Is there any Outlook and or Exchange integration? Maybe in the form of an add-on. If you guys did that, the circle would be complete. Outlook integration that can take emails and convert them into WOs on the fly, as well as send schedules to Outlook calendars as well as Exchange Public calendars.
I also noticed internal notifications of new WOs on the feature list. Can the client be notified of a scheduled event?
FORUM NOTE: Check out the three different remote access options avaliable for use with AyaNova outlined on http://www.ayanova.com/AyaNovaRemoteAccess.htm
Micah (11/3/2005)Is there any Outlook and or Exchange integration? Maybe in the form of an add-on. If you guys did that, the circle would be complete. Outlook integration that can take emails and convert them into WOs on the fly, as well as send schedules to Outlook calendars as well as Exchange Public calendars.
I also noticed internal notifications of new WO on the feature list. Can the client be notified of a scheduled event?
Hi Micah, there is no out of the box Outlook or Exchange integration in the initial release (aside from being notified via email of many common events in “Bamboo”), however the developers APIwill easily allow integration within Outlook to"Bamboo" with a moderate amount of programming skills. I willput an entryin the to-dodatabase to include in the developers API samples an example ofintegrating someobjects in “Bamboo” with Outlook.
Basically in a nutshell, anything that is an object in “Bamboo” that you can interact with in the user interfaces you caneasily interact with as businessobjects through code. The user interfaces are built on the same business objects you can use in anything from a full blown program to VBA in Microsoft Office products etc.
I suspect once you see the calendar and scheduling features within “bamboo” there will be little desire to do that in Outlook, however if that’s required it’s certainly possible to import that into Outlook using the developers API included.
It’s not a feature we were considering since we’ve replicated that functionality right inside “Bamboo” but if enough people desire it we will, as always, build it in with a future release or as a standalone integration module that plugs into Outlook itself.
As far as clients, there will be a full customer interface via web browserthat’s much more responsive and powerful than a client sending an email in for service since they will be able to create their own service request work orders directly in "Bamboo"and view their service items as they progressetc. Clients could easily be integrated into the notification system once we know what’s desired, however what we will have for the client interface could likely make it un-necessary for notification for the client. As always we will go by the feedback we receive here after release and entries in the wish list for future features.
Cheers!
I agree with the importance of Outlook/Exchange integration; in fact, it’s one of the main reasonswe don’t use Ayanova right now. Outlook integration provides a great real of interoperability and integration capability, i.e., with PDAs and via web access.
This important because my group of consultants is highly mobile. We support many different clients, and may visit several on any given day. We need a solution that is highly portable. Being able to enter and retreive datails from a Palm Pilot or Pocket PC is a big deal.
Now, if you folks want to take that on as well, good on ya, but when is it likely do be ready to use?
FWIW, the other aspect that held us back was that the current version’s web interface (again,mobile access is essential!)is clunky andfeature-poor. The work report printing wasn’t great, but with Crystal, was at least fixable.
For now, we’re making do with Outlook/Exchange. I often look wistfully at Ayanova and wish it had the mobile support we need – it seems to suit our business model so well otherwise – but without better support for mobile consultants, we can’t use it.
kenw (12/18/2005)
FWIW, the other aspect that held us back was that the current version’s web interface (again,mobile access is essential!)is clunky andfeature-poor. The work report printing wasn’t great, but with Crystal, was at least fixable.
Just a note that we’ve released a complete replacement for the original ARAS remote access product you referred to for AyaNova 3.x. It’s an asp.net application and has many more features than the original one did.
Just wanted to post a note to all that in addition to the remote access WBI optional add-on that clients can log in and view their own workorder’s as well as request service; and that users on the road can log in via WBI andMBI and check their schedule, update workorders, etc - that AyaNova does have these features.
1. Client Notifications
In addition to the ability to automatically “suck” out the client’s email address if attaching a detailed workorder report to an email, without having to copy it from the client entry screen - see forum topic http://forum.ayanova.com/Topic3747-103-1.aspx?Highlight=email and email reports - see AyaNova 6 Online Help http://www.ayanova.com/AyaNova6webHelp/sending_a_report_via_email.htm AyaNova includes the Client Notification feature.
First released with AyaNova version 5.x the Client Notifications feature gives you the ability to automatically notify your clients when a service request is accepted, when a workorder is created, when a workorder status is set to a specific, when a workorder is Closed (and the client can be sent a attached report of the workorder) and a follow up type email (such as a email checkin with the client to see how the work was).
Check out the AyaNova 6 Online Help section http://www.ayanova.com/AyaNova6webHelp/client_notifications2.htm
2. Outlook Integration
Optional plug-in Outlook Schedule Export is availablewhere with one click exports your scheduled workorder items and schedule markers into an Outlook calendar http://www.ayanova.com/plugins.htm#OutlookScheduleExport
And we are in beta testing of a new interface OLI where from in your Outlook program itself you will be able to:
Import your scheduled workorder items and schedule markers into an Outlook calendar
Import your AyaNova contacts into Outlook (selected contacts or all - and can map which fields to where)
Export your Outlook contacts into AyaNova (selected contacts or all - and can map which fields to where)
Generate a service workorder from an email from within Outlook, as well as enter details and more
Generate to an existing service workorder from an email from within Outlook as well as enter details and more.
Joyce
With OLI 6, right from within Outlook itself you can:
You only need to purchase one OLI license for your database regardless of the number of your AyaNova users that will use this optional add-on plug-in.
Download the OLI setup file from the Downloadweb page
More details on use of the OLI 6 plug-in in the AyaNova Online Help