Knowledgebase -> Overhauled knowledgebase use for staff

[kpjam]

Hi everyone,

I think the knowledgebase functionality in the Staff CP really should be expanded so that the functions included in support site are available to support staff. There really needs to be the ability to:

-Search the knowledgebase (possibly using the Instant Response System)
-Move through the document hierarchy (this could be easily added by adding documents to the treeview in the 'Manage Categories')

This also goes for the Downloads area.

I am finding it hard to locate knowledgebase articles through the Staff CP, and it is having an effect on the time required to resolve issues which already have knowledgebase articles available, particularly because many of our articles are private (so they are not shown to the client).

What is everyone's view?

Cheers, kpjam

[kpjam]

Completely ignore the information about the document hierachy - I've found the Quick Jump - Sorry about that.

I still think it would be useful for a search function, even better if it used the IRS.

Cheers!

[craigbrass]

Totally agree that the ability to browse the knoledge base via the staff area like the end user can so they can find relevent topics, etc.

[Siora]

I also agree, the KB functionality within the staff CP is horrible. Especially when you create articles using the WYSIWYG editor, you can't add it to the ticket the same way you've created it. All the formatting gets screwed up. Plus when you click on an article it should pop-up in its own window rather than change the page you currently are on.

[kpjam]

Realistically, staff just need access to the functions of Support Centre with the inclusion of all the private items, included in the Staff CP. I can't imagine this being overly difficult.

[craigbrass]

I agree, should be pretty simple and achived with a bit of code copying from the customer area.

[Inaba]

Yep I agree as well. KB view of private stuff for the staff, from the staff CP is a must.

[Brent]

Yes - another vote here

Its all about polishing the product - take all the functionality built in and polish all the little tweak aspects and Supportsuite will help many more people much better...

[Sarah_User]

Another vote from me.....i don't think this is a polishing....i found it as a major flaw once i got into using the system....

For one, staff members can't view knowledge base articles in the staff cp, only edit them...and even worse you can't download from the download section here either. And in the troubleshooter you can only edit the steps, not go through them to solve an issue.


Thanks,
Sarah

[Brent]

Well sometimes you got to use alot of polish....

And some sandpaper..

[craigbrass]

i found it as a major flaw once i got into using the system

It isn't really a flaw as it was never planned when development was in progress on V3. Hopefully the activity on this thread will mean it gets implemented in V4.

[Inaba]

I guess it depends on how you define a flaw. The fact that the staff has virtually no access to the knowledgebase is somewhat counter-intuitive and definitely not a "feature."

It IS a flaw from the standpoint of the user actually has more access to the knowledgebase than a staff member does, that is generally not a design consideration, but an oversight, and oversights are generally classified as a flaw in software development. It's not a BUG, which you might be confusing flaw with. A flaw can be a bug, but it can be something else as well.

[craigbrass]

Well the way I look at is it depends on the initial design for the software. It wasn't in V2 for sure but the question is was it ever supposed to be in V3 or not. If it wasn't then fine, its a feature request. If it was and got overlooked or was left out then it is a problem.

[jsharpe]

I would have to concur, we need this functionality in the Software, since there are private articles that we only want available to the staff.

[Carl Silver]

+1 to this please