ServiceDesk 4.7.111 Update 06/07/15

We'll give credit for this one to Jackie at Landers Appliance.  The impetus is Whirlpool's new method for honoring replacement-parts-warranty.  I'm referring to the arrangement where, instead of giving you credit when having purchased a replacement for a failed-and-formerly-replaced-part, the vendor instead gives you a new part.  Jackie's business makes an A/R to manage the expectation for these replacements (much as they would an expectation for money credit).  Yet, when her company's main vendor ships the replacement, they do so with absolutely no reference to the particular job (or "claim") it is associated with.  Thus, it's tough to match the incoming part with the particular A/R that was setup to assure it is received. 

The solution we came up with is:

1. I have just added a new search function in the Accounts-Receivable form (F3).  It allows you to do a search (and for any string of characters) in the Notes section as applicable to your entire set of A/Rs. 

2. Jackie will make it a practice, when creating the special A/Rs that are for this described purpose, to put the partnumber (which is expected to be received back) into the notes of each such A/R.

3. When a part arrives that is involved in this replacement-parts-warranty situation, she'll use the new search feature, to thereby locate the A/R that's applicable to that part. 

Here's what it looks like:

Of course, you can use this new search to look for an A/R containing any string of text of any kind.  It does not have to be a part number you are seeking there. 

Credit for this one goes to Brenda at Saginaw Valley Appliance.  Brenda said her company gets a lot of cancellations, which opens near-term vacancies they are anxious to fill.  She said they indeed use the DispatchMap's longstanding "Show-Jobs-Needing-Scheduled" feature, which is intended (in part) to help fulfill this need (it's the one that shows orange "pumpkins" as location-references for jobs that need scheduled, and green pumpkins for any appointments that are further out than the displayed date and which have been marked to indicate the customer "wants-sooner").  But, she said, they often can't find suitable jobs (as needed to fill holes) via this category of display.  In consequence, they find themselves going through just ordinary appointments that are scheduled for further into the future, to see if any can be moved up, so as to fill near-term holes.  She said this is somewhat laborious, and asked for an easier method by which to rapidly and instantly see all those further-in-the-future appointments. 

So, we made the new feature.  Here's the reference to it in the DispatchMap's Cheat-Sheet (right-click on any empty location on the DispatchMap to see its Cheat-Sheet):

So, the general idea is, when you select this option, you'll see the same set of orange and green "pumpkins" that display with the old and longstanding option that's listed just above it.  However, you'll also see blue pumpkins (yes, blue) to signify the location of each other appointment that's currently pending, but for dates other than the actual displayed date.  It is thus now possible to see your entire appointment roster in a single graphic display. 

As with the other "pumpkins," a simple click will of course open the underlying JobRecord. 

Now we answer to Mark at Convenient Appliance Service.  Mark called to say he needed better visibility regarding what inventory items are spec-tagged, both from the inventory-management perspective and from the perspective of Job-Management (i.e., when looking at a JobRecord, there should be an easy means to see what's presently spec-tagged to it). 

So, we've done two things. 

First, the InventoryControl form (F10) has a new display option:

This new option will list every inventory item that has a current spec tag.  Thus, there is no longer need to peruse through the raw-View, as there was in the past. 

Secondarily, we added a new link-to-show function in the JobRecord form (F7).  Reminder regarding availability of this function (and of its method) is obtained when you float your mousepointer over this form's "Tag-Part-for-Visit" button:

So, just as the ToolTip suggests, do a right-click if you want to see inventory items as presently tagged for that job.  In result, the system will open your InventoryControl form, configured to show the new display (as described in the entry just above this one), but poised to list only such items as apply to the job from which you linked. 

This one was to fulfill a request from Ian at The Appliance Guru.  He said his company has a very large quantity of clients who are setup in the HVC category -- so many that, on reviewing A/R-aging with breakdown by HVC (the sequence to obtain this report is F11-->A-->B), it's not possible to recognize each such company based on the mere abbreviation alone. 

In solution, we now display a ToolTip over each/any HVC line-item in this report, as you float your mousepointer over it.  The ToolTip provides the full name of the underlying HighVolumeClient:

While doing this, it occurred to me that, additionally, you might want to do a quick-link to the underlying QuickEntryTemplate, as applicable to any HVC line-item you are looking at (suppose, for example, you see one with that's got too many A/Rs that are too old, and you want to look at that company's QET to review elements of your arrangements and contact-info with them).  If you simply click on any HVC line-item in this report, it instantly opens that underlying QET for you. 

(If you are wondering, BTW, why displayed A/R ages in the above report are so very old, it's because it's data from my old service company, which was sold many years ago.)

1. There is now an export of FundsJournal Entries (in the F9 form, use standard functions to filter for display, click on the Print/Export button, then choose export as opposed to printing). 

2. In the InventoryControl form, the "Find-Qty-and-Loc's-of-Specific-Item" report (accessed via F10-->I-->F) is now scrollable, as needed for companies that have more than 30 technicians.  (Also improved showing and scrollability in the Tabulate-Values report.)

3. Changed the warning about the SD-Mail folder having too many items in it.  Now it will allow a great many more items to accumulate, before warning you there are too many.