ServiceDesk 4.7.80 Update 04/14/14

A job is in waiting status (perhaps waiting for parts to arrive, for the customer to return from a vacation, or whatever else is the case).  You know that eventually you'll be making an appointment for the tech to fulfill, and you know this new appointment must have some particular JobCount value greater than 1

How do you assure that, when it's time to make the appointment, you remember to insert this greater-than-1 JobCount?

 Or, imagine another scenario. 

You had an appointment with a greater-than-1 JobCount, and for whatever reason it was canceled.  You know it's going to be re-scheduled.  How do you assure that the re-scheduled appointment gets the correct, above-1 JobCount value?

Until this release, ServiceDesk has not had a truly magnificent system to assist you with this.  Now it does.

At its most basic, this new system depends on a specialized kind of AttentionNote (most folks call these "sticky notes;" they are the little-yellow electronic notes that can be added into a JobRecord).  For a long time, there's been another particular kind of AttentionNote, called a "JobLink."  The purpose of this kind is to associate jobs one  to another (see entry here accompanying Rel. 4.1.123).  Now we introduce a second kind of particular such note.  What makes both kinds "particular" is that, based on very specific internal text, ServiceDesk knows to react in special ways, based on their presence. 

Naturally, there was already a method by which to create the JobLink specie of AttentionNote.  To accommodate this new particular specie, we have simply expanded on that method. 

More specifically, in an F7 JobRecord form there has long been a button on which you may click to create a standard (you-type-in-what-you-want) kind of AttentionNote.  There has also long been a slight variation on this button.  Since introduction of the JobLink specialized kind of note, there has been the option to do a right-click instead of a simple left-click on that button (or, if preferring shortcut keys, the alternate command is Ctrl-E as opposed to the standard, left-click-mimicking Alt-E).  There is also a reminder ToolTip for this variation, as you'll see by floating your mousepointer over the button.  Prior to this release, such mouse-pointer floating would produce this:

Now, it instead produces this:

It's not a lot different, but as you can see the ToolTip now suggests there will now be more options than just one, when you choose this alternate method for invoking the button click.  Indeed, the right-click option would formerly have taken you directly to the dialog to produce reciprocal JobLinks.  Now, it will instead produce this:

As you can see, it now produces a choice between the old (and formerly only-offered) option, versus instead choosing the particular new option, that we are now talking about. 

When you choose that new option, you'll get a dialog like this:

And when you enter your desired-for-next-appointment JobCount value, ServiceDesk will insert an AttentionNote to the JobRecord similar to this (this is, specifically, the result you'd see if indicating the next appointment should have a JobCount value equal to 3):

Now you may wonder, with that note there, does it simply provide you with a reminder -- that you must personally pay attention to when making the next appointment? 

No, it's much more helpful than that. 

When you go to create an appointment for any job, ServiceDesk will now on its own accord look to see if any such AttentionNote (i.e., with text precisely as per above, though the actual number can vary) exists.  If so, it says to itself: "Aha, this appointment should have a JobCount value of X."  Upon so concluding, ServiceDesk will auto-insert that value for you, into the new appointment (of course, you remain free to edit differently if desired).  And, upon creation of that new appointment, it also automatically deletes the AttentionNote for you (it's done it's job, after all, and should no longer be needed).

That's the basic functionality -- though behind-the-scenes it gets a little more complex for some situations. 

To illustrate why, suppose your customer cancels an appointment that has an other-than-1 JobCount value (something came up, and there's intent to reschedule in the future).  If this occurs, ServiceDesk will behind-the-scenes automatically create a new, specialized AttentionNote to assure the next appointment appropriately gets the same other-than-1 JobCount value as the one being canceled.  At least, it will do this for a normal cancelation.  However, suppose you indicate that the appointment you are deleting was simply an erroneous entry.  In that case, the system figures it better make sure of what's needed, and presents you with a dialog like this:

Another somewhat tricky situation arises when you decide to change an existing appointment, and if one of those specialized JobCount AttentionNotes is present, and with a value that does not correspond with what's in your being-edited appointment.  How should the system respond to this situation.  Since it's unclear, it will present you with another dialog, as follows:

If you are wondering, BTW, yes, this new functionality also works when your customers self-schedule online (via SD-CyberOffice) for any return visit.  The SD-CyberLink utility will look for these same specialized AttentionNotes, and upon seeing any will assign the needed JobCount value to any relevant appointment as online-created (though you must be updated to at least the now-current release of SD-CyberLink to make this happen).

If you are further wondering, yes, this new power also translates into interaction via SD-Mobile.  More specifically, a particular section in the tech's Mobile PVR page has been changed . . .

From This . . .To This (new/added function highlighted):

As you can see, there is now explicit provision for the tech to indicate the JobCount value as needed for his next visit. 

By way of distinction, this new facility applies, in particular, to the situation where your tech is leaving it up to the office to schedule his anticipated return -- as opposed to using other facilities that exist within Mobile for doing his own direct-booking.  This latter situation has long been covered, so far as JobCounts are concerned, for the facility that allows direct-booking lets the tech directly-specify a desired JobCount for the appointment he is himself creating -- and that count goes right in, directly, to the actual appointment that results.  It's only where he is leaving it up to the office, to re-book (and for an appointment that will not yet exist), that a concern has existed.  And that is, of course, where this new facility (as above shown) comes into play. 

Where the tech uses this new facility to indicate any JobCount value other than 1, SD-MobileLink will automatically create that new specie of AttentionNote, within the applicable JobRecord, as it downloads and processes the tech's PVR (concurrent releases of both SD-Mobile and SD-MobileLink, or higher, are required to enable this added functionality). 

All in all, we think you'll love this new feature.  We hope you'll take advantage of it. 

One more thing (and if you're wondering), yes, if it's to be operative, the text as inserted to the AttentionNote must be in exactly the form ServiceDesk creates it, when you use this option.  If you were to manually type exactly the same text, it would indeed work just the same.  However, if your text was even one character different, it would not work the same. 

We have two different online WorkDiaries: one for ServiceDesk and another for the SD-Mobile system (we likely should have added WorkDiaries to chronicle and explain new features in other products, but, to date, there are only those two). 

We very much want you to read the new entries in these, as you update and have available the new features that are explained.  It's been somewhat tough to get most people to do this.  Initially, we added a little dialog in the update sequences that offered to open the applicable diary for you (i.e., the one for ServiceDesk if that's what you're updating, or the one for Mobile if you're updating either SD-Mobile or SD-MobileLink).  We found most people did not read still, so we changed the dialogs.  They no longer offered a choice, and simply opened the diary pages for you (except with ServiceDesk you could choose to do it before or after you downloaded the update).  This also proved to be not very effective.  The applicable diary would open, and most people simply ignored it.  For many, it was more a nuisance than a help. 

So, enter Phase 3. 

Now (and we really hope this is what makes a difference), you will not be invited to open and read the online Diary unless, in fact, it contains a new entry that's pertinent to the version you have updated to.  And, you will no longer be denied a choice.  However, the system will, once in each run session, continue to invite you to read an applicable diary entry, until you consent to at least let it open for you.  Once you do this, it will not pester you again until and unless there is, in fact, a new entry posted that you have not yet opened to. 

We hope this proves to be better. 

Of course, if you were one of those that never responded by reading, you'd not likely be seeing this posting either.  c'est la vie!