CallAhead CallAhead allows you to send automated phone call or text message notifications to your clients. As of software version 1.42.5, you can send out service reminders or make collection calls via the Service Orders report or Accounts Receivable Report. If you would like additional training on the setup or usage of this module after reviewing this documentation please click the Support option within the software to submit a request for assistance, or call 800-762-0301. Step 1: Make sure requirements are met: Got Licenses? o If you are on our hosted solution you can follow the CallAhead Setup document from the training link. o If you host the data on your own server or if you are using an older version of CallAhead, please contact our Sales team to get signed up at 800-762- 0301 option 4. Looking for something specific in this document? You can search for keywords in this document by using this trick: o From a PC: Use Control key + F key and type what you re looking for. o From a Mac: Use Command key + F key and type what you re looking for. Topics Covered: Setup and Data Review: o Company Setup o Timezone Manager o Lookup Tables o Service Setups and Orders Usage: o Service Reminder Calls/Texts o Collection Reminders o CallAhead Report Common Scenarios and Frequently Asked Questions 1 P age
Step 2: Additional setup and data review: Company Setup o Make sure you ve populated the required information under Company > Company Setup > Additional Features > CallAhead as instructed in step 1. o Set up your notification setting defaults for new accounts under Company > Company Setup > Service Setup/Service Order > Notification Timezone Manager o Allows you to set different timezones for branches if needed under Tools > Time Zone Manager. o Used for determining time to send out calls. 2 P age
Lookup Tables CallAhead Messages o Under Company > Lookup Tables > CallAhead Messages is where to set up messages to use for your customer service reminders and/or collection calls. o Uses Text To Speech. o If your company name has any special characters it is best to clearly type the Company Name into the message itself rather than using a message code. o Available message codes for use in this lookup table are listed below. o C = Company o BR = Branch o L = Location o SO = Service Order o R=Renewal Date ##C.CompanyName## ##C.Phone## ##BR.CompanyName## ##BR.Phone## ##L.Address## ##R.RenewalDate## ##SO.WorkDate## ##SO.Description## ##SO.WorkTime## ##SO.TimeRange## [Repeat] will repeat the original message. o You can also set up specific messages back to the customer based on the input from the original call message. Actions are set up based on Ask and Say information. IMPORTANT: To allow User Input options to be entered, you must add your Ask action prior to clicking Insert Row Below \ 3 P age
Lookup Tables CallAhead Responses Under Company > Lookup Tables > CallAhead Responses, these let you know what happened once the call/text message was sent such as if the customer answered the phone, a machine was reached or if the call/text did not go through. The responses cannot be changed however you have the ability to select which responses you want to treat as an appointment confirmation by clicking into the response, checking the box and clicking Save. Anything you choose to have this option unchecked for will not consider it an appointment confirmation. When an appointment is confirmed, the Confirmation History will get updated in the Service Order Detail screen for that order as well as indicate that on the CallAhead Report under Reports > All Reports > CallAhead Report. 4 P age
Service Setup/Service Order Detail Notifications o This section is found on setups and orders and is defaulted by what is entered under Company > Company Setup > Service Setup/Service Order > Notification. o If you need to adjust the notification settings per location do so within the setup to ensure those changes appear on future generated orders. o IMPORTANT: You must list each notification on its own separate line item. For example, if you want to send both a call and a text you would set it up like this: o IMPORTANT: For calls set to be made to the Bill To, it will only call the primary number on the account. o IMPORTANT: For text messages, it will only use the mobile phone number field. o If notifications have already been made you will see a gold button at the end of the notification field on the order with a number in parenthesis to show how many have been made. Clicking on this gives you detailed information regarding the calls/texts and responses made. 5 P age
Step 3: Usage: Sending out Service Reminders/Texts Once you ve set up all of your setups and orders and are ready to send out your reminders go to Reports > Service Orders > Output Format of Call Ahead Notification. Here you will select your notification dates or work dates depending on your processes to gather the orders you want to send notifications for. Under Include Notifications select Call and/or Text. Under Notification Status select Not Confirmed. Click Send to get to the next screen. NOTE: If you have multiple services that you want to send different messages for on the same account you must run separate reports with the different criteria. 6 P age
Sending out Service Reminders/Texts (continued) On the next screen select the Message you d like to send using the dropdown. Uncheck any accounts that you d like to exclude from being sent a notification. Select whether you want to Send calls now OR Send calls on a specific date and time. If you need to adjust any of the constraints on the orders prior to sending the notifications click the link to Update date and time constraints prior to sending calls. Click send when ready. Say Yes to the prompt if ready to continue. You will then receive confirmation of how many calls were sent. Step 4: Review usage for all users. This section covers RouteOp Real Time. If you have also purchased the RouteOp Dynamic Planner license you can continue to read after this section. Otherwise, you can skip to the Common Scenarios & FAQ next. 7 P age
Sending out Collection Reminders Go to Reports > Accounts Receivable Report > Output Format of Call Ahead Notification. Here you will select your search criteria for the accounts you want to make collection calls for. Click Send to get to the next screen. Select the message you want to use and also if you want to Send calls now OR Send calls on a specific date and time. Step 5: Review additional usage for RouteOp Dynamic Planner. If you have not purchased RouteOp Dynamic Planner then please skip this section. 8 P age
Sending out Renewal Reminders Create a List of Locations to notify by doing a Location Search by Renewal Date range. Once you have your desired results, click on the Add to List button. Go to Customer > List Management > Choose your list from the Select a List dropdown and hit Go. Click on the Print button in the top right. Here you will select the Report of Renewal Notices on the left. Re-enter your renewal date range and change any other search criteria necessary. Then hit the Call button. Select the message you want to use and also if you want to Send calls now OR Send calls on a specific date and time. 9 P age
CallAhead Report Go to Reports > All Reports > Business Management > CallAhead Report Here you will select your search criteria for the notifications you d like to report on. You can filter appointments by whether they were confirmed or not and also if they were a call or a text. Click Display after entering your criteria. 10 P age
Step 4: Familiarize yourself with Common Scenarios and FAQs. What if I want to send a different message based on the type of service it is? When running the report you will need to do a separate search for each specific service code you want to send a different message for. So for example if you want to send the message called PEST1 to all of your PC services and TERM1 to all of your Termite services, you would run the report twice using the respective criteria. Can I change my responses as far as what I consider to be confirmed after I ve already started using the features? You can however just keep in mind that when the report is ran it will look in your lookup tables to see what is set up now as far as what is considered confirmed or not. It s best to ensure you take care of all of your settings in the lookup tables before you start sending out your calls. Can I cancel a request to send out calls after I ve said Yes to sending them? There are multiple prompts in place to ensure that you are truly ready to send out your calls. If you ve realized you ve made an error and need to cancel the request, you must contact support at least 30 minutes before the scheduled time to send and they can assist you with cancelling the request. What happens if the line is busy when attempting to make a call? It will attempt to retry for 1 hour before giving up. Can I make changes to orders after a group of orders have been sent to CallAhead? Yes if sending calls out to be made in the future you can make changes up to 15 minutes prior to the send time. The Work Date and Time info is read dynamically at the time the call is placed. Where do I get the special number used for sending text messages? This special number is provided by support during your setup process. Can I send text messages for Accounts Receivable/Collection Notifications? No. Currently the functionality only exists to send calls for collections. 11 P age