Client setup

Configure customer status types, the branded self-service customer portal, bulk customer imports, and phone support integration.

Status Types

Most of the automatic actions that are specific to different accounts are configured as part of the status type. In general most ISPs will have an Active, Overdue, Closed, and possibly a Sales Lead type. For each type you can configure things like whether that customer will receive bills each month, whether they can be automatically reconnected, etc.

1. Under Clients → Settings, you’ll find the Account Status tab open by default
2. This will show all the different states that a client account can be in, and the defaults are chosen to work with most ISPs
3. Feel free to add additional status types, or edit the existing ones to suit your needs. The different options are:
   • Network Monitoring - sets whether Swift Fox will monitor the customer radios and have them appear in pinglogs. Generally you will want this for all active account types, as well as overdue but not cancelled/closed.
   • Add Recurring Charges - this is what sets whether a customer will continue to get billed. If it’s enabled, new charges will be added to their account each month, so it should be set for active accounts. It should not be set for accounts that are disconnected or cancelled, or the customer may receive bills for service that was never delivered
   • Create & Send Statements - if enabled, this will issue a new statement each month and email it to the customer. This should always be enabled for active accounts, and should generally also be enabled for overdue accounts so that the customer gets a reminder of their outstanding balance.
   • Requires Reason to Change - this is an optional internal reporting feature. Most ISPs use it only for cancelled status, as a way to record the reason for a customer cancellation (switch to competitor, moved out of service area, etc.). You can configure the reasons on the “Reasons for Status Change” tab.
   • Default Status For - this sets whether a status should be the default when a service is added to an account, or when the last service is removed. For example, an ISP might have the default status for new accounts be “Sales Lead”, and then when the first service is added, the default is “Active”, and when the last service is removed, the default is “Cancelled”. This helps prevent accidentally leaving an account on the wrong status
   • Eligible for Auto-Reconnect - if enabled, and an account is in this status and disconnected - it will be automatically reconnected if a payment brings the account into a positive balance. You will usually want this in your “Overdue” status, especially if auto disconnects are enabled.
4. You can choose a colour to be used for this status on the client list and the client page. Darker colours are usually more legible

Customer Portal

In order to save ISPs and their customers time, Swift Fox has a built-in site for each ISP that customers can log into to see their bandwidth usage, update credit card information, see past statements, and pay their bill online.

1. Under Clients → Settings, click the “Portal Configuration” tab
2. All of the settings in here can be left as defaults, and things will work fine - but you may want to customize them to suit the look and feel, maybe to match the colour scheme of your business.
3. The “Favicon URL” is the icon that will appear in bookmarks for your portal page. If you have your own website built already, you may already have one - your web designer can provide the URL for it
4. Setting the logo URL will change the logo on the login page for the customer portal. Be sure that this is an HTTPS link or customers will get an “Insecure” error in their browser
5. The Site Title is what will appear on the tab in the browser
6. If you would like to provide a custom message on the login page, enter it in the Login Message field.
7. The colour scheme of the portal can be set from the provided dropdown, as well as overridden by selecting specific colours. Feel free to test them out with the “Preview Changes” button at the bottom
8. The Region Format will set whether to use State and Zipcode (USA) or Province and Postal Code (Canada) in labels
9. If you would like to make significant changes to the user interface of the portal, you can include custom CSS code from your web designer in the provided field
10. The A/R Page Message is what will be shown to users that are disconnected, whenever they try to open a webpage.

Importing Customers

Swift Fox is currently in the process of updating the import tools to be simpler and more robust. In the interim, if you’d like assistance in bulk importing customers, please contact us.

1. Contact Swift Fox for assistance in importing customers
2. We are able to bulk-geocode addresses to get latitude and longitudes so that customers will appear on the physical map, as well as fulfill US FCC477 requirements for reporting census tracts
3. Once imported, Swift Fox is able to mass-email customers to inform them of changes to the billing system and provide them with their logins to the new customer portal

Setting up Phone Support

Please contact Swift Fox to set up a phone support number and start using the call log and call centre recording features.

1. Provide Swift Fox support with your local calling area so that we can find you a local number, or if you would like a toll-free number let us know and we can set that up.
2. Swift Fox will provide login credentials for SIP phones. Any physical or software VoIP phone will work (eg. MicroSIP, Zoiper)
3. Dial the provided extension to configure your open, closed, and busy greeting messages.
4. Manage the techs that are available to answer calls from the Phone → Call Log page