Section 12: Internet Utility > On-line Repair Order Entry

Processing Receive New Repair Orders

E-mail Data Format

The format for data received in the new repair order e-mail is field: data where each field is on a different line separated by a carriage return. For example:

CustomerNo: 123
CustomerName: My Company
Email: [email protected]
Make: My Brand

Standard web site forms that send entered data as an e-mail message will normally automatically format the web site fields and their data using the above format. The fields can be in any order, and the format remains the same whether the new repair order data is presented in the body of the received new repair order e-mail, or in an attached text file. Any fields other than the recognized fields will be ignored.

See below for a list of fields that may be imported along with their corresponding import field name and data validation rules.

Imported Fields

AYS Field

Import Field Name

Notes and Data Validation

Customer No.

CustomerNo

Customer account number. A customer number from 0 to 9999999. The customer record must already exist. A customer number of 0 means a miscellaneous customer.

Customer Name

CustomerName

Customer name. A text string of up to 70 characters. It is a required field and may not be empty.

Contact Name

ContactName

Shipping contact name of customer. A text string of up to 32 characters.

Address Line 1

AddressLine1

Shipping address line 1 of customer. A text string of up to 32 characters.

Address Line 2

AddressLine2

Shipping address line 2 of customer. A text string of up to 32 characters.

City

City

Shipping city of customer. A text string of up to 32 characters.

Province/State

Province or State

Shipping province/state of customer. A text string of up to 32 characters.

Postal/Zip Code

PostalCode or ZipCode

Shipping postal/zip code of customer. A text string of up to 10 characters.

Country

Country

Shipping country of customer. A text string of up to 32 characters.

Business Phone

BusinessPhone

Shipping business phone number of customer. A text string of up to 23 characters.

Home Phone

HomePhone,

Shipping home phone number of customer. A text string of up to 23 characters.

Mobile Phone

MobilePhone

Shipping mobile phone number of customer. A text string of up to 23 characters.

Fax

Fax

Shipping fax number of customer. A text string of up to 23 characters.

E-mail

Email

Shipping e-mail address of customer. A text string of up to 50 characters. It is a required field and may not be empty.

Advertising

Advertising

Advertising method for this customer. A text string of up to 20 characters. If the customer account is not the miscellaneous account (i.e. customer account 0000000) then this field will default to “Repeat” if it is otherwise left empty.

Ship Via

ShipVia

Shipping method for this customer. A text string of up to 40 characters.

Tracking Code

TrackingCode

Shipment tracking code for this customer. A text string of up to 30 characters.

Reference 1

Reference1

Reference 1. A text string of up to 30 characters.

Reference 2

Reference2

Reference 2. A text string of up to 30 characters.

Reference 3

Reference3

Reference 3. A text string of up to 30 characters.

Reference 4

Reference4

Reference 4. A text string of up to 30 characters.

Make

Make

Make of the item to be serviced or repaired. A text string of up to 20 characters. It is a required field and may not be empty.

Model

Model

Model of the item to be serviced or repaired. A text string of up to 40 characters.

Description

Description

Description of the item to be serviced or repaired. A text string of up to 60 characters.

Category

Category

Make and model category of the item to be serviced or repaired. A text string of up to 20 characters.

Serial No.

SerialNo

Serial number of the item to be serviced or repaired. A text string of up to 15 characters.

Under Warranty

UnderWarranty

Whether or not the item to be serviced or repaired is under warranty. A logical Yes or No value. Acceptable Yes values include Yes, True, 1, or -1. Acceptable No values include No, False, 0, or empty.

Warranty Plan

WarrantyPlan

Warranty plan for the item to be serviced or repaired. A text string of up to 20 characters.

Date Purchased

DatePurchased

Date the item to be serviced or repaired was purchased (and that the warranty begins). A date value.

From Location

FromLocation

Name of the store at which the item to be serviced or repaired was purchased. A text string of up to 50 characters.

Problem

Problem

A description of the problem to be serviced or repaired. An unlimited text string.

Date Requested For

DateRequestedFor

Date the customer is requesting that the servicing or repair is to be completed. A date value.

Preapproved

Preapproved

Preapproved amount that the customer is willing to pay for the item to be serviced or repaired. A monetary amount from -999999.99 to 999999.99, or from -99999999 to 99999999, depending on the number of currency decimal places specified in the Windows regional settings (see Entering Numbers).

 

(See also Importing New Repair Orders.)

Creating the New Repair Order

Once processing has been started (see Processing), the configured POP3 mail server will be checked at the configured time interval in minutes for the existence of any received e-mails. If unable to connect to the POP3 mail server then a message will be recorded in the log file.

Each received e-mail is first analyzed to verify that it has the correct subject line and, optionally, the correct file attachment as per the configured settings. If the e-mail cannot be validated then a message describing the problem will be recorded in the log file and, depending on the configured setting, the invalid e-mail may be deleted.

If the received e-mail is successfully validated then it is analyzed for data content. The customer name, e-mail address, and make are all required fields and may not be empty. If the customer number field is included, then it must be a valid existing customer. Additionally, depending on the configured setting, other fields that are normally required when receiving an item for repair are validated to ensure they are not left empty (see the “Required Repair Order Fields…” module options under Repair Order Module Options). If the data cannot be validated then a message describing the problem will be recorded in the log file and, again, depending on the configured setting, the invalid e-mail may be deleted.

If the data in the received e-mail is successfully validated then the new repair order record is created and the data fields are imported. The repair order number is automatically set to the next available number in the number series range of the configured business location (see Business Location - Number Series Tab). The Person Received By field is automatically set to “Internet Utility”. And if the configured repair status for the new repair order is anything other than “Awaiting Arrival or Dispatch” then the Date Received field is automatically set to the current date, otherwise it is left empty.

If the customer number field is included, then fields from the customer account (e.g. address fields, billing account, discount, etc.) will be used as default values if those fields are otherwise left empty, just as if the customer account had been manually entered on a new repair order entry screen (see Editing Repair Orders). Whether the discount rate is defaulted to the discount rate from the customer account or not, the discount rules for the new repair order will default to the global discount rule settings (see the individual module options below the “Discounts” branch under General Module Options). Further, if the customer account is not the miscellaneous account (i.e. customer account 0000000) then the Advertising field will default to “Repeat” if it is otherwise left empty.

Depending on the configured setting, either the make and serial number combination, or the make, model, and serial number combination, are analyzed for additional history information (see module option “Serial Numbers are unique by” under Repair Order Module Options). If the serial number combination is found under serial number notices (see Serial Number Notices) then the corresponding notice is added to the private notes of the new repair order. If the serial number combination is found on one or more previously existing repair orders then a summarized history of those repair orders, including if the item is still under warranty, is added to the private notes of the new repair order. And finally, if the serial number combination is found in the warranty cards (see Warranty Cards), then the corresponding warranty information is added to the private notes of the new repair order.

Once the new repair order has been successfully created then a message will be recorded in the log file and the received e-mail will be deleted.

Notifying the User

After the new repair order has been created, a reply e-mail message with a brief summary of the repair order information will be sent to the e-mail address that was recorded on the new repair order. If a custom message has been configured then it will be included in the e-mail message. And depending on the configured setting, a repair form may be attached to the e-mail message.

If the repair status web site is configured to upload repair status data to the repairstatus.net web site (see Setup Generate Repair Status Web Site, and Communication Options - FTP Tab), then a hyperlink or reference will also be included in the message that directs the customer to your reserved company folder on the repairstatus.net web site to check the current status of the repair order. This option is presently not available when uploading the repair status web site to your own web server.

Once the e-mail has been successfully sent, a message will be recorded in the private notes of the new repair order.

When the user who submitted the new repair order receives the reply e-mail then they would typically print two copies of the attached form (or the e-mail message itself if no form is sent), keep one copy, and send the other copy to the repair centre along with the item to be serviced or repaired.

Notifying the Repair Centre

If configured accordingly, then a repair form will automatically print on the configured printer at the repair centre as soon as the new repair order has been created.

If the configured repair status that is assigned to the new repair order is used only for new repair orders that have just been received via the Internet Utility, then a technician can filter the repair order browse window to see only the repair orders that have that status (see Browsing Repair Orders, and Filtering or Searching Data by Column (Field Filters)), and therefore only the repair orders that have just been received via the Internet Utility. Additionally, a printed list of only the repair orders that have that status may be obtained by printing the Repair Status Listing report (see Repair Status Listing).

More:

Repair Status Notices