1. Escalation Manager

2. Escalation Management Overview
What is the Escalation Manager?
In reality, Escalation Manager is a section of code within the SAMPro software that may be configured to meet your firms’ needs.
But to understand how it works, think of Escalation Manager as your own personal assistant that
Is always on the job
Always remembers deadlines
Is a champion multi-tasker
Keeps the various requirements for your different customers in mind
Management by Exception
Escalation Manager enables ‘management by exception’: the software handles routine situations on its own, and alerts personnel to the exceptions (problems) before a small issue becomes a big headache.

3. Escalation Management Process: An Overview
Technician
Main Tab: , 2, and Fax
Start Scheduled Event Manager
Client
Main Screen: , 2, and Fax
New Call:
Select Site and Equipment with Escalation Profile on Main Tab, create Work Order.
Client Site
Contacts Tab: , 2, and Fax
Client Site Equipment
Main Tab: Escalation Profile for Service
PM Tab: Escalation Profile for PM’s
Work Order
Escalation Profile set on creation
Escalation
Profile
Notification Category
When a Work Order is created, SAMPro uses information in the Escalation Profile to generate a list of Scheduled Events.
List of Scheduled Events A

4. Escalation Process Management: An Overview
Send message to Tech
Scheduled Event Manager
When the Scheduled Event Manager is running, it will periodically review its list of pending/triggered events to see if any of them should be executed or cancelled. When the system clock reaches execution time, the event will be executed or cancelled.
Work Order
Escalation Status
Parts Manager
List of Scheduled Events
Cancel Alarm message for Dispatcher
Fax
Customer

5. Important Records: The Work Order
The status of the Work Order as a whole (Escalation Status) is used by the Escalation Manager to determine which actions need to be taken.
The Work Order Escalation Status is displayed on the Other Info tab.
The Technicians lower tab displays the Log Type Id for each tech, which is used to derive the Work Order Escalation Status.

6. Work Order Escalation Status and Technician Status
Work Order Escalation Status and Technician Log Type Id
Both the Work Order Escalation Status and Technician Log Type Id are checked/set whenever the Work Order is updated from the Dispatch Board, TechAnywhere, IVR, Work Order viewer, etc.
The Escalation Status is set based on the lines for each Technician on the Technicians tab.
Each Technician line is assigned a priority based on its Log Type Id – these are the Statuses that you see on the Dispatch Board.
When evaluating the Technician statuses, Archived is highest priority and Tech Declined is lowest.
The Work Order Escalation Status is set based on the highest priority Technician line, as shown on the following slide.
The Escalation Status Category is derived from the Work Order Escalation, also shown on the following slide.
Note: If the Work Order Type is set to Material Direct, the WO Status Category will be set to ‘Archived’ instead of ‘Completed’ when the Escalation Status is set to ‘Completed’.

7. Escalation Status Hierarchy
Highest Tech Status Work Order Escalation Status Escalation Status Category
Archived Archived Archived
Credit Hold Credit Hold Open
Unacknowledged Unacknowledged Open
Work Declined Work Declined Cancelled
WaitCustApprvl WaitCustApprvl Pending Ok to Start
WaitDispApprvl WaitDispApprvl Open
InvoiceApproved Invoice Approved Completed
InvoiceDisputed InvoiceDisputed Pending Ok to Invoice
Onsite Active Open
Travel Active Open
On Break Active Open
Return Trip Return Trip Open
Parts Pickup Parts Pickup Open
Waiting Parts Waiting Parts Open
Parts Ordered Parts Ordered Open
Parts Received Parts Received Open
Pending Pending Open
Checked Out Checked Out Open
Scheduled Scheduled Open
Rescheduled Rescheduled Open
Waiting Service Waiting Service Open
Quote Approved Quote Approved Open
Waiting Quote Waiting Quote Open
Quote Received Quote Received Open
Hold Hold Open
Invoice Ready Invoice Ready Pending Ok to Invoice
Invoice Review Invoice Review Completed
Wait Paperwork Wait Paperwork Completed
Completed Completed Completed
Billed Billed Billed
No Bill No Bill Billed
Cancelled Cancelled Cancelled
Tech Declined Tech Declined Open

8. Escalation Manager – Scheduled Events
The Escalation Manager needs specific information to determine what, if anything should be done if the Escalation Status on a Work Order changes (or fails to change). This information is included in the Scheduled Event record(s) linked to the WO.
The Scheduled Event
Determines what actions should be taken when a Work Order achieves (or fails to achieve) a certain status.
Zero, one or multiple Scheduled Events may be associated with each Work Order.
Although a Scheduled Event may be manually added to a Work Order, in most cases Scheduled Events are automatically generated when the Work Order is created using an Escalation Profile.
Scheduled Event 1
Notify Tech when WO is created
Work Order
Scheduled Event 2
Alarm – execute if WO status fails to be set to active within a day of its creation

9. Scheduled Event
Click the Events button on the left-hand side of the Work Order to view the list of Scheduled Events. Click View to see the setup for this Work Order’s Events and Notifications.

10. Scheduled Event
This scheduled event is an Alarm. An will be sent to the specified address if the associated Work Order’s status has not been changed from Unacknowledged by the technician by 5:30 AM.

11. Work Order: Escalation Profile
The Escalation Profile that the system used to generate the Scheduled Events is referenced on the Main tab of the Work Order as Esc. Profile Id. This is a display-only field that cannot be altered after the Work Order has been generated.

12. Client Site Equipment
The actions required for managing PM work orders typically differ from those required for emergency service. Therefore, the Escalation Profile attached to the Client Site Equipment’s Main tab will default to Work Orders created in New Call. The Escalation Profile attached to the PM Schedule tab will default to PM Work Orders generated by the system.
This Escalation Profile will default to Work Orders created in New Call. Typically, it would be designed for emergency service Work Orders.
This Escalation Profile defaults to PM Work Orders.

13. Notification Category
This record defines the recipients of alarms/notifications, as well as what method will be used to deliver the alarm or notification. A Notification Category is specific for each event defined in an Escalation Profile.
The Method defines how the alarm or notification will be conveyed to the recipient. In this example, a message will be sent as an RTD (Remote Tech Device) notification.
The TechAnywhere Method should only be selected if RTD is implemented on your system. When used in an Escalation Profile, this option is the triggering mechanism for publishing the XML payload for RTD. 

14. Notification Category
The Source defines the source of the address the notification will be sent to. In this example, notifications will be sent via TechAnywhere(since TechAnywhere is specified in the Method).
The From category sets the Sender address used for s sent by Escalation Manager.

15. Notification Category
Alternately, if Source None and Method are selected, notifications will be sent to the Address specified in this record.

16. Escalation Profile
Escalation Profiles should include standard actions that you want implemented for web logs or Work Orders. We will only cover Escalation Profiles for Work Orders in this lesson.
The lower section lists actions to be executed when the Work Order Escalation Status changes.
In the next slide, we will discuss the first three fields: Source, Action Type, and Notify Id.
The Id and Description field should provide meaningful information. For example, if you create a profile for PM’s for a particular customer, include the customer’s name and the initials PM in the description.

17. Escalation Profile: Important Fields
Source:
weblog or workorder: An Escalation Profile for weblogs should contain ‘weblog’ entries; one designed for Work Orders should contain only entries with ‘workorder’ as their Source.
Action Type:
Notifications occur when an action takes place or at a set time afterward:
An is sent to a technician when a Work Order is assigned to him
A fax is sent to a customer an hour after a Work Order is completed
Alarms are triggered when an action fails to occur:
A message appears on the Alarm Board when a Work Order fails to go active within two hours
An is sent to a technician’s pager when a Work Order fails to be acknowledged within thirty minutes.
An alarm is automatically cancelled if the action that it was waiting for occurs.
Notify Id: This field specifies the Notification Category that defines who should receive the alarm or notification. The Notification Category may refer to a specific individual (e.g., a dispatcher) or reference the address in the Client, Client Site, Technician or Vendor record.

18. Escalation Profile
Status From: Status To: These fields refer to the Escalation Status of the Work Order, and are used by the Scheduled Event manager to determine if a notification should be sent or an alarm triggered or cancelled.
The status of 'any' refers to any escalation status.
Contingent: The Contingent flag is only used for Alarms. If it is checked, the alarm will initially be created with a status of OnHold. Contingent events will not be set to Pending (so that the Scheduled Events Manager can "release" them) until the Escalation Status of the Work Order matches the Status From field. This limits the number of alarms released to the system.

19. Escalation Profile
Time Base: If the field is set to Scheduled, time calculations will be based on when the Work Order is scheduled, or when it changes status (for example, send an to the customer 5 minutes after the Work Order is completed). If this field is set to Created, times are relative to when the Work Order was generated.
Days: Hours: Minutes: Except for the Special Case listed below, the system uses relative time to compute when an event should occur. For example, if an alarm is to be sent when a Work Order is 2 hours past due, the two hour timing is based on when the Work Order is scheduled for service. These fields may be specified as negative integers for Alarm based events. This enables you to set alarms before the time a Work Order is scheduled.
Example: Alarm From: Waiting Service To: Active Day: -1
This will send the message 1 day prior to the scheduled date for starting the Work Order. If the Work Order's status changes the alarm is canceled.
Notifications: These fields define the time delay (if any) between when a status changes and occurs and a notification is sent. Note: If the Days, Hours and Minutes are all 0, the notification will be executed immediately regardless of the To: From: status.
Alarms: If the status change (specified by Status From and Status To fields) occurs within the length of time defined by the time fields, the alarm will be canceled. If the specified status change does not occur, the alarm will be triggered.
Special Case: Absolute Time If you complete the Day and the Hours or Minutes field, the event will be scheduled for an absolute time. For example, if you enter 1 in the Days field, and 1 in the Hours field, the event would occur at 1:00AM on the following day.

20. Escalation Profile Return Receipt? This field is for future use only.
Attach Documents: Check the Attach Documents box for any event to which you may wish to attach documents. Typically, one or more documents would be attached to the initial notification of the technician (for example, a checklist of tasks saved as an MSWord document).
The specific document or documents to be attached to the are selected in New Call by clicking the Attachment button. When Escalation Manager runs, it will look at each scheduled event and determine if its Attach Document flag is set. If so, the selected documents will be included as an attachment.

21. Escalation Profile Email Subject: Email Text: Notification Text:
These fields define the contents of the subject line and contents of notifications and alarms implemented via . The Notification Text is displayed in the list of scheduled events and/or the Alarm Board. In addition to the text that you enter, you may also specify variables in order to include information such as the Work Order Id, Client Site Name, etc., in the Sub fields.

22. Escalation Profile Token Variables:
Fields such as the record id, name, description, address, and phone numbers within tables directly referenced by the work order can be defined as token variables. These tables include Client, Client Site, Client Site Equipment (first line of the Equipment tab),Technician (first line of the Equipment tab), Work Order, Work Order Equipment, Work Code, and Service Account Manager.
Fields that reference external tables not included in the above list (such as the Account Manager Id in the Client Site Record) cannot be used as tokens.

23. Escalation Profile: Token Variable
Token Variables
When you save or change the escalation profile, the system will check that your fieldname formats are correctly configured, and inform you if any of the fieldname variables are incorrectly specified.
Single-line variables, and the first line of multiple-line fields (e.g., street address) are defined using the following format:
^fieldname^
where fieldname is replaced by the Data-Basics fieldname that appears when you position the cursor over a field in the Work Order or Web Log. Note that each variable must be preceded and followed by the caret ^ symbol.
A list of popular token variables follows:
Variable Result ^wrkordr_id^ Displays the Work Order Id ^wkrordr_nme^ Displays the Work Order Name ^clntste_id^ Displays the Client Site Id ^clntste_nme^ Displays the Client Site Name ^clnsteeqpmnt_id^ Displays the Equipment Id ^wrkordreqpmnt_wrk_prfrmd^ Displays the Work Performed ^date^ Displays the current system date ^time^ Display the current system time
 Addresses and Multiple-Line Variables
The second and succeeding lines of multiple line fields are defined as follows: ^fieldname_2^ ^fieldname_3^ and so on.

24. Escalation Profile: Token Variables
Workorder Technician Token Variables
A special token-type has been implemented for the purpose of providing access to WO Tech line data. Tokens beginning with 'wrkordrtchncn:' (NOTE the colon) employ special SQL logic. The general format to use is:   ^wrkordrtchncn:{database column name}^ The token for showing the WO Tech line PO Id in an message is ^wrkordrtchncn:prchseordr_id^. 
All Work Requested
The following token displays the equipment id and name and the work requested of all equipment lines on the Work Order when this event is generated:
^workrequestedall^

25. Token Variable Identifiers in the Work Order
In this example, the Dispatch Note would be specified as ^clntste_dsptch_nte^ in an Escalation Profile.
Additional identifiers for token variables may be viewed by placing the pointer over a field in the work order. The field name (that may be used as a token variable will be displayed in the lower left-hand border.

26. Escalation Profiles – Skipping Weekends
The detail view of Escalation Profile lines includes fields that instruct the Scheduled Event Manager to skip weekends. For example, suppose that our Technician is assigned to a PM Work Order scheduled for next Monday. Without the weekend days being checked, the tech would receive his notification on Sunday – not too useful if he doesn’t check on the weekend. With the Skip days fields checked, his notification would arrive on Friday at the time scheduled.
Click the Magnify button to access the Skip Saturday and Sunday fields.

27. Escalation Profiles – Skipping Weekends
If one or both Skip boxes are checked, the Scheduled Event Manager will skip these days when generating scheduled events according to the following:
If a positive value is specified in the Days, Hours or Minutes field, and the event would fall on a day that should be skipped, the event will be scheduled for the first day after the last skipped day
If a negative value is specified in the Days, Hours or Minutes field, and the event would fall on a day that should be skipped, the event will be scheduled for the day before the first skipped day
In this example, suppose the Work Order scheduled for next Monday. Without the Skip days fields being checked, the tech would receive his notification on Sunday. With the Skip days checked, his notification would arrive on Friday – much more useful for planning purposes.

28. Escalation Profiles – Running a Report
The Detail view of the Escalation Profile viewer also contains Function Id and Function Parameter fields. These fields may be used to specify that a report is run when event defined. This functionality is currently implemented for work-order related reports such as the work order list. For example, it could be used to a .pdf version of the work order to a technician when it is assigned to him. The Function Id references the report and the Parameters field specifies the parameters required to run the report.
Note: both the Scheduled Event Manager and Scheduled Report Manager must be running in order for the report to be executed and sent.
Never use the Attach Document and Function Id feature in the same Escalation Profile line. If you need to send a report and extra documents, create two separate escalation lines to do so.

29. Registry Entries: sys-email
This registry entry enable ing by SAMPro with either a serversmtp or pop3server configuration.
Setting Key: serversmtp Setting Value: address where address is replaced by the address of your (smtp) server. Typically, this will be an internal IP address.
Setting Key: pop3server Setting Value: address where address is replaced by the address of your pop3 server (to retrieve ). Typically, this will be an internal IP address.
Setting Key: pop3user Setting Value: pop3username where pop3username is replaced by the user's pop3 user id (for retrieving ).
Setting Key: pop3pw Setting Value: pop3password where pop3password is replaced by the user's password on the pop3 server (for retrieving ).
Setting Key: RedirectAll Setting Value: address This option redirects all generated out of SAMPro to a specific address or addresses (separated by commas). This option would typically be implemented to avoid sending out spurious s when you are running a test system.

30. Registry Entries: sys-newcall
This option of the sys-newcall registry entry is required if you wish to attach one or more documents to s generated by escalation manager.
Setting Key: DocumentCategories Setting Value: category1,category2...
Where category1 is replaced by the Category field in the Document viewer.
In addition to this registry entry, the following must also be implemented:
In the Escalation Profile, check Attach ‘Documents’ for any event to which you wish to attach documents.
The specific document to be attached is selected in New Call by clicking the paperclip (attachment) button. Only documents belonging the categories specified in this registry will be listed. When Escalation Manager runs, it will look at each scheduled event and determine if its Attach Document flag is set. If so, the documents selected in New Call will be included as attachments.

31. Creating Your Own Escalation Profiles
Keep it simple in the beginning: your personnel will need to adjust to alarms and notifications.
Implement the redirect registry option in sys- while you are testing.
Fine-tune your profiles when needed. After escalation management has been running for a week or two, evaluate what needs to be changed. Another review at the one-month anniversary will offer more ideas for refinement.
The initial work order escalation status will be set to Waiting Service if the work order technician is not flagged has having Remote Access (e.g., not using TechAnywhere).
The initial work order escalation status will be set to Unacknowledged if the technician does have Remote Access. This information is included on the RemoteAccess tab of the Technician Record.
The profile should model the life of the work order at the organization. For example, if there is a time guarantee of 24 hours to acknowledge a work order, then that will need to be included as an alarm and/or notification event to be executed earlier than the 24 hour guarantee. Or if there are certain documents that are used during the process, you can incorporate an event into the profile that emulates the document.
Jot down the purpose of the escalation profile – you may find that creating a process flowchart is helpful. Review this with your implementation team.
Alarms or notifications may be sent to dispatchers, technicians, parts managers, service account managers, clients, etc. at various points in the escalation process.
Once you have good idea of what is supposed to happen, begin coding.
Test your profiles thoroughly before implementing throughout your firm.

32. Sample Escalation Profiles
Source: workorder Action Type: alarm Notify Id: Alarm
Status From: waiting service Min: 30
Status To: any Checked – Contingent
Description: wrkordr/alarm /waitsrvc/any /Alarm/c30
Notification Text: Workorder #: ^wrkordr_id^ for Customer: ^clntste_nme^ is Waiting Service!
This event is set up in response to a work order being initiated through the New Call Screen and assigned to a technician that is not flagged as have Remote Access. If the work order’s status has not changed from waiting service within 30 minutes, then an alarm will be executed and will appear on the Alarm Board.
Source: workorder Action Type: notification Notify Id: TechPager
Status From: any Min: 1
Status To: unacknowledged
Description: workorder/notification /any/unacknowledged/1
Notification Text: New Workorder#: ^wrkordr_id^ has been assigned to you.
This notification would be sent to a Technician’s pager one minute after the work order status changed to unacknowledged. This would be the case when a work order was created for a technician with remote access.

33. Sample Escalation Profiles
Source: workorder Action Type: notification Notify Id: Customer
Status From: any Min: 1
Status To: active
Description: wrkordr/notif /any/active /Cust/1
Subject: Work from ^clntste_nme^ has been dispatched to ^tchncn_nme^
Text: Work Order # ^wrkordr_id^ has now been dispatched
Loc of Work: ^clntste_addrss_shp_addrss_strt^
^clntste_addrss_shp_addrss_cty^,^clntste_addrss_shp_addrss_stte^
Srvc Rep: ^tchncn_cntct1_cntct_nme_frst^,ph.^tchncn_phne^,cp.^tchncn_cllphne^
Job Contact: ^clntste_cntct1_cntct_nme_frst^,^clntste_phne_vce^
Work Requested: ^wrkordreqpmnt_wrk_rqstd^
Thank you for choosing our firm. Call for additional information.
 Notification Text: Workorder: ^wrkordr_id^ Status: active
This is an example of a notification that could be sent to a client when a work order became active – a technician was either traveling to the site or on site.