ServiceDesk 4.4.70 Update 07/11/10

A few people have asked for this over the years, and finally we did it. 

First, the general Callsheet/JobRecord structure has a new little check-off square.  It's similar (and in fact right below) another tiny check-off that we added a few months back (see entry accompanying release of Ver. 4.4.62).  That one was added for the purpose of denoting if a job should be classified as an in-shop repair (i.e., "ShopJob").  This new one is designed to denote if, though having accepted a particular appointment, the customer would nevertheless like to be moved sooner, if possible. 

Prior to most recent additionWith most recent addition

You may note (by reading notations in the above illustration), the RED color as formerly used for the in-shop designator has been usurped by the new check-off (though at least its physical position remains constant).  In general, we hate to change a functional color, but it seemed that red made eminently more sense for a designator that really should attract notice (this customer would like to be re-scheduled for sooner) -- as compared to something mundane like designating 'in-shop' status.  Thus, the old designator now gets blue. 

So far as on-screen labeling and reminders go, just as with the first designator, there are ToolTips available to assist (just float your mousepointer over either item, and the ToolTip should appear).

Now, for actual benefit . . .

Aside from toggling the new designator (again, to indicate the customer "Wants Sooner"), you're going to want to employ those toggles. 

In your DispatchMap (F5), there has long been a "View-JobsNeedingScheduled" feature.  The idea behind it: at any moment and on any day's schedule, you can toggle-on a view of jobs that need to be scheduled.  So, if you're looking at a schedule and needing to fill it in (or at the fact some tech is driving a long distance and you'd schedule more jobs in that vector to make his trip more worthwhile), this feature can show you good candidates.  The item references appear as little orange "pumpkins" on your map, and you can click on any to display the full/underlying JobRecord. 

The feature is toggled on (or off) by hitting "J" on your keyboard (think "J" for "J"obs) .  The DispatchMap's contextual "Cheat-Sheet" has long had a little hint reminding of this method (right-click on any otherwise unused position in the DispatchMap to display).  That particular hint has now been changed, however, to describe a broader purpose. 

Old description from Cheat-SheetNew description

Put simply, the old "ShowJobsNeedingScheduled" feature now does more than to show you just the orange pumpkins. 

As you can see from this example, the system now shows green pumpkins too.  These new pumpkins represent jobs that are presently scheduled, but where the customer would love to be moved to a sooner date ("Wants-Sooner").  Aside from noting that simple difference, you can use them much the same as you do the orange pumpkins. 

First, tweak one.  A couple of years back, ServiceDesk's Printer-Select form was enhanced to allow (in appropriate contexts) destinations other than actual printing for the the product destination: specifically, Email or File. 

At the time, it was setup so that any of the three potential destinations could be independently checked, or not, as to whether the product would go there.  In other words, it was not setup to "toggle," such that if your picked Email, say, it automatically un-checked Printer.  The thinking was, you might want to do both (or perhaps all three), so the check/activation for each was independent.   

That was fine in theory, but in practice it was much more typical that you'd want one function only, which made it kind of a nuisance that, if the form prior had Printer selected, and you now wanted to switch to Email, you needed to do two things: un-check Printer, then check Email. 

This release addresses that.  Now, selection of any of the three alternates un-checks the others for you.  If, in fact, you want to do multiples at the same time, simply hold down Ctrl on your keyboard, while making added selections. 

Now, tweak two.  If you examine your Callsheets (and assuming you're in an office with multiple users), you're likely to notice a small difference.  Callsheets as assigned to others will show with all text in a grey color.  This makes it more evident when a Callsheet is not assigned to you, and we think you'll like the difference.