Installation:
Please read this page carefully as it contains important information about getting your support system up and running. We hope you find our software easy to install.
Server Requirements:
A server running 'PHP v4.3' or higher. Some of the syntax will NOT work on earlier versions.
A 'MySQL' database to hold the software tables.
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GD Library for captcha display. To find out how to check if you have this installed, see the F.A.Q page.
Mod_Security disabled. The system doesn`t currently support this being enabled and may cause issues.
If you are unsure, don`t worry, the system will check this module is available when you load the installer.
Javasoftware enabled browser for frequently asked questions, admin menu & live support modules.
Set Up (Auto Installer):
1 => Create a database to hold the software tables. If you are unsure of this procedure contact your web hosting company.
2 => Open up the 'inc/db_connection.inc.php' file in a text editor and edit it to point to the database you just created. DO NOT comment out the prefix function. If you don`t need to change it leave it as it is.
3 => Upload all the files/folders into a directory on your web server. Example: /support/
4 => If you are using the attachments option, chmod the following folder to 777 to make it world writeable. If your server accepts 755, then you should choose this as its known to be more secure:
images/attachments/
For those unsure, Chmoding files means setting relevant permissions on your server. For example, having directories writeable by default would be
very insecure, so you have to specify this manually. You can usually set permissions in your FTP program or in your server control panel. If you are
unsure, contact us, or contact your hosting provider.
5 => Access the 'install/index.php' file in your browser and follow the set up instructions to complete installation.
Note that if you see an access denied message at this point, the connection information you have specified is incorrect
as the software cannot connect to your database. Check and try again.
6 => If the setup was successful log in to your admin area (see software usage below) and select 'Settings' from the system menu. Update the settings to your own preferences.
7 => Update the templates if you wish to change the layout of the system. These are found in the /templates/ directory. If you are trying to adapt the system into your own site, start by editing the header & footer files first. Editing the templates is trial and error and
only recommended for advanced users who are familiar with HTML.
8 => Thats it, all done. For software usage, see below.
Set Up (Manual):
Manual setup is for more experienced users. If you are not experienced with databases, we recommend you try the auto install option first and only revert
to this if that fails. Thank you.
Set up manually as follows.
1 => Access your database using your MySQL admin program. PHPMYADMIN?. Click on the database you created for this software. If the auto install option failed, some tables may have been created already, in which case you should remove these first. If you only have 1 database, be careful not to delete any other important tables.
2 => Before you run the setup file, please note that the .sql file in the software has the prefix of 'ms_' before the table names. If you have specified a different prefix in the connection file then you need to change the prefix for the table names in the 'docs/schematic/tables.sql' file first BEFORE you run it.
3 => When you are ready browse for and run the 'docs/schematic/tables.sql' file to set up the software tables.
4 => Log in to your admin area and select 'Settings' from the system menu. Update the settings to your own preferences.
5 => Update the templates if you wish to change the layout of the script. These are found in the /templates/ directory. If you are trying to adapt the system into your own site, start by editing the header & footer files first.
6 => Thats it, all done. For account set up see below.
Software Usage:
1 => Firstly, log in to your administration area with the following user information:
E-Mail: you@yoursite.com
Password: admin
IMPORTANT! This account is created for you when you install the system and cannot be deleted! It is important you change the login details immediately to something else. ie, your own e-mail address and password. Note that this is the main account id and is not effected by the admin type. This is to prevent you from accidentally locking yourself out of the system.
When you update your password, you will be forced to log back in with your new one.
2 => Next, you need to create some departments, do this by selecting 'Departments' from the system menu. Add as many different departments as you need. ie: Billing, Accounts, Sales etc
IMPORTANT! At least one department must be created before you can use the live support module. For more info click the link above.
3 => When you have added some departments you need to add some users to the system by clicking 'Users' from the system menu. Other users are optional. Add as many users as you need for each department. You can also assign a user as a Live Support user. Click the link on the menu for more info on the Live Support module. For info on the user statuses, see below.
4 => If you have enabled the frequently asked questions, select the option from the system menu and add some frequently asked questions. More info below.
5 => Test the system and make sure everything is working ok.
User Statuses:
Each user can have one of the following admin statuses:
Administrator: Anyone with these privileges has full access to all features of the admin area. It is recommended that only one person have administration rights.
Super Moderator: Anyone with this status has access to all support tickets, frequently asked questions and standard responses, but does not
have access to certain admin areas, such as 'Users', 'Departments' or 'Settings'. So basically, anything that is to do with the system set up.
Moderator: Moderators ONLY have access to the ticket department you assign them. Nothing else.
NOTE: If a moderator moves a ticket to a department he/she has no access to, they will no longer be able to view that ticket unless it is re-assigned back to them.
Frequently Asked Questions:
The frequently asked questions feature is optional. This lets you add some frequently asked questions to the system. It can be useful
if you find yourself responding to the same ticket questions.
Add questions/answers in your admin area. You can add as many as you need and assign questions to specific or all departments.
If enabled, the frequently asked questions are visible when the link is clicked in the visitor support. A combination of CSS/Ajax/Javasoftware controls the
frequently asked questions display code. Answers appear in a javasoftware generated pop up window.
Standard Responses:
How many times do you find yourself repeating yourself with the same ticket response?
This function enables you to add some standard responses to the system. Instead of typing the same response each time, simply select a standard response.
Ticket Status/Merging:
Tickets can ONLY be deleted when their status is 'Closed', so to delete a ticket, close it first. This prevents you from accidentally deleting a live ticket.
You can also close tickets permanently. If a ticket is closed permanently, the person who opened the original ticket can add no more responses. All mods and admins who have access can re-open the ticket at any time.
If you find someone has opened a new ticket that relates to a previous ticket, you can merge the tickets together. The new ticket is added to the previous
ticket and the new ticket is deleted. You also have the option of notifying the original author of the ticket about the merge.
Ban Filters:
Enable the ban filters in your settings. This can be another useful spam prevention option. You can ban e-mail addresses, complete e-mail domains, words and/or ip address ranges. If a ticket is submitted and a ban match is found, an error is displayed.
Note that the ban filters are in their experimentary stages at the moment, so feedback would be appreciated.
Auto Cron to Close Tickets:
A 'cron' is short for 'Cron Job' or 'Cron Tab'. They are usually automated tasks set up on a server to carry out operations at specified times. This software has a built in cron that runs in the background and closes tickets that have not been replied to after X amount of days. This cron runs each time the admin area is accessed.
Note that tickets are only closed when they are awaiting a reply from the ticket author. If they are waiting on admin, they will not auto close. Set the auto cron option in your settings.
Templates/CSS Files:
The templates for the software are in 'templates' directory.
Edit using a text editor, then re-upload. You must be careful NOT to remove any of the code between the PHP tags in the .tpl.php files, as some of these are important to the script. Others
simply display language data. Unless you are an advanced user it is recommended you leave them all in place.
We recommend that you do NOT use Frontpage or Frontpage Express unless you know what you are doing. These programs have a tendency to add their own code and upset the layout.
PHP and/or HTML may be used in the .tpl.php templates.
The templates in the 'templates/data_tables/' folder are .tpl templates and can only include HTML or the system tags. Code in these files is to make the system easier to edit by removing the HTML from the PHP processing files. For more info see:
- templates/data_tables/README.txt
The e-mail templates are in the 'templates/email/' directory. Edit using a text editor if necessary, then re-upload. For a list of user variables, see the following file:
- templates/email/README.txt
Most of the colours, font styles, borders etc are controlled by the CSS (Cascading Style Sheet). There are 4 CSS files in the script. The admin CSS files probably won`t need changing:
- admin/css/css.css (Admin display)
- css/stylesheet.css (Public display)
- css/gb_styles.css (FAQ window)
- css/faq.css (Knowledge base)
Besides the CSS elements in the stylesheet, there may a few isolated inline style tags in the templates.
software Language:
All the language can be found in the following file:
lang/english.php
Read the notes in this file carefully before changing text.
Captcha Settings:
For spam prevention, this software utilises a Captcha class to generate a random image on the create ticket and live support pages.
For most people the default options will be fine. however if you wish, you can adjust the captcha settings/colours. To alter the captcha settings, please open the following file in your text editor:
crypt/cryptographp.cfg.php
Once you have made any changes, save and re-upload this file.