 Recently, we upgraded the Customer+Center application to include a “message board” that only appears when technician administrators add some content to the board. The message board disappears when there is no message to be displayed. This allows organizations to post important alert messages but otherwise the customer portal page remains unchanged.Currently the Tech+Center and the Business+Center each have their own “white boards”. Based on feedback from our customers, it appears that the Business+Center white board was not being used effectively and it was felt to be more appropriate to have the tech+center white board contents appear on the both the Tech+Center and Business+Center pages for consistency of message to techs and sales persons using the Business+Center. By making the Tech+Center and Business+Center white boards the same, it allowed us to use the existing infrastructure within the database to implement a separate white board for the Customer+Center without requiring a database upgrade.A new feature on the Administration page under heading of Misc Utilities and Functions is a new link labeled Edit Customer+Center Message. The administrator uses this function to create and add content to the Customer+Center message board or alternatively to wipe clean the Customer+Center message content and cause it to disappear from the Customer+Center home portal page.To keep the application Version 6.0 database compatible, we have simply re-assigned the Business+Center white board database field to be used for the Customer+Center white board and modified a few of the ASP files to incorporate this change. Below is a list of the files that you would need to grab from our version server to incorporate this change this change into your version 6.X instalation. The current downloadable production version of the Web+Center application includes this new change as well. If you wish to grab the latest updated Web+Center code to support this new Customer+Center message board, please click on each of the FTP link from our version server to download the files listed below and replace these files into your Customercenter, Language, Businesscenter and Techcenter folders. Please back up any files you currently have before replacing them with these newer files in case you have customized these files.(Verison 6.X compatible only). CustomerCenter Directory Files Language Directory Files BusinessCenter Directory Files TechCenter Directory Files |
by John Krull – VP, Technology |
 OverviewEnvision Schools is a Charter Management Organization with four high schools, two in San Francisco and two in the East Bay. We use the Reservation+Center at each school to manage all our technology inventory and check-outs. Being Arts & Technology High Schools, we have a lot of computer carts and media equipment that need to be moved around the schools and having an easy-to-use system to track usage helps everyone: teachers, tech staff, and administration.From a technical standpoint, we run Web+Center 6.0 on a single centralized Windows Server that each school can access. Each site has its own instance of the Reservation+Center running on a separate IP. We’ve customized the photos of the inventory for each school as well as the front page look. Tech staff likes the fact that teachers can self-register and manage their own scheduling of equipment. This allows time for the tech staff to concentrate on technical issues and not scheduling logistics.For more information the amazing results of the Envision Charter Schools in the San Francisco Bay Area please visit their website at www.envisionschools.org. John Krull is the VP of technology for Envision Schools. He can be reached by email at: johnkrull@envisionschools.org or by phone at:(415) 348-9955 x108. |