Capita SupportNet online survey

[vikpaw]

Hi all,

 

Capita are doing an online survey to help develop and improve the SupportNet website.

 

It's really important if we want changes and modifications that all SIMS users go on and cast your votes.

 

It's very limited and just allows you to allocate up to 100 points between 14/15 areas for improvement, nonetheless it's a great chance to get some feedback consolidated and hopefully listened to.

 

SupportNet

 

Click on the Support menu and then Surveys.

Choose "SupportNet 2.0 Online Consultation"

Allocate your points and submit.

 

I particularly think areas 2,8,10,11,12, and 13, warrant some pushing...

but, whatever you think, go and vote, these opportunities don't come about often.

 

so go forth and vote

 

as you have to log in, the link below may not work, in which case use the link above and after logging in follow the menu route.

 

http://support.capitaes.co.uk/user/surveys.asp?status=list

[Sivadam]

As I have said on SupportNet. One hopes that they don't go in for the many gimmicks that some forums now use. It is a working site that has excellent features which we do not want to be compromised. (e.g. Solution Search, Case Logging, Forums, Documentation etc. etc.)

The only part of SupportNet that needs any major revision is the CR section - and Graham has forgot to include that section of the survey!

[matt40k]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Google Mini - Google Enterprise Solutions : Google Mini.

 

Most of the problems I have with Supportnet is searching, the other problems is when you go between bits and you get the 500 error, I think that's url links etc, it's not "clean" like WordPress

[Sivadam]

Matt,

What is the '500 error'?

I can't say that I have xperienced it ...............

[matt40k]

It's when you logon to Supportnet, click on posts since last visit. View a few, then click on log a call, or is it solution search?? Can't remember, basically you get the 500 error - internal server error. I think it's something to do with the urls etc. I've noticed you can end up with SupportNet[JUNK]/http://support.capitaes.co.uk/[JUNK]

[vikpaw]

As I have said on SupportNet. One hopes that they don't go in for the many gimmicks that some forums now use. It is a working site that has excellent features which we do not want to be compromised. (e.g. Solution Search, Case Logging, Forums, Documentation etc. etc.)

The only part of SupportNet that needs any major revision is the CR section - and Graham has forgot to include that section of the survey!

 

Those gimmicks might increase usage of the site, and in many cases actually make it more user friendly. solution search, case logging, etc. are a pain to navigate which is why the forums end up getting used so much, or people give up and come to EG.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Google Mini - Google Enterprise Solutions : Google Mini.

 

Most of the problems I have with Supportnet is searching, the other problems is when you go between bits and you get the 500 error, I think that's url links etc, it's not "clean" like WordPress

 

Searching is a pain and you are forced to know which area the problem might be listed in. (sometimes it's in an area that you wouldn't have expected.)

 

I get thrown out of the page quite frequently with 500 error, or other error. Or i have to log in again. The URLs are random and not always possible to copy and paste into a new window.

 

If you are in the forums it's difficult to have multiple windows open as updating one, affects the others.

 

These could all be problems with how I work and my setup, but i don't get those issues with EduGeek.

 

A revamp could alleviate some of these things.

 

I hate that when case logging you have to fill in loads of info that isn't asked if you just pick up the phone. so what's the point?

 

Documentation isn't always easy to find, and recently i've found some links (version numbers for instance) weren't up to date.

 

Why do people frequently log requests asking for where the ISO is available and then it's answered in a KB. That should just be made available.

 

There are LAs that have their own mirror sites and they push data out to all their users, who have a much better experience.

 

Making the user experience more customisable would greatly benefit the site. Everybody has their own way of working, and the site needs to accomodate that, not rely on the fact that people go there religiously everyday and check for updates.

[Sivadam]

Solution Search is extremely easy to use which is why I can get a KB onto my posts on the Forums so quickly after I have responded with my own original response.

Case Logging is incredibly easy to use and the response time is nothing sort of superb! I assume that is because all the info needed for the case is input by myself exactly as I want it to be recorded, rather than having to rely on somebody on the phone interpreting what I say! Hence - all my case are logged via SupportNet.

These are two areas that we have to be careful are not made less efficient in any review of the services!

One would hope that we do not move towards a system such as Edugeek uses! This is far too open-ended. Some of the posts that appear here are, to say the least, inappropriate. (for want of using other words that may upset some of the users here!)

 

Matt - I dodn't think I have ever had that '500' problem! Then again I don't usually want to open more than one window at any one time. And, as most folk are aware, I use and contribute to SupportNet more than many other users!

Edited March 1, 2010 by Sivadam

[vikpaw]

Solution Search is extremely easy to use which is why I can get a KB onto my posts on the Forums so quickly after I have responded with my own original response.

Case Logging is incredibly easy to use and the response time is nothing sort of superb! I assume that is because all the info needed for the case is input by myself exactly as I want it to be recorded, rather than having to rely on somebody on the phone interpreting what I say! Hence - all my case are logged via SupportNet.

These are two areas that we have to be careful are not made less efficient in any review of the services!

 

Well, if it's that easy, then why do you need to post?

Why don't you tell people how they can go search themselves, and thus empower more users?

You are a long standing user, but there are tens of thousands of schools out there that don't have the same experience as you.

The review should make things more efficient, but that should be more efficient for the majority, and you may find things seemingly less efficient.

The question is, should the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few....

[localzuk]

One thing they haven't included is an improvement to the very poor 'change request' system.

 

It is nearly impossible to find relevant CR's, so there are duplicates and due to that no aggregate score high enough appears for them to log as a wanted feature. Only one month of searching? Ridiculous!

 

The forum is very poor in terms of browser compatibility also. I'm using Chrome and the editor only provides text input. Why? Chrome has better Javascript support than either IE or Firefox.

 

Overall, the site is just not user friendly. It doesn't follow HCI principles very well, expecting a fair amount of knowledge where, often in schools, there won't be! Not to mention the bizarre URLs full of jibberish/being non-linkable...

[pete]

Solution search is painful if your query/possible cause of a problem spans multiple areas. There's a reason I devoted 80 of my points towards improving the search.

 

I also get the 500, sql and .asp errors. It's often because I've left a tab open, done something else for 15 minutes and come back to it - I'll click another link in that tab and get an error. I expect better exception handling, especially when I'm still logged in (if I truncate the url back to supportnet I'm not prompted to re-auth).

[vikpaw]

I agree with both of the above completely.

 

CRs should be published on a regular basis for all members to see, i often come across an improvement to an area that i dont use but vote because it makes sense to me and will be required when we eventually use that module / feature.

 

i'd like to see the solution search software suites part combined into one, as you can never know if a problem you are having is similar to an older issue. i generally just search under the any category to widen my chance of success.

 

it's nice that an infarction in SIMS allows you to use solution search, but there should be a way to log it at the time / report the fault code and module in use, so that they can be tracked. i wander if hits on solution search are tracked? that would enable new issues to be highlighted sooner.

 

i would like to be able to empower some high level users to use SupportNet themselves, but at the moment it would be too difficult for them, and they'd get frustrated, and end up hating SIMS more than they do now.

[Sivadam]

Wot a wally .............. !

I do get the error but it is usually associated with a fairly long period of inactivity. I had not realised that is what the error was.

 

 

Well, if it's that easy, then why do you need to post?

Why don't you tell people how they can go search themselves, and thus empower more users?

You are a long standing user, but there are tens of thousands of schools out there that don't have the same experience as you.....

I post as a first response to those asking questions in a Forum thread using my own knowledge. I then often follow that up by finding the appropriate KB for them and editing my inital post. Many users of the Forums do not realise that Solutiuon search is actually there and I have explained it many times to many people over the years!

 

 

 

What I am concerned about is changing the site and losing functionality and/or making it more difficult for users to find things. An obvious example of this was when it was last revamped (as at the date of 'Joining' by all us old-timer users!) We lost the CR Text Search then!

One wonders if 'date of joining' will get re-set again to the date when it is re-vamped!

Edited March 1, 2010 by Sivadam

[vikpaw]

Wot a wally .............. !

I do get the error but it is usually associated with a fairly long period of inactivity. I had not realised that is what the error was.

 

LOL! did you just try doing nothing for 15 minutes? You should keep active if it's as cold as i've heard

[zag]

Its a really bad site in my opinion. Far too many options and ways of doing things.

 

Looks like it was designed by a programmer and not an end user

 

How about 1 search box for everything and a usable forum.

[Sivadam]

My gawd - that is exactly what we do not want!

Can you imagine the number of hits that would get! I want to search in an apropriate area where I know that the answer will located (or not if it is summat new!). You would be trawling thro. a massive amount of responses when there is no answer due to it being a new issue - and still getting nowhere!

Edited March 1, 2010 by Sivadam

[vikpaw]

That's the purpose of key word searching.

Works okay here, but you have the option to search by forum / user if required.

A standard way to indicate certain frequently types of search would also help : KB, DOC, Perm, News, Update, Release, ...

[localzuk]

My gawd - that is exactly what we do not want!

Can you imagine the number of hits that would get! I want to search in an apropriate area where I know that the answer will located (or not if it is summat new!). You wouild be trawling thro. a massive amount of responses when there is no answer due to it being a new issue - and still getting nowhere!

 

Getting results is quite useful though... I'd prefer to get too many results than no results!

[vikpaw]

Fault Codes

 

and add the code at the end... this is great when the fault is actually in the KB...

 

I've actually integrated the link into our online helpdesk facility because i've eventually convinced people to log their calls, at least some of the time, so now even if they wont click 'search for solution' at least i can if they give the fault code.

[vikpaw]

...

Many users of the Forums do not realise that Solutiuon search is actually there and I have explained it many times to many people over the years!

...

What I am concerned about is changing the site and losing functionality and/or making it more difficult for users to find things.

 

In your own words there is clearly a problem with usage of the site. That is what they are trying to address.

 

Things are currently difficult to find and things don't appear to function as many people would like; just because it works for 'old timers' doesn't mean it's easy to use.

 

If done properly, the existing users will be able to use any new features and easily find the things they want, whilst driving a lot more usage from first timers and new users.

 

I just hope that apathy doesn't result in a poor response to the survey. The only way i found out about it is by logging in to the site. This should be pushed and emailed to all SIMS schools, even non-users of the site.

[Sivadam]

I agree entirely which is why I stressed at the very start that we do not want a loss in functionality just to put in 'gimmicks'.

It needs to remain a working site and we do not want to lose some of the excellent functionality that already exists!

I think I have now said enough re. this topic!

Edited March 2, 2010 by Sivadam