Kicking-off the New Year right. Resets, updates, and modifications that are timely for Q1.
This new year, fiscal or otherwise, can send teams scrambling as they recover from the holidays. To start the new year strong with SI, there are a few best practices worth keeping in mind. Based on years of user feedback, we’ve identified some standard approaches that many teams find helpful.
While these may not apply to everyone, they represent common strategies we thought were worth highlighting. With that said, apply this advice where warranted and reach out if you'd like more customized recommendations.
For those of you who are ready to “get with the program” and upgrade your prior version of SI, please reach out to our Customer Success team. Moreover, for those of you who are still considering the acquisition of D-Tools SI software, please reach out to our Account Management team.
Well for those who use the year designation as a prefix for their Project Number Format, it is appropriate to start here.
The SI Project Number Format allows users to create a unique numeric designation for every project generated in SI.
Many teams use the current year as a prefix for their Project Numbers, making this a top priority when creating new projects in Q1.
Beyond updating the year, consider other ways to customize your Project Number Format. For example, adding multiple text entries—such as including "Q1"—can provide additional differentiation for your projects.
SI teams can also consider including multiple data fields from the Project itself.
You can also include Custom Fields from the Project in your numbering format. Beyond just the inclusion data related to the client, once the job is “closed”, many teams use these Project Custom Fields to insert an abbreviation that indicates exactly where in the “pipeline” the job is at any given moment. This could be something as simple as “DES” for design, “PRO” for procurement, “CON” for construction, or “COM” for commissioning.
There are many other creative possibilities, so consider what data would help your team identify critical job details at a glance from the Project Number itself.
Would any SI blog entry be complete without mentioning the catalog? We think not.
Catalog updates can be a bit daunting for many teams, but you can simplify the process by prioritizing your top brands first. Depending on your business volume, focus on your 5-10 or 10-20 most-used brands, then seek updated data from the SI Library for those products.
You can use the layouts of your Product Explorer to help filter and sort your records, and return to only the items that need attention. Perhaps your preferred brand is Crestron, and you want to use the data field of “Updated On” to determine items that might need an update.
Once you’ve filtered for this data range, you can then filter for manufacturer and select all items present:
Once you’ve narrowed and selected your list, just execute another right-click to select the “Update From Library” option.
Based on the products you’ve selected, you’ll then see a screen that indicates what items have been identified and what records are not available at this time.
Once you've found items in the SI Library, you'll see a screen displaying the data differences between your current catalog and the updated version.
Simply review each item and determine which data fields need updating. You can update all items at once, or if you need to evaluate items individually, click "Deselect All" in the ribbon, then use the "Options" icon to choose which data fields to download.
Be aware of some key data points here, such as category/sub-category, labor types, labor hours, rack mounted, and discontinued. These are just a few that teams often customize and do not want overwritten when data updates are performed. Be sure to review your team’s needs accordingly.
Closely related to updating your catalog data is also reviewing pricing availability.
Pricing updates from the D-Tools Vendor Partner list should be reviewed often, and the beginning of the year is a great time for this consideration.
This feature has been a game changer for users who participate. If you're not familiar with it, here's a brief overview: The d-Tools vendor partner mechanism allows SI users to register for automatic dealer cost updates on their catalog items. You can set this to update automatically or run updates manually as needed.
As you begin the new year, review the expanding Vendor list to see if any new partners are available for pricing integration.
Currently, there are 195 Vendors that have dealer pricing available for hundreds of different equipment brands. For those of you who have not explored this functionality within SI, it is strongly recommended that you do so, especially with the New Year in mind.
Not only does this feature eliminate the need to constantly update pricing for the items your team specifies, but it also provides reassurance for high-volume dealers that their pricing will be the most accurate available as they generate their project quotes.
Following right along with catalog and pricing updates is the ongoing effort to ensure your team is using the most desired products from your preferred brands.
Therefore a New Year Catalog Clean-Up could be in order to confirm there are no old, outdated, or unwanted items still lingering in your database.
Perhaps the best tool to use for such consideration is the “Find Usages in” feature within the SI Product Explorer. This can be accessed by simply right-clicking on any item (or items):
What is really fantastic about this is that the mechanism can be generated for items in your SI Projects, PO’s, or Service Orders. Each one can provide powerful insight into exactly where your team’s success lies when specifying the products they include.
For the project perspective, teams can review a list of items that are included in the bids they’ve created in SI:
With such readily available data, SI users can see exactly how many times an item has been included in a project and what the pricing was at that time.
From the PO perspective, SI users can now see how many items have actually been ordered, helping teams understand what's selling versus what's being specified.
This then gives your sales and procurement teams the data they need to analyze what exactly is making its way from sales to delivery from your successful project bids.
From the Service Order perspective, this data gives your team insight into items that are being regularly serviced, replaced, or provided in the service plan’s lifespan.
This data can be a major revelation to some teams, as it allows users to review exactly what items they may want to reconsider in terms of a sales offering or that they may want to keep more of on hand as they prove to be useful on the service side.
All of this data related to the “Find Usage In” can be exported to Excel for easy transmission to other team members who would benefit from such knowledge.
Out with the old and in with the new. This a motto we’ve heard many times regarding this time of year.
Archiving Projects is definitely a way for your team to do exactly that. This process is a great way to “declutter” your team’s project explorer environment.
Leveraging the proper layout in your project explorer and filtering for an outdated date range can make this process very easy.
Keep in mind that a custom layout could be really helpful here as well, since you can include only the minimally necessary data fields in order to gain the desired perspective on your project data.
Once appropriate Layouts, filtering, and sorting are complete, you will have a list of projects ready for this consideration. Just right-click on any project (or projects) and scroll down to the “Archive” option.
This is quite important to consider if the deployment is still active. Best to keep such projects “Active” until completion. However, for the jobs that meet such criteria, moving them to an “Archived” status will contribute greatly to keeping your project explorer environment ‘lean and mean’.
Keep in mind, of course that any “Archived” Project can be moved back to “Active” just by selecting the “View” icon in the ribbon, then “Archived”.
Well there it is! A look into a few aspects of d-Tools SI v23 that can help our users gain quick insights and data related to various situations in SI as they start the New Year.
Nevertheless, as always, there is much more than just these features to keep in mind for your team’s usage, so please reach out to our account team for more information on all of the above and more!
Looking Ahead: SI V23 and beyond
The last few years have seen tremendous updates and enhancements to the System Integrator platform. With each successive development and addition, D-Tools has shown itself to be fully engaged in bringing to market one of the most effective software platforms available.
Further, the updates in v23 (and prior recent releases) reflect our commitment to addressing the real-world challenges faced by system integrators. In addition, what’s to come will not disappoint.
With that in mind, D-Tools System Integrator v23 is more than just a software update—it’s a strategic partner for AV integrators navigating a complex and hectic industry landscape. By combining robust multi-office settings with seamless data synchronization, v23, not only empowers businesses to operate with unprecedented efficiency, but also offers the flexibility most teams need to craft a custom software environment to suit their needs.
Are you ready to experience SI v23? Then visit the D-Tools’ website to request a demonstration of these features or explore the full range of utilization with our PSG training and implementation team. With V23, as your ally, your business will be poised for a brighter and more profitable future.
Be sure to tune back in here for future installments on SI’s v23 and beyond.
Our team is continually evaluating ways to improve and enhance your team’s usage of and experience with our SI platform. Therefore, it behooves you and your team to explore these (and other features) as well by securing time with our Professional Services Group of SI and integration industry veterans in order to maximize your team’s ability to succeed with the software.
In closing…
For more information on these and other features of SI, please see this link: D-Tools v23. You can also review our other videos and our usual support documentation.
You can also get more detailed information about v23 via our upcoming webinars and by enrolling in SI training with our PSG team.
And don’t forget, that’s why we are here…to ensure your success with our product! Be sure to check back here next time for more on v23!!!