What Do the Words on the Administration Screens Mean?
This glossary explains the words the system administrator, ABM user number 1, meets on the Database, Sign-in and Customer sign-ins screens under Administration in the ABM Service menu. Each entry says what the word means in ABM Service and, where people use another word for the same thing, names it.
What does "system administrator" mean?
The system administrator in ABM Service is always ABM user number 1, the user with number 1 in ABM's own list of users. Only user 1 sees the Administration part of the ABM Service menu and its three screens, Database, Sign-in and Customer sign-ins. There is no setting or permission that makes another user an administrator. People also say "admin", "user 1" or "superuser" for the same person.
What does "Administration" mean in the ABM Service menu?
Administration is the heading in the ABM Service menu, below Home, Customers, Calls and Scheduler, that holds the system administrator's three screens: Database, Sign-in and Customer sign-ins. It appears only for ABM user number 1, in the browser and in the ABM Service desktop app alike. Anybody else who opens one of those screens sees the heading This page is for the system administrator and one sentence saying the screen is user 1's, and nothing from the screen itself.
What does "ABM user" mean?
An ABM user is somebody who signs in to ABM Service in the office, choosing their name from ABM's own list of users. The People list on the Sign-in screen shows every ABM user. An ABM user is different from a customer sign-in: customers sign in to the Customer portal with an email address, and are managed on the Customer sign-ins screen.
What does "ABM's control database" mean?
ABM's control database is where ABM keeps its own list of users, the list people choose their name from when they sign in. The People list on the Sign-in screen reads the names from it. If it cannot be reached, that list says The names could not be read from ABM's control database, so the list below is not here., while the Authenticator app setting above it still works.
What does "signing in over the web" mean?
Signing in over the web means signing in to ABM Service in a browser, on the web sign-in page, rather than in the ABM Service desktop app. The Sign-in screen's authenticator setting applies only to signing in over the web; the desktop app's own sign-in is unchanged by it. A web sign-in stays signed in until the person selects Sign out, the ABM Service server is restarted, or it has not been used for 30 days.
What does "authenticator app" mean?
An authenticator app is an app on a person's phone that shows a six-digit code, which they type after their password when signing in to ABM Service over the web. They set it up once by scanning a square with the app. Any authenticator app will do, such as Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator or 1Password; the code changes every thirty seconds, and a phone that cannot scan the square can type the key shown beside it under Or type this key. This is often called two-factor authentication, 2FA, multi-factor authentication or a one-time code. The system administrator sets whether it is needed on the Sign-in screen, under Authenticator app.
What does "Off", "Optional" or "Required" mean on the Sign-in screen?
Off, Optional and Required are the three choices under Authenticator app on the Sign-in screen. Off means nobody is asked for a code, and is where every site starts. Optional means anybody may set one up from Authenticator in their menu and is asked for a code only if they did. Required means everybody must set one up, the system administrator included, and a person without one is taken to setting it up at their next sign-in.
What does "Reset" mean for an authenticator?
Reset, beside a name in the People list on the Sign-in screen, clears that person's authenticator app, usually because they lost or replaced their phone. The old phone's codes stop working for good, and the row then reads Not set up. The system administrator's own row never has Reset; whoever looks after the ABM Service server clears that one.
What do "Set up on" and "Not set up" mean?
Set up on and a date, under a name in the People list on the Sign-in screen, is the day that person set up their authenticator app. Not set up means they have none, so there is nothing to reset. ABM no longer lists this user after the date means ABM Service still holds an authenticator for a user number that ABM has since removed.
What does "recommended database changes" mean?
Recommended database changes are the indexes this version of ABM Service recommends for your company's database, listed on the Database screen under Administration. They make busy screens, such as the Calls list, customer search and the Scheduler, faster, and change no data. ABM Service asks the system administrator to apply them, rather than doing it by itself, because each table is locked for a few seconds while its index is built.
What does "index" mean?
An index is a sorted list the database keeps beside one of its large tables, like the index at the back of a book, so it can find the rows a screen asks for without reading the whole table. Every change on the Database screen adds, repairs or removes one index. An index holds no information that is not already in its table, so adding or removing one changes only speed.
What do "Add", "Repair" and "Remove" mean on the Database screen?
Add, Repair and Remove start each line on the Database screen and say what applying it does to one index. Add builds an index that is missing. Repair rebuilds an index that somebody altered since it was added; Show what changed compares What we recommend with What the database has. Remove takes away an index this version no longer uses, and is optional: it is included only if you tick Remove it too.
What does "Apply" mean on the Database screen?
Apply, under the list of changes on the Database screen, makes the waiting changes one at a time; the button names how many, such as Apply 3 changes. Nothing in the database changes until you press it. Stop after this one lets the change in progress finish and starts no more. To carry on, select Apply the remaining while you are still on the Database screen, or Apply with the new count once you have left it and come back.
What do "Not done", "Already there" and "Not started" mean?
These are the outcomes a line can show after Apply on the Database screen. Not done means the change was not made, with the reason, such as its table being busy or SQL Server refusing it; nothing was changed. Already there means the index was already as recommended when its turn came, and it counts as applied. Not started means the run ended before that change's turn.
What does "History" mean on the Database screen?
History is a folded section on the Database screen listing every change applied or attempted there, newest first, showing the latest 100. Its columns are When, Index, What, Took and By, and What reads Created, Rebuilt, Dropped or Failed. The section beside it, Already in the database, lists the recommended indexes your database already has, each marked In place.
What does "the database changes banner" mean?
The database changes banner is the strip across the top of every screen except the Database screen itself, shown only to the system administrator, that says how many recommended database changes are waiting, with Review and apply. It has no close button and disappears by itself when the last waiting change is applied. A message in the middle of the screen says so too, with Review the changes and Not now: in a browser the first time a new version finds changes waiting, and in the ABM Service desktop app each time it is started while changes are waiting.
What does "ABM Service's own tables" mean?
ABM Service's own tables are the few small tables ABM Service keeps in your company's database, for things such as sign-in settings, Customer portal sign-ins and the Database screen's history. They bring themselves up to date the first time a new version is used, and the last line of the Database screen shows their version, marked Up to date. ABM's own tables and your data are never altered by that update.
What does "The database is being updated" mean?
The database is being updated is the notice that covers every screen, for every user, while a new version of ABM Service brings its own tables up to date. It normally passes in moments; Try again reloads the page. If it says the database could not be brought up to date, nobody can use ABM Service until the cause is fixed, so send the whole sentence to your software supplier's support team or IT contact.
What does "Customer portal" mean?
The Customer portal is the part of ABM Service where your company's customers sign in over the web, with their email address and a password of their own, to see their calls, visits and account and, if allowed, to log calls. People may call it the web portal or the customer website. The system administrator decides who may sign in to it, and what they may do there, on the Customer sign-ins screen.
What does "customer sign-in" mean?
A customer sign-in is one person's access to the Customer portal: an email address, a name and a password, linked to one or more of your customer accounts. Sign-ins are created, changed, switched off and deleted on the People tab of the Customer sign-ins screen, under Administration. People may also say portal user, web user, external user or customer login.
What does "old web portal" mean?
The old web portal is the web portal your company may have used before this version of ABM Service. Everyone it knew was brought over to the Customer sign-ins screen when the database was updated, including the office logins it used for its own staff. Those office lines carry a label with their old role, such as admin, and open nothing, because office staff now sign in with their ABM name.
What does "Access granted" mean?
Access granted is the tick box on a customer sign-in, on the Customer sign-ins screen, that decides whether the customer may sign in to the Customer portal. Untick it and press Save to switch the sign-in off: the customer cannot sign in, and a browser they are signed in on stops working within a minute, but their calls and account keep everything. A customer's own Forgot password also unticks it until the office ticks it again.
What do "Not registered", "Inactive" and "Access is switched off" mean?
These are lines on the People tab of the Customer sign-ins screen that say where a sign-in stands. Not registered — they have never set a password means the customer has not chosen a password yet. Inactive — password was reset on a date means access is switched off and a password was reset that day, usually by the customer's own Forgot password. Access is switched off means somebody unticked Access granted on a sign-in whose password has never been reset; Registered, never signed in and Last signed in on a date are the other lines.
What does "Set your password" mean?
Set your password is the choice on the Customer portal's sign-in page where a customer chooses their own password the first time, after the office has created their sign-in. They type the email address the office used, their name and a password of at least eight characters, and are signed straight in. ABM Service sends no invitation email, so the office tells the customer their sign-in is ready.
What does "Forgot password" mean on the Customer portal?
Forgot password, on the Customer portal's sign-in page, lets a customer choose a new password themselves, and switches their access off until the system administrator ticks Access granted again. This is a safety check, because anybody who knows a customer's email address could use it. Confirm with the customer that they really asked, then switch them back on from the Customer sign-ins screen: press Open on their line, tick Access granted and press Save.
What does "Set their password" mean?
Set their password is the part of an opened customer sign-in, on the Customer sign-ins screen, where the system administrator types a new password for the customer and presses Set the password. It takes effect at once and ends every Customer portal session the customer has, but does not switch their access on or off. Nobody in the office can see a customer's existing password.
What do "Pick the accounts", "Every customer" and "An SQL filter" mean?
These are the three choices under Customers on a customer sign-in, deciding which of your customer accounts the sign-in reaches. Pick the accounts links the accounts you choose one by one. Every customer reaches every account in the database, which almost nobody outside the company should have, and a sign-in reaching more than 2,000 accounts is refused. An SQL filter links accounts by a statement, such as a customer group, so an account added to the group later is reached without editing the sign-in.
What does "SQL filter" mean?
An SQL filter is a hand-written statement in Structured Query Language (SQL), the language the database understands, that chooses customer accounts, call statuses or call types for a Customer portal sign-in. It must be a single SELECT returning a column called UniqueId, and ABM Service refuses one that could change the database. Advanced shows the statement stored for any choice, and Preview, under Customers, runs it and shows how many accounts it reaches.
What does "As the defaults" mean?
As the defaults is a choice under Call statuses they may see and Call types they may see on a customer sign-in. It means the sign-in uses whatever the Defaults tab of the Customer sign-ins screen says, now and after any later change there. The other choices are All of them, Choose, where nothing ticked means none, and An SQL filter.
What do "Defaults" and "Copy from defaults" mean?
The Defaults tab of the Customer sign-ins screen holds the Customer portal settings for the whole site: the call statuses and call types a sign-in left As the defaults sees, What a new sign-in may do, and Do not show calls logged before. Copy from defaults is a button on each sign-in that fills its six permissions and two call sections from the Defaults tab; the copy then becomes the sign-in's own. Save the defaults signs every customer out of the portal.
What do "What they may do" and the six permissions mean?
What they may do is the set of six tick boxes on a customer sign-in that open parts of the Customer portal: See their calls, See the visits on a call, Log a call, Edit their calls, See account history and See balances. In this version See their calls is stored but hides nothing, because every customer has the Calls list. People may call these rights or portal permissions.
What do "call status" and "call type" mean?
A call status says where a call stands, such as open or closed, and a call type says what kind of work it is. Both lists are your company's own, the same ones the office uses. On the Customer sign-ins screen they decide which calls a customer sees on the Customer portal, and the call types a customer may see are also the only types they can choose when they log a call.
What does "Do not show calls logged before" mean?
Do not show calls logged before is a date on the Defaults tab of the Customer sign-ins screen. No customer sees, or can open, a call logged before that date, whatever their own sign-in allows. Leave it empty and there is no age limit, but a customer still sees only the calls their sign-in's Call statuses they may see and Call types they may see allow, so clearing the date does not bring back a call hidden by its status or type.
What does "call" mean, and is it the same as a job?
A call is one piece of work your company does for a customer, logged in ABM Service with a number, a status and a call type. People also say job, ticket or service request. On the Customer portal a customer with Log a call can log a new call, which the office then sees and deals with.
What does "schedule" mean, and is it the same as assign?
Scheduling a call means giving it to an engineer for a visit, and it is the word ABM Service uses on its screens, such as Schedule engineer. People who used older systems often say assign or allocate. Customers on the Customer portal never schedule anybody: Log a call gives them a form for the call type, a comment and the details, and the office does the scheduling.