Conversations within a Work Order

When using the eSPACE Work Order Management module, you may be asking what are "conversations"? They can be defined as a group of comments between a certain sub-set of people regarding the work order.

Conversations exist in Work Order Management so that all communication and comments around a work order can be streamlined and logged.

A couple of important things to note:

• Conversations now replace comments. All comments that were previously added within a work order have been migrated over as a conversation within the work order and the comments have been added. NOTE: You can now add "General Comments" within a work order request.  Users who have access to Work Order Management can update the general comments within the details tab, based on their user permissions.
• Only users who are invited to the conversation are able to respond to the conversation.
• A portal user is still be able to reply within a conversation where he/she is part of. They can also create a conversation from the portal; however, they are not able to add other users to that conversation. The system will automatically add all Admins to that conversation. 
• Work Order "Conversations" are also included in the mobile app! 

GETTING STARTED

The very first thing you want to do before getting started with conversations is update your profile picture. This can be done by clicking "Profile", located on the top right of your dashboard as shown below.

Once in you are within your "Profile" page, go to "Profile Image" select image, crop and SAVE. That's it! Now you are ready to use conversations!

CONVERSATIONS TAB

Conversations can be created/viewed/edited/deleted inside a work order by clicking on the “Conversations” tab.

CREATING CONVERSATIONS

To start a new conversation, click the green “New Conversation” button.

NEXT, you will add the following (see attachment below):

• Subject: This is the subject of what you want to discuss.
• Is Private Conversation: If you want to keep the conversation private between multiple parties, then click this box.
• Initial Comment: This is the first comment in the conversation and will get the conversation kicked off.
• Invite others to the conversation! Just click within the desired box(es) to select others that you want to invite to the conversation.

NOTE: If you invite an external contact to the conversation, they will receive an email when anyone in the conversation leaves a comment. Anytime they reply to a conversation email, it will be added into the eSPACE conversation.

After selecting "Start Conversations" you will then see the following:

PARTICIPATING IN CONVERSATIONS

To participate in a conversation, click the “Unread” indicator on your dashboard or "Conversation" tab as shown below.

Then click the blue "View" button to open the conversation.

 Once you are in a conversation, you can Chat in real time!

LOOPING OTHERS INTO CONVERSATIONS

To bring someone else into a conversation, simply click the gold EDIT button...

....a new window will open where you can add others to the conversation and select "Save Changes"

CLOSING A CONVERSATION

To close a conversation, click the “Close Conversation” tab. This will move the conversation to your “Closed” conversations inside an event:

NOTE: You can always re-open or view the conversation once it is closed by selecting the "Closed" tab, then the "re-open" or "view" button as desired.

ADDITIONAL OPTIONS:

You can select the green "Print" button to print the conversation log... 

If you would like to print out the full history of a conversation, click the “PRINT” button:

OR if you would like to email the conversation, you can click the green “Email Conversation” button.

A new window will open where you can then select any number of users and send them the conversation log.

RESPONDING TO A CONVERSATION VIA EMAIL

You as a user, you can respond to any conversation email and any response will automatically be logged into the conversation. You may cut off conversation emails anytime by updating your user profile. Go to the top right corner of your dashboard, select "Profile" from the drop-down menu to the right of the person icon as shown below.

Then select "Notification Preferences"...

(Below is NOT currently an option).

And deselect the following and SAVE.