User’s Guide

May 2003

Web+Center Version 4.01

Chapters:

1. Introduction to Web+Center

2. Customer+Center

3. Tech+Center

4. Business+Center

5.0 Pocket+Center

1. Introduction to Web+Center

Welcome to Web+Center by Internet Software Sciences. This chapter presents an overview of the main features of Web+Center, and introduces the concepts and terminology that will be used throughout the rest of this document. We hope that Web+Center proves to be a valuable tool for your customer support or Help Desk center.

Additional Web+Center training material is available in the c:\<your Web+Center installation directory>\documentation\ directory. This directory contains Power Point training modules and MS word versions of the complete documentation. These documents can be used or modified in training your support organization for using Web+Center. Please review this documentation directory for additional or newly released documentation .

1.1 What is Web+Center?

Web+Center is a suite of powerful and easy to use Web-based Customer Relationship Management tools for Help Desk, Customer support, and contact management. Web+Center Internet based Help Desk and Contact Management applications for customer support can either replace or supplement a traditional telephone based Help Desk. It is flexible enough to be used effectively in either a small customer support center staffed by a handful of people, or a large support center organized into several independent support groups. It can be used as either an Internal Help Desk application for tracking case reports opened by internal customers (company employees and staff), or as an External Help Desk application for tracking case reports opened by external customers (purchasers of products and services) who have Internet access. When used with an Internal Help Desk, Web+Center also provides Asset Management functions for tracking case reports associated with particular company assets such as computers and telecommunication equipment. Web+Center’s new component, Business+Center is a comprehensive Sales/Contact Management component to help record customer notes, route and assign contacts to contact reps, and inform customers and contacts through email notification alerts. Lastly, a new Tech interface has been developed for Pocket PC’s that can be accessed through the Pocket+Center application. This web-based application allows techs to log into the web+center application using a pocket explorer on a pocket pc with various remote connectivity options. This web-based user interface is designed to work efficiently on the small pocket PC screen and browsers.

Web+Center is installed and operated as an Internet web site that runs on a PC under the Windows NT/2000/XP Internet Information Server. Web+Center can be installed and operated on either the public Internet or on a private intranet (a private TCP/IP network), and can be accessed from any computer with either the Netscape Navigator web browser, or the Microsoft Internet Explorer web browser. No other special purpose client software is needed. Web+Center can support either a Microsoft Access database, or a Microsoft SQL Server database depending upon the needs of the customer support center.

Web+Center has three main software components called Customer+Center, Tech+Center, and Business+Center. Each component is accessed with a web browser, and each has its own convenient user interface and customer support features. Customer+Center is for access by customers, and Tech+Center is for access by support staff members (or “techs”). Business+Center is for access for sales or other contact relationship management (CRM) positions.

Customer+Center has the following features:

· WWW browser based User Interface provides convenient access to Customer+Center features. The login page can be customized with corporate text and graphics as desired.

· Customer+Center is designed to be tightly integrated with your existing website with all your current banners, footers, and navigation HTML code. Simple integration of your site’s navigation HTML into two Customer+Center files will create the necessary navigation links on every Customer+Center page. All of the web scripting code used in the Customer+Center component is provided as part of Web+Center allowing 100% customization of the web functionality.

· Password Security requires customers to log into Customer+Center to access its features. Customers must first register a username and password which are then used for all future logins. There are two options for registration. Customers can either use the Self-Registration option (if enabled), or they can telephone the customer support center and request to be registered by a staff member. Customers receive automatic email notification confirming their registration. Lost usernames and passwords can be recovered in a secure manner.

· Case Management functions allow customers to open new cases, and to update and track the status of their open cases without ever having to make a phone call. Customers receive automatic email notification (if enabled) whenever a case is updated or resolved by the customer support staff.

· Optional Asset Management functions provide support for Internal Help Desks. If enabled, customers can attach case reports to specific company assets.

· Customers can easily search an online Help Database consisting of previously resolved case reports. This enables customers the opportunity to search for solutions to problems on their own without having to open a case, and without having to wait for action by the customer support staff. The Help database is configured and built by administration knowledge base options available in the Tech+Center administration menu.

· Customers can also access a “Frequently Asked Questions” list of problems and solutions that have been identified from tech staff as important or frequently referenced. This list can be configured using options under the reports menu item with the Tech+Center application.

· Customers can also access a single case submit page (OneStepTicket.asp/OneStepTicketFileUp.asp) that can perform customer registration and case record creation in a single simple form. This is useful where users might submit trouble tickets but not be too concerned with follow-up or updates and do not want to perform a complete customer registration process. The One Step Ticket also supports an optional File Upload feature to let customers upload one file to the Help Desk directly from their web browser.

· Customers can take web-based customer surveys once a case is closed providing feed-back to support organizations.

Tech+Center has the following features:

· WWW browser based Multi-Frame User Interface provides convenient access to Tech+Center features. Three simultaneously visible frames (or windows) are provided including a frame for control buttons, a frame for displaying open cases that are assigned to techs and support groups, and a general purpose frame for displaying all other Tech+Center user pages. The login page can be customized with corporate text and graphics as desired.

· Password Security requires techs to log into Tech+Center to access its features. Access by techs to particular customer support features is restricted through the assignment of Multi-Level Access Privileges.

· Customer Management functions allow techs to register new customers, manage information for existing customers, and send case reports to customers by email. A search function allows techs to quickly and easily find customer records.

· Case Management functions allow techs to open new cases for customers, and to update and track the status of all existing open cases in the system. Techs can easily view all open cases assigned to any particular tech or support group, and can easily assign (or route) case reports from one tech to another, or from one support group to another. A Help Database that can be searched by both techs and customers is automatically created as open cases become resolved and archived. Auto-Email Notification (if enabled) will cause an email message to be automatically sent to a tech whenever a case is first assigned to that tech, and will also cause an email message to be automatically sent to a set of selected techs in a particular support group whenever a case is first assigned to that group. A cell phone email address can also be configured to be sent a very brief Cell-phone viewable alert by configuring the cell phone email address under the Tech’s Home information column.

· Optional Asset Management functions provide support for Internal Help Desks. If enabled, techs can easily attach case reports to specific company assets. Program functions are provided for conveniently building and maintaining the assets DB. A search function allows techs to quickly and easily find asset records.

· A powerful Multi-Criteria Case Search Engine allows techs to easily perform complex case searches without any knowledge of SQL.

· Dispatch Management functions allow dispatchers working at a telephone based Help Desk to monitor the availability of customer support staff so that incoming phone calls can be efficiently dispatched. Techs can signal their availability by toggling the Available/Busy button on the Tech+Center user interface control panel.

· Extensive System Management functions allow techs with administrative privileges to register new staff members, assign access privileges, create support groups, assign staff members to support groups, enable/disable email notification features, and much more.

· A configurable set of Knowledge Base Management tools and utilities allow you to create an efficient knowledge base that can be used by customers or techs searching for solutions.

· Export Customer and Staff Databases Feature allows Business+Center users to export/import their customer database and their support staff information to MS Outlook Address book and then allow Hot-Sync of customer and staff information to their Palm or other Personal Digital Assistant.

· Export Assigned Cases allows Tech+Center users to export/import their assigned cases to MS Outlook Task List and then allow Hot-Sync of the assigned tasks to their Palm or other Personal Digital Assistant.

· Group Calendar Feature allows Tech+Center users to create and share calendar events for meetings, tasks, case assignments or other appointments with other techs.

· Customer Surveys allows a web-based customer survey to be sent to the customer once a case is closed. A web-based tool allows easy creation and viewing results of customer surveys.

Business+Center has the following features:

· WWW browser based Multi-Frame User Interface provides convenient access to Business+Center features. Three simultaneously visible frames (or windows) are provided including a frame for control buttons, a frame for displaying customer records and customer searches and other contact related data view and input screens.

· Password Security requires contact reps to log into Business+Center to access its features. Access by contact reps to particular contact management support features is restricted through the assignment of Multi-Level Access Privileges.

· Customer Management functions allow contact reps to register new customers, manage detailed and running information for new or existing customers. A search function allows contact reps to quickly and easily find customer records and annotate new customer profiles into the database

· Contact Management functions allow contact reps to “assign” customers to one or more contact reps and define customers into selected user groups for easy business/sales routing operations.

· Email List Notification functions allow contact reps to quickly create and distribute email messages to selected groups of users. Additional functions allow email messages to be personalized and include embedded links to email list removal options as part of the email message.

· Contact Reps Availability Screens provide up to date contact information for sales organizations and show current availability status and notes

· Integration with Tech+Center component allows contact reps to check the status of customer support issues or to directly log or view support cases for customers.

· Group Calendar Feature allows Business+Center users to create and share calendar events for meetings, tasks, case assignments or other appointments with other Business+Center users.

1.2 Web+Center Organizational Model (OM)

Web+Center is designed around a natural and widely implemented customer support center organizational model. This section describes that model, and describes (in general) how Web+Center supports that model. This section does not attempt to touch on all the features of Web+Center. Detailed descriptions of particular Web+Center program functions can be found throughout the rest of this document.

The Web+Center OM has five central components:

· Customers

· Dispatchers

· Techs

· Administrators

· Support Groups

· Contact Reps

The Web+Center OM organizes support staff personnel into 4 main categories depending upon their function and security level: Techs, Dispatchers, Administrators, and contact Reps. Dispatchers play the role of traditional Help Desk personnel who answer phone calls and route new cases to appropriate technical personnel. Techs are the technical personnel who have the knowledge to solve problems and answer questions for customers who contact the support center for help. Contact Reps are personnel who may be in sales or other customer contact positions where detailed notes and customer contact records are created rather than tracking and managing support cases for customers. Contact reps are registered as “techs” in the system but will primarily use the Business+Center component. Administrators are administrative personnel whose functions are described in the chapters on System Administration and System Configuration, and won’t be discussed here.

The Web+Center OM further organizes Techs into one or more Support Groups, where traditionally each support group has its own limited area of expertise. Every support center must have at least one support group. Techs may belong to more than one group at a time. The Web+Center OM requires that one support group be designated the “default group” whose purpose is described below. If the support center has only a single support group, then that group is automatically designated the default. Otherwise any desired group can be chosen. The concept of support group, along with the ability of staff members to easily assign (or route) case reports from one tech to another, or from one support group to another, is central to the Web+Center OM, and is the key to Web+Center’s power and flexibility. Support groups allow users of Web+Center to effectively manage both small and large customer support centers, and allow support centers to easily change and grow.

In the Web+Center OM, Customers are people who use the services of a customer support center to solve problems, ask questions, or make requests regarding the products or services provided by the company or institution that operates the support center. A support center can be operated either as an Internal Help Desk for the benefit of staff and employees (“internal customers”), or it can be operated as an External Help Desk for the benefit of people who purchase the products or services of the company (“external customers”). Of course a support center can also be operated as both an Internal and External Help Desk.

When a customer needs help from a customer support center, two options are available. The customer can either use a web browser to log into Customer+Center and open a case report over the Internet, or the customer can telephone the support center and have a staff member open a case on their behalf. Some support centers may offer only one or the other of these two options depending upon support center policy. In any event, every case report must be opened on behalf of some customer. So what happens to the newly opened case report? Where does it go? Who is it assigned to, and how?

Here’s what happens. Every case report in the Web+Center database (whether opened or closed) must be assigned to a support group. When a case is first opened by a customer (or by a staff member on behalf of a customer) it is automatically assigned to the default support group. The case can also be assigned directly to another group if the group is initially set by categories selected by the customer or tech. The Web+Center OM requires that one or more support staff members called Primary Dispatchers monitor the default group for any newly opened cases. This is done using the Tech+Center user interface which has a window for viewing all open cases assigned to any particular tech or support group. The primary dispatcher is the first person to look at new cases, and is the one who must decide which tech or support group a new case should first be assigned to. Tech+Center provides the ability to easily assign (or route) case reports to techs and to support groups. If the support center is small and has a single support group (in which case the dispatchers would probably know all the techs), then the dispatcher would assign a new case directly to the appropriate tech. On the other hand, if the support center is large and has more than one support group (in which case the dispatcher may not even know the techs), then the dispatcher would assign a new case to the appropriate support group, but not necessarily to a particular tech. In the latter case, each support group would be expected to have one or more Group Dispatchers (techs who belong to the group) who would be responsible for monitoring the support group for any newly opened cases, and assign them appropriately. If a tech is assigned a case that really should be handled by someone else, the tech has the option to reassign the case (along with an explanation in the case history log if necessary) to another tech or support group, or back to the primary dispatcher.

Web+Center Primary Dispatchers are analogous to telephone dispatchers in a traditional Help Desk environment. In a customer support center that supports both a telephone based Help Desk and a Web+Center based Help Desk it may be desirable to have the same dispatchers operate both desks. On the one hand, a dispatcher could monitor the default support group for cases that have been newly opened by customers over the Internet, and on the other hand the same dispatcher could open new cases on behalf of customers who call in by phone. In either case, the new case reports would end up in the Web+Center database, and would be routed to the appropriate support group and tech.

2. Customer+Center

Customer+Center is the software used by customers to open and track case reports with a Web+Center based Help Desk. It is also used by customers to search the Help Database for solutions to problems and questions without having to contact the Help Desk at all. This chapter describes those functions in detail. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the basic concepts introduced in section 1.2 Web+Center Organizational Model (OM).

Chapter topics:

Accessing the Customer+Center Home Page

How to view the “Top 10” support cases

How to search the Help Database

Hints and other information on Help Database Searches

How to self-register

How to log in

How to retrieve a lost username and password

How to open a new case

How to view or modify an existing case

How to update your registration information

How to log out

Customizing the Customer+Center Homepage

How to create a one-step-ticket for customer registration and case creation

How to login using NT Authentication for Customer+Center Login

File Download options for Customer+Center

Accessing the Customer+Center Home Page

To access the Customer+Center Home Page, enter the following URL into the browser window:

· http://Your_Host_Name/CustomerCenter/

OR try:

· http://Your_Host_Name/CustomerCenter/default.htm

where:

· Your_Host_Name is either your local area network host name or the domain name of your web site (such as www.mycompany.com).

Note: If you cannot view the Customer+Center Home page, please verify that the Web+Center application is properly installed and configured. Refer to the Web+Center installation guide for more details.

How to view the Top 10 Support cases

· Click on the Top 10 reported problems link on the Customer+Center home page to view important cases (Problem summary and resolutions) that have been identified by support staff.

How to search the Help Database

· Click on the Search Help Database button on the Customer+Center home page

· Enter your search criteria which can be based on a combination of case category selections and key words.

· Select the appropriate category choice for each category or select the default (Ignore) to disable this category as part of the search..

· Enter a single keyword or group of words into the Keyword box.

· Press the Search Help Database button at the bottom of the page.

Hints and other information on Help Database Searches

· To narrow the search, select more categories or enter fewer keyword(s).

· To widen the search, select fewer or no categories and enter more keywords or even just part of a single keyword.

· The Customer+Center search engine displays 15 matches for each page. Additional matches can be retrieved clicking the page numbers or the “next” button.

· Users do not have to be registered or log in to use the Help Database search.

· It is helpful to enter Error code numbers or exact screen text as keyword (s) if it is available.

· The Customer+Center search results only returns case records that meet the following conditions:

· If any matching categories are entered, only cases that have the selected categories.

· Any word or words entered in a text string search must be in the knowledge base. The knowledge base is configured and built using options available with the Tech+Center administration menu.

· Only cases where there is information in the case summary and case resolution fields.

How to self-register

To self register with the Customer+Center:

· Click on the New User button on the Customer+Center home page.

· Complete the Customer Registration form. Include a username and password that can be used for future Customer+Center access.

· When all registration fields are completed, press the Submit button at the bottom of the page.

· After completing the Customer+Center registration, a registration confirmation email is sent that includes the Username and password for future reference.

How to log in

To log into the Customer+Center, enter your Username and Password that you previously entered during registration and press the Login button located on the Customer+Center home page.

How to retrieve a lost username and password

To recover your lost username or password or both:

· Enter your previously registered email address and clicking on the Lost ID button on the Customer+Center Home page.

· If a match is found, it will send an email to that address with the Username and password login information.

How to open a new support case

Support cases can only be created for registered “Customers”. Once a user has self registered or registered by support staff, navigate to the Customer+Center Options page by logging in.

· To open a new support case, select the Create New Case option in the Select One Option drop-down box and press the “Go” button.

· On the New Support Case Entry form, complete the 5 steps outlined below including:

· If Web+Center is configured to be an internal Help Desk with the Asset Management feature enabled, an optional Asset Assignment will appear on the case form. To assign a particular asset to this case, press the Find Asset link. Once you select an asset, you will be returned back to the New Support Case Entry form. Be sure to assign this field before filling in the other fields.

· Briefy Summarize your problem or question in the One Line Description text box.

· Select the most appropriate category for each of the category choice boxes listed.

· Describe the problem in detail in the text area box. Error messages and other text can be “cut” and “pasted” into the problem detail text box.

· Press the Submit button at the bottom of the page to submit your support case.

How to view or modify all cases for selected User Group

Customers can be configured through the Tech+Center to be a “Super User” level customer that can be configured to have view and editing rights to their own cases and also any cases that are associated with customers within a single User Group. To enable a customer to have expanded access rights to view a selected user group cases:

· In the Tech Center, Click on the New Customer or Get Customer button to create or find an existing customer.

· In the Customer Information form, select a defined User Group for the field label User Group Read Access.

· Press the Submit button to save this setting.

· The next time this customer logs on to the Customer+Center, they will have some additional options to display All Open Group Cases, All Group Cases, and All Closed Group Cases.

· Only one user group can be specified.

How to view or modify an existing case

· On the Registered User Support Options page, select either the Show All Cases, Show Open Cases, Show All Open Group Cases, Show All Group Cases and Show All Closed Group Cases and press the “Go” button.

· To view or update any listed cases, click on the Case number hypertext link on the left hand side of the table.

· On the Support Case Update form, you can modify the asset (if asset management is enabled) One Line Description, change categories, or add new history text. Any previously entered case information is displayed in the Case History area.

· Problem summary as defined by support staff – May exist if completed by support staff

· Problem resolution as defined by support staff – May exist if completed by support staff

· To add new information to your support case, enter new information into the text box label Add New Case Information Below.

· Cases that have already been closed by support staff cannot be updated.

· If you need to update a closed case, create a new case and reference the old case number in your new case detailed description field.

· Press Submit to process the case updates.

How to Update Your Registration Information

· On the Registered User Support Options page, select the Update Registration option and press the “Go” button.

· Complete the registration form changes and press the Submit button.

How to Logout

To log out of Customer+Center from the Registered User Options page:

· Select the Log Out option in the Select One Option drop-down list at the top of the page and press the “Go” button.

Customizing the Customer+Center Application

The Customer+Center application is designed to be tightly integrated with your existing website navigational structure and look and feel. The entire Customer+Center application is written in ASP (Active Server Page) and all of the source is included with your Web+Center installation. The ASP code is ASCII HTML type scripting language that is easy to modify without compilers or extensive programming experience. We recommend that anybody modifying the ASP code should be a competent ASP programmer and be prepared to support any changes you make the Customer+Center ASP pages.

Internet Software Sciences offers consulting services to help create modifications to the Customer+Center ASP code to help integrate the application with your current site design.

To integrate the Customer+Center application with your current web site HTML navigation and layouts, one must edit the following 3 files. These files are located in the <Your Web+Center Directory>\customercenter\ directory.

Default.htm – This is the Customer+Center “home page”. This is a standard HTML file from which the Customer+Center various applications are launched. Open up this file using a standard ASCII editor and add your necessary banner, navigation bars, and image maps. Feel free to replace the graphics (default.gif) with your own graphics banner.

CCHeader.inc – This ASP “include” file gets “included” as the first part of any page displayed by the Customer+Center application. This page initially contains a minimal navigation framework which is designed to be modified by the company or organization with any necessary HTML banner, images, javascript, that needs to be displayed at the start of the HTML document.

CCFooter.inc – This ASP “include” file gets included as the last part of any page displayed by the Customer+Center application. This page initially contains a minimal footer links and closing HTML tags but it is designed to be modified to include any footer links or HTML code that appears at the end of the HTML document.

Customizing the Email Notification messages

Automatic email notifications are sent out to the customer after Self-Registration, case creation or updates or recovering lost Usernames and passwords. Pre-formatted text for these emails can be configured using the options within the Tech+Center administration tools. Other parts of the message can be modified by editing the Customer+Center ASP code that creates the email message before it is sent out.

How to create a one-step-ticket for customer registration and case creation

· There are two special scripts (OneStepTicket.asp/OneStepTicketFileUp.asp and DoOneStepTicket.asp/DoOneStepTicketFileUp.asp) that you can include links to on your Customer+Center pages somewhere. This script (OneStepTicket.asp) asks users for a minimal amount of customer information (Last name, First name, Email and phone number) and then the standard case information (One Line Description, Categories and Detailed Description). Once users enter this information in and press Submit, the form will first create a new customer registration based on Last name + first name if their email has not already being registered and then it will create a case ticket for that customer. The default password for this user is initially set to “password”. If the email matches a user on the system already, it will not create a new customer ID but use that existing customer record to create a case. These cases can then be handled like any other case created by the Customer+Center or Tech+Center interfaces since they will be connected to valid Customer_ID’s and will be routed to appropriate groups as well just like cases entered with the Customer+Center two step approach. If users wish to update cases created with this form, they must log into the Customer+Center and perform a regular case update.

· If one calls the OneStepTicketFileUp.asp as the first page, it will provide an optional form element to allow users to select and upload a file to the Help Desk Server for review by the Tech+Center support staff. The file is saved in a directory on the Web+Center server machine and can be accessed by tech staff over the web as well. The configuration settings for this file Upload feature can be found in the db_define.inc file located in the customercenter directory. One must configure a virtual directory where the files can be placed and this IIS virtual directory should only have read access (and not script or executable permissions set) for security concerns. Also, one must create and specify in the db_define.inc file the physical file path of the downloaded files. One can also specify if the files downloaded are to be renamed based on their associated case number or left as file name downloaded. All of these options are defined in the db_define.inc file.

· A link to this page can be created by HTML code like:

<a href=OneStepTicket.asp>Submit a trouble ticket</a>

< a href=OneStepTicketFileUp.asp>Submit a trouble ticket</a>

How to Login using NT Authentication for Customer+Center Login

Customers log into the Customer+Center by providing a Login ID or username and a password. An optional method exists if all of the users are authenticated NT domain users.

If you want the Web+Center to directly log in users who are already authenticated on the domain with a single web page link click, follow these steps below:

Put your users NT login name into the customer Login ID field in the Web+Center customer database. The Web+Center customer database Logon ID is limited to 20 characters. You can enter this information into the customer record using customer import tools like ImportLDAP.asp and DoImportLDAP.asp or they can be entered individually in the Tech+Center.

Change the file permissions on just the DoAuthLogin.asp file in the customercenter directory and set the permissions for this file to just domain users.

Create a web link to this file like http://<ip or domain>/customer40/DoAuthLogin.asp

This page login script works by grabbing the LOGON_USER value from the HTTP headers and using that for the Customer+Center login user id. This field is then checked with the Customer+Center Customers Username field. If it exists, then the user will log into the Customer+Center.

File Download options for Customer+Center

A customer can attach or download a file to a support case if this feature has been enabled for the Customer+Center.

To Download a file for a support case:

· Create and submit a support ticket.

· Click continue on the page that displays the case number

· Click on the case number to open up that support ticket again

· Click on the Download File link.

· Browser the Browse… button to locally navigate to the file to be downloaded

· Press the Submit button

· Verify that the file was successfully downloaded. Press the Continue Button.

· The file should have been downloaded and included as a link in the case history field for that support case.

· To download additional files, click on the Download File link as needed.

Refer to the Tech+Center System Configuration section on how to enable and configure the file download options for the Customer+Center.

3. Tech+Center

Tech+Center is the software used by support center personnel to access the Web+Center database and perform all the functions necessary to manage a customer support center. This chapter describes those functions in detail. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the basic concepts introduced in section 1.2 Web+Center Organizational Model (OM).

Chapter topics:

User Interface and Security

Customer Management

Case Management

Asset Management

Case Search Functions

Dispatcher Functions

System Administration

Tech+Center Reports

Custom Buttons And Functions

Customer Surveys

Calendar

3.1 User Interface and Security

User interface and security topics:

How to log into Tech+Center

Description of user interface

How to log in

Tech+Center is accessed over the public Internet, or over a private intranet (a private TCP/IP network), using either the Netscape Navigator or MS Internet Explorer web browser. The URL used to access Tech+Center in a standard installation has the following format:

http://<domain_name> /TechCenter/default.htm

where <domain_name> is either the web site Internet domain name or the computer name, and where “default.htm” is a static HTML “Welcome” page that can be customized as desired with corporate graphics and text. When this URL is first accessed you will be prompted for a username and password. After entering your username and password, you will be presented with the welcome page. Simply push the Continue button to bring up the Tech+Center user interface. Refer to the section on System Administration to learn how to register staff members and set up usernames and passwords.

User interface windows

Tech+Center provides a convenient web browser Multi-Frame User Interface with three simultaneously visible frames (or windows).

On the left side of the screen is the Control Panel, a window that displays the main buttons used to access Tech+Center program features. The number and type of buttons displayed will depend upon the security level assigned to the user. For example, the Administration button will only be displayed on the user interface for a user with administrative privileges. The standard web browser Back button is also considered to be a part of the Tech+Center user interface and should be used freely whenever it’s convenient. Documentation on how to use these buttons can be found throughout this chapter. Refer to the section on System Administration for more information on Tech+Center security levels.

At the top of the screen is the Open Cases Window used for displaying a list of open cases that are currently assigned to a particular tech or support group. To display or refresh your own open cases, simply push the My Open Cases button on the control panel. To display or refresh the open cases currently assigned to another tech, or to a particular support group, simply push the Other Open Cases button and then click on the hypertext link for the desired tech or support group. Open cases are displayed in a table with five columns (case number, case priority, date opened, date last modified, one line description, and assigned tech or assigned support group). The case number is displayed as a hypertext link allowing easy navigation to the case form. All of the column headings (except for the one line description) are displayed as hypertext links which, if clicked on, will sort the table entries by that column. When a case is first assigned to a tech, the entry for that case in the Open Cases Window will be colored red until the assigned tech first reads the case (i.e. until the tech first navigates to the case form). The Open Cases Window can be resized by dragging the bottom border up or down.

Below the Open Cases Window is the general purpose User Window used for displaying a wide variety of Tech+Center pages that will be described throughout this document. This window can be resized by dragging the top border up or down.

3.2 Customer Management

Every case report that’s opened must be assigned to a customer that has already been registered with Web+Center. A customer can either self-register using Customer+Center, or can contact the support center by phone and request to be registered by a staff member. The options available for registration depend upon support center policy. Self-registration is described in the chapter on Customer+Center. This section describes how to use Tech+Center to register customers and manage customer information.

Customer management topics:

How to register a new customer

How to modify an existing customer

How to delete a customer

How to search for a customer

How to import customer records

How to Export Customer Records into MS Outlook Address Book and PDA’s

How to Export Tech Staff Information into MS Outlook Address Book and PDA’s

How to register a new customer

To register a new customer:

· Push the New Customer button on the control panel.

· Fill in the Customer Information form.

· Push the Submit button to create the new customer record.

When a customer record is created, a unique Customer ID is automatically generated using the customer First Name and Last Name, and therefore this information is required. All other customer information is optional. A customer E-mail address should be entered if the support staff intends to communicate with the customer by email. A Username and Password must be entered if the customer intends to access Customer+Center.

How to modify an existing customer

To modify an existing customer record:

· Find the desired record using the Get Customer button on the control panel.

· Modify the desired fields in the Customer Information form.

· Push the Submit button to save changes.

How to create Super User customers to view Group Cases

To create a customer that has the ability to review and update cases for a selected User Group as well as their own cases:

· Find the desired record using the Get Customer button on the control panel.

· Select a particular User Group for the Field User Group Read Access in the Customer Information form.

· Push the Submit button to save changes.

How to delete a customer

Only staff members with administrative privileges can delete a customer. Refer to the section on System Administration for more information.

How to search for a customer

To search for one or more customers:

· Push the Get Customer button on the control panel.

· Enter the desired search criteria in the Customer Search form.

· Push the Submit button to perform the search.

The set of all found customer records will be displayed in a summary list (a table), where each entry in the list will contain information for a particular customer. The Customer ID for each customer will be displayed as a hypertext link which, if clicked on, will display the customer record.

If Tech+Center has been configured to enable the displaying of Customer ID drop down lists, then the Customer ID can be entered by clicking on the field and selecting the desired Customer ID from the list. Otherwise the Customer ID must be entered manually. Refer to the section on System Configuration to learn how to enable this feature.

How to import customer records into the Web+Center Customer database

To import customer records into Web+Center customers table:

· Backup the database completely before attempting any data importing.

· Open up the ImportLDAP.asp and DoImportLDAP.asp files in the techcenter directory with an ASCII editor.

· Review the instructions in the ImportLDAP.asp file on how to customize this script for your selected import requirements. Edit the file and perform a test. You must convert your customer records into an Access or ODBC compliant database before performing the data import process.

· After customizing the script, run the script by entering: http://hostname/techcenter/importLDAP.asp.

· One could also review the ImportFilter.asp script in the TechCenter Directory.

· We do not recommend directly importing customer records using a MS database import tool since we carefully create certain index key fields that will not be properly created if you use a Data Import wizard tool.

· This process should only be attempted by qualified Web+Center administrators and configurators. Editing and configuring this file assumes some database knowledge.

How to export customer records in MS Outlook and PDA’s

To create a file that can be used to import customer records into MS Outlook Address book which can then be Hot-Sync with your PDA device:

Step 1 Creating the Import File

· Push the Get Customer button on the control panel.

· Press the Export Search link to the right of the Customer Search title.

· Enter any appropriate search criteria (User Groups, assignments, company, first or last names, etc) OR Do Not Enter any search criteria if you wish to export all customer records

· Select the appropriate Export File Type (Defaults to MS Outlook Tab Delimited Type)

· Select one of the existing categories for the address book category or enter a new address book in the text below the choice list.

· Press the Submit Button.

· It will ask whether to Save or Open the file. Select the Save Option

· In the Save As window, name the file as *.txt since we are creating a text based TAB delimited file.

Step 2 Import the TAB file into MS Outlook

· Now launch MS Outlook application

· Click on the Contacts icon.

· Select the File... Import and Export ... Option menu option.

· Select the option (Import from another program or file)

· Press the Next > button.

· Select the Tab Separated Values (Windows) as the file type to export form.

· Navigate to your file. It may have saved the file as *.txt.asp since some browsers will default to *.asp since the original script was called "asp". You should rename the file *.txt if the file has the extension *.asp.

· Select other import options as needed.

· Press Next

· The selected customers should now be imported into your address book with category information.

Step 3: Hot Sync with your Palm Pilot

· Connect your computer and your Palm with your HotSync cable or cradle.

· Press the HotSync button to transfer changed or new address book entries.

How to export Tech Staff records in MS Outlook and PDA’s

To create a file that can be used to import your Tech Staff Information (Phone numbers, etc) records into MS Outlook Address book which can then be Hot-Sync with your PDA device:

Step 1 Creating the Import File

· Push the Other Cases button on the control panel.

· Press the Export Tech Contact Information link at the bottom of the page.

· Select the option to export all tech staff members or a particular tech staff group.

· Select the appropriate Export File Type (Defaults to MS Outlook Tab Delimited Type)

· Select one of the existing categories for the address book category or enter a new address book category in the text below the choice list.

· Press the Submit Button.

· It will ask whether to Save or Open the file. Select the Save Option

· In the Save As window, name the file as *.txt since we are creating a text based TAB delimited file.

Step 2 Import the TAB file into MS Outlook

· Now launch MS Outlook application

· Click on the Contacts icon.

· Select the File... Import and Export ... Option menu option.

· Select the option (Import from another program or file)

· Press the Next > button.

· Select the Tab Separated Values (Windows) as the file type to export form.

· Select other import options as needed.

· Press Next

· The selected techs should now be imported into your address book with category information.

Step 3: Hot Sync with your Palm Pilot

· Connect your computer and your Palm with your HotSync cable or cradle.

· Press the HotSync button to transfer changed or new address book entries.

3.3 Case Management

Case management is at the heart of Web+Center customer support. When a customer needs help from a support center, two options are available (depending upon support center policy). The customer can either use a web browser to log into Customer+Center and open a case report over the Internet, or the customer can telephone the support center and have a staff member open a case on their behalf. The case report is then used to record and track all relevant information regarding the case, from the time it’s opened to the time it’s resolved and closed. This information includes, among other things, customer information, a detailed description of the problem or question, a chronological history of all work done on the case, and a summary and resolution of the case. Once the case has been resolved and closed, it remains permanently stored in the Web+Center database which can then be accessed by both techs and customers as an aid to solving future problems. Techs have full access to the database through the search functions provided by Tech+Center, and customers have more limited access through the search functions provided by Customer+Center. This section describes the contents of a case report in detail, and describes the Tech+Center utilities available for managing cases.

Case management topics:

Case report description

Including HTML links in Case Summary and Case Resolution Fields

Schedule Cases

How to open a new case

How to modify an existing case

How to delete a case

How to route case reports

Auto-email notification

How to e-mail case reports to customers

How the customer Help Database is created

Added selected cases to the knowledge base

How to export assigned support cases into Outlook tasks and hot-sync with PDA’s

Case Auto-Escalation

Case report description

This section describes in detail each item of information that appears in a case report (or case form).

Customer Information for the customer who owns the case is displayed at the top of the Case Form. This information is taken from the customer record, and a hypertext link is provided for easy navigation to that record.

If Asset Management is enabled, then an Asset Number field will appear at the top of the form. The case report can be attached to a particular company asset by entering the asset ID number in this field. The ID number for a particular asset can be found using the Get Asset button on the control panel. When an ID number is entered, a hypertext link appears enabling easy navigation to the asset record. Refer to the section on Asset Management for more information on assets.

The Duplicate Case field at the top of the form is used to link the case report to another case that contains duplicate information. Here’s an example of how it’s used. Suppose that a company installs a new software package on some of its computers, and suppose that the software has a bug which is discovered by the computer users, and suppose that each user then opens a case report complaining about the bug. The cases would then be assigned to a tech who would soon realize that they were all similar. Instead of attempting to track and document every case individually the tech would have the option to select one of the cases (at random) and treat it as a “master case” in which to document the history and resolution of the problem. The Duplicate Case field in the other case reports would then be used to reference the master case number. When a duplicate case number is entered, a hypertext link appears enabling easy navigation to the master case. Similarly, all case records that reference a particular master case can be easily found using the Search Engine.

The One Line Description field is used for entering a short description of the case. This description is displayed along with other case information in the Open Cases window.

The Reference field is designed to hold an external case reference number or other quick reference to the case. If the case is based on another tracking/work scheduler program number or purchase order number, that value can be saved into this field. This field can store up to 30 alpha-numeric characters. This field is also searchable with the Search Engine. Partial field entry searches can be used to find cases by the reference number by entering the starting text of the reference number. It can be used to store any character string up to 30 characters.

The Case History log is a permanent chronological record of the history of the case, including all relevant information such as a detailed case description and any work performed to resolve the case. Entries are appended to the log using the Append Case History field. Once an entry has been made it cannot be deleted or modified. The Case History log can be appended whenever desired by either a tech, or by the customer through Customer+Center. Whenever new information is appended, it is automatically stamped with the date and time, and the name of the person who made the entry. The stamp is colored red if the entry is made by a tech, and green if the entry is made by the customer.

The Case Summary and Case Resolution fields are used by techs to briefly and clearly summarize a case and its resolution after a case has been resolved. This information becomes available to customers through the customer Help Database. Refer to the section on How to create a Help Database for more information.

Including HTML Links in Case Summary or Resolution Fields

To include HTML tag references to images or to other http:// links for downloads within the Case Summary or Case Resolution fields, replace the single HTML starting and ending tag characters with “double tags” like “<<” and “>>” . A single tag will be converted to display the tag rather than to allowing it to be interpreted. For example to have a link to the yahoo site in your case summary or resolution, enter the following text:

Click the <<a href=http://www.yahoo.com>>Yahoo Link <</a>> to access Yahoo.

Category fields appear on the case form just below the Case Resolution field. The number of category fields displayed is configurable by the support staff. Categories are used to broadly categorize the type of information contained in a case report. They are used primarily to restrict case searches by customers and techs. Refer to the section on System Administration for a detailed discussion of categories.

The Assigned Group and Assigned Staff Member fields are used to specify the tech and support group that the case is currently assigned to. When a case is first created, the Assigned Tech field is automatically initialized to “Not Assigned”, and the Assigned Group field is initialized to the default support group or to a group configured based on category settings by the customer or the tech. See the section below on “How to view and route case reports” for more information on how these fields are used.

The Case Status field specifies whether a case is currently open or closed, and if the case is open, this field further specifies the open status. There are three general purpose open status levels. “Open (Active)” is used to indicate that the case is actively being worked on by the support staff. “Open (Waiting)” is used to indicate that the case is actively being worked on, but that the support staff is temporarily waiting for some event to occur before they can proceed. For example, they may be waiting for more information from the customer, or from some other third party. “Open (On Hold)” is used to indicate that the case is still open, but is not currently being worked on by the support staff for some reason. When a case report is first opened, the Case Status is automatically initialized to “Open (Active)”. The case status determines whether or not a case is displayed in the Open Cases window.

The Case Priority field is used to specify the priority (or urgency) of the case. Up to 10 priority levels are provided. When a case report is first opened, the Case Priority is automatically initialized to “Not Assigned”. The case priority is displayed along with other case information in the Open Cases window (in the column labeled “P”). The case priority values are configured under an Administration menu option.

Schedule Cases

Cases can be scheduled to be completed by a particular date and time. At the bottom of the case form, a Due Date and Due Time can be specified. The case can also be scheduled to be a “Single Event” case or a “Repeating” case with a repeat interval. If the case is marked as “Repeat”, a new duplicate case is automatically created when the original case is closed. The newly opened case has the same One-Line Description, Priority, Tech assignment, and group assignment as the original case with a new due date calculated by taking the old due date and adding the repeat interval to it. These schedule cases are created, stored, assigned and dispatched just like the other cases, but have the additional criteria of a due date and time.

To view scheduled Cases:

· Click on the Other Cases Button

· Select on Schedule Cases links near the bottom of this page to view:

All Open Scheduled Cases

All Single Event Scheduled Cases

All Repeating Event Scheduled Cases

All Late Scheduled Cases

All Schedule Cases due today

Scheduled Cases can also be viewed with the Case Search tool by appropriately setting the Scheduled Case drop down list in the lower right hand corner of the case search page.

How to open a new case

Case reports are always opened on behalf of a particular customer, and remain permanently attached to that customer. A customer record must already exist before a case can be opened. To learn how to create a new customer record refer to the section on Customer Management.

To create a new case report:

· Push the New Case button on the control panel.

· Enter the Customer ID for the customer who the case is being opened for.

· Push the Open Case button.

· Fill in the Case Form.

· Push the Submit button to create the new case record.

How to modify an existing case

To modify an existing case report:

· Find the desired case record using one of the two case search buttons (Get Case or Search Engine) on the control panel.

· Modify the desired Case Form fields.

· Push the Submit button to save changes.

How to delete a case

Only staff members with administrative privileges can delete a case record. Refer to the section on System Administration for more information.

How to route case reports

Tech+Center gives techs the ability to easily view a list of all open cases currently assigned to any particular tech or support group, and to easily assign (or route) case reports from one tech to another, or from one support group to another. This is one of the most powerful features of Tech+Center.

The Open Cases window is used for displaying the open cases that are currently assigned to a particular tech or support group. To display or refresh your own open cases, simply push the My Open Cases button on the control panel. To display or refresh the open cases currently assigned to another tech, or to a particular support group, or to find only scheduled cases, simply push the Other Open Cases button and then click on the hypertext link for the desired tech or support group or scheduled case type.

Case reports are routed by techs using the Assigned Group and Assigned Staff Member fields in the Case Form. When a case is assigned to a tech or support group, that case will appear in the Open Cases window (for that tech or group) as soon as the window is refreshed. When a case is closed, it will no longer appear in the Open Cases window for the assigned tech or support group.

To assign a case to a particular tech or support group:

· Find the desired case using the Get Case or Search Engine buttons on the control panel.

· Select the name of the tech into the Assigned Staff Member field, and/or select the name of the support group into the Assigned Group field.

· Push the Submit button.

Default Group Assignments

All cases must always be assigned to some group. The initial group assignment defaults to a defined “Default Group” if no group assignment is made by the tech or when a case is created by the customer. An optional initial group assignment for cases created by the customer or the tech can be made based on a configured category and specific category items. Refer to the section under Administration called “How to configure initial group assignments by category selections” for more information on this feature.

Auto-email

Two Auto-Email Notification mechanisms are provided that can be enabled on a tech-by-tech basis. The first mechanism, when enabled for a particular tech, will cause an email message to be automatically sent to that tech whenever a case is first assigned to that tech. The second mechanism, when enabled for a particular tech in a particular support group, will cause an email message to be automatically sent to that tech whenever a case is first assigned to that support group. Refer to the section on System Administration for details on how to enable this feature.

A second email can be sent to a Tech’s Cell phone email address by placing an email address into the Cell Email field under the Tech’s Work Information column. A very brief email is sent to this address with the customers name, company, phone numbers, and short problem description. To disable this feature, simply remove the cell phone email address from that column.

How to e-mail case reports to customers

Case reports can only be sent to customers for whom an email address has been previously registered with the support center. Refer to the section on Customer Management for more information.

To send a case report by email to a customer:

· Push the E-Mail Case button on the control panel.

· Enter the Customer ID of the customer you want to send a case to.

· Enter the Case Number of the case you want to send.

· Enter a Reply-To Address (or accept the default).

· Enter Additional Notes to append to the email message if desired.

· Push the E-Mail Case button to send the case.

The Reply-To Address is the email address of the sender. This will usually be the general purpose email address of the customer support center. If a Tech+Center default Reply-To Address has been configured, then the default address will automatically appear in the Reply-To Address field. However, a tech may override this field, perhaps by entering his/her own personal email address. Refer to the section on System Administration to learn how to configure a default Reply-To Address.

How the customer Help Database is created

When a case report is resolved and closed, it automatically becomes permanantly archived in the Web+Center database. Additionally, words from case one-line, history, summary and resolutions can be added to the Knowledge Base or Help Database. Once the case words are mapped into the knowledge base, it can then be searched by both techs and customers as an aid to resolving future cases. Techs have full access to all information in this database through the search functions provided by Tech+Center. Customers, on the other hand, have more limited access through the search functions provided by Customer+Center.

The limited view that customers have of the Web+Center database is referred to as the Help Database. The archived case information that is available to customers through the Help Database is limited to Case Summaries and Case Resolutions. Of course this information is also accessible to techs through Tech+Center. A case summary and resolution must be composed by a tech after a case has been resolved. The summary is a clear description of the case problem, and the resolution is a clear statement of what was done to solve the problem. The Help Database can be created as case summaries and resolutions are imported into the knowledge base. The Help Database is only as useful as the information recorded in the case summaries and resolutions. Techs should therefore take care to write clearly and accurately, and to include as many keywords as possible that can be matched during a search. In many instances it may not be appropriate to enter any information at all into a case summary and resolution. For example, if a customer opens a case to simply request to have a telephone installed in their office, then obviously there is nothing gained here by composing a case summary and resolution and that case does not have to be added to the knowledge base.

Adding selected cases to the knowledge base

A single support case can be instantly added to knowledge base within the case form by clicking on the Add to KB link just below the red case number. Cases should first be saved to the database before they are added to the database by clicking the Submit button. Clicking on the Add To KB link will add the configured case fields to the knowledge base that have been selected using the Knowledge base configuration options available to the system administrator.

How to export assigned cases into Outlook Tasks and hot-sync with PDA’s

To create a file that can be used to import assigned case records into MS Outlook Task book which can then be Hot-Sync with your PDA device:

Step 1 Creating the Import File

· Push the MyCases or the Other Cases button on the control panel.

· If exporting other tech cases, select the tech to view their support cases.

· Press the Export link to the right of the Assign Cases for Tech title.

· Select the appropriate Export File Type (Defaults to MS Outlook Tab Delimited Type)

· Enter an optional Task List Category for this of assigned cases.

· Press the Submit Button.

· It will ask whether to Save or Open the file. Select the Save Option

· In the Save As window, name the file as *.txt since we are creating a text based TAB delimited file.

Step 2 Import the TAB file into MS Outlook

· Now launch MS Outlook application

· Click on the Task icon.

· Select the File... Import and Export ... Option menu option.

· Select the option (Import from another program or file)

· Press the Next > button.

· Select the Tab Separated Values (Windows) as the file type to export form.

· Select other import options as needed.

· Press Next

· The assigned task should now be imported into your address book with category information.

Step 3: Hot Sync with your Palm Pilot

· Connect your computer and your Palm with your HotSync cable or cradle.

· Press the HotSync button to transfer task lists and address book entries.

Case Auto-Escalation

To ensure that certain cases or new cases are not left un-answered within a set time interval, a case auto-escalation feature exists. This feature sends automatic email notification to selected individuals when cases have not been updated within a certain time intervals.

WARNING: If this is enabled, many escalation notifications emails could be sent if not properly configured and if techs are not responding to the email notifications.

There are two types of case auto-escalation including:

(1) New Case Escalation – New cases created by the customers in the Customer+Center can be set to be auto-escalation if they are not updated by a Tech within a set time interval from their creation time.

(2) Existing Case Escalation – Existing cases can also be automatically escalated if they are not updated by a tech within a set time interval from their last update.

In addition to sending auto-escalation emails to selected individuals, the auto-escalation mechanism can also be set to change the group assignment of the case to another group.

To configure auto escalation operation:

· Click on the Administration Button.

· Click on System Configuration Menu link.

· Click on Auto Escalation Configuration link.

· Uncheck the Disable All Escalation Item

· Set the Check for Escalation Interval rate to how often to want to check

· Configure New Case and Existing Case escalation options

· Press the Submit Button

To Start Case escalation operation:

The Auto-escalation process is driven by a webpage that is auto-refreshing at a set interval to keep the system entirely web-based. It is important that only one user (or the webserver itself) launch a browser window for this operation and then keep that window open or operational to continue the auto-escalation feature. To stop the escalation, simply close this auto-escalation window.

· Click on the Administration Button.

· Click on System Configuration Menu link.

· Click on Auto Escalation Configuration link.

· Click on the Start Escalation link at the top of the page.

· You must keep this browser window open or running to continue case escalation.

To Stop Case escalation operation

· Close the Escalation browser window that was opened with the Start Escalation operation.

· It can also be stopped by Disable All Escalation option under Auto Escalation Configuration page.

3.4 Asset Management

Asset management functions are provided for use in an Internal Help Desk environment. If asset management is enabled, an extra button (Assets) will become visible on the Tech+Center control panel, enabling the customer support staff to create and maintain a database of internal company assets. A company employee can then use Customer+Center to open a case report regarding a particular company asset, and conveniently attach that case report to the asset record for easy tracking. Of course, case reports can also be opened and attached to asset records on behalf of customers by support staff using Tech+Center.

This section describes how to use Tech+Center to create and maintain the assets database. Refer to the chapter on Customer+Center for information on how to use Customer+Center to open a case report and attach it to an asset record. Refer to the section on Case Management in this chapter for information on how to do the same with Tech+Center.

Asset management topics:

How to create a new asset

How to modify an existing asset

How to delete an asset

How to search for an asset

How to control what assets a customer can search for

How to assign an asset to a customer, tech or another asset

How to create asset notes

How to create custom asset fields

How to rename/customize the asset field names

How to create and use the asset management for a spare parts inventory system

How To Export Asset Information to a spread sheet

How to create a new asset

1) To create a new (empty) asset record:

· Push the Assets button on the control panel.

· Press the Create New Asset link to the right of the Asset Search Title.

· Fill in the Asset Information form.

· Push the Submit button to create the new record.

How to modify an existing asset

To modify an existing asset record:

· Find the desired record by first pressing the Assets button on the control panel.

· Enter or select any desired asset search criteria on the Asset Search Form.

· Push the Search button to perform an asset search.

· Locate the desired asset and click on the Asset Number Link to edit/review that asset.

· Make any changes to the asset information or asset assignments.

· Push the Submit button to save changes.

How to delete an asset

Only staff members with administrative privileges can delete asset records. A special Delete Asset button will appear on the Asset Information page allowing admins to delete the asset and any related references to that asset.

How to search for an asset

To search for one or more assets:

· Push the Assets button on the control panel.

· Enter the desired search criteria in the Asset Search form.

· Push the Search button to perform the search.

The set of all found asset records will be displayed in a summary list (a table), where each entry in the list will contain information for a particular asset. The asset numbers will be displayed as hypertext links enabling easy navigation to any particular asset record.

How to control what assets a customer can search for

The asset search options for customers in the Customer+Center can be control by a System Configuration option setting, to control whether customers can search for any assets or only their own assets:

· Click on the Administration Button.

· Click on System Configuration Menu link.

· Click on Other Configuration link.

· Under the Customer assets and Searches select the appropriate radio box selection.

· Press the Submit button to save these settings.

How to assign an asset to a customer, tech or another asset

Assets can be assigned to either a customer, a technician, or related to another asset. To set this assignment:

· Find the desired record by first pressing the Assets button on the control panel.

· Enter or select any desired asset search criteria on the Asset Search Form.

· Push the Search button to perform an asset search.

· Locate the desired asset and click on the Asset Number Link to edit/review that asset.

· Make any necessary asset assigments in the Asset Assignment section of the Asset Information form.

· Push the Submit button to save changes.

How to create asset notes

You can create notes on a particular asset by:

· Find the desired asset or press the New Asset link.

· Enter any asset notes in the text-area box at the bottom of the right hand column.

· Press the Submit button. An asset note log will be date and time stamped and authored

For future viewers. Asset notes cannot be deleted.

How to create custom asset fields

The asset database comes defaulted with 5 custom asset text fields that you can define. Each field can hold up to 50 characters. To change the custom field label on the asset edit form, directly edit the AssetLabels.inc (include) file with an ASCII editor (such as notepad) that is located in the techcenter directory and also in the customercenter directory. The fields will still be defined in the database with column names of custom_field1…5, but the web-viewable labels will be modified to your customized changes.

How to rename/customize asset fields names

The asset management database comes defaulted with about 70 pre-defined asset fields comprised of 20 PC related fields, 15 software application licensing fields and 2 operating system definitions. Almost all of these fields can be “renamed” at the web-interface level for your own asset requirements by simply editing the AssetLabels.inc file located in the techcenter directory and in the customercenter directories. For example, the field which is labeled “”Assigned Group” can be renamed to “Account Number” by editing the “Assigned_Group_Label” variable definition in the AssetLabels.inc file from:

Assigned_Group_Label = “Assigned Group”

Assigned_Group_Label = “Account Number”

Once this change is made, all web-based references to the original “Assigned Group” label will now be displayed as “Account Number”. The asset database table has not changed and will still internally reference the Assigned_Group table so one should NOT attempt to change the database column names or structures in any way approach. One should review the asset table in design mode to review the various sizes of the original fields and check if there are any restrictions on any of the fields (such as unique and indexed) that may not work for re-naming certain fields. The following asset fields are initially defined as indexed and no-duplicates. (Computer_ID, Property_tag, serial_number and IP_Address) If necessary, one can remove the indexed and unique restrictions on these fields by going into Design mode of the table but the fields should not be renamed.

Once these changes are made to the AssetLabels.inc file in the techcenter directory, one should copy and replace the same file located in the customercenter directory so they have identical files in both directories.

How to create and use the asset management for a spare parts tracking system

The asset management component can be used for both existing exists and also as spare parts tracking system. To use the asset component for spare inventory parts :

· First create a customer account with a user first name of “Inventory” and a last name of “Parts”. This will create a customer_id of “Parts_Inventory”

· When new parts are received, assign the part to the customer “Parts_Inventory”.

· Searches of existing inventory can be performed by selecting the asset assignment for customer “Parts_Inventory”

· When part is moved from inventory to a particular user or another machine, simply re-assign the customer assignment or assign that asset to the another asset.

How to export assets to a spreadsheet

To export assets to a spreadsheet or tab delimited file:

Click the Assets button.
Click the Export Assets link in the title area of the page.
First select the Export Format type.
Select which fields to export (Key, Key+Equipment, or ALL)
Select if you want customer asset information exported included
Select the Sort criteria
Press the Submit button. If you specified a file format, it will ask if you wish to save the file.

3.5 Case Search Functions

Tech+Center provides two case search functions:

· Get Case for simple case searches (searches by either customer ID or case number)

· Search Engine for complex multi-criteria case searches.

For each case found during a case search the following information is displayed: case number, customer ID, case status, one line case description, case history, case summary, and case resolution. The case number and customer ID are displayed as hypertext links allowing easy navigation to the case form and customer records, respectively.

Case search topics:

· How to perform a simple case search

· How to perform a multi-criteria case search

How to perform a simple case search

There are three options for performing a simple case search. You can either search for a particular case by number, or you can search for a list of cases belonging to a particular customer or by company.

To perform a simple case search, push the Get Case button on the control panel. The Simple Case Search page will be displayed offering two search options:

Either:

· Enter the desired Case Number.

· Push the Submit button located to the right of the Case Number field to perform the search.

Or to search by Customer

· Enter the desired Customer ID.

· Select the type of cases you want to search for (all cases owned by the customer, or just the open cases, or just the closed cases).

· Select any Sort Order criteria if desired

· Push the Submit button located to the right of the Customer ID field to perform the search.

Or to search by Company

· Enter the desired Company.

· Select the type of cases you want to search for (all cases owned by the customer, or just the open cases, or just the closed cases).

· Select any Sort Order criteria if desired

· Push the Submit button located to the right of the Company field to perform the search.

How to perform a multi-criteria case search

The Multi-Criteria Case Search allows you to perform complex case searches without any knowledge of Standard Query Language (SQL.), the industry standard language for querying relational databases.

To perform a multi-criteria case search:

· Push the Search Engine button on the control panel.

· Enter the desired search criteria (as explained below).

· Push the Search button.

To retrieve a set of case records without performing a string search: Select the desired search criteria without specifying a search string, and then push the SEARCH button. Selected criteria will be AND'ed together.

To search for a string within a set of case records: Specify a search string, select the search criteria for the desired set of records as described above, and then push the SEARCH button. All records matching the selected criteria will first be retrieved. The string search will then be performed only within that set of records. If the SEARCH button is pushed without selecting any search criteria then the string search will be performed within ALL case records in the database. The search string is looked for within the following case record fields: the "One Line Description", the "Case Summary", the "Case Resolution", and the "Case History".

When searching by "Date": Dates must have the format "MM/DD/YYYY". If the year is not specified then the current year is used. The date criteria ranges from the specified start date up to (and including) the specified end date. A search can be performed by the date a case was created, or by the date it was last modified. If a start date is specified, but not an end date, then the date criteria ranges from the specified start date up to the present. If an end date is specified, but not a start date, then the date criteria ranges from the earliest case record in the database up to the specified end date.

When searching by "Duplicates": If "No duplicate cases" is selected as a search criteria then no case record that has an entry in its Duplicate Case field will be retrieved. Refer to the section on Case Management for more information on the Duplicate Case field.

3.6 Dispatcher Status Page

The Dispatcher Status Page provides support primarily for Web+Center dispatchers who work at a telephone based Help Desk. The status page is displayed by pushing the Dispatcher button on the control panel. This button is only visible to staff members who have Dispatcher access privileges or higher. The status page displays a table of techs whoare available to speak with customers who phone into the Help Desk for assistance. Each row of the table contains personal information for a particular tech including name, phone number, email address, and notes. This information is taken from the tech record. Each tech also has a dynamic Busy/Available status light indicating whether the tech is currently busy or not.

The Dispatcher Status Page can also be useful in a non-telephone based support center for keeping track of the “availability” of selected personnel, where “availability” may be defined in whatever way is useful to the organization. For example, “availabilty” may be interpreted to mean “In for the day”, or “Currently at one’s desk”, or “Free to perform some task.”.

The E-mail Address for each tech is displayed as a hypertext link which, when clicked on, displays a page enabling the dispatcher to quickly send off an email message to that tech. Techs signal their Busy/Available status by toggling the Busy/Available button on their control panels. If a tech is currently available, the Busy/Available status light will show green, otherwise it will show red. In order for the Busy/Available status lights to be current, the status page must be regularly refreshed. This can be done either manually by pushing the Dispatcher button whenever desired, or automatically by enabling the status page Auto-Refresh feature, or a combination of both.

Refer to the section on System Administration for information on entering tech information, setting tech security levels, flagging techs for display on the Dispatcher Status page, and enabling/disabling the status page auto-refresh feature.

3.7 System Administration

Support staff members with Administration privileges will see an Administration button on their Tech+Center control panel. If this button is pushed, the System Administration page will be displayed with a list of administrative functions in the form of hypertext links. This section describes each of those functions. Refer to the following section on System Configuration for additional administrative functions available to staff members with Configuration privileges.

System administration topics:

How to configure and build the knowledge base (Help Database)

How to register a staff member

How to modify a staff member

How to delete a staff member

How to display a list of staff members

How to enable Cell Phone Email Notification

How to enable email notification

How to display techs on the dispatcher status page

How to reassign all cases

How to create a support group

How to delete a support group

How to display a list of staff members

How to rename a support group

How to change the default support group

How to add staff members to a support group

How to remove staff members from a support group

How to rename a customer ID

How to delete a customer

How to customize the default user page

How to customize email notification messages

How to configure initial group assignments by category selections

How to configure and build the knowledge base (Help Database)

The Knowledge Base is created by “indexing” every word of every case record and making entries in the database for fast and efficient text searches. Once this knowledge base is created, text searches for the Tech+Center and Customer+Center will use this knowledge base to very quickly return matching records.

The knowledge base is not automatically created but it must be configured and processed by Tech+Center administrators. Once the initial database has been processed, any additional case records that are created or modified can be added by selecting Option 1 from the Knowledge Base Options page. The knowledge base can also be deleted and rebuilt using different options at any time. Techs can also add individual cases to the knowledge base by clicking on the Add to KB link just below the Case Number in the case form.

To configure and build the knowledge base:

· Click on Knowledge Base Options on the System Administration page.

· First, configure your Knowledge configuration by selecting which case record sections you want to be “indexed” into your knowledge base and pressing the Update KB Configuration Options button.

· For initial knowledge base creations, press the link under Option 2 on the Knowledge Base Options page. This will “index” all words from the selected sections of each case record in the database. This will slowly step through the database and compile the knowledge base once case per web page. This automatic page refresh technique is to prevent the knowledge base builder process from using too many database resources and to allow users to still submit cases during this indexing process. Once the knowledge base is built, text searches done with either the Customer+Center Help Database search or the Tech+Center search will quickly find case records with selected text.

· To update a knowledge base on a daily or weekly basis, press the link under Option 1 to update knowledge with only case records that have been added or updated since the last knowledge base build.

· To update all cases that are created or modified after a certain date, enter a date (mm/dd/yyyy) and press the “Process Knowledge Base” button under Option 3.

· To update just one case into the database, enter a case number and press the Process One case button under Option 4.

· If you wish to rebuild your knowledge base using different knowledge base options, pressing the link under Option 5 will delete all knowledge base entries and you must rebuild your knowledge base. Case information is never deleted, only the knowledge base information is deleted.

· Creating the knowledge base is a CPU intensive process since it has to carefully read and index every word of every case and create knowledge entry for each word. We recommend you perform complete rebuilds of the knowledge base at times when the system is not heavily used.

How to register a staff member

To register a new staff member:

· Click on Create staff member on the System Administration page.

· Fill in the Staff Member Information form.

· Complete the Login ID and password information with initial Login information for the staff member.

· Push the Submit button to create the record.

When a new staff member record is created, it is automatically assigned a unique identifier called a Tech ID which has the format “CSS-nnnn”, where “nnnn” is a four digit number, and “CSS” is an acronym for Customer Support System. The tech ID is displayed in red in the upper right hand corner of the Staff Member Information form. The unique tech ID is used by the system to associate case records with particular staff members. An additional field called Login ID must be set that defines what Login ID (maybe called “username”) the staff member will enter to log into Tech+Center. A corresponding password must also be completed by filling in the Password field.

Techs can also directly change their Login ID and password combinations once it has been initially setup by administrators by accessing the web page:

<domain name or host name or IP address>/techcenter/changepassword.htm

Note: For backward compatibility, Tech+Center users can enter either their Tech ID and password or Login ID and password combinations to access the Tech+Center.

When a new staff member record is created, it must be assigned a Security Level. The default level is “Support Staff (Read/Write)”. The security level determines how much access is allowed to the staff member. The following is a list of all possible security levels beginning with the most restrictive:

· Support Staff (Read Only) – Allows read access only. All control panel buttons are visible except the Dispatcher and Administration buttons.

· Support Staff (Read/Write) – Allows read/write access. All control panel buttons are visible except the Dispatcher and Administration buttons.

· Dispatcher - Allows read/write access. All control panel buttons are visible except the Administration button.

· System Administrator - Allows read/write access. All control panel buttons are visible, but the hypertext link to the system configuration menu is not visible.

· System Configurator – Allows full access.

To enable a staff member to receive an automatic email notification whenever a case report is first assigned to that member, check the checkbox titled “Notify by email if a case is assigned to this staff member”.

To display a staff member on the Dispatcher Status Page, check the checkbox titled “Display member on dispatch screen checkbox”.

How to modify a staff member

To modify a staff member record:

· Click on Edit staff member on the System Administration page.

· Select the desired staff member from the list.

· Push the Edit Record button to display the Staff Member Information form.

· Modify the desired form fields.

· Push the Submit button to save the changes.

The staff member information form is described in more detail in the section above on How to register a staff member.

How to delete a staff member

To delete a staff member record:

· Click on Delete staff member on the System Administration page.

· In the upper list, select the staff member to delete.

· In the lower list, select the staff member (or None) to reassign all cases to.

· Push the Delete Member button, and then confirm the operation.

Although every case report in the Web+Center database must be attached to some support group, it is not necessary for a case to be attached to a staff member (a tech).

How to display a list of staff members

There are two ways to display a list (or table) of staff members.

1) To display a list of all staff members independent of support group:

· Click on Show all staff members on the System Administration page.

2) To display a list of all staff members by support group:

· Click on Show staff members by support group on the System Administration page.

· Select the desired support group (or All).

· Push the Show Members button.

Staff members are displayed in a table which includes information such as tech ID, name, phone number, and email address. This information is taken from staff member records. The Tech ID for each staff member is displayed as a hypertext link enabling easy navigation to the Staff Member Information form for that member. If a column heading in the list is displayed as a hypertext link, then the table can be sorted by that column by clicking on the heading.

The column labeled Notify is discussed in the section How to enable email notification, and the column labeled Dispatch is discussed in the section How to display techs on the dispatcher status page.

How to enable cell phone email notification

To enable a particular staff member to receive automatic email notification sent to their cell phone email account with a condensed email alert:

· Click on Edit staff members on the System Administration page.

· Locate the desired staff member in the list and press the Edit Record Button.

· Enter the Cell phone email address into the Cell-Email address under the Home column.

· Press the Submit Button to save the Tech Staff entries.

· To disable cell phone email notification, clear out this field and resave the Tech staff info.

How to enable email notification

To enable a particular staff member to receive automatic email notification whenever a case report is first assigned to that member:

· Click on Show all staff members on the System Administration page.

· Locate the desired staff member in the list.

· Click on Yes/No in the Notify column to Enable/Disable email notification.

To enable a particular staff member to receive automatic email notification whenever a case report is first assigned to a particular support group which that member belongs to:

· Click on Show staff members by support group on the System Administration page.

· Select the desired support group (or All).

· Push the Show Members button.

· Locate the desired staff member (and also the desired support group if all groups are being displayed).

· Click on Yes/No in the Notify column for that staff member (and that support group) to Enable/Disable email notification.

How to display techs on the dispatcher status page

To enable a staff member to be displayed on the Dispatcher Status Page:

· Click on Show all staff members on the System Administration page.

· Locate the desired staff member in the list.

· Click on Yes/No in the Dispatch column for that member to Enable/Disable that member to be displayed on the Dispatcher Status Page.

Refer to the section on Dispatcher Status Page for more information.

How to reassign all cases

1) To reassign all cases from one staff member to another:

· Click on Reassign all cases from one staff member to another on the System Administration page.

· In the upper list, select the staff member to de-assign all cases from.

· In the lower list, select the staff member to re-assign all cases to.

· Push the Reassign Cases button, and then confirm the operation.

2) To reassign all cases from one support group to another:

· Click on Reassign all cases from one support group to another on the System Administration page.

· In the upper list, select the support group to de-assign all cases from.

· In the lower list, select the support group to re-assign all cases to.

· Push the Reassign Cases button, and then confirm the operation.

How to create a support group

To create a new support group:

· Click on Create support group on the System Administration page.

· Enter the name of the new support group.

· Push the Create Group button.

How to delete a support group

To delete a support group:

· Click on Delete support group on the System Administration page.

· In the upper list, select the support group to delete.

· In the lower list, select the support group to re-assign all cases to.

· Push the Delete Group button, and then confirm the operation.

How to rename a support group

To rename a support group:

· Click on Rename support group on the System Administration page.

· Select the support group to rename from the list.

· Push the Continue button.

· Enter the new name of the support group.

· Push the Rename Group button, and then confirm the operation.

How to change the default support group

To change the default support group:

· Click on Change default support group on the System Administration page.

· The name of the current default support group will be displayed. Select the new default support group from the list.

· Push the Change Default button, and then confirm the operation.

How to add staff members to a support group

To add one or more staff members to a support group:

· Click on Add staff members to support group on the System Administration page.

· In the upper list, select the desired set of staff members.

· In the lower list, select the support group into which the set of staff members will be inserted.

· Push the Add Members button.

How to remove staff members from a support group

To remove one or more staff members from a support group:

· Click on Remove staff members from support group on the System Administration page.

· Select the support group from which to remove a set of staff members .

· Push the Continue button.

· Select the set of staff members to be removed from the support group.

· Push the Remove Members button, and then confirm the operation.

How to rename a customer ID

When a Customer ID is renamed, it is renamed in the customer record, and in every case record belonging to the customer in order to preserve database integrity.

To rename a customer ID;

· Click on Rename customer ID on the System Administration page.

· Enter the Customer ID to be changed.

· Push the Continue button.

· Enter the new Customer ID.

· Push the Rename Customer ID button, and then confirm the operation.

How to delete a case report

To delete a case report:

· Click on Delete case on the System Administration page.

· Enter the number of the case report to delete.

· Push the Delete Case button, and then confirm the operation.

How to delete a customer

When deleting a customer record, all cases attached to that customer record must also be deleted in order to preserve database integrity. If you want to save the case records belonging to a particular customer, then you must also save the customer record.

To delete a customer and all cases attached to that customer:

· Click on Delete customer and attached cases on the System Administration page.

· Enter the Customer ID of the customer to be deleted.

· Push the Delete Customer button.

· If there are any cases attached to the customer, those cases will be listed with hypertext links enabling you to easily review the cases before confirming the deletion.

How to customize the default user page

The default user page is the HTML page that is displayed in the User Window whenever a staff member first logs into Tech+Center. It is also displayed at times when the Cancel button is pushed to cancel certain Tech+Center functions. The HTML text and graphics that appear on the default user page can be customized as follows:

· Click on Edit user page and email messages on the System Administration page.

· Enter the desired HTML (text and graphics) into Textbox (1).

· Push the Submit button.

How to customize email notification messages

If customer email notification is enabled, Web+Center components will automatically send email messages to customers under a variety of conditions. If desired, these messages can be customized by appending additional text as explained below:

· Click on Edit user page and email messages on the System Administration page.

· Enter the desired text into the appropriate textbox (as described below).

· Push the Submit button.

Textbox (2): If customer email notification is enabled, then Web+Center will automatically send an email message to a customer whenever a case belonging to that customer is updated by a tech. The message will contain details about the updated case. Text entered in this textbox will be appended to the beginning of every such message. This message will also contain information such as the customer ID, case number, case status, one line case description, case history, case summary, and case resolution.

Textbox (3): If customer email notification is enabled, then Web+Center will automatically send an email message to a customer whenever that customer updates a case. The message will contain details about the updated case. Text entered in this textbox will be appended to the beginning of every such message. This message will also contain information such as the customer ID, case number, case status, one line case description, case history, case summary, and case resolution.

Textbox (4): If customer email notification is enabled, then Web+Center will automatically send an email message to a customer when that customer is first registered, or whenever the customer record is updated by either the customer or a tech. The message will acknowledge that the customer record has been modified and will contain the current customer username and password. Text entered in this textbox will be appended to the beginning of every such message.

Textbox (5): Customer+Center provides customers with a search utility for finding and retrieving lost usernames and passwords used for logging into Customer+Center. If found, usernames and passwords are transmitted to the customer by email. Text entered in this textbox will be appended to the beginning of every such message.

How to configure initial group assignments by category selections

The Web+Center system is initially configured to have all cases created by the customer using the Customer+Center application to initially assigned the case to the “default” group automatically. Cases entered with the Tech+Center application will also be initially set the “default” group unless a technicians set the group assignment during the initial case creation.

For organizations that prefer to immediately assign a case to a selected group based on category assignment can configure a category and category items to perform this direct group assignment.

An example of how this could be used at a single Web+Center Help Desk installation at a college that supports both IT (Information Technology/PC related issues), and traditional maintenance requests. A category question can be configured that asks the customer to select one of the following problem types:

Problem/Request Type:

PC Support Issue

Networking

Lighting/Electrical

Plumbing

Other Facilities

If the customer selects any of the IT support issues (PC Support Issue, Networking, Email), the case can be initially assigned to the IT support Group. If the customer selects any of the facilities related items (Lighting/Electrical, Plumbing, or Other Facilities), the case can be automatically assigned to the Facilities Group. Each group can then directly monitor and dispatch cases within their group without requiring a single dispatcher to assign cases from a single default group handling both maintenance and IT support. If the customer does not select any category item for this category, the case will then be assigned to the default group.

To configure a particular category and assign groups for each category item follow the steps below:

· Click on Administration button

· Click on the System Configuration Menu link on the System Administration page.

· Click on the Configure Initial Group Assignments link

· In the top box, enable or disable a category that will be used for initial group assignments

· In the lower box, select a default group for cases where the category is not set

· Press the Submit button to continue the configuration

· For each category item select an initial default group to assign the case to

· Press the Continue button

· The final configuration settings are displayed. Press the Continue button to return to the Administration Menu

3.8 System Configuration

Support staff members with Configuration level privileges will see an Administration button on their Tech+Center control panel. If this button is pushed, the System Administration page will be displayed with a list of administrative functions in the form of hypertext links. All of the administrative functions described in the previous section on System Administration will be visible, plus some additional functions as described in this section.

System level configuration options have been increased with each new version of the software. There are now (4) system configuration menu setting pages each with different options including:

System Configuration Option - (Screen colors, Email address, Database, Misc, Max case history sizes and window refresh rates)

Additional Configuration Options – (Case form sizing, Date Formats, Time Zone, Knowledge base, Time Spent options)

Other Configuration – (File Upload options, Customer+Center security options, asset searches and database encryptions options)

More Configuration - (Customer Survey configurations, virtual directory definitions)

Besure to view and set all (4) of these system level configuration menus.

System configuration topics:

How to set System Configuration options

How to set Additional Configuration Options

How to set Other Configuration Options

What is a category?

How to create a category and item list

How to modify or delete a category and item list

How to create categories viewable by techs only

How to add new text box fields to the case ticket

How to configure File Download Options for Customer+Center and Tech+Center

There are a number of system wide configuration options that affect both Tech+Center and Customer+Center. To set these options:

· Click on System configuration menu on the System Administration page.

· Click on Configuration options or the Additional Configuration Options links on the System Configuration page.

· Set the desired configuration options (as described below).

· Push the Submit button.

The following is a list of all configuration options:

Background Colors:

· Control Panel Window Color: This option sets the background color of the Tech+Center Control Panel Window. Enter the desired RGB color as a six digit Hex number in the format “RRGGBB”.

· Open Cases Window Color: This option sets the background color of the Tech+Center Open Cases Window. Enter the desired RGB color as a six digit Hex number in the format “RRGGBB”.

· User Window Color: This option sets the background color of the Tech+Center User Window. Enter the desired RGB color as a six digit Hex number in the format “RRGGBB”.

Dispatcher Refresh Rates:

· Dispatcher Open Cases Refresh Rate: This option allows the Open Cases Window to auto-refresh at a regular interval. To enable this option enter a positive number. The number entered determines the interval (in seconds) between each refresh. To disable this option enter a zero. This feature only works for staff members with Dispatcher privileges or higher.

· Dispatcher Status Page Refresh Rate: This option allows the Dispatcher Status Page to auto-refresh at a regular interval. To enable this option enter a positive number. The number entered determines the interval (in seconds) between each refresh. To disable this option enter a zero. This feature only works for staff members with Dispatcher privileges or higher.

Email Addresses:

· SMTP Mail Server Address: This option sets the address of the SMTP mail server that is used by Tech+Center and Customer+Center for transmitting all email messages. No auto-email notification messages can be sent to either techs or customers unless this field is properly filled in. The address can be an IP address like 207.202.53.3 or name that can be resolved by a DNS like “smtp.mycompany.com”. It is very important that this field be entered as soon as possible.

· Default Reply-To Address: This option sets the default reply-to address that is used by Tech+Center and Customer+Center when transmitting email messages. This address can be overridden in some circumstances.

· Organization From Name: This option defines the name of the from organization in all of the email messages sent by the Web+Center application. Put your company or organization name into this field.

Database:

· Database Type: This option defines the type of back-end database. It should be properly set for your backend database (Access or SQL). This setting does NOT re-configure the ODBC DSN. This setting simply sets a variable that is used for certain database queries that use Database specific SQL queries syntax and the database type must be identified.

Miscellaneous Settings:

· Enable Customer ID List: If this option is enabled, then a drop-down list of Customer IDs will be automatically generated for every Customer ID field that appears on any Tech+Center pages. The drop-down list is displayed by clicking on the Customer ID field, and thereby allows easy selection and entry of Customer IDs. This feature may become inconvenient to use if the number of customers grows too large, in which case it may be preferable to disable it.

· Enable Customer Email Notification: If this option is enabled, then Tech+Center and Customer+Center will automatically send an email notification message to a customer whenever a case belonging to that customer is updated by either the customer or a tech. The email message will contain details about the updated case.

· Enable Assets Database: If this option is enabled, then the New Asset and Get Asset buttons will be visible on the Control Panel, enabling techs to maintain a database of company assets. Customers can then use Customer+Center to find company assets and attach them to case reports. The same can be done by techs using Tech+Center. Refer to the Asset Management chapter for more information.

· Cache Web Server Extension DLLs: This option is only for internal use by Internet Software Sciences.

Case Size Limits:

· Max Case History Size: This option sets the maximum allowable size (in characters) of a Case History.

· Max Case Summary Size: This option sets the maximum allowable size (in characters) of a Case Summary.

· Max Case Resolution Size: This option sets the maximum allowable size (in characters) of a Case Resolution.

How to Set Additional Configuration Options

Clicking on the Additional Configuration option menu in the System Configuration Menu will provide additional options to configure Case Ticket Text area box sizes, date display formats, time zone adjustments and Time Spent category options.

Case Form Sizing options: The case summary and case resolution text area boxes on the Tech+Center case form can be configured to be “Auto” or “Fixed” number of rows. If you select AUTO sizing, the text area box will be resized for future case references after a case summary or resolution is submitted. The number of rows is computed by taking the number of characters of the case summary or resolution and dividing it by 45 characters. The text area box will expand to a maximum number of rows as specified in the Max Rows settings.

· Max Rows for Summary Box – Defines the maximum number of rows for the summary box.

· Max Rows for Resolution Box – Defines the maximum number of row for the case resolution box.

· Default Rows Selecting “FIXED” number of rows will set the number of rows of the text boxes to the default rows settings for initial displays and all future case references.

· Default Columns – The default number of text area box columns can also be configured for all of the Tech+Center case text area boxes.

· Default rows for History Box The History field is always empty (blank) for new or existing cases. Setting this value will set the number of rows of this text area box.

Date Format Display Options:

· Select the MM/DD/YYYY date option to view the dates in the standard US date format of DD/MM/YYYY where DD = Day of the month, MM=Month (01-12) and YYYY = Year.

· Select the DD/MM/YYYY date option to view dates in the UK or other non-us formats.

Time Zone Adjustments:

The web server and its corresponding “System Time” may be located in a different time zone from where the users are typically submitting and updating cases. By default, we assume the system time is the same as the Web Users time and the cases are date and time stamped based on the server system time. To set the cases in a time zone relative to the server system time, set the Case Time Zone settings to + or – the number of hours from the server system time. One can also set the to record events in GMT as well.

As an example, if you server is located in a web hosting facility in California, but your Help Desk, Tech Staff and customers are located in New York, you would set this case time zone settings to be “3”. This will time and date stamp the cases with times that are 3 hours ahead of the California server system time. If you have users on both coasts, it is helpful to also label the time zone as “EST”, or “PST”. The Time Zone Label field lets you define an optional time zone text string.

To time and date stamp case events in GMT time, determine the number of hours +/- from GMT for the server system time and place that number into the Time Zone Settings and place the text “GMT” into the Time Zone Label field.

The program does not make any attempt to obtain the individual clients browser time but it will time stamp the cases based on a universal time setting set with the Time Zone Adjustments above.

To set the Time Zone:

· Determine the how many hours +/- from the server system time that you want the case time and date stamps set. Enter this into the Time Zone Setting box.

· Optionally, enter a Time Zone label like PST, EST, GMT, into the Time Zone Label Box.

Knowledge Base Updates:

Case words are not automatically added into the knowledge base but must be added by techs, if desired, when processing support cases. To have all case words mapped into the knowledge base during the case submit and confirmation process, select the Add All Cases to KB option. This will change the Continue button link after a case is submitted on Tech+Center that will map all of the words of the case into the KB. If this option is turned off, the Continue button will simply return users to the case form without updating the Knowledge base.

Time Spent Categories:

If you wish to have one case category where the Tech can select the amount of time spent on a case (such 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes ,etc), one can create a category using the category options to create a “Time Spent Category”. To future enable special supervisor reports that can perform hourly reporting functions in conjunction with this category setting, set the Time Spent Category and the Time Spent Interval with the appropriate category and minutes per category item. For more information on Time Spent Category, refer to the section 3.8 under Tech+Center reports and configuring Time Spent Reports.

How to Set Additional Configuration Options

Clicking on the Other Configuration menu link in the System Configuration Menu will provide additional options to configure File Upload options and Customer+Center Security options.

How to Configure File Upload Options:

Click on the Administration button
Click on System Configuration Menu link
Click on Other Configuration Menu link
Select whether the file upload option is available for Customer+Center user and/or Tech+Center users
Enter the file download physical path. This setting does not automatically create this physical path and you must create this directory using Windows Explorer or other means.
Enter the file download virtual directory path. This setting does not automatically create this virtual directory on your webserver. You must create this virtual directory separately using Internet Information Services. We recommend you set this virtual directory settings only to read access and DO NOT allow script or execute permissions for this download virtual directory for security reasons.
Check the Rename upload file based on case number if you wish all files that are uploaded to be renamed like CXXX-filename.ext. For example, if the file that is being uploaded is Problem.txt and this is downloaded in reference to case 1045, the new downloaded file name would be C1045-Problem.txt.
Select the maximum allowed file size or put zero into this field to allow any size file.
Click the Submit button to process these configuration changes.

How to Configure Customer+Center Security Options:

Click on the Administration button
Click on System Configuration Menu link
To disable/enable customer login requiring a password, select the appropriate radio box to allow/require customer+center password.
To control what assets customers can view and search, select the appropriate radio box selection.
To encrypt the customer+center passwords in the database, select the encrypt password in the database option. There is code to check for encrypted and un-encrypted password when logging into the customer+center to allow this option to be enabled for existing databases and existing customers.
Press the Submit button to commit these changes.

How to Set More Configuration Options

Clicking on the Other Configuration menu link in the System Configuration Menu will provide additional options to configure Customer Survey options and Virtual Directory definitions.

Customer surveys are web-based surveys that are initiated from an customer survey email link that is sent to the customer when the case is first closed. In that email is a link to a customer survey form that resides in the customer+Center virtual directory. If a customer clicks on the link in the customer survey email, it takes them to this web-based customer survey form. Once the form is submitted, survey results are emailed to a few defined users. Survey results are stored in the database and can be view at anytime by administrators using the View Survey results tools.

How to Configure Customer Survey Options:

Click on the Administration button
Click on System Configuration Menu link
Click on More Configuration Menu link
If you want customer surveys to be enabled, click on the Customer Survey checkbox. Before setting this option, you should have a customer survey created using the Survey Builder tools under Administration.
Enter one or more email address to send the customer survey results to.
Enter a short message that will be included in the email message that goes before the web-based survey link.
Press the Submit button to save these changes

How to Define Virtual Directories

It is important for proper Web+Center operation that the Virtual Directory names that are used for your Web+Center installation are defined here. Although the recommended default virtual directory names are tech40, customer40, business40,and wclanguage, these can be configured to other virtual names if desired. It is also important that these virtual directories be defined since these definitions are used when creating links in emails to the particular application.

The Web+Center virtual directories must be configured in the Internet Information Services and defining a virtual directory name here DOES NOT create or modify the virtual directory name defined with IIS.

To define virtual directory names:

Click on the Administration button
Click on System Configuration Menu link
Click on More Configuration Menu link
Enter virtual directory names for Tech+Center, Customer+Center, Business+Center and Language files.
Press the Submit button to save these changes.

What is a category?

A category can be thought of as a field in a case record used to identify (or "categorize") the type of information contained in the record. Category fields are visible on both the case form and the search engine form. Values entered into category fields are selected by users from category item lists. Categories and item lists are user defined. Every case record can have up to 50 defined categories, each with its own list of up to 30 selectable items. When a case record is first created, every defined category is set to a default value of "N/A" (not applicable). This default does not change unless a user sets it to a different value in the case form. Categories are used by the search engine to restrict a case search to only those records that match a particular set of criteria. The category fields that appear on the search engine form (which are the same as those appearing on a case form) are used to select the desired category search criteria.

How to create a category and item list

To create a new category and item list:

· Click on System configuration menu on the System Administration page.

· Click on Manage Category Lists on the System Configuration page.

· Fill in the Create New Category text box with a new category name.

· Push the Create button.

· Follow the instructions in the Edit Category Window

How to modify or delete a category and item list

To modify or delete a category and item list:

· Click on System configuration menu on the System Administration page.

· Click on Manage Category Lists on the System Configuration page.

· Select the category under the Edit Category list selection box and press the Edit button.

· Follow the instructions on how to modify, delete or disable categories and item lists

How to order a category item list

To set the display order a category item list:

· Click on System configuration menu on the System Administration page.

· Click on Manage Category Lists on the System Configuration page.

· Select the category under the Rearrange Category List selection box and press Rearrange button.

How to set an category to be view by Techs only

To set a category to be view by Techs (Tech+Center) only:

· Click on System configuration menu on the System Administration page.

· Click on Manage Category Lists on the System Configuration page.

· Select the category under the Edit Category list selection box and press the Edit button.

· Select the appropriate radio box next to the category name (Disable, All View, Tech View)

· Press the Continue Button at the bottom of the screen.

CAUTION: Good judgement and common sense must be exercised when modifying a category or item name. For example, suppose the Customer Support System is being used to track problem reports for a network of computers, and suppose that one of the defined categories is "Type of Computer" with an item list consisting of two items, "Macintosh" and "PC". Suppose further that one or more case records have already been created in which this category has been correctly set to one of the two item values. Although a user is free to modify a category or item name in any way desired, it's important not to alter the "meaning" of the name. Thus it would be acceptable to rename "Macintosh" to "Mac", or to correct a spelling error such as "Makintosh". However, it would NOT be acceptable to rename "Macintosh" to "IBM Mainframe" because the meaning of the item name would be entirely altered resulting in a corrupted database in which all case reports that previously (and correctly) referred to Macintosh computers, now incorrectly refer to IBM mainframe computers. Obviously the same kind of problem can occur if the meaning of the category name, as well as the item names, is also changed.

How to add new text box fields to the case ticket

Optional case text form fields can be added to the case form. The label in front of the text box is configurable and whether this form element is available on the Customer+Center and Tech+Center or just the Tech+Center case form page can also be set.

To add a new text box to the case form:

· Click on the Administration button in the button panel.

· Click on System Configuration Menu link.

· Click on the Edit Case Text Labels link.

· You can enter up to 10 case text labels and select their view status.

· Press Submit to accept these changes.

How to configure File Download options for the Customer+Center and Tech+Center

Optional File download options can be enabled for the Tech+Center, Customer+Center or both. A file can be downloaded from the Tech’s or customer’s web browser and that file is optionally renamed and stored on the webserver. A link is then created in the case history field to enable the customer or the tech to access that downloaded file anywhere right from the browser.

To enable and configure File Download options:

· Click on the Administration button in the button panel.

· Click on System Configuration Menu link.

· Click on the Other Configuration link.

· Under the File Upload Options check which application (Tech+Center or Customer+Center) to enable file upload

· Enter a physical path on the webserver where the files are to be downloaded into. You must create that physical directory on the webserver separately.

· Enter a File Upload virtual directory. You must create this virtual directory inside of the Internet Information Service separately and they must match this setting. That virtual directory setting should be configured only for read access only. Do not allow script or execute permissions to prevent users from downloading files that could execute if selected by a web link.

· Enable file renaming based on case number if needed

· Select the maximum File size in bytes or enter 0 to allow any file size.

· Press the Submit Button.

3.9 Tech+Center Reports

Support staff members with Dispatcher privileges or above (Dispatcher, Administrator, and Configurator Levels) will see a Reports button on their Tech+Center control panel. If this button is pushed, the Reports page will be displayed with a list of Case and System reports in the form of hypertext links and graphical information. This section describes each of those functions.

Figure 8.5 Top Level Reports Menu Page

Tech+Center Reports topics:

Reports Menu Page

Open Cases Reports

Time Spent Reports

Closed Cases Reports

Supervisor Summary Reports

Other Case Reports

Supervisor Reports

Customer Surveys

Configuring Time Spent Reports

Case Summary Information Display

Total System Status Display

Case Statistics

Creating your own reports

Creating and Viewing Top 10 Case Lists

Reports Menu Page

Pressing the Reports button will display the main Reports Menu page. This page consists of two sections. The top section contains hypertext links to specific reports that show graphically and numerically some pre-defined case and tech reports.

The bottom section of the page immediately provides Case Summary Information, and Total System Status information to help monitor your Help Desk performance. For additional system status, click on the System Status report. All of these reports will help to determine if your support staff is effectively entering, tracking and solving support cases in a timely fashion.

For most of the reports, the case status attribute is broken down into two values, “Opened” or “Closed”. For each case, it is possible to store only one type of “Closed” status while there are several Open Status values (Open-Active, Open-Waiting, and Open-on-hold). All of the open status types will be considered to be “opened” for the reports.

If your reports page does not display properly when you press the reports button, you may not have the TechCenter virtual directory properly configured. The Tech+Center virtual directory where the Reports.asp and other ASP files are located must have executable and scripting permissions turned on. Refer to your MS Internet Information or Management Server configuration documentation for more information.

Open Cases Reports

There are 5 open cases reports under the Open Cases Reports Category including:

Open Cases by Tech – A numerical and graphical report showing open cases by assigned tech.

Open Cases by Group – A numerical and graphical report showing open cases by assigned group.

Open Cases by Priority – A numerical and graphical report displaying open cases by Priority.

Open Cases by Status – A numerical and graphical report display open cases by Case Status.

Open Cases by Duration – A numerical and graphical report showing the duration of how long existing open cases have been opened breaking results into cases opened today, yesterday, this week, this month, last 6 months and greater than 6 months ago.

Time Spent Reports

There are 5 Time Spent cases reports under the Time Spent Reports Category. All of these reports require that a Time Spent category exists and is configured. These reports include:

Time Spent by Company/Date – A report showing number of cases by company and amount of time spent by Company. The report can optionally can be searched by Start and End date range. Clicking on the company will provide a detailed time spent report that company for the specified date range.

Time Spent by User Group – A report showing number of cases by customer user group and amount of time spent by User Group. The report can optionally can be searched by Start and End date range. Clicking on the User Group will provide a detailed time spent report that User Group for the specified date range.

Time Spent by User Group Reference – A report showing number of cases and time spent by user group and sub totaled by the case Reference number which could be used to define a job code. The report can optionally can be searched by Start and End date range. Clicking on the Reference number will provide a detailed time spent report that user group broken down by Reference Number/Job Code for the specified date range.

Time Spent by Tech Group Reference – A report showing number of cases and time spent by Tech group and sub totaled by the case Reference number which could be used to define a job code. The report can optionally be searched by Start and End date range. Clicking on the Reference number will provide a detailed time spent report that tech group broken down by Reference Number/Job Code for the specified date range.

Time Spent by Customer – A report showing number of cases and time spent by customer. The report can optionally be searched by Start and End date range. Clicking on the customer link in the first report will provide a detailed time spent report that user customer listing all of the time spent cases for that customer over the specified date duration.

Closed Cases Reports

The Closed Cases Reports Category includes 2 reports consisting of:

Cases Closed By Tech – A numerical and graphical report showing cases that were closed today and all cases by tech that was assigned to the case when it was closed.

Cases Closed Today by Group – A numerical and graphical report showing cases that were closed today and all cases by the Group that was assigned to the case when it was closed.

Supervisor Summary Reports

The Closed Cases Reports Category includes 4 reports consisting of:

Supervisor Report by Tech – This report shows a break down of the time spent by tech over the specified date duration and totals the time spent. A more detailed report for each tech can be created by clicking on the individual tech link.

Top Tech for Last Month – This report tallys the amount of times spent for the logged in tech and graphically and numerically compares that tech with the tech that has most time spent in the last month. It is possible to create a link to this page from another page to lets know how they are doing in respect to other techs.

Top Tech for Last Two Weeks – This report tallys the amount of times spent for the logged in tech and graphically and numerically compares that tech with the tech that has most time spent in the last two weeks. It is possible to create a link to this page from another page to let techs know how they are doing in respect to other techs.

Top Tech for Last Week – This report tallys the amount of times spent for the logged-in tech and graphically and numerically compares that tech with the tech that has most time spent in the last week. It is possible to create a link to this page from another page to let techs know how they are doing in respect to other techs.

Other Case Reports

The Other Case Reports includes 5 reports consisting of:

All Cases by Customer – A numerical and graphical report showing case statistics by Customer.

All Cases By Customer by Date – A numerical and graphical report showing case statistics by customer for a selected date range.

Closed Cases By Customer by Date – A numerical and graphical report showing case statistics by customer for a selected date range for closed cases.

Closed Cases By Customer – A numerical and graphical report showing case statistics by customer for closed cases.

Cases By Category by Date – A numerical and graphical report showing case statistics by category and category items for an optional selected date range.

Cases By Company by Date – A numerical and graphical report showing case statistics by company and for an optional selected date range.

System Status – This page gives total system statistics for your help desk.

Customer Surveys

The Customer Survey Reports include:

View Survey Results – A form allows display of customer survey taken by selecting a date range and optional customer and or Case number.

Case Summary Information

Each time the Reports page is referenced, these reports are re-run providing up to the minute information on cases, customers, and tech availability.

The Case Summary Table provides three pieces of information:

(1) Total Open Cases – This is a count of all cases that are not “Closed”

(2) Cases Closed Today – This gives a count of all cases that have been closed Today.

(3) Cases Open Today – This gives a count of all cases that have been created and “Opened” today.

Supervisor Report

If the logged on user has configurator level permissions, a special supervisor report will appear. This report gives a report of all of the techs for the entered time duration and displays the total number of cases opened and closed by each tech with links to individual tech reports.

Additionally, if Time-Spent categories is configured, this report will show the amount of time spent by each tech on cases during the entered time duration. See information below on how to configure Time Spent reports.

Configuring Time Spent Reports

An additional feature exists for support organizations that want to record and create reports on the “Time Spent” for a particular case. The time spent is a category that you configure and techs set themselves once a case is completed with an estimate of the total time spent on a case. This does not automatically calculate the time spent.

To configure this option, perform the following steps:

(1) Create a new category called something like Time Spent and create subcategory items that are exact intervals of time (5 minutes, 10, 15, 20 or 15,30,45, 1hr, 1:15 min, etc).

(2) Define the Time Spent Category and Time Spent time interval with the Additional Configuration Settings page available by clicking Administration… System Configuration Menu, and Additional Configuration Options. The Time Spent Category option settings are located in the lower right hand corner of this form.

Total System Status

These 4 numbers are re-computed each time the Reports page is accessed. Information includes:

(1) Total Customers – A total count of registered customers in the system

(2) Total Number Of Cases – A total count of open and closed cases

(3) Available Tech Staff – A count of tech staff members that have their availability set to “Available”.

(4) Busy Tech Staff – A count of tech staff members that have their availability set to “Busy”.

Case Statistics

There are 4 instant numerical and graphical reports to help determine how well the support staff is processing the support cases as they are entered into the system. First, the total number of Cases opened today is displayed. This number of cases is considered to be 100% of the cases. Next, the number of cases that have been opened today and closed today are displayed. Next, the number of cases that have been opened today and still open are displayed. Lastly, cases that have been opened today and if they are still assigned to the default support group will be displayed.

If a support organization is keeping up with level of cases being entered into the system, the Opened/Closed today percentage should be fairly high if the cases are solved within a day. The “Assigned To Default Group” is a quick indicator of what percentage of the cases opened for that day are still assigned to the default group which is automatically assigned when a case is created either by the Customer+Center application or by the Tech+Center new case form. A dispatcher should assign the case out of the default group to another group so it can be processed by support staff.

Creating your own Reports (Advanced Users Only)

The main report page and all reports provided on this page use a different web application scripting approach from the rest of the Tech+Center or Customer+Center applications. This combination of two scripting methods was implemented to provide a software “hook” for advanced and knowledgeable support administrators to add report functionality to the Tech+Center application without requiring custom programming from Internet Software Sciences.

The Tech+Center and Customer+Center applications are primarily built using ASP (Active Server pages) for optimum customization options. Some of the Administration and license checking functions are written in compiled C++ code into an IIS (Internet Information Server) ISAPI DLL.

To add any additional reports to the system, a system level administrator must be familiar with ASP web scripting, accessing information from relational databases including MS Access and SQL*Server. Always create the scripts on test server before placing them on the production server. Any additional report scripts that you add will not be supported by Internet Software Sciences. Any reports or ASP scripts added using this approach should NOT perform any database record create, delete or update functions and only read operations should be performed. Internet Software Sciences cannot support users that have added code to modify the database records in any way unless prior written agreements have been made that allows this type of modification. Additional customized reports can be created by Internet Software Sciences for additional consulting costs.

To add your own report, it might be best to start with one of the existing ASP reports in the \webcenter\techcenter directory by copying that ASP script into your own script file with a different name. Then modify that script as necessary to create your own report. Once the report is working, add that script as a link on the reports.asp page that exists in the \webcenter\techcenter directory. All scripts should be created in the \webcenter\techcenter directory.

The current ASP files that are located in the \webcenter\techcenter directory are:

Reports.asp – Top level menu pages that appears when the report button is pressed

OpenCasesByTech.asp – Report of open cases by tech

OpenCasesByGroup.asp – Report of open cases by Group

OpenCasesByPriority.asp – Report of open cases by Priority

OpenCasesByDuration.asp – Report of open cases by Duration

ClosedCasesByTech.asp – Report of Cases Closed today by Tech

ClosedCases ByGroup.asp – Report of Cases closed today by Group

SupervisorReport.asp – Report showing summary of cases opened/closed by Tech

To learn more about ASP programming, please refer to web sites on the ASP scripting language including www.activeserverpages.com or other reference books.

Additional programming and ASP resource information can be obtained in the Web+Center Programmers Guide available from the IIS support website or also included in your documentation directory within your ISS\webcenter30 directory tree.

Creating Top 10 Case Lists

There are two links on the reports page that allow tech staff support members to create, and edit or view a list of “Top 10” support cases. The Top 10 list is an easy way for support staff to identify frequently asked questions or problems and to allow customers or techs to access that list of problems without searching. This will be the first support option for most customers with a problem. The page to create and view the top 10 list is also placed on the default User Screen window to allow techs that cannot access the reports page to still view and create Top 10 lists.

Once this list is created, customers can view this list with a link from the Customer+Center home page.

When the Customers view this list from the Customer+Center page, only the case summary and case resolution fields are displayed. It is important to place only cases that have information in the case summary and case resolution fields into this Top 10 list.

Although the list is named “Top 10”, any number of cases can be added to this list.

3.10 Custom Buttons and Functions

It is possible to add your custom functions to the panel of Tech+Center buttons by enabling a “hidden” button on the option button panel. The options button panel initially has a hidden button called ts_custom_button.gif (transparent “gif” file). This button is located below the Available/Busy button. When you click on this link, it calls the page called “CustomButton.asp”. This ASP script page can be modified by you to implement additional reports, database views, or other functions to export database information to users. The ASP (Active Server Pages) web scripting language comes installed with Internet Information Server and it is a very easy to learn and a fast implementation scripting language that will allow you to create custom functions by your own group. Functions can also be developed by contracting Internet Software Sciences Consulting Group to implement some additional functionality.

Steps to enabling custom button functionality

· You must replace the default “ts_custom_button.gif” graphic file with a new button image that you must create. This file is located in the techcenter directory. The button image should be 120 pixels wide by 21 pixels high.

· To help you create this button, you can start with the blank_button.gif located in the techcenter directory. Open up this graphic image and then add your button text on top of the button using a graphics tool (photoshop, corel Photo, etc) and save the graphic as “ts_custom_button.gif” over writing the original graphic file. The text font on the other option panel buttons were done with 3.5 point Bold Arial Font.

· Carefully create your ASP script to perform your custom functions in the CustomButton.asp file. This file is located in the \techcenter directory and should only be edited using a plain ASCII text editor. This should only be done by qualified web developers since a poorly written script can damage the database and make the system inoperable. If custom functions are to be written, create a mirror system where custom scripts can be developed and tested before moving to the live production server.

· Internet Software Sciences Consulting Services can also develop scripts for additional costs.

· If you develop custom button functionality and wish to share it with other Web+Center users, please contact Internet Software Sciences and we will provide a forum to share your customization as well as obtaining other customizations.

· Internet Software Sciences cannot provide free support on creating or debugging these custom scripts.

3.11 Customer Surveys

To provide valuable feed back to support staff and help desk managers, a customer survey option is available. If this feature is enabled, the Web+Center will automatically send an email to the customer when the case is closed with a short message explaining the customer survey and a link to a web-based customer survey. The customer survey can be configured with a survey builder tool under Tech+Center administration. Customers click on the link in the email to launch the web-based customer survey and complete it. When it is completed, an email is sent to a selected individual with the results and results can also be viewed with customer survey result tools available in the Tech+Center. Follow the instructions below to enable, create, and view customer surveys.

Enabling Customer Surveys

To enable customer survey emails (with link to web-based survey) to customers when a case is closed:

Click on the Administration Button.
Click on System Configuration Menu link.
Click on the More Configuration Link
Check the Customer Survey Checkbox
Complete 1 or more Send Email Results to Email addresses
Complete the Survey Email Text with a short message to the users about the Customer Survey
Press the Submit Button.

Creating a Customer Survey

To create the customer survey questions and appropriate answer types:

Click on the Administration Button.
Click on Survey Builder link.
To add new questions, click on the Create New Question Link.
To edit existing questions, click the Edit link for that question.
To test the survey, click on the Test Survey link.

To View Customer Survey Results

To view customer survey results:

Click on the Administration Button.
Click on View Survey Results link.
Optionally enter a survey date range, customer or case number.
Press the Search Button.

3.12 Calendar and Scheduler

A Calendar and Schedule feature is available by clicking on the Schedule button in the Tech+Center or Business+Center application. This simple event calendar/scheduler allows:

Schedule events for multiple techs and Contact Rep staff members
Take notes on the events
View and share group calendars
Associate events with customers or specific cases
Viewing your own calendar events
Calendar or monthly list view

This Calendar/Scheduler application can be used to schedule events like:

Internal staff meetings and gatherings
External meetings with customers
Tech support work based on a specific case numbers
Other events or offsite events

Adding or modifying Scheduler Event Types

To add scheduler event types:

Log into the Business+Center application.
Click on the Administration Button.
Click on Event Type Editor link.
Add, modify, delete or merge events types from the options listed

Adding an event to the schedule

To add a schedule event into the calendar:

Log into the Tech+Center or the Business+Center
Click on the Schedule Button.
Navigate to the day that you want to schedule the event starting on. To select a different month, select the appropriate month or year link in the top area of the screen. Once the correct month appears, click on the day (1,2,3,…) of the month link.
Click on the Add New Event for Today link
Enter the required fields of event Title, type, coordinator, starting and ending dates and times, attending reps, status.
Optionally enter a customer and associated case number and event notes
Press the Submit button.

Viewing your scheduled events in the calendar

To view your scheduled events in the calendar:

Log into the Tech+Center or the Business+Center
Click on the Schedule Button.
To view for the current day, click on the day of the month link. The current day should be high-lighted in yellow.
To view for any other day, click on the day of the month link in that calendar.
To view scheduled activities for the logged in user for the whole month, click on the LIST link in the upper right hand corner.

Viewing all scheduled events for a single day in the calendar

To view all of the scheduled events for a single day in the calendar:

Log into the Tech+Center or the Business+Center
Click on the Schedule Button.
To view scheduled events for the current month, click on the LIST link in the upper right hand corner of the calendar page.
To view scheduled events for day not in the current month, click on the month at the top of the frame and then click on the LIST link.
Click on the Group Calendar link for day of interest.

4. Business+Center

Business+Center is a web-based contact management application for sales or other contact intensive applications. This application is uniquely integrated with the Customer+Center and Tech+Center components to provide a robust and comprehensive Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution.

Business+Center allows sales or other organizations to develop and track contact (customer) records and related notes and send automated emails to select groups of customers. Once contact records are created, support organizations can then build on the contact record with the Customer+Center and Tech+Center applications.

To simply compare the two models, Business+Center allows customer “contact tracking” by developing contact logs or notes of contact information. The Customer+Center and Tech+Center support applications allow for customer case tracking. A customer can only have one contact log, but they can create multiple support cases.

To best understand how the Business+Center is integrated within the Web+Center Suite of applications, one should review the Web+Center Organizational Model (OM) in Section 1.2 before using the Business+Center component.

Some organizations may prefer to use only the Business+Center component and not the Customer+Center or Tech+Center components. This can be done, but the Tech+Center must still be used to create the initial Tech/Contact Rep accounts and configure some overall Web+Center configurations.

Chapter topics include:

User Interface and Security

Contact Management

Contact Assignments

Email List Distribution Options

User Categories

Accessing the Tech+Center

Staff Information

Building Custom Business+Center Applications

Business+Center White Board

Customizing Business+Center

Business+Center Administration

Calendar and Scheduler

4.1 User interface and security topics:

How to log into Business+Center

Business+Center is accessed over the public Internet, or over a private intranet (a private TCP/IP

network), using either the Netscape Navigator or MS Internet Explorer web browser. The URL used to access Business+Center in a standard installation has the following format:

http://<domain_name or IP> /businesscenter/default.htm

http://<domain_name or IP>/businesscenter/

This Business+Center URL is created from the following URL components:

<domain_name or IP > is either the web site Internet domain name or the computer name, or IP address.

The ‘/business40/” is the web server virtual directory name. It can be defined to any virtual directory name you wish.

The first login HTML page is a file called "default.htm". This static HTML "Welcome" page can be customized as desired with corporate graphics and text. When this URL is first accessed you will be prompted for a username and password. After successfully entering your username and password, a 3 frame web document will appear that is the main Business+Center User Interface. Business+Center user accounts must be initially created with the Tech+Center administration functions. Each Business+Center user is created and counted as a “tech user”. Refer to the System Administration section of the Tech+Center guide to learn how to register Business+Center users and set up account usernames and passwords.

User interface windows

Business+Center provides a convenient web browser Multi-Frame User Interface with three

simultaneously visible frames (or windows). Any one of these 3 frame windows can be re-opened in a separate new window by right mouse clicking on the window and selecting the appropriate browser option to open the selected frame in a new window.

On the left side of the screen is the Control Panel, a window that displays the main buttons used to access Business+Center program features.. The standard web browser Back button is

also considered to be a part of the Business+Center user interface and should be used freely whenever it’s convenient. Documentation on how to use these buttons can be found throughout this chapter.

At the top of the screen is the Assigned Contacts Window used for displaying a list of contacts (customers) that are currently assigned to a particular contact representative. To display or refresh contacts assigned to the logged in Business+Center user, click on the My Contacts button in the control panel. To display contacts assigned to other techs or Business+Center users, simply push the Other Contacts button and then click on the hypertext link for the desired tech or Business+Center user. The Contact Assignment Window can be resized by dragging the bottom border up or down.

Below the Open Cases Window is the general purpose User Window to display the Business+Center form pages that will be described throughout this document. This window can be resized by dragging the top border up or down.

4.2 Contact Management

Every case report that’s opened must be assigned to a customer that has already been registered with Web+Center. A customer record can be created by any of the three methods. If Customer Self Registration is enabled, customers can either self-register using Customer+Center. A customer record can also be created using the Tech+Center interface. Lastly, a customer record can be created using the Business+Center interface. The options available for registration depend upon support center policy. Self-registration is described in the Customer+Center chapter. This section describes how to use Business+Center to register customers and manage customer information. Registering customers through the Business+Center interface has some additional contact options (such as setting user groups and adding notes) that are not available with customer registrations performed through the Customer+Center or Tech+Center.

4.2.1 Creating, Searching and Editing contacts

How to create a new contact

· Click on the New Contact button in the left hand control panel.

· Enter the required information fields. One can optionally assign this contact to one or more contact representatives and define one or more User Categories for this user. User Categories are used when bulk emails are sent out to selected user groups.

· Enter any important contact notes into the notes field.

· Press the Submit button when ready to process the completed form.

How to find and Edit an existing contact

· Click on the Find Contact button in the left hand control panel.

· Partially enter one or more of the Contact Search fields. For example, to find all contacts whose last name starts with “Jo”, enter “Jo” in the last name field.

· Press the Submit button.

· A table showing the first 15 matching search results is displayed. To view an individual record, click on the Edit link in the Edit Column.

How to find contacts based on the date of their last note update

Each time a customer note is updated in the Business+Center or the Tech+Center, it is time and date stamped and the last user to update the note is also stored in the database. To help contact reps keep track of their most recent contacts, the Notes search button allows easy finding of the most recent updated customer records.

Click on the Notes Button
Enter an optional Starting and Ending date range
Select an optional Tech/Contact Rep
Select the sort order method
Press Submit

4.2.2 Assigning Contacts to contact reps

How to assign/re-assign a contact to one or more contact reps

· Either create a new contact or find an existing contact using the two options above

· With the “Assigned To:” field on the Contact Registration page, select one or more contact reps that should be assigned to this contact. To select more than one, use the appropriate multiple select key option (Windows = Cntrl key and mouse click) for the particular platform.

· Press the Submit button.

How to View your contact assignments

· Click on the My Contacts button in the left hand control panel.

· The upper right hand window can be refreshed with your current set of contacts assigned to the particular logged in Business+Center user.

· To view or edit particular contact information, click on the Edit link.

How to View other reps contact assignments

· Click on the Other Contacts button in the left hand control panel.

· In the large window labeled Other Assigned Contacts, click on the contact rep link to view contacts assigned to them.

· The top window will then show contacts assigned to that contact rep.

4.3 Email Options

One of the powerful features of Business+Center is the ability to send personalized email messages to a selected group of contacts. The email message can also be created, and tested using tools provided by the Business+Center application. Email messages can optionally be personalized with a leading “Dear First Name + Last Name” automatically from the database. One can also choose to include a Remove From List option at the bottom of the email to allow users to optionally remove themselves from future emails by clicking on the link in their email.

All of the components necessary for this email message creation, distribution, email list removal options are all included in the Business+Center web application and additional email list servers are not required for operation.

How to Create an Email for group distribution

· Click on the Email Options button.

· Click on the Create a new email message link (Option 1) on the Email Options page

· Enter the email subject line

· Enter or cut and paste in the body of the email message

· Note for Sending HTML based emails – The software is setup to handle sending HTML based documents in addition to traditional text based documents. To send HTML based documents, please refer to the special HTML Email instructions link near the top of the Email Text Editor page. Please test all HTML emails robustly before sending HTML based emails using this tool. There are numerous issues between browsers and even SMTP mailers when receiving and viewing HTML based emails.

· Enter the REPLY TO email and organization name

· Optionally select the Personal Dear User option to start your email with “Dear First Last,”

· Optionally select the Email List Removal Option to include a few lines at the bottom of each email that will include a customized URL link to allow users to remove them from future email distributions.

· Press the Submit button.

How to Edit an existing Email Message

· Click on the Email options button

· Select one existing email under Edit Existing Email Option (Option 2)

· Press the Edit Email button

· Edit the email fields and options and press the Submit button.

How to Delete an existing Email Message

· Click on the Email options button

· Select one existing email under Delete Existing Email Message (Option 3)

· Press the Delete Email button

How to send emails to contacts

· Click on the Email Options Button in the control panel.

· Click on the Send Email To Selected Groups link (Option 4)

· On the Email List Send Option page, Select All customers (All customers except those who are marked as removed from list) OR select one or more users groups. Contacts in multiple groups will only be sent one email.

· Select whether to send a test email to one email by selecting the SendTest Email radio button and entering an email address OR select the Send To Selected Group radio button.

· Press the Submit button

· It is highly recommended you send a test message to a single email user first before sending out large lists of contacts. You may need to adjust email body based on email text wrapping issues since email wrapping is turned off and must be built into the original email body.

4.4 User Categories

Contacts can optionally be assigned to one or more User Categories. User Categories allow contacts to be grouped for efficient email distribution and contact management purposes. For example, some typical user categories might be “New Users”, or “Licensed Users”, “Follow Up Leads”. User Categories can also be used as a search criteria when searching for contacts with the Find Contact button.

How to create a new User Category

· Click on the User Category button in the left hand control panel.

· In the box labeled Add New Category option, enter the new Category name.

· Press the Add Category button.

How to modify(rename) an existing User Category

· Click on the User Category button in the left hand control panel.

· In the box labeled Modify Category option, select the Category you wish to rename

· In the small text box labeled New Name, enter the new Category Name.

· Press the Modify Category button.

How to Delete an existing User Category

· Click on the User Category button in the left hand control panel.

· In the box labeled Delete Category Option, enter the category you wish to delete.

· Press the Delete Category button.

How to merge User Categories

This feature allows contacts that have been assigned to one user category to merge them with another existing user category. For example, one could merge all contacts that have been assigned the User Category of New Users to the category of Existing Users. During this merge, all New User assignments would be removed and all New User assignments will now have been assigned to the Existing Users Category. Merge does not delete the user category and the category must be removed separately after the merge if you wish to remove the category entirely.

· Click on the User Category button in the left hand control panel.

· In the box labeled Merge Category option, first select the User Category from which you want all User category assignments to be merged.

· Select the User Category you want the merge these contacts into

· Press the Merge Category Users button.

4.5 Accessing the Tech+Center from Business+Center

To allow contact representatives to easily review or update customer (contact) support case information, Business+Center users can click on the Tech+Center button to directly log into the Tech+Center application. Within the Tech+Center application, users can check the status of support cases for customers, update or input new support cases and interface closing with support staff handling customer support cases.

How to Access Tech+Center

· Click on the Tech+Center button. Tech+Center will appear in new window.

4.6 Staff Information

One of the most useful features of Business+Center is to have a centralized address book where contact reps and support staff can define important contact numbers and email addresses as well as listing important notes on their availability. This allows staff (support and contact reps) to easily define their availability for a particular day or time period and managers can most effectively manage their resources. With more remote workers and employees or contractors working from home, this centralized, web-based global Internet accessible contact database and address book coupled with availability information provides timely and useful information.

How to edit your own contact and availability Information

· Click on the My Info button in the left hand control panel.

· You can modify any of the contact or availability notes and LoginID and password information.

· Click the Submit button to save your contact and availability information

How to Set your Availability/Busy Status

· Click on the Available or Busy button to toggle your availability status that is displayed on the Staff Info page. This Availability/Busy flag can be used in any way to define availability that best fits the organizational requirements. This flag might be used to show available for immediate phone calls, or in for the day or on vacation. There is no time tracking software integrated with this function.

How to View Staff Information and availability

· Click on the Staff Info button in the left hand control panel.

· Staff Info screen will refresh every 4 minutes with updated availability information.

4.7 Building Custom Business+Center applications

Business+Center is designed to be easily extended to build your own business specific processes, database views, data imports, and business rules into the Business+Center application.

The Web+Center application is an open architectured system where the database, data tables and even web script code is available for modification by knowledgeable users. The Business+Center application is initially configured with a button labeled “Custom” where Web+Center can develop their own business applications that are integrated with the Web+Center suite of tools and database records. In the Businesscenter directory is a replacement blank button called blank.gif to graphically create your own button graphic. Using graphic tool that has text capability you replace the existing custom button with your text.

These custom applications can be written in Visual Basic (VB) scripting language called Active Server Pages or ASP. ASP code is developed using a standard ASCII editor and does not require a separate compiler. If Business+Center is running, you have all of the necessary components to develop your own business specific applications.

When the Custom button is pressed, it brings up a default script page called custom.asp. This is the starting page for your custom Business+Center applications. If you do develop your own business applications, we recommend you set up a Web+Center test server in addition to your production server to completely test and integrate all of the changes before placing them on the production server.

To create and edit these scripts, one must have direct file access to the businesscenter physical directory and they should be proficient in developing HTML and VB programming. Creating any custom Business+Center applications should be done as a traditional carefully engineered process with some requirements, specifications, designs and implementation process.

Custom Business+Center applications can NOT be supported by Internet Software Sciences unless they are developed by the Internet Software Sciences Consulting Group. Please contact ISS consulting group if you are interested in obtaining quotes or project rates for custom Business+Center applications.

ISS is also interested in 3^rd party developers developing Business+Center “plug-in” compatible applications for select market uses.