Features and Benefits of FrontSupport

 

	Runs out of the box: FrontSupport comes with a SetupWizard that will enable you to install the whole software and configure your company wide customer support database under 10 minutes. Here you have a customer support solution that can be used by multiple people in your organization - and more importantly, a solution that integrates with your ACT! or GoldMine database!
	Network Support: FrontSupport can run with the database on a network file server so that you and your colleagues share the same customer support database.
	Automatic Issue Id (ticket id) generation: Whenever you create a new issue, FrontSupport will automatically generate a issue id (aka ticket id) so that you can track this issue by a id.
	Time & Billing: For each support issue, you can keep track of time and billing information so that you can invoice your customers automatically. You can also export this billing information into your financial software (see below).
	Field Customization: In addition to the standard fields, FrontSupport comes with 8 custom fields that you can use to track data related to your own helpdesk needs. You can customize and rename any field label to suit your unique needs.
	QuickBooks Integration: Now you can export the time & billing (see above) information as an invoice into QuickBooks finance software. This makes it easy for you to bill your customers for the support services you provide.
	Real-time ACT! or GoldMine Integration: FrontSupport integrates with ACT! or GoldMine so that all your GoldMine contact records are visible in FrontSupport. Customer support issues that are created within FrontSupport can be attached to ACT! or GoldMine contact records so that it is easy to track which issues belong to which customer. Each issue can be attached with unlimited contacts and each contact can be associated with unlimited issues. Also, FrontSupport integrates with your ACT! or GoldMine in such a way that any updates made to your GoldMine database are instantaneously available to the FrontSupport users. The data integration is real-time!
	Management Reports: With one click of the mouse button, you can easily create management reports and charts.
	Updates to ACT! / GoldMine History: When a Helpdesk issue is created and attached to a ACT! or GoldMine contact, FrontSupport creates an entry in the ACT! or GoldMine contact's "History" tab. This means that if you are on the field with ACT!  / GoldMine on your laptop, you can open the "History" tab for a contact and see all the Helpdesk issues related to this contact and the details/status of each of these issues.
	Open Database: FrontSupport uses MS Access as its backend database to store your  customer support data. An open database like MS Access means that you can use any external tools (like Microsoft Excel, Seagate Crystal reports etc.) to use your customer support data for data analysis, custom report generation etc.
	Filters: Filters allow you to see the list of those issues that you are interested in. An example of such a filter is  "Show me only the open issues that are assigned to me". Filters help you focus on the relevant issues without having to search through your entire customer support database.
	Searching for Contacts: If you know the name (or the company name) of the contact that you are trying to locate in a long list of integrated GoldMine contacts, you can just type the name (or the company name) and the matching contact record will be immediately highlighted.
	Searching for Issues: Often times you will want to locate issues based on a keyword or a phrase you remember. Just type this keyword (or phrase) and hit the "Find" button and FrontSupport will locate the issue(s) for you.
	Telephony Integration: With one click of the mouse button, FrontSupport will use your computer's modem to dial out to your customers. No need to manually dial your customer's phone number.
	Customizable Workflow:  FrontSupport has been designed to support a customizable workflow process so that you can control how a support issue progresses from one status to the next (New -> Work in Progress -> Resolved -> Closed) from the time when it reported to the time it is resolved.
	Customizable Issue Categorization: FrontSupport allows you to categorize your customer support issues based on: Product - e.g. product1, product2 Priority - e.g. low, medium, high Category - e.g. product defect, new feature request etc. Area - e.g. documentation, installation, etc. Severity - e.g. minor, major, fatal You can setup the above fields with any number of levels to suit company / industry / product / service needs. Categorization helps you answer questions like What are all the issues reported for product X in the last one month? What new features are our customers requesting for product Y? What installation problems do our customers face? Getting quick answers to such questions will do wonders for your customer customer support process. Use the insight gained from the answers to improve your product or service.
	MAPI (email) Support: If you have an email tool installed and configured on your PC, with one click you can make FrontSupport use this email tool to send email to your customers.
	Net-Update: When a newer release of FrontSupport is available, you can automatically download and upgrade to the latest version (via the web) by the click of a button.
	Online Help: With one click of the F1 key, you can view (and search) all the FrontSupport documentation online.