SmartNet FAQ (Frequently asked questions)

What is SmartNet?

SmartNet is a secure, internet-based network which links companies in the security manpower business, enabling them to send jobs to each other and see the status and outcome as each job is actioned.

What do I need to access SmartNet?

You can use any of the following

• SMART (our full-featured Service, Maintenance, and Response Tracking system).
• The Sendem web page.
• The Sendem Monitor (a small program used by alarm companies to link to their monitoring system).

How do SmartNet job numbers work?

To make sure that job numbers are unique, a 3 letter code is added to the front of the job number used by the issuing company. This job number is used by any other SmartNet users that deal with the job.

If an issuing company phones a job through to you, it will still be copied back to the issuing company as it progresses, but it will use your job number and not theirs. This will prevent the job from being copied to other systems at their end.

How do I send job details to other SmartNet users?

Provided your system is set up correctly, you don't have to. Whenever you create or update a job where another SmartNet user is the Alarm Company or Customer, any changes will be sent to them as soon as you press the OK button.

Changes you send to another SmartNet user are passed on to any users linked to their copy of the job. So if you are an Alarm Company sending a job to a Patrol Company which then passes the job on to another Patrol Company, any changes are forwarded down the line. When the Patrol Company doing the job updates details, they are passed back up the line to the Alarm Company.

Once the job is marked complete, no further changes are sent. If you want to send changes across SmartNet after completing the job, change the status to In Progress, make your changes and press OK to save the job, then change the status back to Complete.

How does an Alarm Company link to SmartNet?

A special purpose program (the Sendem Monitor) links SmartNet to popular alarm monitoring systems, enabling operators to create and update jobs without re-keying data and notifying operators when seal checks are required or jobs have been updated.

Why do I get duplicate sites in my Smart system?

When a job arrives from another SmartNet user we try and match the site to an existing site in your system. However if there's anything different about the name or address we create a new site just to be on the safe side (there have been instances where e.g. an alarm is moved to another building on the same block).

In the list of sites you will see the name of the SmartNet user that created the site, after the site name. If there are duplicate sites you will see one with your name and one with the other user's name.

To resolve this problem, merge the new site into the existing site so that after the merge only the other user's version of the site remains. The keys and history will now be attached to this site, and the next time you receive a job over SmartNet the site will not be duplicated.

If the other SmartNet user should subsequently change the address, Smart will recognise that they 'own' the site details, and update the address instead of creating a new site.