As we like to do from time to time, we focus on new and enhanced aspects of SI that we think will really be of great benefit to our users. After trade shows, we're energized by user feedback and the chance to showcase SI features we believe in. With summer trade shows complete, let's share key insights from these events.
This month, we're covering user favorites and our top recommendations—creating your essential SI success toolkit.
For those of you who are still considering the acquisition of D-Tools SI software, please reach out to our sales team.
User-Favorite SI Features
There are tons of SI features we love, and we know you do too. Here are the ones that come up again and again in your feedback.
– The Vendor Pricing Mechanism
Nothing has been as positively received in recent years by our users as the Vendor Pricing addition has. Automated dealer pricing updates have been an incredibly welcome enhancement that is perhaps second to none within the industry.
For those unfamiliar with it, the Vendor Pricing update actually provides your dealer cost from a list of 193 partnered vendors. This group is comprised of both manufacturers and distributors and is constantly expanding.
In case your team is not using this feature or is new to SI, you can get started by selecting the icon labeled Vendor Partners in the ribbon of your Product Catalog or the SI Library.
From there, select Connect in order to see the screen listing the 193 vendor partners:
Traditional features such as search and filtering options let you quickly locate vendors and retrieve dealer pricing.
Once you provide the required details per the vendor, the status should show Pending and then ultimately Approved once your team is validated.
The next step is setting up your price update schedule. This helps keep you up-to-date on any changes from your vendors.
You can also access this feature through the Vendor Partner icon in the Product Explorer ribbon.
Finally, verify that items in your Product Catalog have preferred vendors assigned. This may have already been configured automatically.
And that’s it. Now you will be well on your way to having your dealer pricing load automatically into your SI.
- Partial Project Approval.
While a relatively new feature, this capability is already a game-changer for some teams, and the feedback we’ve received about it has been equally rewarding.
This partial Project Approval can really aid teams that are constantly dealing with those long-term projects that last several months or more and have a staggered deployment timeline, along with progress or delayed billing cycles.
To get started, one simply needs to go through the normal full Project Approval process and select Approve project partially in the window that appears:
At the bottom of the screen, select the box to Approve Project Partially. From there, choose which items will be approved, and the remaining bill of material items will then transfer to a Pending Change Order.
You’ll notice in this next window that you have full access to all Layouts (including your custom ones), so filtering for the appropriate group for approval can easily be done by Location, System, Phase, etc. Nice and convenient.
Upon selection of your approved items, a Pending Change Order will appear in the lower directory of your Project Explorer list:
This feature also lets you customize Payment Terms for individual Change Orders, giving you more flexibility.
Overall, this Partial Project Approval is a real breakthrough for a majority of our users. We hope you’ll find it just as beneficial.
- Compare and Sync Items in your Projects.
The feedback from the addition of this feature has been tremendous and ongoing. For that, we thank you.
As a logical result following the aftermath of recent supply chain constraints and disruptions, the Compare and Sync mechanism allows users to review data changes between the active versions of their Project and the recently updated data in the Catalog.
There is even the capability to have it set as a prompt for users to see when they open their SI Projects.
It will even show you the number of variances for a “ready reference” before deciding if you want to review the data or not.
If you elect to do so, you'll get easy-to-spot cues about what's different between your catalog and project data:
Pricing Differences, Discontinued, and Unapproved are a few of these key data points.
Beyond that, you need to only select the item from the list to review the varying data between your Project and the Catalog as seen in the Fields partition at the bottom of the screen:
So what our users end up with here is a mechanism that goes beyond price comparison alone. It provides the opportunity for all members of the team (not just sales estimators) to review and update product data accordingly.
This is an incredibly helpful and useful tool that your team should be using to its fullest potential.
D-Tools’ Favorite SI Features
These features can significantly improve your workflow. Many are unique to SI and represent our best innovations.
- The Multi-office Feature
The multi-office feature capability has been talked about and promoted for so long, and after extensive development, it is finally live!
What makes this mechanism so interesting is the top-down structure it offers for teams that have multiple offices, locations, or are a parent company with subsidiaries underneath them. This is exactly what teams have been requesting for many years.
So, whether you’re setting up a new office in another city or establishing a hierarchy of your existing subsidiary, the SI’s multi-office feature has got you covered.
In order to access it, go to the SI Control Panel and select the Multi-Office Data Sync section:
From there, just enable your parent office and set the child locations accordingly. Always verify the IP details as well:
For the child offices to sync appropriately, just open the same window from the Control Panel in the child instance of SI (seen above here) and select Child Office:
Once this structure is established, your Multi-Office Publications and Subscriptions need to follow accordingly.
Publications will determine what data is available from the parent office to the child locations.
Subscriptions will determine what data is available in the Child SI Server.
This enables the top-down flow of data as directed by the parent office.
Keep in mind, there are some other factors for consideration in this process, but essentially, the selection of the Parent Office sets the stage for your SI multi-office feature mechanism.
We hope you enjoy using this feature—we're excited to finally offer it.
- Workflow Rules.
This is yet another tool in the SI arsenal that we were very pleased to promote. It ensures team members automatically receive updates when new data is available.
The best part is that it's fully automated based on user activity and data updates.
Be it a Project, PO, Task, or Service Order, the Workflow Rule mechanism can be leveraged for all of these considerations. However, the real beauty of this feature is the ability to fine-craft an email message using data from within the source for your given Workflow Rule.
The Insert Field option helps provide specific details about why the notification was triggered:
So not just timely, but also efficient information to help relieve bottlenecks in your process flow.
We are incredibly proud and excited to offer our users this ever-evolving tool that will undoubtedly improve their internal communication.
- Job Cost Reports
As mentioned on a prior Topic of the Month regarding this feature, there are several other components that go into the successful use of the Job Cost report module in SI. They may not all be sighted here, so be sure to reach out to our team or read this edition of TOTM if you have any questions.
If your team is using the Purchase Order mechanism in SI along with Time Sheets for your field deployment Tasks, then you could be well on your way to enjoying the immense benefits of SI’s Job Cost Reports.
The magic here (if you will) happens when SI analyzes all your project pricing data alongside billable hours from your field techs that are incurred against the Project itself.
Therefore, whether you want to review project data while it is still in progress or you are ready for a postmortem on a fully completed project, the Job Cost Reports can give you the numbers you seek.
By applying Purchase Order costs along with approved Time Sheet values in its display, the Job Cost Report allows our users to determine the overall profitability of their projects once they are completed.
This data can be organized by Labor Type or by Phase, along with enabling users to select and review the amounts filtered by Product, Labor hours, or Labor dollars as needed.
On top of all of that, any of the data presented in the Job Cost Report view can then be exported to either Excel or PDF, allowing for the ease of sharing with colleagues.
For the many teams I’ve worked with to implement SI into their daily practices, the utilization of this Job Cost Report is somewhat of a game-changer. It provides a real cost analysis within the SI software, which is now critical for our users to evaluate the success of their bid process and ultimate profitability.
We are thrilled for its inclusion in SI and are happy to explain its use to any of you who need more information on it.
BONUS FEATURE PRESENTATION!
- SI’s Business Analytics
An oldie but a goody that we still love. This feature was originally introduced as Dashboards, but was rebranded to Business Analytics not long after. It's great at helping teams stay on top of workflow challenges before they become real problems.
Now, the great aspect of usage here solely depends upon your perspective in the company. While there is a great variety of data available via this mechanism, the uniqueness of what is displayed is very dependent upon what each user needs to see. Some areas of interest could include Opportunities, Projects, Change Orders, Purchase Orders, Tasks, or Service Orders.
There's something valuable for everyone, whether you're in sales, project management, procurement, production, deployment, or service.
We can't recommend this tool enough. This tool, along with the usage of other SI mechanisms and data presentations, can give you that edge you need to start each day effectively or even just to get the data you need when you need it.
These types of features are the ones we really love demonstrating to new as well as experienced users of the SI platform.
A quick note on getting started with these and other features not listed here.
I recently covered the support services available for new SI users and teams looking to expand their platform usage. In case you missed that TOTM, you can access it via this link or on the Insights section of the D-Tools website.
Most importantly, remember that we’re here to help you with SI! Send in a Support Ticket, a support chat, schedule dedicated training time with our PSG team, or an on-site visit from one of our deployment specialists. We have a path to assist all users according to their needs. We also regularly update our online documentation and regional trainings, so don’t forget about those!
We are on stand-by should you need us.
Well, there it is! A look into a few aspects of D-Tools SI v23 that users and developers really like. But as always, there’s 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 features 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-Tool's has shown itself to be fully engaged in bringing to market one of the most effective software platforms available.
With that in mind, we encourage our users to consider SI a strategic partner for the AV integration industry that can help with navigating complex and hectic opportunities. By combining foundational aspects of the software such as Labor Types, Price Adjustments, Project Templates, and Project Cloning, 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, comprised 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 standard 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!!!
