Method CRM Help Center

Welcome to your Field Services dashboard! This handy screen can be accessed simply by clicking on your Field Service Operations tab group, or by clicking on your Field Service Center tab wherever you chose to integrate it (see Setup for more details). The screen is designed to give you an overview of what's happening today in your Field Services business. In order to give you a comprehensive picture of current, complete, and outstanding work, the screen is divided into several sections, each of which provide unique information to the signed-in user. Let's go through them piece by piece.

Field service reminders

This section displays reminders associated with the field service work assigned to the current user. Let's take a look!

User signed in: This identifies the user currently signed into Method Field Services. Likely, it's you!
My work orders for today: If you have work orders dated for today's date, that number will be reflected here. Clicking on the number will take you to the Work order list tab link, where you will see the grid has been automatically tuned to display all of your work orders for today's date by automatically selecting "My occurrences in date range" from the Filter by view drop down menu, and setting the range just to today's date.
My completed work orders needing invoicing: If you have work orders that have been completed (the work is all done) but haven't been turned into invoices yet, this number will show you just how many you have outstanding. Clicking the number will populate the Work order list by automatically selecting "My Completed and To Be Invoiced" from the Filter by view drop down menu.
My work orders not started: Have a bunch of work orders coming up that you haven't gotten to yet? This number will identify how many work orders you have pending, and clicking on the number will populate the Work order list with all work orders identified as "My not started before To date".
My in progress work orders to complete or reschedule: Sometimes you will have work orders that encompass more than just a one-time job, which means they could be in progress over a long period of time. If this is the case, they will be designated "in progress" in the Status drop down menu (see Work orders for more information) and will appear in the "My in progress before To date" filter in the Filter by view drop down menu. This part of the dashboard will display how many work orders you have on the go that need to be either completed or rescheduled, and will display them in the Work order list when you click the number.
Refresh: Once you've made changes to any of the above work orders, you can click Refresh to see an updated list reflecting the new numbers.

CRM reminders

This section displays reminders associated with CRM to the user currently signed in. In a field services industry it's very important to keep up on customer interactions, and that means dealing with all the same Activities, Opportunities and Cases you would in your regular CRM. The good news? The information displayed here pertains directly to the current user, and is pulled directly from your regular Method CRM, so you don't have to switch back and forth between the two tab groups. Let's take a look!

My incomplete Activities: This number indicates how many incomplete Activities you have in your queue, as listed in your regular CRM. Clicking on the number will generate a series of temporary tab links including Activities list (where you will be transported by default), New activity, New appointment, New task, Log call, Activity calendar and Activity reports. All of them operate exactly the same way as they do in your Activities tab in regular CRM.
My incomplete sales Opportunities: This number indicates how many incomplete Opportunities you have in your queue, as listed in your regular CRM. Clicking on the number will generate a series of temporary tab links including Opportunities list (where you will be transported by default), New opportunity, Opportunity reports, and Opportunities dashboard. All of them operate exactly the same way as they do in your Opportunities tab in regular CRM, except for the dashboard, which is unique to Field Services. This will be explained below.
My incomplete customer service Cases: This number indicates how many incomplete Cases you have in your queue, as listed in your regular CRM. Clicking on the number will generate a series of temporary tab links including Cases list (where you will be transported by default), New Case and Cases reports. All of them operate exactly the same way as they do in your Opportunities tab in regular CRM.
Refresh: Once you've made changes to any of the above activities, opportunities, and/or cases, you can click Refresh to see an updated list reflecting the new numbers.

In order to return to the Field Services tab links from the generated Activities, Opportunities, or Cases tab links, simply click on the Field Services tab again.

Opportunities dashboard

The Opportunities dashboard is used in much the same way as the main dashboard is used - to keep track of the status of your opportunities. Let's take a closer look.

Refresh counts: This button will refresh the number of opportunities in your pipeline. When you click on the text directly to the left, "X opportunities in my pipeline", it will redirect you to the Opportunities list.
Filter by user: Choose a user from the drop down menu to see all analytics pertaining to that individual user.
Refresh charts: Once you choose a new user, click this button to refresh the charts with the pertinent information for this user.
Opportunities by stage: This chart shows you at what stage the value of your opportunities are. The value of your pipeline at each stage is the amount of each opportunity multiplied by the probability of you closing the deal. It doesn't take into account any closed opportunities, and all the opportunities shown are filtered by the user you're viewing.
Conversion ratio: This chart shows what percentage of closed opportunities are won vs. lost, and only shows opportunities that are at a Closed opportunity stage. All the opportunities shown are filtered by the user you're viewing
Shared Pipeline by user: This chart shows the total of open opportunities for each shared user. The value of each user's pipeline is the amount of each opportunity multiplied by the probability percentage of them closing their deals. It doesn't show closed opportunities, users with no data, or records you don't have access to. It's also set to show only the top eight users with the greatest number of opportunities.
Opportunities by month: This chart shows the value of your opportunities by month into the future. The value of your pipeline in each month is the amount of each opportunity multiplied by the probability of you closing the deal. It shows no closed opportunities, and all the opportunities shown are filtered by the user you're viewing.

Settings

This section allows you to change the settings associated with your Method Field Services. Each clickable link will open a unique screen. Let's take a look at each of them individually.

Customize templates

This screen allows you to customize the templates you use to print estimates, invoices, route lists, and work orders for print and email. It also offers you the opportunity to create your own templates using the Method Report Designer. Selecting from the drop down menus associated with each template type and clicking Save & Close will set these templates as the defaults your Method Field Services will generate automatically from here on out. You can always come back and change these, however.

Team members

This handy screen allows you to create teams consisting of employees and vendors, and associate them with your Method users. What's the value in this? Well, when you're assigning a Service-based job (see Work orders for more information) to a user who is also a Team Lead, that user's Team will automatically be assigned to Time Tracking along with them! It's important to note you can only have one Team per active Method user. Here's how it works.

How to create a new team

From Method Field Services, go to Dashboard > Team members…
Create a team name for your new team (e.g. The A Team, Team Edward, etc.) and type it into the associated field.
Choose employees and vendors to be associated with this team from the drop down menus. You can assign a maximum of five people to a team.
Click Save & Close to save the team and return to the dashboard, Save & New to save the team and clear the fields, Delete to delete the selected team (this can't be undone), Clear/New to clear the fields without saving, or Cancel to return you to the dashboard without saving. If you choose to save the team, it will be visible in the Existing teams grid when you refresh the grid, and will be available on a service job when you assign it to the associated user (see Time in/out in Work orders for more details).

How to edit an existing team

Repeat step 1 from above.
Choose the team you want to edit from the Existing teams grid on the left and click Select.
From here you can change the team leader and swap out any members of the team you desire.
Repeat step 4 from above.

Settings and preferences

This section contains two subtabs. Let's take a look at each one in detail.

Time tracking preferences

This section allows you to set your defaults for time tracking.

Billable status: Choose a default from the drop down menu. This is based on whether or not you typically charge customers a rate based on number of hours worked. The options are kicked over from your QuickBooks account.
Payroll item: This default is only really relevant if you are doing payroll in QuickBooks; the default will determine if payroll is calculated based on an hourly rate, an overtime rate, or a commission (depending on what options are kicked over from your QuickBooks account).
Labor cost per hour: If you have chosen to bill based on number of hours worked, you should include a labor cost per hour that will reflect the cost of labour on a per-hour basis.
Set to wait for sync approval (time tracking): If you don't want your time tracking entries to be automatically synced with your QuickBooks account, you can check this check box. All time tracking entries will be routed to the Time Tracking grid in the Post to QB tab for you to approve at your leisure.

TIP: When you are finished setting your defaults, you won't see your changes take place until next time you close and re-open the Edit Details & Costs screen.

Mapping

This section allows you to set your defaults for mapping addresses to and from job sites. When using mapping, the directions will be given from a starting point (usually your office), to each work order address, and then back to an ending point (again, usually your office). Users can override the default if they start and end from different locations, such as from their homes, or from remote offices. If a user doesn't have a mapping address specified, the default will be used.

Default mapping starting address: If your employees typically leave from the same location when they go out on jobs (for example, your office), use this as your default mapping starting address.
Default mapping ending address: If your employees typically end their day in the same location (e.g. at the office, or at their home), use this as your default mapping ending address.
Include first address line when plotting addresses?: The first address line in a given billing or shipping address is usually the name of the intended addressee. Sometimes, Google Maps can have trouble locating addresses when this information is included, so the option is given not to include the first line when generating maps. This is the default setting; you can choose to include them by checking this box.
Copy from starting addresses: This button allows you to automatically copy the information in the starting address field into the ending address field to save you time when they are one and the same.

There is also a grid below that outlines mapping start and end addresses for individual users. The fields can be filled in manually, or if they are identical to the default addresses, the noted buttons can be used to auto-fill the fields with the pertinent information.

Save & Close will save these records to Method and return you to the dashboard screen. Cancel will close the screen without saving.

Item list

Clicking on this button will take you to a screen that will look very familiar to those who have looked at the Items section in the regular Method CRM. The item list as it appears in the Field Services section is identical in layout and function, so for more information on this section, please see our documentation on Items.

Equipment

Clicking on this button will take you to the Equipment tab link. Please see that section of the documentation for more details.

Charts

This handy visual section helps you visualize how much revenue your work orders and job items are worth at any given time, as assigned to each user or job item. By choosing a date range using the "From" and "To" drop down menus and clicking Refresh, you will see an illustrated graph showing the total value of your work orders for all users associated with your Method CRM who have work orders in the given range (for example, Bob might have work orders valued at a total of $100 for the given range, while Trish's work orders are valued at $300 - this information is visible in the grid). You will also see a graph detailing the total value of your job items as compared to one another (for example, a Landscaping job item might have generated $50 worth of revenue for the date range, while Maintenance generated $100).

The point of this section is to provide a quick visual reference to show in a general sense how individual users and elements of your business are doing, and which user or job item is performing best in the given time period.

Created on	Jan-24-2014
Last modified on	Sep-17-2015