Release Notes for ServiceCEO Version 6.0

Updated 3/30/06

New Functionality and Enhancements

The Database Validator
Posting Invoices
Payroll / Time Cards
        Run the Payroll Setup Wizard
        Define Payroll Options
        Define Security Options
        Define XML export options
        Define Pay Cycles
        Define Time Code defaults
        Define Payroll Adjustment Types
        Define Holidays
        Configure specific employee records
                Payroll Setup
                Work hours
                Time codes (if overriding by employee)
        Enter time cards
        Calculate paychecks
        Review employee payroll history
        Payroll and Overtime
                Holidays and Overtime
        Payroll and Mobile Tech
Team Check In
Project Control Panel
        The Project Control Panel
        Project Actions
Customer Import
       Customer Import Wizard Troubleshooting
Accounting Integration
Marketing/Campaigns
        Demographic Setup
        Campaign Setup
        Campaign Tasks
        Campaign Metric Tracking
Other New Features
        New Security Rights
        Encryption
        Substatus Rules
        Audit Trail
        Advanced Billing Changes
        Dispatch Board Features
        Default Team
        Tasks
        Inventory
        Products and Services
        Kit Duplication
        Bonus Commissions
        Customer Find
        Customer Filter
        Customer Web Access
        Reports
        Tools > Options
        Call Center
        Calendar Offset
        Annual Frequency
Known Issues

The Database Validator

Starting with ServiceCEO 6.0, any user that upgrades from a previous version will see the Database Validator. The Database Validator is a tool that runs a number of tests on your database BEFORE it is upgraded to ensure that there is no data corruption. The Database Validator will automatically run the first time you login to ServiceCEO after running the upgrade:

  1. After you have run the 6.0 upgrade file,login to ServiceCEO. A dialog box appears, informing you that you need to upgrade your database. If you are running SQL 2000, you will be prompted to enter your SA password.
  2. Click Yes. The Database Validator appears and automatically starts running.

Note:
The Database Validator will not run if you are not running .NET 1.1. If you are not currently running .NET, you can download the installer from Microsoft. See http://www.insightdirect.com/dotnet/ for details.
  1. When complete, one of several actions will be performed, depending on the number
    and severity of errors that the Database Validator finds:

    Other steps you can perform in the Database Validator are:

  2. If the Database Validator finds no errors, or if you click Upgrade, your database will be upgraded to the new version of ServiceCEO. For some upgrades, this may take
    some time. Although it may look like ServiceCEO is unresponsive, the truth is that database scripts are running in the background designed to make your database compatible with the new version of ServiceCEO. Please be patient while the upgrade process runs.
Note:
If any users are logged into ServiceCEO when the database upgrade begins, the Show Connected Users dialog box appears. Since no users can be logged into the program when the database is being upgraded, select every user and click Disconnect. See the Show Connected Users section of the User's Guide for details.
  1. When the database upgrade is completed, the ServiceCEO login page will appear. Log in to the program in the normal manner.
Tip:
To see the version of your software, select Help > About. The About ServiceCEO dialog box appears. The version number is displayed on the Client Software Version line.

Posting Invoices

In ServiceCEO 5.5, if you previewed an invoice, or created an invoice through Advanced Billing, ServiceCEO would automatically add that invoice to the customer’s balance, creating possible inconsistencies in customer balances and accounts receivable numbers due to the inclusion of invoices that have not been finalized and/or sent to the customer.

In ServiceCEO 6.0, you can now control when an invoice is reflected in a customer balance via the Posted field. When an invoice is posted, the invoice will be reflected in the customer’s balance and appear in ALL relevant financial reports (Accounts Receivable, Transaction, etc.) as of the posted date.

ServiceCEO will automatically post most invoices during job completion. However, you can always manually post or un-post an invoice to meet your requirements.

The new features on this dialog box are:

Note:
The Posted field is different then the Sent field. Invoice posting works whether you are recording Sent values or not. For more on the Ready to Send workflow, see the Ready to Send Workflow section of the User's Guide, located online at http://www.insightdirect.com/help/ug/od/bc/readytosendwkflw.htm.

The default posting rules are:

  1. When a single job with automatic billing (or the last visit of a project with automatic billing) is completed (either via the Completion Wizard or Auto Complete), the invoice will automatically be posted.
  2. When you complete a project visit, you can choose to post the project invoice. If it hasn't been posted already, the project invoice will automatically be posted when the last project visit is completed.
  3. The Export Sales tab of the Office Duties section will display only those invoices that have been posted, but not yet exported.
  4. Service contract invoices will be automatically posted when created.
  5. Miscellaneous charge invoices will be automatically posted when created.
  6. Invoices created manually in the Billing Center will automatically be posted.

Caution:
There are two known issues with the posting process:

  1. Invoices are not automatically locked when they are posted.
  2. Invoices are not automatically posted when they are sent.

Posting and Upgrading

When upgrading from a previous version of ServiceCEO, your Accounts Receivable balance, customer balance, and Export Sales queue will not change. The posted status on existing invoices will be set so that your current balances match. However, going forward, invoices will be posted according to the process detailed above.

Payroll / Time Cards

The biggest enhancement in ServiceCEO 6.0 is ServiceCEO's expanded payroll capabilities. In the new release, you are provided the capability to generate and control all details of your employee payroll, including the ability to create and review time cards and paychecks for every employee.

Payroll in ServiceCEO 5.5 vs ServiceCEO 6.0

In previous versions of ServiceCEO, employee payroll could only be generated in two ways:

In 6.0, the payroll features are more robust. While you can still create payroll items in the same manner as before, now you can institute an entire payroll process. This process includes:

Tip:
Once paychecks are calculated, meaning that the employee's gross pay and hours are generated, you can then export these values to an accounting application via XML (see the Accounting Integration section for details) or run the Paycheck report and send it to whomever prints your checks. Note that ServiceCEO does not actually print paychecks for you.

All of these options are described in more detail below.

Note:
The appearance of the employee Payroll History tab is different in 6.0. See the Payroll History section for details.

Configuring Payroll

Follow these steps to configure payroll in ServiceCEO 6.0:

  1. Run the Payroll Setup Wizard
  2. Define Payroll Options
  3. Define Security Options
  4. Define XML export options
  5. Define Pay Cycles
  6. Define Time Code defaults
  7. Define Payroll Adjustment Types
  8. Define Holidays
  9. Configure specific employee records
  10. Enter time cards
  11. Calculate paychecks
  12. Review employee payroll history
  13. Payroll and Overtime
  14. Payroll and Mobile Tech
Caution:
Depending on your company's business processes, steps 4-9 are optional. Please review the specific sections below to determine if you want to configure this section of ServiceCEO's payroll functionality or not. There are no adverse effects of not using a particular section of payroll.

Payroll Setup Wizard

To quickly setup your payroll, use the Payroll Setup Wizard. Depending on the options you select in the wizard, it will automatically configure the payroll settings for all of your employees. However, note that after you run the wizard, you can always override these settings for individual employees.

You can access the Payroll Setup Wizard from the Payroll Options dialog box:

  1. Select Tools > Options. The Options dialog box appears.
  2. Click Payroll from the categories bar. The Payroll Options dialog box appears.
  3. Click Payroll Setup Wizard. The introductory page of the Payroll Setup Wizard appears.
Note:
If you haven't already run the Payroll Setup Wizard, it will appear when:
  • You select the Use Time Cards or Pay by Work Hours check boxes on the Payroll Setup tab of an employee record.
  • You access the Payroll or Time Cards tabs of the Office Duties section.
Caution:
You can run the Payroll Setup Wizard at any time. However, running the Wizard again after the first time will override any previous settings you may have made for individual employees.
  1. Click Next to open the next page of the Payroll Setup Wizard. The settings on this page will overwrite what is defined for your roles (select Tools > Lists > Roles.)

  1. Select the date on which you want to start using ServiceCEO for your payroll from the first drop-down list.
Tip:
 Since all payment frequencies operate on a weekly basis, we recommend defining your payroll start date on a Sunday or Monday so that your pay periods conform to a typical week.
  1. Select the frequency on which you pay your employees from the second drop-down list.
  2. Click Next. The third page of the Payroll Setup Wizard appears.

  1. Select the option that corresponds to how you pay your hourly (non-salaried) employees. The option you select will automatically select or deselect the Pay by Work Hours check box on the Payroll Setup tab for all employees:
    Tip:
     If using Pay by Work Hours, keep in mind an employee can only be paid for one assignment at one time. This means that you will need to make sure that start and end times of jobs and tasks are properly recorded. If multiple assignments accidentally overlap, ServiceCEO will choose one assignment to determine pay for the overlapping period.

  2. Click Next. The Fourth page of the Payroll Setup Wizard appears.

  1. Select the first option button to pay employees based on their work hours without using Time Cards (i.e., the Edit Time Cards in Office Duties check box will not be selected on the Payroll Setup tab).
    Select the second option button to pay employees based on Time Cards (i.e., the Edit Time Cards in Office Duties check box will be selected on the Payroll Setup tab of all employee records).
  2. Click Next. The fifth page of the Payroll Setup Wizard appears.
Caution:
The second Time Cards page will only appear if you select the second option button on the first Time Cards page.

  1. Select the frequency by which you want to edit and submit time cards. You can also define this setting in the Payroll Options dialog box (select Tools > Options and click Payroll).
  2. Click Next. The Final page of the Payroll Setup Wizard appears.

  1. Click Finish. All of your hourly employees are now configured for payroll.

Top of Section

Define Payroll Options

You can define some your general payroll options in the Payroll Options dialog box.

In the General Payroll section:

  1. To include travel time in your job costing calculations, select the Cost travel time to: check box and select a value from the drop-down list:
  2. Select the frequency by which you want to enter time cards in the Enter Time Cards every X days . You can also define this setting in the Payroll Setup Wizard. This setting is also controlled by the second Time Cards page of the Payroll Setup Wizard.
  3. Click OK.

Top of Section

Payroll Security

Several new security options cover the new payroll functionality, including:

Top of Section

XML Export Options

For details on how to export your Payroll information to a General Ledger application, see the Accounting Integration section.

Top of Section

Role Pay Cycles

By default, a pay cycle is defined for all roles by the How do you pay your employees? drop-down list on the Pay Periods page of the Payroll Setup Wizard. However, you can override this setting for specific roles. Do to so:

  1. Select Tools > Lists > Employee Roles. The Employee Roles dialog box appears.

  1. Select the frequency by which you want to run payroll for all employees working under this role from the appropriate Pay Cycle drop-down list. You can select:
  2. If necessary, type the date at which you want the first pay period for this role to start in the Start of First Pay Period field.
  3. Click OK.

Top of Section

Time Codes

Time Codes define the payroll implications for each time block. There are two levels of time codes: the company level and the customer level.

Note:
Time code setup is hierarchical. This means that values not explicitly defined for an employee are inherited from a higher level in your company hierarchy. Thus, if you define time codes for your entire company, these values will propagate down to all of the companies' employees. Accordingly, if you then edit an employee's time codes, the new values will override the company level time code for that employee.

ServiceCEO is shipped with a set of default Time Codes designed to meet the needs of most businesses. The following time codes cannot be deleted:

Other default time codes for common scenarios - Break, Lunch, Time Off, Sick, Vacation, and Holiday - are present and can be edited and/or deleted.

Tip:
 When you save an employee-level override of a company-level time code, the edited time code row will appear in bold. Afterwards, if you change the employee-level time code's values to match the company, the override will be deleted when the record is saved.

To setup Time Codes:

  1. Open the Time Code Setup dialog box. Depending on the level for which you want to define time codes, you access it from different places:

Tip:
The values for Color, Active, Name, and Available for Work can be updated for the entire organization. However, they cannot be updated for individual branches or employees.
  1. If necessary, select the level for which you want to define Time Codes from the Setup for drop-down list.
  2. Click Add to add a new time code.
  3. Type the name of the time code into the Code field.
  4. By default, all time codes are active. Deselect this check box if you don’t want it to appear in the list when you select a Time Code elsewhere in ServiceCEO.
Note:
Codes which are in use in the database can not be deleted, but they can be deactivated, which will make them unavailable for selection on new records.
  1. Select the appropriate value from the Available for Work drop-down list. You can select Available, Unavailable, or Busy.
Tip:
 Busy is generally used to mark time spent on a job. It indicates that an employee is not available to be scheduled for work because they are busy working (as opposed to explicitly unavailable time like a vacation). Note that you cannot schedule an employee in advance (i.e., on the Work Hours screen) to be Busy; it's mainly for use on the Time Card.
  1. Select the appropriate value from the Hourly Employee Setup drop-down list. Values include: Paid, Unpaid and Paid/No Overtime.
  2. To link a time code with a particular accounting account, click the "three dots" button in the General Ledger Account column and select the appropriate account from the subsequent dialog box.
Tip:
The General Ledger Account column appears only if Accounting Integration is enabled.
  1. To add additional time codes, repeat steps 3-8. To delete a time code, select it and click Delete.
  2. When complete, click OK.

Top of Section

Define Payroll Adjustment Types

For a variety of reasons, there are times when you will need to manually adjust an employee's payroll. When you do so, you can link these adjustments to an adjustment type that you define. Doing so enables you to track particular adjustment types and, if integrated with a third-party accounting tool, lets you export each adjustment type to a unique account.

To define new payroll adjustment types:

  1. Select Tools > Lists > Payroll Adjustment Types. The Payroll Adjustment Types dialog box appears.

  1. Click Add. A new line item appears.
  2. Type a name for the payroll adjustment type in the Description field.
  3. By default, the Active check box is selected, meaning that the adjustment type will appear when Creating a payroll item. If you do not want this adjustment type to appear,
    deselect it now.
  4. To integrate an adjustment type with an accounting account:
    1. Click in the Accounting Account field. The Payroll Adjustment Account dialog box appears.
    2. By default, this adjustment type will be integrated with the Default Payroll Expense Account as selected in the payroll integration section of the Company Information
      Options dialog box. See the Integrating Accounting section for more details. To change the default, type in the Account field and type the name of the new accounting account.
    3. Click OK.
  5. Repeat steps 2-5 to add additional adjustment types
  6. Click OK.

Caution:
You will not be able to delete payroll adjustment types that have been attached to existing payroll items. Instead, we recommend that you deselect the Active check box for these adjustment types. Doing so will not display the adjustment type in the Payroll Item dialog box.

Top of Section

Define Holidays

Holidays are the dates when some or all of your employees will not be available to work. You can define holidays in ServiceCEO and, if necessary, define what time code will automatically be assigned to the holiday.

To define holidays:

  1. Select Tools > Lists > Holidays. The System Holidays dialog box appears.
  2. Select the year for which you want to view and/or define holidays from the Show Holidays for calendar year spin control box. The holidays for that year appear.
  3. Click Add. The New Holiday dialog box appears.

  1. Type the holiday's name into the Title field.
  2. Identify the holiday's date. You can do this in two ways:
  3. If necessary, select the date you want the holiday to end into the second Year(s) spin control box.
  4. Select the time code you want to automatically assign to your employees for the holiday from the Time Code drop-down list. Only time codes that are marked as Unavailable will appear in the drop-down list. Note that you do not need to select a time code for a holiday; in fact, you should only define a time code if you want to automatically mark all employees as unavailable on the holiday.
  5. Click Add. The Add Another? dialog box appears.
  6. Click Yes to add another holiday; otherwise, click No.
  7. Click OK.
Note:
If you marked the holiday as unavailable, the holiday will appear as unavailable on the Work Hours Override tab for all employees.
If you would like to pay your employees for a holiday while still marking them as unavailable, see the Holidays and Overtime section for details.

For more on holidays, see the Defining Holidays section of the Implementation Manual.

Top of Section

Employee Payroll Setup

To setup your employee's payroll:

  1. Open the employee's Payroll Setup tab for the employee whose payroll you want to configure.
  2. Select the option button corresponding to how the employee will be paid:
Tip:
Salary is a simple calculation. When paychecks are created, ServiceCEO divides the employee's annual salary (as defined in the employee's Payroll Setup tab) by the number of pay periods per year (as defined in the Payroll Options dialog box).

Caution:
If salaried employee has a mid-cycle change (hiring, firing, raise, etc.), you will need to make an adjustment to that employee's payroll to account for the repercussions of that change. For example, if you fire an employee on the second Tuesday of that employee's pay period, you will need to create an adjustment to remove the payment for Wednesday-Friday from the paycheck.
In addition, if you do not create a paycheck for a salaried employee before the end of the next pay period, a payment will not be created for that employee's "skipped" pay period.
  1. Select the Edit Time Cards in Office Duties check box if you want to use time cards to track the time your employees actually worked. THis check box may be selected by default based on the value you select from the Time Cards page of the Payroll Setup Wizard.
  2. Define the employee's payroll for each eligible role in the usual manner. For details, see the Employee Payroll Setup Tab section of the User's Guide.

Top of Section

Work Hours

If an employee is NOT being paid based on his work hours, the work hours screen will work in the same manner as in ServiceCEO 5.5. However, if an employee is being paid based on their work hours (the Pay Based on Work Hours check box is selected on their Payroll Setup tab), then the employee will be paid for whatever work hours appear in the Work Hours dialog box, regardless of whether or not they are assigned to jobs or not during this time.

Tip:
The exact time an employee works for a given day can be adjusted on their time card.

Each block of time on the Work Hours dialog box will be associated with a time code. (See the Time Codes section for more.) Each work hour block of time will appear on the employee's time card.

Note:
The default work hours are controlled by the company work day as defined in Tools > Options > Scheduling. See the Defining Scheduling Options section of the Implementation Manual for details.

Top of Section

Time Card

A time card is a record of the employee's work for the day, including start time, all jobs and tasks the employee performs, all associated travel time, and quitting time. Employee Time Cards are accessible from two locations:

Regardless of how you access it, the employee's time card appears.

To limit the time card to a specific date range, select a date range from the Show time cards from: and to: calendar boxes and click Refresh. Note that the Refresh will enable you to revert to the the original values and/or reflect the changes you have made to jobs and tasks.

Each time card contains the following columns:

Note:
If the job or task is completed, the row will be read-only, visibly disabled, and begin with the completed job icon (as in time cards).

The first time a user views a time card for a given day, it will be populated with:

Caution:
Time cards must be completed in chronological order. In other words, after an employee's first time card has been created, you cannot save another time card for that employee until the previous time card has been saved.
Tip:
If you work days through the midnight hour, click Calendar Offset to define when your days end.

Travel Time

Travel time is automatically inserted in the gaps between jobs or any other block of time that appears on the employee's Work Hours dialog box. This travel time is always automatically inserted unless either:

To add the cost of this travel time to jobs and/or tasks, you can do so in the Payroll Options dialog box.

Using Time Cards

The basic workflow for using a time card is:

  1. Open an employee's time card.
  2. If necessary, adjust the date of the time card by selecting dates from the Show time cards from and to fields and clicking Refresh.
  3. Change any of the time blocks as needed. See the Editing Time Blocks section for more.
  4. When you've completed your edits, click Process and Close.

Editing Time Blocks

  1. Edit the In time, if necessary.

Tip:
You can quickly edit the time of the In and Out columns by using shorthand entries. For example, to change a time to 4:00 PM, you can use any of the following combinations:

  • 4p
  • 400p
  • 4:00p
  • 4:00 pm
  • 16p (military time)

Clicking or tabbing out of the field will automatically format the time correctly.
  1. Edit the Out time, if necessary.
  2. Select a new time code from the Time Code drop-down list.
  3. Type a description of the time block in the Description field.
  4. Select the employee's role from the Role drop-down list. Only the roles for which the employee is eligible (as defined on the employee's Payroll Setup tab) will appear here. If the employee is only eligible for one role, no Role column will appear.

Note that any changes you make to a time block will automatically be reflected in the Time Card calendar.

Top of Section

Paychecks

To display a list of employees who are due to be paid, open the Payroll tab of the Office Duties section. The Payroll page appears.

The Time Cards Completed column will only appear if you are reviewing Time Cards (at least one employee has the Edit Time Cards in Office Duties check box selected on their Payroll Setup tab).

Tip:
For Enterprise users, you can use the filter to display employees by their branch.

To create paychecks in ServiceCEO, select the check boxes corresponding to the paychecks you want to preview and click Create Paychecks. The Enter Check Date dialog box appears. Type the date that you want to appear on the check in the field and click OK. The Preview Paychecks dialog box appears.

Note:
After you click Create Paychecks, ServiceCEO will be busy for some time while it performs the calculations necessary to preview the paycheck amounts. Please be patient.

Expand or contract the tree under the employee name to view the appropriate paycheck information. When done, click Save. If you are integrated with an accounting application, the button will be Save and Export. Clicking it will also export this paycheck to your accounting application. If you click Close, the paycheck will not be saved or exported.

Tip:
 Note that you can also run the Paycheck report to detail all of an employee's paycheck data. Typically, you will run the report for all employees for a pay period and then send the calculated values to whomever prints your employee paychecks.

Once the paycheck is saved, you can view it from the employee's Payroll History tab. See the Payroll History section for details.

Top of Section

Payroll History

You can review the payroll for any employee on their Payroll History tab:

This tab is now divided into three sections:

To display more information then what is displayed, click the - Showing last X months of data. Click here to see more. link.

Caution:
You may experience performance issues if you are displaying data for a long time frame. If so, simply close and reopen the customer record. Doing so will reset the time frame back to two months for all three sections.

The check box in the Paid column will be selected if the item is located on a paycheck.

Top of Section

Paychecks

To view the details about a paycheck, double-click the paycheck line you want to display. The Paycheck report for that paycheck will appear. See the Paycheck Report section for more.

Jobs/Tasks

To view the details about a job or task, double-click the line you want to display.

Adjustments

To view the details about an adjustment, double-click the line you want to display.

To enter a payroll adjustment:

  1. Click New Pay Adjustment. The New Payroll Item dialog box appears.

  1. Select the date of the adjustment from the Enter Date calendar box.
  2. Select the payroll adjustment type from the Select Adjustment Type drop-down list. For more on payroll adjustment types, see the Define Payroll Adjustment Types section.
  3. Type the amount of the adjustment in the Enter Adjustment Amount field.
  4. If necessary, type any notes for this adjustment in the Notes field.
  5. Click OK. The adjustment will appear on the Payroll History page.

Top of Section

Payroll and Overtime

In ServiceCEO 5.5, overtime rules only generated warnings when a job would spark overtime pay. In 6.0, overtime rules will now calculate and generate overtime pay. While overtime will not appear in a job's payroll during completion, the overtime pay will be created and calculated during paycheck creation. See the Defining Overtime Rules section of the Implementation Manual for instructions on creating overtime rules.

To demonstrate how overtime is calculated and processed, let's run through an example:

  1. Define an overtime rule.
  2. Assign an employee with at least one hourly role (payable at $10.00 an hour) to a team.
  3. Create a job with a duration of eight hours and at least one product or service.
  4. Assign the team defined in step two to the new job.
  5. Save the job. An overtime warning dialog box appears, summarizing the overtime rule and amount.

  1. Click Yes.
  2. Complete the job. On the Payroll page of the Completion Wizard, you'll notice that the employee is paid their normal pay rate for the entire eight hours, for a total of $80.00. No overtime pay appears at this time.
  3. Once the job is completed, you can view the $80.00 payroll item on the employee's Payroll History tab.
  4. Calculate a paycheck for the employee. In the Preview Paychecks dialog box, you'll see two line items:
  5. Click Save and Export.
  6. On the employee's Payroll History tab, you'll now see the overtime pay in the appropriate paycheck line item. You'll also see the overtime in the Paycheck report.

Caution:
Because you can define overtime rules that look at multiple jobs and days, overtime pay will not be linked to specific jobs. Overtime pay will appear on the paycheck and will also appear on the employee's Payroll History tab, but will not appear on the Job Costing report.

Holidays and Overtime

To pay an employee for a holiday for which they are marked as unavailable, follow these steps:

  1. Create a holiday in the usual manner. See the Define Holidays section for details.
  2. Select Tools > Lists > Overtime Rules. The Overtime Setup dialog box appears.
  3. Click New Rule.
  4. Type a name for this rule in the Name field. It is a good idea to name it with the same name as the holiday.
  5. Type the amount by which you want to multiply the employee's pay in the Hourly Rate Multiplier field.
  6. Select Holiday (Specific Date) from the Rule Type drop-down list.
  7. Select the holiday for which you want to pay employees from the Select the Holiday to which this rule applies drop-down list.
  8. If necessary, select the Pay OT for entire shift, even if it extends into another day/week/period? check box.
  9. Click OK to save this rule.

Top of Section

Payroll and Mobile Tech

With ServiceCEO 6.0, your employees can use their mobile devices to log into and out of customer sites though ServiceCEO's Mobile Tech functionality. For more on Mobile Tech with ServiceCEO, please review the Mobile Devices' Users Guides: http://www.insightdirect.com/docs/mobile/techaccess.htm#userguides

To enter your payroll information for a particular job using Mobile Tech:

  1. Download and install the 6.0 Mobile Tech files from the ServiceCEO 6.0 download page.
  2. Login to Mobile Tech using your Mobile Device.
  3. Click the number of the job to which you want to add time card information.
  4. Click Employees. A list of all employees working on the job appear.
  5. Click the name of the employee whose time card information you want to define. The Time Card page appears.

  1. If necessary, type a note for this time card in the Notes field.
  2. To add a new time block, click Add New. To edit an existing time block, click either the appropriate Time In value or the More link.

Note:
If you access the Time Card page outside of a job, you can select an appropriate time code from a drop-down list. Entering a time block as part of a job will automatically assign the time block a time code of "Job".
  1. Enter the In time of the time block. You can either:
  2. Enter the Out time of the time block. You can either:
  3. Click Save and Close to save the time block. Click Delete to erase the time block from ServiceCEO. The Time Card page reappears, displaying the time block you just entered (or minus the time block you just deleted.

Links to the Time Card page now appear on many different pages throughout the Mobile Tech application.

Team Check In

The Team Check In feature combines the functions of the time card (for all of a team's employees) with that of the completion wizard (for all of a team's jobs). It is designed to speed up data entry; from here, you can quickly close jobs and add time codes to multiple employees over multiple dates. In short, because Team Check In completes jobs as well as enters information into the time cards of all of the team's employees, using Team Check In will enhance and simplify job completion and employee time card entry.

Note:
Depending on your security rights, some users may not see some of the features of Team Check In. For example, if a user does not have the security right to see credit card numbers, they will not see the credit card number in the Team Check In window.

To open the Team Check In dialog box:

  1. Click Office Duties from the Navigator bar.
  2. Click the Team Check In tab (located at the bottom of the Office Duties page). The Team Check In dialog box appears.
  3. Select the name of the team that you want to check in from the Team drop-down list.
  4. Select the date range for the team check in from the From and to calendar boxes.
  5. Click Refresh. All of the jobs for the selected team for the selected date range appear.

After you select the team and dates for this window, ServiceCEO displays the same basic data as a time card, including:

Note:
If a job or task has already been completed, the row will be read-only, visibly disabled, and begin with the completed job icon (as in time cards). See the first job scheduled on 10/27 in the screenshot above.

Caution:
“Odd man employees” may exist. An odd-man employee - distinguished by the icon next to their name - is an employee who meets any of the following conditions:

  • Previously submitted time cards in the date range
  • Has different work hours then the rest of the team (or the individual whose work hours are being used for the team) - see the Team Work Hours section below for details.
  • Unavailable “override” work hours for that day (e.g., entered via the dispatch board or employee work hours)

If any odd-men employees exist, you can do two things:

  • Open the odd-man employee’s timecard by double-clicking the employee name at the bottom of the page. You can then compare the odd-man time card with the team's time card to determine what is different and make any edits (if necessary).
  • Process team check in. The odd-man employee's time card will be processed with the
    different information.

The fields in the Team Check In dialog box are:

Tip:
 A warning icon () will be displayed for Missing Inventory, missing Check Numbers, and expired credit cards.

Team Work Hours

A team's work hours is calculated differently depending on the number of employees assigned to the team and the work hours of those employees. If a majority of the team's employees have the same work hours, those work hours will be used as the team's work hours, determining which employees are odd-men or not. If only one employee is on the team, or if there is no clear majority of work orders (e.g., four employees on the team, two of which have work hours X and two have work hours Y), then the team's work hours will be pulled from the first employee listed the bottom of the page (listed alphabetically by last name).

Add a Time Block

  1. Click on the date header for the date to which you want to add a time block.
  2. Click New Time Block. A new 30 minute time block is added. All non odd-man employees are added to the time block.

If you click New Time Block while an existing time block row has focus, a new 30 minute time block will be added immediately after the selected block.

Deleting a Time Block

  1. Select the time block that you want to delete.
  2. Click Remove Time Block. The time block is removed from the Team Check In window. Note that if the time block corresponded to a job or task, the job or task is NOT deleted from ServiceCEO; it is only removed from the Team Check In window.

Editing a Time Block

Editing time blocks in the Team Check In dialog box is very similar to editing time blocks in a Time Card. See the Editing Time Blocks section of the Time Card section for more.

Editing directions specific to the Team Check In dialog box are listed below:

Caution:
For a number of reasons, the payment amount may not be editable. If it is not, you will not be able to make edits in the Team Check In dialog box; instead, the Payments page of the Completion Wizard will appear. Users with the proper security rights can edit these values.
Payments are not editable if:

  • A pre-existing payment is applied to the job
  • The payment is already deposited
  • The payment is an automatic "pay at job site" payment
  • The job is being re-completed

Team Check In Field Chooser

The field chooser in the Team Check In dialog box is different then the field chooser on the customer list. Although the functionality is basically the same, only the Administrator can access the field chooser in the Team Check In dialog box.

The only difference then the main field chooser is the presence of the Tab Stop checkbox when on a field in the Selected Fields list is selected. Only fields with the Tab Stop button checked will be able to be “tabbed into.”

For more on the Field Chooser, see the Field Chooser section of the User's Guide, located online at http://www.insightdirect.com/help/ug/general/fieldchooser.htm.

Project Changes

The way that projects are constructed has been completely revamped in 6.0. In ServiceCEO 5.5 and previous, you had to walk through a complicated multi-step process to build a project and its associated visits. Now, with ServiceCEO 6.0, you can quickly build your projects using one screen: the Project Control Panel.

Note:
A project is a job that requires multiple visits, teams, or days of service. An example of a project is a floor building project that requires two separate teams – one to do the general construction, and one to clean and buff the floor to perfection.

In ServiceCEO 6.0, you can create a project in two ways:

Tip:
Both jobs and schedules can be converted into a project. When converting a job that hasn't yet been saved, the charges will be added to the Project Pool as project-level fixed charges. When converting existing jobs to a project, the project will, by default, contain one visit, and all of the job's charges will be distributed to this visit as Visit Only charges.

When a project is created or opened, the Project Control Panel appears.

The Project Control Panel
Project Actions

The Project Control Panel

The Project Control Panel was designed to let you make all of your project and visit level actions and edits from one location. It combines all of the functionality of the multiple Project pages from previous versions of ServiceCEO onto one page.

Tip:
To optimize use of the Project Control Panel, we recommend you have at least a 19 inch monitor (minimum 1280 x 1024 resolution).

There's a lot of information on this page. However, the data is split up into different sections. Let's take a detailed look at each section of the Project Control Panel below:

The active visit's (the visit being worked on) caption bar is bright blue. For example, in the screenshot above, the active visit is visit 4. All of the scheduling tools will function on the active visit.

Use the splitters between the various portions of the screen to increase or decrease the size of each section. You can also use the Hide Master List check box to increase your screen real estate.

More details on each section is located below.

Project Summary

The Project Summary section displays the information that each visit shares. These fields are:

Master Product and Service List

The Master Product and Service list box works in the same manner as it does in a regular job; you can search for and select the products/services you want to add to the project and/or visit(s).

Note that actually adding the selected product/service to the project is performed in the Operation Control section.

Operation Control

This section controls how you can add Master Products and Services to the project and/or individual project visits. It was introduced to replace the multi-step Charge Details dialog box in previous versions of ServiceCEO. Your options are:

Tip:
When you add a product/service to a specific visit, it will also appear in the project pool as a Visit only charge. Visit only charges can be identified by their icons: and .

Tip:
The method in which project charges are tracked has not changed in 6.0; only the method in which they are added to the project has changed.

Project Pool

The Project Pool displays all charges that are part of the project, either as a whole, or as part of an individual visit.

The project pool fields are:

The Auto filter Visits check box will filter each visit for only the charge that is selected in the project pool. For example, if you selected the Chair and Couch fixed charge and selected Auto filter Visits, the expanded visits will only display the Chair and Couch charge that are assigned to that visit. See the Project Visit Details section for details.

Tip:
To display the visit to which a visit-only charge is assigned, right-click the charge and select Find Visit. The visit will display in the Detailed Visit Information section of the Project Control Panel.

Project Visit Details

The Detailed Visit Information section displays information regarding all of your project visits.

Note:
To expand a visit to see the visit's details, you can either double-click a visit's header, click Expand Visits from the Visit Details menu, or right-click the header and select Expand from the pop-up menu. For example, in the screenshot above, you could double-click the blue line displaying [3] Multi-Visit Project - 3.
To contract the visits, either double-click the visit's header or click Collapse Visits.

The fields that appear for each project visit are:

Note:
If the Auto filter Visits check box is selected, the project visit may not display all of the project's charges. If the filtering is enabled, the bottom of the project visit will display text stating X rows (filtered).

Visit Details Menu

The Visit Details Menu enables you to control aspects of the project visits.

Note:
If you click Cancel Visit for an unsaved visit, the visit will be removed from the project (i.e., it will not appear as a cancelled visit; it will be deleted).

Project Actions

The following are step-by-step instructions for how to perform some common project actions.

Adding Visits to a Project
Editing Project Visits
Canceling Project Visits
Adding Charges to a Visit
Editing Project Charges
Right-click Menu

Adding Visits to a Project

To add visits to a project:

  1. Type the number of visits you want to add from the Add Visits field (located in the Visit Details menu).
  2. Click Add Visits. The Visits appear in the Detailed Visit Information section.

Tip:
To copy a visit, right-click the visit's header and select Duplicate Visit from the pop-up menu. A new visit appears, identical to the original, scheduled for the next working day after the day of the project's last visit. The project pool is updated to reflect the new charge(s).

Editing Project Visits

You can edit project visits from the Project Control Panel in three ways:

Canceling Project Visits

In previous versions of ServiceCEO, you could reduced the amount of visits via the Global Visit Update dialog box. This abiltity has been removed for data integretity reasons. However, note that you can cancel whatever visit you want by following the steps below.

  1. Select the visit you want to delete.
  2. Click Remove Visit or right-click the visit's header and select Cancel Visit from the pop-up menu. A confirmation dialog box appears.
  3. Click Yes. The visit's status will be changed to cancelled.

Adding Charges to a Visit

To add a charge to a project and/or visit:

  1. Search for and select the product or service to which you want to add to the project or visit from either the Master Product and Service List or the Project Pool.
  2. Select the appropriate options in the Operation Control section.
  3. Click Add Charge. The charge is added to the project pool and/or visits, depending on the selections you made in the Operation Control section.

Tip:
To display the visit to which a visit-only charge is assigned, right-click the charge and select Find Visit. The visit will display in the Detailed Visit Information section of the Project Control Panel.

Fixed charges can either be added to the project pool and not distributed, or added directly to a project visit (by using the Add to New Visits or Add to Selected Visits option buttons). A fixed charge in the project pool is intended to be a single charge for the entire project; it will not appear on any of the work orders, but will appear on the invoice. For example, if you needed to charge a $50.00 Environmental or Disposal Fee on a project, but didn't want it appearing on any of the visits, you would add it directly to the project pool. However, if you need a fixed charge to appear on a visit's work order, add it directly to the visit. The charge will appear grayed out in the project pool.

Editing Project Charges

You can edit a charge on a project in one of two ways:

Caution:
You will not be able to edit a visit-only charge in the Project Pool. You will need to edit these charges in the project visit to which it is assigned.

Tip:
The Charge Details dialog box will appear differently depending on where you access it. If you access it from the Project Pool, you will see the Charge Type tab, where you can define the charge's Charge Type and Reporting Details. This tab will not appear if you access it from a project visit since it is assumed you defined the charge's distribution through the project control panel.

Removing Project Charges

You can remove a charge from both the project pool and a visit by right-clicking the charge and selecting Remove charge from the pop-up menu.

Right-click Menu

A new right-click option exists where you can turn an existing job into a project. This option is available from three places:

Simply right-click each job and select Open/Edit Job as Project from the pop-up menu. The job will appear in the Project Control Panel as a one visit project. All charges will be one the one visit. You can then edit the job as a project.

Note:
The ability to convert an existing job to a project from the last page of the Completion Wizard still exists in 6.0, but the name of the check box has changed. Previously, this check box read Add a follow-up visit using a Project. Now it reads Open/Edit as a Project.

Customer Import

You can now import customers into ServiceCEO. We support importing customers from five data sources:

For the best results, we recommend using a Microsoft Access file.

For sample customer import information, please download the ServiceCEO Import Template.xls spreadsheet.

Tip:
Microsoft Excel data sources are not directly supported; however, you can use the “Save As…” option to save an Excel spreadsheet as a CSV file. You can then import this CSV file into ServiceCEO.
Caution:
The Customer Import tool is an extremely powerful feature. As such, you should be careful when importing information. With this in mind, we recommend that only users with an understanding of database structure and formatting use the tool.

Customer Import Wizard Troubleshooting

To import customers in to ServiceCEO:

  1. Select Tools > Customer Import. The Data Import Wizard appears. The Data Import Wizard will enable you to choose the file that will serve as your data source and configure it for importation into ServiceCEO.

While you can import customers from many different data sources, here we'll use the example of importing from a text (a TXT, CSV, or TAB) file. If you import customers from another format, you may experience minor differences then what is described below.

  1. Click Configure. The Text File Configuration dialog box appears.

  1. Click the three dots button. The Select File dialog box appears.
  2. Navigate to and select the file you want to use.
  3. Click OK. The file appears in the Filename field.
  4. Select the option button corresponding to the type of file you are importing.
  5. Click the First Row Contains Field Names check box if the first row of the file contains the names of the fields you are importing.
  6. Click Next. The second page of the Text File Configuration dialog box appears.

  1. Select the option button corresponding to the character that separates the values in your file.
  2. Click Next. The third page of the Text File Configuration dialog box appears, displaying the data separated by fields.

  1. If you are importing a TXT file, you can edit the column headers by clicking the header and typing your edits into the field.
Tip:
Be sure to scroll to the right to view all of the available fields.
Note:
Be sure to provide each column with a clear, self-descriptive name so that you can easily map the data by column name into ServiceCEO.
  1. Click Finish. The first page of the Data Import Wizard reappears.
  2. Click Next>. The second page of the Data Import Wizard appears.

  1. Be sure to read the instructions on this screen of the wizard carefully. From here, you are mapping fields from your data source to their corresponding fields in ServiceCEO.

Tip:
When mapping your fields, you can manually enter a field value for all imported records. For example, if your data source has no field corresponding to the ServiceCEO Credit Problem? field, you can type yes, no, true, or false into its corresponding Map This Field field to set all imported records to that value. Another good use of this feature is to create a new demographic containing all of the customers being imported by typing a name for the new demographic in the Map this Field column for the NewDemographicName field.
Note that this is a powerful feature. Be very sure that you want every imported record to be updated to the value you enter before continuing.
  1. Select the Key check box if you are updating existing data in ServiceCEO instead of adding new data. Existing records that have matching Key Field values will be updated. If a matching value is found, no new record will be created for that line item. If the Key Field's value has no corresponding value in ServiceCEO, a completely new record will be created for that part.
    You should configure several (one to three) Key fields at the customer, location, and contact levels.

Tip:
The first location that is imported for a customer will be set as that customer's Primary and Bill To location. All subsequent locations will not be configured as the primary and bill to location.
If there is a value in the Company Name field, the customer record will be marked as a Corporate record; if no value appears in the Company Name field, then the customer record will be marked as individual.
All imported customers will have a status of Prospective.
Caution:
If you receive any errors during the importation process, it may be because of inappropriate field mappings. Double-check the information in your data source to be sure the mappings you’ve specified make sense for each destination field (the fields in the To This Field column).
  1. Select or type a value in the appropriate Map this Field field. See the ServiceCEO Import Template.xls spreadsheet for details.
  2. Once you've completed mapping the fields, click Next. The next page of the Data Import Wizard appears. This page previews the results of the customer import you just created. The icons that appear in the Action column are designed to inform you of the actions that are being taken on each customer record. They are:

  1. You can edit any field in the preview grid. Be sure to scroll to the right to view all of the fields in the import.
Tip:
You can use the Tab key to move quickly between fields.
  1. Select the Include check box to include a customer from the import. If this check box is deselected, the item will be excluded from this import (thus, it will not be imported or updated). Note that the Select All and Select None buttons will select or deselect the Include check box for all items.
  2. When you have completed previewing the import, click Next. The fourth page of the Data Import Wizard appears.

  1. Click the Save Import Configuration check box to save your import configuration to an XML file. Doing so provides you with the ability to reload the XML file if you need to re-import the customers.
  2. Click Finish to complete the import.

Best Practices when Importing Customers into ServiceCEO Enterprise

Customer Import Wizard Troubleshooting

Data in text file data sources (.txt, .csv) should not contain irregular (non-alphanumeric - for example: &, %, *, /) characters. In addition, if a column header contains a space, you will receive an error message. To fix the problem, we recommend you either:
- Remove the spaces or irregular characters
- Replace the spaces with underscores or dashes
- Surround the problematic text with double quotes (")
- Import the text file into Microsoft Access

If you find that some data is missing after importing a text file into ServiceCEO, the problem may be because the columns and/or fields in the text file have different formats. For example, if you have one column where some fields are letter-based but others are number-based, some of these values may be dropped when importing into