Sites

A detailed look at the fields and dependencies in the Site records, how to create a new Site & editing existing Sites.

The Site records are where you store the physical site addresses for your customers. They operate independently however and have an association field to Customers records. When creating Work Items that refer to Customers or Sites, they allow searching of Sites first.

Some features are dependent upon your select plan for your account.

Indicates a feature is only available in Standard or above.

Indicates a feature is only available in Enterprise.

 

 

Sites should not be confused with ‘Customers’ which are the legal entity that you trade with. For example:

1. A customer with one location, would have a Customer record and one equivalent Site record for the same address.
2. A customer with say, a head office and eight branch locations, would have one Customer record and eight separate Site records.

It would be typical to have at least one Site for each for each ‘account’ you have, which may well be the same physical address. 

Where Site Records are Used

The following files refer to Site records so if you plan to use any of these, setting up the records in this file will be important or even critical:

 

Work Items:

• Generic Job
• Field Repair
• Installation
• Field Maintenance
• Survey
• Field Task
• Help Desk Call

 

Data Sources:

• Contact
• Equipment
• Recurring Work
• Invoice
• Project

 

Activities/Forms:

• Equipment Collect
• Equipment Return

Prerequisite Files for Sites

When setting up Site records, it is recommended to review the other data files that may need to be referred to by each Site record. These are the files that you may need to setup in advance of the Site records (which is quite a lot if using all aspects of the system):

• Certifications
• Opening Times
• Users
• Categories (Sites)
• Territories
• Contacts

Field Descriptions for Sites

The ID section (not labelled) holds the unique IDs and names for the customer:

Reference - holds the unique ID for the record (most records in Solarvista have one of these). It cannot contain any spaces or non-standard characters. Once the record is saved, it is not possible to edit it afterwards. In most default situations, the Reference is automatically set using a counter sequence, however, you can setup your own if you prefer.

Nickname - this is used to identify the site in a compact and easy to read way. It is used within pick lists within the software as well as in areas where screen space is restricted, for example ABC/London or ACME HQ.

Name - the formal name of the customer/client e.g. ABC Systems Limited, XYZ Metals Inc. etc.

 

The Location section holds the physical address of the site:

Floor/Room– the floor, room or location within the building or site.

Building - the building name or number of unit on site.

Address 1 – first line of address.

Address 2 – optional second line of address (not including city or town name).

City – name of town or city.

County/Province – name of county or province. This is dependent upon State field selection (which in turn is dependent upon Country selection). This should be populated if you plan to use Counties/Provinces to define Territories.

Postcode – the postal code or zip code of the site. This should be populated if you plan to use Postcodes to define Territories.

State – name of state (if applicable). This is dependent upon Country field selection. This should be populated if you plan to use States to define Territories.

Country – name of country. This field defaults to the setting in Account Settings and must be selected from the in-built list of countries. This should be populated if you plan to use Countries to define Territories.

 

The Account/Customer section holds the entity used for billing and other preferences:

Customer – holds the customer i.e. the entity that is associated with the site.  This is important, especially of you are planning to use Solarvista for billing purposes .

 

The Communications section holds the preferred contact and the customer’s phone/email:

Contact –allows selection of a preferred/primary contact from the Contacts file. Alternatively, it allows a free text name to be typed into the field. 

Phone – will automatically populate with the phone information from a selected contact. It is also possible to enter a phone number directly. 

Email – will automatically populate with the email address information from a selected contact. It is also possible to enter an email address directly. 

 

The Preferred section holds preferred defaults for the specific site:

Certifications - if Certifications are entered, Solarvista can use these to assist users in planning work for this site. For example, a site may require that attendees have “Security Clearance” and if this is entered here, when the Calendar is used to assist with planning work, only users with the specific Certifications will be presented.

Users – holds specific Users that are preferred for a site. This information is used in parts of Solarvista where planning occurs i.e. the Calendar.

Opening Times  – holds the Opening Times pattern for the site and normally defaults to the setting in Account Settings. You must create a specific Opening Times record to contain these changes if different from standard.

Time Zone  - holds the time zone for the site and is defaulted from Account Settings. However, changing the State/County/Province/Country fields in the Address section will also update this. Time zones are used to allow service levels to be computed correctly and/or times to be input or displayed in the locality relevant.

 

The Other section holds miscellaneous additional information:

Memo – a free text field that can be used for any purpose.

Code – used to hold an optional alternative ID code. This may be applicable in situations where information is being transferred to other systems via Connectors and the code here is used to identify the record to the other system.

Territory  – holds a specific Territory classification for the site to assist in planning features e.g. the Calendar.

Category – a category for the site e.g. ‘Shop”, “Factory”, “House” etc. These are defined in the Categories file and set with a Type= “Site”.

Status – defines whether the record is in use or not. Initially, records are set to a status of “Draft”. Only “Active” status records are available for selection within the Solarvista system.

Creating a New Site Record

To create a new Site record:

1. Click on the “Plus” button.
   
   A menu will appear.
2. Within the “Data Sources” section, find “Site”.
   
3. Click on “Site”. A new “empty” Site record will appear.
4. Populate all fields as you require.
5. Click on the “Create” button.
   
6. You may need to refresh the page to see the new record in a view.
   

Editing a Site Record

To edit a Site record:

1. From the main menu, select Site.
   
   The default view for Sites will open.
2. Click on the Quick Filter button.
   
3. Enter criteria for the Site record you are looking for and click the Apply button.
   
   The view will update.
4. Find the record you are wanting to edit.
5. Click anywhere on the row that shows the record. The record will open.
6. You can edit any field that allows editing (some could be set to read only).
7. Click on “Save” button to save changes.
   

Deleting a Site Record

To delete a Customer record.

1. From the main menu, select Site. The default view for Site will open.
2. Click on the Quick Filter button.
   
3. Enter criteria for the Site record you are looking for and click Apply button.
   
4. The view will update. Find the record you are wanting to delete.
5. On the left side of the view is a column containing check boxes.
6. Check the box of the record you want to delete.
7. Click the “Delete” button on the top right.
   
   A slide in dialog will appear prompting you to confirm the delete, by typing in the word “DELETE” again.
8. To confirm, click the “Delete” button and the record (or records will be deleted).
   

Note: You cannot delete a Site record that is already in use with a Work Item i.e. Jobs. You can delete Site records referred to only by other Data Sources however this will leave those records without an associated to a valid Customer record. If this happens by accident, you can manually recreate the record ensuring the Reference is identical. You can also change the status of the record to prevent it appearing on screen in future whilst maintaining historical integrity.

Customising or Adding New Fields

Solarvista™ is built upon a uniquely flexible platform that allows you to edit fields (or remove them in some cases) as well as add your own fields. These new fields (or edited characteristics of existing fields) automatically become available within the web portal and the mobile apps. For more information, refer to the Customising section.

Importing Sites Data in Bulk using Import Tool

If you have a lot of sites information to enter, you may prefer to upload this using the Import Tool that’s built into Solarvista. The Import Tool enables Site records to be created from “CSV” text files. CSV files can be created from a wide range of popular applications including Microsoft Excel. For more information on importing data into Solarvista, please refer to the article here.

Continue the Setting Up Data section with Contacts.