ServiceDesk 4.7.126 Update 02/23/16

Folks have wanted this for a while.  On the surface, one might think adding SMS (stands for "short-messaging-service") would be easy.  It was not, but (and regardless) we've done it. 

In the next few months we plan to add text-messaging options in several other contexts.  For now, it's available in the context of sending out appointment-reminder/confirmation-requests (as an alternate/supplement to emails and/or robo-calls). 

In addition to adding the option itself, we also enhanced your control in regard to determining which particular telephone numbers will be the target for robo-calling and/or text-messaging, and over which (of potentially multiple) email addresses may be the target for automated emailing.  In fact, we've given you a number of new options in how to scheme such control, with intent that you may pick the particular scheme that best suits your operation. 

For detailed instruction on how to use these new schemes (and, indeed, how to implement text-messaging in general), you may click here.  In the alternative, from within ServiceDesk you may go to the Settings form (Ctrl-F1 is the shortcut), and there click on the button as shown here:

That will yield this interface, and if you click on the indicated button it will open the same instruction document as above referenced (that button as present within ServiceDesk will be a more handy link when you later want to reference the same instruction document):

Please note that text-messaging requires subscription to SD-CyberOffice, and there is a fee of 5 cents for each SMS. 

As one other note, if implementing text-messaging from ServiceDesk you'll also need to assure you are updated to SD-CyberLink Ver. 4.5.52 or above.  The reason is because some of your text-message recipients may very well choose to reply via text.  It's only SD-CyberLink Ver. 4.5.52 or above that's equipped to detect those replies, and to convert them into SD-Mails.  

Our appointment-reminder/confirmation system has long had a wonderful benefit: you can walk into your office in the morning and, with a quick glance in your DispatchMap, have instant visibility regarding which appointments have been customer-confirmed, and which have not (it's then a simple task to manually call the minority who have not, in the effort to verify if it makes sense to go ahead and send the technician). 

At least the above works generally. 

However, if you happen to have techs that open their SD-Mobile applications before you've made this review, the little hyphen symbol that indicates confirmation ("-") will be replaced with a check-mark that indicates the technician has received the job.  So (and at least for quick, on-it-face review purposes), the confirmation information is lost (it's still present in each narrative JobHistory, but that's less immediately obvious). 

We now have a solution for this potential loss (and it's why in the title to this section we use the word "Durable"). 

It's in a new, toggle-to-optional-display-mode feature in the DispatchMap.  From within the DispatchMap, simply hit "F" on your keyboard (we'd like to have used "C" for "show-Confirmed", but the "C"-toggle was already in use, so please think of it as the "F"-toggle for "show-conFirmed") (hit "F" again or Esc to toggle back to normal).  In consequence of using this toggle, all the normal check-statuses will disappear, and a new and bolder symbol (specifically, a bold dot) will show to distinguish confirmed appointments from non-confirmed ones.  Here is an example:

This showing will endure (and hence be "durable") even if the normal/standard check status has been changed to something else.   

This feature also requires that you update SD-CyberLink to Ver. 4.5.52 or above, for it's only that version and later that are equipped to set a new (and durable) behind-the-scenes field with notice of the customer's confirmation (it also means that if you're looking at appointments whose confirmations were processed via older copies of SD-CyberLink, the durable indication will not be there). 

If, BTW, you forget the key for this toggle, it's been added to the DispatchMap's "CheatSheet" (right-click in any otherwise non-operative DispatchMap space to display):

So just check there. 

This shows what's meant here:

OldNew

To see the DispatchMap's legend key, the toggle is "K".