The Service Monitor is a tool designed to automate Actions at specific intervals in order to help you keep on top of client service interactions. As a very powerful tool, it takes some front-end learning and setup to maximize its use. Taking the time to become familiar with the moving parts that make it function will make it far more effective for your firm.

Service Monitor Purpose

Most firms have set services they wish to provide at regular intervals for each tier of their client base. For example, a highest-level tier client may receive a phone call every month to touch base, or every client may receive a quarterly newsletter. The Service Monitor will allow you to keep track of how these services are being fulfilled and prompt you when they are in danger of becoming unfulfilled. The Service Monitor will allow you to see, at a glance, which services are expected for a particular client, when they were last fulfilled, when they will next be due (or if they’re overdue), and even generate an Action in the system to remind you to complete the service at a time of your choosing prior to the due date.

Service Monitor Components

Service Levels

Service Levels are how you group your clients into tiers of service. You can define as many Service Levels as suits your needs. Each client is assigned to one Service Level and automatically is assigned the Services that are part of that Service Level package, as defined through the Mappings.

Services

Services are the “what” you want to do for clients. This includes an identifier of the Service, an assigned default Workflow, and the default frequency, interval, and lead time that the service occurs at. How a Service relates to a specific Service Level is defined through Mappings.

Mappings

Mappings are where Service Levels and Services meet. A Mapping tells the Service Monitor which Services to apply to which Service Levels. A client assigned to a Service Level will receive every Service defined for that Service Level in Mappings.

Workflows

Every Service has a Workflow Template attached to it. This is the Action/Workflow in the system that will be generated by the Service Monitor when the correct conditions are met.

Lead Time

The lead time is the amount of days prior to the due date that the Workflow for the Service will be created in the system.

Frequency and Interval

The frequency is a definition of how regularly you want to fulfill the Service, such as monthly, yearly, quarterly, or any other option. The interval is how many of the frequencies you want to pass before the Service is due again. For example, a frequency of monthly and an interval of 1 would be triggered every month. A frequency of monthly and an interval of 6 would trigger every 6 months (or semi-annually).

Service Monitor Logical Flow

Once Service Monitor setup is complete and a Record has a Service Level assigned, the Service Monitor will begin its automated Service tracking. A Record with a Service Level assigned will receive all Services mapped to that Service Level. Each Service on the Record will have a Next Due date. The Next Due date is calculated based on the interval and frequency from the date the Service was last marked Completed (or the date the Service Level was added to the Record.) When a Service is marked complete, the Next Due date will move out by the frequency and interval. If the Service is not completed before the Lead Time of the Due Date is reached, the Service Monitor will automatically add the Workflow assigned to the Service into the system.

For example:

George and Sally Andrews are assigned to the Tier 1 Service Level. Tier 1 clients receive a quarterly face-to-face meeting, so they have a Service of Meeting that has a frequency of quarterly and an interval of 1. The firm wants at least a two-week lead to be able to schedule the meeting, so the lead time is set to 14 days. Their Record is assigned the Tier 1 Service Level at the start of July. The Due Date for the Meeting Service shows for the start of October.

Depending on how life happens, there are a few possibilities at this point.

• 14 days prior to the due date, a Workflow is automatically added to the system, reminding the Advisor on the Record to reach out and schedule the meeting. The meeting takes place and the Advisor marks the Service as complete on the date of the meeting. The Next Due date is moved out to 3 months from the date of the meeting.
• 14 days prior to the due date, a Workflow is automatically added to the system, reminding the Advisor on the Record to reach out and schedule the meeting. George and Sally are unavailable for some time and the meeting is scheduled for the next month. The meeting takes place and the Advisor marks the Service as complete on the date of the meeting. The Next Due date is moved out to 3 months from the date of the meeting.
• George and Sally call in and want to have a meeting in mid-August to discuss some concerns. As this meeting also covers anything that would normally be handled in a quarterly meeting, the Advisor to the Record logs the meeting in an Action and uses it to mark the quarterly meeting Service as complete on the date they met. The Next Due date is moved out to 3 months from the date of the meeting.

Regardless of which circumstance above or any other possibility, so long as the Service is marked as completed on the date it actually happens, the result is the same. The Service Monitor calculates a new Due Date based on the date it was last completed. In this case, no matter when the meeting actually happens, the next due date for a meeting will be three months (one quarter) from the date that the Advisor actually met with George and Sally.

Regardless of whether the Service Monitor actually generates the Workflow or when the Service is actually fulfilled, all that matters is that the User marks the Service as complete on the date it was fulfilled so the next due date is accurately reflected in the system. Once the Service is marked complete, the interval is reset, and the process begins again.

Further Resources

This is meant to be an overview to understand how the parts of the Service Monitor work. For the details of how to accomplish these steps or what is possible in each part of the process, reference the following:

• Setting up the Service Monitor: Overview
• Completing Services
• Viewing the Status of Services
• Customizing Services at the Record Level
• Making Changes to the Service Monitor