Navigating Electronic Service Control

If toolbars were airplanes, ESC would be an airport! Well, that's now how the original proverb goes, but you get the point. Electronic Service Control provides you with a variety of ways in which you can navigate from one screen to another with ease. Let's explore some of your options!

The Menu Bar

The Menu Bar contains all of the functions available in ESC and is the standard method of navigation. All setup screens, reports, utilities, and functions in ESC are accessible in the various drop-downs.

The Icon Bar

The Icon Bar by default contains quick links to the Search bar, the Customer Center, Vendor Center, Electronic Dispatch Board, and a List View for each module of ESC. This toolbar also gives you options: by right-clicking anywhere in the Icon Bar, you can select "Customize" and change the docking position of the entire toolbar, change the size of the icon and choose whether or not to display the icon labels.

The Taskbar

The Taskbar contains tabs for every currently open module in the program, much like your Windows taskbar. When you first fire up the program, you'll only see the Dashboard tab in the taskbar. But as you move from screen to screen, you'll see other tabs appear. These tabs allow you to quickly jump between screens without losing your information. 

The Activities Bar

You'll notice that many of the icons that can be found on the Activities Bar match the icons on the Icon Bar. This is because they have the same function: they open a designated screen. However, if you are working in the Edit Customer Information screen and click the Enter Dispatches icon on the Activities Bar (or within the Activities menu), the record you just created will be carried to the Enter Dispatches screen. This can be a huge time-saver if you handle scores - or even hundreds - of customers per day.

What's more is that the Activities Bar can be customized. Simply right-click anywhere in the Activities Bar and select Customize. For each icon that appears in the list, you can place a check mark next to any icon you want to see on the Activities Bar and can select if it's a full button or just the icon.

The Dashboard

 

Look familiar? It should. You see the Dashboard every single time you log into ESC. The center panel consists of several individual containers that display company statistics. To view these panels, your user needs permission to view them - which can be arranged in the Setup Users screen. Then to add them to your Dashboard, simply click the "Customize Dashboard" link at the bottom left of the screen and select the containers you wish to view.

The panel over to the right will change periodically as more content is added. You'll see announcements, newsletters and version notifications appear. Be sure to keep your eye out for new content.

The side panel on the left contains flow charts to our most frequently used modules in ESC. A flow chart not only provides direct links to the various screens in ESC, but they also provide a visual "flow" for common tasks that can be accomplished in ESC.

Flow Charts

The side panel on the left contains flow charts to our most frequently used modules in ESC. A flow chart not only provides direct links to the various screens in ESC, but they also provide a visual "flow" for common tasks that can be accomplished in ESC.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Alt + Tab Number	Changes to the desired Tab Number
Tab	Moves cursor to the next field
Shift + Tab	Moves cursor to previous field
Enter	Activates Search options within a field
Spacebar	Checks or unchecks a currently highlighted checkbox
Alt	Holding down the Alt key on your keyboard will highlight certain letters in various functions or menus.  By selecting one of those letters while holding down Alt, you can activate that toolbar option or menu.
Alt + ↓	Opens any menu associated with the currently selected field.

Function Keys

F1	Displays the ESC Support Page. This page contains tutorial videos, complete help documentation, and links to contact us.
F2	Displays the Customer Center.
F3	Displays the Qualification Screen.
F4	Displays the Dispatch List.
F5	Displays the Electronic Dispatch Board.
F6	Displays the Agreement List.
F9	Displays the Invoice List.
F11	Displays the Enter Payments Screen.  This option is only available if you are not integrated with a third-party accounting software.
F12	Displays the Purchase Order List.

Power Search

The Power Search feature allows you to search for and open any transaction by its number.  This includes invoices, quotes, dispatches and purchase orders.  

Navigating ESC