First Steps

When setting up a new Front Office implementation some logical steps should be followed to configure the system to suit your individual requirements and needs. The Administration Menu provides access to the setup and configuration areas of the system. Access to this menu is controlled by a user’s access profile. Within the Admin screen, categories are presented which in turn allow you to build the system to work and perform in the required way for users on various levels of access.

The initial steps are to ensure that your organization's data is in the system, which can be achieved using import functionality via standard CSV or Unicode text file templates. Organization data includes:

• Divisions (multiple cost centers sit within Divisions; these divisions can restrict access to requests raised on the system)
• Cost Centers (each cost center must be assigned a Division; the shipped GEN Division can be used if other divisions are not required)
• Addresses (delivery and invoice addresses to appear on the requests raised on the system)
• Access Profiles (to determine what the user can see and do when logged in to the system)
• Users (who will be able to login and use the system)
• User Groups (used for restricting access to specific areas of the Service Catalog and reports)

Related Topics: 

• Division
• Cost Center
• Address
• Access Profile
• User
• User Groups
• Data Import

Once the organizational data is in the system you can begin to define the processes that users will follow to request and view information relating to services and products, any approval workflows required and  where this request information is sent once the process is complete within Front Office.

Front Office is a multi-supplier / catalog supporting tool, enabling you to manage and provide many catalog items to your users for selection, whether this is via the targeted Service Catalog, full supplier catalog view or logically grouped bundles of products.

When items are requested from a catalog or bundle, a suitable request form can be invoked to ensure that all the necessary request information is captured to enable the request to be fulfilled.

Business forms can also be created, to enable users to request those items or services that are not necessarily catalog items, e.g., holiday requests, access to email etc.

Each request type can be controlled independently, including fields that are displayed, the approval flow that is required and request overall workflow.

Users can access a customer configurable Service Catalog to drill down through a logical category structure and select the items or services (or a combination of both from a bundle) required.

Related Topics: 

• Supplier
• Catalog
• Bundle
• Request Type*
• Approval*
• Service Catalog