1. Admin Documentation

Help articles for using the Sytewise property asset management software.

Getting Started

Getting Started

Your New Sytewise Account

Welcome to Sytewise. Your new account includes information structures and details for organizing your property assets. There are also a series of tools for communicating with vendors, clients, tenants and surveyors. 

In this help chapter we will cover the basics of using an account. Here are the topics in order of appearance.

 

Getting Started

Add and Edit Vendors

Vendors are the people that work for you on your properties.  They can be employees, outside contractors, or even you or your co-workers if you have jobs that you do regularly, or want record of when they were completed.

Listing your vendors in the Vendor section does some great things for you.

 

Keep Track of Vendor Information everywhere, anytime

Who was it that fixed that HVAC unit on the top of Dollar General Store last April?  What is their phone number?  Answers to all of those questions about how to get in touch with the vendors that work on your properties are at your fingertips, anywhere you need the information, anytime you want to look it up.  You can look up vendors by Property, By Work Order.

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To open the Vendor Page, select Vendors in the menu and then click on Vendors.  Once on the page you can type the vendor name in the search box and hit enter.

Or if you are on a Work Order, select the Vendor Name.  Either of these methods will open the Vendor's Profile Page.

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The vendor profile page includes a lot of details about the Vendor including address and contact information, any Contracts they have, Work Orders they have been assigned, or documents such as Insurance Certificates or copies of written contracts. 

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Lists of the Vendor's Work Orders and Contracts are to the right of their contact info.

Below the list of contracts you can add Insurance Documents and any other fields that you would like to keep on hand.  File types include .Pdf docs, Excel, and Word documents.

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To add a document, just select the Add a File or Policy button, select the file you wish to add and upload.

Most People want to keep a Certificate of Insurance (COI) for vendors that work on their properties. To add an Insurance Policy document of any kind, Select the Add a File or Policy Button, then Select the Insurance Policy Tab. Enter the information about the Insurance Policy and click on Save.  After the policy info is entered and saved you will see the Insurance Policy listed with a button that says Choose File.  Select the file for your Insurance Policy and click Save.  Your policy information will be listed with a link to the actual Insurance File.

To edit the information about the document, select the pencil next to the file link.  All of the information about the document or insurance policy can be edited, or the file can be deleted.

Quickly Find the Preferred Vendor for any trade at any property

You can track down vendors for a specific property by Trade and by Work Orders.  Just Go to the Property Page, Select the Trade Tab at the top of the window for the type of work your Vendor does.  Then look at the Preferred Vendor for that trade.  You can list your Preferred Vendor and up to six alternate vendors you use for that same type of work. 

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Scroll down to the bottom of the Property page.  There is a list of Work Orders performed on that Property under that Trade Tab.  All of the Vendors for your Work Orders are listed next to the description of each one.  It's easy to track down which Vendor did the work on each Work Order.

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Instant Access to Important information about your vendors including Insurance Documents and Contracts

Sytewise has has the ability to store specific contract terms for any Vendor contracts.  If you have agreed upon terms for your landscaping throughout the year, or a fixed price per lamp on your pole light maintenance  you can keep them with you at all times and never wonder if the contractor completed everything agreed upon.

Sytewise keeps track of which vendors you use on each of your properties for certain types of work. Take HVAC services, for instance.  If you have a company that you use on any of your properties to maintain your HVAC equipment, assign them as the default vendor for HVAC for that property.  That way every work order you create for HVAC on that property will autofill the name and information of your preferred vendor.  You don't have to worry about looking up all that data, and anyone else who needs to complete a Work Order will know who you like to use to work on the HVAC equipment at that location.

Any Contract listed on a Property includes the name of the Vendor that is a party to the contract.  It also includes the Property and Client contacts.  Selecting the Vendor name will take you to the Vendor Profile Page.

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Getting Started

Create A Property

 

In the left hand menu select Properties > New Property.

In Enter Property Information enter a title for your property. See our property naming suggestions for more.

New Property Left Panel

Start typing the default vendor's name in the field. (You've created at least one vendor to get to this point). Suggested vendors will appear in a dropdown list. Either arrow down on your keyboard or click/tap your choice.

Select a Trade to maintain for this property and vendor. Trades are associated with your account. If you need others please contact your Sytewise Administrator.

Click  Lookup Geolocation 

The geolocation of your property is important to verify and confirm the address of your property on a map. Sytewise searches a geocoding service for the address you entered and creates a strictly formatted address and the latitude and longitude of the property. The results are displayed on the map and fields on the right. 

Move the map marker to more accurately portray the location of the property. Once you are satisfied with the Formatted Address and the location of the marker

Click  Create Property 

If the results are not correct or the search failed to locate a valid address check your entry and try again. Again, it is very important to locate the property on the map accurately to proceed.

Geocoding Results

Getting Started

Create A Fixture

You can create a new Fixture in the following three ways:

Create a New Fixture from Scratch

Go to the Property Page where you want to Add a Fixture.  On the Property Page locate the Fixture Window

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Select the +Fixture Button to open the Create Fixture Window. 

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Enter the Fixture Name and Description for the Fixture you want to Create. 

Tip: Selecting good naming conventions for your property is super important.  It allows you to find devices easily and makes searching for Fixtures by Type easier.  It is worth putting some thought into how you name your Fixtures.  For some tips on Naming Conventions, look here.

The Height and Default Vendor are already filled.  The height defaults to 0-7ft.  Change it to match the height of the fixture you are adding.

The Vendor shows the Default Vendor for the selected Trade on the Selected Property.  You can select a different Vendor to associate with this Fixture.

Once you enter the Name and Description and select the Height and Vendor, click Save and the Fixture Page for this Fixture will Appear.

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Once on the Fixture Page you will need to:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting Started

Creating a Work Order

Work orders are easy to create in Sytewise.  Each Work Order is specific to a Property and a Trade.  Watch this video or check out the step-by-step instructions below.

 

Create a Work Order

Select a Property and Trade

Choose a Property by selecting it in either the Dashboard or Property Page list of Properties.

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Make Sure the Fixture/Parts are selected as Needing Service

Once on the property page, look in the list of fixtures to find the right Fixture and make sure the toggle switch shows as red.  This indicates that the part nees service.  If this fixture is part of a Survey, the Surveyor may have turned the service indicator from Green to Red Already.  Once all of the Fixtures you wish to place on a work order have the status indicator as red, you can return to the Property Menu.

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Open the Work Order Menu

In the upper right corner you will find a button for Work Order / Purchase Order.  Click this button to open the Work Order form.

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Add the Title / Description

When you open the Work Order form you will notice the Title / Description is prefilled with the name of the property.  Enter the Name of the Work Order here.  This will become part of the Email that is delivered to your Vendor.  To make sure you are able to search easily for this work order later it is good to add words that identify the suite number, trade, and specific fixture if only one.  Something like, Suite 100 - Dollar General Men's Room Sink has a Plumbing Leak.  For more information on best practices for naming work orders click here.

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Select the Due Date

Both Date Fields have dates entered.  The Creation Date has the current date.  The Due Date is prefilled with one week from the date of creation.  Of course, this won't work for every scenario, so replace the prefilled date with the date that works for you.  You can select a new date by clicking on the calendar.  Or if you are like me, just type the new date in the field.  either one works.

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Select the Vendor

The default vendor for this trade and this property will already be entered into the Vendor field.  This may be the vendor you want to use.  In that case, don't do anything.  If you want to change the vendor for this particular work, just start typing the name of the vendor in the Vendor field.  You will want to highlight the prefilled vendor name and then just start typing.  A list of vendors will appear.  As you continue, the list of vendors will shorten.  Keep typing until you see your vendor and then select with your cursor.

 

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Select the Fixtures / Fixtures for this Work Order

This work order is going to be sent to a particular Vendor so, even if there are several fixtures that need repair, only select the fixtures that are going to be serviced by the vendor you've selected for this work order.  You can click on the None button at the top right of the Work Order Form to deselect all Fixtures.  You can click on the All button to show all the Fixtures in this trade, even if their status hasn't been changed from red to green.  Click the box to the right of each fixture to add that fixture to this work order.

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Enter the Instructions to your Vendor

This is where you can get very specific about the work you want performed.  Don't leave anything to interpretation.  Get specific with your instructions so your vendor knows exactly how you want the work performed and what the end result needs to be.  If you have drawings or plans that would be helpful, you can attach them to the fixture and the Vendor will receive them with the Work Order. 

 

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Select the Correct Emails for Delivery and Click Save

Every Vendor can have multiple contacts.  Every contact with an email address in their profile will be listed just below the instructions.  You can send the work order to multiple people or just one person.  Here's where you select the recipients for this particular work order.  Once you've selected all recipients, just click Save and your email is on the way.

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See the new Work Order Number

Once the Work Order Form disappears you will see the new Work Order number in the banner and a message regarding the success of the email delivery.  Click on the work order number to see the Admin version of the Work Order.

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Verify Work Order Email was Delivered

Once you click Send on the work order, you will get an automatic notice if the email was successfully delivered.  If you need to see a verification of the email, look at the bottom of the work order page and you will see a list of every email that was delivered on behalf of this work order.

 

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Getting Started

Creating a Survey

Surveys are useful for managing the care and maintenance of the fixtures at each of your locations.  Scheduling routine or unique inspections of your equipment can make the difference of how well your property looks and operates while making next years budget a bit easier.

Getting Started

Adding Fixtures in Bulk using the Library

I have a lot of Fixtures!

Adding large numbers of Fixtures on your properties relatively quickly adds usefulness Sytewise account.  There are a couple of ways of adding Large Numbers of Fixtures to a property and both have their own benefits.

You can add large numbers of Fixtures to a single property using the import tool just below Fixture List.  This is great for large numbers of Fixtures with Specific Part Numbers that you want to import or Fixtures that don't apply to any of your other properties.  Think HVAC units and Fire Panels.

In this article we are going to discuss using the Fixtures Library to add Groups of Fixtures.  This is good for adding large numbers of Fixtures where Specific Part Numbers are not important to their maintenance.  Think Commode.  There are a few simple Sytewise Skills that you need to know to make this process go smoothly.

All of these skills are simple to learn and should take a couple of minutes. Just click the link above on the topic for a tutorial, or if your ready to learn about Bulk Fixtures, start reading below.

Think of a Group of Fixtures like a Template for that Trade on your  property.  A good template will put as many Fixtures on the property as possible without the need to remove too many.  For Example, if you want to add plumbing fixtures for all of your locations and most of your locations have just two commodes per restroom, and one or two locations have more, only put two commodes in your Plumbing Group.  This allows you to add all the necessary Fixtures on most of your properties while adding some extras to only a couple of locations.  So here are some things to consider on making a good groups for Bulk Fixture Imports.

What type of Fixtures are easily managed in Bulk?

Using the Library to add items is more about item type, unless you standardize on only one manufacturer and part number across all of your properties for a specific Fixture, it is best to consider Fixtures that make up a specific System, or are a universal type.  Plumbing is a great example of a Fixture Type easily placed on site and managed without the need for a specific Part number.

Prepare your Fixtures List for a Bulk Library Import

The best thing you can do for your Fixtures is give them easily identifiable generic names as part of a group.  A standard name for all of your Properties that makes like items easily identifiable.  Commode #1, Commode #2, Commode #3 is a good example.  Another example is Front Door, Back Door, Overhead Dock Door.  You may want to add specific data to each of these Fixtures once they are on the property, but this allows you to get the greatest number of fixtures on the property fast and economically.

Also consider groups of systems that you may want to add as a pod or one of many similar systems.  A large shopping center may have more than one Fire Sprinkler System.  Having a Generic System that you can add several times across a large center makes it easy to establish those Fixtures and survey the items later.

With that in Mind, Away we go!

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Getting Started

Create A Group of Fixtures

On the Property page select a Trade where you have several fixtures that you would like to view as all or a subset of all of the available fixtures.

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Select the checkbox next to each fixture that you would like in the Group.

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Once you select a Fixture you will notice that the +Group button become active.  Select the Group button and type in the Name of the Group for the list of Fixtures you have selected.

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Click Save.  Now you can view just the items in that group by selecting it from the Group Selection pull down menu and the presence of a Group title just beneath the Selection box.

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Getting Started

Set Up Recurring Work Orders

Setting up recurring work orders in the Sytewise platform is easy to do and keeps your recurring work up to date with minimal input.

Recurring work can be anything from grease trap maintenance to air conditioner filters.  For our purposes we will use a work order for conducting the Annual Fire Alarm Inspection.
To set up recurring work orders:
Select a Work Order you would like to Replicate

This can be any work order.  It can be Open or Completed.  It can be past due.  It doesn't matter.  When selecting a work order make sure you look at the Special Instructions to make sure they will be appropriate over time.  If you have a lot of information about special dates or times that won't be applicable in the future, it would be better to start with a new work order.  Make sure your special instructions are going to be evergreen for any future work order they will be part of.

Click on the Reminder Bell in the Upper Right Hand Corner

Select the Reminder Bell at the Top Right Hand Corner of your browser and the New Reminder Modal will Appear.  Once the Reminder Modal opens, click on the check boxes to Attach Reminder to this WO and Replicate This WO.

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Add a Subject and Message Note about the Work Order

Once you have selected the check boxes for Attaching and Replicating the Work Order, Type in a Subject and Message about the work order.  This is a note to you or another person that will be tracking this Work Order in the Future.  Any Special items to remember as you go about getting the work completed.  This is not the work order instructions to your vendor.  Those are already in the work order you selected.

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Check the box for Priority

This may be a simple item, but it will help work orders stand out in your work order list.  It will also help you notice important items that may only come up once a year.  All items are important.  I usually add this to time sensitive items that may cause additional expense if they aren't handled in a timely manner.  You can use it however best suits your workflow.

 

Choose a recipient for Reminder from the list of Sytewise Users

Every Sytewise System User is a potential candidate to receive the Reminder you are creating.  The default will always be to the creator of the Reminder.  You can select another user, or Select All users.  If you opt to send the Reminder to Everyone it show up on everyone's Reminder List until one User completes the reminder activity.  Then it will drop off of Everyone's list.

 

Click the Repeating Check Box to establish as Schedule for the Work Orders to Repeat

Once you Select the Repeat Check box you will see two boxes for a Start Date and an End Date for Reminders ( and Work Orders) to be scheduled and created.  Reminders created today will show up the next calendar day.  Choose your Starting Date and Ending Date for the recurring work orders.  If you want them to recur indefinitely then select the Forever Check Box.  That will immediately set the reminders to last for 100 years.

 

Select your Repeat Time Frame of Day, Week, Month, or Year

The calendar for reminders is very flexible.  You can select a daily reminder for something, or make a weekly reminder for every Tuesday, or every Third Tuesday.  You can select a Monthly Schedule to have reminders and work orders recur on a specific day of the month, or every other month.  Yearly reminders are great for those annual inspections that show up again before you know it.  That being said, best practice is to factor the amount of lead time you need for this work order into the reminder date.  The work order will be generated on the date you select.  Make sure that date gives your Vendor enough time to get the work on the books and completed by your deadline.  I try to give my Fire Panel inspectors at least a couple of weeks to respond.  Your lead times may be different.

 

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A Daily Schedule will repeat every day, or every interval of days you select. If you enter a 1 the reminder will show up every day.  If you enter a 3 it will show up every day.

 

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A Weekly Schedule is much the same.  Select the days of the week you would like the reminder to occur and then select the number of weeks in between each reminder.  This is great for work orders that repeat every other week or or on specific days of the week regardless of the number of monthly visits.  Any Weekly Service Schedule is perfect for this.

 

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The Monthly schedule is great for events that occur on specific days of the month, every month, regardless of the day of the week.

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Annual is great for those inspections or reports that need to be done every year.  Send  a Work Order out to get your Annual Sprinkler or Backflow inspections on the calendar before your Vendor gets backed up.  You can also set multi year reminders and work orders for specific Contractual Work or Lease Sensitive Items.  I have tenants that require repaints every 5 years.  Asphalt repairs or striping are other good uses of the multi year reminder.  If you have new staff, they may not know when the parking lot in front of Kroger was last striped.  Sytewise remembers and can remind them that this is the year to get it done.

 

Click Save

Of course you must hit save to complete the work.  Once you click Save your Reminder can be found on the Reminder Page.  Whe a

 

What happens Next?

Once your reminder is in the Sytewise System your calendar takes over.  Every morning the Reminder System looks for actions that are to be completed today.  When that happens you will have a Notification icon telling you how many reminders or actions that are current in your Reminder and Actions List. 

The reminder will have an Action Button that says Create Work Order.  Select this button and a duplicate of the original work order is made.  Look at the work order, Make whatever changes you like.  Change the text.  Change the Vendor.  Once you are done, click on the Send Work Order button and you are done.

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If the Reminder is attached to the work order, the Action Button will say Create Work Order.  If it is attached to a Survey, the Action Button will say Create Survey.

The Circle with Line icon will delete this instance of the recurring Work Order, but future Work Orders will still be created.  To Edit the Reminder Settings for your Work Order Reminder, click on the Pencil button.

You can always edit the reminder settings for the work order .  If you want to go from quarterly filter changes to every two months.  Change it in the settings.  If you want to Change the Vendor for all future work orders, you can do that in the Settings.

 

Reference: Terms & Concepts

Terms and concepts related to using the Sytewise platform.

Reference: Terms & Concepts

Properties

Properties are one of the fundamental concepts of the Sytewise system.  A Property can be an actual property that you manager, or it may just be an address of the location where you have an asset that you manage.  It can be the location where you do contractual work or provide a service.  Whatever it means to you and your company, Sytewise sees a Property as a location and that location is unchangeable once established in the system.  

When you add a property to your Sytewise account you are establishing a physical location on the planet for any Trade you use within your account.  HVAC, Plumbing, Asphalt, Doors, and Keys are just a few of the many Trades you can establish for a Property Location in your account.  

 

Reference: Terms & Concepts

Trades

A Trade is a type of work conducted on your property locations.  It can be work conducted by your staff or outside Vendors.  Establishing a Trade for a property allows you to do the following:

Below is a Property Header showing several Trades.  Notice that the Keys Trade is Highlighted.  The Preferred Vendor and Surveyor are listed just below the Property info.  Your Client for this Property is listed along with any special notes.  Moving from one Trade to another is as simple as clicking the Trade tab at the top of the Header.

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Reference: Terms & Concepts

Fixtures

A fixture, in the Sytewise Property Asset Manager, is a fixed property asset that requires maintenance, repair or replacement. From the Property / Trade you wish to associate the fixture you can add fixtures in a few ways.

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Add One Fixture

Click the + Fixture button at the top of the fixture list.

All the fields are required. 

Adding a vendor works the same throughout Sytewise. Start typing the name of the vendor you wish to choose. Arrow down or click the name that appears in the list to select. Confirm  by clicking the check, if present. 

Adding multiple fixtures

Sytewise gives you the ability to add many fixtures at once to any Property / Trade. The software accepts CVS formatted files prepared in a specific column order. Clicking the "Import Fixtures" button shows a Modal window where you can choose the file to upload. In the modal there are specific instructions on how to format your CVS data. Files not formatted correctly can import fixtures that are incorrect. 

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Check the preview table for any errors or misalignments before committing the import. 

You can only import 50 fixtures at a time.

 

Reference: Terms & Concepts

Parts

Parts are Where the Work Gets Done

Parts helps you track the components of your fixtures along with their repairs and updates.  They are the pieces of your Fixtures that wear out, need adjustment, get updated, and generally need to be maintained. 

Actions can be Parts, Too!

Parts are mostly seen as the physical components of your Fixtures.  But don't limit the usefulness of the Sytewise platform to only the physical parts of the system.  Actions can be listed as parts also if you have a need or want to track them.  Take Annual Fire Panel inspections for example, or Routine Maintenance.  If you add Routine Actions to your Fixture, you can select them as a part that needs repair on a Work Order and keep track of their dates of service.

Examples of Actions that can be listed as a Fixture Part could be:

What are the Good Parts to Add to my Fixture?

Some Fixtures you may want to list all of the parts from the beginning.  This can establish what type of equipment you have on site at a particular location.  A Solid Waste Dumpster for Example, may have a lock on it, It may be in an enclosure, and that enclosure may have doors, or gates, or even a roof. Listing all of these items up front lets you easily access what type of equipment you have at that location.

Other Fixtures may be best served by only listing the parts that need and/or have been repaired.  This can make it easy to see what work has been done on a Fixture and keep track of updated parts and warranty information.  An HVAC unit is a good example of a Fixture with a lot of Parts.  You may be tempted to add the Compressor part numbers and other common features that you want to track.  The information can be helpful, but it can also make it less apparent what, if any parts have been replaced.

A good rule of thumb on when to add a part to a Fixture, if a part is an element of structure that isn't likely to change, and you will need to be able to recall and track, make it a part.  If a part is something that can be updated, like firmware, or changed when it wears out, like a compressor on an HVAC system, wait until you actually need to change it to add it to the Fixture.  This allows you to see at a glance what the permanent elements of your Fixture are while quickly establishing which parts have been serviced or replaced.

Reference: Terms & Concepts

Clients

Clients are the people or entities that own the properties or locations that you manage with Sytewise.  Clients will be part of the contracts you create and can be associated with all or just some of the properties you manage.

Reference: Terms & Concepts

Adding Photos to Fixtures

Fixtures are any fixed property asset that requires maintenance or repair. Fixtures are located within a Property / Trade that is managed by the Sytewise Management Platform. All fixtures have a GPS location or a coordinate location on a floorpan. 

To add a photo to a fixture you need to be on the fixture page and click the "Upload Files" button in the right side of the Fixture Page Header. 

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This will open a Modal window on screen that allows you to drag and drop up to 10 files. You can also use the browse button to find files on your computer to upload. Here is the upload window.

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You can choose to add files from a web URL or your computer's camera.

You can only upload image files that are PNG, GIF, or JPG and PDF files. Images of any dimension larger than 400 x 400 pixels can be uploaded as long as they are less than 10MB in size.

Reference: Terms & Concepts

Work Orders

A work order is an action request for a trade vendor to complete work on a fixture related to a property.

Reference: Terms & Concepts

Why Property / Trade?

The Sytewise Property Management System is property centric, meaning all activity recorded and stored is associated with a property. Properties can have multiple Trades. These trades represent the industries that install, maintain, repair and replace the fixtures on each property. 

For example, a property may have several trades: Grease Traps, Lights, and Roofing; just to name a few. Each trade has it's subset of Fixtures, Contracts, Insurance, Preferred Vendors and associated Work Orders.

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Depending on your Sytewise account profile the trades available to you may differ from those in the example above. 

Adding a trade is as simple as clicking the [+] icon next to the trade tabs, selecting the new trade (if any are available to your account) and choosing a vendor. The default vendor for the property is already chosen for you.

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Reference: Terms & Concepts

Survey

A survey is an action request for a Surveyor to look at and document the status of fixtures on a property.

Reference: Terms & Concepts

Tenants

Tenants are those that occupy the properties and spaces that you manage.  They can be your actual tenants if you manage multi family properties or commercial shopping centers.  They can also be the GM's of your local stores if you manage real estate for a multi-site commercial entity.  

 

Reference: Terms & Concepts

Users

Users is anyone that uses the Administration portal of the software.  The can be a property manager or a project manager.  Anyone that has log in credentials to view or add data in the system.  A super-user can create other users in the system.

Reference: Terms & Concepts

Contracts

Contracts are agreements between Clients, Vendors, and Properties.  Contracts keep your scheduled work on track and terms of the agreement available to you, no matter where you are.

Reference: Terms & Concepts

Contacts

Contacts are people associated with Vendors, Clients, or Properties.  Keeping their contact information with you at all times in the context of their company or property is very useful, and in an emergency can keep an emergency from turning into a disaster.

Reference: Terms & Concepts

The Property Information Funnel

Designed for Work and Designed for Data

The Sytewise  platform is designed to help you gather the information you need to make good sense spending and business decisions as you go about the process of managing the maintenance and care of your assets.  The data is literally the passive byproduct of working in a system designed to harvest meaningful information as a dividend on the day to day labor of asset maintenance.

Everyday as you create work orders, survey systems or components, or schedule inspections you are planting useful information into the system that can be used to make decisions from a very narrow perspective, and also light up trends across your entire portfolio.

So with that introduction, here is what the Sytewise Data Funnel looks like and where you can reach in and harness the information that will make your assets more profitable and your relationships with owners and vendors much more lucrative.  For the purpose of this graphic the assets are properties, but if you can see it, Sytewise can handle it.

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Hopefully you have as many Clients as you want.  Each of them can have several Properties.  Every property will employ Vendors of several trades.  Every Trade will have several Fixtures on each Property. And finally each Fixture is composed of its several Parts.

At each point we have people who need information and can give us information about our Assets.

Clients need information about their Properties

Vendors need information about the Property, The Fixture and The Parts

Your Tenants Have Helpful Information about your Property and need information about the Work of Vendors.

Sytewise is the place to store everything with a savvy interface to perform your daily tasks and harvest the intel when you need it.

 

Reference: Terms & Concepts

WO, Survey Email Preferences

When you create a Work Order or Survey, you have an option to send the vendor or surveyor an email of the order. This email has a link to the work to be done. Once The Survey or Work Order is complete, either work finished or rejected in the case of Work Orders, the status of that order is updated in the system along with all the fixtures, parts and properties are updated.

But what if you want to be notified of that completion? You can set email preferences for each Sytewise user that dictate when they are sent a message of the update.

To Set Your Global Email Preferences for Work Order or Survey Notification

Global settings are for every instance of a Work Order or Survey. For settings specific to any one property see below.

  1. Go to the user's page you wish to setup Users > User
  2. Under the section Global Email Preferences check your choices
    1. Receive All Work Order Responses - You will receive all Work Order submissions from vendors, no matter the property.
    2. Receive All Work Order Rejections - You will only receive Work Orders vendors reject.
    3. Receive All Survey Responses - Every survey submitted for any of your properties will be sent to your email address.
  3. Click Save to keep your choices.

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To Set Your Email Preference for Individual Properties

  1. You must create favorite properties to add email notices to.
    1. To add a property to your favorites
      1. start typing the name of the property in the text box provided.
      2. Select the property from the list of search results (be sure to spell it correctly)
      3. Hit return.
  2. Any favorite property can have Work Orders or Survey responses sent to you.
  3. If you have set WOs or Surveys to be globally sent you cannot add individual properties to your email preference.

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Reference: Terms & Concepts

Favorite Properties

Your Dashboard and Properties pages in the Sytewise Admin show a list of your favorite properties. This is a convenient list for quick reference. Otherwise you can search for properties by name, by state, or by other user's favorites at the top of the property list. 

To make a property your favorite

  1. Find the property you want to make your favorite and go to the property page.
  2. Find the star to the left of the property name
  3. Click the star.

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Make a property your favorite from your User page.

  1. Go to your user page
  2. Find the list of favorite properties on the right.
  3. Start typing the name of the property in the search box
  4. Select with your arrow keys of your mouse the property you wish to add.
  5. Hit return.

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Tips and Best Practices

Here are some words of experience on the best way to add and use data in Sytewise.

Tips and Best Practices

Naming Fixtures and Parts

Thoughts on How to Name your Fixtures

Here are some thoughts about how to name your Fixtures and why a Naming Convention is a good idea.

What’s in a Name?

Which HVAC Unit needs a new compressor? Maintenance Systems need to keep track of hundreds of Fixtures and their parts, some of which are identical except for their serial number and location.  To make sure your staff can easily find and repair the right equipment, build that information into the name of your fixture.

Naming your Fixtures

The type of fixtures you manage or maintain and the way that you work with them can make a difference on how you choose to name them.  Facility Maintenance organizations that work with static location items may choose to include a Property Name or Location in the Fixture Name.  Companies that maintain equipment that is mobile may default to a Service Tag or Item Number.  Each Company’s naming strategy will be different and the same company may use a different strategy for different fixture types.  Here are some features you may want to include:

Describing your Fixtures

Fixture descriptions can offer a lot of detail to the viewer and even short descriptions can be very helpful.  A minimum of details would include the type of fixture and any thing that would help identify it such as its age, capacity or function.

An HVAC unit may be described as “ 2010 RTU6, 25 Ton, Gas Pack, 3Phase “

Naming fixtures doesn’t need to be Hard

The goal of naming your fixtures is to make them easy to find and identify for your employees, vendors, and inspectors.  If you are consistent, even a simple naming convention will add lots of value to your work management system.  Here are some ideas to guide you as you come up with a naming structure.

Tips and Best Practices

Grouping Fixtures

Grouping Fixtures is a powerful tool to allow you to look at subsets of fixtures on a property quickly and easily.  Looking at lights and want to see just your Pole Lights? Make a group.  Looking at HVAC units and want to see just the HVAC units on top of the Walgreens? Make a group.  Groups help categorize and locate your fixtures quickly and efficiently.  Also, Groups that are created by the administrator are available to Vendors and Surveyors to locate specific fixtures on the Work Order Map.

What are the best ways to Group Fixtures?
Fixture Type

Grouping all fixtures by type is a great way to keep track of how many of a specific item you have on a property.  Pole Lights, HVAC units by type and tonnage, even landscaping material can be grouped by species if it helps your technicians plan for maintenance.  It also can make it easy for technicians to survey a specific type of item.

Fixture Location

Fixture Location is a great way to look at a small group of fixtures when you have a large number at a single property.  Say you have four to five hundred light fixtures on a property.  Looking at a list of all of them to find your pole lights would be daunting.  Group all of your Pole lights together and you can easily display just those fixtures and find your specific fixture quickly.  Fixture Location is a great way to name your groups also.  Show me all the HVAC units on top of the Kroger Grocery Store.  That list shortened from 75 in the whole center to the 8 units that are on the Kroger roof.

Fixture Ownership

Fixture Ownership is a great way to group fixtures if you happen to have more than one ownership entity for a property location and the division of maintenance is based on parcels or areas of the property.  If a property is divided into Phases and each phases has different ownership or maintenance entities, this is a great way to group fixtures and easily export those that belong to or maintained by one group over the other.

Fixture Maintenance Vendor

Not all Fixtures of a certain type are maintained by the same vendor.  Grouping Fixtures by the Maintenance Contractor that services them makes it easy to keep track of the units associated with the vendor in question.

Fixtures By Height

The height of Fixtures is baked into how Fixtures are entered into our system.  It is a great way to know what type of vendor you should send to maintain a specific Fixtures, and what type of equipment they will need to reach it if it is a good distance off the ground.

Any other Category that Makes sense to You

There are any number of ways of categorizing Fixtures that will make sense to you with your Fixtures on your Properties.  If you ever need to see a Group of Fixtures as a subset of the whole, then save it as a Group.  Any individual Fixture can be a part of several groups.  Making Groups is simple and they are easy to recall when you need them. 

 

How To Group Fixtures

Grouping fixtures is an easy.  Use the following steps to create a Group:

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Blank Group Modal.PNG

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Your new Group is done and already includes any fixtures you selected when making the Group.  You only need to select one fixture to create a Group.  You can add any other Fixtures you create to existing Groups.  

If you Clone a Fixture that is part of a Group, The Clone will also be added to the same group, automatically.  It is good practice if you are creating a Fixture that you are going to Clone and add to a Group, go ahead and use your first Fixture to Create the Group.  Any Clones will already be a part of the group automatically.

 

Tips and Best Practices

Adding Properties

Adding properties is a pretty simple and straight forward process.  Here's a couple of things to think about to make your life easier as you work on the property in the future.

Tips and Best Practices

Descriptions can save you Time and Money

Searching for a specific type of fixture across your portfolio used to take a lot of time and guesswork.  Sytewise can help you recall these fixtures in minutes without the guesswork.  The descriptions you give your fixtures will be a large part of sifting through all of your fixtures to get to the gold nuggets at the end of the rainbow.

Managing Properties and Assets

Sytewise is a powerful asset management tool that has a property-centric view of fixtures and devices that need maintenance and regular service.

Managing Properties and Assets

Create a New Work Order

Managing Properties and Assets

Establishing your Vendors

Getting your vendors you use associated with the properties you manage can take some time.  The benefits for work tracking and insurance tracking are well worth the effort.  Sytewise keeps a record of your Vendor's work, properties, insurance, and contact credentials.

Managing Properties and Assets

Establishing a Recurring Work Flow System

Let's face it, no matter what you are managing with Sytewise, there are always emergencies.  Things that happen that take you out of the normal and productive workflow of your day.  Having the information to respond to the emergencies and get back to the productive steady workflow is the Sytewise Mission.  Setting up a workflow for a your day to day, month to month, and year to year is possible with Sytewise.  That way when the fires have been put out, the system is there and waiting for you to pick up where you left off.

Managing Properties and Assets

Reporting on Your Properties

Property managers and real estate professionals in general work with lots of data types.  Having a way to store and access your data in meaningful ways is at the core of the Sytewise platform.  Every fixture on every property will have a make, model, and serial number.  But do you know if it needs to be inspected?  Like a water backflow or a fire panel.  If so, who inspects it?  What was the last inspection date?  Do you have the report for the inspection?  Are you responsible for maintaining the HVAC or the Landlord?  How many roof leaks occurred on this specific roof in the last month? The last year?  Since the roof was installed?

 

Managing Properties and Assets

Parts: Create, Edit and Clone

Sytewise Parts are attached to Fixtures. A parts list is associated with fixtures. To create a new part:

  1. Go the the Fixture that will have the part being created.
  2. In the right column below the Fixture details and click "New Part"
  3. Fill out the form and click "Save". 

Parts have the following attributes.

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Parts are either Status “On” or “Off”

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Admins can change the status of any part simply by clicking the green or red toggle. Once you've changed the all the part statuses make sure to click "Save" at the top of the list.

Surveys and Work Orders can affect changes to parts statuses as well.

Cloning Parts

You can clone any part already created in your account. This may come in handy if you have redundant parts, especially ones with a lot of detail. Cloning parts places the cloned part within the original Fixture. To copy a part (or a select set of parts) into another fixture look into create a Library of that part (or parts) to reuse elsewhere. 

To Clone a Part:

  1. Navigate to the fixture where the part is going to be cloned.
  2. In the listing of parts check the checkbox on the right side next to the print icon. 
    1. You can only check one part to clone.
    2. To copy more than one part use the Library feature
  3. Click "Clone" at the top of the Parts list.
  4. Enter a position if necessary for this copy of the part.
  5. Change the part number to help identify this part from the original. Alternately, position can serve as the differentiator.

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Reference: The Sytewise User Interface

A rundown of the Sytewise user interface from the main admin screen through the menus and pages.

Reference: The Sytewise User Interface

Interface parts

The Sytewise User Interface

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Once you are logged in the Sytewise interface will have the following components always available to you. 

A. Menu Collapse

Click this "hamburger" icon to the right of the Sytewise Logo to collapse the main menu bar to the left. This is convenient when you need more screen real estate in the main window area.

B. Account Block

At the top of the main menu bar on the left is your account block. This area contains the Photo you uploaded for your user profile (the username and password you logged in with). Clicking the Username or the Photo takes you to your user profile page. If you have super user privileges you can click the Account name under the user's name to go to the account settings.

C. Quick Tools Navigation

At the upper right of the top of every page you will find a series of 4 icons. These are quick links to useful tools in the Sytewise system. 

D. Shortcuts

You can set shortcuts for yourself in your user profile. They are in the shortcut quick tools dropdown and are shown on your dashboard (as seen in the image above). 

E. Main Menu Navigation

On the left of the screen in the dark band is the Main Menu. Here are links to every section within the system and their details. Some links have more detail pages in them and require one click to reveal those detail pages. Properties > New Property, Properties > Property Search for example. 

F. Page Header

Each page has a header with a breadcrumb for knowing the context of your current page, a page title and a refresh icon. You can click any of the upward links in the breadcrumb to go back to that page. The refresh Icon is helpful if you need to start your entries.

G. Reminders Indicator

Next to the Reminders Main Menu item there will occur a number in a red circle. This is the un-attended-to reminders number. If this number appears (it will not if there are zero reminders to attend), you can click "Reminders" in the Main Menu to see what is in your reminders queue.

Reference: The Sytewise User Interface

The Dashboard

The initial page once you log in is your property management dashboard.

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Shortcuts

The top contains your shortcuts. These are summary color blocks that are also links to important sections of the Sytewise system. 

To edit your shortcuts 

Special Dashboard Tools

Just below the shortcuts is a set of buttons and search boxes that have particular functions. These choices are changing as Sytewise continues to improve it's toolset but the basics will remain the same.

Creating a new property

You can create a new property from the Main Menu on the left at anytime. Go to Properties > New Property. The dashboard and property pages also have a one click button that take you to the new property page.

Printing and Downloading All Properties

Sytewise lets users maintain a "Favorite Properties" list that is what is displayed in the Properties Summary on the dashboard and properties page. If you want to print or download a CSV of all the properties in the account click the associated button.

Quick Searches

On the dashboard there are quick search fields for going straight to a vendor or client profile page. Simply start typing the name of a vendor or client in the field, select the name from the list (arrow keys or with your mouse) and hit return. This will take you to the appropriate page.

Property Summary Map and List

The main part of the dashboard and property pages is the map and list of your favorite properties. You can add favorite properties in your User Profile or by visiting a property page and click the star next to the property name.

Clicking on a map marker reveals the property name (as a link to that property) and highlights the property in the list to the right. You can scale and move the map around with your mouse. You can also switch views and even go to street level view in every map on Sytewise. Sytewise maps are generated from Googles maps interface and will reflect their user interface and data.

Search by Name

Clicking in the "Search by Property Name" field and start typing will dropdown a list of properties in your account that match by name. Clicking (or using the arrow keys) to a name in the list and hitting return will go to that property page.

Narrowing or Expanding the Summary List

The list of properties (and their corresponding map locations) can be changed using the View By State and User dropdown choices. Simply choose any of the options in the lists and the list changes to only include those. Choosing a state will show all the properties located in that state. Choose a user will show you that user's favorite properties. This can be useful for management to check on the status of an employee's properties.

The Property List

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The Property Name Line has the Sytewise internal property ID first, then the given name for the property. Clicking either of these will take you to the first created trade for that property. Finally, there is a printer icon which takes you to that property's printable page. The address is always on the second line.

Client and Vendors Line lists the client (which is for every trade on this property) and the default vendor for the first trade created for the property. To see who the vendor is for each trade go to the trade for that property.

Blue Contract Icon to the left allows you to reveal any contracts for the property. Clicking it will load a list of contracts under the property trades.

Property Trades are listed under the client and vendor line. Clicking "Load Trade Statuses" will change the color of each trade button on the list to the current status of that trade. Green: all fixtures in good order. Yellow: at least one fixture is out of order. Red: all fixtures and parts in that trade are in need of attention.

Reference: The Sytewise User Interface

Property Page (part 1)

The property page in the Sytewise system is the central hub for all things property management. The page contains all pertinent information about a property with direct links to everything you need to know, if it isn't already represented on the page. There is, in fact so much to cover on the property page we created two pages just for the overview. Reminder: more detailed information about the use and best practice of Sytewise is contained in other chapters on this help site. Read about the bottom half of the property page.

plus.png FYI Anytime you see this icon clicking it expands more information related to the title next to this button.

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A. Trade Tabs

Each property has at least one trade. Your account has a set number of trades it can create, contact Sytewise to add or change that list of available trades. Adding a trade is as simple as clicking the "+" button at the far right of the trade tabs.

Switch between trades by clicking the tab. The colored dot indicates the status of that trade's fixtures. Green: all good. Yellow: at least one issue. Red: all parts and fixtures have issues.

B. Property Settings

The left third of the property info section is for specifics about the whole property, including any trades. Clicking the "Edit" button will open a form to change these settings.

NOTE: The property address is not editable. It was set when the property was created in Sytewise and is based on Geolocation technology for properly formatted addresses. It also includes the specific GPS location of the property marker.

C. Property Client

Each property can optionally be assigned a client. To see the client's contacts and other information expand the information box by clicking the "+" next to the client name. 

D. Add Buttons

On the top right side of the property info section you will find a group of buttons for creating new Work Orders, Contracts and Surveys.

The download icon will download all the fixture data in a CSV format.

E. Notes

The right side of the property info section includes a notes tool. Simply type a note in the field and hit return to create a new note. Clicking the red "X" will delete the note. Clicking the blue thumbtack will pin the note to the top of all notes.

Each note is timestamped and indicates the username who created it.

F. Vendor Section

The vendor for the selected trade is listed in the title with a link to that vendor's page. Clicking the "+" button shows the vendor's contact details including any staff or other contacts you've created for that vendor.

To change vendors for the selected trade you can select a vendor by name or by distance from the property. Selected vendors are chosen when creating work orders or contracts for the selected trade.

Alternate vendors can be added to a trade. This is useful of your trade vendor is not available for particular work orders. Add alternate vendors the same way you select the primary vendor by name.

G. Surveyor Section

Surveys are a way of evaluating your properties with a visit from a particular type of vendor or employee. They are given a portal in which they can evaluate the status of your fixtures and parts and report on them directly into the Sytewise system.

Selecting a Surveyor works exactly like selecting a vendor by name but from your list of surveyors.

H. Contracts Section

This section gives a summary of any contracts associated with the property / trade. It includes links to related vendors, clients and the contract itself. Clicking the "+" next to the contract name reveals more details about the contract. A contract with a gray background has expired.

I. Fixture Map Section

Sytewise enables you to show fixtures for any Property / Trade on a GPS map or overlaid on a floorpan. By default fixtures are placed on the GPS map, and when you create a new fixture it is placed in the same GPS location as the property.

Custom markers indicate the fixture position on the map or floorpan. Yellow markers are for fixtures at ground level up to 7ft. Blue are from 8 to 16ft and Red and 17ft and higher. 

To use a floorpan instead of the GPS map you click "Upload Floorpan". Follow the on screen instruction to upload an image. A floorpan must be at least 790 pixels and no more than 2200 pixels in either dimension. Once uploaded any existing markers will be placed in the upper left corner of the floorpan.

A Floorpan can be converted back to GPS, you will lose any marker position data if you do so.

The GPS map is embedded from Google's mapping API and operates like a typical interactive map with size, scroll, satellite and street views.

J. Fixtures List Section

The list of fixtures for the selected trade includes a lot of useful at-a-glance information and functions.

afixture.png

Status and Name: The colored dot indicates the fixture's status. Green: all parts good, Yellow, At least one part needs service, Red: all parts need service. See the gray numeric indicator to the right for the total good parts / total parts in the fixture. Clicking the name or the status dot takes you to the fixture page.

Note and Image Icons will appear to the right of the name if there is either of those associated with the fixture. Mousing over the note icon will summarize the most recent note.

[Height group] The fixture's height group is indicated in the brackets. 

The Vendor for the fixture is indicated after "V:". and is a link to that vendor. A fixture can have an independently assigned vendor, otherwise it is assigned the default vendor for its Property / Trade. 

If you set a separate vendor for a fixture and then go back to the Property / Trade and change default vendor this will change the specific vendor for each fixture. 

The last line of the fixture listing is the most recent activity on that fixture as a one line log.

Read more about the property page.

Reference: The Sytewise User Interface

Property Page (part 2)

The bottom half of the property page includes related information and links related to the selected Property / Trade. This article covers these parts of the property page. Read more about the top portion of the property page.

The property page includes a Tenants Section, A Work Orders Section, A Surveys Section and a section for Files and Insurance. 

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The Tenants Section

Each Sytewise property can have a number of tenants. They are trade independent so they are available no matter what trade you select. A tenant portal is available for tenants to respond to memos and send messages to admins.

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Sytewise's tenant portal is a way to communicate with tenants in a convenient way that associates property and fixture information from the Sytewise Property / Trade specifically.

To create a memo

Click the "+Memo" button. In the popup window you can set a subject (which will be the email subject as well), a message and select fixtures to include in the memo from the fixture list. This sends the tenant a memo email with a link to the tenant portal. You can view any memos and their responses clicking the chat icon. 

Once a memo has been created and it is associated with a fixture clicking the "Add to Fixture" button adds a note and any images in the memo to the associated fixture.

To add a tenant

Click the "+Tenant" button and fill out the popup form. If you want tenants to access the Tenant Portal create a username and password. 

Once you have tenants you can click their name to go to their profile page and edit their information.

Clicking the envelope icon opens your email client with a new message to the tenant.

Work Orders and Surveys Section

All Work Orders and Surveys are listed in their respective sections. These are sorted by date with most recent at the top. A white background listing is active but incomplete. Green is completed and red is past due. 

Clicking the number, date or title of the Work Order or Survey takes you to their respective details. You can also go directly to vendor's or surveyor's page from the list.

Files and Insurance

At the bottom of a Property / Trade page, as well as several other contexts within Sytewise, you can upload files. These files can be image (gif, jpg or png) or PDF files.

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Once you've uploaded a file you can designate that file as an insurance policy. Doing so will add the insurance effective dates and policy specific information. Expired policies are indicated with a red background.

 

Reference: The Sytewise User Interface

Fixture Page

Fixtures are where Sytewise's power comes in full display. A property manager manages fixed assets (Fixtures) and their detailed parts by entering critical information for fixtures and the maintainable parts of any fixture. Simply as a reference this is a substantial resource. But when coupled with Sytewise's Work Orders not only do you have reference you have history and performance. 

The Fixture Page Sections

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Fixture Details Section

Fixture Details

This section includes editable detail fields for your fixture including the title, description, installation notes and the default vendor among other characteristics. 

The middle portion is for notes.

Enter a note and hit return to save it. You can delete or pin saved notes.

The right portion is for uploaded files.

You can upload images (gif, jpg, and png) and PDF files. When you've uploaded a file a thumbnail appears. Clicking the middle of the thumbnail opens images in a popover modal with the original filename at the bottom. Clicking a PDF opens the file in a new browser window from which you can save the file to your local computer.

Click the "Heart" icon in the upper right of any thumbnail to make it the primary image that shows up on the printed summary of the fixture and places it as the first file in the thumbnail grid of files.

Fixture Map

The Fixture Map is where the map or floorpan marker is located in context. Fixtures are on either GPS or Floorplan maps.

For GPS Property / Trades Markers

The marker is located by GPS coordinates. The fixture selected will be the larger marker in the center of the map. To relocate the marker click and drag the marker to it's new location. If you have trouble grabbing the marker place your mouse over it's edge and wait a couple seconds. If a "Move Me" label appears, move the marker to your desired location on the map.

Once the marker is at the desired location find the red "Save" button above the map. It will show the new coordinates of your marker. Click save.

For Floor Plan Markers

When the Property / Trade has an uploaded Floor Plan you can move and save the markers in the same way. Just find the larger marker and click and drag it. (The other, smaller makers are not "draggable). Make sure you save the new location before leaving the page.

The Parts List

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The parts list is an at a glance view of all the parts in a fixture with tools for managing the list. Each part lists a summary of the data for that part including

Managing, Editing Parts

Status Change

A part can have one of two status's. On or Off. "Good" or "Bad", "In Service" or "Out of Service". You can change this status by clicking the Red or Green status toggle and clicking the "Save" button above the list. This will be logged as an Admin change to the status of that part and fixture status.

Surveys and Work Orders are the most common way part status's get changed although an admin has the authority to make those changes within the Sytewise master system.

To Clone A Part

To Delete A Part, open the edit modal and click "Delete This Part"

Part Details

If the fields made available to you in the parts details are not enough for the information you wish to add to your parts, Sytewise gives you a simple tool for adding a table of data for your parts.

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To add a detail table to a part do the following:

 

Reference: The Sytewise User Interface

Creating A Work Order

Sytewise' is a Work Order platform at its heart. This is where the hard work of your property, trade, fixture, part, client, vendor, contract and historical data come to play. Work Orders are easy to create, manage and track. Plus the Sytewise Vendor Portal is a power and convenient way for vendors to record their work. This is the first of a series of articles on Work Orders. Here we will outline the creation of Work Orders from the Property / Trade page. 

Creating a Work Order in Sytewise

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From a Property / Trade page you will click the "+WOs" in the top right of the Property Info Section. The New Work Order Modal window will appear and it will look something like this:

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Parts of the New Work Order Modal

A. Status Complete

Checking this box will create the work order but will set the status as complete. The due date will be moot as the completion will be at the time of creation. This is helpful if a property manager knows the work is complete and doesn't want to have the Work Order decay in the system.

B. Subject and Dates

The Subject of the Work Order is it's title and will be referenced as such in the system, but it will also be the Subject in the email(s) sent to vendors and the responses to administrators.

A Note about Notifications: Sending Work Orders to vendors via email occur when your create it, but you can also send the Work Order after it is created. Simply go to the Work Order and re-send.

You must set your notification preferences in your user's profile to receive notification of a completed Work Order or Survey.

Order Date and Due Date help manage vendor work and system logs. Past due Work Orders are listed in the system with a red background.

C. Fixture Selection

Any fixture with a non-green status is automatically selected to be in a new Work Order. To choose other fixtures in the Property / Trade click the every button to load and select all. You can then use the check marks associated with each fixture to include or not include in the work order.

D. Special Instructions

You can add a text note to the Work Order for the vendor to read. Use this field to add any instructions that aren't obvious from the property location and the fixtures included. This text shows up in the emails as well as the Vendor Portal.

E. Vendor Selection

The Property / Trade vendor is automatically populated as the Vendor choice for a new Work Order. To change that simply start typing a vendor name in the text field, click or arrow to the vendor name in the list to select that vendor. This choice will only effect the current Work Order and not the Property / Trade or fixtures.

F. Email Checkboxes

To have the new Work Order sent to the vendor check the boxes next to their email addresses. These email addresses are captured from the vendor profile. It is the main contact email address for the vendor and any contacts within that vendor that have email addresses. If you see no email choices you may want to go to the vendor profile and add one.

Changing vendors for a new Work Order will change the choices of email addresses available.

Costs, Accounts and Contracts

Here is a portion of the screenshot above that deals with Work Order costs. 

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G. Select A Contract

If the selected Property / Trade has any contracts associated they will appear in this dropdown menu. The most recent and active contract will be chosen if you there are more than one. 

When a contract exists the expected costs and account number are automatically inserted into the Work Order. If you change contracts those numbers will change again.

H. Account Number

If you have a reference or account number to enter for the vendor to see in their Work Order enter it here. Account numbers from contracts are inherited. Vendors can change account number when submitting the Work Order. If they do so a note is added to the Work Order and in your notification.

I. Costs

You can enter an expected cost and even add line items to a Work Order. This will enable the vendor to see the costs when doing the work. Vendors can change costs when submitting the Work Order. If they do so a note is added to the Work Order and in your notification.

Reference: The Sytewise User Interface

Work Orders in the Vendor Portal

Sytewise offers a Vendor Portal to all accounts where vendors can interact with Work Orders and their account information. When you create a vendor they are given credentials for logging into the portal. When you create a new Work Order it is registered in the system and added to the vendor's portal account. If you send an email version of the Work Order to the vendor the email contains a link to the Work Order in the portal with an option to login.

The Work Order Options

Simple Completion Option

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If the vendor is able to complete the work with no issues or changes they can simply click the "All Complete" button. They can optionally add a note and update (if available) the Account or Invoice Number and the final cost. The fixtures and parts are updated, Sytewise logs the activity and you get notified. Done!

Detailed Completion Option

Vendors may need to enter some extra details with the work they perform (or cannot). This when they use the Detailed Completion option. 

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The fixtures in question will be shown on a map or floor plan. Expanding the fixture details using the "+" button next to the fixture name reveals all the parts and each three choices for each.

  1. OK: They find the part to need no service and they did not perform any. In this case they check "OK"
  2. Needs Service: the vendor can chose this if they find the part faulty but are not performing any repairs
  3. Repair Complete: This is most typically what a vendor checks. The part needed service and they performed a repair or replacement therefore the part repair is complete.

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If a part is changed to Repair Complete or Needs Service a note field and image uploader is provided. Vendors can enter notes and upload as many as 6 images. These entries will be a part of the Work Order but also integrated into the fixture on Systwise.

Just like the simple completion version, the detailed version allows the vendor to enter or update costs and account numbers. Once submitted the Work Order's data is integrated into the Sytewise account.

Reject Work Order

A vendor is given the opportunity to reject any submitted Work Order. This will notify the account managers as set in their preferences and show the Work Order Rejected in the system.

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Reference: The Sytewise User Interface

Creating A New Property

To create a new property in Sytewise use the Main Navigation Menu on the left go to Properties > New Property

Read more about creating properties here :Getting Started > Create A Property.

Reference: The Sytewise User Interface

Sytewise Vendors

In the Sytewise ecosystem Vendors are the moving parts that keep things working. Vendors, through the Work Order system, correct all wrongs and each property / trade has a default vendor. The vendor portal is how they interact with your properties, fixtures and parts. 

Creating Vendors

Before you can create a property and get started with managing your assets you must have at least one vendor. That vendor can be you, but better yet are a list of reliable and specific trade vendors you can enter into Sytewise to get your work done.

Read more here about creating vendors and how they interact with Work Orders and your Sytewise account.

Reference: The Sytewise User Interface

Sytewise Surveyors

In the day to day management of any property information is king. And the assessment of your assets with a regular check on their status keeps you ahead of the curve. This is where the Sytewise Surveyor enters the process.

Sytewise Surveyors are a special kind of service provider who is available and trained to evaluate property assets. They interact with the Survey Portal where they locate each fixture in a particular trade. Once an issue is identified the surveyor can use GPS or a floorpan to identify precisely which fixture and part is in question and flag it for issues. They can also choose to take photos or add notes to their report.

The surveyor's input immediately reflects on the property, fixture and part. If they created notes or uploaded images those are also added to the appropriate fixture and part.

Creating A Surveyor

Go to the Surveyors page and expand the section "Create a new surveyor". This will reveal this form.

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All the fields are required but the address and description. The login username will need to be unique within the entire Sytewise system and the form will let you know if you need to choose another login name. 

Once you've created a surveyor you can start sending surveys.

 

Reference: The Sytewise User Interface

Adding and Managing Clients

Clients are an integral part of property management if the relationship with the property manager is on behalf of an owner. This would be the client. Clients are also integrated into the contract system as there is a relationship between the the vendor and the client and sometimes the Sytewise account holder (the property manager).

To create a new client 

Go to Clients > Clients and expand the section "Create a New Client". A form will appear that looks something like this:

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Clients must have a name, a contact phone number and a valid email address at a minimum. Remember to choose unique names so you can differentiate between entities like clients.

The Client Profile Page

The client profile page allows many contextual links and tools. 

Reference: The Sytewise User Interface

Creating Surveys

You will and various times need to asses your property's health by checking if everything is in good working order. For example, parking lot lights must be checked on a regular basis. You can't always rely of tenants or others to report outages. This is where Sytewise Surveys do their work.

A survey is a scheduled check of fixtures on your property by trade. Property managers order a survey through the Sytewise system and the surveyor arrives on site before or on the due date. They check if everything is operating and report on the specifics directly into the Sytewise system through the Surveyors Portal.

To Create A Survey

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The default surveyor for that trade is chosen for you. You can chose another by typing the name in the surveyor's field and choosing from the list. The instructions will be included in the email sent and on the Survey Portal.

Reference: The Sytewise User Interface

Contracts

The relationships between a property manager, the owner (client) and a vendor often requires contractual definitions. Sytewise contracts are available for any property / trade where required.

Creating A Contract

From the property / trade you wish to add a contract, click the +Contract button found in the top right of the page header. This will open the new contract modal window.

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A title is created based on the Property / Trade. You can change the title to anything you want, just be sure to make it unique and identifiable. See this article on naming.

The start date is today by default but you can change it to whatever suits your needs. The end date is set to one year from today by default but feel free to change that. 

The user is assigned for reference and can be used to track the responsible person for the contract. It is by default the user who is logged in.

The vendor is set to the default vendor for the property / trade. This can be changed.

Percentage and flat rate are basic cost references for calculating fees. Sytewise can create custom contract calculations and terms forms. Simply contact us to arrange for an estimate.

Reference: The Sytewise User Interface

Libraries

A library is a saved set of choices or values associated with a Sytewise Contracts or Fixtures. When used to create a new Object, the library makes it easier to add a complex set of information with one click. 

Libraries can be created and used in the following contexts.

Creating A Library Item

From any existing contract, fixture or property (to save a group of fixtures) click the +Contract button, give the library item a name and save. Make sure your titles are unique and informative. See this article about naming in Sytewise.

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When creating a new item you can choose to create one from scratch or choose to use a library version. Just click the Library Tab when creating a fixture or contract. Choose the library item you wish to use, give it a name and create it.

For Contracts the new contract will inherit all the base settings of your library contract and add any line items from the original. 

For Fixtures the new fixture will have all the same values as the original and every part with their details included.

If the library item was created at the property level it will add every fixture in the library reference plus all the details for parts.

The logs for each will not be generated as these are new instances of their respective objects.

Reference: The Sytewise User Interface

The Fixtures Page

In the Sytewise user interface, there is a menu for "Fixtures". This is a fixture search across all properties and trades within your account. You can search within any trade and on a term. The search term must be more than 3 characters.

The resulting list allows you to see what properties are associated with any resulting fixture. Plus the status of each and the created and modified timestamp.

Reference: The Sytewise User Interface

Reminders

Reminders are calendar based action items that can be associated with any Property, Trade, Fixture, Client, or Contract.  They can be used to issue a new Survey,  Create a new Work Order, or Renew a Contract.

Creating a reminder is as easy as going to the page of an item you want to remind yourself of visiting. Touch the bell in the top right navbar.

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This will bring up the Reminder Form.

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You must at least give your reminder a subject. Messages are for more details and may require the user to click deeper into the reminder to see. A priority message is red and at the top of a list of reminders.

 

Reference: The Sytewise User Interface

Email Log

Sytewise notification system utilizes a transactional email service. When a Work Order or Survey is issued an email is sent to the vendor or surveyor. Upon completion (or rejection) or the order a new message is sent to administrators who've opted in for property update emails. 

Each Work Order and Survey have a log of all emails sent regarding that action. The log shows the status of that message, if it was sent successfully or not.

The Email log is a summary of all emailing acting in one place. You can narrow it down to Work Orders or Surveys and see the list in descending order by date time.

Surveys and Surveyors

A survey is a property status report for all fixtures in a particular trade.

Surveys and Surveyors

What is a Survey?

A survey is a property status report for all fixtures in a particular trade. Surveys are created by admin users. Surveyors receive email notification that a new survey is ready for them to complete. Surveyors complete Surveys via the Surveyor Portal.

TO CREATE A SURVEY

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Surveys and Surveyors

Who is a Surveyor?

A Surveyor is an individual with permission to use the survey portal. Any Surveyor can be issued a Survey by an Admin user. With an issued Survey, Surveyors have access to any active property/trade in your account.

To Create a Surveyor

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Surveys and Surveyors

Surveyor Special Permissions

Select Surveyors are given “Create” permission

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A surveyor can create a survey in the survey portal by searching for a property, selecting a trade and completing the form.

Select Surveyors are given “Edit” permission

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With "Edit" permission a surveyor can impose direct edits on the information in a fixture or part.

Surveys and Surveyors

Completing A Survey

A surveyor logs into the Survey Portal with the username and password the Admin created for them. The home page once logged in will show a list of incomplete Surveys. Click “Completed” shows a list of all completed surveys by date.

Clicking a completed survey will show the special instructions and when it was completed.

Incomplete Surveys show a map and a list of all fixtures in that trade. If fixtures are in groups the same groupings are available here too. The “Nearby” button lists all fixtures closest to the device with the nearest at the top.

This only works if the fixtures are on a GPS map, not a floorpan map. It will also not work if you don’t allow location service in your browser.

Expanding any fixture with the + button will reveal parts in that fixture.

It is here that the Surveyor indicates any outages by clicking the green slide switch to red. Enter an optional note. Optionally add up to 10 images.

Do this for any fixture with outages. Your entries are saved but not committed to the master database until the survey is finished. Quitting the browser or leaving the survey for more than half an hour will loose all entries and they will have to start again. If the Surveyor has Edit permission they can edit fixture or part details in the Survey.

Surveys and Surveyors

Surveyor Created Surveys

For a Surveyor to create a Survey they must have permission granted by an admin to create surveys.

If the surveyor has permission to create surveys here is how to create them.