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Tag: Dovetail Agent

Customizing Dovetail Agent

November 18, 2016 Adding customizations in Dovetail Agent, as of version 13, incorporates numerous changes that make the application easier to customize and extend.Stepping through a simple example will demonstrate how those changes make it easy to add a customization. OverviewThis example shows a customization to enhance the console, adding some eye-catching color for Cases that have a severity level that needs attention. If a Case has a Medium severity, the row should be pink, orange for a High severity Case, and if a Case severity is Urgent, then make the row red.By default, all rows in the console have a white background, so adding some colors will make those cases stand out. Cases with severity levels below Medium will still have the white background. RoadmapTo accomplish this customization, the Cases with raised severity shown in the Case grid on the console need to have…

How To Query Case Activities in Dovetail Agent

November 14, 2016 I recently posted about how to Query Anything with Dovetail Agent. Specifically I showed how to setup a custom query for part inventory.In this post, we’ll look at creating a specialized flavor of a existing query.We have built-in query capabilities for work items (including cases), but instead, lets walk-through an example of allowing for querying on case activities.For example, show me how many cases were dispatched to the benefits queue in the last 90 days.For case activities, we’ll need to query the activity log (table_act_entry). In general, I discourage querying against this table using your online production database, as it’s typically the biggest table in the database, and queries against this table can adversely affect performance for everyone using the system. But, depending on your particular use case, your database, database size, database tuning, etc – this may be ok.You…

Query Anything with Dovetail Agent

November 11, 2016 In this post, we’ll look at how to create new ad-hoc queries to query anything in your system, purely via configuration.For those that have been around the Clarify/Dovetail/First Choice space for a while, you might remember that we used to have an add-on product for the Clarify Client named Query Anything. So yes, this post title is a nod to that. This is a continuation of the series on queries within Dovetail Agent, so it might be useful to first review the previous posts:An overview of configuring queries in Dovetail AgentHow to override the baseline queries Out of the box, Dovetail Agent allows for ad-hoc queries on:AccountsContactsContractsEmployeesSite PartsSitesThese are all great – but its common that we want to query on other objects – other baseline Clarify objects, or even custom objects.Lets walk through an example of how to do this. Inventory QueryFor this…

Customizing baseline queries in Dovetail Agent

November 10, 2016 In my last post, I covered the Query Filter Config files, and how they’re used to define a query.Now, lets have a look at how we can override the baseline queries, customizing them for your specific implementation.  Customizing a filter config doesn't mean you have to write rewrite the existing ones. You can write a config file just describing the customizations you need.We call these Filter Overrides.Using filter overrides, we can:remove a Columnremove a Facetremove a Fieldadd a Facetadd a Fieldadd a Columnadd a Join Example Filter OverrideThis is an example of a custom filter override file.We’ll override the Cases query, which is part of My Work, and adhoc queries on Work Items.<filter overrides="Cases">   <!-- Remove priority as a facet and as a output column -->   <removeFacet key="priority" />   <removeColumn key="priority" />   <!-- Remove the created column. We'll…

Configurable and Customizable Queries in Dovetail Agent

November 8, 2016 I’ve talked in the past about the power of queries within Dovetail Agent and how end users can build and use them.In this post, I’ll dive a bit deeper into how queries are configured, and how they can be configured and customized.  Query ConfigurationQueries within the app are driven by filter config files. This includes:Adhoc Queries available from the top-level Query menu, including:Work Items (Case/Subcase/Solution/Change Request/Part Request)Accounts, Contacts, Contracts, Employees, Site Parts, SitesCustom queriesTabs that contain filterable queries (such as the Contacts tab on the Site page) Filter Config FilesFilter Config Files are XML files that define:what tables/views are being queriedjoinswhat filters (facets) are available for the user to filter the query bywhat non-facet fields are queried for use in output datawhat output data is returned to the front-end of the application (columns)required privilege to make the entry available in the top-level…

Comparing Parent-Child Cases to Subcases

November 4, 2016 Within Dovetail Agent, we support both Subcases, and Parent-Child Cases. A common question is: What’s the difference, and when would I use one vs the other? So lets address that question here.   Subcases Subcases allow for multiple employees to work in parallel on a single Case.  You can “subcontract” pieces of the work to other employees. For example, we may have a Case for a New Employee. As part of that, we can create 3 subcases: Create a General subcase for setting up the employee’s network account and dispatch to the Network queue. Create an Administrative subcase for ordering business cards and assign to the office admin. Create a General subcase for creating the user’s account in the CRM system, and dispatch to a queue based on auto-destination rules. All of those 3 subcases can be worked by different…

What’s New in Dovetail Agent 13 – including expanded queries, T&E tracking, and parent-child cases

November 2, 2016 We recently released Dovetail Agent version 13.   Highlights include: Log Time and Expenses Parent-Child Cases Individual Contacts Adhoc Queries Querying with a specific time History improvements for small images Lets take a closer look at these.   Log Time and Expenses Cases and Subcases now include Time and Expenses tabs, allowing for tracking billable and non-billable time and expenses. T&E logs are often used in Field Service organizations, but many other service and support organizations use this functionality as well. Time and Expense logging can be enabled/disabled individually on a system wide basis, and is also privilege-class controlled, allowing organizations to control who is allowed to log T&E.   Time On the Time tab, we include a summary of time broken down by Billable and Non-billable categories. In addition, we include any time logged as part of the Log…

How to include a solution in a log email

September 27, 2016 Photo by @justmekirsty   When working a case, we can link a solution to the case, indicating that the given solution resolves the problem at hand. Now that we’ve linked it, we often want to email that solution to the customer. Using the Canned Responses feature within Dovetail Agent, this is easy to do. I see two options for how we could email the solution to the customer: Send the customer a link to the solution, which allows them to view it online in a Selfservice/WebSupport-type app Send the customer the actual solution content Lets look at how to do both of these options.   Admin Setup – Rule Properties The first thing we want to do is be sure that our Sys Admin has setup rule properties for the Linked Solution. Canned Responses uses these rule properties for resolving…

Refresh Cache actions in Dovetail Agent

September 16, 2016 Within Dovetail Agent, there are two different Refresh Cache actions Refresh Application Cache Refresh User Cache This post is a quick rundown of what they do and how they’re different.   Refresh Application Cache From the Admin menu, there’s a Cache option   This controls the application cache which includes schema, lists (application and user-defined), configuration items, strings, etc. When the application starts up, a bunch of information that rarely changes is cached, to improve application performance. The most common use of this is for when you change list values – both application lists (such as Case Type), and user-defined lists (such as Contact Expertise). You can edit your lists using Dovetail Admin, refresh the cache in Agent, and the updated list values will appear.   Refresh User Cache On the user Profile page, there is a Refresh Cache link.…

Understanding Change Request Workflows and Transitions

September 12, 2016 Dovetail Agent includes support for Change Requests.  Recall that a change request is a task you create in response to a reported software bug, hardware defect, or enhancement request. As Change Requests are worked, they follow a workflow process. We use Statuses and Transitions to define the process, and define who can move the Change Request through its workflow steps. Technically, Cases also support a workflow and defined transition. It’s just a very simple one. We can use Cases as a simple example before moving on to the more robust workflow options with Change Requests.   Case Workflows Cases have just 2 conditions: Open, and Closed. A case can move from Open to Closed, and from Closed to Open. Within each of those conditions, there are also a set of allowable statuses. For example: Open status options may be: Researching,…