Today we are announcing version 1.1 of the xTuple Web Portal Support module, and we're putting it to work immediately.
It has long been our goal to replace our web-based issue tracker, which has been running on a third-party product called Mantis, with a solution that would connect directly to our xTuple database. With the Support module, bug reports, feature requests, and customer support incidents all flow directly into the xTuple database. From that point we can manage everything through the xTuple client software back at xTuple world headquarters.
The Support module is a powerful tool for managing relationships with customers. It is a part of our overall xTuple Web Portal product suite, a collection of software, including our B2B Sales module, that allows users to extend xTuple ERP features to the web. We are excited to begin using this on our own website, and pleased at the growing number of customers who are using the xTuple Web Portal on their own sites as well.
We have tried to make this transition as smooth as possible, but if you're a regular user of our online issuetracker, you will see some differences in the interface.
The top of the page features a button for creating new incidents, and a block for configuring filters. You must be logged in to report new bugs.
The filters are there to help you search the list of existing bugs (or features, or support requests) to find ones you've reported, and to check to see if anyone else has already reported the issue you are experiencing. If you have a filter set that you use frequently, you can save it and access it from the saved filters list.
You can sort the incidents on the page by clicking on the column headers.
You can open an incident by clicking on it in the list.
Here's the incident screen:
The incident report shows all the details of an incident, including the initial description and information about its status. Authorized users can add comments and attach files to incidents.
You can subscribe to an incident to receive emails any time the incident is updated.
The bottom of the page shows a complete history for the incident.
Launching this product has been an interesting trial for us, but it has already proven valuable. A principle of ERP is that more integration is better. As a company we seek to practice what we preach by integrating more and more systems, and more and more data, into our own ERP database. Of course, this is never easy. Like any company undergoing a major software update, even after weeks of planning we had a lot of sorting out to do after we launched our new Support module.
But in spite of the slight disruption, we are already starting to see how useful it is to have a single screen where we can see the statuses of software bugs, professional services projects and customer support issues. We have a dashboard view of the demands on our internal resources that never existed before. It should allow us to be much more realistic and accurate about allocating those resources toward the various demands. That's the promise of ERP: by breaking down the data silos, a company will have a better understanding of its own processes and begin to do its work faster, better and cheaper.
If you are interested in learning more about the Web Portal Support module, or about the xTuple Web Portal in general, please contact us. We'd love to show you how xTuple can grow your world!
BC Wilson
With the explosive movement of cloud strategies, BC was promoted to director of cloud services in 2014. Previously, he oversaw operations and hiring of managers for critical lines of business for the Product Management Group, driving return on investment (ROI) for all xTuple products and managed ongoing engineering and development of the xTuple Classic GUI product, including all customer-sponsored enhancements, as well as the xTuple Web Portal product. Prior to xTuple, BC was a senior product manager for Trader Electronic Media, where he directed the development of websites for the classified advertising market. He has also worked as a partner in a web design agency, and a content producer for the Road Runner and Starband broadband service providers. BC began his career as a writer and editor for the Ziff Davis computer magazines.
He holds a B.A. in Theology from Georgetown University, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Old Dominion University. In 2012, BC was appointed as a commissioner of Bicycle and Pedestrian Trails in Norfolk, Virginia.