Lesson #129
Setup – System Preferences function
MR comes with default options for its different functions. Some cannot be altered but generally you can customize functions to fit your company by editing, adding, and deleting options. System Preferences is where you set global options for different features in your MR system.
These global preference settings are used throughout your MR system by all users. You must be part of the Administrators group to change System Preference settings.
System preferences can be customized at any time. The only one you need to set before using MR is entering your company’s email settings in General > Email if you will be sending emails from MR.
Options you can customize in System Preferences include:
- Company email address(es)
- Text of “Forgot Password” emails
- Upgrade to Standard or downgrade to Lite editions of MR9. This feature is only available to Administrators.
- Which credit card to use for your MR subscription payments. You can also view your billing history and pay overdue invoices.
- How many Named User Licenses access your MR9
- Login security — such as requiring strong passwords and 2FA verification
- How long MR saves messages sent internally
- How long a period of inactivity allowed before MR logs a user off automatically
- Company time zone default & other time zones to select
- Job confirmations & cancellations
- Task assignments & cancellations
- Job statuses displayed as calendar search options
- Future calendar emails
- Holidays observed
- Job & task calendar view options
- Job status colors
- Job status automatic updates
- New job defaults
- Overdue tasks emails
- Resource Blast (last minute job announcement emails & texts) contents and defaults
- Zoom account settings, preferences, and other customizations
- Envelope printing specs
- FedEx & UPS account information
- Repository publishing default & use tracking options
- Invoices, statements, and payment receipts & related emails’ contents and other invoice options
- LEDES 1998B exported files
- Reward points
- Pay statements & related emails’ contents
- Payment wait periods
- 1099 Form & check printing
- Direct deposit payment settings
- Default settings for new firms, contacts, & resources
- QuickBooks settings
- Company contact information for MR Network membership
- Email Logs tracking
System Preferences sections
With so many options to describe each section is broken out into a separate lesson:
System Preferences vs. Lists
MR separates out list customization from other system preferences. If you want different options in a list you would make those changes in the Lists function. All other options are grouped by module under System Preferences.
Some System Preferences options work with Lists — such as the file types you can have MR automatically attach to assignment notifications. They are generated in Lists under Repository, which you can then select from in System Preferences under Calendar.
Personal preferences
Some system preferences can be overridden by personal preferences set by individual users. Preferences that only affect your individual MR setup are available under User Preferences.
TL;DR: Use MR’s default options or customize these systemwide options to match your company.
MR concepts in this lesson
Administrator: MR user who has access to and control of all areas of MR. You can have any number of MR administrators but each MR system must have at least one administrator. Administrator rights include setting up user accounts, assigning users to groups (which authorize what actions users can perform in MR and what kinds of notifications and messages they receive), and setting global system preferences.
Users: You and your staff who directly access MR.
