Chapter 12. Parature

Parature is a cloud-based solution that helps organizations provide customers great service experience, accessible 24/7, through knowledge base management, self-service, and multi-channel engagement. Parature can be used by organizations internally for employee self-service, where employees get quick access to consistent and organized information. The Parature self-service portal increases customer satisfaction through the availability of knowledge base articles accessible 24/7 and consistent engagement across multiple channels. Microsoft acquired Parature in 2014 to boost its Service module capabilities for the Dynamics CRM platform; it is a standalone application that is designed to integrate with Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

To obtain a trial Parature account, go to www.parature.com/request-a-trial/.

A customer support representative (CSR) who logs on to Parature Service Desk typically sees a system overview, as shown in Figure 12.1.

The page is broken out as follows:

Personal resource toolbar—The first black bar at top where you see your name (Default User in Figure 12.1) is the personal resource toolbar. The number after the purple icon shows number of open tickets assigned to you. On the far right of this toolbar, Support opens http://support.parature.com and lets you access the Parature knowledge base and submit tickets. My Portal opens your customer-facing Support Center. My Settings takes you to the page where you can see the privileges assigned to you. You can see your calendar, events, team calendar, team events, login history, and recent tickets. Log Off ends the Service Desk session and takes you back to the logon page.

Module tabs—The gray bar just under the personal resource tool bar displays the modules available in Service Desk. The module links are displayed based on the privileges assigned to the CSR. When you click a specific module, you get access to specific information and tools related to the selected module.

Menu row—The menu row shows different action buttons, depending on the module you are viewing. These action buttons let you perform various functions within the module. There are two buttons in the far-right corner, Refresh and Fast Forward, for all modules.

Filters/nav frame—The left navigation pane contains links to filter the data within a specific module. When you click one of the filter links, the information is displayed in the main content frame. For example, in Figure 12.2 you can see that in the Customer module, the Registered Customers filter has been applied.

Main content frame—This is the workspace in Service Desk. When you click module tabs, menu row button, or filters, the corresponding information is displayed in the main content frame. You can view, create, and edit records in this frame. As you can see in Figure 12.2, registered customers’ record are displayed in the main content frame.

Home—The home page is the first page end users see when they visit the Support Center. Users can quickly click several links to go to self-service content or submit a ticket.

Online Support—This tab lists all the self-service options Parature offers, such as Knowledge Base, Downloads, Glossary, Submit a Ticket, Submit an Email, and Live Chat.

My Support—This tab provides one-click access to personal support service for end users. Users can keep track of all communications here. My Support contains a user’s entire support history, including tickets, products, profile, and chats.

Parature provides different configuration options to suit business scenarios in which every customer needs to be associated with an account, some customers need to be associated with an account, or no customers are associated with an account.

The Account module is mostly used for companies and organizations. It is similar to Account entity in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. You can create new accounts in the Account module in Parature and associate them with your customers. To create a new account, follow these steps:

1. In Parature Service Desk, click the Account tab and then click the New Account button (see Figure 12.4).

2. Fill in the address fields and then select Customer from the Default Customer Role drop-down menu.

3. Provide a name in the Account Name field. This field is the unique identifier for the account.

4. Select Premium from the Service Level Agreement drop-down. The selected SLA is then applied to all the customers associated with this account. Customers associated with an account cannot have a different SLA than their parent account.

5. Click the Fast Forward button to select a parent account for the current record.

6. Click the Save button.

The Account module is designed to help group your customers together and keep their profiles organized. You can create a new account and then associate new customers with it directly from the Account module. Follow these steps to create a new customer and associate it with an account (see Figure 12.5):

1. On the Account tab, click the Account Name field of the account where you want to create and associate a new customer.

2. Click the Customers button.

3. Click the Associate New Customer button.

4. Enter the email address of the customer in Email field.

5. Provide the customer’s first name and last name in the appropriate fields.

6. If you want to associate the customer to an account other than the default specified in the Find Account field, click Remove and user Fast Forward to select another account.

7. Select the customer’s status from the Status drop-down.

8. Provide a username for the customer in the Username field.

9. If desired, change the language, date format, and time format for the customer in the Default Locale Settings section.

10. Select the Notify Customer That Their Account Has Been created check box to have Parature send a notification email to the customer’s email address.

11. Click Save.

You can use the Associate Existing Customer button to associate the existing customer records with the account and the Dis-Associate Customers button to dis-associate customers from the account.

SLAs are used to manage customer entitlements. Parature has four default SLAs: Guest, Basic, Premium, and Escalated (see Figure 12.6). You can edit these existing SLAs, and you can also create new SLAs. SLAs help you define the features of Support Center that your customers will have access to once they are associated with the SLA. For example, if you want to give chat feature to Premium customers, you need to remove the permission for this from other SLAs.

SLAs are helpful in maintaining standards for support. Parature reporting can be used to evaluate CSR performance based on the number of tickets or chat requests handled. SLA timers set goals for a CSR to work toward and give customer-realistic expectations for response and resolution on chat or tickets.

Follow these steps to create a new SLA (see Figure 12.7):

1. Go to either the Account or Customer tab and click the SLA button.

2. Click the New SLA button.

3. Provide a name for the SLA, keeping in mind that this name will be displayed to your customers.

4. Click Pick Your Color to select and associate a color with the SLA.

5. Configure SLA timers for tickets submitted under this SLA:

Warning Time—Provide the number of business hours that should remain before an SLA resolution or response warning is displayed on the ticket.

Response Time—Provide the maximum number of business hours that can pass before a CSR responds to a ticket submitted under this SLA. If there is no response from a CSR in the specified time, a response time violation will be noted.

Resolution Time—Provide the maximum number of business hours that can pass before a CSR resolves a ticket submitted under this SLA. If the ticket is not resolved with the specified number of business hours, a resolution time violation is noted.

6. In the Chat SLA Configuration section, set SLA timers for chat requests submitted by customers associated with this SLA:

Show Warning—Select the Enabled check box to enable this feature. It shows a warning to a CSR who has grabbed or been assigned to a chat that is idle for the amount of specified time.

Show Violation—You can alert CSRs that an SLA violation has occurred if a chat they have grabbed or are assigned to has been idle for a certain number of minutes. A chat response violation is noted for the chat. You can enable/disable this feature by selecting the check box.

Escalate Chat—If a chat request is idle for specified number of minutes, it is escalated.

Deflect Chat—If a chat request is idle for specified number of minutes, chat deflection rules run automatically.

7. Click the Next button to define the following SLA permissions (see Figure 12.8):

Knowledgebase Access—This permission gives customers access to the Support Center knowledge base.

Allow This Group to View a Reference’s Rating—This permission allows customers to view the average rating of knowledge base content.

Allow This Group to Rate References—This permission allows customers to rate knowledge base content.

Allow This Group to Write Feedback After Rating—This permission allows customers to write feedback after rating knowledge base content.

Allow This Group to Subscribe to References and Receive Notification When Reference Is Updated—This permission allows customers to receive notifications when references are updated.

Allow This Group to Use the Troubleshooter—The Service Center Troubleshooter helps customers find answers in the knowledge base before they submit tickets or emails. You can configure which channels (email, ticket) should display Troubleshooter in Service Center.

Allow This Group to Use the Glossary—This permission allows the customers to use the Glossary in Service Center.

Download Access—This permission allows customers to download files uploaded via the Download module in Service Desk.

My Support Access—This permission allows customers to access the My Support page in Service Center if they have created their profile.

Ticket Access—This permission allows customers to access the ticketing features of Support Center.

Allow This Group to Submit Ticket Request—This permission allows customers to submit tickets using Service Center.

Chat Access—This permission grants customers access to the Parature live chat feature of Support Center.

Allow This Group to Initiate a Chat Request—This permission allows customers to start a live chat session with available CSRs.

Allow This Group to Submit Email Request—This permission allows users to send email to the support team, using Support Center.

1. In the Knowledgebase tab, select the parent folder (called Webfortis in this case) from the left navigation pane and click the New button in this pane.

2. In the right content frame, provide the folder name and folder description.

3. Change the parent folder by using the Selected Parent Folder drop-down.

4. Keep the Private Folder check box unchecked if you want articles listed under this folder to be published to Support Center. If this check box is checked, articles are not published to Support Center.

5. Click the Save button at bottom to create a new folder.

Follow these steps to publish a knowledge base article:

1. In Service Desk, click the Knowledgebase tab and then click the New Article button.

2. In the Questions field, type the issue or problem you want to address.

3. In the Answer field, use the rich text editor to format the answer to your question.

4. Enter appropriate keywords, separated by spaces or commas, to help customers find knowledge base articles easily (see Figure 12.10).

5. In the Properties section, select the folder(s) in which you want your article to be listed. You can select more than one folder by holding down the Ctrl key as you click the folders you want.

6. In Permission, select the check boxed in front of SLA names where you want your article to be accessible.

7. Click the Fast Forward button to select and associate article with a product.

8. Select the check box Exclude Article from Portal Search if you want the article to be excluded from search results in Support Center.

9. In the Advance Options section, select the check box to reset the view count of the article. This option is used when articles are already published.

10. Provide an expiration date for the article so that the article will not be unpublished on or after the provided expiration date. It will then be displayed in the Expired References list in the Knowledgebase module.

11. Select the Notify Subscribers check box so that when article is published, customers can subscribe to the article. If you select this check box, all the customers who have subscribed to the article will receive an email notification when any change is made to the article.

12. Set the External URL to Reference if you want to link the article outside Support Center.

13. Click the Save button at the bottom to save the article in draft status.

14. Go to Drafts folder in left navigation pane, select the article, and click Send for Review at the bottom. The article is now moved to the Review folder.

15. Open the same article in the Review folder from the left navigation pane and click the Publish Article button at the bottom to publish the article. You must have the Administrator role for the knowledge base to publish the article.

For a knowledge base article to be available to customers on Support Center, make sure it is in the public folder, the status is Published, and the proper SLA is set.

When you edit an article, there are several options available on the navigation bar:

Alternate Questions—This option allows you to provide answers to similar questions with a single knowledge base article. Creating alternate questions helps you identify the different ways customers might ask the same question while avoiding and also helps you avoid the need to create duplicate articles. When you edit an article, you see the Alternate Questions button at the top.

Attachments—You can attach files to an article for customers to download from Support Center. You need to upload a file first in the Download module and then associate the same file with the article by using Attachments button.

Subscribers—You can view current subscribers, subscribe more customers, and unsubscribe customers to an article by using the Subscribers button. You can also send email to subscribers from here when there is any update to the knowledge base article.

Feedback—Click the Feedback button to see feedback received from customers on the knowledge base article. You can delete the feedback and also reply to customers from here by using the Email Customer(s) button.

The Download module lets you to do batch uploads your files. Follow these steps to do a batch upload of your files:

1. Click the Download module tab and then click Batch Uploads.

2. Click the Browse button to open file upload control (see Figure 12.11).

3. Click the Upload Another File link to show another Browse button.

4. You can select maximum of.

5. With up to 10 files selected for the batch upload, click the Upload File(s) button.

Follow these steps to create a product (see Figure 12.13):

1. In the Product module tab, then click Catalog.

2. Select the product catalog folder where you want to create products. If there is no folder for the product catalog, create one.

3. Click the New button in the left navigation pane and enter the required fields on the right.

4. From the Folder drop-down, select the folder where you want to create the product.

5. Click the Save button at the bottom.

Follow these steps to create a new product catalog folder:

1. On the Product module tab, then click Catalog.

2. In the left navigation pane, click the New button.

3. Provide the folder name and description.

4. Use the up and down arrows in the Order Folder field to order the folders.

5. Set Folder Privacy drop-down to Private or Public.

6. Click the Save button.

If a customer has associated products, show content that is associated with matching products and content that is associated with no products; if a customer has no associated products, show all content.

If a customer has associated products, show content that is associated with matching products and content that is associated with no products; if a customer has no associated products, show only content that is not associated with any product.

If a customer has associated products, show only content that is associated with matching products; if a customer has no associated products, show nothing.

Do not filter any content by product at all.

Follow these steps to associate a customer with a product (see Figure 12.14):

1. Go to the Customers module tab and select a customer record.

2. Click the Products button in the customer record to see a list of all the existing products associated with the customer.

3. Click the Associate Product button.

4. Click the Fast Forward button and then select the product you want to associate.

5. Provide the other product details and click the Save button.

1. In the Setup module, click Chat > Deployments > Chat Buttons/Links.

2. Click the New Deployment button.

3. Enter the name of the chat deployment in the Name text field.

4. In the Deployment Settings step, click the Edit button. You have two options: Select either existing default images or user custom images. If you select the Use Custom Images option, you need to provide two images—one for when agents are available and one for when agents are offline. Provide alternate text for both images in the appropriate text fields.

5. Click the Save Images button to save your images.

6. In the Set Offline Message field, enter the text you want to display to customers when there is no CSR available for chat.

7. Click the Generate Deployment Code button to generate code for your chat button and chat link (see Figure 12.15).

8. Select the check box Include Pre-Chat Questions to ask questions of customers who request a chat session before they are linked to a CSR.

9. Use the Routing drop-down to select the routing behavior for chat requests from chat buttons and links. It can be either of the following:

Use Routing Rules—All chat requests follow the routing rules that have been configured in Service Desk.

Direct to Queue—All chat requests are routed directly to specific chat queues. Use the Queue drop-down (which appear when the Direct to Queue option is selected) to select the queue these requests will be routed to.

10. Click the Save button.

Follow these steps to create a chat queue:

1. Go to the Setup module and select Chat > Queues > Active Queues.

2. Click the New Queue button.

3. Provide a name for the chat queue in Name field.

4. In the Permissions section, select the check box for the role(s) that will have permission to take action on chats routed to this queue. These are the options:

All Chat Techs—All CSRs with the Chat Technician Role or higher will be able to see this chat queue and take action on chats routed to it.

All Chat Techs View All—All CSRs with the Chat Technician View All Role or higher will be able to see this chat queue and take action on chats routed to it.

All Chat Supervisors—All CSRs with the Chat Supervisor Role will be able to see this chat queue and take action on chats routed to it.

5. Optionally, select individual CSRs who will have access to this queue by moving the desired CSRs from the Available CSRs list to the Permitted CSRs list.

6. Click the Save button.

New chat rules—These rules determine where new chat requests are routed. These rules run in order from first to last as soon as a new chat request is submitted by a customer. For example, if you want to have a dedicated queue for premium customers, you can create a chat rule to assign all chats where customer SLA is Premium to the premium chat queue (see Figure 12.16).

Escalation rules—These are special routing rules that apply to chat requests after they have been idle for a certain period of time.

Deflection rules—These rules display custom message to customers when no chat representatives are available or when a chat has been idle for a certain period of time. Select the Auto Create Ticket for Chat Request check box to automatically create a ticket using the customer’s responses to pre-chat questions. Tickets will not be created for customers who are not logged on to Support Center.

When a ticket is submitted to a ticket queue, only the CSRs assigned to that ticket queue can take action on that ticket. CSRs with the Trouble Ticket (TT) Admin role can only delete a ticket. You can archive resolved tickets to keep ticket queues clean. When you close out a ticket, it is moved from its original queue to the Archived Tickets folder.

1. In the Setup tab, go to Ticket > Email Settings > Email to Ticket.

2. Under Email to Ticket Conversion Settings, select the Enable check box to display your settings.

3. Under Email to Ticket Inbox, provide the POP3 server details for the mailbox for which you want received emails to be converted into Parature tickets.

4. Under Register Email to Ticket Addresses, if you have multiple support email addresses and you want to specify that every email sent to any of these addresses should convert into a Parature ticket, add all those email addresses here.

5. Under Ticket Replies from Email, if you set Ticket Reply to No, you disable customer ticket replies, and all email replies will be converted to new tickets. Select Yes to enable ticket replies from customers and then set the following:

Reopen Ticket by Email Reply—You have four options here: You can select to allow reopen tickets of type Only Solved, Only Closed, Both Closed and Solved, or None when a customer sends a reply.

Rejection Email Subject and Rejection Email Body—If you opted not to reopen a ticket by email reply, you can edit the rejection email subject and body that will be sent to customers.

Email Reply Options—You can configure how to handle email replies from customers:

If you select the option Display up to 4000 Characters in History, Attach Message if Necessary, then if email content is over this limit, the first 4,000 characters are added to the ticket comments, and the email message is attached to the ticket.

If you select the option Only Attach the Message to the History, the email will be attached to the ticket, and no comments will be added.

If you select the option Truncate Reply at ______ Characters and Attach the Message, the email will be attached to the ticket, and the specified number of characters will be truncated from the email message and added to the comments in the ticket.

Unknown Sender—You can specify how you can process a reply—as a CSR or a customer—if Parature cannot identify the sender of the reply.

6. Under Ticket Create, set the following:

Max Email—How many emails from a single customer should be processed in one day. Specify -1 if you do not want any limit.

Max Duplicate Emails—How many emails from the customer that look identical to emails sent by same customer should be processed in one day. Specify -1 to remove any limit.

Convert Customer Registration Emails to Tickets—Select this check box if you want to convert customer emails received for registration at Support Center into tickets.

Convert Customer Feedback to Tickets—Select this check box if you want to have this option.

Original Email Transcript Processing—You can select to attach the email to ticket always or when it is more than 4,000 characters.

7. Under Remove CC Email Addresses, add the email addresses that you want to remove from CC list during the E2T conversion process.

8. Under Blocked Email Addresses, add the email addresses from which you do not want emails to be converted into tickets.

9. Click the Save button.

Figure 12.18 shows the E2T configuration screen for the Remove CC and Blocked Email Addresses option.

Follow these steps to create a new survey (see Figure 12.19):

1. Click the Survey module tab and then click the New Survey button.

2. Provide a name and description for the survey in the Survey Details section.

3. In the Design Wizards section, either select an existing design for the survey or create your own design by using Design Builder.

4. To copy an existing survey, click the Open Import Tool button and select an existing survey by clicking the Fast Forward button. You have the option to import only the design of the selected survey or append questions of the selected survey to an existing survey or import distributions or all.

5. Click the Preview button to see a preview of the survey in a pop-up window.

6. Click the Continue to Step 2 button to add questions for the survey.

7. Click the New Question button to create new questions and select the types of questions.

8. To change the order of questions, click the Update Order button, and to import existing questions, click the Import Question button.

9. Click the Continue to Step 3 button to configuration the following:

Create a response message to be displayed when a survey is submitted.

Prevent re-submissions from the same browser.

End the survey after a specified date and number of responses.

Figure 12.20 shows the response options available.

10. Click the Continue to Step 4 button to start distribution of the survey. You can distribute the survey by using one of these methods: email, web, or phone.

11. For the email distribution method, select the email template and recipients and then launch the survey.

12. Click the Fast Forward button to select the image button template to use for the survey link, pop-up, or image button you use for a chat buttons or chat link.

13. Click the Continue to Step 5 button to go through the survey summary before launch.

14. Click the Preview Survey check box to complete the pre-launch checklist. Click the Launch Survey button to launch the survey. The survey is visible to customers, and you can see responses by clicking the Responses button.

You can edit, delete, or end the launched survey at any point in time. You can edit questions or the design of a launched survey, too. And you can disable survey responses any time and enter your own response. In a business case scenario, you can set up a chat rule which says that when a chat with a customer ends, the system should send an email to the customer with a link to a survey to get feedback on the chat.

Para-connect (the integration component for Dynamics CRM)

Portal

Advanced customization

Because Parature’s features are being included directly in Dynamics CRM, they will be eliminated from Parature in the near future.

Be sure to check the Pearson website for this book for updated information on Parature as it becomes available.