Using the Call Screen
The call screen is where you read and change one call: who it is for, what it is about, who is scheduled, its Details and Resolution documents and its files. Open it by selecting a call on the Calls list, on a customer's calls, or anywhere else a call number is shown; New Call on the Calls list opens the same screen for a call that does not exist yet, headed New call.
What is on the call screen when I open a call?
The call screen has three parts: a header across the top, a sections sidebar down the left, and the section you are reading, which is the Details page when a call opens. Nothing on the call screen is a separate "edit mode": every field is ready to change where it stands, and on a saved call a bar saying Unsaved changes appears at the bottom as soon as you change something.
- The header names the call and holds the buttons that act on the whole call: Status, Schedule engineer and Save.
- The sections sidebar lists the call's sections: Details, Analysis, Actions, Existing calls, and the Attachments group with the call's files.
- The Details page holds the call's form on the left (the customer and contact, the Call card, the Scheduled visits card) and, on the right, the Comment line with the Details and Resolution documents under it.
Each part is described below. The arrangement of the Details page is a layout you can change for yourself with Customize this layout…, in the small menu beside Details in the sidebar; a layout you save is yours alone, and there is no layout of the call screen set for the whole company. Using the Form Designer explains it.
What is in the header of the call screen?
The header of the call screen carries the call number, the call's type and status as coloured chips, the customer's name, and "logged", the date and time, and "by" the ABM user who logged it. On a new call it reads New call and "Not saved · number assigned on save" instead. The chips use the same colours as the Calls list.
The buttons on the right of the header, in order:
- Status shows the call's status and opens the Call status menu to change it (its tooltip is "Change the call status").
- Schedule engineer books an engineer's visit. Once somebody is scheduled, the button shows the engineer's name and when they are due (or, with several, how many engineers and when the first is due), with a + beside it (Schedule another engineer). How to Schedule an Engineer for a Call has the rest.
- Cancel, on a new call only, throws the unsaved call away.
- Save writes your changes; on a new call it is Save call, and while a save runs it reads Saving….
There is no Refresh button on the call screen, and it has no menu of its own for moving to other screens: the Back to calls arrow at the top left takes you back. While you are customizing the form, the header shows "Customizing the form — drag fields from the right, drop them on the form; right-click an item for more." and the layout buttons (Undo, Redo, Reset to default, Revert and Done) in place of Status, Schedule engineer and Save.
How do I see who logged a call and when?
Open the call and read the header at the top of the call screen: beside the customer's name it says "logged", then the date and time the call was logged, then "by" and the name of the ABM user who logged it. If ABM has no name on record for the person who logged the call, the header shows only the date and time. The same date and time is in the Date field on the Call card of the Details form; Date cannot be changed and is shown only on a saved call.
Do not read the person who logged the call from the Actions section of the call screen. Its Entered by column names who entered each action on the call (a visit, a phone call, a note, an automatic status change), and its Logged column is when each action was logged.
To see who logged many calls at once, go to the Calls list: its Logged column is when each call was logged, and the Entered by column, which you can add from Choose columns… in any column heading's menu, is the ABM user who logged each call.
How do I open the customer's record from a call?
Select the customer's name in the header of the call screen: it is a link, and it opens that customer's screen, with their contacts, notes, calls and engineer history. The customer's name on the customer card of the call's Details form is a link to the same place.
- Open the call, from the Calls list or wherever you found it.
- Select the customer's name in the header of the call screen, where it says when the call was logged.
- Select the back arrow at the top left of the customer screen, or your browser's Back button, to return to the call. Pointing at the arrow shows Back (a screen reader calls it Back to customers).
To keep the call where it is and look at the customer beside it, point at the customer's name and use the small open-in-new button that appears (its tooltip reads Open the customer in a new tab). In the ABM Service desktop app it opens a new window, and the tooltip says in a new window. Unsaved changes on the call are kept when you open the customer, and a reminder naming the call stays in the bottom-left corner until you come back and save or discard them.
What are the sections in the call screen's sidebar?
The sidebar on the left of the call screen lists the call's sections in three groups. Point at the sidebar to make it fly out, then select a section; it folds away again when the pointer leaves it.
- Call: Details (the form and the two documents), Analysis (Priority, Job status, Work type and Cost centre) and Actions (everything logged against the call, with a count).
- Customer: Existing calls, the customer's other calls.
- Attachments: All attachments, with the number of files on the call, then one item for each category the call's files are in, with its count, and No category when a file has none. Selecting one opens the call's files filtered to it. Where files can be added on your system, dropping files from your computer onto one of these items adds them to the call, filed in that item's category (in none, for All attachments and No category). Using the Attachments Section describes the section in full, for calls and customers alike. The system administrator also sees Manage categories… at the end of the group.
To keep the sidebar open all the time, select Sections at its top (its name is Keep the sidebar open); select it again (Let the sidebar fold away) to let it fold. ABM Service remembers this on this computer, separately for saved calls and for new calls. Folded, the sidebar shows only icons. The line at its foot reads "Hover to peek · ≡ to keep it open · Details ▾ arranges the form": the small menu beside Details is where your saved form layouts are.
Moving between sections never loses your work: the Details form, its documents and your cursor position stay exactly where you left them while you look at another section.
Why are some sections greyed out on a new call?
On a new call, Actions, Existing calls and All attachments in the call screen's sidebar are greyed out because they belong to a call that has been saved, and a new call does not exist in ABM until you select Save call. Once it is saved, all three open.
While the call is new, pointing at a greyed-out section shows its name followed by "after the call is saved", selecting it does nothing, and the foot of the sidebar reads "The other sections open once the call is saved." No counts are shown. If you have placed the Actions list on the Details form, it says "The actions are listed here after the call is saved."
Details and Analysis are never greyed out. On a new call you can fill in the whole Details form, write in both documents and set Priority, Job status, Work type and Cost centre under Analysis before the first save; they are all saved together with the call.
What is on the Details page of a call?
The Details page of the call screen is the call's form beside its documents. In the layout that comes with ABM Service (Default Layout) the left-hand side holds three cards:
- The customer and contact card: the customer's code and name, then Contact name (a list of the customer's contacts that you can also type in), Phone, E-mail with its Send an e-mail envelope, Mobile and Address. On a new call a Customer search box takes the place of the name.
- The Call card: Type, Status, Charge, Job group, Date (saved calls only), P.O. number, Customer ref, Follow up and Follow-up date.
- The Scheduled visits card: each engineer's visit on the call, with Add engineer. On a new call it appears once an engineer is picked. Using the Scheduled Visits Card explains it.
On the right is the Documents box. Its first line is the Comment, the one-line summary the Calls list shows, running across both documents with a count of characters out of 300. Under it are the Details document, what the engineer reads first, and the Resolution document, what was done, which goes on the job card. Your company's own custom fields can be placed on the form too. If your layout has tabs, their names run across the top of the form; select one to see its fields.
What are Fill in with AI and Voice note on the call screen?
They are two helpers on the Details document of the call screen. Fill in with AI, in the Details heading of a new call, reads what you pasted or typed and proposes the comment, the type, a tidy layout and the fields your company chose; nothing changes until you apply them. Voice note, beside Note on the Details toolbar of every call, types what you say into the Details as a dated note. Both are shown whether or not the AI features are switched on for you; if it is not, selecting one explains what it does and who can switch it on. Using Fill in with AI and Voice Notes describes both.
How do I make the documents or the sidebar wider on the call screen?
Drag the gaps between the panels of the call screen. The hint along the bottom of the screen says the same: "Drag the gaps to resize · double-click the documents’ gap to reset · Details ▾ arranges the form".
- The sidebar: drag the gap to the right of the kept-open sidebar (Resize the sidebar). Double-click it to put the sidebar back to its usual width.
- The form and the documents: drag the gap between the form's cards and the Documents box.
- The Resolution document: drag the gap between Details and Resolution (Resize the resolution column). Double-click it to put Resolution back to its usual width.
- Fold the Resolution away: select the Resolution heading. It folds to a narrow strip; select it again to open it. On a new call, Resolution starts folded.
With the keyboard, move to a gap with Tab and press the Left or Right arrow key; on the sidebar and Resolution gaps, hold Shift for bigger steps. ABM Service remembers the sidebar width, whether it is kept open, the Resolution width and the folded Resolution on this computer, one set for saved calls and one for new calls. The gap between the form and the documents is kept with your form layout.
Why does the call screen show grey bars when it opens?
The grey bars are the call screen drawing itself before the call has arrived. The header, the cards and the documents appear straight away in the shape of what will be there, and each part fills in as soon as ABM Service has it: first the call's fields, then the Details document, then the Resolution document. While the call is loading, the fields cannot be changed and Save stays off, with the reason "Loading the call…". While Details is opening, the Resolution card says "Waiting for the Details document…". On a call with long documents and many pictures, the documents can take a few seconds.
What does "Call … was not found" mean on the call screen?
The call screen says "Call … was not found." when the call you opened no longer exists in ABM, for example because it was deleted after you found it. "Could not load this call:" followed by a reason means ABM Service could not read the call at all, for example because the connection dropped; "Could not load the lookups:" means the lists the form needs (types, statuses and so on) could not be read. The screen then shows only its heading and the message. If you reached the call from another screen, select the Back to calls arrow and try again. If the call opened on its own there is no arrow: in a browser, open your company's ABM Service address again, which opens on Home; in the ABM Service desktop app, use Go in the title bar.
How do I get back to the calls list from a call, or refresh a call?
Select Back to calls, the arrow at the top left of the call screen. It takes you back to the screen you opened the call from, as you left it: the Calls list, a customer's screen, or the Scheduler. The arrow appears only when there is a screen to go back to. When you come back to the call with Back or Forward, it opens on the section you were reading. Leaving a call with changes you have not saved does not throw them away: ABM Service keeps the call as you left it among your unsaved work.
There is no Refresh button on the call screen, because a Refresh would throw away what you had typed, and the screen does not update by itself when somebody else saves the same call. To see the latest version of a call you have not changed, select Back to calls and open the call again; a call with nothing unsaved on it is read afresh when you come back to it. To put a call you have changed back to what is saved, use Discard in the Unsaved changes bar at the bottom of the call screen: it reads the call again, fields, documents and files, and drops your unsaved changes.