Using the Administration Screens in ABM Service
The system administrator, ABM user number 1, looks after the few settings in ABM Service that change things for the whole company. They are on three screens under Administration in the ABM Service menu: Database, Sign-in and Customer sign-ins. Everything else user 1 does in ABM Service, such as working with calls, customers and the Scheduler, is the same as for every other user.
What is the Administration part of ABM Service for?
The Administration part of ABM Service is where the system administrator makes the decisions that affect every user at once, so that nobody changes them by accident. Only ABM user number 1 sees it: open the menu and look under the heading Administration, below Home, Customers, Calls and Scheduler.
It has three screens, one for each kind of decision:
- Database — applies the changes this version of ABM Service recommends for your company's database, which make busy screens such as the Calls list, customer search and the Scheduler faster.
- Sign-in — decides whether people signing in to ABM Service over the web need an authenticator app, and resets the authenticator of somebody who has lost their phone.
- Customer sign-ins — decides which of your customers may sign in to the Customer portal, which of your customer accounts each one reaches, and what they may see and do there.
The system administrator is always user number 1 on every site. There is no setting or permission that gives the Administration screens to another ABM user, so the job goes with the sign-in for user 1. The settings on these screens belong to your company, not to a browser or a computer, so they are the same wherever you change them from, in the browser or in the ABM Service desktop app.
The full pages: What Does the System Administrator Do in ABM Service?.
What the three screens cannot do, such as adding office staff, sending e-mail, exporting a list or undoing a change, and who does it instead, is on What Can't the Administration Screens Do?.
How do I get to the administration screens?
Open the ABM Service menu with Menu on the Home screen, or Navigation menu at the top of the filters panel on the Calls, Customers or Scheduler screen, and choose Database, Sign-in or Customer sign-ins under Administration. The heading is only there when you are signed in as user 1.
- Open the menu with Menu or Navigation menu.
- Look under the heading Administration in the ABM Service menu.
- Choose Database, Sign-in or Customer sign-ins.
While recommended database changes are waiting, Database in the menu shows how many beside it. Each administration screen has the same Menu button at the top left, so you can go back to Home, Calls or any other screen from it.
The Administration menu is the same in the ABM Service desktop app when you sign in there as user 1. If anybody else opens an administration page, for example from a bookmark, ABM Service shows the heading This page is for the system administrator with one sentence saying that the screen belongs to user 1, and nothing can be read or changed.
The full pages: What Does the System Administrator Do in ABM Service?.
What is the Database screen, and when do I use it?
The Database screen, under Administration in the ABM Service menu, shows the changes this version of ABM Service recommends for your company's database and lets the system administrator apply them at a quiet moment. Each change is an index: a sorted list the database keeps beside a large table so a screen can find its rows quickly. Indexes change no data, only speed.
The top of the Database screen says either Nothing to apply or how many changes are waiting, such as 3 changes to apply. Each change is a line that starts with Add, Repair or Remove. Select Apply under the list to make them one at a time; you can select Stop after this one between them. Pick a quiet moment, because each table is locked for a few seconds while its change is made. Two sections folded below, Already in the database and History, show what is in place and what was applied or attempted before. Check again reads the database afresh.
While changes are waiting, only the system administrator sees a reminder banner across the top of every screen except the Database screen itself, with Review and apply, and a message in the middle of the screen: in a browser once per version, and in the ABM Service desktop app each time it is started while changes are waiting. Both go to the Database screen.
A change that could not be made, for example because its table was busy, is marked Not done with the reason, and changes nothing.
The full pages: Using the Database Screen, How to Apply Recommended Database Changes, What Is the Recommended Database Changes Banner? and Why Was a Database Change Not Applied?.
What is "The database is being updated", and do I need to do anything?
The database is being updated is a notice that covers every screen, for every user, while a new version of ABM Service brings its own small tables in your company's database up to date. It normally passes in moments and needs nothing from the system administrator: the first person to use a new version starts it automatically, and Try again reloads the page.
It is separate from the recommended changes on the Database screen. ABM Service's own tables are needed for screens to work, so they update themselves; recommended changes only make screens faster, so they wait for you. The last line of the Database screen shows the version of ABM Service's own tables, marked Up to date.
If the notice says the database could not be brought up to date, nobody can use ABM Service until the cause is fixed. Copy the whole sentence and send it to your software supplier's support team or IT contact; the usual cause is that the database sign-in ABM Service uses is not allowed to create tables.
The full page: What Does "The Database Is Being Updated" Mean?.
What is the Sign-in screen for?
The Sign-in screen, under Administration in the ABM Service menu, decides for the whole company whether people signing in to ABM Service over the web need an authenticator app, which is a six-digit code from an app on their phone after the password, often called two-factor authentication. Choose Off, Optional or Required under Authenticator app; the choice is saved at once.
- Off — nobody is asked for a code. Every site starts here.
- Optional — anybody may set one up from Authenticator in their menu, and is asked for a code only if they did.
- Required — everybody must set one up, including you, and a person without one is taken to setting it up at their next sign-in.
Changing the setting signs nobody out; people meet the new rule at their next sign-in. The setting applies only to signing in over the web: the ABM Service desktop app's sign-in is unchanged, and customers on the Customer portal are never asked for a code.
The People list on the same Sign-in screen shows every ABM user and whether they have set up an authenticator. Use Reset beside a name when somebody has lost or replaced their phone. Your own row has no Reset: if you lose your phone, whoever looks after your ABM Service server clears it for you.
The full pages: How to Choose Whether People Need an Authenticator App and How to Reset Someone's Authenticator App.
What is the Customer sign-ins screen for?
The Customer sign-ins screen, under Administration in the ABM Service menu, is where the system administrator decides which of your customers may sign in to the Customer portal over the web, and what each of them may see and do there. A customer cannot sign up by themselves: somebody has to create their sign-in here first.
The screen has two tabs:
- People — every customer sign-in, one line each, with Search by name or email and Add someone. Select Open on a line to change it. Each sign-in has an email address and name, Access granted, the Customers it reaches (picked accounts, every customer, or a filter for a group), six permissions under What they may do, the Call statuses they may see and Call types they may see, and Set their password.
- Defaults — the site-wide settings: the call statuses and call types a sign-in left As the defaults sees, what Copy from defaults puts on a sign-in, and Do not show calls logged before, a date that applies to every customer.
Saving a sign-in signs that customer out of the Customer portal, so they meet the change when they sign in again. Save the defaults signs every customer out. When a customer uses Forgot password, their access is switched off until you tick Access granted again. Nothing on this screen changes how your office staff sign in.
The full pages: Using the Customer Sign-ins Screen, How to Give a Customer Access to the Customer Portal, How to Set the Customer Portal Defaults and Why a Customer Cannot Sign In to the Customer Portal.