ItemLocate and Auto-Dial

When you have a caller on the phone and are scheduling an appointment, you'll want to know where they’re located, especially as compared to other jobs in your lineup. Just right-click on the address line. Your DispatchMap will immediately display and show the location, flagged in red. Hit Esc to return back to your Callsheet. (The same feature may be used from the JobsCurrent form, from whence you may be scheduling a return call after having ordered parts in.)

When you want to dial a number that is listed in any of a Callsheet's four TelephoneNumber boxes, just right-click on the number. You'll quickly see a form displaying the number, and should hear your modem go off-hook and sound the appropriate dialing tones. After your modem has dialed, go ahead and pickup your telephone's handset (or press your telephone's speaker button) on the appropriate telephone line. Now that your telephone is connected, press any key on your computer for ServiceDesk to hang-up, leaving you ready to conduct an unimpeded conversation.

This same feature may be used from the context of your DispatchMap (simply right-click on a job's list representation). Also, much as in a Callsheet, it may be used from any Archived Callsheet context, or from the JobsCurrent form. The DispatchMap application is particularly useful if you're attempting to locate a technician at some job site that's listed on his present schedule.

You may note that when this feature is used in conjunction with the CstmrDbase search, you end up with a kind of built-in telephone directory. Suppose, for example, you did a job for an "Andrea Ward" at some time in the past, and you now want to dial her. Just hit F12 to bring up your CstmrDbase search feature and type in WARD, A.. At this point, you'll see a list pop up showing all jobs performed for her. Click on the most recent, and note her telephone number(s) displayed in the appropriate locations on the JobsArchived form. Just right-click in the appropriate location and you'll be connected.

TIP

Have a phone number with letters in it (like "1-800-1-CALL US")? It's quite annoying to search for each letter on your telephone's key pad. We personally got fed up with this annoyance, and so created a solution. If you left-click on the label section corresponding with either the Customer-Info or Location-Into section of any Callsheet, the auto-dialer will load with no number in it. This allows you to manually type in a number, and you may even type letters. ServiceDesk will translate the letters into the appropriate number automatically.

ServiceDesk will look for your modem, by the way, at whatever CommPort is specified (by you) from the Settings form. On most installations, this will be CommPort 2.