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CustomerFirst® is the premier call and defect tracking system for the 90s. It is the only system designed for software companies providing support directly to their customers.
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detailed description:
defect tracking
automated rule-based escalation
maintenance contracts
reporting tools
multiple department integration
support for fax and e-mail
platforms supported
CustomerFirst contains an integrated defect tracking system that improves the communications and workflow between the support, development, and quality assurance departments. The system can be used during initial development, system testing, and after the product has been released to users.
When a customer reports and bug and support assigns the problem to development, CustomerFirst provides e-mail notification to the individual or manager so they are informed that they have a new problem. Their WorkItems list displays all open problems assigned to them with new ones shown in red. Once the bug has been fixed and the problem closed, CustomerFirst automatically notifies all support reps who have customers waiting for this fix. If another customer reports this bug at a future time, the support rep will immediately be able to find the problem, see that it has been fixed, and display the releases that contain this fix. This enables instant turnaround when a fix already exists.
CustomerFirst allows you to create either temporary fixes or permanent fixes to record the modification. The temporary fix is usually a workaround or temporary code change. The permanent fix is the actual source code change that will go into a new release of the system. The permanent fix records the version in which this fix will be incorporated and the modules that need to be modified in order to correct the problem. Queries provide search capability to see all problems which involved a fix to a specific module. Reports show all changes to each new release or version of your software.
Escalation rules can be set based upon the completion date of the problem to aid management in delivering new versions on-time. Personal escalation rules can be used by individual developers to notify them if they are not completing their assignments in the defined timeframes.
AUTOMATED RULE-BASED ESCALATION
CustomerFirst features user definable escalation rules that warn you of exceptions to your rules. Escalation rules can be set for incidents or problems. They can be set based upon combinations of problem type, priority level, severity, status, customer, elapsed time, and the type of maintenance contract the customer has, to outline the acceptable timeframe for resovling the problem. This provides a mechanism for ensuring that your customers receive a response in the appropriate timeframe.
Rules are set either globally, departmentally, or at personal levels. Boolean logic can be used to define more complex rules and then specify what action(s) can be taken after the incident or problem has been open for a defined period of time. These rules can also be defined using other criteria such as no action, expected completion date, and completion date passed by specific periods of time. You can set alerts to notify individuals or departments, send e-mail, change the priority of an incident/problem, or transfer the incident/problem to another person or department.
Defining the appropriate set of escalation rules allows management to ensure that service guidelines are being met, thereby improving customer satisfaction and employee productivity.
Your Customer Support department must not only provide better and faster customer support, but must also make a profit. The latest version of CustomerFirst offers many new options for maintenance contract monitoring. Using CustomerFirst you are able to track maintenance contracts by expiration date, number of incidents, and the number of hours allowing you to automatically warn your customers when their maintenance contracts are expiring.
CustomerFirst's approach to maintenance offers a fully integrated and flexible set of features that address a wide variety of contract options. You can support "annual maintenance", " billing by time", or "pay by the call" contracts. The system keeps complete information on support contracts, upgrades, and activity history by maintenance type. You can even offer different response guarantees to your customer by contract type. Your supports reps now have immediate access to all the contract information you want them to have when talking to your customers.
Finally, the new maintenance system will give you the information you need to correctly analyze and forecast maintenance revenues. CustomerFirst ensures that maintenance contracts are renewed and that viable programs for the sale of new maintenance contracts can be developed.
CustomerFirst offers a wide range of customizable and standard reporting. Over 20 canned reports come with the system. Various reports are available by individual, department, customer, or by product. These reports allow management to track the performance and quality of customer support activities. Data can be analyzed, trends spotted, and improvements made in productivity, responsiveness and profitability. These reports allow management to analyze the support process enabling them to make changes and improve overall customer service. In addition CustomerFirst supports use of third party reporting tools.
CustomerFirst provides the ability to extract data into an Excel Pivot table for analysis. Reports and graphs can then be presented from the data that has been extracted. An extract wizard is provided within Excel that allows the user complete flexibility in selecting both the data elements and the subset of the rows to be extracted. The data elements are presented as dimensions on which the data can be analyzed. One or more dimensions can then be graphed using default graphs, which can be modified using Excel capabilities. The Excel workbooks can be saved if further analysis is necessary.
MULTIPLE DEPARTMENT INTEGRATION
CustomerFirst manages all workflows necessary to effectively track customer calls and resolve problems that involve multiple departments. Interaction between customer service, product development, and quality assurance becomes a simple and seamless process.
CustomerFirst uses a two-tiered approach to group information. On the first tier, CustomerFirst tracks information by individual incident. An incident is defined as a single issue reported by a customer. This incident can be a question, a software bug, an error in documentation, or even an enhancement request. On the second tier, CustomerFirst tracks information by problem. A problem is a single issue that may have been reported by many customers. When a new customer incident is entered, CustomerFirst automatically creates a corresponding problem. Multiple incidents can be linked to one problem which can then used as the basis for defining the tasks necessary for your organization to solve the problem.
Repeat occurrences of problems can be handled quickly by the support team. All incidents of a problem can be addressed at the same time. Your software developers are only assigned unique open problems to work on, thus preventing duplication of effort.
Normally, your support department handles incidents while your development department handles problems. When the functions of the two departments overlap, CustomerFirst's two-tiered structure simplifies communication and cooperation, thereby promoting teamwork.
Your customers are kept informed and nothing falls through the cracks.
CustomerFirst SUPPORT FOR FAX AND E-MAIL
CustomerFirst supports any e-mail systems using the VIM, MAPI, or SMTP interfaces. Some popular e-mail systems include:
You can send and receive e-mail and faxes from within the system allowing additional communication methods to keep your customers up to date with all issues tracked by CustomerFirst.
CustomerFirst RUNS ON A WIDE VARIETY OF PLATFORMS
CustomerFirst is a client/server application. Clients can run on:
Servers can reside on:
Information can reside in:
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Copyright © 1996 Repository Technologies, Inc.
Last modified: April 21, 1997