Customer Notifications and Communications

Customer Email Notifications and Communications SuccessWare 21 allows you to communicate directly with customers, vendors and your technicians by utilizing your existing email service to send messages. Communications can include job notifications that can be emailed automatically or manually to your customers. Using email communications will require setup for your email system, your employees and for your customer records. Contents Customer Email Notifications and Communications... 1 THE COMMUNICATIONS DASHBOARD... 2 COMPANY EMAIL SETUP... 2 COMMUNICATION CLASSES... 5 JOB NOTIFICATION CONFIGURATION... 7 Enabling Job Classes... 9 EMPLOYEE SETUP... 10 EMAIL TEMPLATES... 15 Adding HTML Links to Your Emails... 17 Importing HTML Templates... 18 SETTING CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION PREFERENCES... 20 JOB NOTIFICATION MESSAGE PROCESSING... 21 Manually Sending Job Notifications... 21 Automatic Job Notifications... 22 Communication Monitoring... 23 1

THE COMMUNICATIONS DASHBOARD The Communications Dashboard is the central point for configuring and monitoring your email communications in SuccessWare 21. To access the Communication Dash Board: 1. Click the 21 button to open the Main Menu. 2. Select Setup and then Communications. COMPANY EMAIL SETUP Your email system setup is now divided into two separate email setup screens. One is used to control your Message/Paging Email Server Settings. The settings for this server are used to control the messages and pages that are sent to your technicians. All other email messages are sent using the settings on the General Email Server Settings screen. This enables you to utilize two email servers if you like although the settings for both screens can also be the same. To access your email setup screens: 1. From the COMMUNICATION DASHBOARD screen. 2

2. Select Setup and then Email Servers from the menu. 3. Select Modify for the settings that need to be changed. 3

Note: Check with your email service provider for the appropriate settings to be used. 4. In the E-MAIL SERVER field, enter the IP address or URL for the email server. 5. Enter the email address to be used for sending emails in the SENDER EMAIL ADDRESS field. It is very important that the domain of this email address match the domain set in the E-MAIL SERVER field or your emails may be marked as spam. 6. If an SSL encryption method is required for your email server, select it from the drop down list in the CONNECTION ENCRYPTION (SSL) field. 7. Choose the port used for your email. These are usually 587 or 25, but they can differ. 8. Some email systems will assign a limit to the number of emails that can be sent per day. If needed, enter this limit in the DAILY LIMIT field. 4

9. Some email systems may use an artificial delay when sending bulk emails. If required by your email server, enter this delay in the DELAY BULK SENDING BY field. 10. If you are required to login to your email separately from your network, select the USE AUTHENTICATION check box and enter the appropriate ID and password in the E-MAIL USER ID and PASSWORD fields. 11. After all information is entered, click the Test button to test your connection. The system attempts to send a test email to any email address you enter. 12. Click OK to save your settings. This will open an Email Server guidelines statement. You MUST cknowledge that you have read the statements before your settings will be saved! The same steps can also be used to enter information for the Message/Paging setup. If the settings are the same as the ones enter for general Email Setup, you can select the USE GENERAL EMAIL SETTINGS checkbox. 13. Click Save on the Company Setup screen. COMMUNICATION CLASSES All communications which are sent directly from SuccessWare 21 are divided into communication classes. This allows you to choose which classes will require customers to Opt In in order to receive messages or Opt Out in order to not receive messages. You can also enter an email address that will be used if your customer chooses to reply to the message as well as enter email addresses to be copied or blind copied on the messages you send. To access Communication Classes: 1. From the COMMUNICATIONS DASHBOARD, click the Setup button located at the top left of the screen. 5

2. Select General Communications from the list. Several Communication Classes have been predetermined in SuccessWare 21. These include: Billings The Billings Communication Class will contain AR invoices and account statements that are emailed to the customer. Job Notifications This Communication Class includes job notifications that are emailed to your customers. Marketing This Communication class is currently used for pruning customers from a Marketing List. Surveys This Communication Class is also used to prune customers from a Marketing List. Tech Pages This Communication Class includes email and text pages sent to your technicians. Appointments This Communication Class includes appointment emails sent to your technicians which contain an attached file to display the appointment in a calendar program. Reports This Communication Class includes any report that can be emailed directly from SuccessWare 21. eorders This Communication Class is used when emailing a purchase order as an eorder to a vendor. Creating Custom Communication Classes You can create as many Custom Communication Classes as you wish. Currently these classes can only be used as an option when pruning customers from Marketing Lists. 1. From the GENERAL COMMUNICATION SETTINGS screen click the Add button. 6

2. Enter the information in the Comm Class, Description, Reply-To, CC and BCC fields and click Save. Opt In / Opt Out Configuration For each Communication Class, you can select how SuccessWare 21 will send messages. 1. Opt In If you select this option, only customers who have given specific permission to receive these messages will be emailed. This is the default setting for Marketing and other promotional messages. To select this, check the Opt-In Required checkbox. 2. Opt Out If you select this option, all of your customers will receive these messages unless they specifically indicated they do not wish to receive them. This is the default setting for Billings and Job Notifications. To select this, leave the Opt In Required box blank. Reply-To, CC, BCC Addresses For each class, email addresses can be entered as the defaults for each of these fields. Reply-To This address will be used if your customer replies to a message sent from SuccessWare 21. If no address is entered for the class, SuccessWare 21 will use the address listed for the email server sender. CC, BCC Addresses entered in these fields are used if you want to copy others when the message is sent. To enter email addresses in these fields: 1. From the GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS SETUP screen, click in the From/Reply-To, CC, or BCC field. 2. Enter the email address and click the Save button. JOB NOTIFICATION CONFIGURATION The Job Notification Service is a background process that will send all job notification messages. To enable this service to run: 7

1. From the COMMUNICATION DASHBOARD, click the Setup button located at the top left of the screen. 2. Select Job Notifications from the list of options. 3. Click the SERVICE OPTIONS button 8

4. Click the SERVICE ENABLED checkbox and enter a SERVICE FREQUENCY. The Service Frequency is how often the Job Notification Service will process and send emails. Once the Job Notification Service is enabled, it starts automatically whenever a user logs onto SuccessWare 21. If you wish to start the service manually, you can do so by clicking the Job Notification Service is NOT Running hyperlink on the Communications Dashboard. Important: The Job Notification Service runs from SuccessWare 21 and not from the server. This means that at least one user must be logged into SuccessWare 21 in order for emails to be processed and sent. If you ever wish to stop the service, you can click the Job Notification Service is Running hyperlink and click the red X to the right JOB NOTIFICATIONS. Be advised that stopping the service while it is processing emails will probably cause some emails not to be sent. Note about running for multiple companies: If running the Job Notification Service with multiple companies, the service must be enabled individually for each company. Notifications will only be sent for companies with at least one user logged in. Enabling Job Classes In order for you to use Job Notifications, at least one of your Job Classes will need to be enabled. This functionality allows you to limit which classes of work will generate Job Notifications. Note: Each Job Class must be set up individually. Setting up one Job Class will not carry forward to others automatically! To enable Job Classes: 1. Select the 21 button to open the main menu. 2. Select Setup and then Communications 3. From the Communications Dashboard, select the Setup button and choose Job Notifications from the list. 9

4. Select the Enabled checkbox for each of the Job Classes you wish to enable. This will enable manual Job Notifications to be sent. 5. You can set automatic job notifications by clicking the check boxes for each notification type on the right side of the screen. 6. Click Save when done. Copying Job Notification Settings Job Notification Settings can be copied from one Job Class to another. 1. Select the Job Class that you wish to copy to. 2. Click the Copy button. 3. Select the Job Class to copy from by clicking the dropdown arrow and choosing. 4. Click OK to copy the settings. EMPLOYEE SETUP In order to page job information to your technicians, you will need to enter email information for each employee. In addition, if you wish to send Job Notifications to your customers, you can enter employee biography information and attach a photo to the employee record. Access your employee records by: 1. Click the 21 button on the toolbar to access the SuccessWare 21 menu screen. 2. Select Setup and then choose Employee Manager. If you are creating a new employee, see the instruction on Creating a New Employee Record contained in the help file. 3. Double-click on the employee name to be changed. 4. Click the Edit button. 5. Select the Address/Phone tab and enter the email address for the employee. 10

Note: The address entered in the E-MAIL field is used when sending appointments to the technician in an.ical. format for use in a calendar program such as Outlook. The address entered in the PAGER-EMAIL field is used when sending messages via email or SMS texting. 6. Select the Work Biography tab. 7. If desired, you can enter a brief biography in the BIOGRAPHY TEXT field. 8. If you already have biographical information available online, enter the website address in the BIOGRAPHY URL field. 9. Use the FRIENDLY TEXT FOR URL field to enter text that will appear as a link to the URL in your Email. 10. If you work with a reputation management site such as Review Buzz to gather customer reviews, go to the REVIEW URL tab and enter the URL (web page) that customers can click on to leave the tech a review. 11

11. Use the FRIENDLY TEXT FOR URL field to enter text that will appear as a link to the URL in your Email. Note: If you are using Review Buzz and enter a Review Buzz link in the Review URL field the Friendly Text for URL field will automatically be replaced in the email with the following ReviewBuzz graphic 12. Next, you ll upload an image to the technician bio that will be included in the emails. To do so, click the Load button If you are on your own network, you can navigate to the folder on your computer where the images are stored. If you are running SuccessWare21 in the Cloud at either Advance2000 or Synoptek, you will need to navigate to your local computer. NOTE: It is recommended, for ease of navigation that you place the images in a folder on the desktop of your computer. - To do so, when you select Load, the OPEN FILE DIALOG will open. Select the drop down list at the top of the form. - Highlight and select C$(\\Client)V: - This will connect you to the C: Drive on your local workstation. 12

- From here, you will need to navigate to the folder which contains your tech images. - You may need to double click on users - Then double click on your username before you see your folders. 13

- Finally, navigate to the folder with your images, select the image for the tech you are editing and select Open. 14

13. Click the Save button when finished. EMAIL TEMPLATES In order for SuccessWare 21 to create email messages to send to your customers, you will need to create a template to be used. The template consists of the content and formatting of the message(s) you want to be sent. The template can also include information contained in fields inside SuccessWare 21. This will enable you to create customized messages for each customer and for each job status. SuccessWare 21 provides you will several sample templates that can be used or customized. You can also create your own templates using the built-in HTML editor or by using your own HTML editing program, such as Microsoft Word. To add or edit your email templates: 1. From the Communication Dashboard, click the Setup button and select Email Templates from the list. SuccessWare 21 alows you to store a company logo file that can be inserted into your Job Notifications. 1. Right-click and select Company Logo (for email) from the list. 2. Click Browse for Company Logo button, select the file. Remember to keep the logo size appropriate to the size of the email. 2. To edit one of the sample templates, select the desired template and click the Edit button. This will open the template in a HTML Editor. 15

3. You can enter or edit your text in the editor. You can also select any of the Merge Fields displayed in the list on the right side of the screen. 4. When finished, you can preview the results by choosing the Preview tab. To display the template with sample data, select the View with sample merge data option. 16

5. To send a test email, click the Test button and enter the email address where the email is to be sent. 6. Click Save when finished. Adding HTML Links to Your Emails You can use a right click when editing/creating your email templates to add links to websites or clickable text that can be used to generate an email. A special option has been added to allow you to quickly add a link customers can use to email you to indicate that they want to "opt out" of receiving emails. 1. To Add "HTML" Website or Email Links 17

2. Right click in the background of the email template that you are editing in the location where you wish to add the link. 3. In the box that opens, enter either the URL (Web Address) or Email address you wish to Reference 4. Click OK 5. Enter the text you want to display in the email. This what the customer will see and click on to open the website or generate the email. 6. Click OK 7. Click the Preview Tab to see how the link will appear to your customer who receives the email. Importing HTML Templates If you would like to create more robust emails than the editing capabilities in the SuccessWare21 email editor allow, you can create your emails in an outside HTML editor and import them into SuccessWare21. 18

Note: The HTML Email Templates that you import into SuccessWare21 cannot contain images unless it is an image that is hosted on the web. If the user reads your email offline, the images will not appear. You can create Email Templates in Word and save them as an HTML file. To do so use the Save As option and be sure to select Web Site (Filtered). In order to have the customer, company and job specific text appear in the emails that you send to your customers, the email templates you create must contain the Merge Fields SuccessWare21 uses to insert the text. You will need to add these to your email template in the following format: [Field Name] The Merge Fields available for you to use are: Merge Field Name (Must be typed no spaces) Data Inserted [CompanyName] [CompanyPhone1] [CompanyPhone2] [CompanyLogo] [CompanyAddress] [CustomerName] [CustomerAddress] [Schedule] [Tech Review] The name of your company as it appears in Company Setup The phone number which appears in Phone 1 field of Company Setup The phone number which appears in Phone 2 field of Company Setup This will display the Company Logo that you have imported. This will display your company address (on a single line) as entered in Company Setup The name that appears in the Name field of the Service Location The address (on a single line) of the Service Location The Scheduled Date and Time of the Appointment When added to an email, this merge field will display the information entered in the Review URL area of the tech Bio setup. This link is intended to allow you to request a review from your customer on completion of the job. The Assigned Technicians Name, Picture, Bio and link to the [TechInfo] (Only Available in the technician s URL (website) that you entered in the Biography "Disptach" Email Type) URL area of tech bio setup. 19

To Import an HTML Email template 1. From the Email Template screen, click the Import button. 2. Select the HTML file to be used and click Open. 3. Click Save to save the imported file as a template. SETTING CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION PREFERENCES SuccessWare 21 allows you to store a customer s desire to receive or not receive different types of messages. The customer s preference can be recorded on either Service Location or Billing Account screen. 1. Open the desired Billing Account or Service Location. 2. At the bottom left of the screen, click the Communication Preferences button. 3. Select the Opt In or Opt Out options for each Communication Class. 4. Click Close and then Save the record. Note: SuccessWare21 is not capable of capturing this information for you; you must access every account and update it manually. Prune Marketing Lists Marketing Lists are not emailed directly from within SuccessWare21 but there is a mechanism available for pruning a list based on your customer s preferences. You can instruct the application to prune an existing list of all customers who have either opted out of a class, or have 20

not opted in when using the Opt In option. The Marketing and Survey classes are only used for pruning marketing lists Once you have created a Marketing List open it up from the Marketing Center and click the Edit button. Select the communication class that you would like to use as the basis for pruning the list. Right-click and choose Prune List, select Opt-In/Out Rules and then click OK. All customers who have opted out of the class you selected will be removed from the list. If the class requires that customers opt in, then those who haven t will be removed as well. JOB NOTIFICATION MESSAGE PROCESSING All Job Notifications are sent via the Job Notification service. Manually Sending Job Notifications When the Job Class is configured for Job Notifications, you can send an emailed notice to customer manually from the Job Form or directly from the Call Center (Dispatch). 1. Right-Click on the job and choose Messages>Customer Notification. This will open the Job Notification screen and display any previous notifications and allow you to choose which type of notice to send. If the customer has previously been marked as having Opt-Out status. You will be warned at this time. 21

Note: The notification message can be edited before sending. This may be valuable if indicating that a technician will arrive during a window of time. 2. Select the type of message to be sent by clicking in the check boxes at the top left of the screen. 3. After verifying the message correctness, click the OK button to mark message to be sent. Automatic Job Notifications In automatic mode the user does not have to right-click on the job. Instead you will be prompted to send the notification when using the Call Center (Dispatch). This prompt will also happen when using the Job Screen. You will be prompted when the following conditions are met. The job class is enabled for job notifications And the job class is configured for automatic mode And the customer has not opted out of job notifications And you do not require customers to opt in to job notifications, or if you do that the customer has opted in 22

In addition, depending on the type of notification being sent, the following conditions must also be met: Booking and Reschedule Notifications The appointment is scheduled for today or sometime in the future Dispatch Notifications The job is not closed and the technician has been dispatched today Closed Notifications The end date of the job is within the last 48 hours Cancel Notifications The appointment was scheduled for today or sometime in the future Messages can be edited prior to being sent. Important Note After you choose to send a notification, the message is actually placed in a queue to be sent. The Job Notification service will send all qualified messages. Communication Monitoring Messages and their status can be reviewed from the Communications Dashboard. 1. Click the Messages button at the bottom of the dashboard screen to display the Message review screen. The screen will display all messages for every type of communication. You can filter the list by message type or date range. The background color of each message indicates the status of the message. Blue This message is currently selected Red This message failed to send due to an error. 23

Yellow This message is pending and could be resent. Gray This message was not sent. The status column will indicate the reason. Double-clicking on any message in the list will open more detailed information, including the message itself. Right-clicking on any message will give you options to Resend or Mark as Do Not Send. From the Call Center (Dispatch) On the Call Center (Dispatch) form an image of an envelope will be displayed next to each appointment. No envelope next to an appointment indicates that it is for a job class that has not been enabled for notifications. The color of this envelope is a visual clue as to the status of the current notification: Gray This appointment is for a job class is enabled for notifications and there is a message that can go out, but you have not requested the message go out. Yellow This appointment has a notification that is pending, it should be sent the next time the service executes. White The last notification for this appointment was sent successfully. Red The last notification for this appointment failed to send. Please consult the Message Review form for the cause of the error. Miscellaneous Generally SucessWare21 will accept the entry of multiple recipients (To, CC, BCC) where there is an email address field for data entry. These kinds of entries must be separated by a semi-colon. Where possible SucessWare21 will check the format of email addresses, including entries specifying multiple recipients, when input into the system and inform you when an invalid email address is entered. Using the Email Cleanup Utility The EMAIL CLEANUP UTILITY will search for and display all Service Locations and Billing Accounts that have an email address that does not follow the accepted addressing format. (i.e. me@example.com) To use this utility: 1. Select the 21 button to open the Main Menu. 2. Select Setup and choose Utilities. 3. Click the Yes button to confirm that no other forms are open. 4. From the General Utilities screen, double click on Maintenance Tools. 24

5. Double click on Email Cleanup. This will display a list of both Service Location and Billing Accounts with invalid email addresses. 6. Email addresses can be edited by pressing F2 to open the SERVICE LOCATION screen or by pressing F3 to open the BILLING ACCOUNT screen. 7. If desired, you can clear invalid email addresses by clicking the Clear Email Addresses button. Note: The option to display customers with invalid email addresses is also available on the Service Location List and Billing Customer List reports. 25