Using Global Filters

Most companies, large and small, have branch offices throughout the world. Service Management tracks all customers no matter where they're located. Users, however, at times may not want to see all the company's customers. They may only be concerned with a subset of the total customers. Using global filtering, users can be set up to view a subset of the company's customers.

For instance, a dispatcher may want to see only customers in the state of Washington, whereas a sales manager may need to see the entire west coast. Or maybe each of your branches has its own dispatcher during the day, but at night, you want to direct all service calls through one central or night dispatcher. Global Filtering is an optional module that must be purchased separately. Contact WennSoft Sales for more information.

Setting up Global Filtering

Mark the Use Global Records Identification Filters checkbox in the Service Options window (Microsoft Dynamics GP > Tools > Setup > Service Management > Module Setup > Service Options) to activate global filtering. See Choosing Service Options.

Assign the user to a branch (Microsoft Dynamics GP > Tools > Setup > Service Management > System Administration > User Profile). Use the lookup button to select a branch name in the User Profile window. The selected user will now only see customers assigned to the selected branch name. In a hierarchical fashion, global filtering uses affiliates, regions, and branch names to group customers. For instance, the branch Milwaukee, Wisconsin, could belong to the affiliate "USA," the region "Central" and the branch name "MKE." See Setting Up Security for additional User Profile window setup procedures.

Using Global Filtering

Once users are set up to use global filtering, you must assign customers and locations to branches.

1. When you add a customer, you are prompted to assign the customer to a branch. Zoom on the Branch indicator to do this. When assigning a customer to a branch, you can make the customer global by marking the Global Customer checkbox. Though assigned to a branch, global customers are seen across all branches. You can assign temporary customers to branches. To assign a location to a branch, zoom on the Branch indicator in the Location window.
2. Use the drop-down list to filter branches. You can filter branches in the Service Manager, Location, Maintenance Tasking, and Maintenance Invoicing windows. The drop-down list always contains User Profile as a global filter. User Profile represents the branch preferences chosen in the User Profile window for each user. For example, if a user was limited to the North and East branches as part of her user profile, then only three branches appear in the drop-down list: User Profile, North, and East. If no global filters were chosen as part of the user profile, then all branches and User Profile are available in the drop-down list.
3. |If you marked the Use Global Record Identification Filters checkbox in the Service Options window, you can mark the Use Postal Code Assignment checkbox in the same window. If you're using the postal code assignment feature, new customers will automatically be assigned to a branch based on the customer's postal code. In the Postal Codes Setup window (Microsoft Dynamics GP > Tools > Setup > Service Management > Lookup Setup > General > Postal Codes), enter a postal code in the Postal Code field. Select Yes to add a new postal code. Then complete the Branch field. If you add a new customer with this postal code, the customer is automatically assigned to the appropriate branch.