Table of Contents

Creating a New Account

Mitchell Paul-Soumis Updated by Mitchell Paul-Soumis

Read Time: 11 mins

To provide service to your customers within Sonar, an account needs to be created for them. This account allows for the assignment of a serviceable address, the assignment of network inventory, and the assignment of services. In this article, we'll be going over the process of creating a new account, the fields you can fill out, and the basics of delivering a service to this new account.

Account Creation Overview

Sonar does not guarantee accounts will be created in a sequential order.

While the primary function of the Accounts List View page is explored in its overview article, you also can create a new account by clicking on the "Create Account" button located in the upper-right corner:

Account creation is divided into 4 pages that can be filled out:

  1. The first page prompts you to select a name for the account, the company in your instance it'll be tied to, the serviceable address, the initial account status and type for the account, and any account groups you'd like the account assigned to.
  2. The second page prompts you to fill in information for the primary contact, such as their name, contact information, and what messaging categories they should belong in.
  3. The third page provides the ability to add a mailing address that can be utilized in the event it's different from the serviceable address.
  4. The fourth page of the account creation modal prompts you to fill in Custom Fields, if applicable.
    1. If you don't have any custom fields created, you'll see this:
    2. If you do have some fields configured, you'll see any account-level custom fields instead:

Over the following sections, we'll review each page of the account creation modal and discuss the requirements for each field as it relates to account creation.

Account Name and Basic Details

The first page of the Account Creation modal is fairly straightforward - provide a name for the account, select a serviceable address, and assign the account type and group information.

  1. The Name field sets the name of the account, visible in the account list and on reports.
    While easy to confuse with the name of the contact, that's set on the next page of account creation and the account name can be entirely unrelated.
  2. The Company dropdown allows you to set the desired company for the account to belong to. If you have only one company or have a company set as default in your instance, this field will autofill with that company's information.
  3. The Serviceable Address field allows you to select a serviceable address for the account, or create a new one. Serviceable Addresses will be detailed further in the next section.
  4. The Account Status dropdown allows you to set what status this account will start with. You can find more details over at the Account Statuses: Overview & Example Use Cases article.
  5. The Account Type dropdown is similar to the Account Status dropdown, allowing you to assign a type to the account. More information on Account Types can be found in the Account Types: Overview & Example Use Cases article.
  6. The Groups dropdown allows you to select which account group(s) this account should belong to once it gets created. For more information on account groups, have a look at the Account Groups: Overview & Example Use Cases article.

Selecting a Serviceable Address

When selecting a serviceable address for your new account, you'll be provided with a list of currently unassigned serviceable addresses. If there are no serviceable addresses available, then you can also create one directly within the "Serviceable Addresses" dropdown.

Details
We cover the creation process of a new Serviceable Address in-depth in the linked overview article, however, the basics will also be covered here.

Clicking on "Create" from within the dropdown will send you to a new page where you can enter the Serviceable Address's location information.



For a Serviceable Address belonging to an account, the marked mandatory fields all need to be filled out. Address information will be dynamically populated using Google Maps, and the precise location can be modified by moving the pin on the map, or by modifying the latitude and longitude. The Elevation tool can be accessed by clicking on the Elevation toggle, highlighted in the image.

If you attempt to add an address that is an exact duplicate of another, you'll receive an error stating "This address is a duplicate of an existing serviceable address". If you need to add another serviceable address at the same location, we recommend adding a Line 2, however, you could also modify the latitude and longitude.

Clicking on "Create" once the address information is filled out will return you to the account creation modal, where you can continue from where you left off.

Once you select a Serviceable Address, a map will appear, as pictured here:

With this map, you can navigate to the nearest Network Site and make use of the Elevation tool to gain information on the line of sight distance and topographical features of the Serviceable Address in relation to the Network Site.

If you're assigning a Serviceable Address to an account which has been used previously, keep in mind that all historical inventory information will come along with it, including assigned access points and routers.

Primary Contact

After completing the basic account information, we can proceed to the second page, which has you define the Primary Contact for this account.

  1. The Name of the primary contact. This will pre-fill to match the account name but can be modified as needed.
  2. The Role is used to define the position within the account. For a Residential account, this is typically unused, but a Commercial account might see a Role such as "IT Contact".
  3. The Email Address field allows you to set the email address for the contact, which will be used for things like service notifications and invoices.
  4. The Messages Categories dropdown allows you to select as many or as few messaging categories for the primary contact as you'd like, as long as these categories currently exist in your instance. You can read more about message categories in the Message Categories: Overview & Use Cases article.
  5. The Phone Numbers section allows you to add phone numbers based on the Phone Number Types you configured in your instance settings.
Additional contacts can be set up once the account is created - the primary contact is the only one created during account setup.

Mailing Address

The mailing address tab offers similar fields to the process of adding a serviceable address, with the exception of seeing the location on a map.

Custom Fields

The final step in account creation is filling out the Custom Fields. These fields are set in your instance settings, and mandatory fields are configured per instance.

If no Custom Fields are created, this page will display a message indicating that there are no custom fields for the entity:

Next Steps

Once you've filled in all the required information and created the account, you'll automatically be redirected to the account's management page. This is where you can modify custom fields, add services, and manage payment methods. For a complete overview of the Account Management Page, you can review the article for it here | Account Management View: Overview.

In the following sections, we'll be reviewing the basics of continuing the setup of a new account, including assigning services, scheduling the installation job, and adding a payment method. These three activities can be done in any order; however, they should all be done before leaving the account's management page for the first time.

Assigning Services

You may notice in the example below, the Account Status is set to "Lead". The reasons for first setting an account to Lead are varied, but one such reason is adding a service to the account. When services are added to an account, charges won't be generated until the account is moved into an account status, which activates the account.

To add a recurring service to the account, click on the Billing tab, followed by the Service & Packages sub-tab.

If the account is associated with an Anchor or Linked address that uses Wholesale Billing, the "Add Package" option won't be available for selection.

By clicking on the Add Service button, which is present in both the highlighted area and at the center of the page - as long as no services are currently added to the account - you'll be presented with the "Create Account Service" modal. This modal will prompt you to select a service from a list of all services created on your instance, and allocated to the company this account is attached to.

  1. The Service dropdown allows you to select a Recurring, Expiring, or Data service to add to the account
  2. The Quantity field allows you to adjust the number of times this service should be billed.
    1. For example, a customer who has 2 domains to renew would have the Domain Renewal Service with Quantity set to 2, rather than two listings of the same service.
  3. The Price Override field allows you to define a custom price for the service, which will be in effect until the override is changed or removed.
  4. The Price Override Reason allows you to provide additional details for why the price of the service has been overridden.
  5. The Name Override allows you to set a new name for the service being added to the account.
    1. A common use of name overrides is an adjustment or expiring service with a generic name which is overridden to be more specific when being added to an account.
  6. The Prorate dropdown defaults to "Inherit Global Proration Setting" which is set via the Billing Settings, however if Prorate is selected then a new field will appear that allows you to set the proration date.

Another type of service that might be added to an account in Lead status is a One-Time transaction. This is added from the Transactions sub-tab of Billing and can be by clicking on the dropdown of the "One Time Transaction" button.

One-time transactions are added in a similar way to recurring services, although One-Time transactions don't continue to create debits after the initial one.

One-Time transactions differ from account services in that they apply their debit to the account immediately; however, the debit won't be invoiced until the account is active. You could also add One-Time transactions to a job, which will be debited upon job completion, which we'll cover in the next section.

Scheduling a Job

In most cases, the account is created in Lead status and an installation appointment is needed to complete the activation. Whether this installation is as simple as connecting a router to a drop or requires the installation of physical equipment, you will generally need to have a job scheduled on the account to complete the installation.

In this section, we'll be scheduling a new installation job. To begin, click on the Jobs tab, followed by the "Create Job" button.

Next, we'll create an installation appointment. Clicking on the 'Create Job" button will open the job creation modal, where you can select the job to be scheduled. Our Job Types: Best Practices article details the process of creating a job type and includes an installation example.

Details
Job Types are created by going to Settings > Scheduling > Job Types followed by clicking on "Create Job Type"

Adding a Payment Method

Lastly, for the basics of creating an account, we need to add a Payment Method to charge the customer for the services they'll be receiving.

Prior to being able to add a Payment Method, you'll need to have configured a payment processor, which you can read more about here | Setting up Bank Account & Credit Card Processors

Payment Methods are added by going to the Billing tab, then the Payment Details sub-tab. From there, you can click on "Add Credit Card" to add that specific payment method.

You can also add a Bank Account by clicking on the dropdown arrow next to "Add Credit Card" and selecting "Add Bank Account"

Once you've clicked on "Add Credit Card", the payment information modal will appear and prompt you to fill in the relevant payment method details:

  1. The Payment Card details prompt you to enter the card number, expiry information, CVV (or CVC), and cardholder name
  2. The Auto Payment toggle determines whether this payment method will be used when auto-pay runs on your instance. If auto-pay is disabled on your instance, or no payment method is configured for auto-pay, all payments would need to be entered manually.
  3. The Autofill Address dropdown allows you to select from any address on the account (Mailing or Serviceable) and autofill that address information on the payment method.
  4. The Billing Address for the card is entered here and uses the same street address auto-fill as the serviceable address. The billing address is not pre-filled with the account's serviceable or mailing address and must be entered manually.
The numbers shown here are for test purposes only and do not represent a real credit card. Upon saving the card information, the numbers are encrypted and the card details tokenized.

Once the card is added, it will be displayed as a payment method. If Autopay is enabled on the added method, it will be displayed by a tag on the card. If you need to change the autopay status, billing address, expiration date, or name on the card, clicking on the edit button allows you to do that.

Once a payment method is added, the card number (or account information) can no longer be modified. Changes to those details require deleting the card and re-adding it.

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