Setup Email Paging for Dispatching
To be able to send email dispatch pages to your techs or email out invoices or purchase orders from within ESC, you must first setup the required default settings. Click on CompanyÞSystem SetupÞCompany Information:
Quick Reference:
SMTP Server – You will need to enter in your SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) address in order to send emails from within ESC. You can either contact your email provider for the SMTP address or if you use Microsoft Outlook to send emails, within Outlook click on ToolsÞEmail AccountsÞView or Change Existing Email Accounts. Look for an account type with the POP\SMTP indication, select it, and then click on the Change button to get all the details about the Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) account.
SMTP Login User\Password – If your email provider requires SMTP Authentication to send email, you will need to enter in the login and password for ESC emailing to work. If you are using a different program or are unsure of the information, please contact your email provider for this information.
SMTP Port – A change was made in ESC to accommodate the fact that some email providers are no longer using the default port 25 to allow email traffic to pass through their systems. This was done to try and reduce the amount of spam emails being processed on their servers on their outgoing SMTP ports. If the port is not known, try using port 25 or port 587 as they are original defaults that did work in the past. If your email paging fails with either of these ports, you can usually go online to your provider’s web site and find out the correct port to use or call your email provider directly.
Use SSL – Some email providers are now encrypting email data and as a result, you may need to enable this option in ESC. Check with your provider if you are unsure if you require this feature or not.
Use STARTTLS – Some email providers may require this SSL encryption option to allow ESC to properly email page out. You should try to setup the email paging in ESC without this or the Use SSL options enabled first before calling your provider.
Login Method – This should remain set as Auto unless there is a problem. The other option is for Auth Login and can be used if your SMTP provider requires it.
After entering all of the required SMTP information, click on the “Paging” tab to setup the dispatch settings for paging:
Note: You MUST add these email settings to each workstation running ESC as they are local and not global settings. If you do not add them to a workstation, the user will get errors when attempting to email page while another workstations that are setup correctly will be able to send pages out of ESC.
Quick Reference:
Paging Method – Select the email paging and not TAP alpha-numeric paging. The TAP paging relies on modem paging technology using standard phone lines and alpha-numeric pagers. The TAP alpha-numeric setup will not be covered in this document but you can find detailed information on setting it up within the ESC help system (F1).
User Name – The name you enter will appear on the “From” field on emails that you send to your techs.
User Email Address – Enter your email address and this will appear as the email sender’s address.
Subject for Email – This will code dispatch emails with a subject line such as “Service Dispatch” above.
Use condensed E-mail message – Selecting this box will remove all of the headers related to the emailed information you are sending:
Setup Paging Messaging Tab
You will now need to click on the Messaging tab to select what information you want to email out to your techs related to the dispatches they are to service:
Select any item in the Available Fields window and then click on the ADD button to move them over to the Selected Fields window. All items in the Selected Fields window will potentially be emailed out to the tech when email paging them a dispatch.
Quick Reference:
Field Length – When you click on an available field item, this box will indicate the total character length of that field.
Max Characters for Highlighted Field – Indicates the same field length of characters as the field length box. However, you can modify this field to reduce the maximum number of characters allowed to be sent in this field. This will truncate the data to be sent via email and will help to reduce the size of the message.
Total – Shows the maximum number of characters that could be sent via email if all fields were completely filled with data. (i.e. If a field holds a max of 25 characters but only 10 are used, then only 10 will be sent)
Maximum Blocks Sent Per Page – Shows how many separate messages could be sent when an email is paged to a tech. This will ensure that they receive all data from the email by dividing the amount in the Total field by the “Max Characters Per Block” field.
Message Separator – Indicates which character will be inserted between fields to separate them for easier viewing when you use the condensed email format. You may change this to any character of your choosing.
Note: As there are many different providers for email and potential different formats, you may find that not all characters are being received on email pages to your techs. You will need to modify what fields are being sent out of ESC and reduce the number of characters for best performance.
Lastly, click on the Setup Email Forms tab and ensure that you fill out all 4 boxes as indicated below and save the changes.
As long as you enter in valid email addresses for customers in the Customer Information screen as well as have correct email addresses in their Enter Technician’s screen, email paging should work properly when sending out dispatch pages or emailing out invoices.