|
In continuing our commitment to meet our customers’ needs, Parature has
released version 5.7.6 of our software. By selecting Parature, a hosted support
solution, you have the benefit of instantaneous updates without the additional
costs and hassles of installing upgrades.
The Parature 5.7.6 release includes various enhancements, including:
|
  |
|
Improved Asset Search
In past releases, some users
were unable to search all assets by serial number. Parature has resolved
this issue and all assets may now be searched according to
serial number. Please submit a configuration request to view the asset
serial numbers in the search form. For more information on
this Enterprise feature, please contact your account manager.
|
 |
|
Consistent Contact Creation
To facilitate consistency in
contact
creation, all users must
now select an account
before saving a contact if the
Account field is required. With this new enhancement, now
users can choose to configure a field as required or not
required through the Setup Manager, or by submitting a
configuration request to Parature. Users who do not use Accounts will
see no change in their Service Desk.
Enhanced Fast Forward
Search
for contacts more quickly and differentiate between contacts with the
same name using the enhanced Fast Forward feature. In Release 5.7.6,
when a user searches for a contact using Fast Forward, and
Accounts are enabled, the contact’s account appears next to the
customer’s name and email address (see Figure 1).
Figure 1.
Accounts Field
|
 |
|
More Secure Downloads
Parature has addressed and
resolved issues where certain users were unable to access the files
published in the Support Portal. This issue generally affected
clients with “open” Support Portals, which do not require users to
immediately login upon entry into the portal.
|
 |
|
Customized Error Messages
To better customize the Support
Portal, Parature has enabled custom error messages.
In the past, when an unauthorized portal visitor attempted
to view a restricted area, a default message displayed asking the
visitor to login. Clients may now customize this text,
as well as, translate the message to different languages. Please submit
a configuration request to access this feature.
Enhanced Search Results
Parature has
increased the number of search results in the Support Portal’s
Knowledge Base from 10 to 50. This improvement will allow Support
Portal visitors to view more results at one time and enhances the
usability of the search function.
Additional Security for Emailing Articles
To
ensure security, Parature has added a new option when emailing
articles. In the past, emails sent from the Email Topic feature of
the Support Portal displayed the full article contents. However,
some articles may contain private information to which clients want
to restrict access. Instead of displaying the article’s full content
in the email, clients may now choose to simply include a link to the
article. The link directs the reader to a login page for
verification before accessing the article’s contents. This option is
turned on/off for the entire site and cannot be configured
individually on specific articles. Please submit a configuration
change request to specify if you would like to display all content
or only links to articles.
|
 |
|
Fast Forward an Account
To increase the flexibility of
account management, the eProduct module now allows clients to Fast
Forward an
account for an asset
or product, allowing them
to specify that account as the
owner of the asset or product. In previous versions,
users could only specify contacts as owners of an asset or
product. Clients who do not use Accounts will see
no change in their Service Desk. For more information on this
Enterprise feature, please contact your account manager.
|
 |
|
“Time Spent” Added
to Ticket Action History Report
To
further enhance eReports’ functionality, Parature has
added a feature to track the amount of time
a CSR spends on a particular action. In the Ticket Action
History report, users may now track the amount of
time a CSR spends on individual actions in addition to the
number of times an action was performed.
|
 |
|
Anonymous Responses Option Restored
Based on your requests,
Parature has restored the Anonymous Responses option in eSurvey for
all clients who use the default email server settings.
Recently, Parature disabled the Anonymous Responses option for all users in
response to an issue that arose with clients who
use custom remote email server settings. For more information on this
Enterprise feature, please contact your account manager.
|
 |
|
Enhanced Child /
Parent Relationship Management
To help
users organize and group similar tickets, Parature has added
additional options for creating relationships between tickets. Now, users
may select child or parent ticket numbers on the Ticket Edit
page (see Figure 2). This new feature makes navigating
between relationships faster and more efficient. For more information on this
Enterprise feature, please contact your account manager.
Figure 2. Child and Parent Fields
HIPAA Compliance for Ticket Emails
To
increase compliance with HIPPA regulations, Parature has enabled
users to hide comments and attachments in ticket
emails (see Figure 3). This feature inhibits users from
exposing confidential or sensitive information about clients and increases compliance
with HIPAA regulations. In addition, comments and attachments
are mutually exclusive, so clients may elect to
disable one without disabling the other. Please submit
a configuration request to hide comments and/or attachments. For more information
on this Enterprise feature, please contact your account
manager.
Figure 3. Show and Hide Comments
New Time Sensitive Alerts Options
To improve
alerts, Parature has allowed Service Desk users to generate Time
Sensitive Alerts according to the ticket’s “create” time, or, in
other words, according to the “age” of the ticket (see Figure 4). These new alerts
can be sent regardless of the status of the ticket. Additionally,
users can use the same criteria for these alerts as for other Time
Sensitive Alerts.
Figure 4. Create Time
Improved Email Organization
To improve
organization and appearance, Parature has enabled users to include
field groups in
ticket emails (see Figure 5). Field groups are a
way to organize fields into logical sections in a page or email. Please
submit a configuration request to add or remove field groups. For more
information on this Enterprise feature, please contact your account manager.
Figure 5. Field Grouping
|
 |
|
Enhanced Performance
Parature has optimized the Fast Forward feature to
return, at most, 500 results when searching through contact
records. Due to this change, users will experience faster loads and
quicker access to their most important information.
|
|
|
 |
|
eAsset
eContact
eDownload
ePortal
eProduct
eReport
eSurvey
eTicket
Performance Optimizations
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Believing in the strength of our community, Parature has
moved the feature suggestion process to ParaGroups, Parature's Users Forum, where fellow
Parature users can collaborate and make a stronger voice on the
features that matter the most.
What is currently being discussed?
-
Follow Up Reminders
- Display the person who
created,
published and last updated a KB
Discuss
this now
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
