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SupportPortal Features & Benefits

SupportPortal includes all the core functionality you’ll need to effectively and efficiently run your customer service support – there’s no need for added packages, as it’s scalable - can be as simple or as sophisticated as your business needs require.

Core Features

Browser-based interface. All you need to use SupportPortal is a standard web browser. As SupportPortal is built from the ground up as a browser based application, administrators are not required to install any special software on their workstations. Configured appropriately, SupportPortal's console can be securely accessed from anywhere in the world via the internet. The AJAX based interface brings you a desktop client usage feel.

LDAP/Active Directory user management integration. If you are using LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) in your networking environment for accessing directory service and locating your organizations and users, now you can integrate your LDAP database into a User management. There is no need to manually replicate user's attributes: email address, passwords and groups. The LDAP integration functionality dynamically synchronize with virtually any standard directory server (Microsoft's Active Directory, Novell's NetWare Directory, etc.) so that you can authenticate and retrieve user information instantly within the application. This also includes support for multi-domain servers.

Simplified Installation. SupportPortal will run on your existing hardware and software platform. It runs on all operating systems. Installation and setup is quick and simple: SupportPortal can be up and running on your system in less than 5 minutes! Since most of our users doesn't have ability to change PHP.INI file and to set short_open_tag to 'On', we've developed a deployment version without tag setting. One obvious advantage to this is if your web host restricts you to a set host's configuration files, you can still install the application on shared web servers.

Tightly integrate into your own web-site look and feel. SupportPortal can quickly take on your organization's look-and-feel. You can add your logo and colors in just a few mouse-clicks, while configuring the embedded HTML code allows you to manage layout elements: Header, Footer, Welcome Page and much more. Portal Customization page enables color and logo selection using a simple configuration screen and/or enables replacement of the stock CSS style sheet with a custom one which allows significantly more control.

Custom Layout Theme - Joomla templates. You can use Joomla templates to control and change software overall look and design at your whim. Software administrators are now able to choose any of available templates on the Joomla market, free or commercial and then download them to /templates directory. The installed template shall be then available to choose within Configuration panel and Appearance menu.

Empowered Search - Ranking functionality. Although search engine is very fast in search response time, their effectiveness in finding useful and relevant documents at the top of the search hit list needs to be improved. We've built an advanced algorithm, which fetch all available databases (e.g. Knowledge Base, Downloads, News, and Users) and retrieve pages with keyword results ranking. Additionally, search engine supports for search strings less then 4 characters in length.

Language localization. Individual users can later override the default language and select a language of their choice. Designed for a world-wide audience, SupportPortal allows each user to select their time zone and preferred language. These language are created through the language configuration files. One customer can be logged in with Spanish, another customer can be logged in with German, and a tech could be logged in using English. SupportPortal currently have these languages: French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Turkish, Portuguese, Polish, Bosnian, Norwegian, and Swedish. But, you can add as many language as you want to.

Permissions based access. Access to SupportPortal is controlled by global permissions. These determine system wide privileges, such as who can administer or log into your application. Security is a major concern for any organization. Authoritative documents need to be safe from unauthorized editing. SupportPortal's comprehensive permission's system gives you fine-grained control over precisely what any user can do. Each organization has its own set of permission levels: Service specialist, Service  Manager and Administrator. Every customer organization can have its own permission levels, so you can protect information within your portal.

Public or private site. If you choose to run a public site, users can sign up for an account directly through the web interface. You can also allow visitors to access part or all of the site without having them sign in. Depending on your organization's requirements, you can close the site to anonymous visitors, and only allow the site's administrators to add new users. It's all about giving you the power to make the site as open (or closed) as you need.

Powerful administration. Everything you need to manage your site is available through SupportPortal's web interface and Configuration Panel: no messing with configuration files or scripts required. Administration options includes options for managing users, groups and permissions across the entire site, customizing the look and feel of the site, monitoring the server's visitors usage, and configuring the particular application modules with their own functions.

IMAP support. For users that prefer to use IMAP protocol as a method of accessing electronic mail that are kept on a mail server, the IMAP support has been added

Built-in Modules. The Calendar with simple task recording for managing daily tasks. Internal Web notification system for internal stuff - send messages to persons or teams.

Search Feedback. Build the knowledgebase based on actual comments left by customers. When a customer does a search within the Knowledge base / Download and nothing is found, a screen opens automatically allowing the customer to submit a request (not a support ticket) by email to have the information to be added to the portal a simple email form.

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Ticket / Email Management

Create and submit new tickets via public or protected data entry form: Tickets are the primary way of storing and sharing information in SupportPortal. Tickets are sorted and classified, linked, connected, organized and accessible. Links between incidents and knowledge base articles never break, Workflow engine coordinate widely distributed tasks and searchable base allows to find similar ticket by user or a keyword.

E-mail integration. Even the end users are allowed to use web-form to insert their requests, most of them still want just to use their favorite email client software: Outlook Express, Thunderbird, Eudora, Lotus Notes, etc. Escon SupportPortal can respond to incoming emails, allowing users to create or comment on tickets without necessarily having access to SupportPortal. Ideal for help desk, support or other customer-facing environments. And not just manage incoming e-mails. You can invoke sending message from SupportPortal, and store and review all your service and support communication in centralized database.

Windows LiveAlert. LiveAlert is a desktop application for Microsoft Windows which resides in your system tray and connects to your SupportPortal server. LiveAlert will notify staff users as to new tickets and ticket replies. Whenever a new ticket is submitted, or a client has made a reply to an existing ticket, an alert is issued. The alert comes in the form of a small pop-up screen displayed on the Windows desktop. A sound file can also be chosen to play when an alert is received for audible notification. Also, whenever a new Live Chat request from your customer through your web site is sent to a server, an alert is issued and sound file plays.

Routing. With simple e-mail account administration and specifying the ticket priority and assigning person or department, your e-mail driving is finally centralized, even without described escalation rules. For every company email account simply specify: e-mail name, POP3 server settings (username, password) and assigning priority, department or person. You can list the accounts as much as you need, even from different email servers, and make your best assign and priority rules.

Automatic escalations based on SLA rules. You can define automated routing and assigning rules with pre-defined target response and resolution times for every incoming ticket. For every selected client organization you can distinguish priority tickets by product, ticket type or category and then simply choose: priority (low, normal, high), desirable deadline in hours and person stuff to assign to. After defining SLA rules, you may define escalation rules, for time before deadline or after deadline: escalating time in hours and specialist to escalate to when time expire.

Notifications . SupportPortal keeps you up to date with timely email notifications — when, where and how you want them. For many of us, our email is the first thing we check when we sit down at the desk each morning. SupportPortal provides flexible criteria for determining who, how and when to send notifications about ticket statuses. This notifications are sent to a different parties after triggering by the different ticket's events: Creation - to help desk operator or support manager for review, Assignment - to assigned support specialist, Updated and Closed - to customer/end user.

Design e-mail templates and response messages. Some types of information need to be structured in particular formats. SupportPortal 'email templates' give you an easy way to predefine your email layouts: New ticket notification, Lost-password message, New user registration template, Ticket assigned, Ticket reply and Ticket closed. Every template can use the different ticket attributes, and also large set of others database attributes.

User defined data fields. Quickly add your own custom fields to ticket record to record information in an online database. Custom fields can be text input, radio button, check box or selection lists. SupportPortal generates your custom web form to get the exact look and feel that you desire.

Change history of a ticket is maintained to facilitate audit processes. Every time a change is logged, SupportPortal automatically records all activity and changes to an ticket, including: assignee, priority, workflow and status, due date, any other field (including custom fields).

Classification. To help your team gain the most from their support reviews, categorize each ticket using custom classification schemes: Your classification is available immediately into classification stage of the solving. You can even take default ITIL scheme, or develop your own in accordance with your environment and your service type (e.g. "Bug" and "Issue") .

Built-in Time tracking: SupportPortal helps you track the time spent on each request down to the minute, and ensures that project timelines are always up-to-date. Whenever you work on an ticket, simply log the time spent (in minutes). If necessary, you can also update the estimated time remaining to complete the task.

Relate ticket to a Knowledge Base article. Quickly link insert functionality allows you to insert any of the knowledge base articles right into a reply text, so user can refer himself to a previously solved issue or request.

Canned Reply. Define and insert quick response to support emails and customers ask. Canned replies lets you set pre-defined answers that can be inserted into any reply by a single mouse click. Save time and impress your customers with great turn around time.

Private note. Private and internal notes within a ticket provides a clean way to discuss an request internally before providing a reply to the customer.

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Knowledge Base

Create HTML articles. Add knowledgebase entries using the integrated HTML editor and create rich text, links, lists, attach related files, images, etc directly through your web browser. Article labels allows you to sign the current status of the article. You can specify the keywords and link article with the download list.

Article categories. Article categories are a convenient way of grouping related projects - great to provide consistent answers to customer issues, generate a list of FAQs, and provide management with information about the most prevalent concerns. Simply create knowledge base categories as much as you need, describe their purpose and even add your own particular group icon.

Permission-based group access. You can assign permissions for access to each category by client's organization or group, if you exclude the particular category from public access.

Most popular and and most recent articles. Users are allowed to see useful statistics about your knowledge base, including most popular questions and the latest published articles. Use this information to constantly improve both your knowledge base and website.

Powerful Search. Find articles and solutions based on keyword and description. User can enter and combine the target keywords and search through whole knowledgebase in a matter of milliseconds.

Custom Search extension. Easily extends the local article database search to external search engines or stored knowledge base sites: Wikipedia, Google, Yahoo, MSN or similar. After searching for a solution in the local knowledge base, the system automatically retrieve and append search result from custom search sites to search result.

Voting and Commenting. Get an invaluable insight into your customers and visitors, by allowing them to comment on your questions and answers. Automatically approve comments, or manually approve them from within your Dashboard. Users are allowed to rate articles, print them and email to other persons.

Integrated Dictionary. The site administrators can organize dictionary with most used terms. Every of defined terms is linked with the knowledgebase articles and appears underlined in text, so a user can see tooltip with the term described in dictionary.

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Live Chat

Proactive chat. Initiate a chat with a user that is browsing your website with single click on address from the main Live Chat Panel. This will launch a window on the visitor’s browser that instantly opens and ask them if they wish to receive help while they visit your site. If they accept, an instant messenger like chat window opens on both sides and you can chat live with that person.

Real-Time Visitor Monitoring. See all visitors on your website as visitors move from page to page. View visitor's IP address, host name, country, pages visited, referrer address, and other information. This information will allow you to better define your marketing strategies.

Integrate live Chat button on your site. Place the Live Chat button and proactive engagement HTML/JavaScript code on your website. Whenever you log-in to Live Help, the clients will see the on-line image and feel reassured that they will have easy access to a live person.

Windows LiveAlert. Use Windows client software allows you to be logged to your Live Chat and appears as online to your visitors. Operator Console can be minimized to Windows System Tray - small area in the bottom right corner of the screen, near the clock. When your website visitors calls, Operator Console will pop up from the System Tray automatically, and you will be able to answer the call.

Link to Knowledge Base articles. Allows customers to automatically see prewritten responses written in Knowledge base and direct the customer's browser to pages containing requested information.

Call Transfer. This feature allows you to transfer any live chat from one operator to the next simply by clicking on the transfer icon and choosing to whom you wish to transfer.

Insert Canned Replies. While you chat with your customers and end-users, you can insert predefined responses.

Search chat archive. As conversations occur during the normal course of using live chat, they are recorded to database, and available for fast searching by visitor, date, title and the conversation text.

Appear offline. This feature set allows you to quickly change from being available to not being available by a simple toggle button located on the main Live Chat Control Panel.

Customization and Branding. Upload your company logo and operator photo. Customize operator greeting and system messages. Set visitor message and system messages.

"Party is typing" notification. Take a look at what your customer is typing even before the message is appeared in conversation window.

Sound Effects. Sounds play when a new message is received or someone enters the room. Sounds play when a new message is received or someone enters the chat.

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Forum

Track and display messages that have not yet been read by the current user.

Create topics and categories as much as you need to.

Set permissions for users and administrators depending on SupportPortal roles.

Image attachments. Upload an image along with a message posting. The other types of files are also allowed to be uploaded. Images can be uploaded to a forum and displayed inline in message postings easily.

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News and Announcements

Create formatted news. You can create news and announcements and keep your customers satisfied and informed. Choose to create and edit news with built-in HTML editor or import your news text created with your favorite editor.

Manage newsletter subscriptions. Maintain an newsletter list that allows for widespread distribution of information to your customers. Subscription management allows collecting e-mail addresses directly from your website, while your web visitors are able to easy subscribe or unsubscribe to any of your public or private news-lists.

Multiple e-mail lists. Unlike other newsletter management systems, there are no built in limitations for the number of subscribers and mailing lists that you can have. Bulk import existing subscriptions also available.

Choose target audiences. With direct connection to a web announcements form, you can choose to publish newsletter to any of the particular email lists, registered customers and end-users or send simple alerts available to a users as they login to their help desk.

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Downloads

Product Catalog. Register your product to establish the availability of files in the download center. For every registered product you can use permissions and records to ensure users have access to the appropriate documents and filter the content your customer is able to view based on the products they have registered. Now you can provide personalized support based on the products your customers have purchased and registered.

Store essential files. Store different types of your documents and binaries and make them ready for public or private download: Word documents, PDF files, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, HTML, XML, source and text files, ZIP files, and your own proprietary software formats. Describe every of your document in the upload form with: product and the product Category, title, keywords, binary upload path and describe with text editor.

Instant access to binaries. If you successfully make the Product Catalog and product related download list, you are able to take advantage of saving time with managing binaries and documents distribution. Your content is filtered and your customer have access based on the products they have registered.

Rate, Comment, and E-mail. While accessing your binaries, users are allowed to review and print document description, rate it toward their usability, send e-mail notification to their colleagues, put their comments and then download to the local storage.

Track download activity. Every user activity is tracked and analyzed, so you are able to view download history and print corresponding report.

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