Posts Sales and Service messages in e-automate when equipment has been billed on estimated meters, so your team gets a real reading at the next customer contact.
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Overview | Samples | Variables | Alert Functionality | Best Practices & Tips | Related Alerts
Overview
Overview
Estimated meters are a problem, and not billing contracts because of no meters is a bigger one. This alert posts both Sales and Service messages in e-automate advising the need to get a meter, so don't let that customer off the phone without a meter, and make sure the tech gets one if there is a service call.
It identifies recently billed meters where the billed Beginning Meter and End Meter were both estimated. It can also flag devices that haven't had a confirmed (non-estimated) meter reading within a number of days you choose, and add the messages to those too. If a more recent confirmed meter has been received, the message won't be added, or if it's already there, it will be removed.
When first installed, ID882 runs in test mode so you can review the results before it goes live.
We no longer require more beta testers for this process. We are working through feedback and will mark the process active when we have completed this. If you have subscribed for testing and haven't heard from us, we will get back to you once we are ready to go live.
Run Schedule: Weekday evenings
Type of Output: Sales and Service messages in e-automate, plus a daily summary email with a CSV attachment
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Sample
Sample
(Right click on image(s) to view in larger form)
Daily summary email, in test mode, showing the messages that would be added. The full list is attached as a CSV:
Sample output:
Before: the equipment’s Sales/Service tab with no messages:
Sample output:
After: Sales and Service messages added by ID882, with your Message Subject (Variable W) as the subject and your Custom Message (Variable Y) as the message:
Sample output:
What staff see in the Message center when entering a sales order or service call for that equipment:
Sample output:
Contract billing queue message added when Create contract messages (Variable 2) is set to Yes:
Sample output:
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Variables
Variables
Variable W: Message Subject - message subject for Sales/Service messages, also used as the contract billing queue message when Variable 2 is set to Yes (OPTIONAL). Defaults to Meter(s) Required.
Variable X: AttributeName for Customer/Equipment to exclude - custom property attribute on the equipment or customer record used to exclude that account from this process (OPTIONAL). Defaults to ZCJ_Alert882MeterHold. See Custom Property Set Up.
Variable Y: Custom Message - custom message to add to Sales/Service messages (OPTIONAL). Defaults to Meter reading needed!
Variable Z: Branch Numbers - branch numbers to trigger on, separated by commas (OPTIONAL). Leave blank for all branches.
Variable 1: Days without confirmed reading - number of days a device has not received a confirmed meter reading (OPTIONAL). Leave blank to ignore this and only trigger on begin/end billed estimated meters.
Variable 2: Create contract messages - create/modify contract billing queue messages (OPTIONAL). Defaults to No.
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Alert Functionality
Alert Functionality
Test mode
When ID882 is first installed, it runs in test mode. You'll receive the daily summary showing which records would be updated, so you can review the results before anything changes. Once you're happy with them, let us know and we'll switch the process live.
Which equipment gets a message
ID882 only looks at active devices on an active contract. It flags a device when:
- its recently billed Beginning Meter and End Meter were both estimated, or
- Days without confirmed reading (Variable 1) is set, and the device hasn't had a confirmed (non-estimated) meter reading within that many days. This check looks only at meter readings, not billing.
If a more recent confirmed meter has been received, the device isn't flagged.
Only equipment in the branches listed in Branch Numbers (Variable Z) is included, or all branches if that's left blank.
The messages
For each flagged device, ID882 adds a Sales message and a Service message to the equipment in e-automate. Each has your Message Subject (Variable W) as its subject, and your Custom Message (Variable Y) plus the reason the device was flagged as the message. E.g. {ID882:Meter reading needed! No confirmed meter read.:ID882}. Anyone entering a sales order or service call for that equipment sees it in the Message center, so they know to ask for a meter reading.
If Create contract messages (Variable 2) is set to Yes, ID882 also adds a billing queue message to the contract, using your Message Subject and the equipment number. E.g. {ID882:Meter(s) Required D44217:ID882}. This is separate from the messages on the equipment, and is added below any message already on the contract.
The braces and ID882 tags let the process find its own messages again later, so it can remove them once a confirmed meter reading comes in.
If there is an existing message on the equipment record, ID882 will add its message to the end of the existing message and will not update the subject.
The daily summary email
The daily summary email lists each message added or updated, showing the prior message and the updated one. The email shows the first 200 records, and a CSV file with the complete list is attached. Usually only the first run goes over 200 records, so you can rely on the email body after that. The email tells you how many records have been triggered, so you know whether to check the CSV attachment.
Clearing messages
Each run starts by checking every customer and equipment record that carries the message text. Where a non-estimated meter has been received after the last billed meter date, the text is removed, so messages clear themselves once a real reading is in.
Because it runs every weekday evening, a message is cleared the same evening a meter comes in, so a customer who gave a reading today isn't asked again if they call back tomorrow.
Excluding customers or equipment
Use the custom property named in AttributeName for Customer/Equipment to exclude (Variable X) to keep accounts out of this process. Set it on a customer to exclude all of that customer's equipment, or on a single piece of equipment to exclude just that device.
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Best Practices & Tips
Best Practices & Tips
Custom Property Set Up
To exclude customers or equipment, create a custom property attribute with the name set in AttributeName for Customer/Equipment to exclude (Variable X) (default ZCJ_Alert882MeterHold):
- Data type: User-Defined Lookup, with the values Enabled and Disabled.
- Add it to your customer and equipment custom property configurations.
- Set it to Disabled on any customer or piece of equipment you want ID882 to leave alone.
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Related Alerts
Related Alerts
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