Adding and Managing Customers
When you choose the Administration|Customers|Customers menu option in the Spok Hosted Administration interface, you have the ability to view, add, edit, and delete customers in the Manage Customers page.
A customer is someone who has purchased Spok products, and most often they will be a hospital or a network of hospitals. Underneath customers are tenants, which are used as an organizational layer of data between a customer and a site. And sites are smaller geographic locations that make up a customer. Here are two example scenarios:
- “ABC Hospitals” purchases the Spok Mobile product. They are added as a customer in the Manage Customers page, with a name of “ABC Hospitals.” The “ABC Hospitals” customer has an entire network of hospitals, and they will be managing data in two separate data centers for all of its hospital locations. The two data centers where the information is stored for all of their hospital locations are considered tenants. And the separate hospital locations of the “ABC Hospitals” customer, such as Dallas and Minneapolis, are considered sites. And these sites are associated with the appropriate tenant.
- “Hospital ABC” purchases the Spok Mobile product. They are added as a customer in the Manage Customers page, with a name of “Hospital ABC.” The “Hospital ABC” customer has only one location with separate buildings, and they will be managing data in a single data center. The data center where the information for each of the hospital’s buildings is stored is considered a tenant. And in this case, the tenant should be added with the same name as the customer. The separate buildings of the “Hospital ABC” customer, such as the ER Building and the OBGYN Building, are considered sites. And these sites should be associated with the “Hospital ABC” tenant.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The customer name is for Spok accounting and finance use, whereas the tenant name is what the customers see.
After adding the appropriate customer, tenant, and sites, license blocks can also be added in the Manage Customers page. License blocks must be added before any devices can be registered with Spok Mobile.
Using the Customer Grid
The customer grid, which is the list of available customers that are currently being managed in the system, can be refreshed, searched, rearranged, and reordered. For more information on navigating the customer grid, please refer to Getting Started.
Viewing Customers
Existing customers that are in the system can be viewed in the Manage Customers screen.
- In the Spok Hosted Administration interface, choose the Administration|Customers|Customers menu option. The Manage Customers screen displays, showing the customer grid.
The customer grid displays the following information for each customer: Customer ID, Name, License Blocks Usage, License Blocks Status, and a Commands column.
- If more Spok Mobile paging devices are registered and licensed than the number of licenses purchased, the system allows users to continue to license Spok Mobile paging devices. The system sends a message to Spok to alert accounting that more licenses need to be purchased. If a customer exceeds the number of licenses that they have purchased, the License Blocks Usage value on this page displays in red.
- If a license block has expired, meaning the current date is later than what was entered as the license block’s expiration date, the License Blocks Status value on this page displays in red.
Adding Customers
New customers can be added to the system.
- In the Spok Hosted Administration interface, choose the Administration|Customers|Customers menu option. The Manage Customers screen displays, showing the customer grid.
- In the Manage Customers screen, click Add . The Create Customer screen displays.
- In the Name field, enter a unique name for the customer.
- In the Customer ID field, enter the customer’s ID. The ID must be unique.
- Add the necessary license blocks for this customer. For more information on adding license blocks, please refer to Adding and Managing Customers.
- Click the Save link to add the customer.
Adding License Blocks
The License Blocks table enables you to manage the Spok Mobile licenses purchased by a customer. The licenses can be purchased in blocks of any amount needed for an organization. As Spok Mobile paging devices are registered, the licenses are used. If more Spok Mobile paging devices are registered and licensed than the number of licenses purchased, the system allows users to continue to license Spok Mobile paging devices. The system sends a message to Spok to alert accounting that more licenses need to be purchased.
An organization may have more than one tenant. For example, a group of hospitals may be registered as one customer, but they may be using multiple data centers, or tenants, to manage their sites. A block of licenses can be purchased and used by all of the tenants and sites, or the customer can purchase a separate block of licenses for each tenant.
Information about the license blocks purchased, such as the sales order number, number of licenses purchased, the order date and the expiration date, can be entered in the License Blocks section of the Create Customer page.
- Click the Add link on the right-hand side of the license block table. A new, editable row is added.
- In the Tenant field, select either the Global option or a site ID for an individually licensed tenant.
- Global: This option indicates that all tenants and sites will share licenses from the same block of licenses purchased by the customer. Tenants that do not have individual license blocks will use the global license block.
- Tenant Name: Choosing a particular tenant indicates that each tenant has its own block of licenses. The Spok Mobile paging devices registered with the tenant use only the licenses from the block purchased for that tenant.
- In the Sales Order # field, enter the appropriate order number.
- In the Licenses field, enter the number of licenses purchased in the license block.
- The Licenses Used field is automatically populated.
- In the Order Date field, enter the date on which the license block was purchased by clicking on a date in the calendar that displays when you click on the calendar icon.
NOTE: You cannot select a date in the past.
- In the Expiration Date field, enter the date on which the licenses expire by clicking on a date in the calendar, which displays when you click on the calendar icon. This field defaults to a year after the Order Date.
- Click the Update link to add the license block.
- Repeat these steps for any additional license blocks.
Editing License Blocks
- Click in the row that you would like to edit. The row becomes editable.
- Make any necessary changes.
- Click the Update link to save your changes.
Deleting License Blocks
- Click the Delete link next to the appropriate license block. A confirmation dialog displays.
- Click the Yes button. The license block is deleted.
Editing Customers
Existing customers can be edited in the system.
- In the Spok Hosted Administration interface, choose the Administration|Customers|Customers menu option. The Manage Customers screen displays, showing the customer grid.
- In the Manage Customers screen, click the Edit link next to the appropriate customer. The Edit Customer <Customer Name> screen displays.
- Change the information as needed. For more information on these fields, please refer to Adding and Managing Customers.
- Click the Save link to save your changes.
Deleting Customers
Existing customers can be deleted from the system.
- In the Spok Hosted Administration interface, choose the Administration|Customers|Customers menu option. The Manage Customers screen displays, showing the customer grid.
- From the list of available customers, find the customer you would like to delete.
- Click the Delete link next to the appropriate customer. A warning dialog displays.
- Click Yes. The customer is deleted.