This tutorial gives you hands-on experience with MSPComplete. Work through these exercises in the order presented; each preceding exercise provides context for the subsequent exercise.
When you finish this tutorial, you will understand how to perform the basic functions, such as setting up customers, adding users, creating a Runbook, launching a Service, assigning and completing Tasks, and viewing system information in your personal feed.
Time to complete this tutorial: Approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes.
Sections in this article:
- Before you begin
- Exercise 1: Understand Subscriptions and Agents
- Exercise 2: Create a Workgroup
- Exercise 3: Configure Billing Information
- Exercise 4: Purchase Subscriptions or Licenses
- Exercise 5: Invite Agents
- Exercise 6: Create a Team
- Exercise 7: Add a Sample Customer
- Exercise 8: Add Users for the Sample Customer
- Exercise 9: Add Groups for the Sample Customer
- Exercise 10: Pick a Runbook from the Library Page
- Exercise 11: View and Edit Runbooks
- Exercise 12: Launch and Customize a Service
- Exercise 13: Complete the Service
- Exercise 14: Delete the Service
- Exercise 15: Archive the Sample Customer
Before you begin
Time to complete: 15 minutes
Do the following before you begin this tutorial:
- Register for MSPComplete, and sign in. Anyone can register for MSPComplete at no cost. All that is required is some basic information about your organization, an email address, and a password. You might receive an invitation to register for MSPComplete in the case that a central administrator manages access to your organization’s MSPComplete Workgroups.
- Take the interface tour and get familiar with MSPComplete terminology. After you sign in to MSPComplete, read the MSPComplete interface tour and MSPComplete Glossary articles. These articles show you how MSPComplete is organized and acquaint you with some common terms.
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Check your Workgroup. As noted in the interface tour, there’s a Workgroup drop-down menu at the top of the left navigation pane. When you register for MSPComplete, a default Workgroup with your account name is created for you. We recommend that you create a separate “tutorial” Workgroup specifically for the exercises in this tutorial, as outlined in exercise 2 below. Refer to the Add and Edit Workgroups article for more information.
If you were invited to register for MSPComplete by a central administrator, ask the administrator if there is a different Workgroup you should use for this tutorial. If so, choose that Workgroup in the drop-down menu before you begin this tutorial. -
Determine your Agent role. An MSPComplete Agent can be an administrator, a manager, or an associate. If you signed up for MSPComplete yourself, you will be an administrator in your default Workgroup or any Workgroups you create. If you were invited to register for MSPComplete, you can be given any role. If you are unsure which role was assigned to you, ask the administrator who invited you. The role you have determines what you can do in MSPComplete, and factors into which steps of this tutorial you can carry out.
Important
The exercises in this tutorial are optimized for an Agent with the administrator role. - Refer to this tutorial often. We are constantly adding new exercises to cover the full scope of features available in MSPComplete. Click Follow at the top of this page to be notified when updates are made.
Exercise 1: Understand Subscriptions and Agents
Time to complete: 10 minutes
When you register at BitTitan, you get access to MSPComplete and MigrationWiz. Your MSPComplete account is given a default Workgroup, and that Workgroup is given Get Organized access. The Get Organized access gives you the ability to invite Agents (including yourself) in MSPComplete at no cost and to perform the functions included in the Get Organized subscription plan. To configure Agents into teams, or run PowerShell automation, you must purchase Get Automated subscriptions for all the Agents that will be in MSPComplete.
Agents are the people who sign in to MSPComplete to manage customer resources and deliver services. Agents are invited to join a Workgroup, and they can be assigned an administrator, manager, associate, or inactive role. Read the Invite Agents, Agent Roles and Privileges, and Edit Agent Role and Hourly Rate articles for more information.
You need to have purchased as many subscriptions as the number of Agents that you plan to invite to a Workgroup in MSPComplete. For example, if you plan on having two administrators, two managers, and two associate Agents, you must purchase three Get Organized subscriptions. Keep in mind that you are given three Get Organized subscriptions at no cost. You can also purchase up to six Get Automated subscriptions if you intend on configuring teams or running PowerShell automation. If you try to invite more Agents, MSPComplete will prompt you to purchase more subscriptions. You can also invite Agents and assign them the inactive role, which doesn’t require subscriptions. However, inactive Agents are not able to perform actions in the Workgroup until they are assigned an administrator, manager, or associate role. Read the Subscription and licensing FAQ articles for more information.
Exercise 2: Create a Workgroup
Time to complete: 5 minutes
In this exercise, you will create a new Workgroup that you will use to complete the rest of the exercises in this tutorial. Using Workgroups, you can create separate sets of customer, Runbooks, Services, Teams, and Agent information. This lets you set up security boundaries within your organization or accommodate different subscription billing needs.
Follow these steps to configure billing information for a Workgroup:
- Confirm that you’re in the Workgroup created for this tutorial.
- Click Add on the top navigation bar, and then select Workgroup.
- In the form that appears, enter a Workgroup name and a default Agent rate.
- Click Save.
For more information: Read the Add and Edit Workgroups and Workgroups FAQ
Exercise 3: Configure Billing Information
Time to complete: 10 minutes
Billing information must be configured for the Workgroup before subscriptions and licenses can be purchased.
Follow these steps to configure billing information for a Workgroup:
- Confirm that you’re in the Workgroup created for this tutorial.
- Click Settings on the left navigation pane.
- In the Workgroups tab, click Add Payment.
- In the form that appears, read the terms and conditions, enter your billing address, shipping address, and payment information.
- Follow the onscreen prompts to add the billing information.
For more information: Read the Configure Billing Information for a Workgroup
Exercise 4: Purchase Subscriptions or Licenses
Time to complete: 10 minutes
Subscriptions and licenses must be purchased to perform specific functions in MSPComplete or MigrationWiz. Subscriptions and licenses can be purchased only after an administrator has configured billing information for the Workgroup, as covered in the previous exercise.
If you try to perform a function requiring that you purchase subscriptions, such as when inviting more than three Agents to a Workgroup, MSPComplete will prompt you to purchase subscriptions, and a purchase pane will appear. Follow the on-screen prompts to purchase the necessary subscriptions.
To purchase licenses, go to the SalesBuilder page. Your billing information is entered only after the licenses are added to the shopping cart and a checkout request is made.
Follow these steps to purchase licenses:
- Confirm that you’re in the Workgroup created for this tutorial.
- Click Settings on the left navigation pane.
- Click the Licenses tab, and then click Purchase Licenses or Shopping Cart.
- Locate the desired licenses, enter the number of licenses to purchase, and click Next.
- Follow the onscreen prompts to complete the license purchase.
Exercise 5: Invite Agents
Time to complete: 10 minutes
Agents are the personnel who provide IT services using MSPComplete. Agents can be assigned an administrator, manager, associate, or inactive role. When Agents are invited to a Workgroup, they receive an email asking them to register for MSPComplete if they haven’t done so already. Once registered, they will have access to the Workgroup they were invited to join. Read the Agent Roles and Privileges article for more information.
Follow these steps to invite Agents to a Workgroup:
- Confirm that you’re in the Workgroup created for this tutorial.
- Click People on the left navigation pane.
- Under the Agents tab, click Invite Agents.
- In the form that appears, select a role and enter an Agent’s email address.
- Click Invite.
For more information: Read Invite Agents.
Exercise 6: Create a Team
Time to complete: 10 minutes
A team is a set of MSPComplete Agents who have similar expertise. Each team defines a pool of Agents with similar skills who can carry out the same types of Service Tasks. When you launch a Service for a customer, you can assign the Service, or each Task in the Service, to a team. If you assign a Task to a team, Agents who are members of that team can claim the Task, or MSPComplete can assign the Task to an Agent automatically, depending on the assignment type configured for the team (pull from the queue or load balance, respectively).
Follow these steps to create a team:
- Confirm that you’re in the Workgroup created for this tutorial.
- Click People on the left navigation pane.
- Under the Teams tab, click New Team.
- Enter a team name in the form that appears.
- Choose Pull From Queue as the team assignment type:
- With pull from the queue, any team member can claim Service Tasks on the My Tasks page. You’ll probably want to set up these types of teams until you have well-defined team strategies.
- With load balance, MSPComplete automatically assigns Service Tasks to the team member who has the fewest assigned Tasks.
- In the People selection of the form, click the Select link next to your name to create a team consisting of only you.
- Click Create New Team. The team name now appears on the page.
Important
You can create any number of teams, and each member can be in multiple teams.
Exercise 7: Add a Sample Customer
Time to complete: 10 minutes
Customers are the companies whose IT and cloud infrastructure you manage, and to whom you deliver a customized array of managed services using MSPComplete.
Follow these steps to add a sample customer:
- Confirm that you’re in the Workgroup created for this tutorial.
- Click All Customers on the left navigation pane.
- In the main pane, click Add Customer.
- In the form that appears, enter a fictitious company name, a fictitious domain, and a primary location.
- Click Save.
For more information: Read the View, Add, and Edit Your Customers article.
Exercise 8: Add Users for the Sample Customer
Time to complete: 10 minutes
For each customer, you can add users through several methods, such as by gathering information from the customer’s Microsoft Exchange or Office 365 account.
Follow these steps to add users for the sample customer:
- Confirm that you’re in the Workgroup created for this tutorial.
- Click All Customers on the left navigation pane.
- Click the name of the sample customer you added in a previous exercise.
- Click the Users tab.
When no users have been added yet, this page summarizes the different methods for adding them. Click the arrows next to the methods and read the descriptions to get a sense of the different ways to add users. - Click Add Users, and then select Add Users with Quick Add.
- In the form that appears, supply a first name and a last name along with an email address, which typically falls within the customer’s domain. You can use any value because the email will not be used in this tutorial.
- Click Save. Repeat these steps to add more users.
For more information: Read the View, Add, and Edit Customer's Users article, or for specific instructions, read one of these topics: - Add users by using an endpoint
- Add users by deploying the Device Management Agent (DMA)
- Add users manually by using Quick Add
- Add users manually by using Bulk Add
- Click the column headings in the users list to sort the list in various ways, such as in alphabetical order by email address, first name, or last name.
Tip
There is also a Filter menu and a search box that are useful when working with a long list of users. - Click the list entry for one of the users you added. A panel with user details appears.
Important
The two ellipsis buttons on the panel. An ellipsis button always designates a context menu that allows you to carry out certain actions. Here, the top menu is for editing, deleting, or applying a User Migration Bundle license to the user. The bottom menu gives you access to feed entries concerning this user.Tip
The ellipsis next to each user in the users list also provides the option to edit the user, delete the user, or apply a User Migration Bundle license to the user.
Exercise 9: Add Groups for the Sample Customer
Time to complete: 5 minutes
A group is a set of users that you create.
- Each group belongs to a specific customer. For example, you cannot set up a group that includes employees from two different customers.
- Some groups are created automatically. For instance, you can add users with an endpoint that replicates a customer’s Active Directory groups as MSPComplete groups.
- You can create any number of additional groups and modify the group membership as needed. For example, you might set up a group for new employees who need onboarding services, changing the group membership each week as new hires start work at a customer site.
- Any user can belong to any number of groups. For instance, you can add your onboarding group members to groups that represent the customer’s business units, such as finance or sales.
Follow these steps to create a group that includes the user you created:
- Confirm that you’re in the Workgroup created for this tutorial.
- Click All Customers on the left navigation pane.
- Click the name of the sample customer you added in a previous exercise.
- Click the Groups tab.
- Click Add Group.
- In the form that appears, enter any group name.
- Click Save. The group name now appears on the page.
- Click the group name.
- At the top of the group details form that appears, click the ellipsis and choose Add Users.
- Click the boxes to place a checkmark next to each of the users.
Tip
In the form, you can search the user list and filter by different criteria that are useful when working with a long list of users. - Click Save. The users now appear in the group details form.
For more information: Read the View, Add, and Edit Customer Users article.
Exercise 10: Pick a Runbook from the Library Page
Time to complete: 10 minutes
Now that you have covered the basics, it’s time to dive into Runbooks, Services, and Tasks. A Runbook is a business process template that breaks an end-to-end business operation down into a sequence of individual Tasks. A Runbook may describe an operation as simple as adding a new user to a corporate network, or as complicated as performing a large-scale mailbox migration. So, depending on the complexity of the work, a Runbook may include as few as four or five Tasks or may have as many as thirty or forty Tasks.
With your MSPComplete subscription, you have access to many Runbooks that you can make your own from the Library page. You can choose the Runbooks that apply to your business, and then publish them to your own Runbook store.
Follow these steps to pick a Runbook from the Library page:
- Confirm that you’re in the Workgroup created for this tutorial.
- Click Library on the left navigation pane. The Runbook library page displays all available Runbooks from BitTitan or Independent Software Vendors (ISVs).
Tip
Use the search and filter options to narrow down the list of Runbooks in the Library. - Search for and select the Reset User Password for Office 365 Runbook to view the description, list of Tasks, and the default hours of effort estimate on the right information pane.
- Click Add to my Runbooks. This creates a copy of the Runbook on your own Runbook page. We will continue to use the Reset User Password for Office 365 Runbook for the Services and Tasks exercises that follow in this tutorial.
For more information: Read the View Runbooks in the Library and Save a Runbook from the Library articles.
Exercise 11: View and Edit Runbooks
Time to complete: 10 minutes
Now that you have saved a Runbook from the Library, it is time to view all the Runbooks that you have saved and customize a Runbook.
Follow these steps to view and edit Runbooks:
- Confirm that you’re in the Workgroup created for this tutorial.
- Click Runbooks on the left navigation pane. The Runbooks page displays published and draft Runbooks for the Workgroup.
- Click the ellipsis for the Reset User Password for Office 365 Runbook to launch, edit, export, duplicate, or delete it.
- Click Edit Runbook. The Runbook Customization page displays several options for editing a Runbook and its Tasks. These are the Runbook options you can customize:
- Runbook title, start/end date, assignment, material cost, and customer price.
- Task titles, assignments, durations, and order.
For more information: Read the Edit a Runbook or Service article.
- Assign the Runbook to yourself. The Task labor cost and overall cost for the Runbook will increase based on your hourly rate.
- Click Publish to publish the Runbook, or click the X icon to exit the Runbook Customization page and leave the Runbook in draft state.
Important
Draft Runbooks are visible only to you. Other administrators and managers of the Workgroup cannot launch the modified Runbook until it has been published.
Exercise 12: Launch and Customize a Service
Time to complete: 10 minutes
Once the Runbook has been preconfigured the way you want it, with the correct Task durations and costs, it’s time to launch that Runbook. A Runbook is considered an instantiated Service when it’s launched for a customer and assigned to an Agent. From that point forward, any edits made to the Service are not carried over to the Runbook from which it was created.
Follow these steps to launch and customize a Service:
- Confirm that you’re in the Workgroup created for this tutorial.
- Click Runbooks on the left navigation pane. The Runbooks page displays published and draft Runbooks for the Workgroup.
- Click a Runbook, select the customer for which you want to launch the Runbook into a Service, and then click Customize and Launch. The Runbook Customization page appears and provides several options for editing the Runbook and its Tasks.
For more information: Read the Edit a Runbook or Service article. - Confirm that the Runbook and its Tasks are assigned to an Agent, and when you are ready to launch the Runbook into a Service, click Launch Service. Launched Services are managed in the Delivery Center for the Workgroup, or in the Delivery Center for the customer.
For more information: Read the Customize and Launch a Service from the Runbooks Page article.
Exercise 13: Complete the Service
Time to complete: 10 minutes
Once a Service is launched, it is ready to be completed by the assigned Agent. Launched Services are managed in the Delivery Center for the Workgroup, or in the Delivery Center for the customer. Since you assigned the Service to yourself in a previous exercise, you are now responsible for opening that Service and completing the individual Tasks within the prescribed time frames.
Follow these steps to complete the Service:
- Confirm that you’re in the Workgroup created for this tutorial.
- Click Delivery Center on the left navigation pane. The Delivery Center displays all active and completed Runbooks for the Workgroup.
For more information: Read the Workgroups FAQ article. - Click the Reset User Password for Office 365 Service that you launched in the previous exercise. The Service Page is where you start, stop, and complete Tasks for the Service.
- When you start working on Tasks for a Service, you have the option to start the Task or skip a Task. Once you have started a Task, you can complete the Task, mark it as blocked, or restart the Task.
For more information: Read the Complete Tasks for a Service article.
Exercise 14: Delete the Service
Time to complete: 2 minutes
Generally, you do not need to delete a Service after it runs to completion. However, you can delete any Service before, during, or after it runs. If the Service has not finished, all Tasks are unassigned from Agents.
Follow these steps to delete the Service:
- Confirm that you’re in the Workgroup created for this tutorial.
- Click Delivery Center on the left navigation pane.
- Click the ellipsis for a Service, and then click Delete Service.
- In the prompt that appears, click Delete Service to confirm the deletion.
Important
Deleted Services cannot be recovered.
Exercise 15: Archive the Sample Customer
Time to complete: 2 minutes
Continue familiarizing yourself with MSPComplete using the sample data you created. When you are finished, you can archive the customer information. MSPComplete does not delete customer, user, or subscription information. Instead, it marks the entries as inactive and archives the data, keeping it available for reactivation to aid with any reporting, legal, or billing issues that may surface later.
Follow these steps to archive the sample customer:
- Confirm that you’re in the Workgroup created for this tutorial.
- Click Customers on the left navigation pane.
- In the customers list displayed on the main pane, point to the sample customer row.
- Click the Archive Customer icon at the end of the row.
- Click Yes in the confirmation screen. The customer name remains in the list but the status has changed to Archived.