Overview

Welcome to SMART!

This section gives a brief overview of SMART's capabilities and introduces you to some of the concepts behind Smart's operation.

A full list of Smart features is available here .

SMART is designed to serve the operational needs of a business which delivers service in the field. It enables you to quote, book, despatch, record, bill, and manage jobs, be they installation, maintenance, or ad hoc deployment (including immediate response). Although SMART's origins in the security manpower business are still visible, it can be adapted and used for almost any sort of mobile service delivery.

SMART is a tool you can use to improve the efficiency and profitability of your business. Like any other tool, SMART will deliver the best results if you take the time to learn how to use it and make sure you extract its full worth. Reading this section is the start of that process. SMART support staff stand ready to help you along the path.

Terminology

Terms marked * may be changed to something more appropriate for your business.

The place where a service is delivered is called a Location (sometimes, a Site). The person or business being billed for the service is called a Customer. Sometimes, for example, when the service is delivered at a private home or small business) the name and address of the Location is exactly the same as the Customer. However, a Customer may be linked to any number of Locations.

A Location may be linked to an Alarm Company*, giving you additional choices for configuration and reporting.

Services are performed by a Service Provider. The Service Provider usually corresponds to a vehicle, e.g. a repair van or patrol car, which can have multiple Persons* operating it. The Service Provider is expected to work for a Contractor, who is paid for the Service Provider's services. In some cases, the Contractor, Service Provider, and Person are one and the same. The most important entity is the Service Provider, since different rates can be set for different Service Providers (even though they are paid through the same Contractor).

A Service is the service being carried out, for example 'Installation', 'Maintenance', or 'Alarm Response'. Services may be grouped by Service Type for searching and reporting purposes.

Periodic Charges and Services automatically generate Charges (which go direct to Invoicing) and Services (which must be despatched by an operator) at any interval.

Customer-specific Billing Cycles may be used to issue invoices at various intervals. Billing cycles may be over-ridden manually or automatically.

Support for multiple Divisions* allows you to run multiple companies or revenue centres from the same database, for example supporting a national operation with state-based revenue centres.

Support for multiple Control Rooms* enables you to separate jobs based on operator expertise.

Specialised service types with additional functionality include Response (despatch Service Provider as quickly as possible) and Patrol (have the Service Provider call at a series of specified Locations in a random or set order).

Incidents are a record of non-chargeable events, classified by Customer and/or Location.

A Key Register keeps track of door keys at Locations and makes it easy to move groups of keys between providers.

Scheduled Reports cause operational reports to be generated at specified times and, if required, despatched automatically by fax or email to Customers and other interested parties. (Automated faxing requires the installation of additional software.)

The SmartNet and SmartWeb communications modules provide different levels of communcation to business partners outside your control room.

Pricing and Invoicing

Prices are set by Customer and Service Provider, and may be over-ridden for a Location. Default prices can be applied when a service is first carried out, and modified later for future jobs and charges. As job or charge details are entered the Customer and Contractor prices are calculated automatically. They may subsequently be changed by operators with the appropriate access level.

On-screen exception reporting highlights pricing which may be incorrect, for example because the payment to the contractor exceeds the charge to the customer.

All items must be approved by an operator before being included on a customer invoice. Items can be approved in bulk once system configuration is correct.

Invoicing is highly configurable, with a range of layout and information sequencing options.

Customer payments can be recorded and allocated across multiple customer invoices with minimum data entry. Similarly, invoices can be credited with a couple of clicks.

Invoices or statements can be produced at any time. A number of reports provide detailed debtor analysis.

Contractor Payments

Payments due to Contractors can be calculated automatically for each job, allowing the generation of Contractor Charge Listings. Alternatively, the invoices rendered by Contractors can be quickly reconciled.

User Interface

Users are provided with a small number of work areas. Each work area is a comfortable and powerful environment which can be quicly learnt. These work areas include Job Despatch, Approve Items for Invoicing, Receive Customer Payments, Systems Support, and Reporting.

Reports

A large number of reports cover Debtor Analysis, Sales Analysis, Listings, and Exception Reports. The latter quickly identify areas of misperformance. Scheduled Reports may be generated at predetermined times and even sent automatically to customers and other interested parties. A Notification system sends reports immediately if a predetermined event occurs.

In addition to the large number of standard reports, you can use industry standard tools such as Crystal Reports or Microsoft Excel to query the Smart database direct (subject to access control).

System Access

By default, operators may be assigned one of four access levels (Operator, Supervisor, Accounts, Administrator). Settings can then be over-ridden for individual operators. Depending on their level of access, operators may be prohibited from viewing or changing information, or may be required to enter certain information before a job can be considered complete.

System Configuration

Smart's appearance is highly configurable, allowing terms to be changed and functionality to be added or removed, in order to support a wide range of business needs and operator styles.

A full list of Smart features is available here

Initial setup

SMART 'learns as you go' so that you don't have to go through an extensive setup process.

When choosing a location for a service you can quickly add brief details of the location and get the service underway. Operators can add more information as it becomes available.
You can set default charge and payment rates which guard against incomplete or inaccurate data entry.
Exception reporting draws the operator's attention to discrepancies which require attention.

Configuration

SMART is highly configurable to reflect needs and practices of businesses of various sizes and industries. The default settings cater for typical early use (your installation consultant may make some adjustments) and as your needs and knowledge grow you can make more specific changes.

Our philosophy is that SMART should fit your business and not the other way round. Before setting out to change your business practices to fit with SMART, please contact us to see whether that is really necessary.