In-Depth article detailing how to manage the Aguardion monitoring event

Creating, Managing & Concluding a Monitoring Event


NOTE: many of the images in this document haven't been updated to include some of the latest system changes, but still serve as useful illustrations for the purpose of this document. Please keep this in mind when consulting the images.

Video Tutorial:


Monitoring Event Dashboard



















Monitoring events form the basis of the Aguardion system: all clients under supervision will need to have events created for them.
The monitoring event dashboard is the jump-off point for any monitoring event related activities and can be navigated too by selecting ‘monitoring’ from the left-side navigation pane. The monitoring events table can be manipulated in the same way that the rest of the dashboards work: narrowing your view can be accomplished using the ‘Filter Results’, column sort or search options.
Do not delete a monitoring event unless necessary- deviating from the designed workflow can lead to inconsistent report results. If you believe you have no choice but to delete a monitoring event, contact support at support@aguardion.com.

Creating a Monitoring Event




















Select ‘add a monitoring event’ from the monitoring dashboard page to begin creating an event. Note that prior to creating a monitoring event, the client, agency, and PO’s must already be in the system.
Add the client, state, agency and agent’s via the dropdown menu’s.

Note that if something appears to be incorrect (the client doesn’t show in the dropdown for example), you will need to check the configuration in the corresponding dashboard.
Packages and pricing associated with the selected agency will automatically appear.
Note that you do not need to assign all the equipment in a package to a monitoring event; simply uncheck the unwanted equipment types after selecting the package. The install fee can be waived by unchecking it.

Start/End/Total Days

Confirm these are correct. If the monitoring terms change, they can be modified later. Modifying ‘Total Days’ will automatically change the end date. As of May, 2020, changing the start date will not back-date payments, but this is likely to change in the coming months.

Client Pay

Client pay is designed for completely client/client funded supervision programs. By default, client pay auto-fills the install fee and two weeks’ worth of monitoring fees. Note that the install fee can be modified, but the monitoring fee is set by the fee structure associated with the agency and will have to be modified in the agency settings. ‘Bad debt’ displays any outstanding debt that individual owes from prior monitoring. ‘Deposit’ allows you to collect a payment that won’t be applied to outstanding debt or future monitoring fees (a ‘non-pool’ payment). This is useful if you want to collect a security deposit for example. 

County/Grant Pay & Partial Grant Pay

County/grant pay and partial grant pay are designed for clients whose supervision fees will be at partially or completely paid by the agency. For partial grant pay’s, you can set the daily subsidy via the the ‘daily grant amount’ section.

Submitting the Monitoring Event for install

Once you are confident everything is correct with the monitoring event, select ‘Submit’ to proceed to installation type selection.
A ‘Field Install’ is an install that you want to be done in the field by an FSO. Selecting this option will move the monitoring event Status into ‘Assigned to FSO’, add the Install job to the selected FSO’s dashboard, and send out an install dispatch via email and/or SMS message if configured. Once the FSO completes the install, a CSR or Administrator will have to move the monitoring event status from ‘Pending’ to ‘Active’ to begin the monitoring period.

Office Install

An ‘Office Install’ is designed for installations that will be done in an office setting by an Administrator or CSR user. Selecting this option will change the monitoring event Status to ‘Assigned to CSR’ and allow an ‘Install Event’ to be conducted by any CSR or Administrator with the ability to view the monitoring event in question (If you are utilizing multilocation, CSR/Admin’s will not be able to conduct install event’s on clients assigned to locations they don’t have access too). Selecting the ‘Install Event’ dialogue box will pull up an install screen identical to the FSO install screen. Once the installation is complete and payment is taken, ‘Submit’ will complete the install process and move the Monitoring event to a ‘Pending’ status.

Pay Now Vs Pay Later

During an office install, users will be given the option to 'Pay Now' or 'Pay Later'. 'Pay Now' will allow you to charge the individial immediately on completion of the installation event. 'Pay Later' will bypass the collection of payment by the system and create an invoice for the relevant charges for payment later.










Managing an Active Monitoring Event

Once a monitoring event is set to ‘Active’, no further action is required- fee’s will automatically deduct from the pool every night at midnight.

Account Balance & Reminder






‘Account Balance’ provides you an overview of the financial status. ‘Deposit on File’ represents any non-monitoring fee deposit you have received from the client. ‘Balance on File’ represents the money in their ‘Pool’ i.e. the money that will gradually be depleted by their daily monitoring fees. Scheduled, free-form email reminders can also be configured from this section.

Note that the Deposit and Balance can be modified manually by an Administrator, but this isn’t recommended unless absolutely necessary. When manually modifying a balance, always add a note explaining the balance adjustment.

SMS/Email Messaging



















To access the messaging system, select ‘Send Message’ under the client name on the monitoring event screen. You will be prompted to the message types you would like to send: SMS and/or email. Note that SMS is character-limited and doesn’t allow you to attach a file like you can with email. The system allows you to add recipients either by typing their contact information in or selecting contacts associated with the monitoring event (Like the FSO or PO). Note that this drop-down will also populate with clients that are ‘portal-enabled’. Always confirm the contacts you add. Note that individuals will be greyed out if no cell number is on record. Once you have selected the recipients, your message can be added- ‘Save’ will send the message immediately (SMS will come from a 530 area code number). Note that the message cannot be replied to.  ‘Send Email’ works much the same as ‘Send Text’ with a few key differences. No message size limit exists, and documents can be attached to the email. Note that large attachments might cause the email send to error.

Monitoring Event Notes
















Notes attached to monitoring events provide a running log of activities associated with the event. Notes can be both user and system generated, like logs that generate changes in status, equipment installations, or manual financial overrides. Notes added to a monitoring event are not editable after they have been saved. Documents can be attached in the note creation dialogue as well. This is a great place to store digital copies of all your documentation on a specific client/monitoring event. 

Emailing Notes

Selecting multiple notes and clicking ‘Email’ will allow you to send a templated email that includes the selected notes. This is useful for things like violation reports: after creating and uploading the report, you can easily email it to external stakeholders directly from the Aguardion system.

Taking Payments & Adjusting Balances

Aguardion utilizes a flexible payment processing system that can be adapted to fit many needs. The core of the payments processing system within Aguardion is the ‘Payments Screen’, which can be accessed via the Payments/Accounting dashboard, the ‘Take Payment’ option on a monitoring event display or during a dispatch to collect a payment.

Take Payments Screen

The payments screen is one of the two primary ways you take payments from a client (the other being invoicing). The left side of the payments screen displays relevant data about the monitoring event in question. On the right side, you can select the payment type and type of payment. Select an item (the drop down options are configured at via invoice item) and add the total price. You can add multiple line items using the ‘Add’ option.
To add money to the pool, select the 'Pool Payment' item, NOT 'Daily Monitoring Fee'. 

Balance Adjustments

As of February 1st, 2021, pool balances will no longer be adjustable by simply modifying the balance: balance adjustments will have to be processed via a workflow by administrators. To submit a pool balance adjustment, utilize the 'balance adjustment' pay type on the 'Take Payment screen. Use the item: Pool Payment and either a positive (to add funds) or negative (to deduct funds) to the total and submit. Balance adjustments will record in the transactions page as debit or credit,  'Balance Adjustment' transactions.
Monitoring Event Invoices





















Monitoring event invoices can be created, paid and viewed via the ‘monitoring invoices’ section. Note that they are color-coded by due date.

Dispatching

Selecting ‘Exchange’ (opposite pointing arrows) will allow create a Field or Office Dispatch. Use this feature to indicate the need to replace defective equipment, etc.
The Dispatch Screen will allow the FSO/CSR to swap equipment, record the result of the visit, and define the cause of the issue: ‘Client Issue’ or ‘Device Issue’. 
Selecting ‘Client Issue’ will bring up a payment screen allowing you to charge the individual any fees associated with the visit. ‘Device Issue’ removes the payment option.
Note that the dispatch screen doesn’t require you to swap serial numbers. 

Office Dispatch

Office dispatches are best utilized if an client plans on coming into the office. Once ‘Office Dispatch’ is selected, an ‘Office Exchange’ option will appear. Selecting it will bring up a screen that is identical to the FSO dispatch screen.

Field Dispatch

A Field Dispatch sends the Dispatch to the relevant FSO’s dashboard and alerts them via email and/or SMS (if configured) that they need to visit a client. 

Changing Dispatch Type

CSR’s and Administrators retain the ability to perform a dispatch even if they select ‘Field Exchange’. If a ‘Field Exchange’ was supposed to be an ‘Office Exchange’, simply utilize the ‘Office Exchange’ on the monitoring event to complete the exchange: once completed, the dispatch will disappear from the FSO’s dashboard. To change an ‘Office Dispatch’ to a ‘Field Dispatch’, resolve the ‘Office Dispatch’,  by selecting ‘Office Exchange’, switching the issue type to ‘Device Issue’ and making a note in the Dispatch field that the dispatch was a mistake (don’t change the serial number). After hitting ‘Submit’ recreate the dispatch as a ‘Field Dispatch’.

Concluding the Monitoring Event

The first step in ending a monitoring event is changing the status from ‘active’ to ‘expired’. Once you ‘expire’ an event, you will be prompted to decide on the method of return: ‘Return by FSO’ or ‘Return by CSR’. ‘Expired’ status monitoring events will automatically get moved to ‘Inactive’ or ‘In-Arrears’ status the next midnight.

Return by FSO/Return by CSR

‘Return by FSO’ will initiate an FSO dispatch to retrieve the equipment. ‘Return by CSR’ will add a ‘Return’ option in the monitoring event. If equipment isn’t returned or a negative balance exists, the monitoring event will go into ‘In-Arrears’. 

'Inactive Status'

If the system determines that the client has a zero or positive Pool balance, the system will be moved from ‘Expired’ to ‘Inactive’. 

'In-Arrears' Status

If the system determines the client owes money, hasn’t returned equipment or both, the monitoring event will move to ‘In-Arrears’ until equipment is returned, or the outstanding balance is paid.
If a new monitoring event is created for an individual with a prior ‘In-Arrears’ monitoring event, the amount owed will show up during the install as ‘Bad Debt’.

Flagged for Refund

In the case of a positive balance, the monitoring event will be flagged as eligible for a refund (the status will remain ‘Inactive’).


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