[sims] New CAPITA Customer Portal

[vikpaw]

It's been a long time coming and it's finally about to enter the BETA testing phase.

If you haven't logged in to SupportNet in the past 12 months, then do so now, so that your login will be transferred to the new Customer Portal.

 

Information from SupportNet

 

Introducing the new customer portal

 

Dear SupportNet user,

We have been working over the last year to create a replacement for SupportNet and we are delighted to announce that we are now approaching the Beta phase which will affect all users.

The Beta stage, which is due to begin in May, gives you an opportunity to test the new customer portal yourself. During the Beta phase, we will be inviting as many users to logon as possible on specific dates to aid stress testing - these will be advised nearer the time.

We’ll keep you informed as the project goes on and ensure you’re fully up to speed with how the portal works. But in the meantime, here are just a few of the differences you can expect:

You will access the portal in a different way – you can click on ‘My Account’ through the SIMS, SIMS Independent or Capita One website (depending on which type of customer you are)

 

• We’ve made the user interface more modern and friendly, making it easy for you to navigate around. You will also be able to access the portal from a mobile device.
  
• We’re making it simpler for you to log various tickets so we can respond as quickly as possible
  
• A new change request process is being put in place
  
• ‘Forums’ will be part of a new ‘community’ section and will initially only contain six months’ worth of threads with recent posts
  
• Documents from SupportNet will only be migrated to the customer portal if they were created since 1/1/2011.
  

Please be aware that we will only be migrating users who have logged in during the past 12 months. This means if you haven’t logged in you will lose your login details so please spread the word across your school or authority.

We have spent significant amounts of time testing and getting feedback on the new portal from our Alpha community (volunteers from schools and local authorities who have been testing and giving feedback on an early ‘alpha’ version throughout), to provide a great result for the end user.

You can also look out for regular updates available through SupportNet and on the SIMS, SIMS Independent and Capita One websites.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to email me

 

Kind regards,

Steve Russell

IT Director

[TheScarfedOne]

Yay! Finally...i know it has been a work in progress for ages!

[Homer]

Amazing! I am fed up of the 1990s time warp every time I log into supportnet

[zag]

About time!

[vikpaw]

Some more info on their blog here including a screenie - some of the info is already above, but it's nice to see.

An introduction to your new customer portal | capita-sims.co.uk

 

It looks much nicer and brighter than the alpha model i tried out.

I'm looking forward to finding out what it will be called...

[synaesthesia]

Looking forward to it! Searching for anything on supportnet is like looking for a piece of a hay in a stack full of needles, and just as painful

[zag]

A small preview screenshot, it looks quite good design!

 

http://www.capita-sims.co.uk/files/sims/imagecache/medium/images/portal_homepage_1.png

[gazskeltz]

Forums’ will be part of a new ‘community’ section and will initially only contain six months’ worth of threads with recent posts

 

How long before I can't find a little old nugget that showed me how to do something...

[kevin_lane]

looks pretty lol

[Simcfc73]

Nice, I can now see

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[vikpaw]

How long before I can't find a little old nugget that showed me how to do something...

To save time it's all pre-hidden.

There is also no search facility.

It's more like twitter and facebook, you will see some degree of history, but on the whole you have to be there monitoring live to catch all the info.

The idea is to get everyone on there all the time, and not relying on EduGeek.

[kevin_lane]

yea but we all rely on edugeek its like the best KB that was ever in existence

[fiza]

The idea is to get everyone on there all the time, and not relying on EduGeek.

 

Wont happen. Edugeek is and will always be the first port of call for any issues SIMS or otherwise!

[jinnantonnixx]

Looking forward to it! Searching for anything on supportnet is like looking for a piece of a hay in a stack full of needles, and just as painful

 

I see what you did there. Finding information is an exercise in frustration and often a waste of time.

 

If it could be narrowed down to a particular haystack, that would be something at least.

 

I mean, global search, site search, KB search, file search, documentation search, news searches..... I could go on.

 

They should have a meta search - a search of searches. Or perhaps even something that's well designed. We live in hope.

Edited April 1, 2014 by jinnantonnixx

[zag]

I'm still getting the old portal, whens this finally going live?

[vikpaw]

Beta stage starts May, but I wonder if many will treat it like updates and hold off until someone else finds the bugs...

[CAM]

I'm happy so long as we get to keep the Christmas lights...

[gazskeltz]

I'm happy so long as we get to keep the Christmas lights...

 

Bad news I'm afraid CAM...

 

Steve Russel, the IT Director at Capita wrote a what's in/what's not blog at The new customer portal

 

Christmas lights will not return as we have run out of bulbs...

 

 

Regards

 

Gaz

[gazskeltz]

Hi All,

 

Any news on this yet?

 

Anyone been invited to the BETA which was supposed to start in May?

 

An introduction to your new customer portal | capita-sims.co.uk

 

Regards

 

Gaz

[vikpaw]

Nope. I did some alpha testing, but not heard anything.

The fact you've had to come here to ask, shows how desperately they need this new portal. You should post a comment to Steve in that link.

[gazskeltz]

Phil Neal has just posted on supportnet that it's in Beta testing at the moment but won't go live till September in case it has problems during a busy period.

[CAM]

Got an EMail today from their mailing list:

 

We’re approaching the Beta phase of the new customer portal ‘My account’ (a replacement to SupportNet), which will affect all users. As our time using SupportNet draws to a close, we want to ensure that the ‘My account’ portal is in good working order to ensure a smooth migration for you and your colleagues.

 

So uhh, is the new portal really called My Account? I want to be a fly on the wall in that branding meeting.

 

Two week beta period starts 9th Oct though! Be ready and login to SupportNet now to stop your account getting lost for 12 month inactivity in the switch.

Edited October 3, 2014 by CAM

[vikpaw]

At least it does exactly what it says on the tin! ;P

[CAM]

Beta starts today!

[vikpaw]

I didn't get my invite