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2. The Basics in 20 Minutes
2.1 Create Support Categories
2.2.Create Accounts For Your Support Staff
2.3 Placing links from your Web Site to the Support Desk
2.3.1 The link your customers will click to create a support account
2.3.2 The link where customers can create support accounts automatically with support request (Optional)
2.3.3 The link your customers will click to log into their support accounts
2.4 Customizing the look and feel of the support desk your customers will use - Global Template Method
2.5 Testing the System
Introduction
ActivDesk should be very easy to use and is in a lot of cases self-explanatory. Please read this guide as it will save you time. This section has been written to get you started in the shortest time possible. It provides you with the basics of setting up your Support Desk.
2.1 Step 1 - Create Support Categories.
In this section we assume that ActivDesk has now been successfully installed on your server or web hosting account.
Users requesting support from you can submit their support queries to categories that you have defined.
To add 'support categories', log into the Main Admin Control Panel with the super user or root account. The user name and password to use would be the one that was supplied when ActivDesk was installed.
Now click on the 'Support Tickets' tab and then scroll to the bottom of the page. click on the 'Manage Categories' link. At the bottom there is a link 'Add a New Category'. Now type in the Category Name and click next. It's a good idea to experiment with this a bit so that you get used to the creation of new categories and familiarize yourself with them.
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Also see the following for more detailed information on
the creation of support categories:
4. How to add/edit/delete a Support Ticket Category |
2.2 Step 2 - Create Accounts For Your Support Staff.
If you have more than one person/technician providing your customers with support then you can create Support Staff accounts. Your Technicians or Support Staff can then each have their own accounts to log in with when providing customers with support.
How to add a Support Staff account
Inside your admin control panel click on the 'Admin Functions' Tab. (In the top right corner) Once you have opened the Admin Functions screen click on the 'Support Staff Manager' tab.
Once the Support Staff Manager screen is open simply fill in the user's details and select the sections you wish to give him/her access to. This will allow you to restrict access to certain sections.
If you want a user to have full access to everything you need only select yes at the Super User section. This will give a user full access to all functions regardless if nothing anything else was selected.
Now that you have Support Staff accounts you may send your Support Staff the URL to the control panel so that they can log into ActivDesk to provide support to your customers. Support staff members can access the Control Panel by loading the admin.cgi script in their browsers (just you did to get into the control panel) and by supplying their user names and passwords that you specified as explained above.
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2.3 Step 3 - Placing links from your Web Site to the Support Desk
Now you should have created support categories so that your customers can choose a support category when sending support requests to you. You should also have created support staff accounts so that your Support Staff can log into the control panel to provide your customers with support.
To be able to provide your customers with access to your Support Desk you will need to place links from your web site to the ActivDesk software so that your customers can register support accounts and post support messages to you.
2.3.1 The link your customers will click to create a support account
Firstly you will need to place a link somewhere on your web site that customers can click to create a support account. You may get this link from the Control Panel >> Template Manager >> Under the heading called 'Support Message Templates' there will be text reading: 'Link to registration form'. The URL that follows is the link you can place on your web site so that your customers can click it to create support accounts.
2.3.2 The link where customers can create support accounts automatically with support request (Optional)
This functionality enables you to provide customers with the ability to post a support message and create a support account in the same instance. This method of support account creation should save your customers time but you don't have to implement it.
To obtain the link to this form, go to the Control Panel >> Template Manager >> Under the heading called 'Support Message Templates' there will be text reading: 'Registration with Quick Post Form' - The URL that follows is the link you can place on your web site so that your customers can click it to post a support message and in the same instance register an account.
2.3.3 The link your customers will click to log into their support accounts
After a customer has created a support account the customer can automatically log into his/her account. When the come back to your web site you will most likely want to provide them with a link that they can click so that they can log into their support desk. You may get this link from the Control Panel >> Template Manager >> Under the heading called 'Support Message Templates' there will be text reading: 'Link to login form'. The URL that follows is the link you can place on your web site so that your customers can click it to log into their support accounts.
It would probably be best to place a link to the 'create a support account' form and 'login' form on the menu bars of your web page so that your visitors have easy access to the support desk.
2.4 Step 4 - Customizing the look and feel of the support desk your customers will use - Global Template Method
By now you should have support categories that your visitors can choose from when posting support messages. You should also have support staff accounts that your support staff will use to post replies to support tickets. You should also have created links (also called hyperlinks) from your web site (or web pages) so that your customers can create support accounts and log into those support accounts.
Note that this method of customizing is for novices to HTML. If you are an experienced web designer then please see the detailed customization documentation here. With this method of customization you just create one HTML file and it's look and feel is implemented throughout all the templates.
To implement a global template, (customize all pages displayed to customers control panels with your logo and menu bars) go to the Control Panel >> Template Manager >> Implement a Global Template
1. Create an HTML file that will serve as a frame
Create a normal HTML file. This file could contain your company logo, navigational buttons or links, etc. Let's say for example the HTML file you create looks like this:
2. Place the words !!ActivDesk_data!! inside the HTML page you created.
Now insert the word !!ActivDesk_data!! inside the HTML file where you would like ActivDesk to place it's control panel functions & options. The Control Panel functions are the functions that your end-users/customers will use to post new support messages with and to reply & view support messages, etc.
3. Correctly link up images
You must reference images with the full path to where the images are situated. In other words, upload the images to your web site. Then view the source of the HTML file you created above and supply the full URL paths to where you uploaded the images on your web site - for all images.
For example:
<img src="someimage.gif"> will not work.
You have to indicate the entire URL where someimage.gif is located. For example:
<img src="http://www.yourdomain.com/someimage.gif">
The <img is an HTML tag indicating that you want to insert an image in the HTML page. The src= part indicates that you want to specify the location of the image to be inserted. Some web editors will support inserting images from a web url and some won't. If your web editor does not support this, insert the image into the HTML page like usual and, when finished, edit the the HTML source code and manually insert the URL path's to the images. Ensure that the images are on the server for the URL path's you specify.
Example: Editing the HTML source code:
Replace <img src="someimage.gif"> with
<img src="http://www.yourdomain.com/someimage.gif">
4. Upload the file you created.
After you have uploaded the file, all templates used by ActivDesk will be updated with the HTML file you uploaded. In other words, the file you uploaded will be used as the frame for all pages that your end-users (users requesting support and visitors browsing your knowledge bases) will view.
Warning: Uploading your HTML file will replace any previous templates. In other words, if you have made changes to the existing templates then it will be lost.
2.5 Step 5 - Testing the system
By now you should have created support categories (step 1), added support accounts for support staff, (step 2) placed links to the ActivDesk software on your web site (step 3) and you should have implemented a global template (HTML file) with your logo and buttons. (step 4)
1. First create a dummy support account. To do this click the link to register a support account from your web site. You had to place this link on your web site as explained in step 3.
2. After you have created a support account, post a support ticket.
3. After you have posted a support ticket, log into the main Control Panel and click on the 'Support Tickets' button.
4. Click on the 'Open Tickets' link in the category where you posted the support ticket.
5. Then click on the subject of the support ticket to reply to it.
6. After you have replied to the support ticket, log into the control panel of the dummy support account you created as explained in step 1 in this section.
7. Click the on the subject of the support ticket to view the reply you have just posted from the main control panel.
Experiment with posting tickets, and replying to it. It will give you a good idea of how all interactions with your customers will work.
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