Brian will be attending the Chicago ASCII summit and The MSP MASTERY Event being put on by Stu and Stu in Chicago with Randolph Carnegie. Hope to see you there!
BK
ASCII Summit: 23/6/2011
http://www.asciievents.com/register.aspx
MSP MASTERY: 21/6/2011
Approve and Post Improvements
Approve and post getting a filter to show 50,100 or 150 items per screen is great.
Invoice preview allowing for the invoice configuration change and then processing immediately is a great step forward in a direction I like:
Edit items from the invoice preview screen:
https://community.autotask.com/forums/t/13874.aspx
I’m still motivated by this feature request because it would allow more control. Instead of unposting all items and then having to repost them I’d like to:
Click ”edit” on an item, Autotask shows me the edit screen. When I submit my changes Autotask unposts the item, changes it, then reposts it and updates my preview screen.
That all could happen on ONE time entry for example.
Outlook Upgrade to support x64
This should not be important for you. If you’re deploying 64 bit office at this point you most likely made a mistake. Please let me know if you disagree.
New Live Reports Software
This is an incredible new feature that could be covered by full article… and it probably will be, stay tuned.
LiveMoble Updates
It’s nice to see that this feature is available for no additional charge in read only mode. For our firm the software is not quite there yet as far as showing enough value to purchase the software, however, if the new Social interfaces in Autotask (Wall views) were to make it into LiveMobile the software would be MUCH more tempting.
I would echo other Autotask community members who would say please slow down development on this software and put more time back into the core Autotask product.
BK
April Release Notes:
June Release Notes:
This article is for people who use the Autotask Extension provided by Autotask, not QuoteWerks. The training material from Autotask assumes you have a single PC running Quotewerks. We don’t, we have a server install with nodes. (this works fantastic by the way). This install type is not supported by the Autotask instructions.
Here are the instructions to make it work:
1. Login to Quotewerks as Administrator
2. Tools > Customize Menus
3. Click “Tools Menu”, click the “Define Items” button
4. Click the checkbox to show all users defined items
5. Click the “New” button
6. Enter the following:
Caption: Export to Autotask Project (x64)
Action: Run External Application
Command: C:\Program Files (x86)\Autotask\AutotaskConnect\QuoteWerks\AutoQuote.exe
Start in:
Window: Normal
Owner: Administrator
Set your security: (Select All)
Click OK
7. Click the “New” button
8. Enter the following:
Caption: Export to Autotask Project (x86)
Action: Run External Application
Command: C:\Program Files\Autotask\AutotaskConnect\QuoteWerks\AutoQuote.exe
Start in:
Window: Normal
Owner: Administrator
Set your security: (Select All)
Click OK
9. Click “Close”
10. Click “Publish Menu Items”
11. Change Tabs to “Apply to”
12. Select the users to apply the changes to (or apply to all users)
BK
The Quoting tool built by QuoteWerks is a great next step for a company that uses Autotask but has outgrown the quoting capabilities built into Autotask.
In 1993 Aspire software started selling QuoteWerks, a now mature quoting / proposal tool. QuoteWerks is not a browser based application like Autotask. It is an application that either needs to be installed on your Windows based PC or it can also be run remotely by using a Windows Terminal Server or Citrix Server. Data in QuoteWerks can be stored on the local PC hard drive, a network server or with the corporate edition, in a Microsoft SQL server.
Autotask wrote an integration / extension into QuoteWerks a few years ago that is available for a onetime fee of approximately $500 from Autotask sales. This integration/ extension is best for companies producing quotes / proposals that will resemble what will be delivered from the projects module in Autotask. The module used to be limited to single user instances of QuoteWerks. We have a patch for that limitation and to support x64 machines is posted here.
There is also a new integration that QuoteWerks wrote with support from Autotask that was released for Autotask Community Live 2011. This integration is available for free for the current edition of QuoteWerks Corporate Edition. This integration can work in tandem with the old integration or without it. Contact information inside Autotask can be queried from inside QuoteWerks. Products and services from Autotask can be seamlessly added to QuoteWerks Quotes as well.
When a quote is saved in QuoteWerks an Autotask Opportunity can be created or updated. If detailed information associated with recurring revenue is needed QuoteWerks must create products in the Autotask database that may be missing. Careful consideration should always be given to automated product creation in the Autotask database.
QuoteWerks combines ease of use with maximum flexibility for quote layout. Items on the quote can be grouped together and moved around as desired with drag and drop ease. Whole quotes or parts of a quote can be copied and pasted into existing quotes or new quotes.
QuoteWerks has always produced nice paper based / PDF based quotes / proposals. Just recently QuoteWerks introduced a new electronic quote delivery system called QuoteValet. With QuoteValet your quote is automatically converted into a custom web page hosted on QuoteWerks servers. Using QuoteValet we’ve been able to increase the number of value added options we sell on our quotes significantly. Our quotes now resemble something like the Dell online sales process, but without the options that are pointless for our clients and with preselected recommendations.
We attach PDF based word documents to the electronic quote details sheet to include “small print” which would otherwise clutter the financial selection options. We increased both the quote approval rate and the margin rates by showing on quotes that some products are only available for a limited time at discounted price points.
Once a decision has been reached, our clients can electronically sign the quote which results in an email notification. We use this in tandem with a web based credit card processing system for prepayments. QuoteWerks will shortly have an integrated credit card processing system built into QuoteValet.
Our biggest problem with the QuoteValet system is an inability to change the look of the quotes delivered. Electronic Quotes have excessive marketing information for QuoteValet. QuoteWerks knows their clients are not happy about this and plans on releasing custom template capabilities shortly. The other issue we wrestle with is not being able to hide sub options when a main option is not selected. This too is something that the QuoteWerks team understands and will endeavor to address shortly, perhaps with templates.
If a quote is going to change significantly and you want to keep prior revisions there is a revision process built into QuoteWerks. If you use quote components frequently you can template the entire quote or part of the quote to reduce quoting time.
When your quote is approved and you’re ready to deliver an order or an invoice document to your client a customized print template editor like Quickbooks is built into QuoteWerks. The QuoteWerks template process allows for customization at an extreme level. Optional items that were not selected can be automatically stripped from the resulting invoice and headers and footers that were not selected can be marked as non-printable so the elements in the original quote can remain in the quote as archived data. This makes future quote construction faster. It also allows your company to quickly and easily produce an invoice that looks just like your quote.
Our company workflow delivers invoices as outlined above as well as delivering them via Autotask directly. Regardless of the way we deliver them we ALWAYS update Autotask with proper financial information so that we know financially where we are with a client. We use the Autotask integration with Quickbooks to transfer invoices from Autotask. QuoteWerks also has an integration with Quickbooks to transfer information.
Distributor integration in QuoteWerks is top notch. Products can be sourced electronically and ordered with real time pricing which includes any discounting your company receives from a distributor. Electronic ordering from each distributor is a custom process to take advantage of the tools the distributors use to compete against each other. After an order is placed electronically all order information is retained inside QuoteWerks for future reference.
That sums up QuoteWerks quoting. Stay tuned for Quosal and VarStreet.
BK
Brian Kerhin is presenting in Autotask’s advanced series of sessions at Autotask’s world conference, CommunITy Live 2011. Brian’s presentation mixes many of the automation elements of Autotask with elements of best business practice associated with standard operating procedures required for the new CompTIA MSP Trustmark program.
The power point slide show is available here.
If you downloaded this in Florida you will and you attempt to open the presentation file in Internet Explorer 8 you will find a Microsoft bug. You’ll need to rename the .zip download to .pptx if you use Chrome or Firefox the bug does not show up. A work around of posting a .zip file to work with IE 8 has been put in place for the current link.
BK
The CompTIA MSP Partners Trustmark is a vendor neutral, business-level credential, designed to qualify and differentiate organizations providing remote IT services via a managed service business model. This credential identifies the MSPs that demonstrate a commitment to providing managed services in a competent manner and strive toward industry best practices. It serves as a reference to the quality of the services these companies provide and the commitment they make to their clients. To receive the MSP Partners Trustmark, an IT service organization must agree to a code of conduct, provide customer references, and submit an application covering a detailed list of criteria.
Byte Harmony Inc. is enrolled in the MSP Partners Trustmark program through 5/16/2014.
The Quoting tool built into Autotask is a great start for a company that uses Autotask and needs to produce quotes for recurring services or simple products.
The software is completely integrated into Autotask taking advantage of the CRM account and contact information. It also allows you to use your existing product and service catalog in Autotask so there is no additional work to use Autotask Quotes for a company already billing out of Autotask. There is also no additional cost as the tool is a part of the Autotask fee structure.
While the Autotask Integration is great, the distributor integration is not, and by not I mean it doesn’t exist. If you’d like to have any type of automation when sourcing product from a distributor like Tech Data, D&H, Ingram Micro or Synnex you’re going to need to use one of the other products I’ll be writing about. When you source your products you’re going to need to keep a separate document containing the information about that source since there is no ability to retain internal notes about items in Autotask Quotes. We need to store everything we can about the products we source so we can make product acquisition as painless (fast and accurate) as possible.
When our company first started using Autotask the limitation of not being able to source product electronically from the major distributors wasn’t a big deal to us. The problem that became apparent quickly was the inability to clearly show the options in a solution we were offering. Quotes in Autotask must be laid out based on the billing cycle: One time, Monthly, Quarterly, etc. This works well if you are proposing a single service with very few options (like selling Autotask itself for example), but an IT service company like us needs to quote products and services to provide many of our clients solutions. In many cases showing multiple optional products and services with recommendations is ideal. Autotask quotes do not do this well.
Optional items in Autotask Quotes are all lumped together in the “Optional Items” section under the different time frames and with no grouping of their own. So monthly options are now shown in the same section as yearly options. You could list the different options as if they were proposed items instead of listing them in the optional section of the quote. This approach has the disadvantage of making the quote total extremely high.
The best way we found to get around these limitations was to list the billing time frame for all services in the name of the service so it shows in the “Optional Items” section as shown below.
Speaking of the total proposed price, this is another significant problem for Autotask Quotes. Our clients always go to the last page first to find the “Total Price”. On an Autotask Quote that price is the amount including ALL optional items. This price is usually MUCH higher than our proposed solution price.
To work around this problem we recommend having your client present or on the phone when you deliver your quote. That way you can guild them to the to the correct total line before the optional items.
This brings us to another limitation of Autotask Quotes; delivery. The Autotask Quote was designed to be delivered via a web link that takes a client to a web page showing the solution. Then during a phone call the quote would be updated and the client would click the refresh button. This process rarely played out in our office as our clients frequently viewed our quotes at a later date and preferred a PDF document to a web link.
You can print your Autotask Quote and deliver that PDF via email to get around the web URL problem. In most cases companies will want to customize the look and feel of the generated PDF quote. Things like the size of the logo, company contact information and display of company slogans are commonly edited elements of a quote. Customizing an Autotask Quote requires personal involvement with Autotask professional services which is not included with your Autotask subscription price. So if you don’t like the look of the Autotask quote you may want to consider a different quoting solution.
Assuming your client likes what they see and they want to approve the quote, Autotask Quotes do not provide any mechanism for quote approval or collection of the fees required to start the delivery of services. To get around the approval part of this issue we used Echosign (www.echosign.com) to deliver the quotes electronically and obtain quote approval. We use a custom credit card payment system on our website to accept down payments and invoicing fees.
If you have a client who wants a quote that resembles the quote you just delivered to another client recently Autotask added an ability for you to copy quotes / use them as templates. Do not confuse these copies as revisions. There is no quote revision system in Autotask, in other words you cannot have more than one Quote per Opportunity.
Normal business SOP (standard operating procedures) requires the delivery of an invoice to document the services being provided and the fees associated with these services. Autotask Quotes do not convert into invoice documents. The process to create an invoice from a quote in Autotask results in a single line item on an invoice for the entire quote. Another option is to manually enter each item from the quote into a ticket, approve and post all those items and then beat your head into your desk if you need to try and get the items to show up on your invoice in an order of your choosing.
Last but not least is discounting information. Autotask Quotes allow you to show relatively complex discounting information. Unfortunately that discounting information is the same across all items, so the item you show having a 20% discount requires you to show the discount applied to all items, including those items at a 0% discount. The limitation associated with discounting continues when your quote is approved and you need to generate an invoice in Autotask. Autotask Quotes don’t allow you to show discounting information. The only option for a work around is to add negative cost items. However, if those negative cost items exceed the invoice total, you’ll find out about further limitations when your invoice (credit memo) won’t transfer into quickbooks.
That sums up the major limiting factors and our work a rounds for them when using Autotask integrated quoting. The next article in this series will detail QuoteWerks!
BK
As we’ve started using LabTech in our office we wanted to integrate it as much as possible within Autotask.
Here’s a list of the things we discussed with LabTech which should be ready by Early May. This article is also VERY helpful about to any company considering the products in that it explains exactly what the integration does RIGHT NOW 4/13/2011.
CI are created when the “Update Computers to Autotask” selection is made from the pull down menu “Tools”. This is run every 12 hours if the option to automate CI is selected in the integration.
AutoTask Configurations = To LabTech Computers
FUTURE: AT CI Live Link direct to the LT machine interface.
There was a concern from a partner that tickets closed in AT were not closing in LT. We have not duplicated this problem.
The current time frame for these changes is early May.
Further information on the integration is here.
If there is something important to your firm regarding the LabTech Autotask integration please let us know!
If you are a company that uses Autotask and you’re interested in LabTech fill out this form for a free consultation with one of our experts.
Bob Vogel at Autotask did a FANTASTIC piece on how companies that provide a fantastic service can sell MSP services through incidents to build trust.
Here is a link to the recorded event.
And a copy of the slides:
http://www.slideshare.net/BobVogel/autotask-performance-itwebinarfinal.
BK
