Job reminders and notifications

Smart can automatically send email and text messages when a job has been dispatched, updated, or remains incomplete for a day or more.

This is an alternative for customers or contractors who are not using SmartNet.

To operate job reminders and notifications you must

  • Have the Smart Email Processor installed and running, and
  • Configure one or more Customers, Alarm Companies, Locations, and/or Service Providers to receive notifications.

The SMART Email Processor

The Smart Email processor is a program, usually installed on your database server, that sends jobs, invoices, and some reports by email. A SMART support person will be happy to install and configure it for you.

The processor normally runs as a service, which means that it starts automatically when your server restarts and can't be seen when you look at your server.

Configuring Customers, Alarm Companies, Locations, and/or Service Providers.

In the Customer Details, Alarm Company Details, Location Details, and Service Provider Details windows, usually on the last tab, is a section headed Notifications. Right click in this section to add a notification.

The following fields appear in the Update Notification window:

 Service Type: You probably won't want to select all service types. If you want to select more than one service type but not all service types, add a separate notification for each one. 
 Notify When:

Dispatched means when a dispatched time is specified for the job. 

Completed means when the status of the job is changed from 'in progress' to some other value.

Invoiced means when an invoice is produced with this job on it.

Updated (incomplete) means when the job details are updated but only while it has a status of In Progress.  An update will be sent when the times (on/off site, or dispatched), docket number, initial request, or outcome are changed.

Updated (complete) means when the job details are updated but not while the job has a status of In Progress. An update will be sent when the times (on/off site, or dispatched), docket number, or outcome are changed.

Incomplete means when the job remains incomplete after a specified period (additional fields appear so you can specify the period). You would usually use this to remind a service provider that a job has not been completed or that the details of outcome have not been provided.

The notification is sent if a dispatched or onsite time has been entered for the job but no offsite time has been entered, and the specified number of days has passed. The number of days is calculated from the dispatched time or on site time, whichever is the later.

If the number if times to send is greater than 1, the notification will be sent again when the same interval has expired, e.g. if the first notification was sent 3 days after dispatch, the next one will be sent 6 days after dispatch, and so on.

If the Deferred box is checked in the Job Details window, no notifications are sent. 

'Incomplete' notifications are sent hourly, at approximately the time the job was first dispatched or marked on site.
 Via:

If SMS or Text Email are selected, a shortened text version of the job  is sent. If PDF Email is selected, the job is sent an attachment to the email, using the same format available when printing a job from the Dispatch window. Your Smart support person can change the settings which determine which information is displayed.
 Email Address / Mobile Number: The notification will be sent here unless 'Notify Provider' is checked, in which case the notification will be sent to the Provider's phone or email address. If the phone number or email address has not been entered in the Service Provider Details window, no notification will be sent.  
 Recipient: The name of the person (or organisation) receiving the notification. This information is only for your reference and does not form part of the message.
 Notify Provider: This selection is sometimes available. If you tick it, a notification will be sent to the provider whenever a notification is sent to the customer, alarm company, or location. This provides additional control over which jobs are sent to the provider.
 Don't notify:  This option appears only when you are setting up notifications for a Location (site). It enables you to over-ride other settings so that for example all other locations for this customer have their notifications sent to the same person but this location has notifications sent to a different person.