Web+Center Training

Web+CenterWeb+Center

Support Staff Training ModuleVersion 5.0

(C) 1997-2005 Internet Software Scienceswww.inet-sciences.com

Please use this training guide along with the Web+Center Users Guide

This document can be copied and duplicated for Web+Center training purposes only.

Web+Center Training

Training Overview• Web+Center Product overview• Basic principles, concepts and procedures• Web+Center definitions• Customer+Center Application • Tech+Center Application• Pocket+Center Application

Web+Center Training

Training Overview• Business+Center Application• Operational Procedures• Web+Center Case fields• Creating a useful Help Database• Practice and training Exercises

Web+Center Training

What is Web+Center?– Web+Center is a suite of four web-based

applications that provide Customer Support, Help Desk, and Sales CRM functionality.

• Customer+Center for Customer Self Help• Tech+Center for Help Desk Functionality• Business+Center for Sales/CRM• Pocket+Center – subset of Tech+Center for

use with mobile Pocket PC’s and PDA’s

Web+Center User Communities

CommonDatabase

Enterprise Staff

CustomersTechnicians(Help Desk)

Technicians(Mobile)

Business Staff(Sales & CRM)

Web ServerAdmin

Web+Center Information Base

StaffContact InfoPermit LevelGroup AssignStatus

CustomerContact Info

CaseDetailsStatus

AssetDetailsStatus

CalendarEventsCase NumberStatus

Knowledge BaseKeywordsResolution text

Common Database

Web+Center Training

Customer+Center is a simple web applications for “Customers” or internal employees to self register, and submit and track their own support cases. Customers can also have options for a searchable knowledge base and review a FAQ list.

Web+Center Training

Tech+Center is a comprehensive web application for support staff to create, update, and track and manage support cases for any customer. Tech+Center is a flexible tool that can be configured to best model your support processes and organizational support model.

Web+Center Training

Pocket+Center• Functional subset of Tech+Center• User-Interface adapted for use in Pocket PC’s

and PDA’s with small screen• Useful for mobile use (WI-FI, Bluetooth) where

techs visit problem sites or customer locations• Common information base and object types

shared with Tech+Center• Supports primary functions to do with

Customers, Cases, Assets, and Calendaring/Scheduling

Web+Center Training

Business+Center• Aimed at internal business users (Sales,

CRM, Management)• Common information base and object types

shared with Tech+Center• Supports primary functions to do with

Customers, Cases, Assets, Contact Mgmt, Status Reporting

Web+Center Training

Basic Principles– A support case can consist of:

• Problem• Question• Recommendation• Request• Other

Web+Center Training

Basic Principles Continued– Each support case is tied to a “Customer”– A case can not be created unless it is tied

to a customer.– Customer Database stores customer

information separately from the case information allowing multiple support cases to be submitted by a single customer.

Web+Center Training

Typical Support Ticket Methodology– Customer is registered in customer database.– Support case is submitted directly by the

Customer or by Tech for that customer.– Case is first placed into default group for

dispatching.– Case is dispatched to a group and or individual

tech to solve or handle– Case is solved or passed to other groups or tech

as necessary.

Web+Center Training

Typical Case Procedures (Continued)

– Some case information can be updated directly by the customer updating the case report. (such as: “I found the problem”)

– Case is solved or processed by support staff with automatic email notifications sent to the original customer.

– Case is marked as closed by support staff.

Web+Center Training

Web+Center Definitions– Customers - The group of persons that

primarily report support cases but are not responsible for solving them.

– Techs (Tech Staff) The group of persons that are responsible for solving the support cases.

– Cases - Each support problem, question, request, comment, is considered a “case”.

Web+Center Training

Web+Center Definitions Continued– Open Case - The status of case is

automatically set to Open when it is created. There are several states of Open Cases including (waiting for customer) and others.

– Closed Case - When cases are solved they are marked as closed by techs. Only one closed case state is defined.

Web+Center Training

Web+Center Definitions– Email Notification - Automatic emails are

sent out to customers and techs when cases are updated or assigned.

– Case Number - Each case is assigned a unique case number for tracking purposes.

– Customer_ID - Each customer has a unique ID created from LastName + “_” + FirstName like: Smith_Mary

Web+Center Training

Web+Center Definitions– Tech ID - Each Tech is assigned a unique Tech-

ID for logging into the Tech+Center application and for tech assignment of the case. Tech_IDs are labeled css-XXXX.

– Groups - The organizational structure of support techs can be modeled into “Groups”. This grouping allows for efficient and flexible case assignment and tracking processes.

Web+Center Training

Web+Center Definitions– Dispatcher - Individual or group responsible for

evaluating and assigning and dispatching support cases.

– Assets - Computer asset information and other related equipment and configurations can be stored in the asset database. Case reports are tied to customers and optionally to specific assets in the asset database. Assets can also be assigned to customers.

Web+Center Training

Web+Center Definitions– Calendar – can belong to an individual or

a group, contains events– Event - Can be one of any pre-defined

types. Has coordinator, duration, status, attendees, relevant case number and/or customer id, notes, and similar information

Web+Center Training

Customer+Center

• Search Help Database/Knowledge Base created from cases solved by techs

• Review a list of FAQs

• Self Registration

• Create new case

• Login as pre-registered user

• Find their lost Username and password

Web+Center Training

Customer+Center Search– Search for solutions based on categories– Search based on exact knowledge base

keyword or phrases, codes, etc.

Web+Center Training

Customer+Center New User• Customers can self register providing name,

address, phone, email, preferred contact notes and login ID and password for future access. This option can be disabled if you do not want customers to self register by removing the HTML code and link to this page on the default.htm page in the customercenter directory.

Web+Center Training

Customer+Center Registered User Login

• Previous registered Customers can login and create new cases or update existing cases that they have created that are still opened.

Web+Center Training

Customer+Center Lost Username And Password

• Users can get their lost Username and Password Customer+Center Login information in a secure method by receiving an email with the login information.

Web+Center Training Customer+Center Restrictions

• Customers can only view and update cases they have created.

• Customers can only update open cases and can not set case status info.

Web+Center Training

Tech+Center• Comprehensive

application for techs to track and manage support cases.

• Frame based web application

• Special TechID and password required.

Web+Center Training

Tech+Center– The 3 frame

windows include:• Control Panel -

options depend on user security level

• Open Cases auto-refreshing Window

• User Window

Web+Center Training

Tech+Center– Each tech is

assigned one of the 5 Tech User levels:

• Configurator • Administrator• Dispatcher• Tech Read/Write• Tech Read Only

Web+Center Training

Tech+Center Security Model– Configurator - Access to all functions

including system configurations options– Administrator - Access to Administrator

functions (creating groups, techs, deleting caes, customers) and dispatcher options

– Dispatcher - Access to dispatcher page and reports

Web+Center Training

Tech+Center Security Model– Tech Read/Write - This tech account can

create and update customer and case information. Dispatcher panel or report panel not available and no administrative options.

– Tech Read Only - This tech account can only search and review customer and case records. No updates or new cases. Useful for training or demos.

Web+Center Training

Tech+Center Operations - New Customer– Use the New Customer button to add new

customers to the customer database.– Use the Get Customer button to find

existing customers in the customer database by entering one or more fields or partial fields.

– Only Administrators can delete customers.

Web+Center Training

Tech+Center Operations - New/Get Case

• New Cases can be created for a select customer with the New Case button

• Finding existing cases by case number or customer can be found by the Get Case button.

• Combinations of Get Customer and Get Case can locate or create cases for users.

• Opened, closed or all cases can be found with Get Case function.

Web+Center Training

Tech+Center Operations - My Cases• Cases assigned to the logged on tech can be

viewed, and sorted in the Open Cases window.• Open Cases window display is automatically

refreshed with any new updates, typically every 2 minutes

• Cases can be sorted by Case Number, priority, open date, modified date and assigned tech.

• Clicking on case number link will take user to full case record form for review and updates.

Web+Center Training

Tech+Center Operations - Other Cases• Cases assigned to the selected group or other

tech can be viewed, and sorted in the Open Cases window.

• Open Cases for group or other techs is automatically refreshed to check for new cases typically every 2 minutes

• Cases can be sorted by case number, priority, open date, modified date and assigned tech.

• Cases scheduled can also be used with links at the bottom of the Other Cases page.

Web+Center Training

Tech+Center Operations - Search Engine

• Comprehensive case searches and reports can be performed using the Search Engine page.

• Techs can search entire case database for matching text, categories, case dates, status, individual and group assignments, customers and other fields.

• Can create reports without knowing any Database query language.

Web+Center Training

Tech+Center Operations - Dispatcher Page• Pressing the Dispatcher button shows which techs are

currently “busy” or “available”• Techs can toggle with busy/available status by pressing

the Busy/Available button at the bottom of their option panel.

• This feature is auto-refreshing every 2 minutes to show current support resources.

• This feature can be used to show tech availability for any interval (immediate, in for day, vacation, sick, etc).

Web+Center Training

Tech+Center Operations - Reports• Instant access to case support reports and

system wide statistics.• Available for Dispatcher User levels and above.• Reports can be customized or new reports

added by high level administrators and web programmers when necessary.

• Special supervisor reports can show Time Spent per Tech over a selected date range.

Web+Center Training

Tech+Center Operations - Email Case• Pressing the E-mail case button allows for

efficient emailing of case information to a customer or an entered email address.

• Techs can select whether to send the whole case history or just the finalized Problem Summary and Problem Resolution fields.

Web+Center Training

Tech+Center Operations - Available/Busy

• Pressing the Available button will toggle the system to record the tech as “Busy”.

• Press the Busy button will toggle the system to record the tech as “Available”.

• This status can be viewed by the Dispatcher screen to view support resources available at any given moment.

Web+Center Training

Tech+Center Operations - Administration

• Additional System Configurations Options available to “configurator” level tech users

• Tech+Center User page and custom email messages settings

• Create, update, delete tech staff accounts• Create, rename, configure and delete support

“Groups”• Configure knowledge base options

Web+Center Training

Tech+Center Operations - Administration

• Re-assign all cases from one tech to another• Administration functions available only to tech

with Administrative level and above (Administrator and Configuration Levels)

Web+Center Training

Web+Center Operational Procedures • To use the Web+Center efficiently, we

recommend the following operational recommendations. These are listed in order of importance.

– (1) Work toward having customers submit and update trouble tickets through the Web+Center interface instead of emails. Information will be lost in individual email accounts if important cases and information is exchanged in emails rather than Web+Center support tickets case history.

Web+Center Training

Web+Center Operational Procedures • (2) Create proper customer accounts for each case even

if the case is being entered by a tech. Do not use generic customer accounts for multiple customers. No email notification can then be used to inform actual user of resolutions.

• (3) When appropriate, make sure techs complete the Case Summary and Case Resolution case fields with information that can be searched and used in a Help database if this information would be helpful for other customers.

Web+Center Training

Web+Center Group Assignment • Cases will always be assigned to a group. The group

assigned will be based on one of the two methods listed below:

– (1) All cases are automatically assigned to the “Default Group” when a case is created by Customer+Center or Tech+Center.

– (2) Cases are assigned to a group based on a category selection by the customer or tech.

• This default group can be one or more persons that is the first level review of the case and then “dispatches” the case to another group or optionally to a individual tech.

• All cases can be accessed by all techs and groups and tech assignments can be changed by anybody.

Web+Center Training

Web+Center Cases Fields • Listed are the support case fields :

– One line summary - customer/tech view+edit– Category choices - customer/tech view+edit– Detailed Description and History - c/t view+edit– Solved Case Summary-customer view only, tech

view+edit– Solved Case Resolution customer view only, tech

view+edit– Group Assignment - tech view and edit only

Web+Center Training Web+Center Cases

• Case Fields continued– Tech assignment - tech view and edit only– Status (Open-waiting, open-pending, closed) - tech

view and edit only– Priority (1=highest, 0 = not assigned) - tech view

and edit only– Duplicate Case Number (optional) - tech view and

edit only– Asset Number (optional) customer/tech view+edit– Customer - set only at case creation by customer or

tech

Web+Center Training

Web+Center Cases• Case Fields continued

– System internally stores Open/Modified date and time

– Reference Number – Reference to external tracking system – Tech View/Edit only

– Case Schedule Fields – Schedule Type, Interval, Due date and time.

Web+Center Training

Business+Center Overview– The Business+Center is designed as a

contact management tool and is primarily used to track, assign and log notes for CUSTOMERS rather than support CASES (as with Customer+Center and Tech+Center)

– To access the Business+Center requires a Tech account and must be counted in the required licensed number of techs.

Web+Center Training

Business+Center Operation• Log into the application with tech account

configured with the Tech+Center Administration.

• 3 Frame window consisting of:– Button Panel– Assigned Customer List– User Screen

• Business+Center focuses on customer information, assignments to contact reps and email options to notify customers.

Web+Center Training

Business+Center Operations• New Contact – Add new contact/customer to

the customer database including notes and user group assignments.

• Find Contact – Search for existing contact/customers using various search fields. Search fields can be only partially entered to find all records with matching text up to that point

Web+Center Training

Business+Center Operations• My Contacts – Press this button to display

contacts assigned to you in the top window frame.

• Other Contacts – Press this button to display contacts assigned to other contact reps in the top window frame.

Web+Center Training Business+Center Operations

• Email Options –Options to send emails to selected user groups. Options under Email Options include:

– Create an email and store it in the database– Edit an existing email message– Delete an existing email message– Send email message to selected user groups.

• Emailing from Business+Center provides individual mailing to each user, personalized emails (Dear John Doe..), and email list removal options through a web interface.

Web+Center Training

Business+Center Operations• User Categories – Organize your contacts into

one or more selected User Categories. Options include:

– Creating User Categories– Modify existing User Categories– Delete User Categories– Merge User Category Lists– NOTE: This is the only place where you can add or

edit these lists although they are used in the Tech+Center

Web+Center Training

Business+Center Operations• Tech+Center Button – To directly access the

Tech+Center application from the Business+Center application, click on the Tech+Center button.

• Administration – Configuration options for Business+Center including:

– Adding up to 10 custom Contact information field.– Edit the Business+Center White board (Default user

screen for Business+Center)

Web+Center Training

Business+Center Operations• Custom Button – If you want to add your own

“custom” business process applications to the Web+Center suite, this button provides a link to the custom.asp module where you can create your own custom ASP code to handle specific business requirements. Creating custom applications requires database knowledge, and ASP programming experience. The Programmers Guide can provide some useful information on how to get started.

Web+Center Training Business+Center Operations

• Staff Info – This page shows a list of your Tech+Center and Business+Center users and their availability. Options to export this list of techs/contact reps and their information to an outlook format with conversions to PDA is also available.

Web+Center Training Business+Center Operations

• My Info– To quickly update your own Tech/Business+Center account login and notes, edit and submit any information on this form.

• Available/Busy – One can toggle their availability by clicking on the Available/Busy button. Your availability will be displayed with the Staff Info button.

• Logout – This will log you out of the Business+Center application.

Web+Center Training

Creating a useful Help Database• Web+Center will automatically create a very

powerful “Help Database” or knowledge base from your solved support cases.

• Each support case has two fields that can be used for support staff to carefully re-define the original problem (Problem Summary) and Problem Solution (Problem Resolution).

• Only Techs can edit these fields. Customers can search for words in this fields.

Web+Center Training Creating a useful Help Database-

Example• Case comes in with common MAC iSleep

problem on new machines.• Case is researched by Tech and solution is

found on how to fix this problem.• Tech should carefully re-write the problem

description (error codes, configurations, etc) into the Case Summary field.

• Exact instructions to fix the problem should be placed into the Case Resolution field.

Web+Center Training

Creating a useful Help Database-Example

– Customers can now search Help Database for “isleep” or exact error messages or codes and find the solution without contacting support or submitting a support case.

– Techs can also enter generic support problems and solutions to help build a better Help Database.

– The Help Database is only as good as the information that you put into it. Writing detailed instructions once can be referenced many times for solving similar problems.

Web+Center Training Creating a useful FAQ List

– One of the most useful yet simple features of the software is the ability to create FAQ lists. To add a Case that has a detailed Case Summary and Resolution to the FAQ list:

• Click on Reports and click the Edit Top Ten Case List link.

• Enter the case number and press the Add to Top 10 list. This case will appear in the Customer FAQ list.

Web+Center Training

Exercises - Customer+Center• First get familiar with the Customer+Center

application and how “Customers” will be registering and submitting cases.

– Surf to the Customer+Center first page– Perform a Help Database Search– Self Register yourself– Login and Submit a new case– Exit Customer+Center– Log back into Customer+Center and update case– Find your lost Customer+Center login info.

Web+Center Training

Exercises - Tech+Center– Acquire your Tech+Center TechID and password to

log into the system from your administrator.– Access the Tech+Center first page and log into the

system.– Create a new customer account– Find your previously registered customer account

created with Customer+Center with Get Customer.– Create and submit a new case for that customer

Assign the case to you (Assigned Staff Member).– Perform a few case searches using various criteria.

Web+Center Training

Exercises - Tech+Center • Wait about 2 minutes and it should appear in

your Open Cases Top Window automatically– Click on the Case Number link in the left hand side

column of the open cases window.– Add some additional information to the case, change

the severity and submit the case.– Find the same case using the Get Cases Button– Find the same case using the Search Engine– Find the case using either method and then fill in

Case Summary, Case Resolution and close the case.

Web+Center Training

Exercises - Tech+Center – Search Engine Training - Use the Search

engine to:– Find all cases open within the last 3 days– Find cases closed by a selected tech– Find all closed cases that match a particular keyword– Find all cases that are open with the highest priority

status– Find cases that match the category and keyword

selection– Find all open cases by a group– Open up one of the return cases and update a field.

Web+Center Training Exercises - Tech+Center

– Obtain the open cases for a selected group using the “Other Cases” button.

• Obtain the open cases for a selected tech using the Other cases

• Re-sort one of the returned opened cases window for groups.

• Obtain the cases for the default group.• Using the E-mail case button, send someone a

case record.