Service Suite contains functions to automate numerous processes and one of these is the automatic import of customers.

Whether the exchange of customers between Service Suite and your ERP system can be 100% automated depends on the capabilities of your ERP system. In any case Service Suite can be configured to automatically import customers from your ERP system.

 Configuring the automatic import.

Before the automatic import can be activated, there are a few steps that we need to follow. From the "Main menu" you select the menu: "Settings" followed by the menu: "ERP-system".

The file that will activate the automatic import must be located in the exchange folder, and the name of the file must be identical to the filename specified for the default format for importing customers. The default format must match the format of the file as well.

In this case Service Suite will monitor the exchange folder for the file: "customers.txt". Whenever a file with this filename is created in the exchange folder, Service Suite will automatically import this file in accordance with the selected format.

 Activating the automatic import.

When we have ensured that these settings are correct, it is time to activate the automatic import of the customers. This is done by selecting the menu: "Automation".

If we take a closer look at the list of automated import possibilities in Service Suite, it looks like this:

In this list you select the row: "Customers from ERP-system", and when this is selected you press the button: "Activate", whereby the automatic import will be activated.

 When are my customers imported?

The customers will be automatically imported whenever the file: "customers.txt" is present in the exchange folder.

The first time that Service Suite detects this file, the size of the file and the date of the last modification to the file is obtained. Then Service Suite waits for 10 seconds and examines these values again. If these values have not changed for 10 seconds the automatic import will begin. The purpose of this is to ensure that Service Suite will not begin to import a file that has not been completely exported from your ERP-system.

If your ERP-system is capable of automatically exporting your customers with a regular interval, you hereby have the opportunity to automate the exchange of customers 100%. You can e.g. configure your ERP system to export the customers every evening, or whenever a new customer is created, and they will be automatically imported into Service Suite.

There are numerous ways in which to use the automated import of customers, and if you have found an ingenious way of using this feature we would very much like to hear from you.

If you have any questions regarding the automated import of customers in Service Suite, you are always welcome to contact us at: servicesuite@mamut.com