VARs

 

What is a VAR?

VARs (also referred to as resellers) are special accounts to manage companies and users. The VAR Administrator has the rights to create and manage company accounts.

Each Evatel system comes with one virtual VAR and one virtual Company for public signup. These two accounts are all you need if the Evatel system is installed as an enterprise solution in your company. The System Administrator is responsible for managing the default virtual VAR and virtual Company accounts.

The VARs View

Click on the VARs button in the Web Portal toolbar to access the VARs page.

The VARs page lists all registered VARs on the system. From this section, you can add a new VAR account, import an existing one from the phone system, change the options, call restrictions and user keys of an existing one, or completely remove a VAR account. All changes are saved and effective immediately after each operation.

The VARs view provides the following information organized in columns for each VAR:
  • VAR Name: Click the VAR name to edit the VAR profile and other VAR options.
  • Companies: Number of companies that belong to this VAR.
  • Keys Unused: The number of user keys available in the VAR account. Click to change it.
  • Keys Used: The number of keys already assigned to users.
  • Contact Name: VAR Administrator name.
  • Phone Number: VAR Administrator's phone number.
  • Options: View and edit the VAR's options such as private labels.
  • Rest: View and edit the VAR's call restrictions.
  • Remove: Remove the VAR account from the system. Note: This will also remove all companies that belong to the VAR.
Note: You can sort the list by VAR Name simply by clicking the column header.
 

Creating New VAR Accounts

A new VAR account requires an administrator, user license keys and service packages. Here is how to create a VAR account:
  1. Click on the VARs button in the Web Portal toolbar to open the VARs page.
  2. Click Add New VAR to launch the New VAR Account Signup.
  3. Fill-in the required fields of the new VAR form as follows:

In the General Information section:

  • Enter the VAR Name

In the AccountAdministrator's section:

  • Enter the VAR Administrator Name
  • Select the VAR Administrator Language
  • Enter the VAR Administrator E-Mail Address
  • Enter the VAR Administrator Phone Number

In the Keys & Packages section:

  • Enter the Number of Subscription Keys reserved for the VAR to signup users
Click Continue to submit the information for the new VAR account . The successful creation will be confirmed and an e-mail message containing the new VAR administrator Username and Password will be sent.

NOTE: The parameters defining the telephony provider used by the companies that belong to the VAR are defined in the Phone System Used section of the VAR profile. It is in that section that you enter the telephony provider's IP address and account provisioning credentials.
 

Editing the VAR Profile

As the system administrator, you can login to an existing VAR account to view and edit its settings such as its profile, its call restrictions, the number of its subscription keys, its service packages and its companies.  Here is how you can access and edit any VAR account settings:
  • From the VARs view, click on the VAR Name you want to edit to start a new VAR Admin session.
  • Click on the Profile button to open the VAR profile page and make the changes as needed.
  • Click Submit to save changes.
     

Starting a VAR Admin Session

As the system administrator, you can start a VAR admin session for any VAR account to view and edit the VAR settings. This is mainly to enable you to provide remote service management for VARs that require your assistance. Here is how you can start a VAR admin session:
  • From the VARs view, click on the VAR Name to launch a VAR admin session for the selected VAR.
  • Click on the appropriate toolbar button to make the changes as needed:
    • Companies
    • Packages
    • Subscription keys
    • Call Restrictions
    • Profile
    • Settings

Changing the VAR Call Restrictions

As the system administrator, you can edit the call restrictions of any VAR account to specify which type of calls the VAR users are allowed to make or not make.

The VAR call restrictions are a subset of the system call restrictions which you can edit from the Call Restrictions page. Go to Call Restrictions for details. By default, calls are allowed unless you restrict them in the call restrictions list. VAR administrators can add call restrictions to apply to their companies but cannot remove the restrictions set for them by the system administrator.

Here is how you can edit the VAR call restrictions:
  • From the VARs page, click the link under the Rest column corresponding to the VAR for which you want to change the restrictions. A window opens displaying the list of existing call restrictions.
  • Select the Default Status of the restriction:
    1. Choose Enabled if you want to prohibit this type of calls for this VAR's companies and their users.
    2. Choose Disabled if you want to turn the restriction off and authorize all the VAR's companies and their users to make this type of calls by default. You or the VAR administrator can later selectively enable this restriction to block some or all VAR companies from making this type of calls.
Click Submit to save changes.

Adding and Removing Service Packages to VARs

The VAR service packages are a subset of the system service packages. As the system administrator, you can view and edit the service packages available to your VARs from the packages page. Go to Service Packages for details.

You can also login to any VAR account and select the service packages that will be made available to the VAR's companies. VAR service packages can be viewed and edited by their VAR administrators only to enable or disable packages.

Go to the Packages page of the selected VAR to view and modify its service packages assigned to its account.

  • To remove a package from the VAR account, uncheck the Active box of the package
  • To have the package offered by default to the VAR's companies, check the Offer box of the package
  • Click Submit to save changes.
The new set of service packages will apply to new companies of the selected VAR.
Note: VAR administrators cannot add new service packages.

Editing the VAR Account Provisioning Information

The VAR administrator configures its company accounts to use its Telephony Provider's phone systems. As the system administrator you are responsible for specifying the phone system and account credentials (Username and password) used by the VAR Administrator to provision and manage the company accounts remotely. Here is how:
  • From the VARs view, click on the VAR Name to start a new VAR Admin session.
  • Click on the Profile button to open the VAR profile page.
  • Expand the Phone System Used section where you can view and edit the account provisioning parameters as follows:
    • Select the Phone System (switch) to be used for this VAR
    • The Account ID is the account code used to identify the VAR on the phone system (switch)
    • The Username and Password are the credentials used to login as the administrator of the VAR account on the phone system
  • Click Submit to save changes.
     

Removing VAR Accounts

As a system administrator, you can remove VAR accounts from the VARs view as follows:
  • Click the Remove link corresponding to the VAR you want to delete.
  • Click OK to confirm the removal of the VAR and its users from the system.
    The VAR and its companies will be removed.

Adding and Removing Subscription Keys to VARs

As the system administrator, you can add Subscription Keys to a VAR account as follows:
  • From the VARs view, click on on the Unused Keys link of the selected VAR.
    A Keys Unused window opens.
  • Change the number of unused keys as needed.
  • Click Submit to save changes.

Billing Options

In construction