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ECI no longer supports this version of e-automate, and this version of the online help is no longer being updated. ECI recommends upgrading to the current release. Contact your account manager for more information.

Configuring Contract Item Usage Alerts

Contract Item Usage Alert is an e-agent task that you use to automate the notification of contract supply yields. E-agent can monitor configured contracts and send you email notification for contracts that are over or under your specified parameters. In order for you to be notified about a contract’s yields, you must enable the contract for item usage alerts and determine if e-agent calculates for each piece of equipment, or for the contract in general.

When you configure the e-agent Contract Item Usage Alert task, you can configure the alert to notify you when contract equipment usage is above or below a specified percentage. For example, you could configure the system to send you a summary email notifying you that the equipment on a contract was expected to make 20,000 clicks for supply items delivered and the equipment only made 14,000 clicks. E-agent uses the meters associated with the equipment on the contract to determine the number of clicks used, the supplies sold and the associated yield.

In order to use the Contract Item Usage Alert task you must configure your system to meet the requirements outlined below.

Supply items you monitor must be enabled for contract usage limits.

Supply items must have the usage meter type identified.

Supply items you limit must be associated as a related item to the equipment’s base inventory item profile.

Supply items you deliver to a customer under contract must be recorded on a sales invoice or a service call and linked to the appropriate contract. See below for sales order instructions, or see the  Invoicing, Clearing and Okaying Service Call topic.

In order for e-agent to calculate a supply yield for supplies used under contract, you must identify the items to be tracked and the meter to be used in the yield calculation. You identify the items and the meter you want to use in the yield calculation on the supply’s inventory item profile.

You use the inventory item profile to define part items, supply items, equipment items, expense items and non-stock items. Equipment item profiles on your item list are not only used in the purchasing and sales processes, but are also used as a reference to your service equipment. You cannot create an equipment record in e-automate without basing the equipment on an existing inventory item, more specifically an inventory item that has an equipment code. The inventory item that is linked to an equipment record is referred to as the equipment’s basis item because the equipment is based on the item. In order for you to use contract item usage limits, you must place supplies you intend to limit on the equipment’s basis item’s Related Items tab.

When you limit supply items on a service contract, e-automate only tracks supply usage for items that are configured to be tracked and are included under the contract based on the appropriate bill code.

Enabling Supply Items for Contract Item LimitsEnabling Supply Items for Contract Item Limits

On the e-automate toolbar, click [Items] to open the Items list window.

From the list of items, select the supply item you want to enable and track.

Click [Edit] to open the Edit Inventory Item window.

In the Usage limit meter type field, use the lookup to identify the meter to be used in the yield calculation for the supply item.

Click [OK] to save your changes.

Repeat steps 2 through 6 for any supply items you want to enable for contract usage alerts.

Specifying Related Items on Equipment ItemsSpecifying Related Items on Equipment Items

On the e-automate toolbar, click [Items] to open the Items list window.

From the list of items, select the equipment coded items to which you want to add related items.

Note: Related items added to an equipment-coded item identify what supply items are used by the equipment linked to this item.

Click [Edit] to open the Edit Inventory Item window.

Click the Related Items tab to bring it forward.

In the Item field, use the lookup to select supplies used by equipment linked to this item.

In the Yield field, enter the expected yield for the supply item when used in equipment linked to this item.

Click [QuickAdd] to add the supply item to the list.

Repeat steps 5 through 7 to add supply items.

Click [OK] to save the equipment coded item.

Repeat this procedure for each equipment coded item to which you want to add related items.

Enabling a Service Contract for Item Usage AlertsEnabling a Service Contract for Item Usage Alerts

In the Edit Contract window, click on the Miscellaneous tab to bring it forward.

Check the Use e-agent contract item usage alerts for this contract checkbox.

Note: If you want to see usage for the entire contract rather than for each equipment, click the Pool item usage across entire contract checkbox.

Click [OK] to save your changes.

Entering Supply OrdersEntering Supply Orders

On the Sales menu, select Sales Orders or Sales Invoices to open the Sales Orders or Sales Invoices window.

Click [New] to open the New Sales Order or Invoice window.

Check the Allow for equipment supply entry Add equipment and Contract checkbox.

To view only those supply items associated with a piece of equipment, use the lookup in the Equipment field to select the equipment number.

Note: To display the supply items for a piece of equipment, they must be added to the Related Items tab in the equipment’s item profile.

If the equipment is on a current contract, e-automate adds the contract to the Contract field. You can change if necessary.

Note: Items added to the invoice when you are using equipment supply order entry are automatically associated with the contracts and the equipment specified.

In the Item field, use the lookup to select inventory items.

Note: E-automate can be configured to display only items defined on the selected equipment’s Related Items tab. This functionality is called filtering. Filters are applied to the lookup automatically. You can tell if a filter is applied by locating a small down arrow beside the magnifying glass icon. If the previous user of this window turned off the filters, you can turn them back on by using the drop-down menu in the Item field to select Filter > Filter by related items of host equipment and subcomponents.
Note: Items added to the invoice when you are using equipment supply order entry are automatically associated with the contracts and the equipment specified.

Click [QuickAdd] to add the related item to the invoice.

Repeat steps c and d to add items for the selected equipment.

Repeat steps a through e to add items for different equipment.

Click [OK] to save the sales order or sales invoice.

Creating a Contract Item Usage Alert TaskCreating a Contract Item Usage Alert Task

For information on creating a contract usage alert task, see the Contract Item Usage Alert topic.

 

Non-supported ReleaseNon-supported Release
ECI no longer supports this version of e-automate, and this version of the online help is no longer being updated. ECI recommends upgrading to the current release. Contact your account manager for more information.

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