Service Accent User Guide

934 Pages·2012·39.6 MB·English

Service Accent
User Guide
2014
Legal Information
All rights reserved. No part of this document shall be reproduced or transmitted by any means or
otherwise, without written permission from Vantage Computing Limited.
This document is provided “as is” and all expressed or implied conditions, representations, and
warranties, including any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-
infringement, are disclaimed, except to the extent that such disclaimers are held to be legally invalid.
Trademarks
Service Accent is a trademark of Vantage Computing Ltd.
All product names mentioned in this documentation are the trademarks of their respective owners. This
document also includes the trademarks, trade names, and service marks of companies other than
Vantage Computing Limited.
The product described in this document is distributed under license, restricting its use, copying,
distribution, and decompilation. No part of the product or this documentation may be reproduced in any
form by any means without prior written authorisation of Vantage Computing Limited.
contents
1 Introduction About Service Accent .......................................................2
The Service Accent Document Set ...................................3
About this Guide ..............................................................4
Documentation Conventions ............................................5
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Contacting Your Support Provider ...................................5
2 Getting Started Logging On to Service Accent .........................................8
Common Buttons ..............................................................9
The Button Bar .................................................................9
Navigating ......................................................................11
The Right-Click Menu ...................................................11
Menu Panels ...................................................................12
The Window button ........................................................13
Dashboards .....................................................................13
Help ................................................................................22
Service Accent Setup .....................................................23
Service Accent User Guide ............................................26
Search the online knowledge base .................................29
Check for updates ...........................................................32
Update history .................................................................34
Release notes ...................................................................35
Remote assistance ..........................................................36
Explore your database ....................................................37
About Service Accent ....................................................38
Neons ..............................................................................43
Moving Among Tabs .....................................................43
Using Data Dialogues .....................................................44
Utility Buttons .................................................................44
Letters/Documents .........................................................45
Price Book .......................................................................49
Using Views ...................................................................52
Utility Buttons ..........................................................54
The Explorer ...................................................................55
Printing Records .............................................................56
Drill-Down Buttons ........................................................56
Using the Finder .............................................................57
The Customers Tab ..................................................59
The Products and Parts Tab .....................................62
The Jobs Tab ............................................................64
The Invoices Tab ......................................................65
The Suppliers Tab ....................................................66
Note Permissions ......................................................67
To-do’s .....................................................................68
3 Creating Information Overview ........................................................................77
Creating Suppliers ..........................................................78
Adding Supplier Details .................................................80
Adding Supplier Contacts ..............................................81
Adding Notes to Supplier Records .................................83
Creating a Part Stock Record .........................................85
Adding Part Pricing Details .....................................89
Adding Part Kit Details ............................................92
Displaying Part Usage Details .................................93
Adding Part - Holdings ............................................95
Copyright © Vantage Computing Ltd 2014. All rights reserved Service Accent User Guide 1
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Adding Part - More Details ............................................95
More Tab - Properties Sub Tab ......................................96
More Tab - Analysis Sub Tab ........................................97
More Tab - User Sub Tab ..............................................98
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More Tab - Metrics Sub Tab ........................................101
Adding Part Alternatives ..............................................103
Adding Compatibility ..................................................104
Adding Notes to Stock Records ...................................105
Creating a Product Stock Record .................................108
Adding Product Pricing Details .............................112
Adding Product Kit Details ....................................115
Adding Product - Meter Details .............................116
.......................................................................................119
Displaying Product Usage Details ...............................120
Displaying Holdings Details ........................................121
Adding Product - More Details ....................................121
More Tab - Properties Sub Tab ....................................122
More Tab - Analysis Sub Tab ......................................123
More Tab - User Sub Tab ............................................123
More Tab - Metrics Sub Tab ........................................127
Adding Product Alternatives ........................................128
Adding Compatibility ..................................................129
Adding Notes to the Stock Record ...............................131
Creating Customers ......................................................133
Entering Basic Customer Data .....................................133
Adding Invoicing Details .............................................136
Adding Contacts ...........................................................138
Adding Contracts .........................................................141
Adding Inventory .........................................................142
Viewing Holdings ........................................................142
Using the Other Tab .....................................................143
Adding Notes ................................................................159
Creating Contracts ........................................................161
Creating a Contract ......................................................161
Adding Contract Specifications ...................................163
Adding Billing Information .........................................169
Adding Customers to a Contract ..................................170
Using the Other Tab .....................................................171
Adding Price Book Information to a Contract .............174
Adding a Budget ..........................................................176
Adding a Subcontractor ...............................................177
Adding Other Details ...................................................179
Creating Inventory Items ..............................................183
Creating Inventory Via The View Inventory Dialogue 183
Creating Inventory Via The Customer Dialogue .........187
Creating Inventory Via The Contract Dialogue ...........191
Creating Non-Contract Inventory Items .......................194
Creating Inventory Items via Sales Order Processing ..198
Creating Unallocated Inventory Items .........................198
Adding Details To Allocated Inventory Items .............201
Completing The Status Tab ....................................201
Completing The Contract Tab ................................209
Completing The Contract Other Tab .....................212
Completing The Warranty Tab ..............................220
Copyright © Vantage Computing Ltd 2014. All rights reserved Service Accent User Guide 2
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Completing The Meters Tab ........................................221
Entering Meter Billing Charges ...................................224
Setting Up Simple Usage Billing .................................229
Setting Up Minimum Copies With Excess Billing 240
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Setting Up Consolidated Billing ..................................253
Setting Up Copy Pack Billing ......................................263
Viewing Reading History .............................................272
Specifying the Planned Maintenance Schedule ...........273
Completing The Lease Tab ..........................................275
Completing The Rental Tab .........................................276
Completing The Parts Tab ...........................................278
Completing The Kit Tab ..............................................278
Completing The Other Tab ..........................................281
Viewing Inventory History ..........................................286
Adding Inventory Notes ...............................................287
Creating Loan Items .....................................................289
Transferring A Loan Item ............................................291
Viewing the Status of a Loan Item ...............................293
Creating Engineers .......................................................294
Completing the More 1 Tab ...................................296
Completing The More 2 Tab ..................................297
Completing The Vehicle Tab .................................298
Completing The Holdings Tab ...............................299
Completing The Remote Tab .................................299
Completing The Training Tab ................................300
Emailing The Engineer ..........................................302
Texting The Engineer .............................................302
4 Work Control Recording a New Job ...................................................304
Choosing the Customer and Inventory Item ..........307
Completing The Details Tab ..................................311
Completing the Fault Profile Details .....................312
Completing the Misc Details ..................................313
Neons on the job dialogue ......................................314
Printing a Jobsheet .................................................314
Saving the Job ........................................................316
Using the Escalations Feature ......................................319
The Select Tab .......................................................325
Using the Visual Scheduler ..........................................331
Job/Event Contents ......................................................334
Viewing the Schedule for a Week or a Month .............334
Moving a Scheduled Job Within the Same Day ....336
Moving a Scheduled Job to a Different Day ................337
De-Allocating a Scheduled Job ....................................337
Further job options .......................................................338
Adding a resource to a job ...........................................339
Removing a resource ....................................................340
Creating an Ad Hoc Event ...........................................340
Removing an Ad Hoc Event ........................................341
Renaming an Ad Hoc Event .........................................341
Recurring Ad Hoc Events ............................................341
Exiting the Scheduler ...................................................341
Issuing a Job Using the Scheduler ................................342
Finding the Job to Issue .........................................342
Copyright © Vantage Computing Ltd 2014. All rights reserved Service Accent User Guide 3
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Issuing a Job Using the Scheduler ...............................342
Exiting the Visual Scheduler ........................................344
Effect on the Call Escalations Dialog ..........................345
Effect on the Job Dialog ...............................................345
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Issuing a Job Without Using the Scheduler .................346
Finding the Job to Issue ...............................................346
Issuing a Job Without Using the Scheduler .................346
How the Job Status is Affected ....................................348
Closing a Job ................................................................350
Finding the Job to Close ...............................................350
Completing the Fault Profile ........................................350
Completing the resource profile ...................................352
Completing the task list ................................................353
The Completion Tab ....................................................356
Quick Close ...................................................................360
Adding next job notes ..................................................362
Enter Meter Readings ...................................................363
Specifying Parts Used ..................................................364
Removing a Part Used From the Job ...........................377
Modifying a Usage Record ..........................................379
Dealing With Existing Part Requests ...........................381
Extending a job .............................................................385
Using an Engineer’s Loan Item ....................................388
Requesting a Loan Item ...............................................388
Changing Loan Item Status for a Completed Job ..391
Scheduling Planned Maintenance ................................395
Contract Planned Maintenance ....................................395
Metered Equipment Planned Maintenance ..................398
Batch job logging .........................................................400
Engineer locations ........................................................408
Engineer tracking .........................................................408
5 Sales Order Processing Creating A Quotation ...................................................410
Converting A Quotation To A Sales Order ..................427
Creating A Sales Order Against A Customer ...............431
Creating A Sales Order Against An Inventory Item ....448
Creating A Point Of Sale Order ...................................452
Despatching And Invoicing A POS Order ...................465
Creating A Non-Stock Order ........................................471
Despatching And Invoicing A Non Stock Order .........487
Creating A Credit Note ................................................491
Crediting Or Part Crediting An Invoice .......................506
Crediting or part crediting a contract invoice ..............509
Crediting or part crediting a job invoice ......................519
Crediting or part crediting a meter invoice ..................527
Crediting or part crediting a rental invoice ..................540
Crediting or part crediting an SOP invoice ..................548
Using The Sales Order Manager ..................................554
Outstanding ............................................................557
Order ......................................................................558
Reserve ...................................................................561
Despatch .................................................................565
Ship ........................................................................567
Install ......................................................................571
Copyright © Vantage Computing Ltd 2014. All rights reserved Service Accent User Guide 4
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Invoice ....................................................................573
Complete ................................................................576
6 Invoicing Running Contract Billing .............................................580
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Running Meter Billing .................................................585
Running Rental Billing .................................................597
Service Job Billing .......................................................600
Authorising and Printing Invoices ................................602
Authorising Invoices ....................................................602
Printing Authorised Invoices .......................................606
Marking Invoices as Printed ........................................610
Retrieving Invoices ......................................................611
Reprinting an Invoice .............................................615
Crediting an Invoice .....................................................618
Re-billing a Service Job ...............................................621
Re-costing a Service Invoice ........................................625
Invoice dialogue tabs ....................................................629
Exporting Data to an Accounting Application .............633
Exporting Data to the Accounting Application ......633
Exporting Invoices 637
Exporting Accounts 641
Exporting Purchase orders 642
7 Purchase Order Processing Creating A Purchase Order ..........................................646
Authorising A Provisional Order .................................654
Printing A Purchase Order ...........................................658
Consolidating Purchase Orders ....................................661
Receiving Parts/Consumables ......................................665
Receiving Unallocated Products ..................................675
Receiving Serialised Items ...........................................682
Receiving Against A Sales Order .................................695
Purchase Invoices .........................................................703
8 Stock Control Store Maintenance ........................................................710
Transit Manager ...........................................................736
Serial Number Tracking ...............................................739
Stock Holdings Tab ......................................................770
Customer Holdings Tab ...............................................776
Engineer Holdings Tab .................................................778
Stock Holdings .............................................................780
Stock Movement History .............................................783
Stock Transactions .......................................................785
Stock Replenishment ....................................................793
Engineer stock ........................................................794
Engineer stock - Part replenishments .....................794
Faulty returns .........................................................800
Part requests ...........................................................803
Part requests - Estimates ........................................803
Part requests - Requests .........................................807
Loan requests .........................................................819
Loan requests - Requested .....................................820
Returning a loan item .............................................833
Swapping out a loan item .......................................839
Copyright © Vantage Computing Ltd 2014. All rights reserved Service Accent User Guide 5
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Reordering ..............................................................842
Stock Taking ................................................................844
Stock Housekeeping .....................................................862
Reprinting A Consignment Note ..................................872
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Stock Audit Reports .....................................................876
9 Keeping Up To Date Transferring Equipment to Different Sites ...................880
Setting an Item as Unallocated ...............................885
Scrapping Inventory Items .....................................886
Renewing a Service Contract .......................................888
Running Contract Housekeeping .................................894
10 History and Reporting Viewing Historical Information ...................................898
Viewing Work History from the Job Dialog ..........898
Viewing Work/Transaction History from Inventory
Record ................................................................900
Using Reports ...............................................................902
Changing the Printer ....................................................906
The Print Preview .........................................................907
Exporting the Report ....................................................908
Setting the Default Printer for a Report .......................909
Assign a password to a Report .....................................910
Custom Report Writing ................................................911
11 System Tools Viewing License Details ..............................................914
Using the Recycle Bin ..................................................916
Viewing the Recycle Bin .............................................916
Permanently Deleting Records .....................................917
Restoring Deleted Records ...........................................918
Verifying the Database .................................................920
Viewing Table Data ...............................................920
Verifying the Database ...........................................921
Verifying the Database Aggressively ....................923
Copyright © Vantage Computing Ltd 2014. All rights reserved Service Accent User Guide 6
1
chapter
Introduction
Welcome to Service Accent (SA).
Service Accent is Vantage Computing’s class-leading enterprise Service
Management System.
This chapter contains the following topics:
• About Service Accent
• The Service Accent Document Set
• About this Guide
• Documentation Conventions
• Contacting Your Support Provider
Copyright © Vantage Computing Ltd 2014. All rights reserved Service Accent User Guide • 1
Introduction
About Service Accent
You need to operate your service department at peak efficiency, and that
means being in control. Service Accent from VCI will help you make your
service easier to manage.
Here's how:
• Service Accent manages and simplifies field service, contract
administration, preventative maintenance, billing and order processing.
• You can share customers, purchases and invoices with your financial
application (Specifications vary depending on your financial package)
to give you total financial control.
Service Accent is a solution to help you maximise you efficiency and
increase your customer satisfaction.
Having important customer information at your fingertips can be the
difference between a good customer experience and a bad one. When
logging and administering service calls using Service Accent you will find all
of this information exactly where you want it. Is the customer covered by a
service contract? When is their next PM visit due? Is this job chargeable?
These are just some of the questions that the Service Accent system
already knows the answer to.
Producing monthly, quarterly and annual invoices for service and
maintenance contracts is not the most exciting activity you have to look
forward to this month; but it is one of the most important. Administering
contracts is one of the most time-consuming and frustrating parts of
running any service-led business. Service Accent enables contract invoicing
to be run in minutes rather than hours or even days. It will allow you to
manage your contracts more aggressively, producing renewal reminder
letters and automatically applying annual price increases for example.
Small touches like warnings that a signed contract has not been received
back from the client or that their contract has produced a loss over 2 of the
last 5 years enable your business to reduce time, save money and increase
profitability. It's not sexy but it is vitally important to both you and your
clients.
It's all well and good entering data into a database, even one as easy to
use and intuitive as Service Accent. The real challenge from a management
perspective though is can you get meaningful, up-to-date management
information from the system that enables you to make accurate, timely
decisions about your business.
Service Accent comes complete with a suite of over 150 ready made
reports that have been devised and honed during 15 years service at
hundreds of client sites worldwide. Being able to identify your most and
least profitable contracts, even down to the level of an individual item of
equipment means that you can make changes confident that they will have
a positive impact upon the financial wellbeing of your business.
First time fix rates, equipment uptime/downtime and engineer/technician
productivity reports are a mere taste of the real-time information that is
available with just a few clicks of your mouse.
2 • Service Accent User Guide Copyright © Vantage Computing Ltd 2014. All rights reserved