notices are only shown in the language of the helpdesk user.
Buttons:
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Create Case—If the Case Type is populated and Case is still blank, and this is not a duplicate case, or request, or work order you can create a case by clicking this button. When a case is created from this screen on the Case Management screen the Source Type will show ‘Call Center’ and the Service Request will be populated with the service request number. The case will be created with a requested status.
The Call Center screen shows the regular custom fields, but it also shows the custom fields of the work order. Once the work order is created and the work order custom fields are copied, the work order custom fields cannot be changed on the Call Center screen anymore.
There is also a tab on the Call Center screen that shows the WO Comments. You can only see work order comments if a work order is associated to the request obviously. Work order comments can be added, changed, and deleted from this tab. If you do not want help desk user to change this data, make sure you set the security privileges for this tab to read-only.