Working in SS2

1. Overview

This page covers the parts of ServiSuite that look and behave the same everywhere — the tools you use to move around the system and to find, arrange, and save your data. None of it is tied to a single module:

The main sidebar and the app bar you see on every screen.
Your Home dashboard — a customizable widget canvas that opens when you sign in.
Favorites — a personal list of the screens, reports, and grids you use most.
Search grids — the interactive data lists (customers, work orders, invoices, products, and so on), with quick search, column filters, a column chooser, and export.
Saved views — named snapshots of how you set up a search grid.
Saved grids — data grids you built with the assistant and chose to keep.
The AI assistant — an in-app helper that answers questions about your data, builds grids, looks things up in this documentation, and can prepare certain postings for you to approve.

Everything here is personal to you. Your Home dashboard, Favorites, saved views, and saved grids are stored under your own account and are not shared with other users, and none of them requires a special permission. What you can actually open through them is still governed by each module’s own permissions.

2. Key Concepts

Home Dashboard — Your personal landing page, made of resizable widgets on a grid canvas. It opens whenever you click Home or sign in.
Widget — One tile on the Home dashboard. There are four kinds: Favorites, Links, Grid (a saved view of any module’s search grid), and Saved Grid (a grid you saved from the assistant).
Favorite — A one-click shortcut to a screen, a report, a saved view, or a saved grid. Favorites appear in the Favorites section of the sidebar and in the Favorites widget on your Home dashboard.
Search Grid — The interactive data list used across the system (for example, the list on Manage Customers or Manage Work Orders). It loads your data a page at a time, so filtering, sorting, and grouping always run against the full data set, not just what is on screen.
View — A saved arrangement of a search grid: which columns it shows, its filters, its sorting, and its column widths and order. Every grid has a Default view; you can also create your own named views.
Saved Grid — A custom data grid you asked the assistant to build and then chose to keep. Saved grids get their own screen and can be favorited or added to your Home dashboard.

Main sidebar

The sidebar on the left is on every screen. It can be collapsed to icons or expanded to show labels. From the top it shows:

Item	What it does
Home	Opens your Home dashboard (see Section 4).
Favorites	Your favorites, listed under a Favorites header. This section only appears once you have at least one favorite, and it is expanded by default.
Saved Grids	Opens the list of grids you saved from the assistant (see Section 8).
Dashboards	Opens your dashboards — the ones you can open, including any shared with you.
Module categories	The bulk of the sidebar — the modules and screens your role can access, grouped by area. (The Business Overview dashboard appears here as the first item under General Ledger.)

Below the module categories, a few fixed entries sit at the bottom of the sidebar:

Item	What it does
Employee Portal	Opens your own employee self-service portal.
Administration	Opens Administration — users, roles, and system configuration. Appears only if your role has access.
Audit Trail	Opens the system audit trail. Appears only if your role has access.
Status	Opens the ServiSuite system-status page in a new tab.
Updates	Opens the ServiSuite product-updates page in a new tab.
Documentation	Opens this documentation site in a new tab.
Assistant	Opens the AI assistant full screen, with your past conversations (see Section 9). Appears only if your role has assistant access.
Help	Opens the in-app support chat.

A favorite whose target has been deleted, or that you no longer have access to, appears dimmed with only a Remove from Favorites action.

App bar

The bar across the top of every screen includes, from the left, a menu toggle that collapses or expands the sidebar, the ServiSuite title, and then, on the right:

Control	What it does
Star	Adds or removes the current location as a favorite (see Section 5). The star only appears when the screen you are on can be favorited.
Global search	Jump to a screen or record by name.
Assistant	Opens the AI assistant in a side drawer (also `Ctrl+Shift+A`), see Section 9. Appears only if your role has assistant access.
Text Messages	A badge showing your organization’s unhandled texts; opens the Text Messages inbox in a new tab. It is always present, but is disabled (greyed out) and shows no count unless your role has access to texting.
Organization	Shows the organization you are signed in to; if you belong to more than one, switches between them.
User menu	Your avatar; opens a menu with Time Clock (when you have time-clock access), User Settings, and Log Out.

4. Home Dashboard

The Home dashboard is your personal widget canvas. It greets you by name and shows the widgets you have arranged. It is one of your dashboards — the one that opens on sign-in, that every user has, and that is never shared or deleted. Everything described in the Dashboards module applies to it: the widget catalog, starter dashboards, custom charts, grids, links, parameters and parameter controls, and the AI assistant.

Arranging and editing

Click Edit (top right) to change the dashboard:

Move a widget by dragging its title bar; resize it by dragging its bottom-right corner.
Click Add Widget and choose a widget type: Links, From catalog… (a prebuilt chart or number), Grid (one of your saved views, see Section 7), Saved Grid (see Section 8), Chart (the chart editor), or Parameter control.
Remove a widget with the ✕ on its title bar.
For a Links widget, use Add Link to pick a screen or report, and the ✕ on a tile to remove a link.
Click Save to keep your changes, or Cancel to discard them.

Click the settings (gear) icon on a widget’s title bar to open Widget Settings:

Setting	Description
Title	Override the widget’s displayed name (leave blank to use the default).
Accent color	The colored bar along the top of the widget.
Show search & filters	(Grid and Saved Grid widgets only) Show or hide the search box and filter controls inside the embedded grid. The widget’s saved filters still apply either way — this only hides the controls.

Widget	Shows
Favorites	Your favorites as clickable tiles. This widget mirrors your Favorites list; add and remove favorites with the star or the sidebar, not from the widget.
Links	A group of link tiles you curate yourself.
Chart	A prebuilt widget from the catalog, or a custom bar, line, area, pie, donut, funnel or number built in the chart editor. See Dashboards → The widget catalog and The chart editor.
Grid	A saved view of any module’s search grid, embedded live. It opens pinned to that view and does not disturb the underlying screen.
Saved Grid	One of your saved (assistant-built) grids, embedded live.
Parameter control	Inputs for the dashboard’s parameters (a period, a customer…) that drive the widgets bound to them. See Dashboards → Dashboard parameters.

5. Favorites

Favorites are your personal shortcuts. They show up in the Favorites section of the sidebar and in the Favorites widget on your Home dashboard.

Adding a favorite

Click the star in the app bar to favorite the screen you are on. The star fills in when the current location is already a favorite; click it again to remove it. The star can favorite:

From	Favorites
A module screen	That screen
A report	That report
A search grid showing a saved view	That view
A saved grid	That saved grid

The star is hidden on locations that cannot be favorited (for example, a multi-step dialog).

Saved grids can also be favorited directly from the Saved Grids list, the saved-grid screen, and the assistant card — each offers an Add to favorites action.

Using and managing favorites

Click a favorite in the sidebar to open it.
The Favorites sidebar section is expanded by default; collapse it with its header, and your choice is remembered.
A favorite whose target was deleted, or that you have lost access to, shows dimmed with a Remove from Favorites action and cannot be opened.

6. Search Grids

Most module list screens use the same search grid. It loads your data in pages, so its search, filters, sorting, and grouping always run against your full data — not just the rows currently visible.

Quick search

Where a grid offers it, a Search box at the top filters the list as you type across the grid’s searchable columns.

Filtering

You can filter a grid in three interchangeable places — they always stay in sync:

Toolbar filters — quick controls above the grid for common columns. Depending on the column type these are a segmented All / Yes / No toggle (yes/no columns), a multi-select (list columns), a date control offering relative periods (Today, This Month, Last Quarter, and so on) or a Specific date or range, or a chip showing that a column is filtered.
Column header menu — open a column’s menu for its full filter, including multi-condition filters combined with AND / OR.
Filters panel — the Filters tab in the grid’s side panel lists every column filter in one place.

Choosing columns

There are two distinct column tools:

Tool	Where	What it does
Columns panel	The Columns tab in the side panel	Hide, show, and reorder the columns already in the grid.
Manage Columns…	Button in the Views & Data side panel	Add or remove columns from the grid’s underlying query — including fields from related records and calculated measures.

Row count

A footer shows how many records (or groups) match. When a grid has a very large result the count is shown as a lower bound (for example, “10,000+ records”); you can request the exact count on demand.

Grand totals

On grids that support it, the view menu offers Show totals, which adds a totals row for numeric columns.

Exporting

Open the Export tab in the side panel to download the grid. An export includes every matching row with the current columns, filters, and sort — not just the rows on screen. Three formats are offered:

Format	File
Excel	`.xlsx`
CSV	`.csv`
PDF	PDF

7. Saved Views

A view captures how you have set up a search grid — its columns, filters, sorting, and column widths and order. The view control sits at the top-right of every grid and reads View: Default ▾.

Default view vs. named views

Default — every grid starts here. As you adjust it, your personal changes are remembered automatically. A dot next to Default means you have personalized it; Reset to standard removes your changes and returns to the system default.
Named views — your own saved snapshots. Everything you change in a named view auto-saves into that view.

Managing views

Open the View: menu to:

Action	Description
Switch view	Click any view in the list to load it.
Save as new view…	Save the grid’s current setup as a new named view.
Rename…	Rename the active named view.
Duplicate…	Copy the active named view under a new name.
Delete…	Delete the active named view.
Reset to standard	(Default view only) Discard your personalizations of the Default view.

Views are also listed in the Views & Data tab of the grid’s side panel.

8. Saved Grids

The AI assistant can build a custom data grid for you on request — asking the assistant is the only way to create one. (Building grids is one of several things the assistant does; see Section 9. The assistant is available only if your role has access to it.) An assistant grid is temporary — it expires after 30 days — so if you want to keep one, save it.

Saving an assistant grid

On the assistant’s grid card, click the bookmark to save the grid. Saving keeps it permanently and unlocks three follow-up actions, offered wherever the saved grid appears (the assistant card, the Saved Grids list, and the saved-grid screen):

Action	Result
Open saved grid	Opens the grid on its own screen.
Add to favorites	Adds it to your Favorites.
Add to home dashboard	Places it as a widget on your Home dashboard.

The Saved Grids list

Saved Grids in the sidebar opens the list of grids you have saved. Each row shows the grid’s title and the date you saved it, with per-row actions to favorite it, add it to your Home dashboard, or delete it. Use the Search box to filter the list. Click a row to open the grid. If you have not saved any grids yet, this screen offers a shortcut to ask the assistant for one.

A saved grid is a full search grid — quick search, filters, column tools, saved views, and export all work on it.

9. AI Assistant

The AI assistant is an in-app helper you can chat with in plain language. It works with your real data and the software documentation, and everything it does is still bound by your own permissions — it can only read data your role can read, and it can never post anything on its own.

Opening the assistant

There are two ways in, both shown only if your role has assistant access:

The Assistant button in the app bar (or Ctrl+Shift+A from anywhere) opens the assistant in a side drawer over your current screen.
The Assistant entry at the bottom of the sidebar opens the assistant full screen, with your past conversations alongside.

What it can do

It can…	What that means
Answer questions about your data	Ask about customers, work orders, invoices, jobs, totals, counts, and the like; the assistant looks up the current data and answers in plain terms.
Build and save grids	Ask it to build a custom data grid; it renders a live, sortable, filterable, exportable grid. Keep one by saving it (see Section 8).
Build dashboard widgets	Ask for a figure or chart and it adds it to the dashboard you are viewing (or your Home dashboard): a prebuilt widget from the catalog when one fits, otherwise a custom chart it defines itself, or a grid it built. See Dashboards → Building dashboards with the AI assistant.
Look things up in the documentation	For “how do I…” and “what does this do” questions, it reads this documentation and answers from it, linking the screen where you’d do the work.
Collect details with a form	When it needs specific values from you (a date, an amount, a record to choose), it shows a small form to fill in rather than asking in prose.
Remember your preferences	You can ask it to remember a preference or policy (“always show amounts to the dollar”) and it carries that across future conversations; ask it to forget one at any time.
Prepare postings for your approval	For supported postings it prepares the entry and shows you an approval card — see below.

Preparing a posting (approval cards)

The assistant can prepare certain postings — for example a cash receipt or a vendor invoice (it can read an attached invoice or receipt and fill in what it finds). It validates and computes the posting, then shows you an approval card. Nothing is posted until you review and approve that card yourself; the assistant can never execute a posting. If the entry breaks a rule, it tells you what’s wrong so you can correct it or decide not to post.

Who can use it, and limits

Access is granted per role, so what you and a coworker can do with the assistant may differ:

Permission	Grants
Assistant	Use the assistant at all — asking questions, building grids, reading the documentation.
Assistant: Post Cash Receipt	Let the assistant prepare cash-receipt postings for your approval.
Assistant: Post Vendor Invoice	Let the assistant prepare vendor-invoice postings for your approval.
Assistant: Organization Memory	Save and manage memories that apply to the whole organization (your own personal preferences need no special permission).

Each kind of posting the assistant can prepare has its own permission, and all of them are off by default — being allowed to post on a screen does not let the assistant post for you. The assistant also only ever sees the data your role is allowed to read, and your organization’s assistant usage is metered against its shared Wallet credit balance.

10. Permissions

For how roles and permissions work across SS2, see the Permissions Reference.

The tools on this page are personal and need no special permission — every user has their own Home dashboard, Favorites, saved views, and saved grids, and manages them freely. (Building a new saved grid is the exception: it requires the AI assistant, which your role grants separately — see Section 9 for assistant access and its posting permissions.)

Access control applies to the targets, not the shortcuts:

A favorite, link, widget, or saved view can only open a screen, report, or record that your role already lets you open. If you lose access to a target, the shortcut is shown as unavailable rather than opening it.
A saved grid only ever shows data your role is allowed to read.

11. Business Rules

Constraints

Personal Scope — Home dashboards, Favorites, saved views, and saved grids are stored per user and are never shared with or visible to other users.
Target Access Governs — A favorite, link, widget, or saved view can only open a target the user’s role permits. Lost access renders the shortcut as unavailable rather than opening it.
Assistant Grid Expiry — Grids built by the assistant expire after 30 days unless saved. Saving (bookmarking) an assistant grid makes it durable.

Automations

Dashboard Auto-Save — Moving or resizing a Home-dashboard widget saves automatically; adding or removing widgets is saved when you click Save in Edit mode.
View Auto-Save — Changes made while a search grid view is active (Default or named) are saved into that view automatically.
Full-Result Export — Grid exports include every matching row with the current columns, filters, and sort — not just the rows on screen.

Workflows

Keep an Assistant Grid — Ask the AI assistant for a grid (the only way to create one; requires assistant access) → Save (bookmark) it → optionally Favorite it or add it to the Home dashboard.

Cross-Module Effects

Shared Search Grid — The same search grid, saved-view, filter, column, and export behavior applies to list screens across all modules.

12. Troubleshooting / FAQ

Q: The star in the top bar is missing. The current location cannot be favorited (for example, a dialog or a screen without a favoritable target). Navigate to a module screen, a report, a saved grid, or a grid showing a saved view, and the star reappears.

Q: One of my favorites is greyed out. Its target was deleted or you no longer have access to it (see Target Access Governs). Use the remove action next to it to clear it.

Q: My export only has a few rows. Exports include every matching row, so this usually means your filters are narrower than you expected. Check the toolbar filters, the column filters, and the Filters panel, then export again.

Q: I set up a grid perfectly but it reset when I came back. Personalizations auto-save into the active view, but only for that grid and that view. If you switched views, switch back. To keep a setup you can return to, use Save as new view (Section 7).

Q: My assistant grid disappeared. Assistant grids expire after 30 days (see Assistant Grid Expiry). Save one from its card (the bookmark) to keep it; saved grids live under Saved Grids in the sidebar.

Q: A widget on my Home dashboard says “no longer available.” Its saved view or saved grid was deleted. Enter Edit mode and remove the widget or point it at a different view/grid.

Q: Are my Home dashboard and Favorites visible to my coworkers? No. They are personal to your account (see Personal Scope).

Q: I don’t see the Assistant, so I can’t create a saved grid. The assistant is granted per role by your organization. If you need it, ask your administrator for access.

13. Tips & Notes

Two column tools, two jobs. The Columns side panel hides/shows and reorders columns already in the grid; Manage Columns… changes which columns (and related fields or measures) the grid actually pulls.
Relative dates. Date filters offer relative periods (This Month, Last Quarter, Year-to-date, and so on) that update automatically each time the grid loads, so you don’t re-enter dates.
Embed a grid on Home. Add a saved view as a Grid widget to watch a live, filtered list right on your dashboard; use Show search & filters in widget settings to keep or hide its controls.
Favorite a specific view. Set a grid up the way you like, save it as a named view, then use the star — your favorite reopens the grid on that exact view.
Links widgets vs. Favorites. Favorites are your global shortcut list; a Links widget is a curated group you arrange on the dashboard for a particular workflow.