The Collaboration Module allows 2 or more MSP Partners to work together to complete large projects.
Collaboration (Collab) projects consist of a Primary MSP, this is the MSP where the Client will eventually view their shops and reports, and a Secondary MSP, which schedules and carries out the shops.
If you are the Primary MSP Partner in the collaboration project, this section applies to you. If you are the secondary MSP Partner, go to Instructions for Secondary MSP Partner below.
The Collaboration module must be enabled on both systems before a project can be initiated. Contact support through the tracker to enable the module. Also inform support that you will be Collaborating with another MSP Partner, and let support know which MSP Partner will be the Secondary.
Once enabled, you will see Collaboration as an option in Quick Jump:
Options on the Collaboration page are View All Projects, View Current Projects, View Inactive Projects, New Project, and Manage Locations.
Click New Project to get started.
Here, you will select your client and survey that you intend to collaborate.
Then, choose the Secondary MSP (which you let Sassie Support know about initially).
When you choose the Secondary MSP, some additional options will appear.
The first time you are creating a project with this Secondary MSP, you will choose "Create New Client-Survey on secondary MSP". If you are creating a second project within an already-collaborated client, you can choose "Copy Survey to Client" , and choose the existing client.
Select Export Status - we recommend choosing Finalized or higher for this field. This setting controls the status that the Secondary must bring shops up to before the shops are importable back to the Primary. Setting this as Finalized or higher allows the Secondary control over when they have the shops ready to send to the Primary.
NOTE: If you choose a status lower than Finalized, be aware that some shops may import to your system before the Secondary is ready to share them.
Regardless of the status chosen in this field, all shops that are imported back to the Primary side with collaboration will import INTO "Collaboration Shop" status on the Primary side.
Choose Copy Locations to secondary MSP. In most cases you will also choose Lock Locations on secondary. Collaboration is designed such that all locations need to be shared with the secondary in order for the shops and surveys to work properly (especially when the survey uses such features as smart forming.)
Click Go to send the project to the Secondary MSP. They will need to accept the project before proceeding.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Best practice for setting up a new project when multiple surveys will be involved:
-If the Primary has several surveys for a single client they wish to collaborate over to the Secondary, the Primary should first set up only ONE project/survey per client, until the Secondary has accepted the project and the client has been created on the Secondary side. Do not create more than one collaboration project on a client until the Secondary has accepted that first project. After that, the Primary will be able to select that client in the options when creating a new project/survey to add additional surveys to that collaborated client for the Secondary. The Secondary will then need to accept each of the new projects as well.
After the Secondary MSP Partner has scheduled, assigned, reviewed, and Finalized the shops, you can import them.
From the main collaboration admin page, choose "View Current Projects" (or "View all projects"). Next to the project you want, click Import.
Click GO to import shops.
The number of shops imported will be displayed on the page. If there are shops on the Secondary side which cannot be imported, that will also be noted. It may mean the shops do not have synced locations, or are not in the target status on the Secondary. If you check into both of those and cannot find a solution, contact support, with the name of the project, the name of the Secondary, and the Secondary's Job IDs if possible.
Instructions for Secondary MSP Partner
The Collaboration module must be enabled on both systems before a project can be initiated. Contact support through the tracker to enable the module. The Primary MSP will do the same, as well as inform support that they will be collaborating with you.
Once enabled, you will see Collaboration as an option in Quick Jump:
Options on the Collaboration page are View All Projects, View Current Projects, View Inactive Projects, New Project, and Manage Locations.
Click on View Current Projects.
Under the heading Secondary Projects, look for a project that says "Requires Attention" and click View:
Review the settings the Primary has chosen for the project, and enter the email of the responsible person on your side. Check the box to accept the project settings and click Submit.
If for some reason you need changes to the settings, contact the Primary MSP instead of accepting the project. The settings are mainly controlled on their end.
Once the project is set up and you have accepted, you can proceed to schedule, assign, and review shops just like you would do normally. Put the shops into the target status--Finalized, usually--so the Primary can import the shops.
Managing Locations in Collaboration
Locations in Collaboration should be created and updated by the Primary MSP Partner, in almost all cases. For this reason, they will most often be "locked" or uneditable on the Secondary side.
If the Primary makes changes to any location or level, the locations should be synced to the Secondary as soon as possible, to keep everything working smoothly.
From the main Collaboration page, choose "Manage Locations"
If you see locations listed here, that indicates that they differ between primary and secondary systems. Yellow rows show what is on the Secondary; gray rows are the Primary. The difference may be slight, even spelling differences will cause the locations to be listed here.
The normal procedure here should be to select "Push all updates to Secondary". Other options are rarely used. If you think you have a special circumstance that requires those options, you can ask support if they are right for your project.