ieComputerSystems - ieSupportManager Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

I have downloaded and installed ieSupportManager and when I run it, it prompts me for a user name and password. What username/password should I use ?

The default user name = ADMINISTRATOR and the default password = admin. Please note that the user name will always be in capitals, but that passwords are case sensitive. You are advised to change this to something else as soon as possible. Also, if the system has previously been installed then please contact your system administrator for your own unique name and password.

I'm looking for a helpdesk utility for a non-IT company/organisation, can ieSupportManager help me ?

ieComputerSystems have provided ieSupportManager to a number of organisations (click here for a sample list) that may not at first sight seem suitable. This is possible because we have provided a mechanism (the same as our multi-lingual aspect) whereby a user can change labels, buttons, menu items and dialogs. The field label 'Customer' on the 'Log a Support Call' screen can quite easily be changed to 'Department', for example. This flexibility means that our software can be used in a variety of situations. As another example, a manufacturing company could have issues and actions in relation to its products compared to problems and solutions in a software development company. As a result, we can accommodate various situations where ieSupportManager may not be the obvious choice at first.

Sometimes when deleting a record I get the message "This record is referenced in another table. To prevent it from being selected from other screens, mark it Out Of Use". What does this mean ?

This means that the particular record that you are trying to delete has been used previously and cannot be deleted. However if you are sure that you no longer wish to use this particular record then check "Out of use" field. Once saved this will make this record unavailable on drop down lists on other screens. All previous data input will not be affected. Out of use records will still be available on the appropriate maintenance screen and are highlighted in red. If at some point in the future you wish to make an out of use record available again then just uncheck "Out of use" field and save.

On some of the maintenance screens there is a "More" button. What is this for ?

Clicking on this button will show you who created this record and the date and time that they did so. It will also show you the date and time that this record was last modified and the user responsible.

What is the difference between a customer status, a product status and a call status ?

A customer status is specific to a particular customer. For example a customer might have a status of 'VIP Customer', or if they have not paid their support contract, they may have a status of 'Check With Financial Controller'. A product status, on the other hand, is specific to the product regardless of the customer (e.g. 'Product No Longer Supported'). So even though the customer may have a product with a status of 'Product Fully Supported', the customer themselves may have a status of 'Strictly No Support For This Customer'. Likewise a customer may have a status of 'VIP Customer' but the product they have, may have a status of 'Product No Longer Supported'. You must decide for yourself how you handle these situations should they arise. A call status relates to a particular call only. You can use call status for example to categorise/prioritise your list of open calls (e.g. 'Critical - Resolve ASAP', 'Awaiting Customer Feedback' etc.)

Sometimes when I try to launch an application or a related file I get the following message. "Unable to launch C:\<somefilename>. What does this mean ?

Possible reasons for this are a) the file does not exist, b) Windows is unable to open a file of this type, c) you have insufficient rights to open this particular file or d) the properties for the file have not been set up properly. First check that you have typed in the full path and file name correctly. You can use the "Browse" button to ensure the correct file is selected. If you are still unable to open the file then using Windows Explorer or the "Browse" button from within the system to find and highlight the required file. Now right click and select "Open With" from the submenu. Click on "Choose Program" and choose the program you want to use. If it is not listed in your list of registered programs then click "Other..." to browse your computer. For further details see "associating files" in your Windows help. With the required file highlighted you can also click on "Properties" from the submenu. Check that all the properties are correctly set. If the file is another application then check that the "Working Directory" is correctly set.

How can I edit/reopen a call once it has been closed ?

From the main menu select Support and then select view all calls. Highlight the call you wish to edit and right click to bring up the submenu. Click on Reopen Call. If you have sufficient rights to reopen a call you will be prompted for confirmation. Click on "Yes" or "No" as appropriate. Once the call has been reopened you can then double click to edit the details.

Note : If when editing a reopened call you click on call closed, the date/time closed will default to the originally entered date/time closed and not the system date/time. You can however change these as required.

How can I delete a call that was logged incorrectly ?

From the main menu select Support and then select view all calls. Highlight the call you wish to delete and right click to bring up the submenu. Click on Delete Call. If you have sufficient rights to delete a call you will be prompted for confirmation. Click on "Yes" or "No" as appropriate.

If I have more than one window opened within the application how can I quickly switch between them ?

You can use Alt+W to show which windows you have opened. Then press the number of the required window (e.g. 1,2,...) or you can use Ctrl+Tab to alternate between all open windows.

What is the difference between a customer related file, a product related file and a call related file?

Customer related files are files that are specific to a particular customer. These might include site information sheets, support contract details etc. Product related files are files that are specific to a product regardless of the customer. These might include revision histories, minimum system requirements, frequently asked questions etc. This means that you do not have to relate for example a revision history with every customer that has a particular product. Instead relate the file to the product. If the customer is set up as having this product, then when a call is being logged for this customer/product the correct related files will be available to the user. Call related files allow you to store additional information against a particular call which are not covered by either of the above two options. For example it may be a copy of the original email reporting the problem, a screen dump of the error message displayed, copies of the customers autoexec/config files etc.

On some of the support screens there is a "Refresh" button. What is this for ?

When you go into some of the screens (e.g. View Open Calls) the system takes a snap shot of all relevant calls at that moment in time and displays them to you. You can then view/edit these calls as you see fit. In the meantime however new calls may have been added, calls may have been edited/closed or calls may even have been deleted. To allow you to see these new calls without having to close down the screen you are on and go back in, you can click on

at any time to force the system to give you the latest relevant snap shot.

Note : On View All Calls and View Open Calls the system will detect if changes have been made to the database. When it does the message "

Updates have been detected. Click refresh" will be displayed. It is then up to you to decide when you would like to refresh.

What is the difference between "Logged By" and "Assigned To" ?

"Logged By" is the user who initially entered the call into the system. This may or may not be the actual person who dealt with the call. In some cases for example this might be the receptionist who took the initial call from the customer. "Assigned To" on the other hand should be the user who actually dealt with the call and would ultimately be responsible if there was a query in relation to this call. Please note that while "Assigned To" can be changed as often as you like while the call is open, "Logged By" is determined when the call is initially saved and cannot be changed.

What is the difference between a call type and a call category ?

A call type is how the call was initially received (e.g. phone, email etc.) while call categories allow you to categorize the problem or the reason for the call (e.g. user input error, hardware related etc.). When logging a support call you probably will not enter the call category until you have resolved the call and are closing it as the call category that you decide to use will probably be determined by both the problem and solution texts.

When I select a customer on the log a call screen it shows me the current open calls for this customer and also defaults for a new call. However if I click on any of the open calls to see the previously entered details the new call seems to disappear. Is there any way of starting a new call without having to close the window and reselect the customer ?

Yes, just click on "New" or press CTRL+N and the NEW record will be brought back up.

What is the difference between "Save" and "Save/Clear" on the log a support call screen ?

If you click on "Save" all the details that you have entered will be saved and the call details will be left on screen. This may be handy for example, where you are going to be away from your computer for a short while and would like to save your work, but would like to know where you left off when you return. If on the other hand you click on "Save/Clear" all the details that you have entered will be saved and the screen will be cleared ready for you to log a new call.

When I view a report on screen it tells me there are nnn number of pages. However when I print the report there are considerably less pages. Is this correct and if so why ?

Yes, this is correct. The reason is that when you view a report on screen the number of pages actually refers to the number of screens that are required to show the full report. This should always be less than the number of pages required to print out the report as we can print more information on a single A4 page than we can display on screen. If you would like to know how many pages are required to print out a particular report then click on "Print Preview" and the total pages will be shown as you scroll through the report. Similarly if you wanted to print out only one particular page of a report then you should use print preview to get the correct page number before printing.

I accidentally logged a call as a new call instead of as an additional call to an existing call. Can I change this without having to delete the call and re-enter it ?

From the main menu select Support and then select View Open Calls. Highlight the call you wish to convert and right click to bring up the submenu. Click on Convert To Additional Call. If you have sufficient rights to convert a call to an additional call, a list of all the available open calls for that particular customer will be displayed. Highlight the required call and click on "Ok". When prompted click on "Yes" or "No" as appropriate.

Note : You cannot convert a call if it itself already has additional calls logged against it, and a call can only be converted to an additional call for an existing earlier open call for the same customer

I use Microsoft Outlook as my default email client. Every time I run ieSupportManager I am asked for an Outlook profile. Why is this, and can it be disabled if I don't need it ?

When you run ieSupportManager it checks to see if you have a MAPI compliant email client. If you have, then you can use the paste email facility on the Log A Call screen. If you are using Outlook and it is configured for corporate or workgroup use, one of the options available under Options/Mail Services is "Prompt for a profile to be used". If this option is checked then ieSupportManager will follow this rule and prompt you for an Outlook profile. If you do not wish to be prompted for an Outlook profile every time you run ieSupportManager, then you have two options:- The first, via Outlook, is to click on "Always use this profile" and to select the appropriate profile. Now, when you run ieSupportManager it will know what profile to use. The second option is to disable the paste email facility within ieSupportManager. To do this select Tool/Options and ensure that the MAPI option is unchecked.

I have set up all my products using the Maintenance/Products screen. However when I click on the drop down list for Product on the Log A Call screen all I see is (None). Why is this ?

You must first associate products with customers by going into Maintenance/Customers and then the clicking on the Customer Products tab. The idea being that different customers can have different products. Once set up, the drop down list for Product on the Log A Call screen will only show the products that the customer in question has.

Alternatively you can click on the search button to the right of the product drop down list to bring up the advanced product search window, and use it to locate the required product from your full list of products.

How do I install a language file ?

First, ensure that the standard English version of ieSupportManager is already installed. Next download the required language file from our downloads page and save the file into the same directory that ieSupportManager is run from (usually 'c:\program files\iesupportmanager'). To revert back to the English version simply delete this 'language.ini' file. You can find more information about language files and translations under the section 'Customisation/Translations' within 'Other Options' in the ieSupportManager on-line help.

I have created a LANGUAGE.INI file and made changes to it. However when I restart ieSupportManager these changes are not visible. Why is this ?

Once the file LANGUAGE.INI is in the main ieSupportManager directory on every machine the system will pick it up. There should be no need to reboot. Just log out and log back in.

Another possible cause is that you have used one of the supplied language files from the INTL folder (e.g. ENGLISH.INI) and renamed it incorrectly.

Was the file called ENGLISH or ENGLISH.INI ? If it was just called ENGLISH your version of Windows may be configured to hide the extension of known file types. So if you renamed it from ENGLISH to LANGUAGE.INI what you have actually done is renamed it to LANGUAGE.INI.INI. Just try renaming it to LANGUAGE and see if that works.

Alternatively, click on My Computer. Then click on Tools / Folder Options. On the view tab make sure Hide file extensions for known file types is not checked.

Or right click on the file and select properties and see what it's full name is.

'HTTP 404 - File not found error.'

When I try to run the ieSupportManager web front end (ieWebSupport) my browser displays the above error, why is this ?

This is more than likely an IIS 6.0 (or later) configuration issue. When you install IIS 6.0 (or later), it is locked down — only request handling for static Web pages is enabled, and only the World Wide Web Publishing Service (WWW service) is installed. None of the features that sit on top of IIS are turned on by default, including ASP. ieWebSupport however requires ASP, depending on the version of windows please follow the instructions below to enable ASP pages.

In IIS Manager, expand the local computer, and then click Web Service Extensions.
In the details pane, click Active Server Pages, and then click Allow.

Go to Control Panel
Click Add/Remove programs
Click Add/Remove windows components
Click on Application Server
Click on IIS
Click on World Wide Web service
Ensure Active Server Pages is ticked

If you are not running IIS6.0 then check the URL that you are using to access ieWebSupport. It should be in the form of:-

http://server name/iewebsupport/ielogon.asp, where 'server name' is the name of your web server. Please note that this is the default folder that ieWebSupport is installed to, if this was changed during installation then amend the path above accordingly.

Lastly, check your anti-virus application as some antivirus software programs rename '.asp' files to '.txt' files.

'An error occurred while creating object WScript'