Create a Customer, Contract and Contact

After registering your Atera account, the most important step is to add your 'customers'.

A customer in the Atera system is the base entity, and all other functionalities rely on the correct initial creation of a customer. Once you've added a customer, you can add the customer's contacts and devices, install Atera agents, and begin monitoring your customer's devices.

This article will describe:

• Creating a customer, contract, and contact
• Importing customers (or contacts)
• Managing your customer

Create a Customer

To create a customer:

1. From the New dropdown, select Customer.

The New Customer page appears.

2. Add the customer name.

Note: Click Show more to view and fill in the optional fields.

Optional Fields:

• Rank: For internal purposes. The customer Rank has NO IMPACT within the Atera system, and all customers are processed/handled/viewed in exactly the same way, regardless of the rank you choose for them.
• Domains: Automatically associate incoming support email with the customer and assign them as company contacts (list domains without the ‘@’ symbol).
• Business ID Number: Add a business ID number for tax identification purposes.
• Phone, Fax, Address, City, Country, State, Zip Code

3. Click Next.

It's time to create a contract for the customer. A contract spells out the how, when, and how much your customer will be billed. It’s optional, but recommended, so you can fully use all of Atera’s professional services automation (PSA) features, such as seeing which support tickets need attention, as well as reporting on your response/resolution times.

4. Give your contract a name. 

5. Select the contract type from the dropdown menu.

Contract types:

• Retainer/Flat Fee
• Hourly
• Block Hours
• Block Money
• Remote Monitoring
• Online Backup
• Project: One-Time Fee
• Project: Hourly Rate

6. Fill out the rest of the contract details. 

Note: Click Show more to view and fill in the optional fields, which are identical across contract types.

7. Click Next.

It's time to create a Service Level Agreement (SLA) and threshold profile for the customer. The SLA sets customer expectations by setting the initial response time and expected close time for a ticket. Learn more about SLAs

8. Select the SLA from the dropdown (or add one).

9. Select the alert threshold profile. This profile determines the alerts you receive about your customer’s devices. Learn more about alert threshold profiles

Note: SLAs and threshold profiles can be added or modified later.

10. Click Next.

It's time to add a contact. A contact is required to use some basic features, like opening a ticket. 

11. Add the first name, last name, and email address.

Note: Click Show more to view and fill in the optional fields.

Your new customer has been created, and now appears in the Customers page.

Import Customers in Bulk

You can also import your customers (and contacts) in bulk, to ease your transition to Atera, from another company.

To import your customers or contacts:

1. From Admin, on the left-hand panel, click Import Customers.

The Import Customers and Contacts page appears.

2. Select the data you wish to import (choose between customers and contacts).

3. Download the relevant template.

4. Copy your existing data into the template. Make sure the data you copy matches the column headings provided in the template.

5. Click Import to import this template file back into the UI (the customers or contacts will be copied in bulk).

Manage your Customer

Once you've created the customer, it's time to manage certain customer permission and security settings.

Manage the main contact

To set the main contact for the customer:

1. Click Customers, on the side panel. The Customers page appears.

2. Select your customer. The Customer page appears. 

3. From the Contacts tab, select the contact. The Contact page appears.

4. Under Permissions, toggle Set as Main Contact.

To set tickets to be created by the main contact only:

1. Click Customers, on the side panel. The Customers page appears.

2. Select your customer. The Customer page appears. 

3. Under Security (on the left-hand side), toggle Tickets by main contact only. 

Note:

• This applies only to tickets raised via email. It will not affect ticket creation via the Customer Portal.
• The main contact has viewing access to all tickets in the Customer Portal.