Customer Service Workspace

This page belongs to TIPP CORE (workspace pages are part of TIPP CORE). The Customer Service Workspace is a list of sales orders for one division, with filters on order number, customer purchase order, customer, item code, sales person, dates and status, so a customer service representative can quickly answer questions such as “where is this order” or “what has shipped”. Customer service staff and sales administrators use it throughout the day. It is mainly a look-up and jump-off page: you read the list, add notes, and click through to the order or the customer. Orders are not changed here.

Before you start

• TIPP must be able to connect to the back-office database of the division (Modules, TIPP, Setup, Connections, Backoffice Connection). If it cannot, an error is shown and the filters and list are hidden.
• The TIPP workspace objects must have been deployed to that division. Otherwise a message tells you so and no data is shown.
• A valid TIPP license is needed (Modules, TIPP, Setup, General, License).
• The division must be set up as an Exact Globe or Macola ES back office in Synergy. For any other type, the page shows no views and no orders.
• Your access follows TIPP Page Security. Without access Synergy shows an access denied message.

How to find an order

1. Open the Customer Service Workspace. Check the Division field at the top of the Selection criteria. Change it if you need another division. The page reloads for that division.
2. Choose a View. For Exact Globe the choices are “Open Orders” (default), “Closed Orders” and “RMA Orders”. For Macola ES they are “Open Orders” and “Posted Orders”.
3. Type what you know in Sales Order, Customer PO No., Customer Name, Item Code or Sales Person. Customer PO No., Customer Name, Item Code and Sales Person match anywhere in the text, so part of a name or code is enough. The list refreshes as soon as you leave the field.
4. Optionally set Order Date, Shipping Date or Shipped Date with the date range fields. Each has a quick select for common periods.
5. Optionally tick one or more Status boxes. When several are ticked, an order is shown if it matches any of them.
6. Read the list. Click a column heading to sort. Use the page links at the bottom of the list to move to more orders.
7. Click Refresh in the button bar if you want to reload the list.

How to open an order, invoice or customer

1. Click the order number in the Order # column. A menu appears with the actions available for that sales order. Choose the one you want.
2. In the Posted Orders view of Macola ES, click the number in the Invoice column to open the menu for that sales invoice.
3. Click the customer name in the Customer column. A menu appears with the actions available for that customer.

How to add or read a note on an order

1. Look at the last column of the order row. A “new note” icon means there is no note yet. A different “existing note” icon means a note exists, and its text is shown in the Notes column of the row.
2. Click the icon. A separate window opens for the order comment of that order.
3. Write or edit the note there and save it in that window. Back on the workspace, click Refresh to see the updated note.

How to group the list

1. Choose a value in Group by. The choices are Customer, Order Status, Promise Date, Order Date and Shipping Date.
2. The list is sorted by that value and a heading row with the value appears each time it changes. Empty values appear under “N/A”. Date headings use your short date format.
3. Clear Group by to go back to the plain list.

How to use Find, Create and Reports

1. Click Find, Create or Reports in the button bar. A menu opens for this workspace in the selected division.
2. Choose an entry. What the menus contain is set up in your TIPP menu configuration, so it can differ per company.
3. The Navigate icon in front of the page title opens the Navigate menu for the division.

Screen guide

Selection criteria

• Division: the company whose orders you see. Lists active divisions, shown as number and name. It cannot be empty. If you opened the page without choosing a division and the current one cannot be opened, the page switches to one that works and shows an information message.
• View: which set of orders. Globe: “Open Orders” (default, orders not completed), “Closed Orders” (completed orders) and “RMA Orders” (only RMA orders, whether or not they are completed). Open Orders and Closed Orders do not contain RMA orders, so each order appears in one view only. Macola ES: “Open Orders” (default) and “Posted Orders” (invoiced orders). It cannot be empty.
• Group by: optional grouping. The choices are Customer, Order Status, Promise Date, Order Date and Shipping Date. The list gets a heading row each time the value changes.
• Sales Order: the order number to look for.
• Customer PO No.: matches the customer’s purchase order reference or document number on the order. Part of the text is enough.
• Customer Name: matches part of the customer name.
• Item Code: shows only orders that have at least one line with an item code containing the text you type. Part of the code is enough. Characters such as % and _ are treated as plain text, not as wildcards. It works in every view, for Exact Globe and for Macola ES. Leave it empty to ignore it.
• Sales Person: matches part of the sales person’s full name.
• Order Date: orders created in the chosen date range.
• Shipping Date: orders whose planned shipping date is in the chosen range.
• Shipped Date: orders whose first delivery date is in the chosen range.
• Status: tick boxes to show only orders in those statuses (see Status values). The View still decides which orders are loaded first, so Completed only finds orders in the Closed Orders or RMA Orders view.
• Your choices in these fields are remembered for the next time you open the page.

Buttons

• Refresh: reloads the list with the current filters.
• Find, Create, Reports: each opens a menu for this workspace in the selected division. What the menus contain comes from your TIPP menu configuration.
• Close: closes the workspace.
• Header icons: add to Favorites, export to Excel and open a printable view of the list. If AI providers are configured in TIPP, extra AI buttons for this workspace can appear in the header as well.

List columns

• Order #: the sales order number. Click for the order menu. For an RMA order the menu is the one set up for RMA Orders in your TIPP menu configuration, so its actions can differ from those of a normal sales order. Sortable.
• Order Date: the date the order was entered. Sortable.
• Invoice: the invoice number. Only shown in the Macola ES Posted Orders view.
• Customer PO: the customer’s purchase order reference. Sortable.
• Customer: the customer name. Click for the customer menu. Sortable.
• Order Status: the status of the order. Shown in the Open Orders view (Globe and Macola ES) and in the Globe RMA Orders view. Not shown in the Globe Closed Orders view or the Macola Posted Orders view. Sortable.
• Shipping Date: the planned shipping date of the order. Sortable.
• Shipped Date: the earliest date on which a delivery was made on the order. Empty when nothing has been delivered. Sortable.
• Promise Date (also shown as Promised Date): the earliest planned date of the order lines. In the Macola ES Posted Orders view the column is titled Invoice Date. Sortable.
• Sales Amt: the total amount of the order lines. For Globe, shipping, payment and charge lines are not counted. Sortable.
• Unnamed column with text: a short description of the order. For Globe this is the order’s reference text. For Macola ES it is the description of the highest priced item, with “+ N additional items” when there are more lines.
• Notes: the order note text, read only, when a note exists.
• Last column: the note icon described above.

Status values (Exact Globe)

• Ordered: the order is not authorized yet.
• Completed: the order is flagged as completed in the back office. This is checked before every other status, so a completed order always reads Completed, and every other status choice leaves completed orders out. Each order is therefore counted under one status only.
• Approved, no confirmation needed: authorized, and no order confirmation is required.
• Approved, waiting for confirmation: authorized, a confirmation is required but not printed yet.
• Confirmed: authorized and confirmation done, nothing delivered or invoiced yet.
• Fulfilled: goods have been delivered, not yet printed or invoiced.
• Fulfilled & Printed: delivered and an invoice has been printed but is not posted yet.
• Fulfilled & Invoiced: delivered and invoiced, no payment found.
• Not fulfilled & Printed: not delivered but an invoice has been printed.
• Not fulfilled & Invoiced: not delivered but invoiced, no payment found.
• Fulfilled & Payed: delivered, invoiced and a payment is linked to the order.
• Not fulfilled & Payed: not delivered, invoiced and a payment is linked.
• N/A: the order matches none of the above.

Status values (Macola ES)

• Credit Hold, Booked, Picking Ticket Printed, Shipped, Selected and Invoice Printed are the filter choices. In the list the statuses can also read Picked, Pack Slip Printed and Billed. Posted Orders always shows Invoiced.

Messages and what to do

• “No data found.” No order matches the View and filters. Clear some filters, change the View, or check the Division.
• “Please verify your back-office connection settings via [Modules, TIPP, Setup, Backoffice Connection].” The back-office server or database setting is invalid. Correct it on the Backoffice Connection page.
• “Please verify the SQL user name & password via [Modules, TIPP, Setup, Backoffice Connection].” The database login failed. Correct the SQL user and password there.
• “Error making a connection to your back-office system. Please verify your TIPP license is valid via [Modules, TIPP, Setup, License].” Check the license and the connection settings. A technical detail line follows.
• A message that the TIPP workspace objects are not deployed to the division. Ask your TIPP administrator to deploy them.
• An information message that the division was switched. The division you were on could not be opened, so TIPP chose one that works. Pick another with the Division field if needed.

What you cannot do here

• You cannot edit orders, lines, prices or statuses on this page. Open the order from the Order # menu, or use Exact Globe.
• You cannot see RMA orders in the Open Orders or Closed Orders view. Switch View to “RMA Orders”.
• You cannot see invoices as separate rows in the Globe views. Invoice numbers are only listed in the Macola ES Posted Orders view.
• Globe orders without a customer account or without a sales person (representative) on the order are not listed.
• The Backoffice Type field is not shown. It is chosen automatically from the division setup.
• Notes can only be edited in the order comment window, not in the list.

Related pages

• Order Comment: the window opened by the note icon.
• Sales Order (TIPP Transactions, TIPP PRO): where orders are edited, fulfilled and invoiced.
• Backoffice Connection (Modules, TIPP, Setup, Connections) and License (Modules, TIPP, Setup, General): required for this workspace.
• Other TIPP workspaces: reached with the Navigate icon.

Common questions

What is the Customer Service Workspace for?

It lists sales orders with filters so you can quickly find an order, see its status and dates, and jump to the order or customer.

How do I find an order by the customer’s PO number?

Type the PO number, or part of it, in Customer PO No. The list refreshes and shows matching orders.

How do I find orders that contain a certain item?

Type the item code, or part of it, in Item Code. Only orders with at least one line whose item code contains that text are listed.

Why can I not see a completed order?

The default View is “Open Orders”. Switch View to “Closed Orders” (Exact Globe) or “Posted Orders” (Macola ES) to see completed ones. A completed RMA order is in “RMA Orders”.

Why is the Order Status column missing?

It is hidden in the Closed Orders view of Exact Globe and in the Posted Orders view of Macola ES. Use the Open Orders view, or the RMA Orders view in Exact Globe, to see it.

What does Fulfilled & Printed mean?

The goods have been delivered and an invoice has been printed but is not posted yet.

Why is Shipped Date empty?

No delivery has been booked on the order yet.

Why is my order not in the list?

Check Division, View and every filter, including Item Code, the Status boxes and the date ranges. For Exact Globe the order also needs a customer account and a sales person on the order header, and an RMA order only appears in the RMA Orders view.

How do I add a note to an order?

Click the note icon at the end of the order row, write the note in the window that opens and save. Click Refresh to see it in the Notes column.

Can I export or print the list?

Use the Excel export and Printable icons in the page header.

Why did the division change on its own?

The back office of the division could not be opened, so TIPP switched to one that works and showed an information message.

Where are my RMA orders in the Customer Service Workspace?

Choose View “RMA Orders” for Exact Globe. RMA orders are not part of Open Orders or Closed Orders, so those two views show fewer orders than a list that mixes them.