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Working with FirstHelp

June 2008

www.ntrsupport.com
Contents
Working with FirstHelp............................................................................................3
Getting to Know the User Interface.........................................................................3
Icons and Buttons ............................................................................................................. 4
Portlets........................................................................................................................... 4
Portlet Items................................................................................................................... 4
Creating a Portal.....................................................................................................5
Copying an Existing Portal......................................................................................5
Configuring a Portal ................................................................................................6
Changing Settings ............................................................................................................ 6
Working with Portlets ..............................................................................................6
Adding Portlets ................................................................................................................. 7
Positioning Portlets ........................................................................................................... 7
Hiding and Deleting Portlets ............................................................................................. 7
Changing Portlet Settings ................................................................................................. 8
Personalizing the Online Help Portlet............................................................................... 8
Working with Content in Portlets.............................................................................8
Adding Items..................................................................................................................... 9
Adding News Items........................................................................................................ 9
Adding FAQ Items ......................................................................................................... 9
Adding Download Items................................................................................................. 9
Adding Link Items ........................................................................................................ 10
Editing Items ................................................................................................................... 10
Moving Items Up or Down .............................................................................................. 10
Hiding and Deleting Items............................................................................................... 10
Managing Portals..................................................................................................11
Changing the Status of a Portal...................................................................................... 11
Deleting a Portal ............................................................................................................. 11
Managing Access to Portals .................................................................................11
Setting Portal Access...................................................................................................... 12
Giving Portal Access to Users ........................................................................................ 12
Managing Users....................................................................................................12
Creating Portal Users ..................................................................................................... 13
Editing Users .................................................................................................................. 13
Validating Users.............................................................................................................. 13
Changing User Status..................................................................................................... 14
Deleting Users ................................................................................................................ 14

Working with FirstHelp 2


Working with FirstHelp
NTRsupport FirstHelp is a web-based service that allows you to provide your customers
with information, news, and other types of content over the Internet. FirstHelp is designed
around the concept of an Internet portal. Your customers, employees, or business
partners can use the portal as their first point of contact with your organization. For
example, if you wanted to create a portal for technical support issues, you could add
technical support articles or frequently asked questions (FAQs) to a FirstHelp portal and
possibly reduce the number of technical support queries you receive by telephone.
FirstHelp allows you to create multiple portals to meet the requirements of your business.

To add information to a FirstHelp portal, you must first add one or more “portlets”. A portlet
is an independent block or module of content that displays a list of information items,
called portlet items, each of which contains the same “type” of information. For example,
you can create a downloads portlet to display a list of files that users can download, or
you can create a FAQs portlet to add a list of frequently asked questions. You can add as
many portlets as you want to each portal. When you first create a portal, a default set of
portlets are automatically added to the portal; you can choose to keep the portlets or
delete them depending on your business requirements.

To add your own content to a portlet, you must add “portlet items”. A portlet item
represents a single item of information in a portlet. For example, if you wanted to add five
frequently asked questions to your portal, you would first create a FAQs portlet, and
subsequently add each individual FAQ as a portlet item. Once you have added all
questions, the FAQs portlet would contain five portlet items, each of which represents a
single FAQ. To help you organize the layout and presentation of your portal, you can
move portlets around, temporarily hide portlets, or delete portlets when they are no longer
needed. You can also sort the list of portlet items by moving them up or down in the list.

Any administrator of your NTRsupport account can configure your FirstHelp portals, add
and delete portlets, change the layout of the portal, and manage users and user
permissions.

Getting to Know the User Interface


When you log in as an administrator to NTRsupport, you will see an intuitive user interface
that allows you to change the layout, design, and content of your portal. For example, you
can move portlets by simply dragging them to a new position, or you can quickly change
the status of a portlet or portlet item in a single click. To view a list of actions or
configuration options available for each item in a portlet, you can simply move your mouse
pointer over the item.

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Icons and Buttons
You may want to familiarize yourself with the following icons and buttons used on the user
interface.

Portlets
The following table describes the buttons you can use when working with portlets.

Icon Description

Allows you to edit the properties of a portlet, such as changing the title,
the icon, or the number of items you want to be displayed.

Allows you to deactivate a portlet. The status of the portlet changes from
active to inactive and the portlet is moved to Inactive Portlets.

Allows you to add a new item to a portlet.

Allows you to view a larger version of a portlet.

Allows you to reactivate a portlet. The status of the portlet changes from
inactive to active and the portlet is restored to the list of active portlets.

Allows you to permanently delete an item such as portals, portlets, and


portlet entries.

Portlet Items
The following table describes the buttons you can use when working with portlet items.
These buttons only appear when you move the mouse pointer over the item.

Icon Description

Allows you to edit a portlet item.

Allows you to delete a portlet item.

Allows you to move a portlet item up or down in the list of items.

Indicates that an item is online and can be viewed by all users of a


portal.

Indicates that an item is offline and can only be viewed by portal


administrators.

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Creating a Portal
Setting up your portal is a simple and straightforward process. After you create a portal,
you can customize it by adding a company logo, choosing a color scheme, modifying legal
terms and conditions, and customizing contact information.

Since your FirstHelp portal is accessible from the Internet, you must first choose a suitable
URL. The format used for the URL includes http://firsthelp.ntrsupport.com/ followed by a
name you choose, such as the name of your department or organization. For example, if
you choose “techsupport” as the name of your portal, the full URL of your portal will be
http://firsthelp.ntrsupport.com/techsupport. You can also select a language for the portal,
which determines the language used for buttons, icons, and navigation.

If you want to provide content in more than one language, you must create a separate
portal for each language. You can add as many portals as you require to suit the needs of
your business.

To create a portal
1. Log in to NTRsupport as an administrator.
2. Choose FirstHelp > Portals.
3. Choose Create Portal.
4. Select New Portal, enter a URL for the portal, and select a language.
5. To create the portal, click Create.
A new portal is created and its status is set to "online" with a default set of portlets.
The default set of portlets contains sample text, which you should replace with content
related to your own products or services.

Copying an Existing Portal


If you want to create a new portal that is similar to one that you have already created, you
can simply duplicate the existing portal. When you duplicate a portal, all settings, including
the portal colors, contact information, and access settings are copied to the new portal. All
portlets, including their layout and content are also copied. A duplicate portal, however,
must have its own unique URL that identifies the portal.

Once you have copied a portal, you must give existing users access to the new portal
individually by editing their user details.

To copy a portal
1. Choose FirstHelp > Portals.
2. Click the duplicate button of the portal you want to copy.
3. Enter a new URL for the portal.
4. Select a language for the portal.
5. To create the portal, click Create.
A duplicate portal is created and its status is set to "online".

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Configuring a Portal
When you create a new portal, you can configure general settings, such as the layout and
color scheme of the portal pages, the name and the title of the portal, and the user access
and registration options. You can also add legal information to your portal, such as terms
of use or a privacy policy. You can enter the legal information by directly typing in the text
or by linking to an existing webpage. Any changes you make are visible immediately to all
users, unless the portal is offline.

Changing Settings
Each FirstHelp portal you create has its own settings, which you can easily change at any
time.

To change portal settings


1. Choose FirstHelp > Portals.
2. Click the settings icon of the portal you want to change.
3. Change any of the following settings:
• General settings, such as the title, logo, or color scheme.
• Contact information, including phone, e-mail, and website address details.
• Legal information.
• Access settings. For more details, see “Managing Access to Portals”.
4. To save your settings, choose Save.

Working with Portlets


After you set up a portal, you can start working with portlets. You use portlets to manage
and organize the layout of content in your portal. There are several types of portlets that
you can add to a portal, such news, FAQs, or downloads. Each type of portlet allows you
to work with a specific type of content. For example, the news portlet is intended for
adding news articles, and requires you to add a title, a start and end date for the article,
and the article text. The following table describes the types of portlets you can add to a
portal.

Portlet Type Description

FAQs Allows you to add frequently asked questions that are typically
asked by customers about your products or services.

News Allows you to add news articles.

Downloads Allows you to upload files to your portal, such as software drivers
or PDF files. Portal users can subsequently download the files to
their own computers.

Links Allows you to add links to other websites or resources on the

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Internet or your intranet.

Online Help The Online Help portlet allows portal users to directly contact any
operator that is available or “online” at the time they visit the portal.
The graphical button that appears in this portlet is pre-configured
and can be used immediately without any kind of customization.
You can, however, customize the button to change its behaviour
and the way NTRsupport handles chat requests. For more
information, see the NTRsupport administrator guide.

Adding Portlets
You can add an unlimited number of portlets to any FirstHelp portal.

To add a portlet
1. Choose FirstHelp and select the portal you want to work with.
2. In the portal menu bar, click Add Portlet.
3. Select the type of portlet you want to add.
The portlet is added to your portal and displayed on the bottom left-hand side of the
page.

Positioning Portlets
You can easily change the position of portlets in your portal by simply dragging the portlet
to another area on the page. You can change the position of any portlet, except the Online
Help portlet, which is always positioned at the top-right corner of a portal.

To position a portlet
ƒ Click the title of a portlet and drag it to a new position.

Hiding and Deleting Portlets


You may want to temporarily hide a portlet that you have created, for example, if you need
to review its content. If you want to permanently remove a portlet, you can delete it.

IMPORTANT: When you delete a portlet, all content in the portlet is also deleted and
cannot be restored.

To hide a portlet
ƒ Click the Make Portlet Inactive button.
The portlet is moved to the Inactive Portlets section.

To show a portlet
ƒ In the Inactive Portlets section, click the Make Portlet Active button.
The portlet is moved back to the active portals section.

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To delete a portlet
ƒ If the portlet is already in the Inactive Portlets section, click the Delete Portlet button.
ƒ If the portlet is not in the Inactive Portlets section, first hide the portlet, and then in the
Inactive Portlets section, click the Delete Portlet button.

Changing Portlet Settings


You can change the appearance of each portlet, including the title icon, the number of
items to display in the portlet, and the length of each item’s description. You can also hide
the item description entirely.

To change portlet settings


1. Click the Edit Properties button of the portlet you want to change.
2. Change the display properties to suit your needs.
3. To save your settings, click Save.

Personalizing the Online Help Portlet


The online help portlet is a special kind of portlet. It provides your customers with a quick
way to start a chat conversation with any of your operators. The graphical button
displayed in the portlet is pre-configured to route all chat conversations to any available
operator. You can change the configuration of the button to best suit your own needs by
editing the portlet properties, and then adding or removing custom parameters. For more
information about configuring graphical buttons for websites, see the NTRsupport
administrator guide.

To customize the Online Help portlet


1. Log in to NTRsupport as an administrator.
2. Choose Integration > HTML.
3. Copy the HTML code from the text box.
4. Choose FirstHelp and select the portal you want to work with.
5. Open the properties of the Online Help portlet, and paste the HTML code.
6. Add custom parameters to the HTML code. For example, to specify a green
background for the client chat window, you would add the text string
&bgcolor=00cc00.
7. To save your changes, click Save.

Working with Content in Portlets


To add content to portlets, you must add portlet items. You can change the layout of
content by moving items up or down in the list. If you want to prevent users from viewing
certain content, you can hide portlet items. You can also permanently delete an item.

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Adding Items
You can add an unlimited number of portlet items to any portlet. Items are automatically
placed at the top of the list of portlet items.

Adding News Items


You can add news articles to a news portlet. A news article consists of a title, the article
text, and a start and end date for publication of the article. You can also attach an image,
which is displayed as a thumbnail in a portlet, and appears at a larger size when a user is
viewing the full news article.

To add news items


1. Choose FirstHelp and click the name of the portal to which you want to add a news
item.
2. Click the Add Item button of a news portlet.
3. Enter the details of the news item.
ƒ A title for the news item.
ƒ A start date for publication of the item.
ƒ An end date for publication of the item.
ƒ The text of the news article.
4. Select the image you want to use.
5. To save the news item, choose Save.
The news item is added to the portlet and viewable to portal users immediately,
unless the publication dates you choose are in the future.

Adding FAQ Items


You can add frequently asked questions to a FAQs portlet. A FAQ is usually a question
related to a product or service that can be answered in one or two paragraphs.

To add a FAQ item


1. Choose FirstHelp and click the name of the portal to which you want to add a FAQ
item.
2. Click the Add Item icon of a FAQs portlet.
3. Enter the question and answer for the FAQ.
You can apply some formatting to the text of the answer, including italics, underlining,
and indentation.
4. To save the FAQ item, click Save.

Adding Download Items


You can upload files to your portal, which can be subsequently downloaded by users
directly from the portal. You can upload most file types, except files with the extensions
.exe (executable files) or .vbs (VBScript files). To help users choose the files they need,
you can provide a title and description for each file.

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To add a download item
1. Choose FirstHelp and click the name of the portal to which you want to add a
download item.
2. Click the Add Item icon of a downloads portlet.
3. Enter a title and description for the download.
4. Enter the location of the file.
5. To upload the file and save the item, click Save.

Adding Link Items


You can use a Links portlet to display a list of links to other locations on the Internet or
your organisation’s intranet.

To add a link item


1. Choose FirstHelp and click the name of the portal to which you want to add a link
item.
2. Click the Add Item icon of a links portlet.
3. Enter a title and description for the link.
4. Enter the URL for the link.
The URL must start with http:// or https://.
5. To save the item, click Save.

Editing Items
You can easily edit portlet items.

To edit a portlet item


ƒ Click the Edit Item button of the item you want to modify.

Moving Items Up or Down


When items are displayed in list format in a portlet, you can move individual items up or
down in the list. For example, if you want an important news article or FAQ to appear at
the top of the list, you can easily move it to the top.

To move a list item


ƒ Click the Move Up or Move Down button of the item you want to move.

Hiding and Deleting Items


You can hide portlet items temporarily by deactivating them. When a portlet item is
hidden, it cannot be viewed by portal users, except administrators. You can also
permanently remove items by deleting them.

To hide a portlet item


ƒ Click the status button of the item you want to hide.
To show the item again, click the status button again.

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To delete an item
ƒ Click the Delete button of the item you want to remove.

Managing Portals
FirstHelp allows you to easily manage each individual portal. You can quickly change the
status of portals by activating them or deactivating them. You can also duplicate portals,
delete them, or change their settings.

Changing the Status of a Portal


You can change the status of a portal at any time. When you change the status of a portal
to "online", the portal is activated and it can be viewed by users of the portal. When you
change the status of a portal to "offline", the portal is deactivated and users are prevented
from viewing the portal and its content.

To change the status of a portal


1. Choose FirstHelp > Portals.
2. Click the status icon of a portal to change its status.

Deleting a Portal
If you no longer want to use a portal, you can choose to delete it.

IMPORTANT: When you delete a portal, all content that you have created for the
portal is also deleted and cannot be restored. If you want to keep content from the
portal, such as news articles, FAQs, or links, you should set the status of the portal to
offline instead by deactivating it.

To delete a portal
1. Choose FirstHelp > Portals.
2. Click the Delete button of the portal you want to delete.

Managing Access to Portals


NTRsupport FirstHelp allows you to create both public and private portals. Public portals
can be viewed by anyone that knows the URL of your portal. Private portals require users
to access the portal using a user name and password. If you choose to create a private
portal, you can allow users to self-register or you can choose to create user accounts
manually. For more information about users, see “Managing Users”.

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Setting Portal Access
When you create a portal, you must choose to make a portal public or private. By default,
all new portals are public. You can also configure user registration settings for each portal.

To set portal access


1. Choose FirstHelp > Portals.
2. Click the Settings button of the portal you want to work with.
3. Choose to make the portal public or private.
If you create a public portal, click Save.
If you create a private portal, you must configure user registration settings.

To configure user registration settings


1. Choose FirstHelp > Portals.
2. Click the Settings button of the portal you want to work with.
3. Choose a user registration option.
ƒ To allow only administrators to create user accounts, choose By administrators
only.
ƒ To allow both administrators and users to create their own user accounts, choose
By administrators and users.
4. If you chose to allow both administrators and users to create user accounts, you must
select a validation option.
ƒ If you want to validate self-registered users before allowing them to log in to the
portal, choose Validation required.
ƒ If you want to allow self-registered users to log in immediately, choose No
validation required.

Giving Portal Access to Users


When you have set access permissions for a portal, you can give users access to the
portal.

To give a user access to a portal


1. Choose FirstHelp and select the portal you want to work with.
2. Choose Users.
3. Click the user you want to work with.
4. Select the portals that you want the user to access.
5. To save your settings, click Save.

Managing Users
If you require users of your portal to be registered in order to access it, each user must
have a FirstHelp user account. You, or any other administrator, can create users for your
portals and manage their access permissions. You can choose to give a user access to a
specific portal, a selection of portals, or all portals. If you have a large number of users,

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you can search for an individual user, or sort the list of users according to name, surname,
country, and so on.

Creating Portal Users


If you have set the access permissions of a portal to private, and do not allow users to
self-register, you must create user accounts manually.

To create a portal user


1. Choose Users > Create User.
2. Enter the user's details including their name, surname, company name, country, and
contact details.
3. Select the portals you want the user to access.
4. Click Save.

If a user wants to change their password, they can click on the “Forgot your password?”
link on the Sign In page and choose a new one.

Editing Users
You can edit all user details, including the portals to which they have access.

To edit a user’s details


1. Choose Users.
2. Click the user you want to edit.
You can find users by moving forward or backward between pages or by searching for
users.
3. Edit the user’s details, including their name, surname, company name, country, and
contact details.
ƒ If you want to change the user’s access to portals, select the appropriate portals.
4. To save your changes, click Save.

Validating Users
If you choose to allow users to register themselves, you may need to validate the user
before they get access to the portal or portals for which they registered.

To validate a user
1. Choose Users.
A list of users is displayed including those that need to be validated.
You can find users by moving forward or backward between pages or by searching for
users.
2. Click Validate to give portal access to the user.

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Changing User Status
The status of a user indicates whether their user account is active, inactive, or is pending
validation by a portal administrator. An activated user is indicated by a checkmark in a
green circle. A deactivated user is indicated by a white horizontal bar in a red circle. You
can change a user's status to allow or deny them access to portals. When you change a
user's status, the change is applied to all portals to which the user may have access.

To change a user’s status


1. Choose Users.
2. Click the status icon of the user you want to update.
If a user is active, their status changes to inactive. If a user is inactive, their status
changes to active.

Deleting Users
You can delete a user if a user no longer requires access to any of your portals or if you
want to permanently delete a user account. If you only need to temporarily deny a user
access to all portals, you should change the user’s status instead.

To delete a user
1. Choose Users.
2. Select the users you want to delete.
3. Click Delete.

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This document contains information which is the property of Net
Transmit & Receive, S.L. (hereinafter referred to as “NTR”), a
Spanish company with Tax Identification Number B-62.173.737,
corporate registered address in Josep Pla, 2 – Edificio B3, 1ª
Planta, Barcelona, and registered in the Barcelona Mercantile
Registry, Volume 32.317, Sheet 83, Page B 206.573, First Entry
1ª.

The contents of this document are the property of NTR or its


suppliers, having been, in this last case, licensed or transferred,
and protected by both national and international intellectual and
industrial property laws. By virtue of the previously mentioned, the
content of this guide cannot be copied, distributed, photocopied,
reproduced, translated or summarized, completely or partially, by
no means without the previous written authorization of NTR.

The information contained in this manual has been elaborated and


reviewed as carefully and precisely as possible, however, in spite
of the diligence put into its preparation, it could contain
inaccuracies, typographical errors, or it could possibly not be
updated to the access date of the service administrator or
operator.

NTR reserves the right to modify the contents of this guide to its
discretion, at any time, unilaterally and without previous notice.

All NTR trademarks, distinguishing signs and logos that appear in


this guide are ownership of NTR and are properly registered.
Similarly, NTR informs you that the denominations of other
products, services and companies appearing in this document
might also be registered trademarks of their respective and
legitimate proprietors.

© 2008 Net Transmit & Receive, S.L.

NTRglobal Headquarters
Torres Diagonal Litoral · Josep Pla, 2
Edificio B3, 1ª Planta
08019 Barcelona (Spain)
Tel. +34 93 445 07 00 Fax +34 93 445 07 01
www.ntrsupport.com www.ntrglobal.com

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FirstHelp 15

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