AdventNet ManageEngine SupportCenterPlus ::...

AdventNet ManageEngine SupportCenterPlus :: AdminGuide

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Table Of Contents

INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................ 6

Getting Started (Login Home Page) .................................................................................... 8 Views................................................................................................................................................9 License Expiry Alert .......................................................................................................................12 Tracking My Tasks.........................................................................................................................13 Publishing Announcements ...........................................................................................................16 Reminders......................................................................................................................................18

System Requirements ....................................................................................................... 21 Installation and Getting Started ......................................................................................... 22 Uninstalling SupportCenter Plus........................................................................................ 27

Registering SupportCenter Plus ........................................................................................ 28 Contacting AdventNet........................................................................................................ 29

REQUEST................................................................................................................ 30

Request List View Page [Customize, Auto Refresh, Search and more..] .......................... 31 Customizing Request List View .....................................................................................................33 Searching Requests.......................................................................................................................34

Creating a New Request.................................................................................................... 35 Different modes of Creating a New Request ..................................................................... 37 Viewing Request Details.................................................................................................... 39 Editing a Request .............................................................................................................. 41 Deleting Requests ............................................................................................................. 42

Picking up Requests .......................................................................................................... 43 Closing Requests............................................................................................................... 44 Merging a Request ............................................................................................................ 45 Assigning/Unassigning Support Rep to a Request............................................................ 46 Start/Stop Request Timer .................................................................................................. 48 Adding Notes ..................................................................................................................... 50 Adding Tasks ..................................................................................................................... 51 Adding Reminders ............................................................................................................. 53

Duplicate Request ............................................................................................................. 54 Print Preview...................................................................................................................... 55


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Adding Resolution.............................................................................................................. 56

Searching Solutions........................................................................................................... 58 Submit For Approval .......................................................................................................... 59 Viewing Contact Details..................................................................................................... 61 View Requests by Contacts............................................................................................... 62

Replying the Contact ......................................................................................................... 63 Forward the Request ......................................................................................................... 65 E-mail the Support Rep ..................................................................................................... 67 SMS the Support Rep........................................................................................................ 69 Request Conversations ..................................................................................................... 71 Viewing Requests Based on Filters ................................................................................... 72

SOLUTIONS ............................................................................................................ 74

Adding a New Solution ...................................................................................................... 75 Editing & Deleting a Solution ............................................................................................. 76 Search in Solutions............................................................................................................ 77 Browsing Solutions by Topic.............................................................................................. 78 Topics Template ................................................................................................................ 79 Managing Topics ............................................................................................................... 80

To Add a New Topic ......................................................................................................................80 To Rename a Topic .......................................................................................................................80 To Change a Parent topic..............................................................................................................80 To Delete a Topic...........................................................................................................................81

CONTRACTS........................................................................................................... 82

About Contracts ................................................................................................................. 84 Creating a New Contract ................................................................................................... 85

Editing/Deleting Contracts ................................................................................................. 86 Renew Contract ................................................................................................................. 87 Print Preview of Contract ................................................................................................... 88 Search Contracts ............................................................................................................... 89

ACCOUNTS............................................................................................................. 90

Adding a New Account ...................................................................................................... 91 Editing and Deleting Account............................................................................................. 92 Customizing Accounts List View........................................................................................ 93

Convert as Sub-Account.................................................................................................... 95 Accounts Requests............................................................................................................ 97


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Associate Contact.............................................................................................................. 98

Associate Product.............................................................................................................. 99 Add Contracts .................................................................................................................. 100 Add Advisory.................................................................................................................... 101 Assign Template .............................................................................................................. 102

Importing Sales details from CSV File ............................................................................. 103 Importing Accounts and Contacts from CSV File ............................................................ 104 Customizing Accounts List View...................................................................................... 105 Searching Accounts......................................................................................................... 106

CONTACTS ........................................................................................................... 107

Adding a New Contact ..................................................................................................... 108 Editing and Deleting a Contact ........................................................................................ 109 Reconcile Contacts.......................................................................................................... 110 Associate Accounts with Contacts................................................................................... 111 Contacts Requests .......................................................................................................... 112 Importing Contacts from CSV File ................................................................................... 113 Unapproved Contacts ...................................................................................................... 114 Searching Contacts ......................................................................................................... 115

CONFIGURATIONS............................................................................................... 116

Helpdesk Configurations.................................................................................................. 118 Helpdesk Customizer...................................................................................................................119

Configuring Category ...............................................................................................................120 Editing & Deleting Category .....................................................................................................122 Configuring Status....................................................................................................................124 Configuring Level .....................................................................................................................126 Configuring Mode.....................................................................................................................127 Configuring Priority...................................................................................................................128 Configuring Request Default Values ........................................................................................129 Request Additional Fields ........................................................................................................130 Request Form Customizer .......................................................................................................131 Request Preview ......................................................................................................................133 Request Closing Rules.............................................................................................................134

Configuring Mail Server Settings .................................................................................................135 Configuring Notification Rules .....................................................................................................138 Configuring Groups......................................................................................................................140


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Configuring Business Rules.........................................................................................................142 Scheduled Requests....................................................................................................................145 Request Template........................................................................................................................147 Time Entry Type...........................................................................................................................148 Time Entry Additional Fields ........................................................................................................149

Account Settings.............................................................................................................. 150 Configuring Industry.....................................................................................................................151 Configuring Product Types ..........................................................................................................152 Configuring Product .....................................................................................................................153 Product Additional Fields .............................................................................................................155 Account Additional Fields.............................................................................................................156 Sales Additional Fields.................................................................................................................157 Schedule CSV Import ..................................................................................................................158 Web Portal Configurations...........................................................................................................160

Contract Settings ............................................................................................................. 162 Configuring Support Plan.............................................................................................................163 Support Services..........................................................................................................................165 Configuring Service Level Agreements .......................................................................................166 Configuring Operational Hours ....................................................................................................169 Configuring Holidays....................................................................................................................170

User and Related Settings............................................................................................... 171 Configuring Roles ........................................................................................................................172 Configuring Contact - Additional Fields .......................................................................................174 Configuring Support Reps ...........................................................................................................175 Configuring Support Rep - Additional Fields ...............................................................................179 Account Manager.........................................................................................................................180

User Survey Settings ....................................................................................................... 181 Configuring Survey Settings ........................................................................................................182 Defining a Survey.........................................................................................................................184 Sending Survey............................................................................................................................186 Survey Preview ............................................................................................................................188 Viewing Survey Results ...............................................................................................................189

General Settings .............................................................................................................. 190 Configuring Organization Details .................................................................................................191 Configuring General Settings.......................................................................................................192


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REPORTS.............................................................................................................. 195

Creating New Custom Reports ........................................................................................ 197 New Query Reports ......................................................................................................... 200

New Scheduled Reports .................................................................................................. 201 Custom Settings .............................................................................................................. 202 Exporting Report as PDF................................................................................................. 203

GENERAL FEATURES ......................................................................................... 204

System Log Viewer.......................................................................................................... 205 Personalize...................................................................................................................... 206 Feedback......................................................................................................................... 207 Back up and Restore ....................................................................................................... 208 Changing Web Server Port.............................................................................................. 210 Support Team Availability ................................................................................................ 211


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Introduction ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus is a comprehensive help desk management software that provides help desk agents an integrated console to monitor and maintain requests generated from the users of various products obtained from an organization and resolve them at the earliest. The customer support desk plays an important part in the services industry. It is very often the first contact the users have in their use of products when something does not work as expected. The customer support desk is a single point of contact for end-users who need help. Without this, an organization could certainly face losses due to inefficiencies in after sales services. The two main focuses of the ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus are Request tracking and Customer Account Management. Using the following modules of SupportCenter, support reps and system administrators can resolve issues of complex nature in no time and thus reduce the end-user frustration arising due to time consuming issue resolving process. They can also keep track of the changing needs of the consumers and hence modify their services to suit the customer requirements and thus delight them.

• Requests • Solutions • Contracts • Accounts • Contacts • Reports

The request module functions as the customer support desk where requests are fetched and necessary solutions are provided by assigning support reps to resolve issues reported. When you log in to ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus, the application displays the SupportCenter Plus home page that contains information on pending requests, overdue requests, requests assigned to the user who has logged in, individual user's task list, and depending on the user login, the other dash board views. Requests: Clicking the Requests tab on the header pane takes you to the request module. This serves as the customer support desk module where the support requests from individual users are fetched, tracked, support reps are assigned, and a solution is provided. Solutions: This module serves as a knowledge base for your customer support team as well as your customers. Customers can search this for solutions for issues and solve it themselves. Also, when support reps resolve issues, they can directly convert these resolutions as knowledge base articles. To view the solutions, click the Solutions tab in the header pane. Contracts: Contract management helps you to track all the available contract vendors and their contract details, to maintain all support contract details in one place. It helps you to know accounts support plan and support type covered under the contracts. Also it helps to set up email notifications to renew contracts before the expiry date. Accounts: The main objective of the customer support team would be to keep track of the various customer related information and keep it up-to-date. SupportCenter Plus allows you to add your customer accounts and their contact information, update and track them periodically. The account information gives you details on the customer's organization and purchase details. This will give you details about the purchases that the company has made and the kind of support that needs to be provided to them. To view the Account details, click the Accounts tab in the header pane. Contacts: The contact information tracking enables you to have a tab on what is the latest progress on the status of the customer, the type of customer and other such related information. To view the various contacts and their details, click the Contacts tab in the header pane.


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In addition to these, SupportCenter Plus has GUI-rich reports for requests and user survey. There are predefined sets of reports that help you evaluate the efficiency and productivity of your customer support team, the load of requests handled by the team, the customer database and their history and much more. Also, the SupportCenter administrator can configure various helpdesk, customer, and enterprise-related settings, such as the working hours of the organization, service-level agreements, user roles, customer details, accounts, contacts, and many more. Based on the permissions provided by the SupportCenter Plus administrator to each of the users of the application, you will be able to access the above modules. If you do not have the access permission, contact your SupportCenter Plus administrator. Reports: Reports gives you a group of preset support desk reports generated from the data available in the application. The report types are, Survey Reports, Account Reports, Time Spent Reports, Overdue Reports, Completed Reports and so on. Apart from the preset reports you can also customize your reports using Custom Reports option.


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Getting Started (Login Home Page) Login Index Page

The login page of all users of SupportCenter Plus has various useful information displayed that enables an administrator, a support rep , or a contact to take necessary action. The following are available in login home page, based on the login credentials of the user:

1. My View, Global View, Support Team. Click the link for more information. 2. License Expiry alert and prompt for registering SupportCenter Plus. Click the link for more

information. 3. Reminders. Click the link for more information 4. My Tasks. Helps you to track all your tasks. Click the link for more information. 5. Announcements. Click the link for more information. 6. Quick Create/ Search Items/ Recent Items.

Quick Create

You can create a request quickly using the Quick Create - New Request form. This form is available in the SupportCenter Plus home page and in requests list page. For more information refer Creating a New Request Search Items

You can search items by selecting the Search in name from the combo box and by specifying the relevant Keyword in the given text field. Click Go to search for the specified details.

Recent Items

When you are using the ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus application, the application tracks your last viewed items and lists them in the Recent Items block on the left side. This has a list of the last 10 items that you viewed in the application, with the latest viewed item appearing on the top of the list. Clicking the hyperlinked item takes you directly to the item's details. Other than this you have Feedback, Personalize on the top right hand side of the page. Click the link for more information.


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Views

My View

SupportCenter Plus login home displays My View page with information on the request summary of the requests assigned to the user who has logged in. In the case of contacts, My View displays information regarding the requests that have been raised by them. My View page also displays My Tasks and Announcements. Click the link for more information. In the support rep/administrator login of SupportCenter Plus, My View tab displays the following information:

1. Number of Overdue Requests that are assigned to the support rep.

2. Number of requests that are Due for that day.

3. Number of Pending Requests that are assigned to him/her.

Clicking the links to open the corresponding list view.

Global View

Global view is available depending on the login authorization permissions provided to the various supervisors. If you have permissions for the same, you will be able to see the Global View tab just beside the home page My View as soon as you login to the application. The global view displays the following information:

• Requests by block displays the Open, OnHold and OverDue status of the Requests by Support Rep, Category, Level, Priority, Mode & Accounts. These options should be selected from the drop down combo box.


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Example: On Selecting Support Rep option from the combo box, you can see all the available support reps name getting listed one after the other in the block. Against each the support reps name you can see the number of Open, On Hold, and Over Due requests they have. Also it gives the total of all the open, on hold and overdue requests finally. To view all the open requests on your name, click the number specified under the open request title. This will open the list of all the open requests on your name.

• Requests Inbound block, shows the graph of requests count that have come in during a specific time period such as, This week, Last Week, This Month and Last Month requests. You can select these options from the combo box provided at the corner of the block.


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Support Team

This tab lists, all the available support reps. If the support rep is logged in to the application, then the login status would be IN if the support rep is not logged in to the application, then the login status would be OUT. log in status of the support rep is also shown based on the Default Online Status settings in Admin module. For the contact to view the support teams availability information, People option in general settings of the Admin module should be enabled. Else the online status of the support team would be OUT.


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License Expiry Alert Just below the header tabs the license expiry alert will be displayed. This provides details, such as the number of days the existing license is valid, the date by which the license has to be renewed, sales contact email ID, link to apply the upgraded license, and a combo box where you can set the number of days after which you want this reminder to be displayed. Once you choose the number of days from the combo box and click OK, the reminder will disappear and will again be displayed after the specified time frame. If you do not want to choose the number of days and want the reminder to be available every time you login, then clicking Hide link at the top left corner of the license expiry alert box will temporarily hide the alert box. To register SupportCenter Plus, you can just click the link click here to apply in the license alert box. This opens the license upgrade window. To apply the license, refer to the topic Registering SupportCenter Plus.


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Tracking My Tasks My Tasks on the right hand side of the home page --> next to the my requests summary block, shows all the Tasks assigned to you. These tasks could be added by you as a personal reminder of the due by tasks. Or it can be the tasks assigned to you by other supervisors. You can also assign tasks to other supervisors using this option. On adding the tasks to other supervisors, the added tasks will be listed in their home page under the My Tasks block and the supervisors will be able to view the tasks immediately on logging in to SupportCenter Plus application. All your tasks including the requests assigned on your name can be added to this list as My Tasks, but you cannot maintain the log for the requests entered under my tasks list. To add new tasks to your task list,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. From the login home page, you have My Tasks block on the right hand side of the home

page.

3. Click the Add New button at the down left corner of the My Tasks block. This opens the Tasks page as shown below,

4. Specify the Title of the task in the given text field. This is a mandatory field. 5. Specify relevant information about the task in the Description text box. 6. Select the Scheduled Start Time & Scheduled End Time from the calender button. The

scheduled start time and end time specified by the task owner is a tentative time schedule. 7. Select the Actual Start Time & Actual End Time from the calender button. The actual start

time will be entered by the supervisor doing (owning) the task. The actual start time and end time is the real time schedule of the task.

8. Select the Owner of the task from the combo box. 9. Specify the Status of the task. By default the status of the task will be Open. 10. Specify any relevant comment or summary about the task in the Comments field. 11. If you wish to be reminded of the task previously then select the Remind me before option

and select the number of days from the combo box. This option will be selected based on the scheduled start time.


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12. Save the task. The new task is added and is listed along with the already existing tasks in the ascending order based on date and time.

Striking out the completed Tasks,

When you have completed the task, you can just strike out the task to indicate that it is completed. 1. From the login home page, you have My Tasks block on the right hand side of the page.

2. Click the radio button of the task to be striked off. You can see the task striked off with a tick on the radio button.

[OR] 3. Click the task's hyperlink to be striked off. This opens the tasks page in editable format. 4. In the Task State field, select Completed option. 5. Click Save button. The task is struck through to indicate that it is completed.

Viewing the Tasks

1. From the login home page, you have My Tasks block on the right hand side of the page.

2. Click the Show All button this opens the Show All Tasks page as shown below,

To change the task state,

1. Select the check boxes beside the Tasks to, change the state. 2. Click Close button. You can see the Status of the task changed to Closed.

To delete the task, 1. Select the check boxes beside the Tasks to be deleted. 2. Click Delete button. The task is deleted from the list. To view the changes in the

SupportCenter Plus home page, refresh the page.


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The advantage of moving the task to completed state instead of deleting it completely is that, you can revert the state of the task to Open again and edit its attributes. But once you delete the task, it is completely removed from the application and cannot be retrieved.

Note: The My Tasks option is available for contacts accessing SupportCenter Plus through Self-Service Portal also and is dependent on the access privilages provided by the SupportCenter administrator.


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Publishing Announcements SupportCenter Plus allows you to publish announcements company wide or just to the support reps group. The announcement board is available in the login home just below the My View tab. You can add, edit, and delete announcements.

The recent announcements will be displayed in the box. To view all the announcements (even completed ones), click the Show All button. This will display the list of all announcements added till date. To view an announcement, click the Announcement Title to open the complete announcement details in a pop-up. If there are more than one announcements, then you will notice a Previous and Next button in the pop-up. Using this you can navigate through the announcements list and view all the announcements without closing the pop-up window.

To Add New Announcement,

1. Login to SupportCenter Plus using the user name and password. 2. From the login home page, if you have permissions to add an announcement, you will notice

the Add New button in the announcements box as shown above. Click the Add New button. This opens the Add New page.

3. Enter the Announcement Title. This can be a short statement that describes what the announcement. This is a mandatory field.

4. Type the Announcement Content in the text box provided for the same. 5. Select the From date and To date using the calender icon beside the respective fields. 6. If you wish to publish the announcement only to the support reps and do not wish to expose it

to your contacts, then select the check box Show this announcement only to support reps. 7. If you would like to send the announcement as mail then select this option. 8. Click Save. At any point of time, you do not wish to add the announcement, click Cancel.

The announcement will be added and the pop-up will display the announcement details as entered by you. The announcement title will be displayed in the login home in bold text in the announcement box with a new icon beside it. In the home page, If the announcement is shown only to the support reps then the announcement

icon will be shown with a small attachment at the end.

To Edit an Announcement

1. From the login home page, click the title of the announcement that you wish to edit. This opens the View Announcement pop-up. If you have permissions to edit / delete the announcements, you will see an Edit and Delete button.

2. Click Edit button. This opens the announcement in editable format.


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3. Modify the details and Save the changes. At any point of time, you do not wish to edit the announcement, click Cancel.

To Delete an Announcement

1. From the login home page, click the title of the announcement to be deleted. This opens the View Announcement pop-up. If you have permissions to edit / delete the announcements, you will see an Edit and Delete button.

2. Click Delete button. A confirmation dialog pops up. 3. Click OK to delete, and Cancel to retain the announcement.

Alternatively, 1. From the login home page, click Show All button in the Announcements box. This opens

the Manage Announcements page. 2. Select the announcement to be deleted by enabling the check boxes. 3. Click Delete. A confirmation dialog pops up. 4. Click OK to delete, and Cancel to retain the announcements.

Note: If the announcements are open for everyone to view and not restricted to the support reps alone, then in the contact login, the contacts will be able to view the announcements by clicking the title of the announcements. Only announcements that have a completion time beyond the current date will be visible for the contacts.


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Reminders ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus provides you with the option of tracking your tasks everyday. The tasks that you add to the My Reminders list act as substitute for your sticky notes or post-it notes which you would use to remember your tasks for the day. To add new tasks to your reminders list

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password.

2. Click Reminders link just below the header tabs on the right hand side of the page. This opens the My Reminder (s) form.

3. Click +Add New link at the bottom of the my reminders form. This opens the Reminders page as shown below,

4. Specify the task summary in the text field provided at the left side of the page. 5. Select the Date & Time for the reminder. The date field is set to the today's date and the time

is set by default as 11:00 AM. Change the date and time settings. To change the date, click the calender icon beside the date field and choose the date of your choice. From the time combo box, choose the time at which the task is scheduled. The values in the combo box are available in a gap of 15 min time interval.

6. Select the reminder duration say before 1 hr or 2 hr from the Remind me before combo box. By default the message would be Never.

7. Click Add. The new task is added and is listed along with the already existing tasks in the ascending order based on date and time as shown below,


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Striking out the Task

When you have completed the task, you can just strike out the task to indicate that it is completed by selecting the radio button beside the task summary. Alternatively,

1. Click the Reminders link. This opens My Reminders form.

2. Click the task status radio button in the reminders form to change the task status from incomplete to Completed. The task is struck through to indicate that it is completed.

View the Tasks

1. Click the reminders button on the top right hand side of the page. This opens the My Reminders page.

2. Click the Show All button this opens the Show All Reminders page as shown below,

Changing the reminder status 1. Click Show all at the bottom right of the My Reminders note. This opens the

Showing All Reminder page. 2. Select the check boxes beside the Reminder Summary for which you wish to

change the state. 3. Select the state from the Change Reminder State To combo box, select the

reminder state to Completed. 4. Click Change button to change the status of the task. To indicate the change the task

would be striked of. To delete a task

1. Click the Reminders link. This opens My Reminders form.

2. Click the Delete radio button available beside the status radio button. You can see the reminder deleted from the list.


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You can also delete the tasks by following these steps:

1. Click Show all at the bottom right of the My Reminders note. This opens Showing All Reminder page.

2. Select the check boxes beside the Reminder Summary of the tasks to be deleted. 3. Click Delete button. A pop up window pops up to get your confirmation on the delete

operation. Click OK to proceed. The task is deleted from list. To view the changes in the home page, refresh the page.

The advantage of moving the task to completed state instead of deleting it completely is that, you can revert the state of the task to Open again and edit its attributes. But once you delete the task, it is completely removed from the application and cannot be retrieved.

Note: The My Tasks option is available for contacts accessing SupportCenter Plus through Self-Service Portal also.


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System Requirements

Hardware

CPU Pentium III 800 MHz or above RAM 512 MB or above Disk Space 200 MB Display High Color

Operating System

• Windows 2000 + SP4

• Windows 2000 / 2003 Server

• Windows XP Professional

• Windows Vista

• Red Hat Linux 7.2 and above

• Linux Debian 3.0


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Installation and Getting Started

• In Windows • In Linux

In Windows

Follow the steps given below to install and set up the ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus application:

1. Download the ManageEngine_SupportCenter_Plus.exe file. 2. Click the exe file to start the installation. The SupportCenter Plus installation wizard appears.

Choose between One Click Install and Advanced Install (custom settings). In One Click Install, SupportCenter will be installed in a single step with default specifications such as,

Installation Directory : C:\AdventNet\ME\SupportCenter WebServer Port : 8080 Database : MYSQL

Advanced Install

Follow the instructions given in the wizard to successfully set up SupportCenter Plus 1. On accepting the license agreement, the installation wizard provides you with an

option to choose between Trial Edition and Free Edition of the SupportCenter Plus application. Free Edition never expires but is restricted to a single support rep login.


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The Trial Edition is valid only for 30 days and provides two support rep login. There are no other restrictions. Choose the appropriate edition for your need and click Next.

2. Choose the installation directory by clicking the Browse button beside the directory path. From the file chooser window, choose the directory of your choice and click Next.

Warning: The installation directory or its parent directories must not have any space character in its name.

3. Enter the port number that has to be used to run the web server. If you already have any application running in the default port (8080), then enter the number of the port that is free and can be used by the web server to run the SupportCenter Plus application server. Click Next.

4. Choose the Database between MY SQL and MS SQL. By default SupportCenterPlus supports My SQL database, to switch over to SQL database you need to configure SQL server to establish connection and start the server. Enter the details as given below,

• Host Name: Enter the IP Address/host name in which the database is available. The default host name is 'localhost'.

• Port: Specify the port in the given text field. The default value is 1433. • Database : By default the database name will be supportcenter in non-editable

format. • User Name: Specify the user name to login to the server in the given text field. • Password: Specify the password for the username in the given text field. Click

Next. Note: Need to enable sql authentication as Windows authentication will not work.

5. Provide a name that needs to appear in the Programs folder. By default, it is AdventNet ManageEngine SupportCenter.

6. Click Next. The application is installed.


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3. On successful installation, the Registration for Technical Support form is displayed. This is an optional form and this enables you to register for technical assistance. By registering, it helps the technical support team to be better informed about your organization and its specific needs and hence provide a more focused support. Enter the details such as Name, contact E-mail ID, Phone Number (helps in making calls for immediate support), Company Name, and Country.

4. Click Next. The following screen is displayed.

When you choose to start the SupportCenter Service, the SupportCenter Server is started automatically and the client window opens. If you do not wish to view the readme file or start SupportCenter as a windows service,de-select the options provided.

5. Click Finish to complete the installation. If you installed the application with One click Install, the ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus program group is created in the Start menu. Also, the SupportCenter server will be started and the client window opens with the login page. Enter the user name and password to log in to the application. To manually start the SupportCenter Plus application

1. Click Start -> Programs -> AdventNet ManageEngine SupportCenter -> SupportCenter Server to start the web server. This takes approximately 2 minutes in a Windows XP, 512 MB RAM, and 1.0 GHZ processor. Generally, the server is started and the web client is also launched in the default browser.

2. If the web client is not launched automatically, then click Start -> Programs -> AdventNet ManageEngine SupportCenter -> SupportCenter Web Client to start the web client. The application opens the login page in your default web browser.

3. Enter your user name "administrator" and password "administrator" to log in to SupportCenter Plus. As soon as you log in the configuration wizard home page is displayed. Follow the instructions provided in the wizard and click the Next button.

To configure your application settings, refer to the Configurations section.


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To shut down the SupportCenter Plus application 1. Click Start -> Programs -> AdventNet ManageEngine SupportCenter -> Shutdown

SupportCenter. A confirmation message is displayed. 2. Click OK to proceed with the shut down.(OR)

Right-click on the system tray icon and choose Shut down Server. A confirmation message is displayed; click OK to shut down SupportCenter Plus.

To reinitialize the server

1. Go to <SupportCenter>\bin directory. 2. Execute reinitializeDB.bat to reinitialize the server. Please note that all the data in the

server will be lost when you reinitialize.

In Linux

Follow the steps given below to install and setup the ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus application: 1. Download the AdventNet_ManageEngine_SupportCenter_Plus_7_Linux.bin file. 2. Execute the .bin as given below, at your command prompt:

./AdventNet_ManageEngine_SupportCenter_Plus_7_Linux.bin

Note: You need to have execute permissions for executing the .bin type files.

3. 4. The installation wizard is opened. Choose between One Click Install and Advanced Install

(custom settings). In One Click Install, SupportCenter will be installed in a single step with default specifications such as,

Installation Directory : C:\AdventNet\ME\SupportCenter WebServer Port : 8080 Database : MYSQL

Advanced Installation

1. The second screen displays the License Agreement. You need to accept the license agreement to proceed with the installation. So, select the radio button accepting the license agreement.

2. Click Next. 3. On accepting the license agreement, the installation wizard provides you with an

option to choose between Trial Edition and Free Edition of the SupportCenter Plus application. Free Edition never expires but is restricted to a single support rep login. The Trial Edition is valid only for 30 days and provides two support rep login. There are no other restrictions. Choose the appropriate edition for your need and click Next.

4. Choose the installation directory clicking the Browse button beside the directory path. 5. From the file chooser window, choose the directory of your choice and click Next. 6. Enter the port number that has to be used to run the web server. If you already have

any application running in the default port (8080), then enter the number of the port that is free and can be used by the web server to run the SupportCenter Plus application server and click Next.


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Warning: If you wish to provide a port number lesser than 1024 as the web server port, then you need to be the super-user of the system to successfully install and run SupportCenter Plus application.

7. The details that you have provided till now will be displayed as below for your confirmation: Details of Installation Installation Directory: home/<user>/AdventNet/ME/SupportCenter Product Size : 72.6 MB. If the displayed information is correct, then click the Next button, or else click the Back button and make the necessary changes and proceed with the installation.

4. The application is installed. If you do not wish to view the Readme file, de-select the check box.

5. Click Finish to complete the installation. To manually start the SupportCenter Plus application

1. Go to the <SupportCenter Plus>/bin directory and execute the run.sh file as given below: $ sh run.sh

2. To start the web client, open a web browser and type the following in the address field: http://localhost:8080 Here, you need to replace the localhost with the corresponding server name where the SupportCenter Plus web server is running and the port number 8080 should be replaced with the actual port where the server is running. The application opens the login page in your default web browser.

3. Enter your user name "administrator" and password "administrator" to log in to SupportCenter Plus. As soon as you login the configuration wizard home page is displayed. Follow the instructions provided in the wizard and click the Next button.

To configure your application settings, refer to the Configurations section. To shutdown the SupportCenter Plus application, execute shutdown.sh file from the bin directory as below:

sh shutdown.sh -S To reinitialize the server

1. Go to <SupportCenter Plus>/bin directory. 2. Execute reinitializeDB.sh to reinitialize the server. Please note that all the data in the

server will be lost when you reinitialize.


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Uninstalling SupportCenter Plus


In Windows

To uninstall SupportCenter Plus from Windows

1. Click Start -> Programs -> AdventNet ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus -> Uninstall SupportCenter.

In Linux

To uninstall SupportCenter Plus from Linux

1. Go to <SupportCenter>/_uninst directory.

2. Execute uninstaller.bin as below:

$ ./uninstaller.bin


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Registering SupportCenter Plus Once your trial evaluation period is over, you need to register the SupportCenter Plus application. To purchase the application, please contact [email protected]. They will send you the registered license file. Using this license file, you can register the SupportCenter Plus application. To register SupportCenter Plus

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using the user name and password of an admin user.

2. Click the License link available at the right top of the application. The License window is opened.

3. Click the Browse button to locate the license file sent to you when you purchased the application.

4. From the file chooser window, select the license file and click Open. 5. Click Apply.

The registration of the SupportCenter Plus application is complete. You can continue using the application.


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Contacting AdventNet • AdventNet Headquarters • Sales • Technical Support

AdventNet Headquarters

Web site www.adventnet.com

AdventNet Headquarters

AdventNet, Inc. 5200 Franklin Dr, Suite 115 Pleasanton, CA 94588, USA Phone: +1-925-924-9500 Fax: +1-925-924-9600 E-mail: [email protected]

AdventNet Development Center

AdventNet Development Centre (I) Private Limited 11 Sarathy Nagar, Vijayanagar, Velachery, Chennai 600 042 INDIA Phone: +91-44-22431115 (10 lines) Fax: +91-44-22435327 E-mail: [email protected]

Sales

For purchasing ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus from any part of the world, log into www.supportcenterplus.com Or you can also send a mail to [email protected]. You can also call the AdventNet headquarters at the following numbers: Phone: +1-925-924-9500 Fax: +1-925-924-9600 and request for Sales

Technical Support

One of the value propositions of AdventNet to its customers is excellent support. During the evaluation phase, the support program is extended to users free of charge. For support, please mail to [email protected]. Alternatively, you can submit your feedback from the SupportCenter Plus product by clicking the Feedback link at the top right corner just above the header tabs after logging in to the application. Your feedback will be sent to the SupportCenter Plus Support Team and they will get in touch with you. Do not forget to provide your e-mail ID or your contact information for the team to get in touch with you.


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Request

Request List View Page [Customize, Auto Refresh, Search and more..]

ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus request module helps you to manage the services provided by your customer support team. The requests module can be used to track outstanding and overdue requests that need immediate attention and thus improves the response time and resolution time of your customer support team. Apart from this, SupportCenter Plus allows you to add relevant notes pertaining to the request that is being handled. This note can contain any information such as the exact scenario of the request or how the issue was resolved. Also every action performed on the request in the SupportCenter Plus application is stored in the Request History. Clicking the Requests tab on the header pane takes you to the request module. Here the term request denotes any service that is requested by your customer from the customer support team. The requests can be submitted to the system via mail or a web-based form. Sometimes, the requests can also be placed through a phone call during which, the help desk agent has to record the details of the phone call in the web-based form and assign priority and support rep based on the urgency of the request. The various actions that one can perform in the request module are explained in the respective sections. To ease the process of tracking the requests posted by individual contacts, a Self Service Portal has been provided. This can be used by the individual contacts to track the status of their requests and to look up solutions from the online knowledge base. To access this self-service portal, the contacts need to log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using their respective user name and password. For more details on self-service portal, refer to Self Service Portal topic.


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Request List View Page [Customize, Auto Refresh, Search and more..]

Viewing Request list View Page

Request list view displays various useful functionality for the benefit of the users. Following are the features available in the request list view page.

1. Quick Create Click the link for more information 2. Search Click the link for more information 3. Custom View Click the link for more information 4. Request Filters Click the link for more information 5. Customize Request list view 6. Request List View

Request list view page displays all the incoming request to SupportCenter Plus. From the list view page you can do the following set of actions,

• New Request Click the link for more information on these features.

• Edit Request Click the link for more information on these features.

• Delete request Click the link for more information on these features.

• Pick up request Click the link for more information on these features.

• Close Click the link for more information on these features.

• Merge Click the link for more information on these features.

• Assign requests to Support Rep. Click the link for more information on these features. 8. Setting Requests per page and Navigation

To view the whole list of requests available in the SupportCenter Plus application, click the Request tab in the header pane. This lists all the open requests available in the SupportCenter Plus application. You can set the number of requests that you would like to view in a single page.

1. From the Requests list page, click the drop-down box (shown in the figure below):

2. From the drop-down list, select the number of records that should be displayed in a single page.

3. Click the forward arrow and backward on the top of the request list view page to go the next and previous pages as shown below,

9. Auto Refresh

You have an option to auto refresh request list view page in SupportCenter Plus. On setting the refresh time in the application, the page gets refreshes automatically for every specified time. To auto refresh list view page,

1. From the Requests list view page on the top right corner of the page, you will see an editable field, Refresh this page. By default, the value is set to Never.

2. Click the edit icon beside the value Never. 3. From the drop down list select the frequency of refreshing the page. 4. Click Set.


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You can also apply various filters to this list and view only a specific group of requests that you would like to view. This filtering helps you focus on just the requests that you wish to look at.


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Customizing Request List View ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus allows you to customize the request list view to include columns of your choice. To customize the list view

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Requests tab in the header pane. This opens the request list view page.

3. Click the column edit icon available at the corner of the request list headers. This opens the available columns that can be displayed in the list view. All those that are visible currently, will have selected check box beside them.

4. To remove a column, remove the selection from the respective check box. 5. To add a column to the list view, select the unchecked select box beside the column name. 6. To change the column order, click the up and down arrow after selecting the column that you

wish to move. 7. Click Save.

This will add only the selected column to the list view.


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Searching Requests ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus gives you an option to search for requests using a keyword search. All requests that match the keyword that you have provided in the search will be displayed. To do a keyword search in requests,

1. Log in to SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. On the left hand side of the web client, there is a Search block as shown in the figure below,

3. In Search in drop-down box, select Requests option. This option will be selected by default. 4. In the Enter Keyword text field, type the search string that you wish search for in the

requests. 5. Click Go or press the Enter key on your keyboard. All the requests that match the search

string are listed. You can also do a column-wise search of requests. To perform a column-wise search,

1. Click the search icon at the end of the request list view headers. This opens the search field just below every column that is visible in the list view.

2. Enter the search key in field under the column of your choice. 3. Click Go. The search results matching the search string(s) are displayed.

Note: The search would return the results for any of the text fields of the request. You will not be able to search for a request based on any of the date fields of the request.


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Creating a New Request Any incident or service request or request for information can be sent to the supportdesk team. The requests can be on anything from general to defective item issue, quality issue, replacement query, transportation problem, warranty problem and so on. These requests can be sent to the supportdesk team in three different ways 1) Requester can call the supportdesk support rep and tell him the requirement and he will in turn file a request. 2) You can submit your query through web-based new request form, like logging in to the self-service portal and filing a request 3) Or you can sending an E-mail to the supportdesk team, which will automatically get logged as a service request in SupportCenter Plus. To create a new request using the web-based form,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Request tab in the header pane. This opens the Request details page. 3. Click the New Request link available on the left hand side of the page below the

SupportCenter Plus logo. [OR] Click the New Request button in the request list view page. This opens the Add New Request form.

4. From the New Request form, specify the Request Details by selecting the Mode of request submission, Level and Priority of the request from the combo box.

5. Select the Status of the request. By default Status of the request would be Open. 6. Specify the Owner Details by providing the owner for the request. Select the Group to which

the request belongs. 7. On selecting the Group, Support Rep associated with the Group alone will get listed in the

Support Rep drop down list. Select the Support Rep for the request from the combo box 8. Specify the Contact Details of the requester by selecting the Name, Product, Account/Sub

Account, Email, Phone and Mobile of the requester. 1. To select the Contact Name click the requester lookup button ( ). The Contact

List window pops up as shown below,

From the above list of contacts, click the hyper-linked contact Name to choose the contact. If the contact list is huge, then you can choose to view only a select group of contacts by clicking the alphabets at the top, or by entering a search string and clicking Go. Now choose the contact name. The name of the contact is displayed in the Name field in the Contact Details block. If there are any other details associated with the contact, such as Contact Number, Product, and Account Name, then the relevant details will be populated in the respective fields.


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2. On selecting the Contact name from the combo box, if the Contact number and Account Name is available then these values gets populated automatically.

3. Select the Product to be associated with the request from the combo box. 10. Classify the request Category by selecting the Category, Sub-Category and Item from the

combo box. 11. All the Additional fields for the request (if available) gets displayed under this Category

details block before the Subject field. Apart from the available fields in the new request form, you can define your own organization-specific additional fields that need appear in the New Request form.

To add additional fieds, Click the Admin tab in the header pane ---> click the Helpdesk Customizer icon ---> Click the Request Additional Fields option. Specify the additional fields to be added in the new request form. Also depending on the fields, enter the required values for the fields. To know more about how to add user-defined fields in the new request form, refer to the Configuring Additional Fields section in the request form under the Helpdesk configurations.

11. Specify the Subject of the request in the given text field. This is a mandatory field. 12. Provide a brief description about the request in the Description field. 13. If you would like to attach Attachments to the Request then click Attach a file button beside

the Attachments field. This opens an Add/Remove Attachment pop-up window as shown below,

1. Click the Browse button and select the file to be attached from the file chooser

window and click the Open button. 2. Click the Attach button. The selected file will be listed below the Attached Files

heading. If you have more files to choose, follow steps 2 and 3 repeatedly till you have attached all the relevant files. Please ensure that the total size of the attachments does not exceed 5 MB.

3. Click Done. The selected files are attached to the request. Once you have done all the above, click Add request button. The request gets added to the list of requests and can be viewed from the request list view which can be invoked by clicking the Request tab in the header pane.


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Different modes of Creating a New Request There are different modes of placing a request to the support desk team, such as web-based form, e-mail notification and phone call. SupportCenter Plus provides options to log details of a request originating in any of the above-mentioned forms.

Modes of Creating a Request

You can create a new request in one of the following methods: 1. E-mail the request to the help desk team. This e-mail will be automatically converted to a new

request in the SupportCenter Plus application. 2. Call up the help desk agent and report an issue or explain the nature of your request. The

help desk agent will manually feed in the details into the application through the web-based New Request form available in the Request module.

3. To create a request using web-based form, log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your own user name and password and click the Request tab ---> click the New Request button and fill in the details in the New Request form and send the request.

Using web-based form you also have other options to create a request such as, Quick Create and Apply Template.

Quick Create

You can create a request quickly using the Quick Create - New Request form. This form is available on the left hand side of the SupportCenter Plus home page and in the requests list page. Enter the Contact Name, Email ID, Phone, Mobile, Request Title, and Description of the request. And select the Account details from the combo box and click Save. You select the contact name by clicking the user look up button beside the name field. If you feel you want to add more details before submitting, then you can do so by clicking the Add more Details link beside the Save button.


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The Quick Create - New Request form comes in handy when help desk agent is loaded with work. He/she just has to enter the contact name, request title, and description. The other details can be filled in by the support rep who handles the request.

Apply Template

You can also quickly create a request using the request templates. Select any one the template relevant to the request by clicking the New Request link on the top left hand side of the page. On selecting the template a request form with pre-filled values will be displayed, you have to just specify the Name in the form and click Add Request button to create a request. If the required request template is not listed in the combo box, then create a new request. Also you can create a new request template using Request Template option in the admin tab. There can be other modes of requests also by which requests can get created. For more information on how to add additional modes, refer to Configuring Mode section.


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Viewing Request Details To view a request available in the SupportCenter Plus Request module

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Request tab in the header pane. This opens the Request details page with all open

requests by default. 3. Click on the Title of the request to be viewed. This opens the View Request page that

contains tabs: Request, Resolution, and History. In the request tab, the data is grouped in a logical manner. By default Request details page displays Request Details, Contact Details, Contract Details & Time Spent Details of the request. The Request ID is displayed on the top left corner of the page below the tabs. The Status and Priority of the request is displayed on the top right corner of the page. Note:You also have other blocks displayed in this page such as Conversations, Discussion Notes & Time Spent blocks. These blocks gets displayed on adding the same to the request.

Viewing Request Details

The Request Details block displays the Status, Group, Category, Sub Category, Item, Support Rep, Priority, Mode, Level, Created Date, Due Date, Product, Created By and additional fields (if available). You have inline edit option to edit all the request details under this block. To edit the details click the link available for each of the request details against each field. Say for ex. If you wish to change the Support Rep Jeniffer Doe to John Abraham for Request ID 14 then click the name of the Support Rep and select the name from the list.

Viewing Contact Details

The Contact Details block displays the requester details such as the Contact Name, Contact Number, Account, Sub account, Email Address & Mobile Number of the requester. You also have inline edit option to edit all the requester details under this block. To edit the details click the link available for each of the requester details against each field.

Viewing Contract Details

The Contract details block displays the contract associated with the Account will be listed under this block. You have Contract Covered, Support Type, Support Plan and Cost Per Incident details listed under this block.

Discussion Notes

Once you add a note to the request the Discussion notes gets displayed in descending order of their date of creation just below the Contract Details block. If you select the option "Show this notes to requester" then the note will be displayed as Public. Else will be listed as private. You also have an option to edit or delete the discussion notes.

Viewing Conversations

Conversations block on the top of the page displays all the mail transactions, threads that have been exchanged between the support rep and the contact related to the request. Click the View Contact Conversations link to view the history of all the conversations. Conversations that are listed in the ascending order of the time.


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Time Spent Details

Finally, you can enter the time spent details for the request. 1. Click Add Time Entry button. This opens the Add Time Entry page. The Subject and

Contract details will be displayed at the top of the page. 2. Select the support rep name whoever is handling the request from the Support Rep combo

box. 3. Select the Time Entry Type from the combo box. Ex: If the support rep has provided

necessary information to the requester but he has not completely resolved the request. In this case the support rep can specify the Time Entry Type as Consulting.

4. Select the date and time when the work log is filled from the Executed Time calender button. 5. Specify the total Time Taken in Hours and Minutes. 6. Specify the Additional Cost in $ if any in the given text field. 7. Specify the Total Cost in $ in the given text field. 8. Specify the Description about the time spent details in the given text box. 9. Click Save.

Viewing Resolution

To view the resolution for the request in the view request page, 1. Click the Resolution tab. This opens the Resolution page. 2. If there are no resolution for the request then you get a blank page. To search for resolutions

from the solutions database, click Search Solutions link. 3. The resolution is a documented information on how the issue was resolved. This documented

information will be very useful to resolve the issue as well as for future reference. Resolution added to the knowledge base as an article can be searched by contacts for resolving the issues.

Viewing History

To view the request history from the time of its creation, click the History tab in the view request page. The details that are displayed in the history are in the ascending order with the earliest performed action shown at the top of the page and the latest action at the bottom of the page. From here you can check the notification history, that captures all the mails/SMS that have been sent for that request apart from the conversation history that is tracked in the Request Tab. To view this you need to click the Notification History link.


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Editing a Request 1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Request tab in the header pane. This opens the Requests list view page with all the

open requests by default.

3. Click the Title of the request to be edited [OR] click the Edit icon beside the request title. This opens the request form in the editable format.

4. Modify the details and Update the changes.

To edit more than one Requests,

More than one requests raised for a similar issue can be grouped together and edited simultaneously. 1. From the request list view page, select all the requests to be edited by enabling the check

box. 2. Click Edit Request button in the request list view page. This opens the Edit Requests page.

The title displays the requests number that are grouped together to edit. Edit the Request, Owner & Category details of the requests.

3. Specify the Reason for Updating the request in the given text field. 4. Click Update button to save the changes.

This comes very useful when there are group of requests of same issue wherein the technician can select all the requests and edit the details in a single shot without editing each request one by one.


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Deleting Requests You can delete individual requests as well as group of requests in SupportCenter Plus. To delete individual requests

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Request tab in the header pane. This opens the Request list view page. 3. Click the Title of the requests to be deleted. This opens the View Request page. 4. Click the Actions menu on the right hand side of the page and select the Delete option. 5. A dialog box window pops up asking your confirmation on the delete operation. 6. Click OK to proceed deleting. Click Cancel to abort deletion.

To delete more than one request at a time 1. In the request list view page, select the requests to be deleted from the list by enabling the

check box. 2. Click the Delete button. A dialog box pops up asking your confirmation on the delete process. 3. Click OK to proceed. Click Cancel to abort deletion.


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Picking up Requests You can self-pick up all the unassigned requests by yourself and assign the requests in your name. This self pick-up option helps to increase the efficiency and turn around time of the support desk team. The waiting time of the request is reduced as they are assigned and answered sooner by the support reps. To pick up requests,

1. Log in to SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Requests tab in the header pane. This opens the request list view page with all the

opens requests by default. The unassigned requests will be in bold font. 3. Select the requests you would like to pick up by enabling the check box. Click Pick Up button.

The selected request will be assigned to you. (OR)

You can also pick up requests after viewing the request details. 4. Click the title of the request to open the View Request page. 5. Click Assign menu. Select the Pick Up option to pick up the request.


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Closing Requests When a request is completely attended and the reported problem by the contact has been solved, then the request can be closed by the support rep. To close a request,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Request tab in the header pane. This opens the request list view page. 3. Click the Title of the request to be closed. This opens the View Request page. 4. Click the Close menu and select the Close link to close the request. Once you close the

request a success message will be displayed on the top of the page. Also If you have enabled the notification rules then, on closing the request a notification mail will be sent to the requester.

Alternatively you can also change the status field to Closed while the request is in editable mode. You can reopen a request from the closed state. To do this, open the closed request in editable mode and change the status field from Closed to Open. The completed date will be removed once the request is reopened. When this request is finally closed, the completed date is updated and the Time taken to close is recalculated taking the reopened period into account.

Close without Notification

You also have an option to close the request without sending a notification to the contact even though the notification rule is enabled. Example: If a request is closed and a notification is sent to the contact, and if the contact has auto reply system then a reply mail will be generated and sent to the SupportCenter Plus. This reply mail in turn will open the closed request automatically. Once again if you close the request the same process will continue. So to sop this chain process, you can choose to close a request without sending a notification to contact. On Selecting this option under the Close menu on the right hand side of the View Request page will overrule even if the notification rule is set in the application.

To close more than one request at a time

1. From the Request list view page, select the requests to be closed by enabling the check box. 2. Now click the Close button. All the selected requests gets closed.

To view the closed requests

1. From the Request list view page, select Completed Requests from the Filter drop-down menu. This will list all the closed requests.

2. Click the title of the request to view the request details. Click My Completed Requests to view the requests assigned to you and closed by you.


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Merging a Request Two or more similar requests can be merged together as one and assign it to a single support rep for the request. To merge requests,

1. Login to the SupportCenter Plus application with the user name and password. 2. Click the Title of the request to be merged. This opens the View Request page. 3. Click the Actions tab on the right hand side of the page. Select Merge Requests link. This

opens Merge this Request page as shown below,

4. You can search for specific request by providing a search string in the field provided above.

You can also select the request type from the Show combo box. 5. To confirm if the request to be merged is the correct one, you can view the request by clicking

the subject of the request.

6. Click the Merge Request icon to merge two requests. 7. A confirmation dialog box opens asking your confirmation on the merge request operation.

Click OK to proceed.

Splitting Merged Requests

You also have an option to split the merged requests. To split the request, 1. Click the View All Conversation link from the View Request page,

2. Click the Expand All radio button beside the request. 3. Click the Split as New Request button on the right hand side of the request block. You can

see the merged request split in to two.

Merging Bulk Requests

To merge more than one requests, 1. From the Request list view page, select the list of requests to be merged by enabling the

check box.

2. Click the Merge button from the list view page.


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Assigning/Unassigning Support Rep to a Request

• Assigning Support Rep

• Unassigning Support Rep

Assigning Support Rep

Each request will be owned by a support rep, who would be responsible for handling the request until it is closed. To assign a support rep,


2. Click the Request tab in the header pane. This opens the Requests list view page.

3. Click the Title of the request to be assigned a support rep. This opens the view request page.

4. Click the Assign link on the top right hand side of the page. Click Assign option from the list. This opens Assign Group and Support Rep page as shown below,

5. Select the Group of the request from the combo box.

6. Select the Support Rep under the selected Group to assign the request .

7. Click Assign button to assign the request. If you do not wish to assign the request to the support rep/group then click Cancel button to close the page.

Bulk Assign Request

You can also assign more than one request at a time to the support rep. To bulk assign requests to support rep,

1. From the Requests list view page, select the requests to be assigned to a support rep by enabling the check box.

2. Click the Assign to combo box on the top right hand side of the page below the navigator button as shown below,


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3. Select the Support Rep name from the list and click Assign button to assign the request to

the Support Rep.

Unassigning Support Rep

You can unassign a request from the support rep and move it back to unassigned status. To unassign a support rep,

1. From the request list view page, click the Title of the request to be unassigned a support rep. This opens the View Request page.

2. Click the Assign link on the top right of the page and select the Assign option. This opens Assign Group and Support Rep pop-up page.

3. Click the Choose Support Rep combo box and select NONE and click Assign button. The request will be unassigned. Click Cancel to cancel the operation.


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Start/Stop Request Timer If a support rep is unable to close a request, then it could be for many reasons such as, lack of necessary information or input or it could be that the support rep is unable to identify the problem or lack of resource and so on. In such cases the support rep can move the request to on hold status. If the request is not moved to on-hold status, then the request will remain in open state idly which will lead to the violation of SLA that governs the request. Also, the time taken to close the request will be high and will reflect on the efficiency of the support reps (s) handling the request. To avoid SLA overrule you should move the request to an open state or to an on-hold state till the time you are ready to resume work on the same.

Stop Timer

To stop the request timer


2. Click the Request tab in the header pane. This opens the request list view page.

3. Click the Title of the request to be stopped or to be started. This opens the view request page.

4. Click the Stop Timer link under the Actions block. This opens the stop timer as shown below,

5. Enter the relevant reason for stopping the timer in the given text field.

6. Click Add.

The reason gets appended to the request history.

Start Timer

To restart the request timer

1. From the request details page, click Start Timer link under the Actions block. This opens the start timer form as shown below,


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2. Enter the relevant reason to stop the timer in the given text field. 3. Click Add.

The reason gets appended to the request history.

Note: You cannot stop and start timer for requests that are overdue and have Due By Time.


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Adding Notes When you would like to add some additional information including technical information to a particular request based on your observations, you can use Add Notes option. You can also use notes to update the status of the request. To add a note to the request,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Request tab in the header pane. This opens the Request list view page with All

Open requests by default. Select the request type from the Filter Showing combo box. 3. Click the Title of the request to which you would like to add a note. This opens the View

Request page. 4. Click the Add Notes option under the Actions menu. This opens the Add Note pop-up

window as shown below,

5. Enter the content in the text box below the Request ID. 6. There are two types of notes that can be added to the request such as, public & private.

• Public Notes: Public notes can be viewed by the Contact & Supervisors.

• Private Notes:Private notes can be viewed only by the Supervisors (all the supervisors).

These notes can be added to the request by both the supervisor and the requester. By default the requester can add only public notes. By default the supervisor can add only a private note but the supervisor also has an option to make his notes public.

7. If you want the notes to be visible to the requesters (public), then select the Show this notes to Contact also check box. Else only the supervisors will be able to view the notes (private).

8. If you want to notify the support rep about the addition of the note, then select the check box, E-mail the supervisor for notes addition.

9. Click the Add Note button. The note is added at the bottom of the request along with a date and time stamp. The name of the person who added the note is also displayed.

You can add any number of notes to a request. The added notes will be displayed in the descending order with recently added note first. You cannot edit or delete the notes that have been added.


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Adding Tasks Using add tasks option you can assign different tasks to different support reps. Say if a request sent by the contact involves multiple support reps work then the support rep whoever received the request can assign different tasks to the different support rep. To add a follow-up task for a request,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Request tab in the header pane. This opens the request details page. 3. Click the Title of the request to which you would like to add a follow-up task. 4. Click Add task link under the Actions menu. This opens the Tasks page as shown

below,

5. Specify the Title of the task in the given text field. This is a mandatory field. 6. Specify relevant information about the tasks in the Description field 7. Select the Scheduled Start Time for the task based on the SLA from the calendar button.

Also select the Scheduled End Time for the task from the calendar button. 8. You can also select the Actual Start Time and End Time of the task. The actual start time

will be the time limit for the support rep to start the work. After which the support rep would over rule the SLA.

9. Select the Owner of the task from the combo box. 10. Specify the Status of the task. 11. Specify any relevant comment about the task in the Comments field. 12. If you wish to be reminded of the task prior to the due date, then select the time duration from

the Remind me before combo box. 13. Save the values. You can see a Tasks tab getting created next to the Resolution tab. All the

tasks created for the request will be listed under the tasks tab in descending order. If the owner of the request and the logged in user is the same then the created task will be displayed under the My Tasks block in the home page. The tasks assigned to other support rep can be viewed only by clicking the Show All button in the My block.


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To View Tasks from Request details page,

1. Click View tasks link under the Actions menu. This opens the View Tasks page as shown below,

You can Edit, Delete and Add New Task from the View Tasks page. To Edit task, Click the Title of the task. This will open the task in editable format. Modify the details and Save the changes. To Delete task, Select the task to be deleted by enabling the check box. Click the Delete button. The selected task will be deleted. Add New Task Click the New Task button and specify the details to add new task.


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Adding Reminders You can add reminders to the request using Add Reminders option. All the pending tasks specific to the request can be added as reminders. The supervisor can add these tasks list as a personal reminder to himself/her. On adding these reminders they get displayed in the My Reminders page. To add reminders,

1. Login to the SupportCenter Plus application with the user name and password. 2. Click the Title of the request to add reminder. This opens the View Request page. 3. Click the Actions tab on the right hand side of the page. Select Add Reminder link. This

opens Reminders page. 4. Specify the content in the given text field. 5. Select the Date on clicking the calendar button to remind you of the task. 6. Select the Time of reminder from the combo box. 7. To remind you of the task before hand, select the time from the Remind me before combo

box.

8. Click the Add button to add reminder. You can see the reminder getting listed in the My

Reminders page.

9. To view the reminder, click reminder icon on the top right hand side of the page as shown below,


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Duplicate Request If a single request has multiple issues, then to solve the issue it requires more than single support rep. In such cases the request can be duplicated and each of the duplicated requests can be assigned to different support rep dealing with one issue. This makes it easier for the support rep to take ownership and complete the tasks independently. To duplicate request,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Request tab in the header pane. This opens Request list view. 3. Click the Title of the request to be duplicated. This opens view request page. 4. Select the Copy Request link under the Actions menu. This will open the Copy Request

page as shown below,

5. Enter the Number of Copies in the given text field. The maximum value you can enter is 9. If

you need more than 9 copies of the request, then you need to invoke Copy Request again. 6. Click Copy button to make the copies of the request. The new copies of the request will be

assigned new request ID that will uniquely identify them. The rest of the information is retained as it is.

Once you have created the copies of the request, you can edit the same to contain only the necessary information and assign appropriate support reps. You can modify the request copies by editing the copy of the request. While copying the request, the Notes added to the original request (if any) will not be present in the duplicated requests. Also, the Created Date and Due by Date will be different from that of the original request.


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Print Preview To print a request,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Request tab in the header pane. 3. Click the Title of the request to be printed. This opens the request details page. 4. Click the Actions menu --> click the Print Preview option on the right side of the page. This

opens the request in printable format. The page displays request details, resolution and request history of the request.

5. Click ctrl + p to print the request.


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Adding Resolution You can add resolutions for the issues reported in the requests. To add resolution,

1. Log in to SupportCenter Plus using your user name and password. 2. Click the Requests tab in the header pane. This opens the request list view page. 3. Click the Title of the request to which you would like to add resolution. 4. Click Enter Resolution option from the Actions menu. This opens the Resolution page as

shown below,

5. Check if resolution already exists for the request, if not specify the resolution in the text field. 6. You can also add Time Spent entry details for the request by enabling Add Work Log check

box. This opens the work log page as shown below,

.


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7. Specify the Support Rep name, Task Type, Executed Time, Time taken to Resolve, Additional Cost, Total Cost and Description about the work log in the given text fields.

8. Save the resolution. You can see the resolution getting displayed in this page. OR you can also Save and Close the resolution.

9. If you wish to add the resolution to the solutions database, then click Save and Add to Solutions.

1. On selecting Save and Add to Solutions, you get a New Solution form. The title of the solution is automatically filled with the title of the request. The Contents is filled with the resolution. If you wish you can edit the contents.

2. From the Topic drop-down list which contains all the available topics, select the relevant parent topic for the solution. This is a mandatory field.

3. Enter relevant keywords for the solution in the Keywords text box. Separate each keyword by a comma. This option is provided for the users to improve the search capability and get appropriate solution for the problem.

4. If you wish to publish this solution in Kbase of Self-Service Portal then select the corresponding check box.

These added resolutions can be used for various purposes. One of them is to add these resolutions as knowledge base articles which can be used for future reference to solve the same issue if reported. The resolution of the request also helps other support reps to know the kind of solution provided to the reported issue. This serves as a documented proof of the way a reported issues were resolved.

Edit Resolution

1. From the request details page, click the Resolution tab. 2. Click Edit link on the right hand side of the page. This opens the resolution page in editable

format. 3. Modify the details and Save the changes.


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Searching Solutions From the request, you can search for solutions that might help you solve the issue described in the request. To search for solutions,

1. Log in to SupportCenter Plus using your user name and password. 2. Click the Requests tab in the header pane. This opens the request list view page. 3. Click the request Title for which you need to look out for solution. This opens the request

details page. 4. Click the Search Solutions option under the Actions tab. This opens the search solutions

page with a Search text box as shown below. Provide a search string in the Search text field and click Search or press Enter. The solutions that match the search string will be displayed.


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Submit For Approval If a request needs formal approval from the manager you can submit the request for approval using this option. To submit the request for approval,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Request tab in the header pane. This opens the Request details page. 3. Click the Title of the request to send for approval. This opens View Request page. 4. Click the Submit For Approval option under the Actions tab. This opens the Submit For

Approval page. 5. Specify the To address. This is a mandatory field. 6. Edit the Subject and specify relevant subject in the given field. This is a mandatory field. 7. Specify the relevant Description in the given text field. $ApprovalLink is a variable. It should

be available with the mail to replace the variable with the link where you have the request details.

8. And send the mail for approval.

On sending the mail, the manager will get a Request for approval mail with a link. On clicking the link it opens a form with approve or reject option along with the request details as shown below. The manager has to Approve or Reject the request based on the requirement. And save the details. On saving the decision you get a thank you message.


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Then you can see the Approvals tab getting displayed in the View Request page next to History tab. It displays all the mails sent for approval in descending order with Sent On, Sent To & Status details of the requests.

Once the request is approved by the manager the status of the request changes to Approved. If rejected by the manager the status of the request changes to Denied as shown below,


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Viewing Contact Details To get in touch with the contact while handling the request, you can use the contact details of the request available in SupportCenter Plus.

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Request tab in the header pane. This opens the request list view page. 3. Click the Title of a request in which you want to view the contact details. This opens the View

Request page. 4. Click the View Contact Details option under the Actions tab. This opens the Contact Details


I


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View Requests by Contacts If you would like to view all the requests raised by a particular requester then,

1. From the request list view page. Click the title of the request raised the same requester. 2. Click the View Requests by Contact option under the Actions tab. This opens All Requests

by Contact page as sown below,


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Replying the Contact Sending a response to the contact is required when a new request is received. Also, when a support rep is ready to close a request, the same can be notified to the contact so that if the contact has any concerns about the same, he/she can raise the issue. The support rep can then address the issue and close the request after the contact is completely satisfied. To respond to the contact,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Request tab in the header pane. This opens the request list view page. 3. Click the Title of the request to be replied. This opens the view request page. 4. Click the Reply option under the Reply menu. This opens the Mail to the Contact form as

shown below,

5. If you have provided the email ID of the person while creating a request then the email ID

gets populated automatically in the To field. To send the same information to more than one person, then enter the e-mail IDs of those people in the CC field with comma as a separator.

6. Edit the Subject and Description of the e-mail. 7. Click Attach a File button to add files as attachments to the mail. 8. Click Send. You also have an option to Save the request as draft and Save and Send the

request for review.


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Saved in email as draft will be can be viewed and edited from the same View Request page on top. The responses that have been sent to the contact can be viewed as conversations in the request details view. By default, the email editor will be in HTML format. If you do not want the mail in HTML format, then select the radio button Plain Text. A confirmation dialog will open. Click OK to continue changing the editor to plain text.

Warning: While editing the subject of the e-mail, ensure that the request ID value remains intact with the # symbols beside it. Else, the threading of requests may not be proper.


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Forward the Request To forward a request,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Request tab in the header pane. This opens the Request list view page. 3. Click the Title of the request to be forwarded. This opens the Request Details page. 4. Click Forward the Request option under the Reply menu. This opens the Forward Request


5. If you have provided the email ID of the person while creating a request then the email ID

gets populated automatically in the To field. To send the same information to more than one person, then enter the e-mail IDs of those people in the CC field with comma as a separator.


request for review. Saved in email as draft will be can be viewed and edited from the top of the same view request page.


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The forwarded message details can be viewed in conversations of the request. By default, the email editor will be in HTML format. If you do not want the mail in HTML format, then select the radio button Plain Text. A confirmation dialog will open. Click OK to continue changing the editor to plain text.



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E-mail the Support Rep A support rep can be notified when a new request is assigned or an already existing request is reassigned to him/her using this option. To e-mail a support rep,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Request tab in the header pane. This opens the Request list view page. 3. Click the Title of the request to be forwarded. This opens the Request Details page. 4. Click Email the Support Rep option under the Reply menu. This opens the Mail to Support

Rep page as shown below,

5. If you have provided the email ID of the person while creating a request then the email ID gets populated automatically in the To field. To send the same information to more than one person, then enter the e-mail IDs of those people in the CC field with comma as a separator.


request for review. Saved in email as draft will be can be viewed and edited from the top of the same view request page. Email to the Support Rep details can be viewed under the conversations title of the request.


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By default, the email editor will be in HTML format. If you do not want the mail in HTML format, then select the radio button Plain Text. A confirmation dialog will open. Click OK to continue changing the editor to plain text.



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SMS the Support Rep You also have an option to notify support rep through SMS in ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus. To send an SMS to a support rep,

1. Log in to SupportCenter Plus using your user name and password. 2. Click the Requests tab in the header pane. This opens the request list view page. 3. Click the Title of the request which is assigned to the support rep you want to notify through

SMS. This opens the view request page. 4. Click SMS the Support Rep option under the Reply menu. This opens the Mail to Support

Rep page as shown below,

5. If you have provided the SMS ID of the person while creating a request then the SMS ID gets

populated automatically in the To field. To send the same information to more than one person, then enter the SMS IDs of those people in the CC field with comma as a separator.

6. Edit the Subject and Description of the e-mail. 7. Click Send. You also have an option to Save the request as draft and Save and Send the

request for review. Saved in SMS as draft can be can be viewed and edited from the top of the same view request page.


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By default, the email editor will be in HTML format. If you do not want the mail in HTML format, then select the radio button Plain Text. A confirmation dialog will open. Click OK to continue changing the editor to plain text. The SMS notification sent can be viewed in the Notification History. To view this

1. Click the History tab in the request details page. 2. Click the link Notification History at the top right corner of the center pane. This will open the

notification history just below the request details. 3. To get back to contact conversations, click the link Contact Conversations.


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Request Conversations SupportCenter Plus displays the mail transactions happening between the support rep handling a request and the contact, as conversations. The conversations are listed one below the other in the ascending order of the time when the notification (response) was sent (received). You can choose to Expand all or Collapse all conversations.

To view all the conversation details, click the Expand all link in the top right corner of this block. If the conversations / threads are in the expanded view, then the Expand all link is replaced with the Collapse all link. Clicking this will collapse all the conversations.

Making Conversation Private/Public

Conversation can be made either private or public. By default, the conversation can be viewed by all (public conversation). If a conversation is restricted only to the support reps then it can be made private. For ex. conversation between two support reps. To make public conversations private,

1. Click the icon on the right hand side of the View All Conversations block. 2. Select Make as Private option. A pop up window appears stating that the status of the

conversation has been changed successfully. Click Ok to make the change. To make private conversation public,

1. Click the icon on the right hand side of the View All Conversations block. 2. Select Make as Public option. A pop up window appears stating that the status of the

conversation has been changed successfully. Click Ok to make the change.

Split As New Request

You can choose to split any of the conversations into a new request. To split the conversation as a new request

1. Expand the conversations by clicking on the Expand all link or by clicking the > button on the left of the row which you wish to expand.

2. Click Split as New request button at the right bottom of that conversation. This splits the conversation into a new request.

Delete Conversation

You can delete a specific conversation. To delete a conversation 1. Expand the conversations by clicking on the Expand all link or by clicking the > button on the

left of the row which you wish to expand. 2. Click Delete button at the right bottom of that conversation. A confirmation pop-up opens. 3. Click OK in the confirmation pop-up to delete the thread/conversation.


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Viewing Requests Based on Filters In SupportCenter Plus you can view request based on filters. You can the set following filters to view specific group of requests,

• My Open or Unassigned Requests

• Unassigned Requests

• My Open Requests

• My Requests On Hold

• My Overdue Requests

• My Pending Requests

• My Requests Due Today

• My Completed Requests

• Open Requests

• Requests On Hold

• Overdue Requests

• Requests Due Today

• Pending Requests

• Completed Requests

• All Requests In addition to this if you have any requests placed in group, then you will also have option to filter the requests based on a specific group.

My Open or Unassigned Requests

All your open requests & the requests that are not assigned to any support rep will be listed under this option. These requests will be in bold font.

Unassigned Requests

All the requests that have not been assigned to any support rep will be listed under this option.

My Open Requests

When you click the requests tab, My Open Requests filter will be selected by default and lists all the request that are assigned to you in the open status. In addition to this if you have any requests placed in Groups, then you will also have option to filter the requests based on a specific Group alone.

My Requests On Hold

All your assigned requests that are kept on hold will be listed under this option.

My Overdue Requests

All your assigned requests that has passed over the scheduled time will be listed under this option.


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My Pending Requests

All your assigned unfinished requests will be listed under this option.

My Requests Due Today

All your assigned requests that are due for the current day will be listed under this option.

My Completed Requests

All your assigned requests that are closed will be listed under this option.

Open Requests

All the open requests, irrelevant of the support rep will be listed under this option.

Requests On Hold

All the requests that are kept on hold, irrelevant of the support rep will be listed under this option.

Overdue Requests

All the requests that have passed due by time irrelevant of the support rep will be listed under this option.

Requests Due Today

All the requests that are due for the day irrelevant of the support rep will be listed under this option.

Pending Requests

All the unfinished requests irrelevant of the support rep will be listed under this option.

Completed Requests

All the closed requests irrelevant of the support rep will be listed under this option.

All Requests

All requests on all status say (closed, pending, open) will be listed under this option.


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Solutions The ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus application provides a facility to record the solutions to the received requests. The recorded solutions function as a knowledge base of solutions. Thus, when you receive a request, refer to the recorded solutions and solve it. This reduces the turnaround time in attending to the requests generated by the contacts and closing the same. All contacts and support reps who have permissions to view the solutions knowledge base can access this section of the application. The SupportCenter Plus administrator can assign access privileges to the various support reps for the solutions section. This access privilege can vary from just view only privilege to full control privilege. For setting the access privileges to support reps, refer to the Configuring Support Reps and Configuring Roles sections. You can access the solutions even without logging in to the application, but will be able to view only those solutions that are published in the Self Service Portal. To access the knowledge base directly without having to login to the application, type the URL provided below in the address bar of the browser: http://<server name>:<port number>/sd/SolutionsHome.sd where, the <server name> is the name of the server where SupportCenter Plus is installed and <port number> is the port where the application is running.


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Adding a New Solution The solutions module is a knowledge base with resolutions for various problems encountered by your help desk team. It can have solutions grouped under various topics for ease of locating the corresponding solution. You can add new solutions to the existing knowledge base. To add new solutions,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Solutions tab in the header pane. This opens the solutions page. 3. Click the New Solution button. This opens the New Solution page. [OR]

Click the Create link on the top left hand side of the page . Select the New Solution option from the list.

4. Specify the Title of the solution you are going to add. This can be a summary of the complete solution in one line that will exactly tell what the solution is all about.

5. Now specify the complete solution in the Contents text field. If this solution requires any additional files to support the article, then you can attach the same.

6. To attach a file click Attach a File button and the attach the documents. 7. The Topic field will list all the available topics and sub-topics in SupportCenter Plus. Select

the topic to be added from the combo box. 8. The keywords are optional, but the presence of a keyword for the solution will help in

improving the search capability and will provide accurate search results. While entering multiple keywords, separate them with comma.

9. To publish the solution in the self-service portal, select the check box Publish this solution in Self-Service Portal also.

10. Click Add. If you do not wish to add the solution then click Cancel.


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Editing & Deleting a Solution

To edit a solution

1. Login to SupportCenter Plus with your user name and password. 2. Click the Solutions tab in the header pane. This opens the solution page. The solutions

home page has the Browsing - All Topics listed in the top band, Most Popular solution and Most Recent solution below it. The most popular solution block lists the solutions with the most number of views on top of the list (descending order). The most recent solution block lists the solutions that have been added recently with the most recent appearing on the top.

3. Under the Browsing - All Topics, click the topic to be edited. This opens the solutions details page. All the solutions available under that topic will be listed.

4. Click the Edit link on the right hand side of the page. This opens the solutions page in editable format.

5. Edit the details and Save the changes. Click Cancel to cancel the changes. Alternatively, to open the solution that you wish to edit, type the solution title in the keyword field of the search block and click Go or press the Enter key. The solutions matching the search string will be listed, from which you can choose the solution and edit the same.

To delete a solution,

1. From the solutions home page. Under the Browsing - All Topics, click the topic to be deleted. All the solutions available under that topic are listed. Alternatively, you can also search for the solution using the search in solutions feature.

2. Click the Delete link available on the right hand side of the page. A dialog box pops up asking your confirmation on the delete process.

3. Click OK to proceed or else click Cancel.


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Search in Solutions ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus allows you to search for solutions using its Search option. To search solutions,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Solutions tab in the header pane. This opens the Solutions page. 3. Type the search string or keyword in the Search text field. 4. Click Search button. The search results display all the solutions that match the search string.

Alternatively, 1. You can search solutions using the search option available on the left hand side of the page.

If you were in the solutions page, then the Search in combo box will have Solutions topic selected by default. It is just enough if you type in your search string and click Go.


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Browsing Solutions by Topic To browse solutions under individual topics

1. Log in to SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password.

2. Click the Solutions tab in the header pane.

3. The Solutions home page is displayed, where you can see the various topics and their subtopics. Only the first level subtopics are displayed separated by comma. If the number of subtopics are more, then they are truncated with ... symbol.

4. To view all the subtopics, click the topic name and browse.

Alternatively, you can view the solutions by selecting a topic from the combo box available on the top right corner of the Browsing - All Topics block. All the solutions available in that topic are listed in the resulting page.


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Topics Template You can group solution topics together to form a topic template and assign it to an account. For ex. the solution topics warranty and replacement queries can be grouped under one topic template say, Warranty. The account can only view the topics in the template to which it is assigned. This template can also be used for other account but an account cannot have multiple templates. To assign topics template to an account refer Assign Templates under Accounts module..

Adding Topics Template

1. Login to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Solutions tab -->Topics Template button next to Manage topics option. The list of

available templates is displayed. 3. Click Add New Template button on the right hand side of the page. This opens the Add Topic

Template page. 4. Specify the Template Name and brief description about the template in the respective text

fields. 5. Choose the Topics to be grouped under the template. For ex. Support Queries, General and

so on. This is mandatory. 6. On clicking Save, the newly added Template gets listed in list of available templates.

Editing Topics Template

1. From the available templates page, click on the edit icon of the template which you want to edit. This opens the Edit Topics Template page.

2. Save the changes.

Deleting Topics Template

1. From the available templates page, click the delete icon of the template which you want to delete . A pop-up window confirming the delete action appears.

2. Click ok to confirm the delete operation. The template gets deleted from the list of available templates .


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Managing Topics You can add new topics, rename an existing topic, and move topics and subtopics to a different parent topic. This provides you the ability to organize your solutions in a logical manner that would meet your organization's needs. To manage topics

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Solutions tab in the header pane. This opens the Solutions home page. 3. Click the Manage Topics button available in the Solutions home page. This opens the

manage topics page with the available topics and their subtopics listed in the hierarchy.

To Add a New Topic 1. In the Manage Topics page, click the Add New Topic link on the right hand side of the page.

This displays the available parent topics list. 2. You have two columns such as, Topic Name field and Parent topic list.

Topic Name: You can specify the sub topic name in the text field. The sub topic will be added under the parent topic (root).[OR] You can also add this topic as parent topic (root) to the list by selecting /Topics Root option. Parent Topics: This is the main or root topics, under which you can have 'n' number of subtopics and its related contents. The newly added sub topic will be added to the selected parent topic.

3. Specify the sub Topic Name in the given text field. 4. Select the Parent Topic name from the list, the newly added sub topic will be added under

the parent topic. OR If you wish to the add the newly added topic as Parent Topic (Root Topic) then select the /Topics Root option from the list.

5. Click Add button. The newly added subtopic or parent topic you choose will be displayed under the available topic name list shown below. A message is displayed stating that the new topic is added successfully.

To Rename a Topic 1. In the Manage Topics page, click the Rename link on the right hand side of the page. This

opens the Rename Topic page. 2. Modify the existing name or specify the new topic name in given text field. 3. Click Save button to save the details.

The changes made to the topic name are displayed in the available topics list and a message is displayed above the list.

To Change a Parent topic 1. Click Change Parent link on the right side in the row of the topic you wish to move. This

opens the Change Parent Topic form. 2. Select the parent topic to be moved from the list. Changing the parent topic of a topic will

move all subtopics and solutions contained in it to the new parent topic. 3. Click Save. If you do not want to move the topic to a different parent topic, then click Cancel.


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Note: You cannot move a topic as a subtopic to its current child topic.

To Delete a Topic 1. In the Manage Topics page, click the Delete link on the right side in the row of the topic to be

deleted. A confirmation page opens. 2. Click Confirm to delete the topic or click Cancel to retain the topic. If you click Confirm, then

the topic is deleted and a message is displayed stating that the topic is deleted. When a topic is deleted, by default, the solutions present under the topic are also deleted and if there are any subtopics, then these are moved to the /Topics Root. You can later choose to move the topics as child topics to other parent topics. But if you want to override the default actions performed during the delete operation, move the subtopics of the topic which you plan to delete, under a different parent topic of your choice. Also, if you do not wish to delete the solutions that are available under the topic to be deleted, then you can move the solutions to other topics. For this, when you click the Delete link and are led to the confirmation page,

1. Select the check box below the first point. This opens the topic list box, and enables you to move the reference of the solutions of the topic to a different parent topic of your choice.

2. Select the parent topic of your choice from the list box. 3. To move the subtopics to a different parent topic, select the check box below the second point

in the confirmation page. 4. In the topic list box, select the parent topic of your choice under which the subtopics of the

current parent topic that is being deleted can be moved. 5. Click Confirm.

This deletes the topic after moving the solutions and subtopics from the deleted topic to the parent topic you selected.

Note: You cannot move a subtopic of the topic that is going to be deleted, as a subtopic to another child topic of the same parent topic which is going to be deleted.


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Contracts SupportCenter Plus gives you the provision of keeping track of the contract details of an account such as, support plan and its corresponding details, the active period of the contract, notify alert to users before the contract expire, renewal of the contract and the services provided for the account. Any related documents to the contract can also be maintained along with these details as attachments to the contract.

Associating Contracts to Product/Account

An account can have multiple products and each product can be associated with a contract. Apart from associating contracts to the products, a contract can also be associated to the account. A product/account can have different contract provided the active period is not the same. Based on this contracts, the request related to the account/product is resolved within the resolution time.

Note: 1. A single contract can be associated to a product/account for an active period. 2. The active period of two different contracts associated to a product/account should not overlap.

Request resolved based on contracts

A request sent by a customer is resolved based on contracts. If the customer has an available account in the database, then the contract for the product/account is identified. Once the contract for the account/product is identified, the request is resolved within the specified resolution time. The work flow on how the request is solved based on the contract is given below,

Identify the Customer/Product

On receiving the request from the customer,

• The customer and his company is searched in the available list of contacts in the database, that is, if the customer has an existing Account in the database, and

• If the customer's request pertains to any Product that is associated to the account.


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If the customer and his company is not available in the list of contacts in the database then the Default Support Plan is used for that particular request.

Identify the Active Contract

The contract for the request is identified, whether the contract is associated to the product or to an account.

• If the customer's account is available in the database and if the request pertains to a product then the contract associated for that product is identified.

• If the customer's account is available in the database but the request does not pertain to any product then the contract associated for the account is identified.

Support Plan and associated SLAs

The contract details of the account gives the Support Plan and its corresponding details of the Account/ Product. The support plan has associated SLAs, with certain SLA rules. Using these SLA rules the request is resolved within the resolution time.


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About Contracts 1. Click on the Contracts tab in the header pane. This brings up the Contracts view list page. By

default, the list of all Open contracts will be displayed. 2. Select the corresponding filter option from the Filter Showing combo box. You can view the

contracts with different status levels using filters. They are,

• All Open Contracts Contracts which are active and yet to get expired comes under this category.

• All Expired Contracts All the expired contracts will be listed under this category.

• Contracts expired in last 30 days Contracts which expired in the last 30 days gets listed under this category

• Contracts expiring in next 7 days Contracts, which will be expiring in next 7 days, will b listed under this category.

• Contracts expiring in next 30 days Contracts, which will be expiring in next 30 days, will be listed under this category.


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Creating a New Contract To create a new contract for an account/product,

1. Login to SupportCentre Plus application using your username and password. 2. Click the Contracts tab in the header pane. This opens the Contracts list view page. By

default, the list of all Open contracts will be displayed. 3. Click New Contracts button (OR) Click Create link on the left hand side of the page and

select New Contracts option. This opens the New Contract form page. 4. Specify the Contract Name in the given field. This is a mandatory field. 5. Specify the Contract Number in the given text field. 6. Select the Account Name from the combo box. If needed you can also add new account

name. 7. Enter a brief description about the contract in the Description text field. 8. Select the Support Plan from the combo box. On selecting the support plan, if you have

specified values for the fields Support Type, No of Hours, Cost per Hour, Total Cost and Support Services then these values get populated automatically in the corresponding fields.

9. Select the Product for which the contract is created from the combo box. On selecting the account, the products associated to the account gets populated automatically in the product field.

Note: 1. An account can have multiple products but only one contract can be created for each product. 2. If an account does not have associated products then the list does not get populated.

9. Specify the Active Period of the contract. Select the Start Date and End Date using the calender button. If the end date is not specified then the contract will be active for ever. This is a mandatory field.

10. All the available support services will be list in the column. On selecting the support plan they get populated automatically. If needed you can also Add New Service to the list.

11. To attach any file to the contract, 1. Click Attach a File button to attach files. This opens Add/Remove attachment page. 2. Click Browse button to choose a file. 3. Select the file and click Attach button to attach the files. You can see the file attached

with the file size. 4. Click Done button to close the page.

12. Select Enable Notification option by enabling the check box. On enabling the notification, you get the Available Users list & Selected Users list.

13. Select the available users and move it to selected users list using >> button to notify users regarding contract expiry.

14. Specify the days before which the user has to be notified of the contract expiry in the Notify before field.

15. You also have an option to specify the hours before which the user has to be notified of the contract expiry in the Notify before field

16. Save the details.


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Editing/Deleting Contracts

To Edit Contracts

1. From the Contracts view list page. Select the corresponding filter option from the Filter Showing combo box. By default, the list of All Open Contracts will be displayed.

2. Click on the Contract Name to be edited. This opens View Contract page. 3. Click on the Edit button. This opens Edit Contract page. 4. Edit the contract details and save the changes.

To Delete Contracts

1. From the Contracts view list page, select the corresponding filter option from the Filter Showing combo box. By default, the list of all Open Contracts will be displayed. .

2. Select the Contracts Name to be deleted by enabling the check box. 3. Click Delete button. 4. A pop up window pops up to get your confirmation on the delete operation. Click Yes to

proceed. You can see the Contracts deleted from the list.


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Renew Contract 1. Click Contracts tab to open the Contracts view list page. By default, the list of All Open

contracts will be displayed. 2. To renew the expired contracts or a contract about to expire, select the corresponding filter

option from the Filter Showing combo box. Ex. All Expired Contracts or Contracts Expiring in next 7 days.

3. Click the Contract Name you wish to renew. This opens View Contract page. 4. Click Renew button on the top right hand side of the page. This opens Edit Contract form with

the Original contract rules. The contract name is appended with the word renewed. You can edit the name but ensure that the contract name is unique and does not have the old name.

5. Specify the Contract Number in the given text field. 6. Select the Account Name from the combo box. If needed you can also add new account

name. 7. Enter a brief description about the contract in the Description text field. 8. Select the Support Plan from the combo box. On selecting the support plan, if you have

specified values for the fields Support Type, No of Hours, Cost per Hour, Total Cost and Support Services then these values get populated automatically in the corresponding fields.

9. Select the Product for which the contract is created from the combo box. On selecting the account, the products associated to the account gets populated automatically in the product field.

Note: 1. A single contract can be associated to a product/account for an active period. 2. The active period of two different contracts associated to a product/account should not overlap.

9. Specify the Active Period of the contract. Specify the Start Date and End Date using the calender button. If the end date is not specified then the contract will be active for ever. This is a mandatory field.

10. All the available support services will be list in the column. On selecting the support plan they get populated automatically. If needed you can also Add New Service to the list.

11. To attach any file to the contract, 1. Click Attach a File button to attach files. This opens Add/Remove attachment page. 2. Click Browse button to choose a file. 3. Select the file and click Attach button to attach the files. You can see the file attached

with the file size. 4. Click Done button to close the page.

12. Select Enable Notification option by enabling the check box. On enabling the notification, you get the Available Users list & Selected Users list.

13. Select the available users and move it to selected users list using >> button to notify users regarding contract expiry.

14. Specify the days before which the user has to be notified of the contract expiry in the Notify before field.

15. You also have an option to specify the hours before which the user has to be notified of the contract expiry in the Notify before field.

16. Save the details. The new contract will be created and list in the Open Contract list.


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Print Preview of Contract 1. Click Contracts tab on the header pane to open the Contracts view list page. By default, the

list of all Open contracts will be displayed. 2. Select the corresponding filter option from the Filter Showing combo box. 3. Click the Contract Name you wish to print. This opens view Contract page. 4. Click Print Preview option under the Actions tab. The contract details are displayed in a

printable format in a pop-up window. 5. Click Ctrl + p keys to print the contract details. 6. Set the required options and click OK.


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Search Contracts You can search for contracts using the column wise search option. To perform the column wise search,

1. Click the search icon at the end of the contract list view headers. This opens the search field just below every column that is visible in the list view.

2. Enter the search key in field under the column of your choice. You can enter keywords in

more than one column to perform a combined column search. 3. Click Go. The search results matching the search string(s) are displayed.


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Accounts The main objective of the customer support team would be to keep track of the various customer related information and keep it up-to-date. SupportCenter Plus allows you to add your customer accounts and their contact information. You can update the details and track them periodically. The account information gives you details on the customer's organization, purchase details, contract details, support plan and support type. This will give you details about the purchases that the company has made and the kind of support that needs to be provided for them. You can add, edit, or remove the accounts in the SupportCenter Plus application and associate the level of support to be provided to the specific organization. The type of support helps your customer support team to prioritize the requests received from various customers and respond to them based on the priority associated to the requests. You can add, edit, and delete accounts. Once you add an account, you can add, edit, and delete contact to this account. You can also associate products to this account to keep track on the products that are purchased by the customer.

Note: You will be able to add, edit, or delete accounts based on the permissions provided by the SupportCenter Plus administrator.


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Adding a New Account Account can be a company. All the account details with annual revenue, address, phone, email id and account manager details are recorded and update periodically. This gives the complete organization details of the account. To add a new account information,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your User name and Password. 2. Click the Accounts tab in the header pane. This opens Accounts list view page. 3. Click New Account button to open the New Account form.

(OR) 4. Click the Create link under the header tabs --> Select the New Account link. This opens the

New Account page. 5. Specify the Account Name in the given text field. This is a mandatory field. 6. Specify the Annual Revenue for the support service from the account in the given text field. 7. Specify the Email, Phone, Website and Fax of the account in the given text fields. 8. Select the Industry, Time Zone and Account Manager of the account from the combo box. 9. Specify the Address of the account in the given text fields. 10. Specify relevant information about the account in the Description field. 11. If you would like to attach a file with the account then click Attach a file button and attach the

document. 12. Save the details.


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Editing and Deleting Account

To Edit an Account,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application with your User name and Password. 2. Click the Accounts tab in the header pane. This opens All Accounts page in the header

pane.

3. Click edit icon of the account to be edited. This opens the account in editable format. 4. Modify the details and Update the changes.

A success message gets displayed saying account has been updated.

To Delete an Account,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application with your User name and Password. 2. Click the Accounts tab in the header pane. This opens All Accounts page in the header

pane. 3. Select the account to be deleted from the list by enabling the check box. 4. Click the Delete button. A dialog box pops-up asking your confirmation on the delete

operation. 5. Click OK to proceed. You can see the account deleted from the list. 6. Click Cancel to retain the account information.

Alternatively, 1. Click the Account Name in the All Accounts view. 2. Click the Delete Account button on the top right corner of View Account Details block. A

confirmation dialog pop-up. 3. Click OK to proceed with the deletion of the account information. Click Cancel to retain the

account information.

Warning: When you delete an account, the associated contacts will also be deleted from the database.


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Customizing Accounts List View You can create your own customized accounts list view page. The accounts will be sorted based on the filter criteria you specify while creating the custom view. These custom views will be listed under My Views in the Filter list of the request list view page. On selecting the custom views, the accounts are filtered based on the custom views which helps you to sort & view the accounts of your priority and requirement.

To create your own custom view,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Accounts tab in the header pane. This opens the All Accounts page.

3. Click Create a Custom View icon . This opens Add Custom View page as shown below,

4. Specify the View Name in the given text field. This is a mandatory field. 5. The support rep can make their views as private view or public view. By default the view will

be public but to make this view as private custom view then select Make this view as private custom view check box.

6. By default the support rep without administrator log-in permissions can create only private views, so the above shown 'Make this view as a private custom view' option will not be available for the support rep log-in.

7. Specify the filter criteria by selecting the column and its matching criteria from the combo box. And select the matching data for the column by clicking the Choose button. Also select the AND or OR conditions by enabling either of the two radio buttons (Match all of the following or Match any of the following).

8. Click Add to Filter button to save the filter criteria details. The filter criteria details will be listed in the Filter Set block.

9. If you wish to add more filter conditions to this view then, select the required column, criteria & conditions of the filter.

10. Save the filter criteria details. To add another custom view click Save and Add New button.

Custom views will be listed in the Filter showing combo box in the Accounts home page at the top below the title. On clicking the combo box the views marked as private will be listed under My View list and the public views will be listed under Accounts list.


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Manage Custom Views

You can view all your customized view using this option. You can also edit, delete and add new custom views using this option.

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Accounts tab in the header pane. This opens the Accounts list view page.

3. Click Manage Custom View icon . This opens Manage Custom View page with the list of all the created custom views.

Editing Custom Views,

1. Click the custom view title or click the edit icon. This opens Edit Custom View page. 2. Edit the details and save the changes.

Deleting Custom Views,

1. Select the custom views to be deleted by enabling the check box. The public views can be deleted only by the support reps who has SD Admin role permissions. And only they can make their view public to other support reps without SD - Admin permissions they can only create private views).

2. Click the Delete button to delete the views. A pop up window pops up to get your confirmation on the delete operation.

3. Click Yes to proceed. You can see the view deleted from the list.


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Convert as Sub-Account You have an option to convert Account in to Sub-account. You can convert any number of accounts into sub-accounts. Account can be considered as Primary and sub-account can be considered as Secondary. Example: If HP ( Hewlett Packard) in U.S is the Account, then its branches in Germany, Spain, India, Canada, Japan, Singapore can be taken as Sub-Account. To convert account to sub-account,

1. Log in to SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Accounts tab in the header pane. This opens All Accounts page. 3. Select the primary Account from the drop down list. Say HP U.S Headquarters as shown

below,

4. Select the Accounts to be converted to sub-accounts from the list view by enabling the check box.

5. Click Convert as Sub Account button. You can see all the accounts converted in to sub-accounts and listed in the Account details page as shown below,


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To convert sub-account again to account,

1. Click Convert as Account icon in the sub account list in Account details page as shown above. A dialog box pops up asking you confirmation on the change process.

2. Click OK to proceed. You can see the changed sub-account to account in the Accounts list view.


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Accounts Requests You can view all the requests raised for a account in the Account Details page. This helps you to understand the kind of requests received from the account. To view the Account requests,

1. Log in to SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Accounts tab in the header pane. This opens the Accounts list view page. 3. Click the title of the account to view the account's requests. This opens the View Account

Details page. 4. Click the Account's Requests button. This opens the account request page as shown below.

You can see list of all open request by default however if you would like to view Closed requests, pending requests, requests on hold then select the filter options from the Filter Showing combo box.

5. Click Close to close the request.


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Associate Contact Apart from specifying the contact name in the new account form, you can also add contact to the account using Associate Contact option from the view account details page. You can add 'n' number of contacts to the existing contact. To Associate Contacts,

1. Log in to SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Accounts tab in the header pane. This opens the Accounts list view page. 3. Click the account name to be associate with the contact. This opens the Account Details

page.

To Add Single Contact,

1. Under the Contacts block, to add single contact to the account, specify the contact name (if you know) in the Select a Contact text field. If the contact name is available in the list, the name with the email id gets displayed as drop down list. You can select the contact name from the list.

2. And click Add list button to add it to the existing list of contacts. [OR] 3. If you wish to add a new contact to the list then, specify the name in the text field and click

Add to the list button. The name gets displayed automatically.

To Add Bulk Contacts,

1. Under the Contacts block, click Associate Contact button. This opens the All Contacts list. 2. Select the names to be associated with the account from the list by enabling the check box. 3. Click Associate button to associate the selected contacts to the account. You can see the

selected contacts added to the list.

To Add New Contact,

1. On clicking the New Contact button opens the contact details form. 2. Specify the Name, E-mail and Phone of the contact in the given text field. 3. Specify the access permissions for the contact to view the request by selecting any of the

three radio buttons. 1. Their Own Requests only: Contact can view only their own requests in the account. 2. All requests from their account: Contact can view all the requests in the account. 3. All requests from their account and sub account: Contact can view all the

requests in account and sub-account. 4. Specify the Login details.

5. And Save the changes.


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Associate Product You have an option to associate products with the accounts. While adding a new account, product is not associated with the account however, even after creating an account you can associate a product to the account. On associating the products with the account, support rep handling the account will know the list of all products under the account with its price, warranty period and date of sale. To associate a Product,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application with your user name and password. 2. Click the Accounts tab in the header pane. This opens All Accounts page. 3. Click the title of the account name to be associated with a product. This opens the View

Account Details page. 4. Under the Products block, click the Associate Product button on the right hand side of the

page. This opens the Associate Product page. 5. Select the Product Name from the combo box. 6. Select the Date of Sale from the calender button. 7. Select the Warranty Period for the product from the drop down list. 8. Specify the No of Units, Unit Price, Discount, Tax Rate, Net Price for the product in the

given text fields. 9. Save the details. The associated product gets displayed under the Products block.


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Add Contracts If needed you can also add contracts to the product, which gives complete idea about the contract with active period, support plan, support type, support services and cost. To add Contract,

1. Log in to SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Accounts tab in the header pane. This opens the All accounts page. 3. Click the account name to add contract. This opens the View Account Details page. 4. Under the Contracts block, click the Add Contract button on the right hand side of the page.

This opens the New Contract page. 5. Specify the contract details and Save the changes. For more information refer Add New

Contract page. 6. You can see the newly added contract getting displayed under the Contracts block.


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Add Advisory You can add advisory notes about the account using this option. This includes all advice, consultative opinions, announcement of issues and so on. Also you have an option to display this in the request view page. To Add Advisory,

1. Log in to SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Accounts tab in the header pane. This opens All Accounts page. 3. Click the title of the account to be added with advisory notes. This opens the Account View

Details page. 4. Under the Advisory block, click the Add Advisory button on the right hand side of the page.

This opens Add Advisory page. 5. Specify the advisory in the given text box. If you wish to display the advisory in the request

view page then select the option by enabling the check box. By default the check box will be selected. If you do not want to display the advisory in the request view page then de-select the check box.

6. Save the changes.


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Assign Template You have an option to assign topics template to the accounts from the All Accounts page. You can group all the solution topics specific to the account and create topics template and assign it to the account. The account can only view the topics in the template to which it is assigned. This template can also be used for other accounts if applicable, however you cannot assign multiple templates to an account. To create topics template refer Topics Template under Solutions module.

To assign template,

1. Log in to SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Accounts tab in the header pane. This opens the Accounts list view page. 3. Enable the check box adjacent to the account for which you want to assign topics template.

4. Click the Topics Template combo box .Select the Assign Template option from the list. This opens the Assign Template page as shown below,

5. Click Select a Template combo box and select the template from the list. 6. Click Assign button. You can see the template name displayed under the title Topics

Template in the All Accounts page. Note: On assigning the Topics Template to an account, the solutions related to the topics template can be viewed by the users.

To Unassign Template,

1. From the Accounts list view page. Select the account name to be unassigned of topics templates by enabling the check box.

2. Click the Topics Template combo box and select the Unassign Template option. You can see the topics name removed under the Topics Template title in the All Accounts page.

Viewing Topics Template

To view the Topic Template assigned to an account, 1. Click the account name in the Accounts list view page. This opens the View Accounts Detail

page. 2. Under the Account Details block, click the hyperlink of the Topics Template name to view the

services provided.


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Importing Sales details from CSV File You can also add sales details by importing them from CSV files. To import sales details from CSV file,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application with your user name and password. 2. Click the Accounts tab in the header pane.

Step 1: Upload CSV file 1. Click Import sales details from CSV link in the All Accounts page. The Import

Wizard opens in a pop-up window. 2. Click the Browse button in the wizard. 3. Select the CSV file in the file chooser window and click Open. 4. Click Next.

Step 2: Map Columns This section has option for importing complete sales details.

1. The CSV column names are populated in the select boxes beside each label. Map the application sales fields with the field names from the CSV file.

2. Click Next.

Step 3: Import 1. Click Import Now button. The values from the CSV file will be imported to the sales

details. Once the import is complete, the data on how many records were added, how many overwritten, and how many failed to import will be displayed in the pop-up.

2. If at any point you wish to stop importing from the CSV file, click the Exit button.


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Importing Accounts and Contacts from CSV File You can also add contacts by importing them from CSV files. To import contacts from CSV file,


Step 1: Upload CSV file 1. Click Import Accounts/Contacts from CSV link in the All Accounts page. The

Import Wizard opens in a pop-up window. 2. Click the Browse button in the wizard. 3. Select the CSV file in the file chooser window and click Open. 4. Click Next.

Step 2: Map Columns This section has option for importing both account and contact information at the same time. By doing this you can establish the contact - account relationship also and provide self service login to the contacts in just one import. For this, the CSV must have the account name associated to every individual contact name available in the file.

1. The CSV column names are populated in the select boxes beside each label. Map the application contact fields with the field names from the CSV file.

2. Click Next.

Step 3: Import 1. Click Import Now button. The values from the CSV file will be imported to the contact


If at any point you wish to stop importing from the CSV file, click the Exit button.

Warning: Login name column will be the identifier for contacts. No two contacts can have the same login name. Hence the existence of a contact will be checked based on the login name value. So if by mistake there was any mismatch of fields during mapping, and a new import of CSV is performed, the records will be updated based on the login name value. If there were any records that did not have any login name at all or there was mismatch in the login name itself, then duplicate entries will be created. In these cases, delete such entries from the contact list and import again or manually edit the information available.


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Customizing Accounts List View To customize the accounts list view


3. Click the column chooser icon available at the corner of the accounts list headers. This opens the available columns that can be displayed in the list view. All those that are visible currently, will have the check box beside them selected.

4. To remove a column, remove the selection from the respective check box beside the column name.

5. To add a column to the list view, select the unchecked select box beside the column name. 6. To change the column order, click the up and down arrow after selecting the column that you

wish to move. 7. Click Save.

This will add only those columns which you have chosen in the list view. You can also sort the list view based on columns. To sort account list by column, click the column header. Clicking it once will sort it in ascending order. Clicking twice will sort the column in descending order.


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Searching Accounts To search accounts

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application with your user name and password. 2. Click the Accounts tab in the header pane. 3. In All Accounts view, click the alphabet with which the name of the account starts. This lists

the accounts whose name starts with that alphabet.

Alternatively, you can also search accounts from the Search option available on the left side of the page.

1. From the Search in combo box, select Accounts. 2. Type your search string in the Enter Keyword text field. 3. Click Go or press Enter. The account names that match the search string get listed in the

right hand side of the page. Another option to search accounts will be using the column-wise search option. To perform a column-wise search

1. Click the search icon at the end of the accounts list view header. This opens the search field just below every column that is visible in the list view.

2. Enter the search key in field under the column of your choice. You can enter keywords in more than one column to perform a combined column search.

3. Click Go. The search results matching the search string(s) are displayed.


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Contacts The main objective of the customer support team is to keep track of the various customer list and their related information. SupportCenter Plus gives the provision of keeping track of the customer account and their contact information and keep them up-to-date. You can add, edit, or delete a contact along with which you can view the contact's request in SupportCenter Plus application. Login permissions can be provided to the contact to access the self-service portal, where the status of the request sent by them to the customer support team can be checked. The following sections will be elaborate on the various actions that you can perform on the contact other than adding a new contact and associating it to an account.

Note: You will be able to add, edit, or delete contacts based on the permissions provided by the SupportCenter Plus administrator.


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Adding a New Contact To add a new contact,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application with your user name and password. 2. Click the Contacts tab in the header pane. This opens All Contacts list view page. 3. Click New Contact button to open the New Contact form. [OR]

You can also open the New Contact form by clicking the Create link available just below the header tabs on the top left corner of the page.

4. Enter the contact Name in the given text field. This is a mandatory field. 5. Enter the E-mail ID, Phone, Mobile and Job Title of the contact in the respective fields. If

there is any Alternative E-mail then enter the same in the given text field. 6. Select the Account/Sub Account associated with the contact from the drop down list. 7. In the Self-service portal the contact has three options to view the request. The options are

available for selection based on the account associated with the contact.

• Their Own Requests only: By default, this option will be available for the contact irrespective of whether the contact is associated or not associated with the account.

• All Requests from their account: This option is available for the contact associated with the sub-account.

• All Requests from their account and sub account: This option is available for the contact associated with the main account.

8. Enter the Additional Contact Details added in Configuring Contact-Additional Fields in the respective text fields.

9. To provide the login permissions to the Self-Service Portal to the contact, enter the Login Name and Password in the fields under the Login details block.

10. Enter the password again in the Re-type Password field. 11. If you wish to provide any description for the contact that you are adding, please provide the

same in the Description text box. 12. Click Save.

To send the login details to the contact, you need to enable the Notify Contact on Self-service login info option in the Notifications Rules under the Admin tab. Refer to Configuring Notification Rules section for details on how to set the notification rules.


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Editing and Deleting a Contact

To edit a Contact,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application with your user name and password. 2. Click the Contacts tab in the header pane. This opens the Contacts list view page

3. Click edit icon of the contact to be edited. This opens the contact in editable format. [OR] click the Name of the contact to be edited. This opens the view contact page. Click the Edit Contact button in the view contact page.

4. Edit the details and Update the changes. To reset the password of the contact

1. Click the Reset Password link available beside the Password field in the Edit Contact form. The Reset Password dialog pops up.

2. Enter the password in the New Password field. 3. Click Reset Password. The pop-up refreshes with a success message. 4. To close the pop-up, click the Close link available in the top right corner of the pop-up

window.

Note: To intimate the change of password to the requester automatically once you have reset the password, you need to enable the Notify Contact on Self-service login info option in the Notifications Rules under Admin tab.

To Delete a Contact,

To delete a contact information from the application 1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application with your user name and password. 2. Click the Contacts tab in the header pane. 3. Select the check box available in the row of the contact details that you wish to delete. 4. Click the Delete button. A confirmation dialog pop-up. 5. Click OK to proceed with the deletion of the contact information. Click Cancel to retain the

contact information. Alternatively,

1. Click the contact Name in the All Contacts view. This opens the view contact page 2. Click the Delete Contact button on the top right corner of the page. A confirmation dialog

pop-up. 3. Click OK to proceed with the deletion of the contact information. Click Cancel to retain the

contact information


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Reconcile Contacts If the same contact has multiple entries in SupportCenter Plus then the contacts can be reconciled in to one. Say for ex. if a contact, send requests and replies from different names as Andrew & Adams and mail ids as Andrew @acme.com & [email protected]. If you come to know its the same person sending mails from different mail ids then in this case you can reconcile the two mail id in to one. And in future if you get any mail from the reconciled mail id the application would show or refer to the current available name and mail id. To reconcile contacts,

1. Log in to SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Contacts tab in the header pane. This opens the Contacts list view page. 3. Select the contacts to be reconciled by enabling the check box. 4. Click Reconcile Contacts button. This opens the Reconcile Contacts page. 5. All the selected contact will be listed in the page. Select the primary contact by selecting the

radio button. 6. Click Reconcile button. All the contacts except for the selected primary contact will be

reconciled.


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Associate Accounts with Contacts To associate accounts with contacts.

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Contacts tab in the header pane. This opens All Contacts list view page

3. Select the account from the drop down list. 4. Select the contacts to be associated with the account by enabling the check box. 5. Click Associate button. On successfully associating the contacts with the account, you can

see the success message displayed on the top of the page below the header panes.


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Contacts Requests You can view all the requests raised by the contact in Contact Details page. This helps you to understand the kind of requests received from the contact.. To view the Contact Requests,

1. Log in to SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Contacts tab in the header pane. This opens the Contacts list view page. 3. Click the name of the contact to view the contact's requests. This opens the View Contact

Details page. 4. Click the Contact's Requests button. This opens the contact request page as shown below.

You can see list of all open request by default however if you would like to view Closed requests, Pending requests, Requests on hold then select the filter options from the Filter Showing combo box.

5. Click Close to close the request.


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Importing Contacts from CSV File You can also add contacts by importing then from CSV files. To import contacts from CSV file

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application with your user name and password. 2. Click the Contacts tab in the header pane.

Step 1: Upload CSV file 1. Click Import Contacts from CSV link in the Contacts list view page. The Import

Wizard opens in a pop-up window. 2. Click the Browse button in the wizard. 3. Select the CSV file in the file chooser window and click Open. 4. Select the File Encoding from the combo box. 5. Click Next.

Step 2: Map Columns 1. The CSV column names are populated in the select boxes beside each label. Map

the application contact fields with the field names from the CSV file. 2. Click Next.

Step 3: Import 1. Click Import Now button. The values from the CSV file will be imported to the contact


If at any point you wish to stop importing from the CSV file, click the Exit button.

Warning: Login name column will be the identifier for contacts. No two contacts can have the same login name. Hence the existence of a contact will be checked based on the login name value. So if by mistake there was any mismatch of fields during mapping, and a new import of CSV is performed, the records will be updated based on the login name value. If there were any records that did not have any login name at all or there was mismatch in the login name itself, then duplicate entries will be created. In these cases, delete such entries from the contact list and import again or manually edit the information available.


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Unapproved Contacts All the Contacts added by the administrator are by default approved contacts. Approved contacts by default has self-service portal login permissions and also the requests raised by the contacts will be logged in for future reference. Contacts not added by the administrator (contacts unavailable in the database) will be considered as unapproved contacts, say if an un-known requester sends a request to SupportCenter Plus the requester name will be added as unapproved contact in the application. Based on the contact auto-addition configuration settings under general settings in admin module the unapproved contact will be approved, request will be logged and self-service login permissions will be provided to the contact. To approve contacts,

1. Login to SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Contacts tab in the header pane. This opens the All Contacts page. 3. Click the Unapproved Contact link on the right hand side of the page. This opens the

Unapproved Contacts page. 4. Select the contacts to be approved by enabling the check box. Click Approve button to

approve contact. If you would like to approve and provide self-service portal login permissions then click Approve & provide login button. You can see the name getting listed in the All Contact page.

If you would like to remove the unapproved contacts, then click Delete button.


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Searching Contacts To search contacts

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application with your user name and password. 2. Click the Contacts tab in the header pane. 3. In All Contacts view, click the alphabet with which the name of the contact starts. This lists

the contacts whose name starts with that alphabet.

Alternatively, you can also search contacts from the Search available on the left menu in the other pages of the application.

1. From the Search in combo box, select Contacts. 2. Type your search string in the Enter Keyword text field. 3. Click Go or press Enter. The contact names that match the search string are listed in

Contacts list view page. Another option to search contacts will be using the column-wise search option. To perform a column-wise search

1. Click the search icon at the end of the contact list view headers. This opens the search field just below every column that is visible in the list view.

2. Enter the search key in field under the column of your choice. You can enter keywords in more than one column to perform a combined column search.

3. Click Go. The search results matching the search string(s) are displayed.


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Configurations In ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus, all types of application configurations are grouped under Admin. To access the various configuration options, log in to the application using your user name and password of an admin user and click the Admin tab in the header pane. If this is your first login after installing the SupportCenter Plus application, then by default, configuration wizard is opened, and the screen displayed would be as below:

To proceed with the configurations, follow the instructions provided in the configuration wizard. There are some default values given for various configurations. If you do not require these values, you can delete them and add your own values to suit your needs either in the wizard itself or at a later time by visiting the corresponding configuration group.


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You can exit the configuration wizard at any time. Clicking the Finish button closes the configuration wizard and takes you straightaway to the Admin Home page, where you can perform all the configurations. The Admin page looks as shown below:

The various configurations are grouped under the following major heads:

• Helpdesk Settings • Account Settings • Contract Settings • User and Related Settings • User Survey Settings • General Settings

Each of these configurations is explained in details in the following sections.


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Helpdesk Configurations Various helpdesk related configurations need to be performed by the admin user, before the SupportCenter Plus request module can be opened for real time functioning of fetching the customer support mails and tracking the same. The following helpdesk configurations need to be made for the new request form to capture meaningful information that can help the support reps solve the reported issue faster. Request Form Customizer configurations are,

1. Request category 2. Request Status 3. Request level 4. Request mode 5. Request priority 6. Request Default Values 7. Request Additional Fields 8. Request Form Customizer 9. Request Preview 10. Request Closing Rules

There are other configuration that need be done are: 1. Mail Server settings 2. Notification Rules 3. Groups 4. Business Rules 5. Scheduled Requests 6. Request Template 7. Time Entry Type 8. Time Entry Additional Fields 1. Login to the SupportCenter Plus application with the Username and Password of a

SupportCenter Plus Administrator. 2. Click the Admin tab in the header pane.


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Helpdesk Customizer The new request form can be configured to suit the needs of your organization. It is highly customizable. You can add your own values to be set for the category, status, level, mode, impact, urgency, priority, of the request. These will already have some default values in them. If you do not wish to have these then you can delete them and add new values or edit them to suit your needs. You can also add your own custom fields, request closing rules, mail server settings, business rules, request template, time entry type and so on which will be available in the form. These custom fields can be of three types, text field, numeric field and date field. You can use these to collect organization specific information for getting a better and clearer idea about the reported issue. Using the default values for the request form fields you can create and submit a new request made easier. The subsequent sections of the document explain in detail the various customizations and configurations that can be done in the request form.


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Configuring Category The requests can be grouped under proper Categories, Sub-categories and Items. For example: A request for Transportation Problem can be put under the request Category as Transportation, Sub-Category as Air Plane and Item to be High Air Fare and so on. Depending on the need, you can create various such categories, sub-categories and item using this option. These categories,sub-categories and items will be listed in the drop-down menu in the New Request form. To configure category,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using the user name and password. 2. Click the Admin tab in the header pane. This opens the configuration wizard page.

3. In the Maintenance Request block, click the Maintenance Request Customizer icon . This opens the HelpDesk - Category page where you can categorize the request in to category, sub-category and item.

Create New Category,

4. Click New Category button. This displays the category form. 5. Specify the Category Name in the given text field. For ex. Transportation Problem . This is

the only mandatory field. 6. Specify relevant information about the newly created category in the Description field. 7. Select the support rep to be assigned for the newly created category from the Assign To

Support rep combo box. All the issues related to this category will be assigned to the selected support rep.

8. Click Save button to save the details. You can see the category getting listed in the category list view below the form.

9. Click Save And Sub Category button to save the details and add sub category to the category.

Create New Sub-Category,

10. Click New Sub Category button in the category list page to add sub-category to the category. Or click add sub-category icon beside the category title in the list view . This displays the sub-category form.

11. Specify the Sub Category name in the given text field. For ex. Air Plane. This is a mandatory field.

12. Specify relevant information about the newly created sub category in the Description field. 13. Select the Category from the combo box. For ex. Transportation Problem. This is a

mandatory field. 14. Click Save button to save the values. You can see the sub-category getting listed under the

selected category.

Create New Item,


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15. Click New Item button in the category list page to add item to the sub-category. Or click add new item icon beside the sub-category title in the list view. This opens the New Item form in which you have category, sub-category and other details on top of the page.

16. Specify the Item name in the given text field. For ex. High Air Fare. This is a mandatory field. 17. Specify relevant information about the newly created item in the Description field. 18. Select the Sub Category for the item from the combo box. For ex. Air Plane This is a

mandatory field. 19. Click Save button to save the details.


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Editing & Deleting Category

1. Login to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password.

2. Click the Admin tab in the header pane. This opens the configuration wizard page.

3. Under the HelpDesk block, click the Maintenance Request Form HelpDesk Customizer icon.

.This opens the category list page.

4. Click Category from the left menu on the left hand side of the page. This opens the Category List view page.

Editing Category

1. Click the edit icon beside the category name in the Category List page. This opens the edit category form.

2. Edit the details and save the changes.

Editing Sub-Category

1. Click the title of the category in the category list page. This opens the sub-category details page.

2. Click the edit icon . This opens the edit sub-category form.


Editing Item

1. Click the title of the sub-category to open the item details page.

2. Click the edit icon . This opens the edit item form.


Delete Category

1. From the Category List page, select the categories to be deleted by enabling the check box.

2. Click the delete button beside the category name in the category list page. A pop window pops up to get your confirmation on the delete operation.

3. Click OK to proceed. You can see the category deleted from the list.

Delete Sub-Category

1. Click the corresponding sub-category from the list. You can view the list of sub-categories for the category.

2. Select the sub-category from the list by enabling the check box.

3. Click Delete button to delete the selected sub-category. A pop window pops up to get your confirmation on the delete operation.

4. Click OK to proceed. You can see the sub-category deleted from the list.


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Delete Item

1. Click the corresponding item from the list. You can view the list of items for the category. 2. Select the item from the list by enabling the check box. 3. Click Delete button to delete the selected item. A pop window pops up to get your

confirmation on the delete operation. 4. Click OK to proceed. You can see the item deleted from the list.


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Configuring Status The requests that are received in SupportCenter Plus will be taken up by the support reps and will be in various stages of completions. For ease of managing the requests and to know the status in which each of the received requests are in, SupportCenter Plus allows you to create various request status under which you can group requests. These status can either be In Progress or Closed. While creating a status, you can also choose to stop the request timer for the status that is being created. Depending on the need of your organization, you can create various such status, which will be listed in the status drop-down menu in the New Request form. To open the status configuration page


2. Click the Admin tab in the header pane.

3. In the Helpdesk block, click the Request Form Customizer icon . The next page displays the list of request form attributes that can be customized on the left menu and the category list page.

4. Click Status from the left menu, or click the Next button on the top of the category list page. The Status List page is displayed. You can add, edit, or delete the request status.

Add Status

To add a request status

1. Click the Add New Status link available at the right top corner of the Status list page.

2. In the Add Status form, enter the name of the status in the Name field.

3. Select the Type to which the status belongs. The status type allows you to identify the whether the status that you are adding is still in progress and hence should be a part of the open requests or should be moved to the closed requests. If the added status requires the timer of the request to be stopped, then you need to set the check box Stop timer.

4. If you wish, you can enter the status Description. Please note that you cannot create two status with the same Status Name.

5. Click Save. The new status is added.

If you want to add more than one status, then instead of clicking Save, click Save and add new button. This adds the new status and reopens the add status form. At any point, if you decide not to add the new status, then click Cancel to get back to the status list. Clicking the View List link on the top right corner of the add status form will also take you to the status list view.

Edit Status

To edit an existing status

1. In the Status List page, click the edit icon beside the status name that you wish to edit. 2. In the Edit Status form, you can modify the name of the status.


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3. If the status belongs to the In Progress type, then you can choose to stop or start timer. If the request status belongs to the completed type then you cannot edit the type of the request status.

4. If you wish you can edit the Description of the status.

5. Click Save to save the changes. At any point, if you wish to cancel the operation that you are performing, click Cancel.

Even while editing a status, if you wish to add a new status, then click Save and add new button instead of clicking Save button after making the changes.

Delete Status

1. In the Status List page, click the delete icon beside the status name that you wish to delete. A confirmation dialog appears.

2. Click OK to proceed with the deletion. If you do not want to delete the status, then click Cancel.


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Configuring Level Request level is a measure to indicate the complexity of a request. For example, if the received request just has some information and does not require any action to be taken, then it can be classified as Level 1. If there is a minor level action, such as providing the contact some tips to resolve the issue, then it can be classified as Level 2, and so on. To open the request level configuration page

1. Login to the SupportCenter Plus application using the user name and password of an admin user.



4. Click Level from the left menu. The Level List page is displayed. You can add, edit, or delete the request levels.

Add Level

To add a request level 1. In the Level List page, click Add New Level link at the top right corner. 2. In the Add Level form, enter the level Name. If you want, you can enter the level Description

also. Please note that you cannot add two levels with the same name. Each level needs to be unique.

3. Click Save. The new level gets added to the already existing list. If you want to add more than one level, then instead of clicking Save, click Save and add new button. This adds the new level and reopens the add level form. At any point, if you decide not to add the new level, then click Cancel to get back to the level list. Clicking the View List link on the top right corner of the add level form will also take you to the level list view.

Edit Level

To edit an existing level

1. In the Level List page, click the edit icon beside the level name that you wish to edit. 2. In the Edit Level form, you can modify the name and description of the level.


Even while editing a level, if you wish to add new level, then click Save and add new button instead of clicking Save button after making the changes.

Delete Level

1. In the Level List page, click the delete icon beside the level name that you wish to delete. A confirmation dialog appears.

2. Click OK to proceed with the deletion. If you do not want to delete the level, then click Cancel.


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Configuring Mode There are different modes of submitting a request to the IT help desk team. SupportCenter Plus provides you the option of submitting the request through an online form. Instead, a contact can call up the IT help desk agent and inform him/her regarding an issue faced, where the help desk agent will ensure to log the details discussed over the phone call through the web-based form. The other mode by which you can submit a request is by sending a mail to the IT help desk team. The IT help desk will then log the details of the mail through the web-based form in the SupportCenter Plus application. If there are other methods of reporting a request to the IT help desk team in your organization, you can add the corresponding mode. To open the mode configuration page




4. Click Mode from the left menu. The Mode List page is displayed. You can add, edit, or delete the request mode.

Add Mode

To add a request mode 1. In the Mode List page, click Add New Mode link at the top right corner. 2. In the Add Mode form, enter the Mode Name. If you want, you can enter the mode

Description also. Please note that each Mode Name needs to be unique.

3. Click Save. The new mode gets added to the already existing list. If you want to add more than one mode, then instead of clicking Save, click Save and add new button. This adds the new mode and reopens the add mode form. At any point, if you decide not to add the new mode, then click Cancel to get back to the mode list. Clicking the View List link on the top right corner of the add mode form will also take you to the mode list view.

Edit Mode

To edit an existing mode

1. In the Mode List page, click the edit icon beside the mode name that you wish to edit. 2. In the Edit Mode form, you can modify the name and description of the mode.


Even while editing a mode, if you wish to add new mode, then click Save and add new button instead of clicking Save button after making the changes.

Delete Mode

1. In the Mode List page, click the delete icon beside the mode name that you wish to delete. A confirmation dialog appears.

2. Click OK to proceed with the deletion. If you do not want to delete the mode, then click Cancel.


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Configuring Priority Priority of a request defines the intensity or importance of the request. To open the request priority configuration page




4. Click Priority from the left menu. The next page displays the available list of priorities. You can add, edit, or delete the request priorities.

Add Priority

To add a request priority

1. In the Priority List page, click the Add New Priority link at the top right corner. 2. In the Add Priority form, enter the Priority Name and Priority Order. These two are

mandatory fields and cannot have duplicate values. If you wish, you can enter the priority Description also.

3. Click Save. The new priority is added to the already existing list. At any point you wish to cancel the operation that you are performing, click Cancel.

If you want to add more than one priority, then instead of clicking Save, click Save and add new button. This adds the new priority and reopens the add priority form. At any point, if you decide not to add the new priority, then click Cancel to get back to the priority list. Clicking the View List link on the top right corner of the add priority form will also take you to the priority list view.

Edit Priority

To edit an existing priority

1. In the Priority List page, click the edit icon beside the priority name that you wish to edit.

2. In the Edit Priority form, edit the fields you want to change.


Even while editing a priority, if you wish to add a new priority, then click Save and add new button instead of clicking Save button after making the changes.

Delete Priority

1. In the Priority List page, click the delete icon beside the priority name that you wish to delete. A confirmation dialog appears.

2. Click OK to proceed with the deletion. If you do not want to delete the priority, then click Cancel.


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Configuring Request Default Values You can set default values for fields such as Category, Level, Mode, Priority and Group in the New Request form. On setting the values for these fields, by default, they get displayed in the new maintenance request form . The contact can also change the values while submitting the request. These default values can be changed/modified at any time.

To configure request default values,

1. Login to the SupportCentre Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Admin tab in the header pane. This opens the configuration wizard page.

3. Under the HelpDesk block, click the HelpDesk Customizer icon . This opens the category list page.

4. Click Request Default Values from the left menu, on the left hand side of the page. This opens the Request Default Values page.

5. Select the default value for Category, Level, Mode, Priority and Group fields from the combo box. The selected values will be set as default value in the new request form.

Example: If you set the value for Mode as E-mail, then in the new request form the default value for Mode will be displayed as E-mail.

6. Click Save. This saves the request default settings.


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Request Additional Fields You can have your own customized additional fields apart from the default fields in the new request form. You can collect additional information about the request using additional fields.

To add additional fields,


3. Under the HelpDesk block click the Helpdesk Customizer icon . This opens the Helpdesk Category page.

4. Click Request - Additional Fields link from the menu list on the left hand side of the page. This opens the Request Additional Fields. You can add Text fields, Numeric fields, Date and Time fields in the form.

Configuring Additional Text fields

1. By default the list of all additional text fields are displayed. Specify the Label for the Additional fields.

2. Specify any relevant information about the additional fields in the Description text field. 3. Specify the Type of the text field by enabling the radio button. It can be either Single- Line,

Multi – Line or Pick List (drop down list). 4. Specify the Default Values in the given text field. 5. Click Save to save the settings.

Configuring Additional Numeric fields

1. Click on the Numeric tab. You can configure 4 additional numeric fields for a request. 2. Specify the Label for the additional field. This is a mandatory field. 3. Specify any relevant information about the additional fields in the Description text field. 4. Click Save to save the settings.

Configuring Additional Date/Time fields.

1. Click on the Date/Time tab. You can configure 4 additional fields for a request. 2. Specify the Label for the additional field. This is a mandatory field. 3. Specify any relevant information about the additional fields in the Description text fields. 4. Click Save to save the settings.


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Request Form Customizer The Request Form Customizer helps you to create a tailor-made Request Form to ensure that the users submit all the required information along with the request. The FacilitiesDesk supervisor can design a customized Request Form of his own that suits his needs.

To customize the request form,

1. Login to the FacilitiesDesk application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Admin tab in the header pane. This opens the configuration wizard page.

3. Under the Helpdesk block, click the Helpdesk Customizer icon . This opens the category list page.

4. Click the Request Form Customizer from the left menu on the left hand side of the page. This opens Request Form Customizer page.

The request form can have,

• Certain important fields as Mandatory : All the must-have information for the support rep to resolve the request is defined as Mandatory.

• Certain fields the Contact can Set: Any optional information to be provided by the contact is selected as contact can set field.

• Certain fields that the Contact can View: The fields that can be only viewed and cannot be edited or set by the contact is selected as contact can view field.

Example: When you customize the request form, you can select the,

• Title & Name of the request as Mandatory field. • Contact Number of the requester can be selected as Requester can Set option. • Mode can be selected as Requesters can View option. Say if the SupportCenter manager

wants the request to be sent only through email and not through any other mode then the support rep can select the mode as Contacts can View option.

There are four blocks of information to be provided in the request form, the SupportCenter Plus support rep can customize the fields based on his needs and priority. The first block is Request Details block.

1. In the request details block Status, Level, Mode & priority are the available fields. 2. Select the corresponding values from the combo box. 3. Select the options to customize the form by enabling the relevant check box. Say Mandatory

fields, Requester can set, Requester can view options. The Second block is the Owner Details block,

1. In this block Group & Support rep are the available fields, 2. Select the corresponding values from the combo box. 3. Select the options to customize the form by enabling the relevant check box.

The Third block is the Contact Details block, 1. In this block Name, Product, Account/Sub-Account, Email, Phone and Mobile are the

available fields,


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2. Select the name from the contact list by clicking the contact list icon. This is a mandatory field. On selecting the name, account/sub-account, product, email, phone and mobile fields gets filled automatically.

3. Select the Product from the combo box. Select the corresponding values for the fields from the combo box.

4. Select the options to customize the form by enabling the relevant check box. The Fourth block is the Category Details block,

1. Select the Category, Sub-Category, Item from the combo box. 2. Specify the title for the form in the Subject field. This is a mandatory field. 3. Specify an relevant information about the form in the Description field.

Click Save, to save the settings. Click Save and Preview, to save and see the preview of New Request form for Requester login.


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Request Preview On customizing the new request form for both the contacts and the support reps, you can see the preview of the request form for both the login using this option.

To view the Request Preview,

1. Login to the SupportCenter Plus application using the user name and password. 2. Click the Admin tab in the header pane. This opens the configuration wizard page.

3. Under the Helpdesk block, click the Helpdesk Customizer icon . This opens the category list page.

4. Click the Request Preview link left menu on the left hand side of the page. This opens the Request Preview page.

5. There will be two tabs available one for Contact View and other for Support Rep View. Click on the Contact view tab to view the new request form for contact login.

6. Click on the Support Rep view tab to view the new request form for support rep login.


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Request Closing Rules Request closing rules can be used to select the mandatory fields to be filled in by the supervisors while closing the requests.

To select the mandatory fields,

1. Login to the SupportCenter Plus application using the user name and password. 2. Click the Admin tab in the header pane. This opens the configuration wizard page. 3. In the Maintenance Request block, click the Maintenance Request Form Customizer

icon . This opens the category list page. 4. Click the Request Closing Rules link from the menu on the left hand side of the page. This

opens Request Closing Rules page. 5. Select the mandatory fields for closing the request from the list by enabling the check box. 6. Save the details.

Example: If you have selected Resolution as a mandatory field, then the supervisor fixing the problem, should enter the reason and solution for the problem in the resolution text field before closing the request form, else an error message will pop up asking you to specify the details in the resolution field.


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Configuring Mail Server Settings

SupportCenter Plus allows you to configure the incoming e-mail settings and the outgoing e-mail settings such that it fetches the mails that are sent to the IT help desk team and sends notifications/feedback to the support reps and contacts. To configure mail server settings,

1. Log-in to the Supportcenter Plus application using your user name and password.


3. Click the Mail Server Settings icon under the general settings block. This opens the Mail Server Settings page.

IIncoming Mail Settings

1. By default you have Incoming Mail Settings tab selected. All the fields marked * are mandatory fields. Enter the server name, user name, password, e-mail address, port, and the time interval in which the mail needs to be fetched periodically. The time period is in minutes. The e-mail type should be selected from the combo box.

2. Click Save. On successful connection to the server, the success message is displayed and the UI changes as below

To start fetching the mails, click the Start Fetching button. Once the mail fetching is started, the Save button in the incoming mail server settings is disabled. If you wish to change any of the settings, then you need to stop mail fetching, make the changes, save them and then restart the mail fetching.


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Outgoing Mail Settings

1. In the Email Settings page, click the Outgoing tab. This opens the outgoing mail settings form.

2. Specify the outgoing mail Server Name/IP Address, reply-to e-mail address, and port. These three are the mandatory fields.

3. If there is an alternate server, then enter its name in the Alternate Server Name / IP Address field.

4. Enter the name of the sender in the Sender's Name field.

5. Choose the e-mail type, which is usually SMTP. The Port associated to SMTP is 25 by default.

6. If your SMTP server for outgoing mails require authentication, then select the check box Requires Authentication.

7. Enter the User Name and Password in the respective fields.

8. Click Save.

Spam Filter

You can mark all your junk mails under spam by defining filter criteria for the mails. Once you set a criteria and mark a mail as spam then that e-mail will be dropped and no new requests will be created out of them. To configure spam filter,

1. Click on the Spam Filter tab.

2. Define a rule by selecting a Criteria from the combo box. And also select the Conditions from the combo box.

3. And specify the filter content in the given text field by clicking the choose button.

Ex: if criteria is SENDER and Condition is CONTAINS then the content can be [email protected].


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4. Click Add to Rules button to add the criteria to the rules and match it with the incoming mails. Specify Match all of the following (And) or Match any of the following (OR) option to match with the rule by selecting any of the radio buttons.

5. Save the details.


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Configuring Notification Rules ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus allows you send notifications to contacts and support reps. The notifications can be of two types: e-mail and SMS. These notification modes can be set across various options of the requests. There may be some default actions that you might want to perform when the state of any item changes. These default configurations can also be defined. To set the notification rules and the message template:



3. In the Helpdesk block, click the Notification Rules icon . This opens the Notification Rules page as shown below,

4. To enable or disable any of the notification rules, select or de-select the check box beside

each of the rules. 5. You can also choose the support rep(s) who need to be notified when a new request is

created. For this, click Choose button. The list of support reps is displayed in a pop-up window.

6. Select the support reps. For multiple selections, press Shift or Ctrl key and then select the support reps.


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7. Click OK. The selected support reps get listed in the text box beside the Choose support rep(s) button.

You can also customize the message template for each of the notifications. For this, 1. Click Customize Template link available beside each notification rule to be modified. This

opens the template is editable format as shown below,

2. You can change the subject and the message content by typing the text of your choice and

also adding other variables that you wish to display as a part of the subject or message content. To add more variables, just click the corresponding variable from the list box beside the respective field.


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Configuring Groups Request Groups denote the temporary location where the various incoming requests can be categorized and grouped till a support rep can pick up or the request is assigned to a specific support rep by the help desk administrator. Each group can have a group of support reps incharge of handling the requests pertaining to that group. You can configure these groups in such a way that notifications can be sent to support rep group who belong to the group regarding a new request creation. These groups, will be listed in the drop-down menu in the New Request form. To open the group configuration page



3. In the Helpdesk block, click the Groups icon . You can add, edit, or delete groups.

Add Group

To add a request group 1. Click the Add New Group link available at the right top corner of the Group list page. 2. In the Add Group form, enter the group name in the Name field. 3. Select the support reps that you wish to group under this group from the Available Support

Reps list box and click >> button to move them to Support Reps interested in this group. 4. You can choose the support reps of the group to whom you wish to notify for a new request

creation in the group. To do this select the check box Send notification to group support rep(s) when a new request is added to this group. This drops down the support rep selection field.

5. Click Choose button to open the List of Group Support Rep pop-up window. 6. Select the support reps whom to wish to notify and click OK. 7. To choose the support reps to send notification for unpicked requests in the group, select the

check box Send notification to support rep(s) when a request in this group is left unpicked. This drops down the support rep selection field and time period configuration after which the notification will be sent.

8. Click Choose button to open the complete list of support reps available in your help desk. 9. Select the support reps from the list box and click OK. The support reps get listed in the field

provided. 10. Enter the time period, from the creation of the request in group, after which the notification of

unpicked requests will be sent to the selected support reps. 11. If you wish to describe the group in detail enter the same in the Description text box. 12. Click Save. The new group is added.

If you want to add more than one group, then instead of clicking Save, click Save and add new button. This adds the new group and reopens the add group form. At any point, if you decide not to add the new group, then click Cancel to get back to the group list. Clicking the View List link on the top right corner of the add group form will also take you to the group list view.

Warning: Enabling the check boxes while adding group does not ensure that the notification will be sent. This setting is just to choose the support reps to whom the notification needs to be sent and the time frame after which the unpicked request


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notification is to be sent. To actually send the notification, you need to enable the corresponding setting under the Notification Rules under the Admin tasks, which are:

1. Notify group support rep by mail when request is added to group. 2. Notify support rep by mail when request is unpicked in group.

Edit Group

To edit an existing group

1. In the Group List page, click the edit icon beside the group name that you wish to edit. 2. In the Edit Group form, you can modify the name of the group, the support reps belonging to

the groups, the notification settings, and description. 3. Click Save to save the changes. At any point, if you wish to cancel the operation that you are

performing, click Cancel. Even while editing a group, if you wish to add a new group, then click Save and add new button instead of clicking Save button after making the changes.

Delete Group

1. In the Group List page, click the delete icon beside the group name that you wish to delete. A confirmation dialog appears.

2. Click OK to proceed with the deletion. If you do not want to delete the group, then click Cancel.


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Configuring Business Rules You can define Business rules that will enable you to organize the incoming requests (form and e-mail) and perform any action ranging from delivering them to queues, to assigning status and other parameters of the requests. To add a new Business Rule, click Add New Business Rule link on the right hand side corner of the Business Rule List table. To open the Business Rule configurations page:

1. Login to the SupportCenter Plus application with admin username and password. 2. Click the Admin tab in the header pane.

3. In the Helpdesk block, click the Business Rule icon . The resulting page will display the available list of business rules. You can add, edit, or delete business rules.

Add New Business Rule

To add a Business Rule 1. Click Add New Business Rule link available at the top right corner of the Business Rules

List page. 2. In the Add Business Rule form, enter the Rule Name. This field cannot be empty.

3. If required, you can provide a corresponding description for the business rule.

4. In the Business Rules block define the rules and criteria that need to be satisfied by the

incoming request. Set the criteria by selecting from the Select Criteria combo box, and then choose conditions, and then the individual values that need to be matched by clicking the Choose button. This will open the values from the database for that particular parent criteria


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that you chose from the combo box. Choose the values you want and click Select. For example, if you want to match the contact name John, then select Contact Name in the combo box. Now select the condition is or is not from the drop down list. This list varies from each criteria. Then, click Choose button, to open the list of contacts in a pop-up window. Select the contact name from the list and click Select. For multiple selection, press Shift or Ctrl key while selecting the names. The selected names will appear in the text box just before the choose button.

5. Click Add to Rules to add the defined rule to the rules table. 6. By default, the radio button Match ALL of the following is selected. If you do not want all of

them to be checked but if it is enough if any one of the rules are matched, then select the radio button Match ANY of the following. After defining the rules, you need to define the actions that need to be performed on the request matching the criteria.

7. Choose the action that needs to be performed on the request from the Choose Action drop down list.

8. Click Choose button to the select the values for the chosen action. For example, if the action you had chosen was to Place in Queue, then clicking the choose button will display the available queues in which the request can be placed. You need to select the queue in which the request has to be placed and click OK.

9. Click Add.

10. Click Save. If you want to add more than one business rule, then click Save and add new, instead of clicking Save. This adds the business rule and reopens the add business rule form. At any point, if you do not wish to add the business rule and would like to get back to the business rules list from the add business rule form, click Cancel. Clicking the View List link on the top right corner of the add business rule form will also take you to the business rules list view.

Edit Business Rule

To edit an existing business rule

1. In the Business Rules List page, click the edit icon beside the Business Rule Name that you wish to edit.

2. In the Edit Business Rule form, you can modify all the fields mentioned in the add business rule form.

3. To edit the Match the below criteria set, click the edit icon beside the individual criteria. The respective selection window is opened in a separate pop-up. You can choose more values or remove a few values by deselecting them.

4. You can also delete a criteria completely. To delete a criteria, click the delete icon beside the individual criteria.

5. In the actions to be performed, you can add or delete actions that need to be performed on the request that matches the criteria defined.

6. Click Save to save the changes performed. At any point you wish to cancel the operation that you are performing, click Cancel.

Even while editing a business rule, if you wish to add another new business rule, then click Save and add new button instead of clicking Save button after making the changes.

Delete Business Rule

1. In the Business Rule List page, click the delete icon beside the Business Rule Name that you wish to delete. A confirmation dialog is opened.


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2. Click OK to proceed with the deletion. If you do not want to delete the business rule, then click Cancel.

Organize Business Rules

You can organize the business rule to appear in a particular order in the list view by following the steps below:

1. Click Organize Business Rules link available above the list of business rules in the Business Rules List view. A pop-up window is opened with the list of available business rules in the order that is appearing the list view.

2. Select a business rule, and click Move up or Move Down button beside the list.

3. Click Save. Organizing the business rules decide the order in which the rule is applied on the incoming request.


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Scheduled Requests You can Schedule Requests for preventive maintenance or for regular maintenance of a task. Say you can schedule a request for cleaning-up the database once a month or server maintenance once in 3 months and so on. This option is similar to the Reminders option in the application. However there is a major difference between the reminders and scheduled requests option. On scheduling request for a task a new request will be created and assigned to the specified support rep name automatically. This in turn will be logged in for future reference of the support rep. To schedule requests,

1. Log in to SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Admin tab in the header pane. This opens the configuration wizard page.

3. Under the Helpdesk block, click the Scheduled Requests icon .This opens the scheduled requests page.

Creating a Request Template

Task template has four blocks, Request details, Owner details, Contact details, Category details. 1. Specify the Status, Level, Mode, Priority of the request from the comb box. 2. Select the Group from the combo box. This option is given to group the task template. Ex.

Network, Hardware etc. 3. Select the Support Rep from the combo box to assign the task and click the requester list

icon to select the requester Name. This is a mandatory field. The other details such as Account/Sub Account, Phone, Email, Product, Mobile get filled automatically based on the contact details specified in the contact form.

Note: The Requester Name and Account under the contact block can only be selected from the existing list. A new contact or account cannot be created.

4. Select the Product Name from the combo box. 5. Select the Category, Sub Category and Item from the combo box. 6. Specify the Subject line for the task in the given text field. This is a mandatory field. 7. Specify relevant information about the task in the given Description field. 8. To attach a file to the task template click Attach a File button to attach files. 9. Click Next>> button for Task Scheduling.

Scheduled Request

To schedule a task, select the time frame from the listed options: Daily Schedule: To run a daily maintenance task, click Daily Schedule radio button.

1. Select the Time at which the maintenance task should be scheduled from the combo box. 2. Select the Date on when the maintenance task should be scheduled from the Calendar

button. 3. Save the details.

Weekly Schedule: To run a weekly maintenance task, click Weekly Schedule radio button. 1. Select the day of the week by enabling the corresponding check box beside the day of the

week.


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2. Else if you wish to schedule on all days of the week, then click Everyday check box. 3. Select the Time frame to schedule the task from the combo box. 4. Save the details.

Monthly Schedule: To run a monthly maintenance task, click Monthly Schedule radio button. 1. Select the month to run the task by enabling the check box beside Every Month. 2. Select the Date on when the task should be scheduled from the combo box. 3. Select the Time at which the task should be scheduled from the combo box. 4. Save the details

Periodic Schedule: To run a periodic maintenance task, click Periodic schedule radio button. 1. Specify the day (s) in the given text field to schedule the maintenance task. i.e after every

specified nth day the maintenance task will be executed. 2. Save the details.

One Time Schedule: To run a one time maintenance task, click One Time Scheduling radio button. 1. Select the Date & Time on when the maintenance task should be executed. 2. Save the details.

For Example: If you wish to schedule a monthly task for cleaning-up the database,

1. Select Monthly Schedule radio button. 2. Select the check box every month. 3. Choose the date from the combo box. Ex: 3rd of every month. 4. Select the time from the combo box. Ex: 1500 hrs. 5. Save this schedule. A task for cleaning-up the database will be sent to you every month on

3rd at 1500 hrs helping you to complete the regular maintenance task in advance without any request sent from the users.


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Request Template You can create a Request Template for all the frequently raised requests such as, to set the temperature in the cooler, changing the mode in the air conditioner and so on. Thus it helps you to create a default request template for all the repeated requests raised by the requesters.

1. Log in to the ServiceDesk Plus application using the user name and password of an admin user.


3. In the Helpdesk block, click the Request Template icon . This opens the Request Template page.

4. Click on Create button. This opens the Request Template form. 5. Specify the Template Name in the given text field. Ex: Temperature in Air conditioner. This is

a mandatory field. 6. If you wish to show the request template to the contact then select Show to Contact button. 7. Specify relevant remarks about the request template in the Comments text field. 8. Select the Status of the request from the comb box. Ex. Open. 9. Specify the Level of the request from the combo box. The level should be selected based on

the priority. For ex. If the priority of the request is high then select Tier 1. 10. Select the Mode from the combo box. This will be the mode of communication, to inform the

support rep. 11. Select the Priority from the combo box. For ex. High, Medium, Low etc. 12. Select the Group from the combo box. This option is given to group the task template. Ex.

Appliances, Transportation, Education, Sports etc. 13. Select the Support Rep from the combo box to assign the task. 14. Select the Category, Sub Category and Item from the combo box. 15. Specify the Subject line for the task in the given text field. Specify relevant information about

the task in the given Description field. 16. If you wish you can add the Resolution in the resolution text field. 17. Save the details. The request template gets listed under the New Request tab at the top left

corner of the page.


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Time Entry Type Type of support provided by the support rep to the customer is termed as time entry type. While specifying the time spent details of the support rep for a request, the support rep can specify the type of support provided by him/her by selecting from the combo box. Ex: Say Product Consultation or Service Maintenance etc. These time entry types are added using this option. To add Time Entry Type,


3. Under the Helpdesk block, click the Time Entry Type icon . This opens Time Entry Type list page.

4. Click the Add New Time Entry Type link on the right hand side of the page. This opens the Add Time Entry Type page.

5. Specify relevant Name for the Time Entry Type in the given text field. 6. Specify the details about the time entry type in the Description field. 7. Save the changes. If you would like to add another time entry type click Save and Add New

button.


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Time Entry Additional Fields You can define your own organization specific fields that need to appear in the Add Time Entry form of a request apart from the pre-set fields in the form. You can add Text fields, Numeric fields and Date type fields in the form. To add additional fields,


3. Under the Helpdesk block, click the Type Entry - Additional Fields icon . This opens Type Entry - Additional Fields page. You can add text fields, numeric fields and date type fields in the form.


1. By default the list of all additional text fields are displayed. Specify the Label for the Time Entry Fields.

2. Specify any relevant information about the additional fields in the Description text field.

3. Specify the Type of the text field by enabling the radio button. It can be either Single- Line, Multi – Line or Pick List (drop down) menu list.

4. Specify the Default Values in the given text field. 5. Click Save to save the settings.


1. Click on the Numeric tab. You can configure 4 additional numeric fields for Time Entry.

2. Specify the Label for the additional field. This is a mandatory field. 3. Specify any relevant information about the additional fields in the Description text

field. 4. Click Save to save the settings.


1. Click on the Date/Time tab. You can configure 4 additional fields for Time Entry. 2. Specify the Label for the additional field. This is a mandatory field. 3. Specify any relevant information about the additional fields in the Description text

fields. 4. Click Save to save the settings.


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Account Settings The account information gives you details on the customer's organization and purchase details. This will give you details about the purchases that the company has made and the kind of support that needs to be provided for them. The type of support helps the customer support team to prioritize the requests received from various customers and respond to them based on the priority associated to the requests. You can also associate products to the account to keep track on the products purchased by the customer. Various Account Settings configurations are,

• Adding Industry

• Adding Product Type

• Adding Product

• Adding Product Additional Fields

• Adding Account Additional Fields

• Adding Sales Additional Fields

• Schedule CSV Import

• WebPortal Configuration


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Configuring Industry The industry list is used to denote the type of industry to which your customer belongs to while adding the account information of the customer. To open the industry configuration page



3. Under the Account Settings block, click the Industry icon . The next page displays the list of industry types that are already available. You can add, edit, or delete the industries.

Add Industry

To add an industry 1. In the Industry List page, click the Add New Industry link at the top right corner. 2. In the Add Industry form, enter the Industry Name. This is a mandatory field. 3. If you wish, you can enter the description for the industry type in the Description field. 4. Click Save. The new industry type is added to the already existing list. At any point you wish

to cancel the operation that you are performing, click Cancel. If you want to add more than one industry, then instead of clicking Save, click Save and add new button. This adds the new industry and reopens the add industry form. At any point, if you decide not to add the new industry, then click Cancel to get back to the industry list. Clicking the View List link on the top right corner of the add industry form will also take you to the industry list view.

Edit Industry

To edit an existing industry type

1. In the Industry List page, click the edit icon beside the industry name that you wish to edit. 2. In the Edit Industry form, edit the fields you want to change. 3. Click Save to save the changes. At any point, if you wish to cancel the operation that you are

performing, click Cancel. Even while editing a industry, if you wish to add a new industry, then click Save and add new button instead of clicking Save button after making the changes.

Delete Industry

1. In the Industry List page, click the delete icon beside the industry name that you wish to delete. A confirmation dialog appears.

2. Click OK to proceed with the deletion. If you do not want to delete the industry, then click Cancel.


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Configuring Product Types Each product can be categorized into a specific product type. This is the high-level categorization for the assets that are bought. For example, Adobe Photoshop or Macromedia Flash can be categorized under the product type Software, while HP Inkjet Printer can be categorized under the product type Printer. In general, product type is a parent category under which you can group each of the specific products that you have in store for sale. To open the product type configuration page



3. Under the Account Settings block, click the Product Type icon . The next page displays the available list of product types. You can add, edit, or delete product types.

To Add Product Types

1. In the Product Types List page, click Add New Product Type link available at the top right corner. This opens the Add Product Type form.

2. In the Add Product Type form, enter the Product Type Name. This name needs to be unique and this field cannot be blank.

3. If required, add relevant Description for the product type. 4. Click Save.

If you want to add more than one product type, then instead of clicking Save, click Save and add new button. This adds the new product type and reopens the add product type form after displaying a message that the a new product type is added. At any point, if you decide not to add the new product type, then click Cancel to get back to the product type list. Clicking the View List link on the top right corner of the add product type form will also take you to the product type list view.

To Edit Product Type

1. In the Product Types List page, click the edit icon beside the Product Type Name that you wish to edit.

2. In the Edit Product Type form, you can edit the product type name and the description. 3. Click Save. At any point, if you wish to cancel the operation that you are performing, click

Cancel. Even while editing a product type, if you wish to add new product type, then click Save and add new button instead of clicking Save button after making the changes.

To Delete Product Types,

1. In the Product Types List page, click the delete icon beside the Product Type Name that you wish to delete. A confirmation dialog is opened.

2. Click OK to proceed with the delete operation. If you do not want to delete the product type, then click Cancel.


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Configuring Product Commodities offered for sale are called products in SupportCenter Plus. It's important to add all the new products to the application as these products can be used for reference in other modules of the application such as, Requests, Contracts and more. As and when a new product is added to the customers, you need to add it to the existing product list. Also, if you do not wish to sell a specific product anymore, then it needs to be discarded from the list by deleting the details of the same. Example: Dell Lattitude D600 is a product representing Dell Laptops. To add new products,


3. Under the Account Settings block, click the Product icon . This opens the product list view page.

To Add Product

1. From the Product List page, click Add New Product link available at the top right corner of the page.

2. In the Add Product form, enter the Product Name. This field cannot be blank. 3. From the Product Type combo box choose the product type under which you wish to classify

the product you are adding. 4. Enter the Part No. of the product. 5. If you know the warranty period of the product, enter it in the Warranty Period by choosing

the number of years and months from the combo box. 6. Enter the Unit Price of the product in the field provided for the same. 7. If you have added Additional Product Details fields then the additional fields get displayed

next to Unit Price. 8. If required, add relevant Comments for the product. 9. Click Save. A message is displayed and the product is added.

If you wish to add more than one product, instead of clicking Save, click Save and add new button. This would add the product and open the add product form for you to add more products. To get back to the product list page, click View List link at the top right corner of the Add Product form.

To Edit Product,

1. Click the edit icon beside Product Name in the Product List page. 2. In the Edit Product form, you can edit all the form fields mentioned in the add product

procedure. 3. Click Save. A message is displayed and the product is updated.

Even while editing the product information, if you wish to see the product list page, click the View List link at the top right corner of the Edit Product form. Also if you want to add a new product, then in the product details tab, click Save and add new button.


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Delete Product

A product can be deleted only if it is not being referenced elsewhere. To delete a product,

1. Click the delete icon beside the Product Name. A confirmation dialog is opened. 2. Click OK to proceed with the deletion. If you do not wish to delete the product, click Cancel.


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Product Additional Fields You can define your own organization specific fields that need to appear in the Add Product form apart from the pre-set fields in the form. You can add text fields, numeric fields and date type fields in the form. To add additional fields,


3. Under the Account Settings block, click the Product Additional Fields icon . This opens the Product - Additional fields page. You can add text fields, numeric fields and date type fields in the form.




3. Specify the Type of the text field by enabling the radio button. It can be either Single- Line, Multi – Line or Pick List (drop down list).



1. Click on the Numeric tab. You can configure 4 additional numeric fields for a product. 2. Specify the Label for the additional field. This is a mandatory field. 3. Specify any relevant information about the additional fields in the Description text



1. Click on the Date/Time tab. You can configure 4 additional fields for a product. 2. Specify the Label for the additional field. This is a mandatory field. 3. Specify any relevant information about the additional fields in the Description text


These fields appear under the grouping Additional Product Details in the Add Product form. To delete the user-defined fields, in step 4 through 7, instead of adding the label names, delete the label names that you wish to remove from the fields of the form and click Save. The respective fields that you deleted will be removed from the Add Product form.


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Account Additional Fields You can define your own organization specific fields that need to appear in the New Account form apart from the pre-set fields in the form. You can add text fields, numeric fields and date type fields in the form. To add additional fields,


3. Under the Account Settings block, click the Account Additional Fields icon . This opens the Account - Additional fields page. You can add text fields, numeric fields and date type fields in the form.







1. Click on the Numeric tab. You can configure 4 additional numeric fields for a account.




1. Click on the Date/Time tab. You can configure 4 additional fields for a account. 2. Specify the Label for the additional field. This is a mandatory field. 3. Specify any relevant information about the additional fields in the Description text


These fields appear under the grouping Additional Product Details in the New Account form. To delete the user-defined fields, in step 4 through 7, instead of adding the label names, delete the label names that you wish to remove from the fields of the form and click Save. The respective fields that you deleted will be removed from the Add Account form.


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Sales Additional Fields You can define your own organization specific fields that need to appear in the Associate Product form in the Account Details page apart from the pre-set fields in the form. You can add text fields, numeric fields and date type fields in the form. To add additional fields,


3. Under the Account Details block, click the Sales Additional Fields icon . This opens the Sales - Additional fields page. You can add text fields, numeric fields and date type fields in the form.







1. Click on the Numeric tab. You can configure 4 additional numeric fields for sales. 2. Specify the Label for the additional field. This is a mandatory field. 3. Specify any relevant information about the additional fields in the Description text



1. Click on the Date/Time tab. You can configure 4 additional fields for sales. 2. Specify the Label for the additional field. This is a mandatory field. 3. Specify any relevant information about the additional fields in the Description text


These fields appear under the grouping Additional Sales Details in the Associate Product form in the account details page. To delete the user-defined fields, in step 4 through 7, instead of adding the label names, delete the label names that you wish to remove from the fields of the form and click Save. The respective fields that you deleted will be removed from the Associate Product form.


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Schedule CSV Import This feature automates the process of importing Account & Contact information from an external database using CSV files. Four step process of automating CSV import

• When the "CSV Schedule" is configured & enabled, SupportCenter looks for CSV file under the <SupportCenter_Home>\csv_files directory on a periodic basis.

• When it finds a CSV file, the file is processed and moved the file to <SupportCenter_Home>\csv_files\ProcessedDir.

• To automate this process, it is advised to write a script that would send the changed information of the external database as a CSV file to the <SupportCenter_Home>\csv_files directory

• Refresh the SupportCenter Plus Web Client to proceed further. 2. Log in to SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 3. Click the Admin tab in the header pane. This opens the configuration wizard page.

4. Under the Helpdesk block, click the Automate CSV Import icon . This opens the Schedule CSV Import list page.

5. Click Add Schedule link on the right hand side of the page. This opens the Add Schedule page.

Note: CSV file should be available under SupportCenter Plus CSV directory to automate the import. Path for the directory would be \AdventNet\ME\SupportCenter\csv_fiels

If no CSV file is found in the directory then you get a message as shown below. To place, replace or update the file automatically in the CSV directory, it is advised to write a script to send the information from the external database where you have all the information. The data should be sent to the SupportCenter_Home\csv_files directory.

5. Once the CSV file is available in the CSV directory. CSV File Name gets displayed

automatically in un-editable format. 6. Specify the File Encoding format from the combo box. 7. Click the Show Fields button to map the fields. Map the fields. 8. To schedule the settings click the Enable radio button. 9. Select the Time duration from the combo box.


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10. Select the Date from the calender button and also select the start schedule time from the drop down list.

11. If you like to notify the support rep on the failure of the CSV import update then click Notification check box.

12. Save the settings.


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Web Portal Configurations Using web Portal configuration you can configure a web portal page for your customers. You have list of options available to design your own web-portal. You can select, de-select the options you wish to provide to the customers then Ex: If you do not want your customers to login to the customer portal then de-select the login section option which makes the login option unavailable for your customers.

For Web portal configuration,

1. Login to SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Admin tab in the header pane. This opens the configuration wizard page.

3. Click Web Portal Configuration icon under the Account Settings block. This opens the Web Portal Configuration page.

4. On the top of the page you have the sample customer portal page as shown below. The sample page you have the list of options available to appear in the customer portal page such as, Portal Name, Login Section, Search Solutions, Links, Popular Solutions, Recent Solutions and Color configurations option.

Login Section: On selecting this option the login section block gets displayed on the left side as shown in the sample page and also your customers can login to SupportCenter plus application.

Search Solutions: On selecting this option search solutions block gets displayed as shown in the sample page and the customer can enter the text and search for solutions using this option.

Links: To add hyper links to the web page select the check box given beside the links. Click Add Links hyperlink. This opens Add Link Element page.

Specify the title or text to add hyperlink in the Name text field. Specify the Description about the link in the given text field. Specify the Target url (the url to be linked) in the text field. Save the changes. You can also edit or delete the links by clicking on the corresponding icons on the right side of the page.

Popular Solutions: On selecting this option all the popular solutions for the popular problems gets listed on the web page and the customers can view the solutions to troubleshoot their problems.

Recent Solutions: On selecting this option all the recently added solutions will be listed in the web page and the customers will be able to view the solutions.

Color Configuration: You can also customize the colors displayed in the web portal for the top band and section band.

1. To change the color click the corresponding link. A color picker window pops up. 2. Select the color and it gets displayed in the color box next to the link. 3. Once you select the options to be displayed in the customer portal page you can see

a preview of the page by clicking the Preview button. 4. If you would like to continue with the web page then click Apply Changes button else

click Back button to come back to the configuration page.

Note: Web Portal Page can be accessed at http://<server_name>:<port>/sd/SolutionsHome.sd


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Contract Settings Under contract settings you configure customer support services, plans, service level agreements, operational hours and holidays of the organization. Support services helps to keep track various customer related information, customer accounts and contact information. They help to keep the customer information up-to-date. Various Support Services configurations are,

• Configuring Support Plans

• Adding Support Services

• Configuring Service Level Agreements

• Configuring Operational Hours

• Configuring Holidays


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Configuring Support Plan Support plan is the design of support that is being paid for by the customer. For example, let us say a phone and e-mail support combination is available and is named as Gold Support, while Silver Support would just have e-mail support to the customer. Similarly you can define your own combinations or provide your own descriptions for what each of the support plan means for your organization. To open the support plan configuration page,



3. In the Contract Settings block, click the Support Plan icon . The next page displays the list of support plans that are already available. You can add, edit, and delete support plans as per your need.

To Add Support Plan,

1. From the Support Plan List view page, click the Add New Support Plan link at the top right corner of the page. This opens the Add Support Plan form.

2. Specify the Support Plan Name in the given text field. This is a mandatory field. 3. Specify the Description for the support plan in the given text field. 4. Select the Support Type from the combo box. 5. For the selected support type, if you have any specific Support Service then you can add the

support service to the plan using Add New link available beside the support services title. By default the list of all available support services will be displayed you can also select the existing services for the support plan by enabling the check box.

Example If you buy a walker from Acme corporation then you have free maintenance service of the walker yearly twice for 3 years. This support service can be added to the support type and plan.

6. Click Save. The new support plan is added to the already existing list. At any point you wish to cancel the operation that you are performing, click Cancel.

If you want to add more than one support plan, then instead of clicking Save, click Save and add new button. This adds the new support plan and reopens the add support plan form. At any point, if you decide not to add the new support plan, then click Cancel to get back to the support plan list. Clicking the View List link on the top right corner of the add support plan form will also take you to the support plan list view.

To Edit Support Plan,

1. From the Support Plan List page, click the edit icon beside the support plan name to be edited. This opens the Edit Support Plan form.

2. Modify the details and Save the changes. At any point, if you wish to cancel the operation that you are performing, click Cancel.

Even while editing a support plan, if you wish to add a new support plan, then click Save and add new button instead of clicking Save button after making the changes.


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Delete Support Plan

1. In the Support Plan List page, click the delete icon beside the support plan name that you wish to delete. A confirmation dialog appears.

2. Click OK to proceed with the deletion. If you do not want to delete the support plan, then click Cancel.


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Support Services All the support services provided for the customer through support plan/contract is specified using this option. The extra service provided for the customer is also specified here and under contract services.

To Add Contract Services,

1. Login to SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Admin tab in the header pane. This opens the configuration wizard page.

3. Under the Contract Settings block click the Contract Services icon . This opens the Contract Service list view page.

4. Click Add New Contract Service link on the right hand side of the page. This opens the Add Contract Service page.

5. Specify the Contract Service Name in the given text field. 6. Specify the Description of the contract service in the given text field. 7. Save the details. Click Save and Add New button to save and add another contract service.


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Configuring Service Level Agreements You can have service level agreements (SLAs) defined for speedy service provided by the support desk team. These SLAs help evaluating the efficiency, effectiveness, and responsiveness of the support desk team. SLAs can be defined for each individual or account. Say, a service request governed by SLAs is received by SupportCenter Plus, the priority for the request is automatically set based on the SLA rules. And if the request is not resolved within the specified time period of the SLA, you can set the escalation rules and escalate the issue to the higher authority.

To Add Service Level Agreement,

You can define SLAs, which will set the rules for attending the support requests generated from particular requesters/departments.

1. Login to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Admin tab in the header pane.

3. Under the Contract Settings block, click the Service Level Agreement icon . This opens the Service Level Agreements page.

4. Click Add New SLA link available at the top right corner of the SLA list page. 5. In the Add SLA form, enter the SLA Name. This field cannot be empty. 6. If required, you can provide a corresponding Description for the SLA. 7. Select the Support Plan from the combo box. 8. In the SLA rules block set the rules and criteria for the SLA. By default, the radio button

Match ALL of the following is selected. If you do not want all of them to be checked but if it is enough if any one of the rules are matched, then select the radio button Match ANY of the following.

9. Now, set the criteria by selecting from the Select Criteria combo box, and then choose the

individual values that need to be matched by clicking on the choose button. This will open the values from the database for that particular parent criteria that you choose from the combo box. Choose the values you want and click Select.

Example: If you want to match the Category with Warranty Problem then select Category from the combo box. Now click Choose button, to open the list of category in the pop-up window. Select the category from the list and click OK button. For multiple selection, press Shift or Ctrl key while selecting category. The selected category will appear in the text field just before the choose button.


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Note: If the criteria chosen was product, then rules set for it gets disabled. Hence a contract should be created for the product mentioning the support plan.

10. Click Add to Rules to add the defined rule to the Rules Set. 11. Set the Resolution Time. If you would like to resolve the request irrespective of the

operational hours select the Should be resolved irrespective of operational hours check box. By selecting this, you will be overriding the operational hours of your organization and the due by time will be calculated from the creation time without taking into consideration the holidays and operational hours.

12. If the request is not resolved within the specified resolution time, then you can set the escalation levels for notification. If you want to set the escalation levels, then select the check box available beside the Enable Level 1 notification. The level 1 notification expands.

13. To Escalate to, click the Choose button to open the list of available support rep names in a

pop-up window. 14. Choose the list of support reps to whom the escalation notification needs to be sent, and click

OK button. 15. Set the time after which the escalation must be done. Similarly, you can set 4 levels of

escalations. 16. Click Save once you are done with all the above.

If you want to add more than one SLA, click Save and add new instead of clicking Save. This adds the SLA and reopens the add SLA form. At any point, if you do not wish to add the SLA and would like to get back to the SLA list from the add SLA form, click Cancel. Clicking the View List link on the top right corner of the add SLA form will also take you to the SLA list view. The SLAs escalations are enabled by default. If you want to disable SLA escalations, click the Disable Escalation button in the SLA List view page.

To Edit Service Level Agreement,

1. In the SLA List page, click the edit icon beside the SLA Name to be edited. 2. Modify the details and Save the changes. Even while editing an SLA, if you wish to add

another new SLA, then click Save and add new button instead of clicking Save button after making the changes.

Delete Service Level Agreement

1. In the SLA List page, click the delete icon beside the SLA Name that you wish to delete. A confirmation dialog is opened.

2. Click OK to proceed with the deletion. If you do not want to delete the SLA, then click Cancel.

Organize Service Level Agreements

You can organize the SLA to appear in a particular order in the list view by following the steps below: 1. Click Organize SLA link available above the list of SLAs in the SLA List view. A pop-up

window is opened with the list of available SLAs in the order that is appearing the list view.


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2. Select an SLA, and click Move up or Move Down button beside the list. 3. Click Save.

Organizing the SLAs decide the order in which the SLA is applied on the incoming request.


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Configuring Operational Hours You can set the operational hours of your organization. The operational hours that you configure is used while calculating the request due by date and time. To set the organization's operational hours,



3. In the Contract Settings block, click the Operational Hours icon . The Operational Hours form is displayed.

4. In the above form, set the Start Time and End Time. This specifies the working hours of your

organization. If your organization works 24 hours, then select the Round the clock Operational hours (24 hours) radio button.

5. Now, select the days that your organization works by selecting the check boxes provided beside the days of the week.

6. Click Save. At any point if you wish not to modify the operational hours, then click Reset. If you have already set the operational hours and now you wish to modify the same, you still need to follow the same procedure as specified above. But in this case, when you click Operational Hours from the Admin Home page, it will open the Operational Hours form with the details that have been set earlier. You can make the necessary modifications and then click on Save.


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Configuring Holidays You can set your organizational annual holidays in the ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus application using the Holidays option available in the Admin page. This has the list of holidays during which the firm would remain closed and is exclusive of the weekends when the firm does not function. The holiday list is also used while calculating the due-by-time of a request. To open the holiday configuration page,

1. Log-in to the SupportCenter Plus application using the user name and password of an admin user.


3. In the Contract Settings block, click the Holidays icon . The next page displays the available list of holidays. You can add, edit, or delete holidays.

To Add Holidays,

To add holidays

1. Click Add New Holiday link available at the top right corner of the holiday list page. 2. In the Add Holiday form, there is a Date field where you can select the date using the

calender . This is a mandatory field and needs to be selected. If required, you can provide a corresponding description about the holiday.

3. Click Save. If you want to add more than one holiday, then click Save and add new, instead of clicking Save. This adds the holiday and reopens the add holiday form for you to add more holidays. At any point, if you do not wish to add the holiday and would like to get back to the holiday list, click Cancel. Clicking the View List link on the top right corner of the add holiday form will also take you to the holiday list view.

To Edit Holidays,

1. In the Holiday List page, click the edit icon beside the holiday Date that you wish to edit. 2. From the Edit Holiday form modify the details. And Save the changes. 3. Click Cancel to cancel the operation.

Even while editing a holiday, if you wish to add another new holiday, then click Save and add new button instead of clicking Save button after making the changes.

To Delete Holidays,

1. In the Holiday List page, click the delete icon beside the holiday Date that you wish to delete. A confirmation dialog appears.

2. Click OK to proceed with the delete operation. If you do not want to delete the holiday, then click Cancel.


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User and Related Settings

User Management

For making the SupportCenter Plus available and usable for all your customers, you need to add contacts and support reps, and define their roles. This enables the contacts to log in to the Self-Service Portal to check the status of the issues reported by them, submit requests, and search the knowledge base online. The added support reps can log in to the SupportCenter Plus application and pick up requests, review and resolve requests assigned to them, add solution articles, and so on. The user management configurations allow you to add contacts, support reps, account managers define roles, and login access permissions. The various user management configurations that you can perform are

• Adding Roles

• Adding Contact - Additional Fields

• Adding Support Reps

• Adding Support Rep - Additional Fields

• Adding Account Managers


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Configuring Roles ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus can be accessed by different people of your organization. Those who access the application will have a defined role and hence have a defined set of tasks to execute. SupportCenter Plus allows you to configure the roles and assign these roles to each and every user of the application. To open the role configuration page

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using the user name and password of a SupportCenter Plus administrator.


3. In the Users block, click the Roles icon . The next page displays the available list of roles. You can add, edit, or delete roles.

To Add Role,

1. Click the Add New Role link available at the top right corner of the Role List page. 2. In the Add Role form, enter the Role Name. This field cannot be empty and needs to be

unique. 3. Set the access permissions for the role. To set the access permission, just select the check

boxes beside the access levels defined for each of the modules of the application. For example, if you want to provide add permissions for the account and solution modules and only view permissions for the request module, select the check box below Add against the Accounts and Solutions modules. For the request module, select the check box below View. Selecting the Add check box automatically enables view permissions also.

4. You can also choose to restrict the support rep from viewing all the requests received by the application. To do this, select the corresponding radio button which will suit your need from the following:

1. All: The support rep with this role can view all the requests that are received in SupportCenter Plus.

2. All in Group & assigned to him: The support rep will be able to view all the requests in the queue to which he/she belongs to and also those requests that are assigned to him/her.

3. Assigned to him: The support rep can view those requests that are assigned to him/her only.

5. Enter the description for the role you are adding. 6. Click Save.

If you want to add more than one role, then instead of clicking Save, click Save and add new button. This adds the new role and reopens the add role form after displaying a message for the addition of the role. At any point, if you decide not to add the new role, then click Cancel to get back to the role list. Clicking the View List link on the top right corner of the add role form will also take you to the role list view.


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To Edit Role,

1. In the Role List page, click the edit icon beside the role name that you wish to edit. This opens the Edit Role form.


Even while editing a role, if you wish to add a new role, click the Save and add new button instead of clicking Save button after making the changes. The Add Role form opens after displaying a message that the changes are saved.

Delete Role

1. In the Role List page, click the delete icon beside the role name that you wish to delete. This opens confirmation dialog box.

2. Click OK to proceed with the deletion. If you do not want to delete the role, then click Cancel.

Note: You cannot edit or delete the SDAdmin and SDGuest roles that are already defined in the application. They are the default administrator and contact roles defined.


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Configuring Contact - Additional Fields You can define your own organization specific fields that need to appear in the New Contact form of the request apart from the pre-set fields in the form. You can add Text fields, Numeric fields and Date type fields in the form.


1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using the user name and password. 2. Click the Admin tab in the header pane. This opens the configuration wizard page. 3. Under the User and Related Settings block click the Contact - Additional Fields icon

. This opens the Contact - Additional Fields page. 4. Click Request - Additional Fields link from the menu list on the left hand side of the

page. This opens the Request Additional Fields. You can add Text fields, Numeric fields, Date and Time fields in the form.

1. Configuring Additional Text fields





2. Configuring Additional Numeric fields

1. Click on the Numeric tab. You can configure 4 additional numeric fields for a contact. 2. Specify the Label for the additional field. This is a mandatory field. 3. Specify any relevant information about the additional fields in the Description text


3. Configuring Additional Date/Time fields.

1. Click on the Date/Time tab. You can configure 4 additional fields for a contact. 2. Specify the Label for the additional field. This is a mandatory field. 3. Specify any relevant information about the additional fields in the Description text


These fields appear under the grouping Additional Contact Details in the New Contact form. To delete the user-defined fields, instead of adding the label names, delete the label names that you wish to remove from the fields of the form and click Save. The respective fields that you deleted will be removed from the New Contact form.


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Configuring Support Reps The IT help desk team will have support reps who will be handling the requests posted/raised by various employees in the organization. You can add, edit, or remove the support reps in the SupportCenter Plus application and also provide them with various access privileges that suit their role and need. To open the support rep configuration page,



3. In the Users block, click the Support Reps icon . Here you can add, edit or delete support reps.

To Add Support Rep,

1. Click the Add New Support Rep link available in the top right corner of the Support Rep List page.

2. In the Add Support Rep form, specify the Full Name and Employee ID of the support rep in the Personal Details block. The name is a mandatory field.

3. Specify the job title of the support rep in the given text field. 4. In the contact information block, enter a valid E-mail ID. If the support rep has a phone and a

mobile number, you can enter the same in the space provided for entering these values. 5. You can also enter the SMS Mail ID if the support rep has one. 6. Enter the cost details of the support rep in the Cost per hour field. 7. If you have added any organization-specific fields for the new support rep form, those will be

available under the Additional Support Rep Details block. Enter the relevant information. 8. Now, in the Login Details block, you can provide login access to the support rep with specific

access privileges or enable administrative privileges for the support rep. To enable login access to the support rep with specific access privileges, select the check box beside the statement Enable Login for this Support Rep. This displays the Assign Role block just below the login and password fields.

9. Enter the Login Name and Password. Enter the password again in the Re-type Password field. All these fields are mandatory if login is enabled. Also note that the login name needs to be unique.

10. In the Assign Role block, select the roles from the Available Roles list and click the >> button to assign those roles to the support rep. If you want to remove any of the roles assigned, then select the role from the Assigned Role list and click << button. The selected roles will be removed. To enable administrative privileges, just select the check box Enable Administrator Privileges for this Support Rep.

11. Click Save. If you want to add more than one support rep, then instead of clicking Save, click Save and add new button. This adds the new support rep and reopens the add support rep form after displaying a message that the new support rep is added successfully. If you decide to give the login access for the support rep at a later time, you can save the support rep details without the login details. For this, you need to stop with the step 5 and click Save. Later you can add the login details by editing the support rep details.


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At any point, if you decide not to add the new support rep, then click Cancel to get back to the support rep list. Clicking the View List link on the top right corner of the add support rep form will also take you to the support rep list view.

Edit Support Rep

If you have added a support rep without giving the login details, then you can enable the same by editing the support rep's details. To edit the support rep information,

1. Click the edit icon of the support rep to be edited. This opens the edit support rep page. 2. Modify the details. And Save the changes.

Even while editing a support rep, if you wish to add a new support rep, then click Save and add new button instead of clicking Save button after making the changes. The Add Support Rep form opens after displaying a message that the changes have been updated successfully. You can also change the password of the support rep from the Edit Support Rep form.

To Reset Password,

1. Click the Reset Password link available beside the Password field in the Edit Support Rep form.

2. This opens Reset Password form. Enter the New Password in the field provided below the login name.

3. Click Reset Password button. If you do not wish to change the password, click Close button. 4. Click Save in the Edit Support Rep form.

Removing Login Permissions

While editing the support rep details, you can also choose to remove his/her login permissions.

1. In the Edit Support Rep form below the password field, click the Yes link beside the Remove Login field. A confirmation window appears.

2. To continue removing the login permissions, click OK. A message is displayed informing the removal of the login permissions and the support rep edit form is displayed without the login details. If you do not wish to remove the login permission, click Cancel.

3. Click Save.


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Delete Support Reps

1. In the Support Rep List page, click the delete icon beside the support rep's full name that you wish to delete. A confirmation dialog is opened.

2. Click OK to proceed with the delete operation. If you do not want to delete the support rep, then click Cancel.

Note: Delete icon will not be available beside the name of the support rep who has currently logged in to the application. To delete that support rep, you need to log out and log in as a different support rep and then delete the details. Also, the administrator support rep details can be deleted only by another support rep with administrative privileges.

Import Users from Active Directory

You can also import users (support reps) from the Active Directory. To import users from the Active Directory,

1. Click on the Import Users from Active Directory link on the right hand side of the support rep view list page. This opens the Import from Active Directory page as shown below,

2. Select the Domain Name from the combo box. This is mandatory field. 3. Specify the Domain Controller name. Ex: sdp-win2k3. This is a mandatory field. 4. Specify the Login name & Password. Both are mandatory fields. 5. You also have an option to select the fields to import from the active directory. The unselected

fields will not be imported. 6. Click Next. This opens the import wizard page, which displays the various Organizational

Units (OUs) available in the domain. 7. Select the specific OU to import users from that particular OU by enabling the check box. 8. Click Start Importing button to import the users. After importing the users you get a report on

successful and failed import. 9. Click Close Window.

On importing users from Active Directory, the Login permissions (either AD authentication or Local authentication)should be provided.


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To enable AD Login

1. Select the check box adjacent to the support reps name. 2. Click Enable AD Login button. The AD Login permission will be enabled subjected to your

licences. 3. Using the AD Login name the support rep can login to the application, choosing the

corresponding Domain name from the drop down box.


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Configuring Support Rep - Additional Fields You can define your own organization specific fields that need to appear in the Support Rep form of the request apart from the pre-set fields in the form. You can add Text fields, Numeric fields and Date type fields in the form.


1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using the user name and password. 2. Click the Admin tab in the header pane. This opens the configuration wizard page. 3. Under the User and Related Settings block click the Support Rep Additional

Fields icon . This opens the Support Rep - Additional Fields page. You can add Text fields, Numeric fields, Date and Time fields in the form.

2. Configuring Additional Text fields





3. Configuring Additional Numeric fields

1. Click on the Numeric tab. You can configure 4 additional numeric fields for support rep.



4. Configuring Additional Date/Time fields.

1. Click on the Date/Time tab. You can configure 4 additional fields for support rep. 2. Specify the Label for the additional field. This is a mandatory field. 3. Specify any relevant information about the additional fields in the Description text


These fields appear under the grouping Additional Support Rep Details in the New Support Rep form. To delete the user-defined fields, in step 4 through 8, instead of adding the label names, delete the label names that you wish to remove from the fields of the form and click Save. The respective fields that you deleted will be removed from the New Support Rep form.


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Account Manager The account manager keeps a track of the customer account and keeps them up to date. The account managers are those who are in close association to the customers say for ex. re-sellers can be account managers as they are in close association with the customer and the support reps. The account manager have permissions to view all the request raised by the contacts in the account, thereby coordinating with the support rep to solve the issues immediately. To add the Account Manager,

1. Login to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Admin tab in the header pane. This opens the Configuration wizard page.

3. Under the User and Related Settings block, click the Account Managers icon . This opens the Account Manager list page.

4. Click the Add New Account Manager link on the right hand side of the page. This opens the Add Account Manager page.

5. Enter the Account Manager Name in the given text field. This is a mandatory field. 6. Specify the Employee ID of the account manager in the given text field. 7. Specify the contact information of the account manager such as, E-mail, Phone and Mobile

details in the corresponding fields. 8. Specify the Login Details of the account manager such as, Login Name, Password and Re-

type Password details 9. Click Save to save the details. If you would like to add another account manager click Save

and Add New button.

To Edit Account Manager,

1. From the Account Manager list view page, click the edit icon beside the account manager name to be edited. This opens the Edit Account Manager form.


3. Even while editing a account manager, if you wish to add a new account manager, click the Save and add new button instead of clicking Save button after making the changes.

To Delete Account Manager,

1. In the Account Manager page, click the delete icon beside the account manager name to be deleted. This opens confirmation dialog box.

2. Click OK to proceed with the delete operation. If you do not want to delete the account manager click Cancel.


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User Survey Settings

User Survey

You can easily configure the customer satisfaction survey to collect information on various key parameters that you would like to measure about the support team and the response quality. You can define your own survey and the reports will be generated based on the survey that you have defined. You can also set the frequency of conducting the survey. The various survey related configurations that you can perform are

• Configuring Survey Settings

• Defining a Survey

• Send Survey Apart from the above configurations you can also do the following survey related actions,

• Survey Preview for a Request

• Viewing the Survey Results Once you have completed configuring and defining the survey, you can have a look at the preview of the survey by clicking the Survey Preview link on the left menu or the Survey Preview icon in the Admin tab. To access the user survey related configurations


2. Click the Admin tab in the header pane. The User Survey block is below the Users block.


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Configuring Survey Settings Survey settings enables you to configure the default values for welcome message, survey success or failure message, and thank you message. You can also choose to enable or disable a survey. If you enable a survey you can also schedule the periodicity of conducting the survey. To configure the survey settings

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application with the User name and Password of a SupportCenter Plus administrator.


3. In the User Survey block, click the Survey Settings icon . The Survey Settings page is displayed.

4. To enable the survey, select the check box Enable User Survey. 5. Under the Survey Details block, enter the Sender Name. 6. In the Welcome Message text area, enter the message that you wish to display as the

welcome message to the user taking the survey. 7. In the Success Message text area, enter the message that you would display on successful

submission of the survey by the user. 8. When the survey is taken by a person who has already submitted the answers for the survey,

then you will have to display a failure message. You can enter the same in the Failure Message text area.

9. You can also enter the thank you message that will be displayed just before the Submit button in a survey, in the Thanks Message text area.

10. To schedule the survey, in the Schedule Survey block, choose the radio button that you wish to set as a criteria for sending the survey.


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11. Click Save. The survey settings are saved.


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Defining a Survey You can define your own survey by adding your own questions and satisfaction levels that will suit the needs of your organization and users. To define your survey



3. In the User Survey block, click the Define a Survey icon . Here you can add, edit, or delete your survey questions and satisfaction levels.

Add Survey Questions

To add a survey questions

1. Click the + Add Question button available in the Questions tab in the Define Survey page. 2. In the Question pop-up window, type your question in the text area provided. 3. Click Save. The question will get added in the Define Survey Questions tab.

You can add any number of questions to the survey by following the above steps. As you keep adding questions it will get appended at the end of the list of questions. You can change the order of the questions by clicking the Move Up and Move Down link that is available beside each question.

To Edit a Survey Question

1. In the Questions tab, click the Edit link beside the question that you wish to edit. 2. In the Question pop-up window, edit the question displayed in the text area. 3. Click Save. The Define Survey page is refreshed to display the modifications made.

Delete a Survey Question

1. In the Questions tab, click Delete link beside the question that you wish to delete. A confirmation dialog pops up.

2. Click OK to delete the question.

Note: If you delete a question from a survey, then it will have an impact on the survey results that have been collected previously.

Add Satisfaction Levels

To add satisfaction levels that will be displayed as choices for each of the survey questions 1. Click the Satisfaction Levels tab in the Define Survey page. 2. Click + Add Level button. 3. In the satisfaction level pop-up window, enter the satisfaction level in the text area provided. 4. Click Save. The satisfaction level is added and the Define Survey page is refreshed to

display the added satisfaction level.


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You can add any number of satisfaction level to the survey by following the above steps. As you keep adding the levels it will get appended at the end of the list of already added levels. You can change the order of the same by clicking the Move Up and Move Down link that is available beside each question. Satisfaction levels scales from good to bad, good at the top bad at the bottom. Moving up or down changes the satisfaction levels. Whatever the text may be level 1 at the top most of the list has the least value. And the level at the bottom of the list has highest value. Example: If the satisfaction level ranges from 1 to 5. level 1 at the top most is the lowest and level 5 which is at the bottom most is the highest.

To Edit a Satisfaction Level

1. In the Satisfaction Levels tab, click the Edit link beside the satisfaction level that you wish to edit.

2. In the satisfaction level pop-up window, edit the satisfaction level displayed in the text area. 3. Click Save. The Define Survey page is refreshed to display the modifications made.

Delete a Satisfaction Level

1. In the Satisfaction Levels tab, click the Delete link beside the satisfaction level that you wish to delete. A confirmation dialog pops up.

2. Click OK to delete the satisfaction level.

Note: If you delete a satisfaction level from a survey or change its order, then it will have an impact on the survey results that have been collected previously.


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Sending Survey Once you have completed, enabled and scheduled the Survey Settings, you have to define the Survey Questions and Satisfaction Levels. Then each time a request is closed a survey mail with a link will be sent to the contact automatically as shown below,

On clicking the link opens the User Satisfaction Survey page as shown below,


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Once the contact answers the survey questions and submits the survey, they get displayed in the Survey Results page as shown below,

Note: The following conditions need to be true for the Send Survey for this Request link to be visible:

1. Either a support rep or administrator should have logged in. 2. The request must be closed. 3. The User Survey must be enable in the Survey Settings.


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Survey Preview You also have an option to preview the User Survey settings. For User Survey Preview,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using the user name and password. 2. Click the Admin tab. This opens the configuration wizard page.

3. Click the Survey Preview icon . This opens the Preview Survey page. You can have preview of the survey with its questions and levels.


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Viewing Survey Results Once the contact completes the survey, the support rep can view the survey results. To view the survey results,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using the user name and password. 2. Click the Admin tab. This opens the configuration wizard page.

3. Click the Survey Results icon .This opens the Survey Results list view page. 4. Click the title of the survey result. This opens the User Satisfaction Survey page as shown

below,

5. Click Close button.

Note: 1. The View Survey Results link appears only if the contact has completed taking

the survey. Else this link will not be present. 2. Once the survey is submitted, the responses cannot be changed.


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General Settings Organization details and all general settings such as, My Reminders, People, Contact auto-addition configuration, Request cost, Contact authorization, Currency, Product Display, Contact Details, Alias URL, Outlook Configuration and so on will be configured under this block. General Settings configurations are,

• Organization Details • Settings


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Configuring Organization Details You can configure your organization's details in the SupportCenter Plus application. This information will be used in various cases. To configure your organization's details



3. In the Helpdesk block, click the Organization icon . The Organization Details form is displayed.

4. Enter the Name of your organization. You cannot leave the name field empty. The other fields can be empty. But if you have the required information, then enter them as explained in the following steps.

5. The Description field can contain information about what your organization specializes. 6. The next block collects the Address of your organization. Enter the address details in the

relevant fields, such as address, city, postal code, state, and country. 7. If you have a common contact E-mail ID, then enter the same in the E-mail ID field. 8. Enter the Phone No and Fax No and Web URL of your company's web site. 9. You can import the company logo and use that in places where the organization details are

being used. 1. Click Import Image button beside the Company Logo field. 2. Click the Browse button and choose the image file from the file chooser window and

click Open. 3. Click Import.

10. By default, the Use this image check box is enabled. If you do not wish to use this image, then disable the check box.

11. Click Save. At a later time, if you wish to edit the information that you entered now, you can do so by following the same procedure explained above.


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Configuring General Settings General settings has 16 different settings to be configured in SupportCenter Plus such as, Display Language,My Reminders, People, Contact auto-addition configuration, contact authorization, request cost, currency, Alias URL, Customize SupportCenter Plus and so on. To open the General settings page,

1. Login to SupportCenter Plus using your user name and password. 2. Click the Admin tab in the header pane. This opens the configuration wizard page.

3. Under the Helpdesk block click the Settings icon . This opens the Settings page.

Display Language

Select the language in which the application should be displayed by default from the combo box. For ex Chinese, Dutch. The browser default language is English.

My Reminders

If you wish to show all your tasks as reminders to the contact then, select Yes radio button else select No option. The reminders will be shown in the home page.

People

If you would like to show Support Team's availability information to Contacts then select Yes radio button else select No radio button. On selecting the Yes radio button the contact team's availability details will be displayed under the Support Team tab in the home page.

Contact auto-addition configuration

If you get a new request from an un-known contact then you have four options to select as what should be done with the request. The options available are,

• Do not log the request: This option will not log any of the new request details.

• Log the request, but do not add the contact unless approved: On selecting this option, will not add the contact information to the server unless approved by the support rep.

• Log the request and add the contact without approval: This option will add the contact details to the server automatically without any formal approval.

• Also create self-service login account: This will create a login account automatically for the new contact.

Select any one of the available options as per your need.

Contact Authorization

If you do not want to show the customer portal page to the contacts unless he/she has login permissions then select this option.


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Request Cost

If you would like to show the request cost to the customers then you have three options to select,

• Don't show to contacts

• Show only to primary costs • Show All contacts

Currency

Specify the default currency of the SupportCenter Plus in the given text field. This unit will be used in all the places where cost calculation is done. Default currency specified in SupportCenter Plus is $.

Max Attachment Size

You also have an option to set the Maximum size of Incoming and Outgoing mail attachment in SupportCenter Plus. By default you have max of Incoming mail attachment to be 10 MB and outgoing of 5 MB.

Product Display

While adding a new request you can configure to display only the Account-based products or All products. To configure product display, click the corresponding radio button to select any one of the option from the combo box.

Contact Details

If you wish to allow the contacts to edit their profile then select Allowed to edit their profile else select Not allowed to edit their profile.

Alias URL

To provide an alternate URL, 1. In the text field provided beside the http:// text, enter the URL (along with the port number if needed). 2. Click the Open alias URL in a new window link just below the text field, to test if the alias URL works.

Outlook Configuration

If you have all the contact details in Outlook and while importing the details to SupportCenter Plus if you would to create a new login automatically for all the contacts then select the check box. E-mail id will be taken as user name and password.

Forum Configuration

If you would like to route all the forum posts to SupportCenter Plus as requests then specify the mail address in the given text field.

Online Status

On logging in to the application to show your default online status as IN or OUT select the corresponding radio button. The login status will be shown at top right hand side of the application.


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Solutions View

Non Loggedin users and users without account can view the solutions to common problems in the login screen without raising a request. To view the solutions, enable any of the radio buttons to view,

• All Topics : All the topics in solutions can be viewed in the Login screen.

• No Topics : On enabling the radio button, no topics can be viewed in the login screen.

• Select Topics Template : On enabling this option, the topic template gets listed in the combo box. Select the topic template to be viewed in the login screen.

The solutions can be viewed in the following URL: http://<server name>:<port number>/sd/SolutionsHome.sd

Customize SupportCenter

You can customize the application by choosing to display your custom logo. You need to add the logo in two dimensions, one for the login page and the other for the header image that you see on the top left corner of the pages once you login. The login page image should be of the dimensions 260 px x 65 px (W x H), while the header image needs to be 190 px x 27 px. To import the login page image, 1. Click Import image ... button. 2. Click Browse button to choose the image. 3. In the file chooser window, select the file that you wish to import and click Open. 4. Click Import. The image that you just imported will be replaced instead of the login page image. Follow the same process for header image also. Click Save, to save the changes made in the settings.


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Reports

About SupportCenter Plus Reports

Reports in SupportCenter Plus can be classified as Survey Reports, Account Reports, Timespent Reports, Reports by Overdue requests, Reports by Completed requests, Reports by Pending requests, Reports by all requests and Summary Reports.

Survey Reports

These reports provide you with the summary details on the survey results based on various parameters. All these reports help in measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of the support team and take respective corrective actions. Under Survey reports you have, Survey Overview Report which gives you the overall ratings of each of the questions in the

survey based on the feedback of the users who took the survey. The ratings give you an idea about the value that is associated with the corresponding question. This report provides both tabular and a graphic representation of the results.

Survey Results by Category report has the survey information grouped based on the category. Against each category, the points gained by each of the survey questions will be tabulated. Depending on the kind of survey questions, this report will provide valuable information based on individual request categories.

Survey Results by Department has the survey information grouped based on the department from which the requests originated. The points for each question of the survey is mapped against the department name from where the request originated.

Survey Results by Level has the survey information grouped based on the level of the requests. The points for each question of the survey is mapped against the level of the request for which the survey was sent.

Survey Results by Mode has the survey information grouped based on the mode of the requests. The points for each question of the survey is mapped against the mode of the request for which the survey was sent. This also gives you an idea on the mode of request that is most frequently used to create a new request.

Survey Results by Priority has the survey information grouped based on the priority of the requests. The points for each question of the survey is mapped against the priority of the request for which the survey was sent.

Survey Results by Contact has the survey information grouped based on individual contact. This helps you in finding out which contact has sent the maximum number of requests and any other information based on your survey questions. This will give you an idea of the users perspective and help you in deciding about the corrective actions that need to be taken to make the support team more efficient and effective.

Survey Results by Support Rep has the survey information grouped based on individual support reps. Each of the survey questions will carry some value and based on this value, the average value for the questions will be marked against the support reps. These points will enable you to objectively measure the support reps efficiency and effectiveness from the users perspective and take any corrective measures, if required.

Account Reports

These reports provide you with the summary of account details with several parameters such as Report by Product, Product Zone, Time Zone, Report by Account City, Report by Account Country and Report by Account Industry. Using these reports you can track the number of request raised from each account and zone.


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Request Timespent Reports

These reports provide information on the support rep's time spent on requests and the cost per support rep based on the time spent. You can group the report information based on Account, Contact, Product and Product Type of the request. The time spent report by contact, gives you an idea on the cost per contact and the number of request. By default, the support desk reports will be created for the current week. You can choose any custom period of your choice or choose to create reports for last week, or this month, or for just this day. All these reports can be used for analysis purposes. For example, the reports mapped against the parameter support rep can be used to measure the support rep responsiveness and load handling capability.

Reports by Overdue requests

You can get the report of all the overdue requests from Account, Category, Contact, level, Priority, Group, Contact, Product Type, Support Rep, Mode, Due Date and Created date. Thus these reports helps in improving the service and rectify the mistakes for mutual benefit.

Reports by completed requests

These reports show the distribution of completed and closed requests. Similar to Survey Reports, these reports are generated based on various parameters such as Category, Account, Contact, Level, Mode, Priority, Group, Product and Product Type.

Reports by pending requests

This shows the distribution of all pending requests for a specific period of time, based on different parameters, such as Category, Account, Contact, Level, Mode, Priority, Group, Product, Product Type and Support Rep.

Reports by all requests

These reports provide you with graphical view of all open and closed requests by Category, Created Date, Account, Level, Priority, Status, Group, Product, Product Type, Contact, Support Rep, request status by Category, Level, Priority, Support Rep, Account and Contact.

Request Summary requests

These reports provide you with a high level view of the requests Received and Completed during a particular period date-wise. These reports are generated based on various parameters such as Category, Account, Contact, Level , Mode, Priority, Support Rep, Group, Product and Product type. These parameters are applicable for both Receive and Completed requests.


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Creating New Custom Reports SupportCenter Plus enables you to create reports that meet your organization needs. To create your own custom reports,

1. Login to SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click Reports tab in the header pane. This opens the All Reports page. 3. Click the Create button. This will list three options, select New Custom Report option from

the list. This opens the Custom Reports page. 4. Specify the relevant Report Title in the given text field. This is a mandatory field. 5. Choose the Report Type by selecting the radio buttons. You can create Tabular Reports

and Matrix Reports 6. Choose the module (Request, Time Spent, Survey and so on) for which you would like to

create custom reports. 7. Click Proceed to Report Wizard button. This opens the Display Columns page. This page

differs for each report type. Each report type has to go through various steps before generating it as a customized report.

Generating Tabular Reports

Tabular reports are simple reports that allow you to list your data based on certain criteria. You can select the columns to view and group the output data. If you had selected the Tabular Reports option in step 5 above, then follow the steps below to create a tabular report.

Step 1. Select Columns to Display

1. Click Select columns to display title. 2. Select the columns to be displayed in the report by selecting it from the Available

Columns list and move it to Display Columns list using >> button. You can also order the column list using upward and backward button.

Step 2. Filter Options

1. On selecting the columns to be displayed in the reports, you need to specify the Filter Options for the columns. Click the Filter Options title.

2. Specify the Date Filter by selecting the Column, Day and Date. 3. If you wish to add Advanced Filtering select the Column Name, Criteria from the

drop down list. And specify the value by clicking the Choose button. You can add 'n' number of Name and Criteria and match with AND or OR condition.

Step 3. Select Column to Group

1. Click Column to Group title to open the link. 2. Select the column data to be grouped from the Group by and Order by combo box.

You also have an model column on the right hand side of the page.


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Step 4. Select Summary Type

If you have selected any numeric field in the columns to display option then, this option will be available. Select the column summary options available for each column. Column summary options are count, sum, average, maximum value and minimum value. Select the column summary options by enabling the check box. These selected column summary will be displayed in the reports.

Step 5. Charts

Choose the chart type to show the result in graphical format. 1. Clicking the Charts title opens the choose a chart type page. 2. Select the Chart Type from the combo box. Say Pie chart or Bar chart and so on. On

selecting the chart type a model chart type will be displayed on the right hand side of the page.

3. Select Run Report>> button. On running the report you get a tabular report as well as the graphical view for the selected column data.

If you would like to save the report, click Save Report button. Specify the report name, folder name, declare it as public or private and save the report. Enter the Report Name and Save the Report. If you wish to edit the report click the Edit button, which will take through the Report Wizard again. Modify the details and Save the report. If you would like to view the SQL Query used in the database to run the report then click Show Query button. If you would like to mail the report then click Mail this Report button. This opens the mail this report page, select the Format from the combo box. Specify the To address in the given text field. Specify the Subject and Description of the mail and send the mail.

You have an option to export this report to HTML file, PDF file, XLS file and CSV file. To know how to export to PDF, refer to the section Exporting Report as PDF.

Generating Matrix Reports

Matrix reports provides the data in a grid manner (m x n format). It allows you to study different scenarios based on the chosen criteria. To create a matrix report, you must choose the corresponding radio button in the create report form. In the Filter setting stage of the Report wizard, follow the steps below:

Step 1. Select Column to Group

You have simple grouping and advanced grouping option for matrix reports

Simple Grouping 1. Click the Simple grouping tab. You have two options Top column information and

left column information. 2. Select the top column information to be displayed in the report from the combo box.

This is a mandatory field. 3. Select the left column information to be displayed in the report from the combo box.

This is a mandatory field.


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4. Select the summarize column count from the combo box to get the column summary. You can see the model matrix report in between the top and left column information.

Advanced Grouping 1. Click the Advanced grouping tab. You have two options Column grouping and

Group by. 2. Select the Columns and Date format from the combo box in the Column Grouping

option. Select the Group by from the combo box. You have three options for group by to be displayed in the report. This is a mandatory field.

3. Select the Summarize column from the combo box. You have sum, average, max & min value for numeric columns.

Step 2. Filter Options

1. Click Filter Options title. You have Date Filter and Advanced Filtering for grouping. 2. Select the column name, time and date for the Date filter. For Advanced Filtering,

select the Column Name, Criteria from the combo box. Select the Value from the choose button. You can add 'n' number of column Name and Criteria and match with AND or OR condition

3. Click Run Report>>. On running the report you get a Matrix report for the selected column data.

If you would like to save the report, click Save Report button. Specify the report name, folder name, declare it as public or private and save the report.

If you wish to edit the report click the Edit button, which will take through the Report Wizard again. Modify the details and Save the report. If you would like to view the SQL Query used in the database to run the report then click Show Query button. If you would like to mail the report then click Mail this Report button. This opens the mail this report page, select the Format from the combo box. Specify the To address in the given text field. Specify the Subject and Description of the mail and send the mail.

You have an option to export this report to HTML file, PDF file, XLS file and CSV file. To know how to export to PDF, refer to the section Exporting Report as PDF.

Delete Custom Reports

You can delete the custom reports that you have created and saved. Just click Delete link available against the custom report that you wish to delete. This will delete the report.


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New Query Reports 1. Click on the Reports tab. This opens the All Reports page. 2. Click Create button. Click New Query Report option. This opens the Query Editor page. 3. Specify the title of the report in the Report Title field. This is a mandatory field. 4. Specify the query to be executed for getting reports in the Query field. This is a mandatory

field. 5. The logs will display all error messages on providing any wrong query. 6. Click Run Report to run query report.

Tips 1. Date Formulae: DATE_FORMAT (FROM_UNIXTIME (COLUMN_NAME/1000),'%d-%m-%Y

%k: %i') 'Column Alias'. 2. Minutes Formulae: ROUND ((((COLUMN_NAME/1000)/60)) % 60) 'Minutes'. 3. Hours Formulae: ROUND (((COLUMN_NAME/1000)/3600)) 'Hours'. 4. Compare Date: COLUMN_NAME >= (UNIX_TIMESTAMP (DATE ('2006-07-24 00:00:00')) *

1000). 5. Convert Memory in GB: ((((MEMORY_COLUMN)/1024)/1024)/1024) 6. Default Value For Null Data: COALESCE (COLUMN_NAME, 'Unassigned') 7. Group by: Query statement will be ends with order by <column_index>


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New Scheduled Reports You have an option to schedule reports in SupportCenter Plus. On scheduling the reports, the selected reports gets generated automatically on the specified date and time and the generated report will be sent to the respective person through e-mail. Thus by scheduling the reports you get the data in regular intervals without manually generating it. To Schedule Reports,

1. Click Reports tab. This opens the All Reports page. 2. Click the Create button. Click New Scheduled Report option from the list. This opens

Schedule Report Settings page. You have four option to schedule reports, Generate Once: To generate report once click Generate Once radio button. Specify the date using the calendar button and Time from the combo box on which the report has to be generated.

Daily Report: To generate reports on a daily basis click Daily Report radio button and specify the From Date, Time, report to be scheduled and the e-mail address of the person to whom the report has to be sent. Save the details.

Weekly Report: To generate weekly report click Weekly Report radio button. Specify the days of the week on which you want to generate reports by selecting the check box. Or select Everyday check box to generate reports on daily basis. And specify the time. Monthly Report: To generate reports on a monthly basis click Monthly Report radio button. Specify the month on which the report has to be generated by enabling the check box. Or select Every Month check box to generate reports on monthly basis.

3. Once you select the Schedule Type, select the Report to schedule by selecting the Report Name from the combo box. The list will display all the available reports such as, Survey Reports, Account Reports, Timespent Reports, Reports by overdue requests, Reports by Completed requests, Reports by Pending request and so on. This is a mandatory field.

4. Select the Format type from the combo box. . This is a mandatory field. 5. Specify the E-mail ID of the person to whom the generated report has to be sent. Specify the

Subject and Message in the given text fields. 6. Save the details.


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Custom Settings The custom settings wizard helps you to customize the report column size. This helps to increase or decrease the tabular column size, matrix column size and modify the date and time format of your custom reports.

1. Click Reports tab. This opens the All Reports page. 2. Click the Custom Settings button. This opens Report Settings page. 3. If you wish to customize the Tabular column size, specify the size of the small text, large

text, number size and date and time text. And update the changes. 4. If you wish to customize the Matrix column size, specify the size of the cell width and cell

height and update the changes. 5. You can also change the Date and Time format to be displayed in the report. If you specify

the format in the given text field as MM-dd-yyyy HH:mm then the result would be Date: 09-20-2007 Time:03:20.

6. Click the Update button to update the changes. While generating reports the customized report format will be displayed.


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Exporting Report as PDF You can export the report as PDF and save the PDF version of the report for future reference. To export a report as PDF

1. Generate the report that you want. To know how to generate a report, refer to the Viewing Helpdesk Reports topic.

2. In the report view, click the Export as PDF link available at the top right corner of the report block.

3. If you have a PDF reader (Acrobat Reader), you will be asked if you want to open the document in your default PDF reader. Or else, you can choose to save the PDF document to your disk by selecting the Save to Disk radio button. If you want to open the PDF in a PDF reader, then leave the default selected option as is.

4. Click OK. The PDF document is opened in your default PDF reader.

5. Save the PDF document for future reference.


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General Features This topic explains the various features that are not grouped under any of the modules but can be used from the application.

• System Log Viewer • Personalize ( Change Password) • Feedback • Back up and Restore • Changing Web Server Port • Technical Support Avalibility


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System Log Viewer You can view the error logs generated by the SupportCenter Plus application online. To view the error logs

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. If you have the permissions to view the support information, you will see a Support tab in the header pane.

2. Click the Support tab. This opens the System Log page. 3. Click the System Log Viewer link available in the Support page.

To view the individual error details

1. In the Error Log list view page, click the hyperlinked Error Message. This opens the error log details page.

2. The Error Message field contains the complete error message. 3. The Module field indicates the module in which the error occurred. 4. The Occurred At field indicates the date and time when the error occurred. 5. If the probable cause of the error is known, then the cause is displayed in the Probable

Cause field. 6. The Performed By field indicates the origin of the error. For example, if it is a system-

generated error, then the Performed By field contains System as its value. 7. Click Close after viewing the details of the error message.

None of these fields are editable. You can also search for a specific error log details with the help of the Search in feature. To search for error logs

1. In the left menu, the search block is found at the bottom. If you are in the Error Log list view page, then by default, the System Log option is chosen in the Search in combo box. If not, then choose System Log.

2. In the Enter Keyword text field, enter the search string. 3. Press Enter on your keyboard or click Go. The search results will display all the error logs

that match the search string. 4. Click the error log of your choice to view the same.

You can delete these error logs. To delete individual error logs

1. In the Error Log list view, select check boxes beside the Error Messages that you wish to delete.

2. Click Delete. If you want to delete all the existing error messages, then click the Delete All button.


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Personalize You can change your login password and display language using this option. Apart from the option of changing password from the user management configurations, you can also change your individual password. To Change Password,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click the Personalize link available at the top right corner of the page. This opens the

Personalize page. 3. Enter your old password in the Current Password field. 4. Enter your new password in the New Password field. 5. In the Confirm New Password, enter the new password again. 6. Click Save button. Your login password will be changed as you have specified.

To Change Display Language,

1. From the Personalize page, click the Display Language tab. 2. Select the default language to be displayed from the drop down box. 3. Save the settings.


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Feedback If you are connected to the network you can send your feedback about SupportCenter Plus immediately to our support team. To send your feedback,

1. Log in to the SupportCenter Plus application using your user name and password. 2. Click Feedback link available at the top left corner of the page. This opens the Feedback pop

up window. 3. The To address will be in non-editable format to our support team . Specify Your Name, Your

email ID, Subject of the mail and Message mail content in their corresponding fields. 4. Click Submit button to send the mail.


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Back up and Restore


In Windows

Follow the steps given below to take a back up of the ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus data:

1. Click Start -> Programs -> ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus 4 -> Backup Data. A back up of the data and the file attachments that have been added to the application will be created.

The back up file will be created in the <SupportCenter>\backup directory. The file name for the back up file will be of the pattern BackUp_monthdate_year_hr_min.data. An example of the back up file name: BackUp_May20_2005_23_15.data To restore the back up data

1. Go to <SupportCenter>\bin directory.

2. Execute the file restoreData.bat at command prompt as shown below:

restoreData.bat <backup file name> The back up file name has to be the .data file from which you wish to restore the data. This will restore the data from the back up file.

Note: The SupportCenter Plus server needs to be shut down before you restore the data.

In Linux

Follow the steps given below to take a back up of the ManageEngine SupportCenter Plus data:

1. Go to <SupportCenter>/bin directory.

2. Execute the backUpData.sh file as given below:

$ sh backUpData.sh The back up file will be created in the <SupportCenter>/backup directory. The file name for the back up file will be of the pattern BackUp_monthdate_year_hr_min.data. An example of the back up file name: BackUp_May20_2005_23_15.data To restore the back up data


2. Execute the file restoreData.sh at command prompt as shown below:

$ sh restoreData.sh <backup file name> The back up file name has to be the .data file from which you wish to restore the data. This will restore the data from the back up file.


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Note: The SupportCenter Plus server needs to be shut down before you restore the data.


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Changing Web Server Port


In Windows

Follow the steps given below to change the web server port where the SupportCenter Plus server will be running:

1. Go to <SupportCenter>\bin directory.

2. Execute the file changeWebServerPort.bat at command prompt as shown below:

changeWebServerPort.bat <new port number> The web server port will be reset to the new port number that you have specified.

3. If the port number is occupied, you will be prompted to enter a different port number. If you do not wish to enter a different port number then press N on your keyboard to exit the application. Else press Y and enter a different port number that is unoccupied.

This change will be effected only when you restart the server. To connect to the SupportCenter Plus server after restarting, the new port number must be used.

In Linux

Follow the steps given below to change the web server port where the SupportCenter Plus server will be running:


2. Execute the file changeWebServerPort.sh at command prompt as shown below:

$ sh changeWebServerPort.sh <new port number> The web server port will be reset to the new port number that you have specified.

3. If the port number is occupied, you will be prompted to enter a different port number. If you do not wish to enter a different port number then press N on your keyboard to exit the application. Else press Y and enter a different port number that is unoccupied.

This change will be effected only when you restart the server. To connect to the SupportCenter Plus server after restarting, the new port number must be used.


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Support Team Availability Support rep can choose to change their status to be IN or OUT based on their availability. On the top right hand side of the page just below the Log out link the IN - OUT button is available. On clicking the button will toggle the status of the support rep between IN and OUT. On logging in to the application only if the administrator provides view permissions for the contacts, the IN-OUT status of the support reps will be visible for the contacts. Else the status will not be available. The Support Team tab in the login home page, will give the availability status of all the support reps who are part of the support desk team. Alternatively, the support rep status can also be changed as below,

1. Login to the SupportCenter application using your user name and password or the administrator user name and password.

2. Click Support Team tab in the Login home dashboard. 3. Click the IN-OUT button available just below the support rep photo to toggle the status

between IN and OUT. You can also add/change the photo that is displayed beside your details. To change the display photo

1. Click Change Image link in your profile block. The Change Image dialog pops up.

2. Click the Browse button and choose the image file that you wish to display beside your

profile. 3. Click Import.

The photo that you have chosen will be displayed in the photo block of your profile.

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