Frequently Asked Questions

Transcription

1 Frequently Asked Questions M2M MANAGEMent CENTER General Information M2M Management Center Interface Billing and Service Plans Data Usage Provisioning Device Information Device Groups Device Controls Alerts and Notifications Administrative Settings

2 General Information 1. What is the Verizon M2M Management Center? 2. How do I navigate to 3. What browsers are supported by 4. Where can I find more information about 5. I see numbered Custom Fields on the Device List screen, but the numbers are not sequential. Is this a problem? What is the Verizon M2M Management Center? The M2M Management Center provides an integrated and seamless experience for managing the connectivity of your machine-to-machine (M2M) devices from a single Verizon portal My Business Account or Verizon Enterprise Center. Specialized pages simplify the processes for monitoring connection status and data usage, preventing overages, managing groups of devices and more. You can also choose to perform these functions from your own company applications using nphase-enabled Unified Web Services (UWS). How do I navigate to the M2M Management Center? You gain access to the M2M Management Center from numerous navigation points in My Business Account or Verizon Enterprise Center. Two example access points include: + + My Business Account: On the Overview page, click the M2M link located in the Account Maintenance box. + + Verizon Enterprise Center: On the Home page, select from the navigation choices in the M2M Services box. What browsers are supported by The M2M Management Center supports the following Web browsers: + + Microsoft Internet Explorer versions IE6 through IE8 + + Mozilla Firefox version Other Web browsers are not officially supported and may not provide an optimal user experience. Where can I find more information about You can find more information in the M2M Management Center User Guide. To view the PDF file, you may need to download the free Adobe Reader. I see numbered Custom Fields on the Device List screen, but the numbers are not sequential. Is this a problem? The M2M Management Center includes five custom fields for your organization s use. They are initially labeled Custom Field 1 through Custom Field 5. Your Customer Administrator can assign meaningful labels to these custom fields. These labels will appear on all of the portal screens where custom fields are displayed. When a Customer Administrator does not assign a label to a custom field, it retains its original label; for example, Custom Field 3. Therefore, when some custom fields are assigned labels and others are not, the numbers may not be sequential. 2

3 M2M Management Center User Interface 1. Is it possible to show different/more/less information in the Device List? 2. Why can t I change a default view? 3. Why can t I remove the Device Identifier from my custom view? 4. Can I change the data included in a Device Report? Is it possible to show different/more/less information in the Device List? Yes, you can create different views of the Device List to show the information you want to see. To create a view, click the Create View button on the Device List screen. When the Create View screen appears, give your view a name and description in the entry fields; use the Add to List/Delete from List buttons to select the fields to display; and use the Move Up/Move Down buttons to define the order in which the columns should appear in the results grid. After saving, your new view can be selected from the drop-down list of available views for the Device List. Why can t I change a default view? The M2M Management Center comes with preset, default views for the Device List and all Device Reports. The default view is displayed when you select the Device List or a Device Report for the first time during a portal session. Only an Administrativelevel user for an organization can edit the default view. Non-Administrative users can create and save their own views for the Device List and Device Reports. However, they cannot edit a default view. Why can t I remove the Device Identifier from my custom view? Device Identifier is a required field in any view. It uniquely identifies a device in the M2M Management Center database. Can I change the data included in a Device Report? Yes, you can change the data and layout of any report in the M2M Management Center by creating a new view. Click the Create View button on any report screen, supply a name and description for the new view, then select the fields to display as well as the order in which the fields should appear in the report when it is rendered. After saving, your new view can be selected from the drop-down list of available views for the report. Refer to the first question in this section, which includes a screen shot of the Create View screen. 3

4 Billing and Service Plans 1. Can I view billing information in 2. Why is the service plan for my device listed as M2M or M2M_CPN in the M2M Management Center instead of the service plan I selected in the Wireless Number Center? 3. How is my billing cycle used within 4. If a device is suspended by the auto-suspend feature, how long can it remain suspended? Will I still be incurring charges on the line while the device is in a suspended state? Can I view billing information in The M2M Management Center does not display your Verizon Wireless billing information. For information about your bill, see the Account Maintenance section of My Business Account or Verizon Enterprise Center. Why is the service plan for my device listed as M2M or M2M_CPN in the M2M Management Center instead of the service plan I selected in the Wireless Number Center? For devices that your system administrator provisioned via My Business Account or Verizon Enterprise Center, device service plan information isn t available in the M2M Management Center. A default service plan of M2M or M2M_CPN (for customers with the Customer Private Network feature) will display for these devices. For devices that your system administrator provisioned via a custom application that uses UWS application programming interfaces (APIs), the service plan names that your administrator selected to represent Verizon Wireless service plans will appear on the Device List page. How is my billing cycle used within The M2M Management Center uses the Verizon Wireless billing cycle dates to define the current period for Dashboard reports, and the monthly period for threshold notifications. For example, on the Dashboard, the Current Period Data Usage chart displays the number of devices whose data usage, calculated since the first day of each device s current billing cycle, falls within each defined range: Notifications can be based on daily, weekly or monthly thresholds. Monthly time periods are based on your billing cycle. For example, assume you have defined a notification rule that triggers whenever more than 30 devices are suspended in a month. The number of suspensions is set to zero on the first day of the billing cycle. If the number of suspensions reaches 31 before the last day of the billing cycle, the notification is sent. If a device is suspended by the auto-suspend feature, how long can it remain suspended? Will I still be incurring charges on the line while the device is in a suspended state? Policies regarding suspensions vary. Please refer to your contract or speak to your business sales representative. 4

5 Data Usage 1. In the M2M Management Center, the Dashboard displays device usage for the current period. How is the current period defined? 2. Can I view data in usage units other than KB in 3. How can I get total usage by device over a date range I define? In the M2M Management Center, the Dashboard displays device usage for the current period. How is the current period defined? The current period is a device s current Verizon Wireless monthly billing cycle. Each device has its own billing cycle. The Current Period Data Usage chart in the Dashboard displays the number of devices whose data usage for their current period, starting on the first day of their current billing cycle, falls within each of the chart s usage ranges. Can I view data in usage units other than KB in Data usage is shown throughout the M2M Management Center in kilobytes (KB) with the exception of the Dashboard page, which can be configured to display megabytes (MB). To change the Dashboard page data-usage units, bring up the Dashboard Setup page by selecting the Dashboard Config option under the Admin tab. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the Data Usage drop-down list: Select MB to show data usage in megabytes on the Dashboard page. How can I get total usage by device over a date range I define? The Aggregated Device Usage Report sums data and SMS usage by device over any date range you specify. You can select to report on a single device; multiple individual devices that share at least one character in their identifier; all devices in a selected account or all accounts to which you have access; all devices in a device group; devices that share value(s) in custom field(s); or any combination of these search criteria. 5

6 Provisioning 1. How do I add new devices to 2. The M2M Management Center doesn t show some of my devices. What do I do? 3. Why is an active device listed as Deactive in 4. What is Pending Action in 5. Why do I see active devices in a disconnected state in How do I add new devices to You can add new devices through the Account Maintenance tab of My Business Account or Verizon Enterprise Center. The M2M Management Center doesn t show some of my devices. What do I do? If some of your devices aren t showing, call Verizon Wireless Customer Service at to ensure the M2M Management Center feature code is applied to the device. Why is an active device listed as Deactive in This situation arises when a once-active device is deactivated within the M2M Management Center, but is not deactivated on the Verizon Wireless network. If you wish to resume managing the device within the M2M Management Center, contact Customer Service at , or your account representative to have the feature code reactivated. What is Pending Action in The Device List contains a column called Pending Action that displays either a future device state or Not Available according to the following scenarios: If a custom application using APIs requests a provisioning change, but Verizon Wireless hasn t yet confirmed the change, the Pending Action column displays the requested state. For example, if a device Suspend request has been submitted via an API, but Verizon Wireless has not yet processed the request, the Device Status displays Active while the Pending Action displays Suspend. The Pending Action column displays Not Available if Verizon Wireless has processed all provisioning changes. It also displays Not Available if a provisioning change has been requested through My Business Account or Verizon Enterprise Center. Why do I see active devices in a disconnected state in A device can be both active and disconnected at the same time. The Device List has a column labeled Device Status that displays the state of a device with respect to provisioning. Active devices are those that your System Administrator has provisioned on the Verizon Wireless network and in the M2M Management Center. The Connected column in the Device List indicates whether or not an active device is currently connected to the network and transmitting data or SMS traffic. 6

7 Device Information 1. What is the Device ID? 2. What does Carrier mean in 3. What can I use custom fields for? 4. How do I assign the same custom field value to multiple devices? 5. How can I find the IP address assigned to my device in 6. In the M2M Management Center, how can I tell when my device last connected? 7. Why isn t the total number of devices I see in the Dashboard the same as the total number of devices I see in the Device List when I click a hotspot in the Device State Status chart? What is the Device ID? The Device ID uniquely identifies a CDMA device. The Device ID can be either a Mobile Equipment Identifier (Meid) or an Electronic Serial Number (esn), depending on the device. + + The Meid is a globally unique number that identifies a physical piece of CDMA mobile station equipment. + + The ESN is a unique number assigned to a mobile device by the manufacturer. No two devices have the same ESN. What does Carrier mean in The term Carrier appears in several places throughout the M2M Management Center. For example, on the Device List page, the Carrier column refers to the wireless network carrier. Currently, this column always displays Verizon Wireless. What can I use custom fields for? Custom fields can be used to help organize, sort or categorize devices. Common values for custom fields are Location, Business Unit, Device Type, etc. 7

8 How do I assign the same custom field value to multiple devices? Go to the Device List and use the criteria to select the devices to which you want to assign the same value(s). Drop down the Actions menu, select Assign Custom Fields, check the fields you want to assign, enter the value(s) to apply to all selected devices and click Submit. How can I find the IP address assigned to my device in To determine the IP address of a device, locate the device within the Device List and click the View Info link: 8

9 This displays a pop-up window that shows detailed information about the device, including its IP address: An IP address is always shown when the device is connected. If the device is not connected, the IP address appears only if the device has a static IP address. If the device uses a dynamic IP address and is not connected, this field is zero-filled. The IP address of a device can also be included in a Device List view. Either ask your Administrator to include the IP address in the default view of your organization s Device List or create a new custom view including the IP Address field. In the M2M Management Center, how can I tell when my device last connected? Locate your device on the Device List page and click the View Info link. Enter the desired device ID into the Device Identifier field and click Search. When the search results are displayed, click the View Info link: 9

10 The pop-up window shows detailed information about the device, including the last connect and disconnect dates: Why isn t the total number of devices I see in the Dashboard the same as the total number of devices I see in the Device List when I click a hotspot in the Device State Status chart? When you click in an area of a chart to see devices in a certain state, the Device List may also include devices with other Pending states, thus displaying a total number of devices that is greater than the devices reflected in the Dashboard. For example, when you click in the chart to see Active devices, the Device List includes all Active devices, plus devices that are still Active but are pending a change to another state. These devices transition from Active to another state when the pending provisioning action is complete. 10

11 Device Groups 1. Why would I group devices in 2. Can I assign devices to an existing or new device group from the Device List? 3. Can I initiate an action on a Device Group from the Device List? 4. Can a group of devices from the Device List page be selected for Bulk Activation in Why would I group devices in the M2M Management Center? To perform the same actions on multiple devices, or to monitor certain devices together and generate alerts for them, use the device grouping feature. Can I assign devices to an existing or new device group from the Device List? Yes. Select a Billing Account; if needed, search for the devices you want to group and select them; then drop down the Actions menu and choose Assign to Device Group. In the Assign to Device Group pop-up, use the drop-down list control to either select an existing device group or choose the Add New Device Group command to create a new group. Complete the appropriate fields and save your changes. A message will remind you that devices can belong to only one group at a time. When you confirm the message, devices will be removed from their current group and moved into the group you designate. Can I initiate an action on a Device Group from the Device List? Yes. First search for the Device Group using the search field found in the top portion of the Device List. When the devices in the group are displayed, select them all, drop down the Actions menu and select an action. If all devices in a group are not displayed on a single page of the screen, use the list manipulation controls to expand the list to show more rows. The list can be expanded to show up to 500 rows. Can a group of devices from the Device List page be selected for bulk activation in the M2M Management Center? No. All device provisioning actions are performed within the Account Maintenance section of My Business or Verizon Enterprise Center. For access to device provisioning for multiple devices, select the Bulk Account Maintenance link on the Device List page. From the Account Maintenance area, you can enter the IDs for the devices that you want to provision, or import those device IDs with a commaseparated values (CSV) file. 11

12 Device Controls 1. How do I use the device Wake-up feature in 2. In the M2M Management Center, what does a Remote Prl Update do? How often do I need to do a Remote Prl Update? 3. On what devices can I perform a Prl update in 4. The system just sent me a message about nearing my Prl update allowance. How many Prl updates am I allowed? How do I use the device Wake-up feature in Two wake-up methods are available, depending upon the availability of clients and device capabilities (contact your business sales representative to determine availability). IP Wake-up requires a commercially available software client or a customer-provided software client on the device. Contact your business sales representative for a list of devices with preloaded software clients that support this feature. SMS Wake-up is available for devices that support mobile terminated SMS reception. Contact the device manufacturer for more information. In the M2M Management Center, what does a Remote PRL Update do? How often do I need to do a Remote PRL Update? A preferred roaming list (Prl) update allows a device to optimize its selection of a roaming carrier or partner when needed. For best performance, update the Prl for each device once and only once every 90 days. Update no more than approximately one device per sector per hour. Note: A Prl update can only occur successfully if the device is on and in a coverage area. On what devices can I perform a PRL update in Prl update requires software on the device. Contact your business sales representative for a list of devices with preloaded software clients that support this feature. The system just sent me a message about nearing my PRL update allowance. How many PRL updates am I allowed? You are allowed one Prl update per device for your Prl update period, which is typically 90 days. The update period and the Prl update allowance were agreed by your company and Verizon Wireless at the time your account was set up. Contact your business sales representative to request any potential changes. 12

13 Alerts and Notifications 1. How are alerts triggered in 2. How do I set up alerts in 3. What is the difference between Notify on Request and Notify on Confirmation in the Notification Setup screen? 4. Why would I use the Bsid Change alarm type? 5. What happens if my box is full? Will a notification message be resent? 6. What is a rogue device, and how can I manage one through How are alerts triggered in The M2M Management Center has three types of rules that trigger alerts, or notifications: + + Action: This notification is triggered when a system user performs a specified provisioning action. For example, you can set up a notification rule to send an or SMS message to people ( contacts ), predefined in the notification group, whenever an activation occurs. The notification is sent immediately after the provisioning request is submitted to Verizon Wireless systems. When the provisioning action completes successfully, it will show in the Transaction History Report. + + Number of action: This notification is triggered when a specified number of provisioning actions is performed via My Business Account or Verizon Enterprise Center within a specified time frame thereby exceeding a user-defined threshold, such as 250 suspends within one month. + + Amount of data used: This notification is triggered when the amount of data a device consumes exceeds a threshold, specified in kilobytes (KB), in a certain time frame, such as 100 KB in one day. This is also a type of threshold notification. + + Change in value: This notification is triggered when a value associated with a device changes. How do I set up alerts in You can set up notification rules that send alerts based on certain events or thresholds using the Notification Setup page. Only users assigned to the Verizon Wireless Customer Admin user role can access the Notification Setup page. If you cannot view the Notification Setup menu option but need to set up alerts, contact your Customer Administrator. To access the Notification Setup page, place the mouse over the Admin tab and select Notification Setup. Then click Add New: The Add New Notification dialog appears: 13

14 Enter the criteria for the notification rule and click Save. The full description for generating notification rules is found in the M2M Management Center User Guide, found in the Support tab of the portal: What is the difference between Notify on Request and Notify on Confirmation in the Notification Setup screen? When you select Notify on Request, the M2M Management Center generates notifications when you click the Submit button to make your request. The notification is generated whether the request is successfully executed or not. When you select Notify on Confirmation, the M2M Management Center generates notifications after your request is successfully processed. Why would I use the BSID Change alarm type? The Base Sector Identifier (Bsid) is used to indicate a 3G device s approximate location. The M2M Management Center includes an alarm type that allows you to set up a rule to specify an action such as Suspend when the Bsid detected for a 3G device differs from a reference Bsid value. In many static (nonmobile) applications, the detection of a device location that is different from the expected location may indicate asset theft/fraud, etc. What happens if my box is full; will a notification message be resent? The system will not attempt to resend; therefore, it is recommended that at least two individuals be assigned to receive a particular notification. What is a rogue device, and how can I manage one through A rogue device is a device that exceeds typical usage levels, indicating rogue, or runaway, behavior. The M2M Management Center s notification feature includes an option to set a threshold for a device s typical behavior. When this threshold is exceeded, the device is automatically suspended and a Suspend notification is sent. At this point, the device might need to be repaired or replaced before being brought back to an Active status. 14

15 Administrative Settings 1. I m in the Mountain time zone but the M2M Management Center displays dates in Eastern time. How can I change my time zone? 2. Numbered labels for custom fields are not useful as-is. Is there a way to change the numbered labels on these fields so system users enter the same information into the same fields consistently? 3. Why does the Master Log in the M2M Management Center list Verizon User as the user name for the individual who created the event instead of the actual individual s name? I m in the Mountain time zone but the M2M Management Center displays dates in Eastern time. How can I change my time zone? You can change your time zone by editing the Time Zone setting in the Contact Setup page, accessible through the Admin tab. (Only users who are assigned the Verizon Wireless Customer Administrator user role can access the Contact Setup page. If you do not have permission to see the Contact Setup page, please see your Customer Administrator.) From the Contact Setup page, perform a search that returns your name. Click Edit in the resulting list: You can now edit your profile, and change your time zone: Numbered labels for custom fields are not useful as-is. Is there a way to change the numbered labels on these fields so system users enter the same information into the same fields consistently? The M2M Management Center includes five custom fields for your organization s use. They are initially labeled Custom Field 1 through Custom Field 5. A Customer Administrator can assign meaningful labels to these custom fields using the Custom Field Labels command in the Admin tab. HS Why does the Master Log in the M2M Management Center list Verizon User as the user name for the individual who created the event instead of the actual individual s name? Network details & coverage maps at vzw.com Verizon Wireless. Currently, the M2M Management Center is unable to display the individual user name for provisioning actions that were originated through My Business Account or Verizon Enterprise Center. In this situation, the default name Verizon User displays.