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What is happening with the Franchise Management solution? ServiceM8’s Franchise Management solution is being deactivated on 30 September 2022. UPDATE: this deadline has been extended to 31 December 2022. This affects the franchisor “head office” and call centre account, used to allocate leads, deploy settings, and report on franchisees. Head office accounts will be permanently deactivated on 31 December 2022 — they will not be accessible to log in or use past this date. Note that this does not include franchisee ServiceM8 accounts. Why is the Franchise solution being deactivated? This was a really tough decision, and not one we’ve taken lightly. Sadly, the Franchise Management solution has not grown to help the number of people we hoped it would, with franchise accounts representing well below 1% of our total customers. With such low usage, it isn’t sustainable to invest resources in the Franchise module, so we’ve made the hard decision to plan its deactivation so we can focus more on other areas of value for ServiceM8 customers. What will happen & when? To be clear, it’s the Franchise Management “head office” module that is being discontinued. Franchisees will still be able to log in and use their individual ServiceM8 accounts after the head office account is deactivated. Access and use of your head office (franchisor) account will continue as normal all the way up to 31 December 2022, at which point it will be completely deactivated. After this time, you will not be able to log in or use a franchisor head office account, and all tasks & functions these head office accounts perform will stop working. Can franchisees continue using ServiceM8? Yes, it will be possible for franchisees to continue using their individual account — this will require action before 31 December 2022. After disconnecting from the head office account, franchisee accounts will become standard, stand-alone ServiceM8 accounts. The way you convert franchisees to standard accounts depends on whether the franchisee accounts are:
  • Owned & paid for through the franchisor’s head office account (see “How do we convert a franchisee account, which is owned & paid by the head office, to a standard ServiceM8 account?”); or
  • Owned & paid for by the franchisee (see “How do we convert a franchisee-owned account to a standard ServiceM8 account?”).
For franchisors, there isn’t a way to use standard ServiceM8 accounts and functionality to achieve the exact same workflows and outcomes as the Franchise Management solution e.g. call centre, enquiry allocation, settings deployment & franchisee reporting. See “What are the options for my franchise?” regarding the option for custom development and reporting solutions using the ServiceM8 API (Application Programming Interface). Will franchisees need to create new accounts to continue using ServiceM8? No, franchisees will not need to create new ServiceM8 accounts. See “Can franchisees continue using ServiceM8?” What are the options for my franchise? As a franchisor, you will need new workflows and solutions to replace your head office account and achieve similar outcomes. This may involve:
  • Keeping franchisees on their individual ServiceM8 accounts and developing new workflows for allocating enquiries and reporting on franchisees, within the bounds of standard ServiceM8 accounts and ServiceM8’s API (Application Programming Interface); or
  • Moving your entire franchise to a new solution or package, offering connected franchise and job management functionality for both franchisors and their franchisees.
There isn’t a way to use standard ServiceM8 accounts and functionality to achieve the exact same workflows and outcomes as the Franchise Management solution e.g. call centre, enquiry allocation, settings deployment & franchisee reporting. However, ServiceM8 has an open API (Application Programming Interface) which enables the development of custom integrations and reporting solutions i.e. you can engage a developer to build a custom solution which connects to franchisees’ stand-alone ServiceM8 accounts, sending and retrieving data to/from these accounts. If this is of interest to you, please see the ServiceM8 Developer Partner directory. If you’re specifically interested in reporting, check out Wink Reports. A ServiceM8 Developer Partner may also be able to assist in developing custom reports. What assistance is ServiceM8 providing? We regret the inconvenience and disruption to your franchise, which is why in March 2021 we provided over 18 months’ notice to help you with your transition, and have waived ServiceM8 subscription fees for all franchisees billed through the head office account until head office deactivation on 31 December 2022. Is ServiceM8 developing a new solution to replace the Franchise Management module being deactivated? No. What other software services can I move to? There are many software solutions in the market with a franchise focus — some are focused more at the franchisor level, whereas others look to solve both franchisor and franchisee requirements. Every franchise has different requirements, so we’re not able to provide recommendations. Can I export my data from ServiceM8? Yes:
  • Franchisors: a .CSV export of enquiry history can be exported from the head office account in Settings > Enquiry Export.
  • Franchisees: .CSV exports of Jobs & Clients can be exported from franchisee accounts in Reports > Client List / Job List, and of Materials from Settings > Materials & Services > Export Items. A full account backup can also be downloaded from Settings > ServiceM8 Account > Download account backup.
Will we be able to log in and have ‘read only’ access to the franchisor head office account, after 31 December 2022? No. Head office accounts will be completely deactivated on 31 December 2022. What will happen to the head office account and its data on 31 December 2022? Franchisor head office accounts will be deactivated on 31 December 2022, which will involve deletion of the account and its data. Any franchisee accounts still connected to the head office at this time will be automatically disconnected, and converted to stand-alone ServiceM8 accounts (however, we strongly advise you manage the disconnection of franchisee accounts yourself, well before 31 December). What action is required in the head office account before 31 December 2022? The following must be actioned in the head office account, in good time before 31 December 2022:
  1. Export your Enquiry history from the head office account in Settings > Enquiry Export.
  2. Convert any franchisee accounts owned & billed through the head office to stand-alone accounts (UPDATE MAY 2022 — this is now possible, see below “How do we convert a franchisee account, which is owned & paid by the head office, to a standard ServiceM8 account?”).
  3. Disconnect all franchisee accounts from the head office account.
What will happen to my online enquiry/booking pages? Do we need to do anything? Online enquiry/booking forms hosted through your ServiceM8 head office account, which route enquiries to your Call Centre, or direct to franchisees, will stop working on 31 December 2022, as will all other functions of the head office account. You will need to develop new solutions and workflows to achieve these outcomes — please see “What are the options for my franchise?” How do we convert a franchisee-owned account to a standard ServiceM8 account? Franchisee accounts which are not billed through the head office account are owned separately — the Account Owner will be visible in Settings > Staff. Whether this is the franchisee themselves, or a separate email set up by the franchisor for the purpose of owning/managing the individual account, will depend on how the franchise was set up with ServiceM8. These accounts started as standard ServiceM8 accounts, which have been “invited” to join the head office account, so converting these back to standard accounts is straightforward:
  1. Log in to the head office franchisor account, as the Account Owner.
  2. Go to Settings > Franchises, then for the relevant franchisee, click ‘Switch to Account’.
  3. In the franchisee account, go to Settings > ServiceM8 Add-ons > Franchise Connection, and switch the connection to OFF.
  4. In the top bar, click ‘Logout of Franchise’. The franchisee account will now revert to a stand-alone ServiceM8 account.
How do we convert a franchisee account, which is owned & paid by the head office, to a standard ServiceM8 account? Franchisee accounts which were created by the head office account are owned and paid for by the head office account. UPDATE MAY 2022 — it is now possible to disconnect a franchisee account from the head office, where the account was created by the head office account. To disconnect a franchise branch from the head office, in the head office account, go to Settings > Franchises, and click ‘Disconnect’ next to the relevant franchise branch. Please read the disconnection wizard info carefully and follow the steps. If you cannot see the ‘Disconnect’ button, please get in touch with ServiceM8 Support at support@servicem8.com When the disconnection process is complete, the disconnected account will revert to ‘Trial’ mode, and the account owner can select a standard ServiceM8 subscription plan to continue using the account. Who owns the franchisee accounts? The ownership of franchisee accounts depends on how each account was created and how the franchise was set up with ServiceM8. Franchisee-owned accounts Franchisee accounts which are not billed through the head office account are owned separately — the Account Owner will be visible in Settings > Staff of the franchisee account. Whether this is the franchisee themselves, or a separate email set up by the franchisor for the purpose of owning/managing the individual account, will depend on how the franchise was set up with ServiceM8. See “How do we convert a franchisee-owned account to a standard ServiceM8 account?” for more. Franchisor-owned accounts Franchisee accounts which were created by the head office account are owned and paid for by the head office account. The head office (i.e. the franchisor) can separate franchisee accounts into stand-alone accounts, and retain ownership of each account separately or however best suits your circumstances. See “How do we convert a franchisee account, which is owned & paid by the head office, to a standard ServiceM8 account?” above.
Last modified on February 10, 2026