CSM Module tips
< Getting started Maintenance work example | Skill levels | Escalation levels | Job categories
Job flavour | Job paths | Recording service calls | CSM Boards | My TO Do list
 
Customer Service Management Module
  First things first, you will need Internet Explorer 6 installed on your system or you will experience a crash when in the Diary Screen if you click on the Timesheet or Detailed Summary options. You also need to realise that both the Customer Service Management and the Reports and Marketing modules require some thought in the preparation of the data and the data input tools in order to get the correct results. None of this is difficult, you just need to work methodically through a checklist.
     
Customer Service Management Module
  There is no substitute for experience and this point is never more relevant than to the setting up of the CSM module which involves quite a number of items. Whilst each item is generally straightforward it will be to your benefit to contact either a TCM dealer or ourselves for advice on the setup of your CSM module. This can only be a brief overview and you will get a much better idea of the capability and setup of the system from your local dealer or by an Internet demonstration from us. Call 01427 872523 to arrange this. You will be informed where you can download the necessary Citrix viewer which will enable this and then a time to call. You should make sure that your screen resolution is set to 800x600 and that your Taskbar at the bottom of the screen is not visible. You may well have a system in operation at the moment. Whether you are maintaining and repairing equipment or allocating consultants to a job, there are various steps which have to be taken. Once you have worked through the setup of the system and gone through your learning curve you will find that TCM4000 gives you a very powerful platform to support your Asset Management or Customer Service Management functions.
 
  An example for Maintenance and repair work.
You will have, or you will need:-
A list of Assets (the equipment) which you are responsible for maintaining. If this belongs to a customer then these items will be stored in Asset folders within the customer's folder, this will either be a Company, Family or Contact Folder. A simple example is within the Example 1 which you will have imported at the time of installation of TCM4000. You will see that the BBC has an Asset folder and within that are assets which are 'owned' by the BBC and also 'owned' or associated with contacts who work for or 'belong' to the BBC i.e. their Contact Folders are within the BBC folder. You can 'send' this list of Assets to a Table by clicking on the drop list adjacent the Table icon on the Task Bar. Assets will have various properties. For example, Assets are categorised in Categories (See File/Setup/Administrative/Asset tab for setting up Asset fields. YOU ARE STRONGLY ADVISED NOT TO ALTER ANY OF THE FIELDS ON THE FRONT PAGE SINCE THESE INTERACT WITH OTHER PARTS OF THE TCM4000 CSM MODULE). The default categories are Cars, Vans, Bikes, Lorries. You can use these or delete them, but once you have set up a Category and entered data you should not delete it otherwise you will lose all of the data links for Assets belonging to that category).

You will see how you can choose properties for the fields. For example, the Make field could be a drop list field into which you enter a list of the Make of motor cars, or vans. You can allow the user to enter an additional item if required by selecting the appropriate property for the field. Similarly you can have a drop list for the Model field and put items into the list to facilitate rapid entry of details. There are quick ways to duplicate entries for entire Assets, for example, 20 PCs which you wish to enter in a batch can be easily dealt with.

The Assets may be covered by a Warranty, so you will need to set up Warranty types in File/Setup/Warranties. The details here will impact on the response times that you will expect (as a customer expecting support) or which you will be obliged to comply with (if you are responsible for the fulfilment of the warranty obligations).

The Assets may also be the subject of a written, renewable maintenance contract. This number is entered in the appropriate field. The maintenance contract itself can be created as a standard letter in File/Setup/Write a letter and can be populated with the relevant data from the TCM database. It can be saved in the customer folder by Linking and at the same time the reminder and renewal dates can be diarised in the Maintenance Diary. This is created by creating a New User called Maintenance Diary and it is into this diary that all relevant maintenance dates are written.

The Assets are created in each Category in much the same way as contacts are created. Wherever you create Assets there will be an Asset Category folder created and within that folder will be the individual Assets. You can set up how much of the Asset details you want to see in each of the display screens in File/Setup/Profile Summary by dragging the fields that you wish to display above the black line that you will see there which appears for each of the folder types. Information above the black line shows in the display, information below does not.

To Create an Asset within a company folder you need to highlight the Company or Contact where the Asset belongs and click Edit. This will open the Contact Details box. Click on the Asset tab on the left hand side and you will see the Asset types with space below to click to activate your ability to put the Asset details in on the right hand side of the screen. Here you will see your work in setting up the drop lists pays off, and you will also see the Warranty type.

To 'own' an Asset, right click on the name of the company on the left hand side of the Contact Details box and choose Owns and then click on the Asset tab and then select the Asset owned by the company. Repeat this with the Contact who 'owns' a particular asset. Have a look at the BBC example referred to earlier on.

When you view the Company or Contact in any of the display areas you will then see a hyperlink to the Asset or from the Asset to the Company or Contact.

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Skill levels
    Having (briefly) set up the Assets, another element in Customer Service Management involves the skills base of the Human Resource at you disposal. You therefore need to set up the skills levels of your TCM4000 Users (each of your Engineers or Repair people have to be created as TCM4000 Users - File/Setup/Users). Having created the Users (you only have one User + Administrator allowed in your TCM4000 single user version) you then need to give each User a skill level. In the Users attributes box you will see many available attributes including Access Rights. The attribute that we are concerned with here is the Skill Level. Towards the bottom of the list you will find the Categories of Assets. Select each of these in turn and then allocate a skill level for each user against that Asset Category., the skill levels range from 'Highly qualified' to 'Never send me'. File/Setup/Administrative/Users also sets up who 'Can allocate jobs' and who 'Can be allocated jobs'.
 
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Escalation levels (Job statuses) File/Setup/Shared choices
You will escalate a job, typically from 'no status' or similar, through to signed off complete, or whatever. There are defaults in the TCM4000 System which are typical and you are advised to give a good degree of thought to the levels of escalation which you require. Above all, try to keep it simple. People often work in hurried circumstances so the less complicated something is the less likely that mistakes are likely to be made.

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Job Categories File/Setup/Shared choices
Such as Hardware, Software. The key concepts here are 'Who is the manager for this type of work' i.e. do you have a separate supervisor looking after separate types of work? Is there a clear division that anyone who is taking the job details will rapidly and clearly understand? If not, then just stick to one type of Job category.

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Job flavour File/Setup/Shared choices
Not as rigid a requirement here. The main split, if there is to be a split, is made at the Job Category stage. Job flavours would be Repair, Installation, Advice, and this would be at the discretion or within the experience of the supervisor allocating the work to other personnel (or himself).

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Job paths.
Having set up Assets, Warranties and Skill levels, we now need a place to store the Jobs which will result from the CSM activities. In the Filing Screen, create a Normal Folder called Jobs. (There are more complex setups which can be configured whereby you can have multiple Job paths for different types of work, but in the beginning just start with one Job folder. Having created this, go into File/Setup/Administrative/Job folders. Click on the '+' sign and browse for the Job folder which you have just created. Beneath this box you can choose a prefix for your job numbers and you can choose the number at which you jobs start. The advice is to keep it simple, start at 1000 or similar.

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Recording Service Calls
Having set up the key elements above, we can now record a Service call. This is the icon which shows a hammer, and this appears in the Telephone and Notes screens. Clicking on this icon brings up the CSM form. (The skill here is in setting up the Templates which are used in taking the Job Description, the Engineers Notes and the Survey Forms - our advice is to analyse your existing job sheets for regularly used phrases and to set up your Templates accordingly - File/Setup/Templates). The job of the call taker is to ensure that the Asset is registered (if not create one here), that the Asset is covered by a warranty (if not take a Purchase order number), to check that the Address of the site of the Asset is correct (the invoice address can be automatically set to appear in this box), and that the Description of the fault is correctly described, preferably by using the user defined Template buttons. Once the call is logged in this way, the call taker can close out of the telephone call, (or Notes, if input in that way), and leave the rest of the process to the supervisor who will now see the job on the Big Board.

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The Entire CSM Big Board and My CSM Big Board
Click on the To Do icon on the Task bar. You will see the Entire CSM Big Board. This is the listing of all of the jobs currently in progress and lists the main elements of resouce allocated to each job. All TCM users can see this board and the information displayed below which shows the history of the job.

The My CSM Big Board is seen only by the TCM User who has rights allocated under File/Setup/Users - Can allocate jobs. By double clicking on the job shown on the board the CSM form will be displayed. Here the Supervisor can check the skill levels of the available Engineers and allocate an Engineer. The Supervisor can also select the jobsheet to be printed, and if required, he can also print out a blank Gas or Electrical inspection sheet (File/Setup/Service management for the sheets which are written in html. Default sheets are included but the user can make their own).

Once the job has been dealt with, the Supervisor can untick the red flag against the job. The red flag means that action has to be taken.

Once the job has been completed by the Engineer, the jobsheet is returned and the supervisor can go back into the job, by double clicking it on his My CSM Big Board, and can escalate the job further and enter the Engineers Notes and the Engineers Times. The Supervisor can also enter the information from any survey form which might have been completed, rapid entry of standard nomenclature can be achieved by using the Template buttons to make clear, consistent and elegant annotations.

When the Supervisor OK's out of the CSM form the details are stored in the appropriate places in the database. When the job is completed, and the recommendation is that 'completed' means invoiced, then it can be deleted from the My CSM Big Board. In doing so the invoice amount could be saved as a final note. Only a User with the right to allocate jobs can change things on the Big Board, and only on the Big Board over which they have such rights.

A list of all jobs completed for a particular company can be shown by highlighting a customer folder and then clicking on the drop list alongside the Table icon and choosing to view all jobs.

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My To Do list and My CSM To Do list
Each TCM user has a To Do list. Those users who have the User attributes 'can be allocated jobs' also have a My CSM To Do list which shows the jobs allocated to them. They cannot change any of the details of these jobs, it is a view only list. A wallchart of all TCM Users and their allocated jobs shown by time and date by clicking on the double head icon in the bottom right area of the Big Board. As previously stated, the above is merely an overview of the main elements of the CSM module. Generally only organisations which have the time and resource and the requirement for such a system will work through the entire setup configuration. TCM dealers are ready to assist as required.

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