For our long term Dealers, Stages was a challenge… And not always in a good way. Yes, we could blame it on old dogs and new tricks, but it was more than that. There’s a comfort in familiarity. All the ins and outs and tricks had been painstakingly learned.
And then came Stages. And pretty quickly. Our newer dealers took to it easily. They had no pre-conceived notions; no habits.
But there are some things we can all agree on. Stages is gives you, the dealer, more autonomy with your accounts. You can do your own data entry. You can cancel and add accounts pretty easily. You can customize them. And you don’t have to wait for our Data Entry team to do it!
Here are a couple of tricks designed to help make your job (and ours) so easy.
One of the issues we ran into in the transition from the old system to Stages was trying to find a place for the permits, then making sure permits moved into the new system with their accounts. When our Operators were handling accounts in cities that required permits, they’d have to double check what was in Stages and try to match it to the old system.
Definitely inefficient.
But that’s another great thing about Stages. We talked to them. Told them our concern for you, our dealers, our operators, and our customers. We explained that missing details like this often can result in fines and we’re NOT ok with that.
So they added this section. Above is a screenshot of where Permit Numbers. Stages has already moved most of the permit numbers, and our dispatchers have been working to move the rest.
To ensure the most rapid response by our dispatchers, they need your help. In several prior posts we’ve mentioned the Relation section should be filled out in order for the correct dispatch number to come up at the appropriate time.
We’ve realized that not having this information may be more of a skill issue rather than a will issue. Many of you may not realize where to go to access that portion, so we thought we’d walk you through how to find it (complete with screenshot).
First, it’s important to make sure that, even if the dispatch number is the same for all respondable alarms, you put the contact information in separately.
You can label the name “Dispatch” or “Police Dispatch,” then add the number, then the relation so that the Corresponding alarm signal knows which phone number to pull from based on the type of dispatch.
- PD – Police Dispatch (burglaries, panics)
- FD – Fire Dispatch (fires, gas)
- MD – Medical Dispatch (EMS)
You can find the section by going under the contacts section, then tapping on the magnifying glass. It will bring a new window forward that includes the relation section.
This ensures that the dispatch phone number prompt occurs for the operator at the appropriate time and within the parameters of the alarm. It also ensures that the operator doesn’t have to figure out which is the appropriate dispatch number for the alarm they’re handling or that they’re needing to stop to edit the account for the next operator.
If you want more details, the videos to walk you through the Stages process are available. Click HERE to watch them!