.. _create-a-customer:
Customers
------------
.. _18.1-Patch-Bundle-3|VOSSSOL-10561:
.. _21.1|EKB-7504:
.. _21.4-PB1|EKB-15315:
.. _24.2|VOSS-784|EKB-9270:
.. _25.3|VOSS-1575:
.. tip::
:ref:`use-action-search-to-navigate-automate`
Overview
............
Customers exist as a node in Automate's hierarchical structure. Typically, the structure has the following
order (from highest level to lowest level).
* Provider
* Reseller
* Customer
* Sites (locations)
Optional intermediary nodes can also be created.
Automate employs hierarchies (organization levels), user roles, and access profiles to
secure access to resources in the system. For details, see *Introduction to Hierarchies* in the
Core Feature Guide.
Sites can only be created under a customer. You have to add and configure the customer before you
can add sites. Onboarding of customers is done at the Provider hierarchy. For details around
onboarding customers, see the *Customer On-boarding Quick Start Guide* in the Core Feature Guide.
.. rubric:: Related topics
*
.. raw:: latex
Sites in the Core Feature Guide
.. raw:: html
Sites
*
.. raw:: latex
Role-based dashboards and menus in the Core Feature Guide
.. raw:: html
Role-based dashboards and menus
*
.. raw:: latex
Introduction to Hierarchies in the Core Feature Guide
.. raw:: html
Introduction to Hierarchies
*
.. raw:: latex
Customer On-boarding Quick Start Guide in the Core Feature Guide
.. raw:: html
Customer On-boarding Quick Start Guide
*
.. raw:: latex
Network Device Lists in the Core Feature Guide
.. raw:: html
Network Device Lists
Add or update a customer
..........................
This procedure adds or updates a customer.
.. note::
You can enable or disable number management for a customer via the **Customer** page, if
required.
The system no longer automatically creates cloned roles when you add a hierarchy node. Automate
roles are now all managed via the ``data/Role`` model and can be assigned directly without being cloned
across hierarchies.
If you have custom bulk loaders and need to carry out this automatic cloning task, add a
new boolean field to the bulk load sheets and set to TRUE:
::
"name": "clone_admin_role"
"title": "Clone Admin Role"
.. rubric:: To add or update a customer:
1. Log in as Provider or Reseller administrator (depending on which organization
manages the customer).
.. note::
Log in using the Provider or Reseller admin's email address
(case-sensitive). You can find this email address via the **Admins** page, then click
on the admin's name to view the email address.
2. Choose the hierarchy.
.. note::
If logged in as Provider and the Customer is to be added under a
Reseller, set the hierarchy path to the Reseller.
3. Go to the **Customer** page.
.. image:: /src/images/customers-list-view.png
4. **Choose an option**:
* **Add a new customer**? Click the Plus icon (+) to add a new record, then, fill out details for the
new customer, including contact information and, optionally, enable or disable number management.
* **Update an existing customer**? Click on the customer name in the list view to view its details.
Modify customer details, including contact information and, optionally, to enable or disable number management.
.. image:: /src/images/customers-configuration.png
.. important::
Additional custom string and boolean fields may be exposed via field display policies
for the **Customers** configuration form. For details, see :ref:`add-custom-fields`
.. tabularcolumns:: |p{2.5cm}|p{11.5cm}|
+---------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Customer Details | Description |
+===========================+====================================================================+
| Customer Name | Mandatory. The name of the customer. |
+---------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Description | Customer description |
+---------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | Descriptive name for the customer, used by external clients to |
| Extended Name (Provider) | correlate their own customer records with customer records stored |
| | in HCS. |
+---------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | External customer ID used by the Service Inventory service, and |
| | included as a column in the customer record of the service |
| | inventory report. Specify an External Customer ID in this field |
| External Customer | that matches the customer ID used by the external inventory tool |
| ID (Provider) | that receives the Service Inventory reports. If the Service |
| | Inventory service is not being used, this field is not required. |
| | However, it can be used to correlate customer records in external |
| | systems with customer records in HCS. |
+---------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | Customer domain. This field is used to create |
| | email addresses for: |
| | |
| | * The customer default local administrator, |
| | for example: Customer1Admin@customer1.com |
| | |
| | * Site default local administrators under |
| Domain Name | the customer, for example: |
| | Site1Admin@customer1.com |
| | |
| | If the customer domain is omitted, the |
| | provider domain (or reseller domain, if the |
| | customer is under a reseller in the hierarchy |
| | and the reseller domain was provided) is used |
| | instead. |
+---------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | The Account ID is used by external clients to |
| | correlate their own customer records with the |
| Account ID | customer records stored in HCS. This Account |
| | ID value is synced to the Customer record in |
| | the Shared Data Repository. |
+---------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | Deal IDs are used by the Hosted License |
| Deal IDs | Manager (HLM) service. HLM supports Point of Sales (POS) report |
| | generation. The |
| | report includes all customers on the system |
| | with aggregate license consumption at |
| | customer level. The optional **Deal ID** field |
| | associated with the customer is included in |
| | the report. Each customer can have zero or |
| | more Deal IDs. The **Deal ID** field is free |
| | text format and each deal ID is separated by a |
| | comma. |
+---------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
.. tabularcolumns:: |p{2.5cm}|p{11.5cm}|
+---------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Customer Details | Description |
+===========================+====================================================================+
| Shared UC Applications | Indicates whether the customer can use Shared UC Apps. |
| | If selected, the customer sites can use Network Device Lists |
| | that contain Shared UC Apps. Shared UC Apps are UC Apps that |
| | are defined above the Customer hierarchy level. |
+---------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Disable Number Management | Enable or disable Number Management for this customer. |
| | |
| | * When disabled (checkbox selected), you cannot add directory |
| | numbers and E164 numbers to inventories for this customer. |
| | |
| | * When enabled (checkbox clear), you can add directory numbers and |
| | E164 numbers to inventories for this customer. |
+---------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Public Sector | Defines whether the customer is a Public Sector customer. |
| | Used for License Reporting. |
+---------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Inactive Billing | Defines whether to exclude the customer from billing (for |
| | testing). Used for License Reporting. |
+---------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
.. note::
If you enable number management for a customer after it was disabled, run the DN Audit Tool.
See :ref:`run-dni-audit-tool`.
5. Save your changes.
.. rubric:: Related topics
* :ref:`run-dni-audit-tool`
*
.. raw:: latex
Delete issues and purges in the Core Feature Guide
.. raw:: html
Delete issues and purges
*
.. raw:: latex
Role-based dashboards and menus in the Core Feature Guide
.. raw:: html
Role-based dashboards and menus
.. _add-custom-fields:
Add custom fields to customer configuration screens
.......................................................
You can add up to ten custom string fields and up to 10 custom boolean fields to the field display policy you
apply to the Customer data model (`relation/HcsCustomerREL`). This provides flexibility to add additional
details for a customer, if required.
The summary attributes in the **Customers** list view always display three Boolean
fields and three String fields, regardless whether they've been included in the FDP. If you wish to
change the title of these fields in the summary attributes you can add a field override entry in the FDP.
When configuring a customer (add or update), you may specify field values or use named macros to populate values for these fields.
Macros for custom string fields for relation/HcsCustomerREL:
* macro.HcsVossCustomerDAT_custom_string_1
* macro.HcsVossCustomerDAT_custom_string_2
* macro.HcsVossCustomerDAT_custom_string_3
* macro.HcsVossCustomerDAT_custom_string_4
* macro.HcsVossCustomerDAT_custom_string_5
* macro.HcsVossCustomerDAT_custom_string_6
* macro.HcsVossCustomerDAT_custom_string_7
* macro.HcsVossCustomerDAT_custom_string_8
* macro.HcsVossCustomerDAT_custom_string_9
* macro.HcsVossCustomerDAT_custom_string_10
Macros for custom boolean fields for relation/HcsCustomerREL:
* macro.HcsVossCustomerDAT_custom_boolean_1
* macro.HcsVossCustomerDAT_custom_boolean_2
* macro.HcsVossCustomerDAT_custom_boolean_3
* macro.HcsVossCustomerDAT_custom_boolean_4
* macro.HcsVossCustomerDAT_custom_boolean_5
* macro.HcsVossCustomerDAT_custom_boolean_6
* macro.HcsVossCustomerDAT_custom_boolean_7
* macro.HcsVossCustomerDAT_custom_boolean_8
* macro.HcsVossCustomerDAT_custom_boolean_9
* macro.HcsVossCustomerDAT_custom_boolean_10
The macros can be applied in workflows and configuration templates to reference the custom field values. For example,
executing `macro.HcsVossCustomerDAT_custom_string_1` will return the value in the field where the macro is used.
.. rubric:: Expose custom fields for `relation/HcsCustomerREL`
1. Log in to Automate as Provider admin or higher.
2. Create or update the Customers data model field display policy:
* Go to the **Field Display Policies** page, then locate the entry for
target model type, `relation/HcsCustomerREL`.
* Click on the default field display policy (FDP) for the model (the FDP named `default`).
* Clone (copy) the default FDP for the model, and give the clone a new name.
.. note::
You can't modify default FDPs that ship with the system. This allows you to refer to or revert to a
system default at any time, if required.
* Modify the new FDP (the clone).
.. note::
You can add a new group of fields containing only the new custom fields, or add fields to
existing field groups.
You can also create field overrides, which allow you to define that a custom field value will be referenced
in place of an existing field.
.. image:: /src/images/customers-custom-fields-fdp.png
* Save your changes.
3. Update the menu layout to apply the field display policy:
* Go to **Menu Layouts**, and locate the Provider admin menu layout
(HcsProviderMenu).
* Click on **HcsProviderMenu**, and create a clone with a new name.
.. note::
You can't modify default menu layouts that ship with the system. This allows you to refer to or revert to a
system default menu layout at any time, if required.
* Modify the clone (copy) of **HcsProviderMenu**:
* Expand the **Customer Management** menu.
* At **Customers**, click in the **Field Display Policy** cell, and choose the FDP you
configured to add the custom fields.
* Save your changes.
4. Log out, then log in again as Provider admin.
This allows the role-based access profile changes to
refresh so that you can view the updated menu layouts and field display policies you applied, including
new custom fields.