Customer Portal Administration

Note

This topic provides a brief introduction. Refer to the Customer Portal knowledge article for complete information on deploying and configuring Customer Portal functionality in your system.

Your Customer Portal administrator configures and customizes the user (subscriber) experience by managing customer portal profiles. Profiles let you define the default user experience and optionally define alternate user experiences based on the subscriber’s market.

Note

Customer Portal is delivered with a default profile with an out-of-box configuration that can be used for testing purposes without any additional setup. The out-of-box configuration on the default profile provides a user experience with IDI branding and coloring in the application. This lets any customer portal user log in and experience the portal without any configuration. The default profile can be edited, renamed, or copied. It cannot be deleted.

In a simple implementation, the default profile can be edited and used for all subscribers.

When the customer portal needs to look or function differently for different user segments (distinguished by IDI platform Markets), additional profiles can be created and associated to a grouping of markets to override the default user experience.

You can create as many profiles as needed to accommodate your various markets. Access to profile setup is via the Customer Care MANAGE > Customer Portal Administration menu item.

Note

Permissions needed to manage profiles are covered in the Customer Portal knowledge article.

The Customer Portal Administration menu item opens the Administration page where you can see how many profiles currently exist.

Clicking Profiles from the left navigation or clicking the tile displaying the number of profiles opens the Profiles page.

Clicking Users displays a page where you can view all Customer Portal users and export the list to a csv file.

Profile Administration Basics

The Profiles page provides an intuitive interface for you to view and manage your Customer Portal profiles. From here, you can:

• Create, edit and remove profiles

• Search and sort by profile

  

Creating New Profiles

You can create a new profile by starting with the out-of-box default configuration or by duplicating an existing profile.

• To start with the out-of-box default configuration, either choose Create New Profile from the Create Profile drop-down menu or simply click Create Profile.

  

  This opens the New Profile page with default values. The logos, theme, top bar color, notification templates menu configuration, etc. will all be set to the out-of-box configuration with IDI branding. You’ll be required to step through each tab and finish by saving and completing the configuration on the Support Menu tab (the last tab).

• To duplicate an existing profile, click the Duplicate link for the profile, or choose Duplicate Existing Profile from the Create Profile drop-down menu. Choosing Create Profile > Duplicate Existing Profile displays a dialog that lets you choose an existing profile from the drop-down menu or enter a text string to find the existing profile.

  

  Note

  In this case, you’ll start with the exact configuration of the selected profile (except for the associated markets). This immediately creates a new profile and opens it for editing. You can go to each tab and edit information for the new profile as needed. If you decide to discard the duplicated profile, you’ll need to go to the Profiles page and remove it by selecting the associated Remove option.

Completing Profile Configuration

When you choose to create a new profile or edit an existing profile, you begin on the New/Edit Profile page open to the Basic Info tab. Enter a unique name (required) and description (optional). Then click through the other tabs to complete the setup.

Notes:

• Each tab has a Continue to … button to facilitate moving to the next tab. For example, the Basic Info tab has a button for advancing to the Settings tab.

• The selections you make on each tab will persist as you advance from one to the next; however, they will not be saved and the profile will not be available in the Profiles list until you choose to do that by clicking Save & Complete.

  

Settings

The Settings tab lets you customize the look and feel of the portal and grant or block subscribers’ access to certain functions.

Selecting Logos

Note

You’ll need to store logo images where you can browse to and select them as applicable during profile setup. Follow these sizing guidelines for logo images.

Expanding the Logos option displays a dialog for selecting logos.

Clicking on any Set … Logo button displays a form with logo specifications and a button to upload a new logo image.

Clicking Upload New Logo displays a file explorer for browsing to the logo image.

Notifications

Email notifications are sent from Customer Portal to subscribers for:

• Account registration

• Request password reset 

• Password changed 

• Account information changed 

  Email formats and content are defined by notification templates set up in the Communications web module. System-defined templates are provided for you; however, you can create your own templates via the Communications web module as needed. The respective drop-down menus on the Notifications tab are populated based on the template type specified when the template is created in the Communications web module. This tab also provides a link for navigating to template configuration in Communications so you can configure new templates or edit/customize the default templates. Note: Managing templates requires Communications Admin permission.

  

  Note

  Customer Portal uses the IDI Desktop Client BackOffice Management OnlineBill Mailer wizard and templates for sending subscribers bill notifications when their online bills are available. Refer to the Send Billing Notifications article for details..

Menu Configuration

This tab lets you arrange the content of the left navigation pane (menu) in the Customer Portal subscriber view. You can see a preview of the default (or current) setup on the left. Clicking on a menu name in the preview provides a form on the right where you can:

• Note

  Change the menu name. For menu items that have sub-menu items (for Example Billing > Bill History), you can only change the top level menu item (in this case Billing).

• Note

  Move the menu item up or down in the order. You can use the Display Order field or drag and drop the menu item. The top menu item becomes the landing page. Below Account Summary will be the landing page.

• Select a different icon to represent the page the menu item displays. You can select an icon from the drop-down list or choose a new icon via the link (see below).

• You can also remove a menu item and make the associated page unavailable to subscribers. If you choose to remove a page, you can add it back using the Add Menu Item option. Note: If you remove a menu item with sub-menu items, those items are removed as well (and added back when applicable).

  

Customizing the Settings Menu

The Menu Configuration options for the Setting menu lets you selectively show/hide these elements on a profile basis:

• Submenus:

  • Contacts

  • Account Settings

• Account Settings Subsections:

  • Paperless Bill

  • Security

  • Account Details

  • Notifications

    

    In Account Summary menu configuration administrators can enable/disable the display of corporate accounts.

    

Icon Selection

A subset of icons is provided in the Icon drop-down menu. If you don’t find a suitable one there, you can select a different icon by clicking the Choose Other Icon link. This displays a form for entering the icon code (Font Awesome identifier).

The example below shows the code for dollar sign ($). If you don’t know the code, click the available icon codes link to open an article on the subject in the IDI knowledge center.

Manage Markets

This lets you manage (add/remove) the markets on this profile. Markets are configured in Admin Console > Data Management > Market Configuration.

To add (associate) a market to the profile, click Associate Market. This displays a form that lists active markets not already associated to the profile. Select a market then click Add.

You can add as many markets as needed (one-at-a-time). The current markets are listed in the Associated Markets list. If the list is large you can make it easier to find a specific market (or group of markets) using the search field. You can also toggle the sorting order (A-Z or Z-A) and remove markets as needed.

Home Widgets

This lets you choose the widgets to display on the portal landing page (top page as selected on the Menu tab). Click the associated toggle button to display or hide a widget. The preview on the right lets you see the adjusted presentation as you toggle widgets on or off.

Support Menu

This lets you set up contact/support information displayed on the top bar of every portal page and save the configuration when you’re done.

In the Messaging field enter the text for introducing the contact information displayed when you click the Need Help? Contact Support link. You can use the default text provided for you, or override this text with your own.

Then enter the support web site, phone number, and email in the respective fields. You can preview the result on the right.

When you’re finished, click Save & Complete.

Tickets

This tab lets you define ticket types that correspond to support request types in the Customer Portal. See Integrating Tickets.

Links & Ticket Notes

This tab lets you select a journal type to support adding notes (journals) to existing support requests. It also lets you add links (urls) on the Support page to give your subscribers quick access to helpful information. See the respective sections:

• Integrating Tickets

• Adding Helpful Links

Chat

Chat integration lets subscribers access support and reduce call volumes to support representatives. Administrators can configure TeamSupport as the chat provider for a profile. Subscribers can use TeamSupport chat capability from within Customer Portal. See Chat Integration later in this topic.

Integrating Tickets

This is done on the Tickets and Links & Ticket Notes tabs. Some preliminary setup is required in Admin Console Data Management to specify which ticket types can be opened by subscribers. In addition, you may want to use workflow triggers in conjunction with the support request note functionality in portal profile configuration to send email notifications when notes are added to a request. This is covered in the Email Notifications for Support Requests article in the IDI Knowledge Center.

Specifying Which Ticket Types Can Be Opened by Subscribers

Administrators can specify one or more ticket types that subscribers can submit as a support request. Ticket types are configured in the Journal Types table with Journal Class = Trouble Ticket in Admin Console Data Management. Note: Only ticket types with the Use in OnlineBill property set to True (checked) will be viewable by subscribers in the Customer Portal.

Other ticket-related parameters that must be set up in Admin Console Data Management include Journal Status and Ticket Category Configuration.

Configuring Support Request Types

The Tickets tab lists existing support request types. From here you can manage the existing request types and add new ones. Each support request type has a badge indicating whether or not it is enabled. Disabled support request types will not be available for Customer Portal users to select from the drop-down menu to submit a new support request.

Selecting an existing support request type from the list in the left panel displays the current configuration in the right panel. From there you can edit the current configuration as needed. The Enabled check box lets you enable/disable individual support request types as needed.

Adding a New Support Request Type

Click Add Support Type to open the New Support Type area.

Start by specifying a name for the new support type. You can choose to enable it (make available for subscribers to select) or leave it disabled at this time. After specifying the Name, proceed to Ticket Configuration. This configuration defines the values available to subscribers when they open a support request through their portal. Fields with red asterisk are required:

Click Save when you’re done. This brings you back to the Tickets tab with the new support type listed on the left.

Support Request Notes

The Links & Tickets Notes tab lets administrators select the journal type to use when a subscriber adds a note to a support request. Note: It is recommended to create a unique journal type specifically for this purpose (for the notes on the portal tickets).

Selecting a Journal Type to Support Adding Notes

This is required to let subscribers add notes to support requests. The drop-down menu is populated with journal types configured in the Journal Types table in Admin Console Data Management where Journal Class = Trouble Ticket and the Use in OnlineBill property is True (checked).

Note

If a Support Request Notes journal type is not selected from the drop-down menu, subscribers will not be able to add notes to support requests.

Email Notifications for Support Request Notes

IDI recommends you use workflow triggers in conjunction with the support request note functionality in portal profile configuration to send email notifications when notes are added to a request. This is covered in the Email Notifications for Support Requests article in the IDI Knowledge Center.

Adding Helpful Links

You can add up to five links to be displayed on a subscriber’s Support page. Subscribers can then use these links to access a web site with helpful information.

This is done on the Links & Ticket Notes tab in the profile configuration. To add a new link, click Add Helpful Link. This button is only available when there are less than five existing links.

To edit an existing link, click the associated edit (pencil icon in the left panel).

In either case the add/edit dialog is displayed for specifying the link text and URL.

Chat Provider Configuration 

This tab lets you specify a chat provider and provides the applicable chat provider configuration fields. Note: This setup is only available on existing (previously saved) profiles. The tab is visible but not functional until the profile is saved.

To set up chat functionality for an existing (saved) profile, click the Chat tab. Start by selecting a chat provider.

Making this selection displays additional fields as needed to configure the selected chat provider. For TeamSupport, these fields let you specify widget IDs (unique identifiers) that correspond to URLs for displaying a chat bubble on portal pages.

You can specify separate IDs (and thus different URLs to display the chat) for authenticated pages available after you log-in and non-authenticated pages available before log-in (i.e. user registration, log-in, and forgot password).

Note

The base URLs for TeamSupport integration are pre-configured and manage by IDI. They can be updated by IDI as needed.

Enter a TeamSupport Widget ID in the field directly under the Chat Provider Settings header. This ID corresponds to the URL to display the chat on authenticated pages (for logged in users). Your TeamSupport administrator can retrieve Widget IDs from the TeamSupport (snapengage) web site. The Click here for help link provides instructions for this.

When you enter the Widget ID, the system verifies that is produces a valid URL before saving it. You’ll see a confirmation when the ID has been successfully verified, and the Preview button at the far right of the field will be enabled.

Clicking Preview will show you a preview of the chat.

The Show on non-authenticated pages checkbox lets you choose whether or not to display a chat on non-authenticated pages (as well as authenticated pages) and is checked by default. This gives you the option to either use the same ID for non-authenticated pages or specify a different ID to point to a different URL for non-authenticated pages.

• If you want to point to the same URL for authenticated and non-authenticated pages, leave both the Show on… and Use Same Widget as above checkboxes checked.

• To point to a different URL for non-authenticated pages, leave the Show on… checkbox checked and uncheck the Use Same Widget as above checkbox. This displays an additional field for entering a different widget ID. This field operates the same as the above widget ID field with respect to validation and preview.

  

  Validation Notes:

• If both Widget IDs produce valid URLs, you can save the TeamSupport configuration without issues.

• If either Widget ID results in an invalid URL:

  • A clear error message appears, telling you which Widget ID is incorrect.

  • You cannot save the configuration until the issue is fixed.  

    Disabling TeamSupport Chat Provider 

    When TeamSupport is set up as your chat provider on a profile, you can disable it by clicking the red Disable TeamSupport button. Note: This completely removes the configuration from the profile. All fields (selected provider and widgets) will be cleared. To reconnect, you’ll need to re-enter all configuration settings

     

TeamSupport Chat Features for Portal Users

Chat Access for Logged-in Users 

When TeamSupport is configured for a profile, the subscriber (and customer service reps pretending to be the subscriber) can see and use the TeamSupport chat on every page in the Customer Portal. 

Clicking the bubble opens the chat.

When you start a chat, TeamSupport receives: 

• Your Account Number (the one tied to the account you’re viewing; this varies if a corporate account is being impersonated). 

• Your Name (first and last name as shown in the Customer Portal). 

• Your Email Address (the one displayed in the Customer Portal).  

  Chat Access for Guests (Not Logged In) 

  When TeamSupport is set up for non-logged-in users in a profile, the chat bubble is available for: 

• Login

• Forgot Password 

• Registration 

   

  Clicking the bubble opens the chat.

   

Viewing and Exporting Users

Clicking the Users option in the Administration menu displays a page for viewing and exporting Customer Portal users.

Export Example: