Setting Options on the Preferences Screen

There are many options available to you in the system, and the majority of these are easily controlled/set on the Preferences Screen. To access the Preferences screen, click the 3 dots on the Home Watch Admin tile and select Preferences.

You will come to the main Preferences Screen showing your software version plus all of the different Preference Headings available. To see the options under each heading, you can click the > character to open that particult box. Each of the options will be briefly described below.

Reporting Preferences

Reporting App Used: Select which of the supported apps you are using so that the integration will work properly.

Report Link Goes To: If using SafetyCulture, do not change this setting from iAuditor.

Add Report Email to Activities: If you wish for the system to create an Activity Entry storing the email you used to send the report to your client, turn this On. You’ll save an exact copy of the email to your Activities list and can review it in the future if necessary. (Default:No)

Update WO Start/End Times from Report: Each Work Order has a set start/end time on it. If you wish for those times to be changed to match the actual time of the report, turn this option on. (Default: No)

Auto-Create Reports Each Night: The system can automatically generate reports for you based on the day’s Work Orders. The default is to create reports for the current day, but if you increase the # Days Ahead field it will include the upcoming days as well. Note that if a report has already been created it will not be created a second time. In the example screenshot above, the system will create one day ahead, e.g. on Monday it will generate Tuesday’s reports, on Tuesday it will generate Wednesday’s and so on.

Auto-Send reports at End of Day: If turned On, the system will automatically email any completed reports to your clients after 6pm. This will only send reports that have not been previously sent. (Default: No)

CC: Customer AssignedTo on Report Email: If you have “estate managers” who are responsible for the properties you can add them on the Property Screen in the Assigned To: field. They can then be automatically CC’d when emailing reports, regardless of who actually created or sent the report. (Default: No)

SafetyCulture Settings

Sync Actions to HWIT Issues: if set to Yes, when you enter a new Action during a SafetyCulture inspection, it will automatically create an Issue in HWIT.

Create Action when Issue Created: will create an Action in SafetyCulture when a new Issue is created in HWIT. This feature is currently not available.

Click to Manage Templates: will open a new screen where you can add/manage/delete linkages to templates you create in SafetyCulture.

Work Order Options

Work Order Format to Use for Vendor: If you email Work Orders to Vendors, you can change the report format used for those Work Orders. This is only changed if you create a new report format (not common).

Email Template to Notify User: if you email Work Orders to your Users, this is the email template to use when sending.

Email Template to Notify Vendor: if you email Work Orders to Vendors, this is the email template to use when sending, attaching the WO itself created from the report format listed above

Email Template to Issue Reminders: When sending reminders for Issues, this is the email template to use when sending.

Portal

The following options pertain to the Customer Portal, if you have it installed:

Use Portal Communications: if you want your customers to communicate via the portal (rather than standard email) you can turn this option on. Turning it on will cause the Communications block to be listed on the portal homepage and the customer can see and send messages via the portal to you. (Default: No)

Email Template to Notify Customers of Reply: if using Communications, this is the email template that will be used to send your customer an email letting them know that you have replied to a communication on the portal.

Email Template to Notify Customers of New Communication: same as above, except used to notify your customer that you have entered a new Communication to them in the portal

Email Template to Notify Customers of Issues: same as above, but used in the case that you enter a new Issue into the system and check the box to make the Issue visible to the customer.

Notify by Email in Addition to Admin dashboard: you are normally notified of new communications/replies from your customer with a button that appears at the top of the Admin dashboard screen (WO List). If you wish to be notified by email as well as the button, set this to Yes. (Default: No)

Email Template to Notify Admin of New Communication: if you set the above setting to Yes, this is the email template that will be used when sending the notification.

Display WO Attachments: if you attach documents or files to your Work Orders, and wish for the Customer to be able to view those attached documents, set this to Yes. They will be able to see all documents attached if this is turned on. This can be handy for attaching vendor invoices and making them accessible to your customers via the portal. (Default: No)

Display Customer Info Fields: allows you to control if you wish to show your information fields to the customer via the portal and allow them to make changes to the information if necessary. You can control which fields the customers can see, along with the prompts and directions for each field, by clicking the Edit Fields link next to this selection. (Default: No)

Portal Login URL: is the URL used for your HWIT portal login screen. This is not changeable by the user.

Show Upsell to Clients: check this box if you want to use the “Upsell” feature to sell additional services to the customer automatically when they enter a new In Residence entry. (Default: off)

Accounting Options

Accounting System: defines which version you are running QuickBooks Simple Start, Essentials, Plus, Advanced, Desktop, or None.

Prepayments Should Offset: if using Prepayments this defines how those are handled. Full details of the option are in the Prepayments documentation.

QBO Class: if using “Classes” in QuickBooks (Plus or higher), you can define which class code to use for your Home Watch business transactions generated by HWIT’s system.

QBO Locations: if using “Locations” in QuickBooks (Plus or higher), you can define which class code to use for your Home Watch business transactions generated by HWIT’s system

Add lines for WO# on Invoice: If set to Yes, this will add a "Heading Line" on the generated invoice showing the Work Order # for the following invoice lines.  This gives a way to break up the invoice into sections, with each section representing a particular Work Order.

Use Customer Type Filtering: If using the Customer Type feature (Plus or higher), you can define which customers should be excluded based on the Customer Type entered, turn this on by clicking Yes and then use the Manage Customer Types link to set up which customers to exclude. More details on this feature are here.

Invoice Credit Card Markup Pct: contains the percentage to add to an invoice if you wish a credit card surcharge to be added. Full details are in the CC Surcharge documentation.

Invoice: Services Code for C/C Markup: see above

Allow C/C Payments: defines which clients are allowed to use credit cards for online payments. This only applies if you have turned on the settings above as per the CC Surcharge documentation.

Custom Invoice Numbers: by default the system will allow QuickBooks to assign sequential invoice numbers automatically, provided that you have the setting for “Custom Transaction Numbers” in QuickBooks turned OFF. However, if you wish for the HWIT system to assign invoice numbers, using a configuration much more flexible than QuickBook’s, you can use these settings. Turn On the setting here and set up your Invoice Number format using the following field.

Invoice # Format: defines how the Invoice Number will be configured. You can use the following “variables” to define the setup:

• YY - insert the two-digit year

• MM - insert the two-digit month number

• MMM - insert the three-character month abbreviation

• LASTNAME - insert the client’s last name

• ### - insert the next sequential invoice number (as defined in the following field)

Examples:

YY-MM-### will create an invoice number like 23-08-1051

YY-MMM-LASTNAME will create an invoice number like 23-Aug-Smith

### - will just use the next sequential number without anything else (this allows you to set the invoice number instead of accepting what QB pushes)

HWIT-LASTNAME-MMM-YY will create an invoice HWIT-Smith-Aug-23 (Note that any text you enter that is not one of the 5 variables will just stay the same, such as the dashes or HWIT above) *Note* If the invoice number ends up greater than 21 characters, which is the QuickBooks maximum, the name will be truncated so that the total number of characters is 21.

Next Invoice #: allows you to assign the next sequential invoice number to be used in any of the above formats you create.

Report Email & SMS Configuration

Report Email Template: is the name of the default template to be used when sending your reports. This template will be used if no other email template is specified on your report template.

Email Subject ad Template: is the body of the Email Template chosen in the dropdown. You can edit the template here, or in the Method Email Template edit screen (see button below). Whatever is in this template is what will be used as a default when sending reports to your customers.

Edit Other Email Templates: is a shortcut button to take you to the Method Email Template edit screen. You can edit any of the email templates in the system including the templates defined in other fields on this Preferences Screen.

Default Message for En Route: is used to specify the default message available to send to customers from the Route Technician application to let them know you are en route to their property.

Admin Settings

Number of Months for Auto-Occurrences: the system generates future Work Orders based on the horizon value chosen in this field. When using the “No End Date” feature on the Work Order Series, this keeps track of how far ahead to create new Work Orders, primarily for forecasting/planning purposes. (Default: 12 months)

Route List Should Include: you can change the list on the Route Tech app to automatically apply different views, including Previous Date-all WOs for a user for the current date and previous (if not completed), All Users-everyone will see all WOs for the date (and previous dates that are not completed) regardless of who they are assigned to, All Users by Route-same as the All Users, except sorted by Route ID, Incl Activities-will include Activity assignments in the list as well as Work Orders, Sorted by Best Route Calculated-if using the Best Route feature, this will display the WOs in the best route sequence (WOs are normally resequenced on that screen with new date/times assigned, so this setting is useful only if you are not resequencing the WOs). (Default: Previous dates)

Time Tracking: You can turn on/off the Time Tracking feature, including QB sync. Refer to the documentation for Time Tracking on how to set this. (Default: Off)

Internal Code: Used for other internal/special options. Do not change this unless directed.

Primary Admin: Is used to create a default for all email communications and storage of other records. It must be set to an Admin user.

Snow Notes Description: You can change the heading on “Snow Notes” in the Customer Property screen to anything you desire. This is typically set to “Storm Notes” in non-snow areas.

Handyman Description: You can change the heading of the “Handyman” contact on the Customer Property screen to anything you desire. This is commonly changed to “HVAC” if there is a regular HVAC service provider for each customer.

Service Dates Descriptions

You can manage the descriptions for all Service Dates in this grid. These are then used for all dropdowns and displays on the Customer Property screen, Route Tech, Work Orders, etc. You can also change the sequence of the dates by changing the numbers in the first column. The numbers do not need to be sequential, but will always be sorted in order when dates are used/displayed.