I’m back from a refreshing two-week vacation, and it was great to take some time to recharge. That said, I’m excited to be back and tackling Q4 with all of you.

I know the thought of employees taking time off can sometimes be stressful for a business. Have you ever dreaded an upcoming employee vacation because you weren’t sure if there would be enough coverage or if key tasks might fall through the cracks?

This week’s newsletter is all about how we can prevent that from happening. We’ll explore how to create effective metrics and views within ConnectWise to ensure clear job responsibilities, proper coverage, and a seamless workflow – even when team members are out. Let’s dive in and make sure nothing slips through the cracks!

One of the best practices I recommend to every client is the creation of shared, numbered views within ConnectWise Manage. But what exactly does this mean?

On every screen in ConnectWise, there is a "View" section in the corner. This feature allows you and your team to create custom views that filter and display only the most important information for specific tasks. These custom views help ensure you’re seeing the data that matters most, and you can take action on all the results within the view in a consistent, efficient way.

However, I don’t suggest simply creating these views and leaving it at that. To truly optimize coverage—especially when employees are out—I recommend numbering these views in order of priority. This way, when someone is covering for a colleague but is limited on time, they’ll know which views to address first, ensuring that the most critical tasks are handled without delay.

Check out the video below for an example of procurement views in action, and see how shared, numbered views can keep your team on track and in sync, no matter who’s available to handle the workload.

[Watch the video on building Purchasing Approval Views]

By implementing this practice, you can ensure smoother job coverage and reduce the risk of things falling through the cracks.

So how do metrics tie into these shared, numbered views? Every time you run a view in ConnectWise, you’ll see a number of lines returned in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Most of the time, the goal for each view is simple: zero—meaning all the lines in that view have been actioned. Of course, if you’re cleaning up a screen or working through a backlog, that number may start off much higher.

The key is to track the progress. We’re looking for that number to go down over time. This is where metrics come into play. Employees or managers can record the number of lines in each view on a simple scorecard each week. This way, you can easily spot trends and quickly see if the number of unresolved lines is going up (not good!) or going down (exactly what we want).

While you can use more advanced reporting tools to visualize this data, sometimes the simplest solution is the best. Start with a good old-fashioned Excel spreadsheet, listing the views in one column and tracking the number of results week by week in the adjacent column. This gives you a straightforward way to see progress and hold the team accountable for keeping things on track.

By combining numbered views with weekly tracking, you’ll have clear metrics to measure performance and ensure nothing is being overlooked.

Ever wonder how Large Language Models (LLMs) work? I know I did, so I decided to dive deeper and signed up for a free trial of Brilliant, a Duolingo-style learning platform that makes complex topics like LLMs easy to understand and fun to learn.

Brilliant offers bite-sized courses that you can complete in just a few minutes a day, helping you build a better understanding of how LLMs operate—without overwhelming technical jargon.

Check out their course on how LLMs work here:
Learn How LLMs Work on Brilliant

Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter!

If you need any help setting up metrics, creating shared views, or cleaning up your ConnectWise screens, don’t hesitate to reach out. Let’s make your Connectwise work for you.