Specifications

Solarvista

The 2-in-1 field service Management systems & 'no-code' Application platform.

 

SAAS/TECHNOLOGY

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ARCHITECTURE

Multi-tenanted, cloud-only microservices architecture. Uses “planet-scale” Microsoft® Azure™ Cosmos DB with fast HTML5/ JavaScript/CSS web client and native mobile apps for iOS™, Android™ & Windows™.

SECURITY

128-bit SSL encryption between web browser, apps & cloud services.

USER AUTHENTICATION

User authentication via Microsoft® Work or School Account (Office 365), Microsoft® Personal Account, Google ID, or Apple ID.

WEB PORTAL

Responsive design for desktop, tablets & phones supporting both mouse & touch input.

MOBILE APPS

Native apps for iOS™, Android™ & Windows™. Apps work offline or online (some features do require online access e.g., for data searches). Installed & automatically updated via major app stores. Responsive & scalable to device size.

DATA CENTRES

Operated within Microsoft® Azure™ ISO27001 accredited data centres in UK, NL and IRL (US and AU/NZ coming soon).

BACKUP

All data within an account is backed up within the data centre every 100 seconds. Point-in-time (PIT) restores are available with 1-second granularity within a 30-day rolling window.

ARCHIVING

Static data e.g., customers, products etc is permanently stored. Dynamic data i.e., work items & forms is held for 365 days after closure and then moved to long term archived storage.

MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS

Operate multiple accounts from within web portal. Connect mobile apps to multiple accounts at one time. Useful for larger organisations to segment data and configurations.

RESILIENCE

Service bus architecture helps deliver minimum 99% uptime per annum, including planned maintenance periods where access may be restricted.

APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACE

Full programmatic control via REST-based API (application programme interfaces) (subject to fair usage throttling and limits).

 

2-IN-1: FIELD SERVICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

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CUSTOMERS

Stores customer name, address, phone, email, contact, billing currency, tax rate, time zone, opening hours, territory, & required certifications in & above.

SITES

Linked to customers, or may be independent, stores address, contact & preferred operatives. On site access certifications, territory & opening hours in [?] & above plans.

CONTACTS

Stores names and roles for contacts associated with customers, sites & suppliers. Holds communication permissions.

PRODUCTS

Used as master for parts, materials & equipment. Stores code, description, category, unit, manufacturer & part number, cost price, selling price & supplier.

EQUIPMENT/ASSETS

Optionally linked to sites, optional link to product, description, serial number, specific location in site. Optional service level, agreement, optional start date and/or end date, charge in [?] & above.

SERVICE LEVELS

Used with work items, customers, agreements & equipment, these define how quickly & when service should be provided. Holds name, days of week, hours of day, start and complete times (in hours) & validity dates. In addition, holds charge rates for working/travelling labour and distance.

AGREEMENTS/CONTRACTS

Holds service relationship between your organisation and customer. Stores customer, start and end dates, service level, charge, tax rate, billing interval, and pricing policy applicable.

SKILLS/QUALIFICATIONS/CERTIFICATIONS

Holds skills, qualifications & certifications ready to be assigned to operatives, including validity dates. Used with calendar feature to assist with work item assignment.

CALENDARS

Responsive (i.e., scales to device) calendar view for each operative viewable by agenda, timeline, day, week & month formats. Drag/drop from unassigned workflow stage to assign to operative & set scheduled date/time for working stages. Automatic filtering of mobile operatives by criteria based upon each work item to be scheduled (manual option available also).

APPOINTMENT BOOKING

Request appointments for least-cost (determined by shortest travel time) and free-time in calendar. Appointments also offered based upon skills and territorial responsibilities.

SHIFTS/ROSTERS

Operatives can be assigned to Rosters which refer to Shift Patterns which then automatically create non-working time in Calendars.

LEAVE/HOLIDAYS

Mobile operatives can submit requests for leave/holiday time. These appear in web portal for approval. Once approved, non-working time is marked in calendars.

SICKNESS NOTICES

Mobile users can report immediate unavailability due to sickness. This is immediately marked in calendars.

WORK ITEMS

Ready-made templates for a range of styles of work, including:

• Generic (comprehensive/all features)
• Field Repair
• In-house Repair
• Depot Repair
• Installation
• Field Maintenance
• In-house Maintenance
• Survey
• Field Task
• In-house Task
• Help Desk Call

All templates can be edited or copied to new designs for complete customisation. Ability to add tags for filtering in views. Work items assigned to operatives are transmitted to the mobile apps which then follow prescribed workflows. Every work item is controlled by a workflow designed to operate with the mobile apps. This allows easy yet controlled update of stage & restricts options presented to user. Choice of workflow styles with on/off toggles for specific stages. Each workflow stage then mandates selected activities or forms to be completed and controls next stage choices.

RECURRING WORK

Automatically generate work items (to a defined template). Optionally set to auto assign to a specific operative. Set to recur daily, weekly, weekdays, monthly or one-time.

LABOUR

Labour time is tracked in real-time as operatives move through workflow stages that are marked as schedulable. Extra labour can also be recorded outside of real-time workflow and optionally for other operatives if required.

PARTS/MATERIALS

Record parts used utilising search facility to Products. Record quantity used and optional selling price. Create requests for parts required which are viewed within web portal. Record when parts are collected from suppliers or when moved from one location to another.

INVENTORY LEVELS

Optional tracking of quantities by product and location (text location code, user, vehicle, or office/depot). Updated from activities submitted via mobile operatives (or may be synchronised to an external inventory management system where feasible (extra charges apply).

BREAK/FIX ANALYSIS

For repair-style work, record Problem and Resolution codes during activity. In record Symptoms and Cause too.

NOTES

Enter unlimited free text notes via mobile (also allows voice-based input if device supports it).

ACTIONS DONE

Enter multiple actions via mobile apps to track activity. Actions can also be used to enable easy entry to combine labour and a selection of products which are automatically added to the work item and optionally charged for.

FOLLOW-UPS & ALERTS

Set a future reminder with date/time, note and optional named user. Follow-up information appears within web portal and can be assigned to mobile operatives for viewing via mobile apps.

BREAK & WAITING TIMES

Mobile operatives may track breaks (non-working time) as well as time spent waiting e.g., where access is not available.

PROJECTS

Work items may be processed as part of a project, with option to consolidate billing/invoices. Mobile operatives can supply simple project updates including summary status reports and progress percentages which are posted to Project record for review.

LONE WORKING

Mobile operatives can send notices from mobile of a lone working risk period ahead which is displayed as an internal notification within portal (NOTE: not suitable where BS 8484:2016 compliance is required). Actions can be used to connect to other messaging systems (additional configuration - extra charges apply).

MOBILE FORMS

Design customised forms for use via mobile apps. Field types supported are Text, Number, Decimal, Yes/No, Photo, Signature, File/Document, Address (with Gazetteer) or Link. Picklist and search controls to select from static or dynamic data. Conditional flow expressions allow selective control of fields presented to user. All forms can be presented during specific workflow stages or available anytime.

SIGNATURES

Capture signatures via forms using mobile apps at any workflow stage. May be mandatory or optional.

DOCUMENTS/PHOTOS

Attach files to work items, via web portal, which are automatically downloaded to mobile apps. Create document or photo fields within forms which can be mandated at key points in workflow. Mobile apps allow direct capture from camera where applicable or from camera roll/library.

ROUTINES/CHECKLISTS

Create forms for routine services or compliance checks which prompt for tasks to be performed or data to be captured. Forms can be added to any work item template at any stage for pre, during and post work routines. Answers given can drive conditional flow to skip sections.

MISSED SLAs

When an SLA performance point is missed, the impact upon customer, duration of time late and reason missed may be captured. This is posted to a consolidated ‘Performance’ data source for review/analysis.

JOURNAL & ANALYSIS

Automatic calculation of costs and charges, where applicable. Automatic analysis by other dimensions e.g., period, type of work, location, customer/industry, product/equipment, parts/materials, actions, commercial & contractual, resources, break/fix coding, knowledge and account or work ownership. This data facilitates in-depth, but easy analysis of profit/loss from any business perspective.

BILLING/INVOICES

Automatically generate invoices (or billing data) from completed work items using rules set in products, pricing policies and service levels. Billing is generated using the currency set within the customer record. Automatically generate invoices (or billing data) for agreements with recurring billing at key intervals.

ACCOUNTING CODES

Automatic determination of accounting ledger codes (General, Cost Centre & Dept) for any posted invoice or journal line item based upon hierarchy of rules applied to determine it (simple defaults though to complex mapping).

LOCATION TRACKING

Capture location using mobile device location services (therefore device specific) upon workflow transitions & form submission. Locations are displayed within maps in web portal in various points.

HISTORY

Key information from any work item activity is posted to a consolidated ‘History’ data source for easy viewing of customer, site, work history.

KNOWLEDGEBASE

Mobile operatives can post Q&A style information to an internal ‘Knowledgebase’ data source. Break/Fix coding is also optionally posted too.

CONTACT/CRM

Customer relationship events such as phone calls, notes, or meetings can be posted via web forms in portal or from mobile apps, which work offline (these are populated to consolidated ‘History’ data source) and associated with customers, sites, contacts, agreements and/or projects.

QUOTATIONS [Due Q2-Q3/2023*]

Create quotations using information from products, services and agreement pricing adjusted for pricing policies determined by customer. Convert quotations to work orders, work items, agreements, or requests/orders.

 

2-IN-1: ‘NO-CODE’ APPLICATION PLATFORM

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DATA SOURCES

Create custom data sources to hold additional information. These data sources are accessible directly by picklist or search fields in other data sources, forms or work items in web portal or mobile apps.

WORK ITEMS

All templates can be edited or copied to new designs for complete customisation. Ability to add tags for filtering in views. Work items assigned to operatives are transmitted to the mobile apps which then follow prescribed workflows.

ACTIVITIES/FORMS

Design customised activities/forms for use via mobile apps. Field types supported are Text, Number, Decimal, Yes/No, Photo, Signature, File/Document, Address (with Gazetteer) or Link. Picklist and search controls to select from static or dynamic data. Conditional flow expressions allow skip of sections. All forms can be presented during specific workflow stages or available anytime.

BUSINESS LOGIC

Access business logic from field service management system. Build new business logic using external tools such as Microsoft® Flow. Trigger business logic (or call third-party web services) upon workflow stage changes (entry/exit), activity/form submissions, and data sources created, updated, or deleted.

FIELD TYPES

Add new fields with types for text, number (whole or decimal), image/photo, document/media, true or false, picklist (from text), picklist (from data source or work item), address with gazetteer. Each field has option for help text, which is automatically rendered in web portal and/or mobile apps.

DYNAMIC CONTROL

Control visibility of fields and whether mandatory from values in other data fields.

VIEWS & MENUS

Create custom views (or groups of views) with filters, query expressions & column selection. Save to main menu with custom icon/name. Main menu in portal is fully configurable with editable icons, naming and sections.

AUTOMATED ACTIONS/INTEGRATIONS

When work items transition through workflow stages, or when activities/forms are submitted, or when a data source row is created, or edited or deleted:

• Send an email using HTTP connector and third-party email product (not included).
• Post to any data source via data gateway.
• Post to a Microsoft® Power BI (not included).
• Call a third-party web service.

Automated actions are subject to limits based upon subscription/plan selected.

CONNECTORS

Microsoft® OneDrive™ with ability to read/write files from specific location. Microsoft® Power BI with push post to data table created via web portal. Generic HTTPS web connector. Connectors are subject to limits based upon subscription/plan selected.

CALENDARS

Calendar view for each operative viewable by agenda, timeline, day, week & month formats. Drag/drop from unassigned workflow stage to assign to operative & set scheduled date/time for working stages.

WORKFLOW

Every work item is controlled by a workflow designed to operate with the mobile apps. This allows easy yet controlled updates at each stage & restricts options presented to user. Choice of workflow styles with on/off toggles for specific stages. Each workflow stage then mandates selected activities or forms to be completed and controls next stage choices.

RECURRING WORK/TASKS

Automatically generate work items (to a defined template). Optionally set to auto assign to a specific operative. Set to recur daily, weekly, weekdays, monthly or one-time.

SIGNATURES

Capture signatures via forms using mobile apps at any workflow stage. May be mandatory or optional.

DOCUMENTS/PHOTOS

Attach files to work items, via web portal, which are automatically downloaded to mobile apps. Create document or photo fields within forms which can be mandated at key points in workflow. Mobile apps allow direct capture from camera where applicable or from camera roll/library.

ROUTINES/CHECKLISTS

Create forms for routine services or compliance checks which prompt for tasks to be performed or data to be captured. Forms can be added to any work item template at any stage for pre, during and post work routines. Answers given can drive conditional flow to skip sections.

LOCATION TRACKING

Capture location using mobile device location services (therefore device specific) upon workflow transitions & form submission. Locations are displayed within maps in web portal in various points.

DATA IMPORT

In-built tool that imports a CSV text file and allows selection/mapping of fields to any data source or work item.

MANUAL DATA EXPORT

Manual selection of work items within views or using queries which then allows export to CSV or JSON.

AUTOMATED DATA EXPORT

Optional periodic batch export of data in CSV text format posted to connected Microsoft® OneDrive account.

DASHBOARDS/BI

Real-time dashboards are supported via the use of a separate Microsoft® Power BI account (not included - must be purchased separately).

REPORT & DOCUMENT DESIGNER [Coming Soon*]

Design documents and/or reports for use with automated actions.MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS

Operate multiple accounts from within web portal. Connect mobile apps to multiple accounts at one time. Useful for larger organisations to segment data and configurations.

WORKFLOW AUDIT

Key workflow stages displayed with each work item.

AUTOMATED BACKUP

All data within account is backed up within data centres automatically every four hours.

DEVELOPER API

Full programmatic control via REST-based API (subject to fair usage throttling and limits).

GAZETTEER

Built-in worldwide database for cities, counties, provinces, states, and countries (used for accurate and/or consistent address entries).

 

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

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ON-BOARDING/TRAINING

Fixed price packages include setup and configuration, including work item templates & forms if required, combined with introductory training done remotely using web meetings.

HELP DESK & SUPPORT

Contact with our help desk can be made via portal or via email. Phone support is also available on Standard & Enterprise plans. Enterprise plan support offers a guaranteed response time of eight working hours from confirmed receipt of request.

CUSTOM INTEGRATIONS

We will connect Solarvista to any other system providing it has a suitable API. Additional charges may apply, depending upon complexity.

CUSTOM BUSINESS LOGIC

We will add customised business logic to Solarvista using Microsoft Flow. Additional charges may apply, depending upon complexity.

 

*subject to change - check www.solarvista.com for latest availability