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Administration - getting started
The following are common steps for the AyaNova business Administrator to get AyaNova ready for business use.
We also have a technical guide to server operations and maintenance with important guidance for the server operations manager to ensure the AyaNova server runs smoothly and data is safe and protected.
Not all steps are necessary if they don't apply to your business and most of the items below can be modifed later as your needs change.
Here we will provide links to the help pages for each item rather than repeating the information in each step of this document.
We encourage you to read up on each item's documentation page as you come to it if you are not already familiar with it from the evaluation process.
Licensing
The first step in using AyaNova for production use is obtaining and installing a license.
Licenses are controlled from the Administration license form in AyaNova which contains links to view, purchase and install an AyaNova license.
Change the superuser password
The superuser User account in AyaNova is always present, can not be erased and is intended to be used only to create other Users and to initiate specific operations that are considered 'dangerous'.
The first and most important step in securing your AyaNova server is changing the superuser password from the default l3tm3in.
It is critically important to do this before taking any further steps; particularly before creating any Users.
Failing to do this would mean you will have no effective security as the AyaNova superuser password is well known and could be used by anyone to cause significant damage to your data or create more Users with administrative level privileges.
Once AyaNova is licensed, if you log in as the superuser with the default password l3tm3in, you will be taken automatically to the change password form to encourage it to be changed.
We have specific guidelines for the latest best practices in choosing a secure password and we encourage you to read about it and follow the advice written there in order to choose an easy to memorize, secure password that does not need to be written down or stored insecurely.
We also strongly recommend the use of Two factor authentication, in particular with the superuser User but also with any User account with a Business Administration role which can be used to create Users or grant them higher permission levels.
What if I lose my superuser password?
No worries, AyaNova has a built in method to recover the superuser account provided you have shell / command line access to the AyaNova server.
Erase evaluation data
Once AyaNova is licensed it's time to erase any sample data so you can get started with your own.
The License form contains the Erase database menu option which you should read about now to understand what will happen and what exact items will be kept before erasing the sample data and proceeding to the next step.
Create tax codes
Now is a good time create your Tax codes as they will need to be selected in later steps. Tax codes are optional but generally necessary for most businesses.
Create service and travel rates
Service / Labor rates must be entered in advance so they can be selected on work orders.
Travel rates should be entered now if they are appropriate for your business.
Configure global settings
Now that tax codes and rates have been entered it's time to set the Global settings.
We encourage you to read the help documentation for each item as there are some important and time saving features here.
There's a lot of things that can be set here and not all of it needs to be configured immediately but it is a good idea to at minimum set these items to get started:
- Business settings section, configure all items here that are applicable to your business
- Company information, set this up as completely as possible, these values are used in many places in AyaNova.
- Business logos, it is not necessary to set your business logo, AyaNova will work without them, however they will be used in reports and other areas that may be seen by your Customers so it's a good idea, particularly if you are going to be using any of the Customer access features in future.
Create Users
Create User accounts for your staff and set up initial logins (which they can change on their own later).
We recommend limiting the authorization roles initially granted to your Users so that they only have the minimum required to do their job and only adding more access later as required.
You should create a User account for every User who will be using AyaNova. AyaNova does not permit the same User account to be in active use for more than one user at a time.
Only Scheduleable type users consume a license so there is no reason not to create as many User accounts as are required for your staff.
When you create the User accounts, give each User a temporary password and encourage them to change it immediately when they first log in following our recommended best practices for choosing a password.
While it's a good idea for any User, if the User has been granted the Business administration role we particularly encourage you to have them set up Two factor authentication to ensure the highest level security for what is a very powerful role in AyaNova.
Create a Business Administration User for yourself
No one should use the superuser account on a regular basis for day to day work. It is not intended for that purpose and we will be further restricting non administrative features available to the superuser User in upcoming releases.
The superuser User should be reserved for specific needs only and your day to day work should be done with a User account created with the roles you need including the Business administration role.
Be sure to set up two factor authentication for your own business administration account, particularly if you will be accessing AyaNova from a public network.
Create vendors
Vendors are used all over AyaNova and are required for inventory and other features.
Create parts and opening inventory
If your shop does not use Inventory or Parts you can skip this section.
The Part form is used to create the parts you will be selecting on work orders in the course of providing service.
Once a Part has been created you can enter an opening inventory for it as well as any serial numbers on hand if used.
Subscribe to notifications
There are many automatic notifications available in AyaNova, many of particular interest to the business administrator and now is a good time to set up any that are of use in your business.
Customize report templates
If you haven't already during evaluation, now is a good time to go through the reports you intend to use in your business and make any changes required if the stock report templates don't meet your needs as they are.
We suggest making a duplicate copy of any stock report templates you want to modify first and then working with the duplicate so that you always have the original for reference.
If you prefer to have report templates modified or created for you, we may be able to provide that service for a fee, contact AyaNova support for details and a quotation.