Alex Helfen, Training Specialist
T2 Flex software can do so many different things that the number of items available at any given moment can start to add up. What if you could do some decluttering in certain areas of Flex? Continue reading for some simple, but effective, ways to clean up and organize your T2 Flex digital workspace.
User Management
When it comes to user privilege management, there are two reports available in Flex to review privilege eligibility – Role Privilege Report and User Role Management Report (both in the User Account category). You can use these to see which users have which role and which roles have which privileges, and then manage those roles and privileges accordingly in User Management and Role Management within the Configuration menu in Flex.
Additionally, it is important to manage which users are active in Flex in User Management. Use the “Is Active” checkbox to manage which users do or do not have access to Flex, the Mobile Enforcement App, or the Field Services App. Make sure to review the different user types in User Management.
- Mobile Device – used to access the Mobile Enforcement App and Field Services App
- T2 Flex – what a person uses to access Flex
- Web Services – what an external interface/vendor uses to access Flex
Mobile Users
If you use the T2 Mobile Enforcement App or T2 Field Services App, you can review and update the Mobile Users Manager on Mobile Device Group(s) to remove users who are no longer enforcing or field technicians who are no longer performing maintenance on assets. Click the Add/Edit option and move users from the box on the right to the box on the left to make them ineligible for the group.
Updating the User to Inactive in User Management does not remove them from the Mobile Device Group, so be sure to make this change before editing the user in User Management to make them inactive.
Mobile Devices
It is good to regularly check in on your list of mobile devices and licenses in Flex to ensure you are set up for success when it comes to maintenance and support. Some tips include editing the device names to make them easily identifiable and reviewing which devices are using your license authorizations. Note that when a mobile license is going to expire within the next 60 days a message will appear in your System Notifications at the top of Flex. You can contact your T2 Account Manager if you need to buy a new license for enforcement or field services.
Permit Control Groups & Permit Number Ranges
The Available Date fields on a Permit Control Group manage visibility of Permit Control Groups in Flex and FlexPort. When the current date is before the Available for Sale Date, the permits will not show as available for sale in Flex or FlexPort but they will still show up in Flex within control group management. When the current date is after the Available End Date, the permits will not show for sale or in control group management. How can you see older permit control groups that are no longer available?
Use the “Include No Longer Available” function – clicking this allows you to see older control groups from a number range. With this you can click on control groups from the past to review settings and potentially cut out guess work on how to set up new control groups (or clone the old group to make the new one).
Permit Control Groups that are no longer available do not automatically hide the associated Permit Number Range. Clean up the list of ranges visible in Flex by unchecking the “Is In Use” checkbox on the Permit Number Range settings. This does not affect Active/Issued permits that are in your customers’ hands. Though the inactive ranges will be hidden in your list, there is an option to show or hide inactive ranges.
Finding Suspected Duplicate Records
Duplicate records can cause clutter and confusion in Flex. Though some duplicates are to be expected (same plate numbers with different states, same first and last name with different address, two separate customer records for different systems), there are four reports available to find suspected duplicate records for further review in Flex:
- Suspected Duplicate Customers – Customer Category
- Suspected Duplicate Vehicles – Vehicle Category
- Suspected Duplicate Properties – Property Category
- Suspected Duplicate Third Parties – Third Party Category
Keep in mind that results in the report do not mean the records really are duplicates (that is why Suspected is in the title of each report). More investigation on the records in Flex is required to ensure duplicates are not mistakenly merged as there is no way to undo a merge.
If you have determined two records are duplicates, then you can use merge functionality in Flex to keep one record and merge the other into it. This process moves data you want to keep onto one record and deletes the other record after the merge. Make sure to review the steps in Flex Online Help and/or T2U before to see all the requirements first! And if you have any doubts on whether you should merge records, make sure to check with a colleague – it is better to ask around and find out you should not merge before merging and having no way to go back.
“Process Is Historical” Task
Many records in Flex cannot be deleted due to them having relationships with other records. For organizational purposes, older records that cannot be deleted from Flex can instead be hidden by making them historical using the Process Is Historical task.
Historical records are still available within various content managers in Flex – you just need to click on “Include Historical” to show them. This can help clean up many of the areas in Flex where there is a lot of old data showing. Additionally, historical records will not show in Search unless you opt in to include them. This can help clean up your views on various records so that you are only seeing data that is current with an option to look at the old information.
For additional details on organizing your T2 Flex workspace and resources that dive deeper into each of these items, review the Flex Housekeeping course in T2U.
Alex joined T2 Systems in 2015. He started in the Flex Support group learning the ins and outs of various T2 solutions before moving into the Training Specialist role in 2020. As Training Specialist, Alex helps with finding, creating, and sharing knowledge with T2 Systems. His role includes engaging customers in T2 Community with tips or answers to questions, producing and delivering training in the form of small or large group trainings, and adding to the learning library on T2U. A graduate of Northeastern University, Alex worked at Airbnb and Apple Retail prior to joining T2. Outside of work, you may find Alex playing music using his home synth studio or hunting for hard-to-find vinyl records.
Header photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash
Back