The Service Call Process and Service Call Communication

Service Call Process

The service call process contains five steps or panels:

Service Call Search. This panel is used input the contact details of the service call.

At least one filter should be populated before search can be performed.

The result is a combination of the following:

Service calls in the asset system retrieved via a real-time call.
Local non-final service calls that were not sent to the asset system yet.

By default, the maximum number of search results is 20 . This can be overridden by setting the override search limit in the service call communication type.

The service call information includes the service call number, issue description, required by date and call back indicator. Service call number is the service call's reference number in the asset management system.

Note: The details of a service call can be viewed using the View Service Call Details icon. This pops up a window with the details of the service call. Details of service calls in the asset management system are retrieved via real-time call and includes communication logs and related documents. For authorized users, hyperlink to the service call in the asset management system is available. Refer to Setting Up the System To Enable Asset Management System Integration for more details.

When a service call is selected, either Add Comment or Cancel action should be selected to continue.

Continuing without selecting a service call means a new service call.

Location. This panel is used to input or display the location of a new or existing service call, respectively. For an existing service call, the location details are displayed for information purposes.

When the process is initiated with a premise in context, the premise is displayed and can be used to populate the location elements and limit the service points that can be selected. If the current premise is used, the location elements are populated and disabled. The geographic type defined in the service call communication type is used to populate the latitude and longitude elements based on the premise's geographic data.

When service point is set, the location elements are populated with the corresponding elements of the service point's premise and are disabled. Clearing the service point will re-enable the location detail elements with their values retained. The geographic type defined in the service call communication type is used to populate the latitude and longitude elements based on the premise's geographic data.

Country and address should be populated to continue.

Contact. This panel is used input the contact details of the service call.

Communication type is defaulted to the default communication type defined in the service call communication type.

When the process is initiated with a person in context, the person is displayed and can be used to populate the name and phone numbers. If the current person is used, the name and phone number elements are populated and disabled:

First and last names are derived from the person's primary name. Note that installation option's name separator configuration applies.
Primary phone is set to the person's primary phone contact
Mobile and home phones are set to the person's phone contact where the contact type is the mobile and home phone contact types defined in the service call communication type, respectively.

Contact details are not required to continue. For Add Comment or Cancel actions, either First Name or Last Name or one of the phone numbers must be provided.

Details. This panel is used to capture the issue details of the service call.

For a new service call, enter the details of the issue. Questions linked to the selected service code are presented. Set the resolved switch if based on the answers to the questions, the issue is resolved. Doing so will prevent a message from being sent to the asset system.

Description is required to continue. Service Code may also be required if configured as such in the service call communication type.

For Add Comment or Cancel action, details of the original service call are displayed for informational purposes.

Review and Submit. This panel provides an opportunity to review the information before submission.

When the service call process is finished, the service call information is copied to a new service call communication record and the service call communication ID is displayed on the Review and Submit panel. If there are questions linked to the service code, the questions and answers are copied to a new response record. The response is linked to the service call communication. The service call process is completed and service call communication takes over.

Service Call Communication

Service call communications are used to and process service call information gathered from interactions with the customer, the public or other external entity. These interactions can be reporting a new issue/request, adding comments to an existing issue/request or cancelation (issue is resolved or request no longer needed). The following service call information can be gathered:

Issue/Request Details. This includes description, service category, service code, call back requirement, require by date, etc.
Location. This is the location of the service call. This can be either a known service point or a freeform address
Contact. This is the contact information the interaction is with. This can be a known customer or freeform contact information. This is information is optional to allow anonymous interactions.

A service call communication record is created for each interaction.

Determine if a service call information needs to be sent to the asset management system. If the service call process is canceled or if the issue was resolved during communication, the asset management system is not notified.
Ensure that service call information is sent out to the asset management system in the correct sequence. New service call communication is sent out first, followed by additional comments and finally, cancelation.
Send a service call communication outbound message to the asset management system. This is an asynchronous interface between Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing and the asset management system. Because this asynchronous, there should be no processing after the message is sent out in the same transaction. This is to avoid the case where the transaction is rolled back due to some error, but the message is already sent to the external system. Refer to Setting Up the System To Enable Asset Management System Integration for more details.
Once the outbound message is sent, the service call communication will transition and stay in the Sent state until an acknowledgement is received from the asset management system. If a positive acknowledgment is received, the service call communication is completed. If a negative acknowledgment is received, the service call communication is transitioned to the Error state. A service call communication in Error state can be manually canceled or re-sent.

Service Call Communication Acknowledgement

The inbound web service C1-UpdateServiceCallCommunication is used to process a service call communication acknowledgement message. The message contains communication ID, service call ID, service call number and error information. This service stores this information into the service call communication. If the message indicates an error, the service call communication is transitioned to the Error state. Otherwise, the service call communication is completed.