The ESC Mobile Client Support a Wide Variety of Windows Smart Phones with Touch Screens

The ESC Mobile Client works on a wide variety of devices. It works on most laptop, netbooks, and tablet PCs running Window. The Mobile Client also works on a wide variety of Windows Mobile Phones with Touch Screens.

Microsoft has a list of all the mobile phones they currently support that run Windows Mobile and that will work with ESC Mobile. You can view them here. This is not a comprehensive list, and it is still a good idea to check with dESCO if a particular phone will work with the ESC Mobile Client.

Owners, employees, and customers all benefit from Mobile Computing.

Customers are able to receive more timely service from technicians who have better access to the information they need to get to the job with the right parts and tools, and to get the job done.

Technicians benefit from having the information for their dispatches at their fingertips rather than having to call the office for each update.

Office personnel benefit from having technicians in the field with mobile devices because it means they don’t need to re-enter all the information the tech brings back with him.

Finally, owners benefit from the increased efficiency of their operations which means a bigger bottom line!

Mobile computing is an effective way to bring a new level of professionalism and accuracy to your business. To find out more about how mobile computing with ESC can change your business and to see a demo of the ESC Mobile Client, schedule a demo with a dESCO product specialist.

Service agreements are a great way to create regular re-occuring revenue streams for your company. But they can be a tough sell.

Your customers need to understand the value of service agreements. When they see how the plan and its benefits will save them time, money, and hassle, your number of service agreements will grow.

via Contracting Business: Establish Value to Boost Service Agreement Sales

Growing and keeping track of these service agreements is key to growth and creating value for your company.

What do you say when asked how many service agreements your company has? Has that number been reviewed? Is it accurate? Is the number of agreements growing, staying the same, or shrinking from year to year? How do you improve the numbers?

Why all these questions? It’s because the heart and soul of a company’s business are service agreements, and growing these agreements leads to growth of the company in service and sales. It’s therefore vital that the value of these agreements be firmly established on a continual basis — both externally and internally.

These service agreements are also what create real value for your company and make it more sell-able. No one is going to buy your list of names when you want to retire. But they may be willing to buy several thousand on-going service agreements.

This year’s ESC Version 10 release focused around streamlining data entry and data flow. Changes to the customer and dispatch module make it easier than ever to manage customers and contacts, schedule and dispatch technicians, and make sure they are always prepared with the right parts and equipment.

Redesigned Customer Module: The streamlined customer entry screen makes it easier to enter new customers and gives you better control of your data.

• Keeping in touch with the correct contact is easier with space for six detailed contacts per location.
• Correspond directly via mail merge by clicking the letter icon next to the contact’s name and selecting the desired template.
• A ‘date added’ field is auto-filled for all new customer accounts, so you can see when each customer was added and filter reports by date ranges of when a customer was added.
• Attach a sales person to each customer so that invoices will be auto-assigned to the designated sales person.
• ESC will automatically pick the correct city and state for new customers when you enter their zip code, after you import the zip codes for the states you service.
• The customer search field auto-fills after a few characters, and in most situations, you will not need to open up the detailed search box.
• The new customer search screen is both easier to use and more powerful, now allowing you to also search by contact names and email addresses.
• The software now catches duplicate customers before they are created, even if the address is not exactly the same.
• You can eliminate duplicate customers by merging locations—transferring all equipment, history, dispatches, service agreements, attached documents and even invoices from one location to another—making it perfect for transferring information from builder to buyer.
• Making a record inactive prevents those particular customers or locations from showing in filtered lists and on reports, effectively hiding a customer while retaining your historical records.

Expanded Dispatch Module: The redesigned dispatch entry screen makes sure that dispatched technicians are properly equipped for each job site they visit.

• The redesigned dispatch screen is easier to use and lets you browse through dispatch notes for a range of dispatches within one screen, and the improved layout and default sort option keep dispatches from appearing multiple times.
• The date and time stamp and spell checking is now available in the dispatch notes field.
• Printed dispatch tickets are customizable with the new layout designer. You can place your logo on your dispatches and include an area for your technicians to note their work. There are sample templates available to help get you started.
• Attached equipment is displayed in a separate tab, which allows equipment to be attached, added and edited all in one screen.
• A price field displays on the Parts tab, letting you put prices on parts attached to the dispatch. These parts and prices can then be transferred to the mobile clients and printed on dispatches.
• A search field now displays on the Dispatch Board, letting you easily find any dispatch by entering any part of the location name or address.

Service agreement updates: Updates to the service agreements module increase the connectivity among the agreement, the dispatch it generates, and the items in inventory.

• Parts added to service agreement tasks now flow automatically to the Parts tab on the dispatch with a zero price, and then into the related invoice. This ensures the technicians know what they need to take with them to complete the job, and so the parts will be removed from inventory.
• Now there is the ability to post agreement dispatches for a particular customer, which simplifies combining service work with planned maintenance.

Inventory enhancements: Changes to the inventory screens simplify the process of entering, adjusting, and managing inventory.

• The inventory entry screen opens in a separate window that enables you to enter parts on the fly.
• The redesigned screen also features a tabbed layout that groups similar items together and makes the screen easier to use.
• Alternate parts now are displayed as a tab on the screen.
• When searching for inventory parts, inactive parts are hidden by default.
• Import all the parts ESC perceives to be in a warehouse onto the Adjust Inventory screen. The quantities can be automatically set to zero, making this the perfect tool for entering physical inventory counts.

Enhanced reporting capabilities: Alterations to the reporting functions let users better view, compare, and edit reports.

• Users can now view an unlimited number of reports at once. This makes comparing reports a breeze.
• Closing a report now returns you to the module you were working in, but you can still change the report criteria when previewing by clicking the filters button in the toolbar.

Web Front Office overhaul: The Web Front Office received a major facelift in this version. The entire interface has been updated to look more modern, and several new features have been added.

• There is a new connections server, which has been completely redesigned to make it easier to use.
• A status light indicates if any portion of the connections server is not configured correctly.
• Run multiple reports directly from within Web Front Office.
• Expanded set up screens let you add technicians, configure dispatch boards, and add inventory items.
• Recall existing invoices and change or print them.
• Dispatch ticket printing is now supported, enabling technicians to print dispatches while in the field.

Mobile client changes: The mobile client also has many expanded features to make technicians even more efficient in the field.

• Inventory items entered on the parts tab of the dispatch entry screen flow to the invoice on the mobile client for the first technician who downloads the dispatch.
• Service agreement information is sent to the dispatch tab on the mobile client, allowing your technicians to see the agreement type and all sub-tasks.

Accounting updates: There have also been improvements to the accounting integrations, as well as expanded features and forms.

• You can now modify invoices posted to QuickBooks that no longer exist. This solved the common issue of deleting an invoice in QuickBooks that was posted there by ESC. Now you can easily recover from this mistake by making sure all the transactions that were sent to QuickBooks are deleted.
• There is now the ability to print 1099 forms.
• There is also improved compatibility of the direct deposit setup screens.

If managing your companies files has always been an issue there’s just a few steps needed to completely destroy your file cabinets once and for all:

1. Scan your paper files and customer documents into your computer
2. Attach each file to the appropriate customer in ESC
3. Take your file cabinent to the edge of a cliff
4. Push

Now that you have no file cabinent, continue to manage your company documents and paper work by attaching files to your customer’s records.

ESC gives users the ability to manage documents and images by attaching them to specific customers, dispatches, invoices, etc.

Rather thank bulky customer files ESC lets your office go paper free as well as have better access to documents, images, and files when you need them.

Imagine, when a customer calls, you pull up his record and all the files, photos, and documents associated with that customer’s account is at your finger tips immediately. You will not need to put your customer on hold while you dig through files.

This helps you to create a very professional image for your company. During each customer interaction, you and your dispatchers appear organized and prepared by having at hand all the documents and information you need to help your customers when they call.

The ESC document management also lets you create new document for your customers with the built in word processor. Its functions are similar to Microsoft Word giving it a very low learning curve.

This practice is also very secure. Regular on and off site back ups mean your data and documents are protected.

There are many examples of how this could be put into practice.

First you could have your technicians take before and after pictures of jobs or installations they complete. This is good documentation for handling any disputes. It also provides you with a good record and proof of the quality of work your technicians do.

Another example would be to attach warranty information to your customers’ equipment. Rather than having a bulky file cabinet filled with old warranty cards or instructions, you can have PDFs attached to the equipment in ESC that contains everything you need for that equipment. Then it’s there available for you when and where you need it.

You can also attach PDFs of signed invoices. If your technicians get signed work orders in the field, those can be scanned and attached to the dispatch in the service software, rather than being buried in a file cabinet.

Also, any email correspondence you have with customers can be attached to provide a permanent record of your communications.

By putting this into practice, your company can be incredibly organized, present a professional image, have secure on and off site backups of your company’s documents, and help the environment by going paperless.

It will be difficult to remember how you were able to run your business without it. ESC minimizes the amount of data entry needed by making sure you only need to enter it once.

ESC will let you get more done, faster. You’ll be able to dispatch service calls, schedule technicians, track inventory, record sales all with ease and precision.

With powerful, build in reports, you’ll be able to track profitability by technician or by customer to see who your best employees and best customers are. With the detailed customer information, you’ll be able to more effectively focus your company’s resources towards the most profitable projects and customers. The information that will be available at your finger tips will make you better equipped to make the best business decisions.

Price matters. So does functionality. With ESC small and medium sized business are able to afford the right solution at the right price. ESC is also scalable, built to grow with your company. And with a 30-day Money Back Guarantee, you’ll be sure to get what you pay for.

The intuitive functionality of ESC will make you feel familiar with the program from the beginning. The screens are designed to help you flow smoothly from one to the next in a way that makes sense for your business.

ESC is not going to change what you call things or the order you do things if they work. Most field names are customizable and there are places you can create custom fields to capture and act on the information that is most important to you. Also, you can customize the way you classify your customers so you are able to nurture and market effectively to your customer and lead base.  ESC gives you the flexibility you need for your business as well as the intuitive framework in which to act.

You can easily import and attach documents to customers, pieces of equipment, particular dispatches or any other record in the system. This will help you clean out and ultimately get rid of those filing cabinets that have been cluttering up your office for all those years.

ESC’s seamless QuickBooks integration will keep your customer and accounting data synchronized and up to date. The set-up wizard completes this process in a few easy steps, and eliminates the need for any double entry.

Mobile solutions get ESC into the hands of your technicians in the field, connecting them to the office and all the information they’ll need to complete their service calls. They’ll be able to see information about their customers, get directions, and find out what tools and parts they’ll need for the job. The mobile solution also keeps techs out of the office and in the field. They can start their day at a customer’s location, rather than with coffee and doughnuts in the office.  That means more service calls in a day and more profit.

When you call you talk to us. We all work out of the same office in Fort Myers, Florida. Our customer support is unmatched. Call us today or download the free trial.

Some businesses grow and other’s stay the same size. Computer service software is one of the keys to growing a service company because it takes the pressure off the owner to be knee deep in the day to day operations and gives him or her a better perspective of the problems and opportunities the company faces.

By having a stronger perspective of how this works, owner are able to use computer service software to automate many of their business functions.

Crew dispatching is a feature in ESC that is used to group technicians to simplify dispatching. This will allow you to add multiple technicians to the dispatch schedule at once rather than manually entering each one individually.

For example: an Install Crew may have multiple Techs assign to the same job over the course of a few days, weeks, or months, etc.
To create a new crew, go to Dispatch | Enter Technicians, and create or recall a Technician who will lead the crew. Manually enter the crew name in the Member of Crew field and hit the Save button. To assign more Techs, recall or enter another Technician to add to the crew on the same screen. In the Member of crew field, click on the combo box to display a list of existing crews. Select the desired crew and save. Repeat this procedure until your entire crew has been created.

Dispatching a Crew

Create a dispatch normally on the Dispatch Entry screen. Before saving it, go to the Schedule tab and click the Add New Techs to the Dispatch button, if you’re using ESC 9.1 or earlier, or Add Technician, if you’re using ESC 10.Crews will appear at the top of the list. Select the desired crew and click Add.

Set the date and time you want the crew to start work and click OK.
This will automatically place all the members of that crew on the dispatch with the same promised date and time.

From this point forward, any time you change the status of one crew member you will have the ability to change the status of all the members of that crew. Simply answer Yes when prompted to update the status of all technicians or No to track their times separately.

Changing Crew Members

At some point you will need to change the people who make up the crew. ESC makes this process easy. Simply recall the technician you want to work with on the Enter Technicians screen and change the contents of the Member of Crew field. Select another crew from the list, manually type in a new crew name or clear the field to remove the technician from all crews.

Note: This has no effect on dispatches that have already been assigned to a crew. It only changes the crew members that will be assigned to new dispatches created from this point forward.

Deleting a Crew

To delete a crew, make sure no technicians are currently assigned to it. You can quickly see which technicians belong to crews by double clicking the tech on the Enter Employees screen.

Select the technicians that are still assigned to the crew you wish to delete and either clear the Member of Crew field or assign them to another crew. Once the last crew member has been removed, the crew will disappear as well.

Note: This has no effect on dispatches that have already been assigned to a crew. It only prevents the crew from being used on new dispatches from this point forward.

By Enrico Chatman

Have you ever wanted to store vital information about a piece of equipment only to find that ESC does not have a field for it?  How about grouping equipment by a piece of information?  Or finding all customers that have equipment in poor condition?  If so, ESC has the perfect solution for this: custom fields.

Not only can custom fields help you do all these things it also gives you the following abilities:

• Custom fields can be easily viewed from the Qualification screen in ESC.
• Equipment reports can be filtered by custom fields.
• Custom fields can be configured to print on dispatch tickets.
• Custom fields can be seen on all mobile devices.

To set up a custom field go to the File pull-down menu and selectSetup Custom Fields followed by Equipment. You can then define up to eight custom equipment fields.  To create one, enter the name of the custom field in the Field Label column. Use the fields to the right to populate a drop down list that can be selected when this field is used.

In this example I have setup a custom field called Condition that we will use to track the shape of our customer’s equipment.  We have added 5 items to the pull-down menu: Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor and Bad.

Note that any setups and changes to these fields on this screen will affect all equipment for all customers.  The fields that are set up here, and the List Items that are defined for each of those Field Labels, will appear on ALL customers’ equipment screens.

The custom fields you define will now appear on the Enter/Modify Equipment screen.  To use custom fields, simply recall a piece of equipment and select the value from the drop down list in the field you created. If the value you want to use doesn’t exist in the list you can manually enter the information directly into this field instead. For ease of searching and consistency, we suggest using the defined list items whenever possible.

As noted earlier, custom fields can be viewed from the Customer Qualification screen.  This is extremely useful as the Customer Qualification screen is the crux of ESC and provides useful information for whatever Customer/Location you choose.  The Equipment section can be found starting halfway down the screen and has a series of columns that help you organize information about customer equipment.  Custom fields are located on the far right of this list, but can be moved to a more prominent location by dragging the title of the chosen Custom Equipment Field to wherever you would like it to be.  This change will be reflected on every screen where equipment is displayed.

By Justin Egan