Newsletter 58: Optional Customer Information Fields

A powerful yet often overlooked feature of the Web+Center software is the ability to specify searchable, optional customer information fields. For smaller IT organizations that need to record specific information about the customer beyond the basic name, address, phone and email information, the optional customer information fields allows administrators to configure up to 10 extra searchable text fields.

These fields appear in the Customer Information form in the Tech+Center or the Business+Center in the lower right hand side of the customer record.

Figure #1 – Optional Customer Information fields  

These additional customer info fields are available for use in both the Tech+Center and the Business+Center customer forms but they can only be configured through the Business+Center

To configure these optional info fields from the Tech+Center:

• Click on the BUSINESS+CENTER button in the Tech+Center button panel.
• Click on the ADMINISTRATION button in the Business+Center button panel
• Click on the Optional Customer Info Text Fields link
• Edit the field labels and enable the fields as needed.

Figure #2 – Optional Customer Text Fields Configuration page  

These fields are searchable with the “GET CUSTOMER” or “FIND CONTACT” functions in the Tech+Center and the Business+Center respectively. The fields are configured for right hand “wild card” searches so it will search for any text that matches up to the characters your entered. For example, if you enter “A”, it will return matches on “Apple” “Abbie” or anything that starts with “A”. If you enter “AB”, it will only return matches that start with “AB”. If you wish to do a wild card search anywhere within the field, place the percent sign (%) at the beginning of the search text box. For example to search for a match with “bb” anywhere in the field, enter “%bb”. This will search for the letters “bb” anywhere in that field. This search option for searching for character patterns inside of the string will work with most of the other customer search fields as well.

Figure #3 – Searchable Optional Customer Info Fields 

Conclusions:
Web+Center provides a robust IT trouble ticket tracking system and a complete set of tools to organize, track, estimate, and bill your customers for a complete business solution for small IT organizations. The Web+Center help desk helps to create a more professional set of processes for IT support companies and organizations to help attract new customers and keep your existing customers. Download the latest Web+Center 6.0 version today if you haven’t already have configured your Web+Center Help Desk!

Future versions of Web+Center will continue its track record of evolving new features in response the customer demand and include additional options to more completely integrate the business functions of IT organizations (obtaining new customers, billing, authorizing work, invoicing, etc) along with trouble ticketing system. If you have recommendations for future enhancements to better integrate the business functions, please contact us by phone 1-(650) 949-0942 or by email (support@inet-sciences.com).