ConnectWise Automate to PCRT Integration

PCRT pulls information from ConnectWise Automate to help technicians determine coverage for computers on a BizCare plan. This process is almost entirely automatic, but there are a few steps of reconciliation that need to be performed manually when information doesn't line up 1:1 between ConnectWise Automate and PCRT.

Viewing the ConnectWise Integration

The integration page is located at: https://pcrt.care/connectwise/automate/

This page contains a summary of information synced from ConnectWise Automate, including a list of issues that need to be manually resolved. Instructions are available in each relevant section. More detailed information for troubleshooting can be found below.

How the integration works

Sync Schedule

The sync task between PCRT and ConnectWise Automate is a heavy task, so it is set to run once per day, after hours. Changes you make during the day to ConnectWise Automate will not be reflected in PCRT until the following day.

Clients

Clients (which generally refer to a business) in ConnectWise Automate have an "External ID" field that we set to match the corresponding Group ID in PCRT. This tells PCRT which computers should belong to each BizCare plan. This should be performed manually when the BizCare client is setup for the first time.

Computers

Computers in ConnectWise Automate either use their serial number or a manual override using their "Asset Tag" field to match with a PCID in PCRT. Matching happens automatically for most computers, but some may require manual intervention.

Subscriptions

BizCare subscriptions in PCRT have their "Additional Members" field automatically updated upon completion of each sync job. This tells PCRT the exact, up-to-date list of computers that are covered under a customer's BizCare plan. There are a few nuances to this currently:

Changes you make to the "Additional Members" field on a BizCare subscription in PCRT will not persist more than a day. This will be patched in a future update to prevent editing the "Additional Members" field for BizCare subscriptions.
PCRT does not yet distinguish between different BizCare levels. PCIDs will be listed as "Additional Members" for every BizCare plan on their given group. For customers that have split-level BizCare plans (some devices on BizCare Plus, some on Premium, for example), PCIDs will appear as members of both plans. This will be patched in a future update.

Important terms

Unfortunately, there is some overlap and similarities between terminology when referring to ConnectWise Automate and PCRT. Refer to the following list for clarification:

ConnectWise Terminology

ConnectWise Automate: This is the main component of BizCare. Often abbreviated as CWA. Only BizCare technicians have access to the BizCare server.
Client: A client in CWA is simply a unique customer. Clients in CWA sync with Groups in PCRT.
- For example, If "Tom's Garage" is a BizCare customer then there will be a client in CWA named "Tom's Garage".
Client External ID: This field on the client's properties page determines the PCRT group that it is attached to for syncing.
Computer: A computer in CWA is any unique device. All computers in CWA are necessarily members of a client. Computers cannot exist in CWA without being part of a client.
- For example, if Tom's Garage owns 10 computers, then the client for Tom's Garage will have 10 computers attached to it.
Computer Asset Tag: This field on the computer's properties page determines the PCID in PCRT that it is attached to for syncing. This field is only ever set if the computer is unable to be matched automatically to a PCID via its Serial Number.
Group: Not to be confused with a PCRT Group. Groups in CWA indicate a specific BizCare plan. Currently, there are 6 groups - BizCare Basic/Plus/Premium, and Non-Profit version of each. Computers in CWA are not required to be in a group, but we put them in one of the specified groups to facilitate this sync tool.
- For example, Tom's Garage may have 8 computers in the BizCare Plus group, and 2 computers in the BizCare Premium group.

PCRT Terminology

PCRT: PC Repair Tracker, our day-to-day system.
Group: Not to be confused with a CWA Group. Groups in PCRT are simply unique customers. For example, "Tom's Garage" would be a group in PCRT.
PCID: This is the numerical identifier for computers in PCRT. Every computer we work on should have one and only one PCID, ever. Think of PCIDs like Social Security Numbers for computers we work on.
Subscription: Group's and PCIDs in PCRT may have subscriptions attached to them. These correspond to a billable subscription for a customer.
Subscription CWA Group: In PCRT, a BizCare subscription must be attributed to a specific CWA Group for syncing purposes. This field is set on the "Edit subscription" page for any given BizCare subscription.

Client Issues

Clients with no PCRT Group

Each client needs to be synced with their matching group in PCRT. To do this, a BizCare technician should perform the following steps:

Find the customer's group in PCRT and take note of the Group ID. If the customer doesn't have a group yet, create one now.
Login to ConnectWise Automate Control Center on the BizCare Server
On the main page (Browse -> Clients) Find the client that does not yet have a PCRT Group synced to it
Double-click on the client name to open the properties window
Find the "External ID" field, and set it to the PCRT Group ID
Save the client properties window

Changes will take effect the next time PCRT syncs with ConnectWise Automate.

Computer Issues

Computers with no matching PCID

Note that "Computers" in this context refers to computers in ConnectWise Automate (i.e. any computer that has a BizCare agent installed). This integration matches computers from ConnectWise Automate with PCIDs in PCRT through the serial number. Not having a valid match can then only mean 1 of 3 things:

There is no PCID with a matching serial number in PCRT.
The serial number of the device is too "generic" to match. For example, custom computers often have a serial number of "To be filled by O.E.M.". Serial numbers like these are blacklisted from matching, because they could erroneously match with the wrong device.
There are multiple PCIDs with the same serial number. To prevent erroneous matches, the integration simply does nothing until the duplication is resolved.

To resolve this issue, you must think critically. Generally, troubleshooting should follow these steps:

Figure out the reason for not matching. Look at the serial number - is it "generic" or does it look like it is unique? If it's generic, you may need to manually override the automatic matching - if it looks unique, then it's possible the PCID doesn't exist or there are multiples.
Do a search for the serial number in PCRT. Use a keyword search to speed up this process. For example, serial: 325JVNA will do a search in only the Serial number field in the database. There are two possibilities here:
1. Nothing shows up - this means that no PCID in PCRT has this serial number. It doesn't necessarily mean that the PCID doesn't exist, though; it could mean that the PCID exists but we never entered the serial number.
2. Multiple matches show up - you will need to consolidate the PCIDs into one before the match will happen. However, perhaps you've found another serial number that is generic because it matched two completely distinct PCIDs. If this is the case, notify your PCRT Maintainer to update the serial number blacklist, and then perform a manual override.
If you still haven't found a match, perhaps the PCID already exists but we forgot to add the serial number. Do a search through the customer's group to see if you can find a match manually. Alternatively, search some keywords for the device. BizCare technicians performing this step will have access to ConnectWise Automate to gather more information about the computer, such as the most recently logged-in user. If you're very confident that you've found a match, set the serial number for the PCID and the match will occur automatically during the next sync.
If you're confident that the PCID was just never created in PCRT, create one now and attach it to the group, then set the serial number for the PCID. The easiest way to do this is with the Bulk Add option at the bottom of the PCRT Group page.

Once you've either found the existing asset and set the serial number on the PCID, or you've created a new one - the changes will take effect next time PCRT syncs with ConnectWise Automate.

List of Generic Serial Numbers

These serial numbers are not valid for matching and will require manual override:

"To Be Filled By O.E.M."
"System Serial Number"
"Default string"
"............"
"0123456789"
"None"
""

Other Computer issues

In wrong group: A PCID might be in the wrong group. Think critically before making a change here. PCRT only knows what is "the right group" based on what we tell it, and it's possible we told it wrong.
1. If you're sure the PCID is in the wrong group, and the group PCRT thinks it should be in is correct, move the PCID now. PCIDs can be removed from a group in two ways - from that group's page, or from any Work Order for that PCID. Once removed, it can be added to a new group from any Work Order for that PCID.
2. If you're sure it's in the right group - or the group PCRT says it should be in is wrong - then it's possible that the Client in ConnectWise Automate has the wrong "External ID" set. Confer with another BizCare technician before making this change - if you're sure the change needs to be made, refer to the "Clients with no PCRT Group" section above for instructions on changing it.
Not in group: This one is easy, the PCID just needs to be moved into its relevant group.
PCID does not exist: The Asset Tag for the computer in ConnectWise Automate is set to a value that doesn't correspond to a real PCID. Find or create the real PCID, then perform the steps in "Manual Override on PCID Matching".
No CWA Group: The computer in ConnectWise Automate does not belong to a group (a ConnectWise Automate Group, not a PCRT Group).

Manual Override on PCID Matching

To manually override the automatic PCID matching system for computers:

Find (or create) the PCID as described in the "Computers with no Matching PCID" section above.
Login to ConnectWise Automate Control Center on the BizCare Server
On the main page (Browse -> Clients) Find the client and click on it, then find the computer in the list.
Double-click on the computer to open the properties window
Find the "Asset Tag" field, and set it to the PCID
Click Save.

Changes will take effect the next time PCRT syncs with ConnectWise Automate.

Group issues

This section has a lot going on, so be sure to read this entire section before attempting to rectify issues spotted here. First, it's useful to understand what a "correct" configuration looks like:

For example, say "Tom's Garage" is a BizCare client. Tom, the owner, signed up for BizCare on 10 computers. For 8 of the computers, he opted for BizCare Plus. For the other 2 computers, he opted for BizCare Premium. With everything correctly configured, his group in PCRT should have following subscriptions:
- 1x BizCare Premium subscription that has the 2 BizCare Premium-covered devices listed as additional members (as described in previous suggestions)
- 1x BizCare Plus subscription that has the 8x BizCare Plus-covered devices listed as additional members.

There are 4 primary issues that can be encountered in this section. We'll continue using Tom's Garage as an example throughout this section.

Group does not have any CWA subscriptions: This either means that the group doesn't have any BizCare subscriptions tied to it. It either means that the BizCare subscription(s) are entirely missing, or that they exist but haven't yet been linked to a CWA Group.
1. If the group doesn't have any BizCare subscription(s), work with a CareRep to create the BizCare subscription, including Stripe billing, and then set the "CWA Group" field on the "Edit subscription" page.
2. If the group does have BizCare subscription(s), then they're not tied to a CWA Group. Edit the subscription and choose the correct CWA Group from the "CWA Group" field.
PCRT Group has too few subscriptions: The PCRT Group has BizCare subscriptions, but computers in the CWA client are members of more groups that PCRT has accounted for. In our example, this could mean that:
1. Tom's computers in CWA are configured correctly to have 2x in the BizCare Premium group and 8x in the BizCare Plus group, but PCRT only has one of those subscriptions correctly configured. Remedy this by creating any additional BizCare subscriptions needed in PCRT and Stripe.
2. Tom's computers in CWA were misconfigured, and some of them were marked as BizCare Premium. In CWA, find the computers that are part of the wrong group and correct them.
PCRT Group has subscriptions with wrong CWA Group: A simple slip-of-the-finger mistake when configuring the PCRT subscription for the customer. Identify the correct BizCare levels for the customer and correct the "CWA Group" field for the subscription(s) in PCRT.
- In our example, Tom's BizCare subscriptions were set up in PCRT but the person that set them up accidentally marked one of the subscription's CWA Group field as BizCare Basic.
Subscription does not have valid CWA Group: The group has BizCare subscriptions, but they haven't been tied to a CWA Group yet. Identify the correct BizCare levels for the customer and correct the "CWA Group" field for the subscription(s) in PCRT.
- In our example, this would occur if Tom's BizCare subscriptions were already configured, but the person that set them up in PCRT forgot to mark the CWA Group field for the subscription.

Manually running the Sync Job

If a significant amount of work has been completed on manual reconciliation and you would like the results to show up sooner than the following day, contact your PCRT Maintainer to have them run the sync script manually.