Getting Started With Parallels Business Automation 4.4

Transcription

1 Parallels Getting Started With Parallels Business Automation 4.4 Reseller's Guide Revision (c)

2 ISBN: N/A Parallels 660 SW 39th Street Suite 205 Renton, Washington USA Phone: +1 (425) Fax: +1 (425) Copyright 2008, Parallels, Inc. All rights reserved Distribution of this work or derivative of this work in any form is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained from the copyright holder.

3 3 Contents Preface 5 Documentation Conventions...5 Typographical Conventions...5 Feedback...6 Introduction 7 System Initial Configuration 9 Configuring Your Brand...10 Adding Online Store...11 Configuring Synchronization Settings...12 Installing Online Store...12 Installing Online Store to Brand...13 Installing Online Store Without Brand...15 Replenishing Balance...16 Registering Credit Card...16 Making Payment...18 Configuring Credit Card for Automatic Payments...19 Configuring Balance Auto-Replenishment...19 Configuring Payment Processing 20 Services Resale Schemes...21 Delegated Service Plans...21 Non Delegated Service Plans...24 Managing Associations...25 Associating Payment System With Processing Center...25 Configuring Association...26 Configuring Pricing 27 Modifying Subscription Period Prices...28 Modifying Resource Rates Prices...30 Applying Online Store Branding 32 Customizing Header and Footer...33 Preparing Header...33 Uploading Header and Footer...33 Customizing Footer...34 Customizing First Page...35 Preparing First Page...35 Uploading First Page...36 Using Custom CSS...37 Managing Contents Width...37 Creating Menu Item Contents...38

4 Managing Trouble Ticketing System 39 Configuring TTS...40 Adding Ticket Queue...41 Configuring Collector...42 Adding and Configuring Ticket Priority...44 Adding Ticket Status...46 Adding Ticket Category...47 Enabling and Disabling Trouble Ticket System and Configuring Ticket Settings...48 Managing Ticket Notification Templates Sets...49 Managing Trouble Tickets...52 Processing Trouble Ticket...52 Adding More Contacts to Ticket...53 Adding Customer Trouble Ticket...54 Configuring Message Settings Per User...55

5 5 C HAPTER 1 Preface This section contains introductory notes and important information about typographical conventions used in this document. In This Chapter Documentation Conventions... 5 Typographical Conventions... 5 Feedback... 6 Documentation Conventions Before you start using this guide, it is important to understand the documentation conventions used in it. Typographical Conventions Formatting convention Type of Information Example Special Bold Italics Monospace CAPITALS KEY+KEY Items you must select, such as menu options, command buttons, or items in a list. Titles of chapters, sections, and subsections. Used to emphasize the importance of a point, to introduce a term or to designate a command line placeholder, which is to be replaced with a real name or value. The names of commands, files, and directories. Names of keys on the keyboard. Key combinations for which the user must press and hold down one key and then press another. Go to the Resources tab. Refer to the Managing Your Account chapter. Type a placeholder into the From field, BillingContact_ @ payflow.verisign.com SHIFT, CTRL, ALT CTRL+P, ALT+F4

6 Preface 6 Feedback If you have found a mistake in this guide, or if you have suggestions or ideas on how to improve this guide, please send your feedback to [email protected]. Please include in your report the guide's title, chapter and section titles, and the fragment of text in which you have found an error.

7 7 C HAPTER 2 Introduction After reseller subscription is created it is necessary to make initial system configuration, setup reseller store, and configure payment processing. This guide provides detailed instructions on configuring reseller account after it has been created. The primary audience of this guide is resellers and provider staff members involved in the process of Parallels Business Automation (hereinafter PBA) deployment and configuration. The following steps are necessary to start retail sales with PBA: 1 Configuring webspace. PBA CP and online store require secure access to be configured. To provide secure access, SSL Certificate should be installed for access URL (for example, reseller.com). Parallels Operation Automation (hereinafter POA) integrated with PBA allows installing SSL Certificate to webspace assigned to domain. Webspace is a section of the POA services server (of the domain) that subscribers use to create their domains or publish their own web pages. For information on configuring webspace, refer to POA documentation. 2 Creating of branding access point. After reseller account is created, it is configured with neutral colors and logo, and reseller's customers have no access point to CP. To apply custom branding and configure access points to PBA CP and online store, branding access point has to be added and configured in POA. For example: provider uses "provider.com" as access point to CP and online store; you want to use "reseller.com" as access point to CP and online store. To configure the branding access point, create brand in POA with the name "reseller.com", specify "reseller.com" as branded domain name. For information on configuring brand, refer to Configuring Your Brand section (on page 10) further in this guide. 3 Installing online store. After branding access point is created, it is required to install online store. Customers will use online store to purchase services you resell. For information on installing online store, refer to Installing Online Store section (on page 15) further in this guide. 4 Configuring delegated plans description and pricing. After reseller account is created, reseller has a set of plans with pre-configured pricing and description that are delegated to him from provider. Reseller can redefine pricing and description according to his marketing policy. Reseller is not allowed to modify plans structure (add, configure, or remove subscription periods or resources). Prices with description are set in resource rates of service plan, refund settings are set in general properties of plan. For information on configuring these settings, refer to Configuring Pricing chapter (on page 27) further in this guide.

8 Introduction 8 5 Configuring payment processing settings. Provider allows reseller to setup and use reseller's merchant account or operate through provider's account. These settings result different reseller billing models explained in Configuring Payment Processing chapter (on page 20) further in this guide. Once reseller account is created, payment processing settings are not configured or configured to use provider's account (if allowed and configured by provider). To setup payment gateway to use reseller's merchant account credentials, reseller must configure payment plug-in and set up association between payment system and payment plug-in. For detailed information on configuring processing centers, refer to Parallels Business Automation 4.4 Managing Processing Centers guide. For sales schemes illustrations and information on configuring payment processing, refer to Configuring Payment Processing chapter (on page 20) further in this guide. 6 Verifying your balance and configuring balance auto-replenishment settings. After reseller subscription is created, it has zero balance. If reseller will process customer payments through provider s merchant account, he can start with sales operations straight away (see the Services resale scheme [through provider's account] further in this guide). If reseller plans to use his own merchant account, then he must top up his balance by creating and processing payment towards to provider. PBA provides the balance auto-replenishment mechanism to automate this payment processing. Reseller can activate this feature and configure top up threshold and auto-replenishment amounts. When his balance falls below the threshold, the credit card is automatically charged for configured amount. For information on replenishing your balance, refer to Replenishing Balance (on page 16) section further in this guide. For information on configuring balance auto-replenishment, refer to Configuring Balance Auto-Replenishment section (on page 19) further in this guide. 7 Applying online store branding. Online store branding is the process of customizing online store to make it look and feel according to your corporate standards. After online store is installed, it has a neutral branding. Display styles can be customized with custom CSS; header, header menu, and footer can be customized with layout templates; information presented in screens can be customized with language settings, as well as service plans, resources, sales categories, and usage scenarios description. For information on applying online store branding, refer to Applying Online Store Branding chapter (on page 32) further in this guide. 8 Configuring sales categories, screens, and usage scenarios in store. After reseller account is created, PBA has default sales categories, screens, and services sale scenarios. You can customize the default elements or create and configure own as described in Parallels Business Automation 4.4 Online Store guide. When reading this guide, the following documents would be useful as a reference: Parallels Business Automation 4.4 Online Store guide Parallels Business Automation 4.4 Provider's guide

9 9 C HAPTER 3 System Initial Configuration This chapter covers actions necessary to prepare brand in POA, configure and install online store, top up your balance, and configure balance auto-replenishment settings. In This Chapter Configuring Your Brand Adding Online Store Configuring Synchronization Settings Installing Online Store Replenishing Balance Configuring Balance Auto-Replenishment... 19

10 System Initial Configuration 10 Configuring Your Brand Before logging in to PBA CP and further configuration, it is necessary to configure branding access point in POA. Brand name is the domain name you have registered (transferred) during reseller plan purchase. Brand defines the default access point (URL) to your reseller system. New customers enroll through online store and login to CP through address defined in brand. To configure branding access point in POA: 1 Log in to POA CP with credentials provided during registration. 2 Open the Marketing Director > Branding Manager > Brands submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of available brands is displayed (empty by default). 3 Click Add New Brand. The adding new brand dialog wizard starts. 4 Select the Existing Domain option. Leave the list below as is. 5 Click Next to proceed to the next wizard step. 6 Type the domain name registered on purchase into the Brand Name field. Brand name will be displayed on top of the POA and PBA login pages. 7 Click Next to proceed to the next wizard step. The brand customization screen is displayed. Fill out the form: Select an access type form the Access type menu: a Secure option - the access to the branded domain will be secured by SSL encryption. b Regular option - branded domain will be accessed without SSL encryption. c Both option - your visitors will be able to connect to your website both using the SSL encryption or without it. In the URL suffix field, type a suffix that will be added to your domain. For example, if you input x for path suffix of domain your access point to control panel will be From the Skin list, select a skin to be used in your control panel and online store interfaces. Select the Upload skin for further customization check box if you want to upload the skin to the branding website for manual editing. In the Custom Logo field provide the location of the logotype file that will be attached to your website. If you leave the field blank, the default logo will be used. 8 Click Finish to finish creating new brand. Select the newly created brand by clicking on the respective link in the Name column. Selected brand properties appear on the screen. Memorize or write down the Website, Access URL and / or Secure Access URL parameters. Website is the address used to access online store from web, Website, Access URL and Secure Access URL are addresses used to access control panel by you and your customers.

11 System Initial Configuration 11 Adding Online Store Usually online store is included in reseller package. If there is no online store in your package you need create it at first and select it for editing. The online store is added as a template that has only a name and description. To add an online store: 1 Open the Product Director > Online Store Manager > Stores submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of online stores appears on the screen. 2 Click Add New Store. The adding new online store dialog window is displayed. 3 Type a store name into the Store Name field. 4 If necessary, type a free-form description of the store into the Description field. 5 Click Save to finish creating new store.

12 System Initial Configuration 12 Configuring Synchronization Settings Online store can be fully configured from Product Manager > Online Store Manager submenu of the Navigation tree. However, Online Store Manager settings do not affect online store functioning directly. Online store takes its configuration from a special configuration file. To make Online Store Manager settings effective on online store, control panel settings should be synchronized with the configuration file. The synchronization itself should be configured before it can work. Reseller synchronization settings must be the same as provider's one. For synchronization settings, refer to your provider. To configure general synchronization settings: 1 Open the Product Director > Online Store Manager > Synchronization Settings submenu of the Navigation tree. 2 Click Edit. The configuring general synchronization parameters dialog window is displayed. Fill the form with settings you have received from provider: Specify a protocol to be used for communication between PBA CP and online store from the Protocol group. Type the online store address into the Assigned URI field. Type the TCP port number used for connection with online store (80 for HTTP, 443 for HTTPS) into the Port field. Type subfolder name (if applicable) into the Store URL Suffix field. 3 Click Save to confirm changes. 4 To update the online store configuration file with new settings, click Synchronize. Attention! Any online store changes (be it a newly added store screen or a loaded icon) will be applied ONLY after you click Synchronize. Installing Online Store Settings of all online stores created are kept in store container. Each set of settings has unique ID and can be assigned to some URL address. When customer accesses the URL, respective store ID is passed to store engine. Store engine returns pages according to set of online store settings. The most important thing is that this configuration interface assumes that provider and resellers are using one and the same online store engine.

13 System Initial Configuration 13 Figure 1: Reseller online stores configuration You can associate your domain and store package with the brand during its creation. Reseller's store is accessed by customers through reseller's domain (e.g. reseller.com) or through reseller's sub-domain (e.g. shopping.reseller.com), but each such request is processed by an online store engine, common for all resellers hosted elsewhere. In other words, brand serves as a proxy for the online store. The link to the online store installed with a brand is displayed in the Link to Storefront field of the Synchronization Settings menu. The link is displayed for online store currently selected for editing. If reseller installed the same store package (Store ID=3) to a number of brands, the link to each of them will be displayed. Reseller online store can be installed manually without brand creation (Store ID=2). The procedure requires configured online store, registered domain name, hosting and FTP access to hosting from address where PBA is installed. Installing Online Store to Brand Parallels Operation Automation (POA) integrated with PBA allows you to enable an access to online store during your brand creation or modification. Brand allows creating an access point to PBA/POA control panels and online store.

14 System Initial Configuration 14 To install online store to brand: 1 Log in to POA CP with credentials provided during registration. 2 Open the Marketing Director > Branding Manager > Brands submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of available brands is displayed. 3 Select a brand you want to install store to by clicking on the respective link in the ID or in the Name column. Selected brand properties appear on the screen. 4 Click Edit. The editing brand dialog window is displayed. 5 Select the Enable store check box to enable access to online store. 6 Select store package ID you want to install from the Store ID list. 7 Type online store access URL suffix to the Store URL suffix field. For example, if your brand is based on the reseller.com domain and the Store URL suffix value is onlinestore, the online store is accessible through URL. 8 Click Finish to save changes.

15 System Initial Configuration 15 Installing Online Store Without Brand Reseller online store can be installed manually without brand creation. The procedure requires configured online store, registered domain name, hosting and FTP access to hosting from address where PBA is installed. To install the online store: 1 Login to POA through access URL or secure access URL. 2 Click Open CP on top of the screen. 3 Click Web Space. The web space configuration screen opens. 4 Click FTP Access. FTP settings appear on the screen. Memorize or write down the FTP server address, documents root folder, login, and password. 5 Switch to PBA control panel. Click Billing link on top. PBA control panel opens. 6 Open the Product Director > Online Store Manager > Synchronization Settings submenu of the Navigation tree. Synchronization settings appear on the screen. 7 Click Install Proxy Store. The online store installation dialog window is displayed. 8 Fill out the form: Type URL or IP address of the FTP server where you want to install your online store into the FTP address field. Type the path (relative to FTP root) where online store files should be copied to into the Path Inside FTP field. Type the path (relative to document root) where online store files should be copied to into the Proxy Store URL Suffix field. Type the FTP user name into the Username field. Type the FTP user password into the Password field. 9 Click Install Proxy Store to copy online store files to indicated location.

16 System Initial Configuration 16 Replenishing Balance The balance can be increased by making a payment. You can make payment with any payment methods available. However, it is recommended to use a credit card. The card then can be used for balance auto-replenishment, saving much time and efforts from doing it manually. Registering Credit Card Registered credit card can be used for automatical or manual replenishing your current balance. If you have paid with credit card when purchasing reseller plan in online store, you can skip the section. To register a credit card: 1 Open the Billing Manager > My Financial Info > Payment Methods submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of payment methods (if any) already registered in the system appears on the screen. 2 Click New Credit Card. The adding credit card dialog window is displayed. Fill out the form: Click [...] to the right of the Payment System field. From the dialog window that appears, select a payment system the card belongs to. Type the credit card number and card holder name into the Credit Card Number and Card Holder Name fields respectively. Select the credit card start date (if applicable) from the Start Date menu. Select the credit card expiration date (month and year) from the Expiration Date menu. Input the credit card security code into the Card Security Code field. Security code is a 3-digit or 4-digit code on the front or on the back side of credit card. You may find where the code is on Visa, Master Card, Discovery Card and American Express cards using figure below (the left is for Visa, Master Card and Discovery Card, the right is for American Express). Figure 2: Security Code Position Input the credit card issue number (if applicable) into the Card Issue Number field.

17 System Initial Configuration 17 If necessary, select the Default Payment Method checkbox to designate the credit card to be used for automatic payments. All your next orders will be paid up automatically by this card until you change the setting manually. If necessary, select the Assign this Card to all pending Orders option to pay up all your pending orders with this card. Provide the card holder address and contact information in the Billing Information section. Ensure that the data you provide corresponds to that in the application you put for credit card obtaining in the bank. 3 Click Save to finish registering the credit card.

18 System Initial Configuration 18 Making Payment If your credit balance is zero or if it has run out, it is necessary to create payment to replenish your balance. Initial balance replenishing is required regardless of whether you use own merchant account or operate through provider's account. In future, balance replenishment may be required if you operate through own merchant account. For detailed information, refer to Configuring Payment Processing section (on page 20) further in this guide. To add a payment: 1 Login to PBA. 2 Open the Billing Manager > My Financial Info > Balance submenu of the Navigation tree. 3 Click New Payment. The adding new payment wizard starts. The list of unprocessed orders appears on the screen. When you first add a payment, there will be no pending orders. In this case proceed to step 4. 4 Mark orders you want to attach the payment to by selecting respective check boxes. Note: Payment attached to an order is called order payment. You can also create payment that will not be attached to any order, the so-called standalone payment, for that, skip this wizard step without selecting any of the orders and proceed to the step 5. 5 Click Next to proceed to the next step of the wizard. Fill out the form: Input a payment amount into the Total field in case you create a standalone payment. Otherwise, the field already contains the sum totaled from all orders selected on the first step. Payment description is automatically added to the Description field. In case of standalone payment, it will be "Additional payment", for order payment it will be of the following kind: "Payment for Sales Order #000730". Edit it or leave as is. Select the New Credit Card check box if you intend using unregistered credit card for this payment. If no, leave the check box clear. Click [...] to the right of the Payment Method field. In the dialog window that opens, select a payment method you want to use for making the payment. If you intend to use a new credit card, fill in the rest of the fields, otherwise proceed to step 6. 6 Click Add to finish adding the payment.

19 System Initial Configuration 19 Configuring Credit Card for Automatic Payments When registering a new credit card, you can configure it for automatic payments (see the Registering Credit Card section earlier in this chapter). If no card was configured in such a way or if you want to set another card as default, it has to be done manually. If no payment method is configured for automatic payments, you will have to make payments manually. It is recommended that you have at least one card for automatic payments. To make a credit card used for automatic payments: 1 Open the Billing Manager > My Financial Info > Payment Methods submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of your payment methods already registered in the system appears on the screen. 2 Mark a credit card you want to use for automatic payments by selecting respective check box next to the ID column. 3 Click Mark as Default. If a credit card is marked as default, every time you create a sales order, a payment by this credit card for full order amount is created and attached to the order automatically. Note: if there is another credit card (bank account) already marked as default, the option is cleared for that card as only one credit card can be configured for autopayments at a time. Configuring Balance Auto-Replenishment Balance auto-replenishment mechanism allows replenishing your balance automatically when it falls below the set limit. Until your balance exceeds the limit, you'll be charged for the auto-replenishment amount on every change of your balance (if there are no any AR documents on hold). Thus, consider setting auto-replenishment amount big enough to avoid being charged too often. To configure balance auto-replenishment: 1 Open the Billing Manager > My Reseller Status submenu of the Navigation tree. Your account detailed balance and balance auto-replenishment settings appear on the screen. 2 Click Change TopUp Options. The editing top up options dialog window is displayed. 3 Type a limit in the Available Balance TopUp Threshold field. When your balance falls below this limit, payment for the auto-replenishment amount is automatically created using payment method configured for automatical payments. 4 Type an auto-replenishment amount in the Auto TopUp Amount field. 5 Click Save to confirm changes.

20 20 C HAPTER 4 Configuring Payment Processing Payment system is a way customer pays for provided services: credit cards, bank accounts, direct debit, check / cash, and the like. Payment method is an entity of payment system (credit card, bank account). Processing center is an organization responsible for processing payments and checking provided information authenticity. PBA uses associations between payment system and processing center to define processing centers allowed to process payments of particular payment system. PBA is delivered with a pre-configured set of payment systems, processing centers, and associations. You can not add or remove payment systems or processing centers, you can change associations or create own. You can use own merchant account or operate through provider's account (if allowed by provider). These two instances imply different sales schemes and result different reseller billing. For schemes on delegated plans resale, refer to Services Resale Schemes section further in this guide. This chapter covers: Services resale schemes. Forming own association between payment system and processing center. Configuring association to use own or provider's processing center account. Note: processing centers configuration is beyond the scope of this guide. For throughout information on configuring processing centers, refer to Parallels Business Automation 4.2 Managing Processing Centers guide. In This Chapter Services Resale Schemes Managing Associations... 25

21 Configuring Payment Processing 21 Services Resale Schemes In this section we will consider services resale schemes for delegated and non delegated service plans. Delegated Service Plans Depending on whether you use own merchant account or operate through provider's account, the services resale scheme is different. The following parameters define your resulting balance: (+) Current balance is the sum of all your open payments. (-) Not Invoiced purchases is the total by all services you have purchased from provider (at wholesale price). (+) Payments processed through provider is the total by all payments processed through provider's merchant account. Provider may charge every transaction for a financial charge. (+) Available credit limit defines the credit you are given for sales on trust. Depending on provider services provisioning terms, it may be zero to positive. Available Balance is the sum of all four parameters. "+" or "-" before the parameter name define whether the parameter value is added or subtracted from the available balance.

22 Configuring Payment Processing 22 1 Customer places order. 2 Reseller approves order. Figure 3: Resale through provider's merchant account 3 Customer pays through provider's merchant account. 4 Provider receives money and increases the payments processed through provider amount (financial charge is included). 5 Reseller approves subscription provisioning. 6 Provider verifies if reseller available balance is positive. If so, provider starts services provisioning and increases the not invoiced purchases amount. 7 Reseller provisions services. 8 Customer receives provisioned services. In correspondence with reseller subscription service provisioning terms, provider creates credit memo for the sum calculated as follows: Credit Memo= (Payments processed through Provider) - [(Not Invoiced Purchases) + (Payments processed through Provider) * (Financial Charge)].

23 Configuring Payment Processing 23 Billing order is issued for a reseller on billing date. The order sum includes the notinvoiced purchases amount and reseller recurring fee. The credit memo is applied to the billing order. The remaining credit memo balance increases reseller account balance. This facilitates settlements between provider and reseller since credit memo balance always demonstrates the amount provider owes to reseller. Note: The billing order is created in Open status. This means that immediately after creation, PBA will try to pay this order with reseller default payment method. To be able to apply the credit memo to the billing order, it is necessary to disable auto-payment for reseller payment method. Figure 4: Resale through reseller merchant account Starting condition: reseller tops up his balance and/or has a credit limit. 1 Customer places order. 2 Reseller approves the order. 3 Reseller charges customer. 4 Reseller receives money. 5 Reseller requests services from provider.

24 Configuring Payment Processing 24 6 Provider verifies if reseller available balance is positive. If so, provider starts services provisioning and increases the not invoiced purchases amount. 7 Reseller provisions services. 8 Customer receives provisioned services. On the billing date reseller is invoiced for the not invoiced purchases amount and reseller recurring fee. Non Delegated Service Plans Sales of non delegated service plans through your merchant account are not related to provider and do not affect your balance. Sales of non delegated service plans through provider's merchant account are similar to sales of delegated service plans. The difference is that when provider credits reseller, instead of the margin between wholesale price and retail price, reseller gets the retail price he has set (minus financial charge if any).

25 Configuring Payment Processing 25 Managing Associations This section covers creating and configuring associations between payment systems and processing centers. Associating Payment System With Processing Center PBA is delivered with a number of pre-configured associations. However, you may want to configure own associations. Possible associations are limited by the list of supported payment systems for each processing centers. To associate payment system with processing center: 1 Open the Configuration Director > E-Commerce Settings > Payment Methods Processing submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of pre-configured associations appears on the screen. 2 Click Add New Payment Methods Processing Option. The adding new association dialog window is displayed. 3 Click [...] next to the Processing Center field. From the window that opens, select a processing center. 4 Click [...] next to the Payment System field. From the window that opens, select one of supported payment systems. 5 Select the Use my merchant account check box to make the association use your merchant account. Processing center selected above has to be configured with settings provided by processing center. 6 Select the PayTool ratification is required checkbox to process payments made with ratified payment method only. If ratification is required, payment made by customer will not be processed while you approve customer payment method (credit card, bank account and the like). 7 Click Save to finish creating new association.

26 Configuring Payment Processing 26 Configuring Association Pre-defined associations between processing centers and payment systems may require some configuration to match your sales policy. To configure an association: 1 Open the Configuration Director > E-Commerce Settings > Payment Methods Processing submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of pre-configured associations appears on the screen. 2 Select an association by clicking on the respective link in the Payment System column. Selected association properties appear on the screen. 3 Click Edit. The editing association dialog window is displayed. 4 Click [...] next to the Processing Center field. From the window that opens, select a new processing center. 5 Select (clear) the Use my merchant account check box to make the pair use your (provider's) merchant account with processing center. 6 Select (clear) the PayTool ratification is required checkbox to process payments made with ratified payment method only. If ratification is required, payment made by customer will not be processed while you approve customer payment method (credit card, bank account and the like). 7 Click Save to confirm changes.

27 27 C HAPTER 5 Configuring Pricing As far as you sell delegated plans, you can customize prices at will but cannot change plans structure (add or remove subscription periods, add or remove resources). Prices configuration comes to setting custom prices on subscription periods and resources in resource rates. Income is made on the margin between the wholesale price (charged by the service provider) and the retail price you configure. In This Chapter Modifying Subscription Period Prices Modifying Resource Rates Prices... 30

28 Configuring Pricing 28 Modifying Subscription Period Prices To configure rates for a subscription period in a service plan: 1 Open the Product Director > Plan Manager > Service Plans submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of service plans available appears on the screen. 2 Select a service plan you want to configure subscription periods for by clicking on the respective link in the Name column. Selected service plan properties appear on the screen. 3 Switch to the Subscription Periods tab. The list of subscription periods set appears on the screen. 4 Select subscription period to configure by clicking on the respective link in the Duration or in the Unit column. Selected subscription period properties appear on the screen. 5 Click Edit on the bottom of the screen. The editing subscription period dialog window is displayed. Fill out the form: Type setup, subscription, renewal and transfer fees into the Setup Fee, Subscription Fee, Renewal Fee and Transfer Fee fields respectively. Select the Include If Zero checkbox to make subscription period prices description shown in order even if prices are zero. By default, zero prices are not displayed. Type a free-form description into the Description field next to every price field. This description is shown in order. Note: all the Description fields are pre-filled with default text that starts with the for non-domain plans for domain service plans. This placeholder is replaced with actual name of service plan shown in order details. We recommend you to keep using the placeholder in fees description. This allows you to always use an actual plan name, for example if you clone the service plan and change its name. Type a sum into the Non Refundable Amount field. This sum is not refunded to customer when he cancels a subscription for the period. Input the number of days customer may claim a full money back (minus the non refundable amount) into the Full Refund Period (days) field. Select one of the refund policies to use after refund period is over from the After Refund Period menu: Refund Prorated Recurring Fee - customer is refunded in proportion to unused services; No Refund - customers are not refunded for the cancelled subscription. Important! It's recommended do not set the Full Refund Period (days) and the Non Refundable Amount parameters, if you prohibit refund at all. It is not recommended allowing refund for domain service plans. Generally registrars do not provide money back for domain registration. Type a free-form description of all the fees into the Period Fees Description field. This description is shown to customer in online store.

29 Configuring Pricing 29 Input an integer into the Sort Number field. This parameter defines the sorting order in online store. Subscription period having the lowest sorting number (1) is displayed on top in its service plan frame in online store. 6 Click Save to finish modifying subscription period.

30 Configuring Pricing 30 Modifying Resource Rates Prices To configure rates for resources in a service plan: 1 Open the Product Director > Plan Manager > Service Plans submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of service plans available appears on the screen. 2 Select a service plan you want to configure resource rates for by clicking on the respective link in the Name column. Selected service plan properties appear on the screen. 3 Switch to the Resource Rates tab. The list of resource rates set appears on the screen. 4 Select resource rates to configure by clicking on the respective link in the ID or in the Name column. Selected resource rates properties appear on the screen. 5 Click Edit on the bottom of the screen. The editing resource rates dialog window is displayed. Fill out the form: Select the Show in store check box to make resource visible in online store purchase wizard. Such resources can be purchased as additional in online store. Select the Measurable check box to make resource usage statistics collected and resource overuse allowed. If the check box is cleared, resource overuse is not allowed and setting overuse fee does not take effect. For more information on configuring this option, refer to the Product Director > Service Template > Resources Tab section of the Parallels Business Automation 4.4 Online Help. Select the Show in CP check box to make the resource visible in customer's CP. Such resources can be purchased as additional in customers' CPs. Set setup, recurring and overuse fees. To do this, input appropriate values in the Setup fee, Recurring fee and Overuse fee fields respectively. If necessary, type a description for all three fees in the Description field below each. For each fee, define how the fee is to be charged. Select the Charge per unit check box in order for resulting fee to be calculated as follows: (resulting fee) = (included units) * (fee amount). Leave the Charge per unit check box cleared in order for resulting fee to be equal to the fee set. Overused resources are always charged per unit. For each fee, select the Include if zero check box to make the fee description displayed in order even if it is zero. Set included value, maximum and minimum allowed amounts. To do so, input new values into the Included Units, Max Units and Min Units fields respectively. Setting "-1" in any of these fields is equal to allowing unlimited resources usage. Select one of available options in the Controlled by group: Billing Manager - resource usage statistics is collected by PBA; External System - resource usage statistics is collected by external system the resource is provided by (POA, for instance).

31 Configuring Pricing 31 Type a free-form description of the resource in the Store Description field. This description is displayed next to resource in services ordering wizards of online store. Type a text to display as resource price in online store ("$1 per month", for instance) in the Store Price Text field. Type a sorting order (integer) in the Sort Order field. Sorting order defines how resources are sorted within a frame in online store. Resource that has the lowest sorting order is displayed on top of the frame. 6 Click Save to confirm changes.

32 32 C HAPTER 6 Applying Online Store Branding Branding is the process of customizing online store to make it look and feel according to your corporate standards. PBA online store has a variety of branding tools that allow you to: Easily customize header, header menu, and footer using layout templates. Create and use own header menu items with using layout templates. Use own CSS for store screens. Create custom first page with the use of usage scenarios and redirects. Redefine content width and various page elements behavior. This chapter offers a common branding scenario that will help to brand your online store in the most efficient and fast way. In This Chapter Customizing Header and Footer Customizing Footer Customizing First Page Using Custom CSS Managing Contents Width Creating Menu Item Contents... 38

33 Applying Online Store Branding 33 Customizing Header and Footer Header is an area of online store page where the logo is typically placed. Footer is an area on the bottom of online store page which typically contain your contact information. Header and footer remain same when navigating through online store. Preparing Header Header customization is implemented with the "overall_wrapper" layout template. Layout template is a HTML template that is placed in specific place on the web page. The header may contain pictures and a navigation menu. Before you can configure the "overall_wrapper" template and thus finish the header customization, header code has to be prepared as follows: Header pictures (logo and background) have to be located on a web host. If you are POA reseller, use your branding subscription in POA to upload pictures. Put pictures absolute links in the header code. Each item of the header menu should contain a link of the kind: " " here is the domain where the store is located, "services" is the name of layout template that has to be prepared in PBA. Template body is a HTML code without footer and header. For example, if you want the "Affiliates" menu item to display the list of your affiliates with contact information, you create the "_affiliates" template in PBA, fill it with required data, and put the " as respective menu item link in the header code. For now, it is enough to plan what sections you'll need and put respective links in the header code. Name templates starting with "_" (as in example). When preparations are done, it is time to configure the header in PBA. Uploading Header and Footer To upload the custom online store header and footer: 1 Open the Product Director > Online Store Manager > Layout Templates submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of already added layout templates (if any) appears on the screen. 2 Click Add New Layout Template. The adding new layout template dialog window is displayed. Fill out the form: Type "overall_wrapper" into the Layout ID field. Type a free-form description of the layout into the Description field. Type HTML code into the Template field. Remember that header and footer have predetermined locations and therefore are expected to implement certain parts of complete HTML document. Between the header and the footer HTML code {$webshopcontent} placeholder should be put. This placeholder will be replaced with content of the online working area while displaying online store page. Namely, "overall_wrapper" template should include HTML code of the like:

34 Applying Online Store Branding 34 <html> <head> <title> </title> </head> <body> Header HTML code {$webshopcontent} Footer HTML code </body> </html> 3 Click Save to finish customizing the header and footer. Customizing Footer Footer is an area on the bottom of online store page which typically contain your contact information. The footer is customized in the same way as header - by means of respective layout template. To customize the footer: 1 Open the Product Director > Online Store Manager > Layout Templates submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of already added layout templates (if any) appears on the screen. 2 Click Add New Layout Template. The adding new layout template dialog window is displayed. Fill out the form: Type "overall_footer" into the Layout ID field. Type a free-form description of the layout into the Description field. Type the HTML code for the layout into the Template field. Remember that standard layouts have predetermined locations and therefore are expected to implement certain parts of complete HTML document. Namely, the "overall_footer" template should contain final html tags of the like: </body> </html> 3 Click Save to finish customizing the footer.

35 Applying Online Store Branding 35 Customizing First Page PBA allows using custom first page instead of general usage scenarios list. Preparing First Page

36 Applying Online Store Branding 36 First page is a HTML code without header and footer. To instruct online store what actions to perform when customer clicks on a link, the link should be of one the following kinds: " (1, 3). "DOMAINS_PATH" here is the name of usage scenario. Such link will bring customer to respective usage scenario where he can select a service plan and proceed ordering services. For information on managing usage scenarios, refer to the Managing Usage Scenarios section earlier in this guide. " (2, 4). "linux_basic" here is the name of redirect. Such link will direct customer to a usage scenario, with particular service plan and subscription period already added to the shopping cart. For information on managing redirects, refer to the Adding Redirect section earlier in this guide. " eseller.com" (2, 4). "fromurl= string adds possibility to redirect customer back to first page. Customer is redirected to specified URL if clicks the first step in navigation path or an error occurred during redirect with service plan processing. When preparations are done, it is time to upload the first page. Uploading First Page First page is set with the "index" layout template. To upload the first page: 1 Open the Product Director > Online Store Manager > Layout Templates submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of already added layout templates (if any) appears on the screen. 2 Click Add New Layout Template. The adding new layout template dialog window is displayed. Fill out the form: Type "index" into the Layout ID field. Type a free-form description of the layout into the Description field. 3 Type the HTML code for the layout into the Template field. Remember that standard layouts have predetermined locations and therefore are expected to implement certain parts of complete HTML document. 4 Click Save to finish customizing the template.

37 Applying Online Store Branding 37 Using Custom CSS Online store has three default color palettes: "crucial", "default," and "dc". Default color pallet is set with the "COLOR_PALLET" general parameter ("DESIGN" parameters section). For information on configuring general parameters, refer to the Parallels Business Automation 4.4 Online Store guide. Each color pallet has own CSS. Default CSS can be accessed from URL. Depending on what visual style is used in the store at the moment, respective CSS is shown. You can use standard CSS to see what styles are defined and customize own CSS accordingly. When custom CSS is put in PBA, when loading CSS in online store, its values overwrite those already defined in default CSS. Elements styles that are not defined in custom CSS are taken from default CSS. To use custom CSS: 1 Open the Product Director > Online Store Manager > Custom CSS submenu of the Navigation tree. Current CSS settings appear on the screen. 2 Click Edit. 3 Type the CSS codes in the order they are to be loaded - into the Stylesheet Body field. 4 Click Save to confirm changes. When loading CSS, online store first loads the default CSS, then custom CSS' in the order they have been specified. Managing Contents Width As you have finished configuring CSS, header, footer and first page, it is common that contents width exceeds or does not make it to header and footer width. Contents width is configured with the "WIDTH_CONTENT" general parameter of the "DESIGN" parameters group. To configure the contents width: 1 Open the Product Director > Online Store Manager > General Parameters submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of parameters sections appears on the screen. 2 Select the "DESIGN" section by clicking on the respective link in the Section Name or in the Description column. The list of section parameters appears on the screen. 3 Select the "WIDTH_CONTENT" parameter by clicking on the respective link in the Parameter Name or in the Value column. Selected parameter properties appear on the screen. 4 Click Edit. 5 Type the desired contents width (in pixels) into the Value field. 6 Type a free-form description into the Description field.

38 Applying Online Store Branding 38 7 Click Save to confirm changes. Creating Menu Item Contents Header menu item contents are set with a layout template. PBA is delivered with a certain number of pre-defined templates, which you may use for creating own ones. These templates contain HTML code without header and footer. To add custom layout template: 1 Open the Product Director > Online Store Manager > Layout Templates submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of already added layout templates (if any) appears on the screen. 2 Click Add New Layout Template. The adding new layout template dialog window is displayed. Fill out the form: Type a layout template name into the Layout ID field. Make sure it does not coincide with one of standard templates name. For this it is recommended to start all custom templates names with "_" ("_affiliates", for instance). Make sure it coincides with the template name you have used in the header. Type a free-form description of the layout into the Description field. Type the HTML code for the layout into the Template field. 3 Click Save to finish creating new layout template.

39 39 C HAPTER 7 Managing Trouble Ticketing System For the quickest trouble shooting there is a trouble tickets mechanism implemented in PBA. This mechanism allows customers to notify you of possible problems and track the reported problem status in future, the other intent of trouble tickets is to get customers' requests quickly. You can process customers tickets by yourself, purchase provider's support or do not use TTS at all. Provider can offer two types of trouble ticketing support: Support with branding. You get provider's queues that marked as visible to reseller and categories assigned to these queues. You are allowed to assign your collectors ( settings) to provider's queues. In this case, customers see provider's categories in their CP and post tickets to provider's queues, but get replies from e- mail specified in your collector. Your notification templates are used to notify customers about ticket processing status. You do not see tickets posted to provider's queues and can not process them. You can configure your own queues, categories and collectors. In this case customers see both provider's and your categories and tickets are posted to queues assigned to selected category. Tickets posted to your queues are not visible to provider. Support without branding. Reseller gets provider's queues that marked as visible to reseller and categories assigned to these queues. Reseller is not allowed to assign his collectors ( settings) to provider's queues. In this case, reseller customers see provider's categories in their CP and post tickets to provider's queues and get replies from specified in provider's collector. Provider' notification templates are used to notify customers about ticket processing status. You do not see tickets posted to provider's queues and can not process them. You can configure your own queues, categories and collectors. In this case customers see both provider's and your categories and tickets are posted to queues assigned to selected category. Tickets posted to your queues are not visible to provider. In This Chapter Configuring TTS...40 Managing Trouble Tickets...52

40 Managing Trouble Ticketing System 40 Configuring TTS TTS configuration consists of the following: Queue. A logical container used to sort received trouble tickets. Collector. gate used to receive trouble tickets via . TTS may be used without mail gate. However, the use of collectors allows using support. Support is specified in a collector configuration. In this case, customers just write to this and their reports are automatically passed to PBA TTS and placed into a queue assigned to a collector. Tickets received via are managed similarly to the ones posted via PBA interface. Priority. Defines a ticket resolution time and notifications schedule. notifications are sent to vendor users and other persons responsible for a ticket. When a customer posts ticket from control panel, he/she selects a ticket priority. Default priority is assigned to tickets received via . Status. Defines the stage of ticket resolution. Default status is 'New' and it is assigned to all newly posted tickets, both from control panel and via . Category. Defines a type of problem a ticket is connected with. Categories are predefines per queue. Actually customer selects a category when posting a ticket. Thus, a category defines queue a ticket is finally placed into. Default category is assigned to tickets received via . TTS settings. Enable/disable TTS, default settings of tickets processing, mail server configuration, notification templates to be used. Template sets. Notifications' templates used to send notifications about tickets processing.

41 Managing Trouble Ticketing System 41 Adding Ticket Queue In general, queues simplify tickets management, also it makes sense to share responsibilities of your staff members by queues. By default, there are two preconfigured queues: "Billing" and "General". You can add as many queues as needed. Note: it is necessary to assign a default owner to a queue. Default owner is selected from your users and by default is assigned as responsible person for tickets placed in a queue. notifications about a ticket resolution progress are sent to ticket owner. Please assign owners to all the queues if you want to use notifications in tickets processing. To add a trouble ticket queue: 1 Open the Configuration Director > Trouble Tickets > Queues submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of trouble ticket queues appears on the screen. 2 Click Add New Queue. The adding new queue form is displayed. Fill out the form: Enter a short name of ticket queue into the Queue field. For example, "Interface Features". Type a free-form description of the new queue into the Description field. Enter an HTML link to the icon that will be shown next to the queue name in provider CP into the Icon field. For example, "<img src='/images/icons/icon.gif'>". Internal link is preferable, but if you trust some outer server, outer link may be used as well. It is recommended using pictures exactly or less than 16*16 pixels. Select the Enabled check box to open a queue for tickets posting. However, to actually post tickets, it is necessary to add categories into the queue and enable them, since tickets are posted by categories. Select the Is Visible To Reseller check box to make the queue available for resellers. If this box is not selected, queue is considered as provider internal and reseller cannot see it. 3 Click Save to finish adding the new ticket queue.

42 Managing Trouble Ticketing System 42 Configuring Collector A collector is generally a mailbox used to receive problem reports from your customers. Reports received via collector are placed into PBA TTS and managed in the same way as tickets posted by customers from PBA customer control panel interface. However, such options as category and priority are not available in case a report is sent via . Thus, all reports received via are assigned default category and priority and placed into the queue a collector is associated with. In this case, a ticket is assigned default category within this queue. A collector can have only one queue assigned. However, a number of collectors can be assigned to a single queue. This makes sense for resellers branding and for fake resellers management. Provider can create a number of support mailboxes and configure collectors for them. Collectors can be then delegated to resellers, but all the problem reports sent by reseller's customers are placed into provider TTS. This does not restrict the ability of delegating own TTS to a reseller, when all the tickets are managed from reseller CP. To use mail collector, you will need at least two mailboxes: Mailbox used to reply customers. Mailbox used for internal correspondence between provider users responsible for ticket resolution. Mail server for collector is configured under Configuration Director > Trouble Tickets > Settings. To configure collector: 1 Open Configuration Director > Trouble Tickets >Collectors submenu of the Navigation tree. The lit of collectors (if any) appears on the screen. 2 Click Add New Collector. Fill the form that appears in the screen: Note: the Server and Port fields are pre-filled with default mail server hostname and port number specified in Trouble Tickets > Settings. You can change these values if needed, but if you are not sure what to enter, leave the defaults. In the Mailbox settings used for Reply part of the form enter the configuration of the mailbox used to send reply to ticket reporters: Enter the address into the field. Type the mailbox login into the Login field. Type the mailbox password into the Password field. Note: different fields for login and address are needed because for POP3 these parameters may differ. In case your callback mailbox login is the same as the name in address, please enter them anyway. In the Mailbox settings used for Comment part of the form enter the configuration of the mailbox used to internally send comments on tickets to provider users: Enter the address into the field. Type the mailbox login into the Login field.

43 Managing Trouble Ticketing System 43 Type the mailbox password into the Password field. In the General part of the form: Enter the collector short name not the Collector field. This name will be used to refer to this collector in PBA interface. For example, you will see this name in the list of queues, if a collector is associated with one or more queue. Enter an HTML link to the icon that will be shown next to the collector name in provider CP into the Icon field. For example, "<img src='/images/icons/icon.gif'>". Internal link is preferable, but if you trust some outer server, outer link may be used as well. It is recommended using pictures exactly or less than 16*16 pixels. Type a free-form description of the collector into the Description field. Click [...] next to the Default Queue field. From the window that opens, select queue to place tickets received into this collector mailbox. To open the collector for reports, select the Enabled check box. Note: a collector can be enabled only if the default queue assigned is enabled and includes an enabled category selected as default for this queue. 3 Click Save.

44 Managing Trouble Ticketing System 44 Adding and Configuring Ticket Priority A trouble ticket priority defines how fast a ticket must be resolved. If no changes to a ticket have been made during due period, PBA starts sending notifications to a person responsible for ticket resolution. Note: notifications sending is enabled or disabled per ticket status. When trouble ticket is created from your CP, it may be given any available priority. Customers also can assign any priority to tickets they post. The default priority is assigned to tickets placed via . There are three pre-configured priorities: High, Low, Normal. You can delete the default ones, edit them, add as many new priorities as needed. The default priority is assigned to tickets posted via . To add a trouble ticket priority: 1 Open the Configuration Director > Trouble Tickets > Priorities submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of priorities available appears on the screen. 2 Click Add New Ticket Priority. The adding new priority dialog window is displayed. Fill out the form: Input a new priority name into the Priority field. For example, "Normal Priority". Input a free-form description of the priority into the Description field. Input a HTML link to the icon that will illustrate the priority into the Icon field. For example, "<img src='/images/icons/icon.gif'>". Inner link is preferable, but if you trust some outer server, outer link may be used as well. It is recommended using pictures exactly or less than 14*14 pixels. Select the Default check box to make the priority assigned to every customer's ticket. Note: only one ticket priority may be used as default at a time. If there is another priority marked as default, it will lose the default status at the moment you select another priority as default. 3 Click Save to finish adding new priority. The list of priorities is displayed with the newly created one added. To select a default priority: Mark a priority you want to set as default by selecting the check box next to a priority ID. Click Set default. To delete a priority: Mark a priority you want to delete by selecting the check box next to a priority ID. Click Delete.

45 Managing Trouble Ticketing System 45 To configure a priority notifications schedule and ticket resolution time estimate: 1 Select a priority from the list by clicking on respective link in the Priority ID. The selected priority details appear on the screen. 2 Click Edit. The priority details are displayed for editing. Fill out the fields in the Notifications part of the form: Note: the fields are pre-filled with default values taken from TTS Settings (on page 48). Edit the default values according to the level of priority. The value in the Due Period (hours) field defines how long (in hours) a ticket may stay untouched after posting. If no changes (status, comment, etc.) are made during due period, PBA starts sending notifications to a ticket owner. The value in the Notification period (minutes) field defies how frequently notifications to a ticket owner are sent after a ticket due period is over. The value in the Average time to resolve the ticket (hours) field defines approximate time in hours needed to resolve a ticket that has this priority assigned. This estimate is needed for reference or statistics. 3 Click Save.

46 Managing Trouble Ticketing System 46 Adding Ticket Status Trouble tickets statuses reflect current state of a trouble ticket resolution. There are six pre-configured statuses: New; Resolved; Stalled; Open; Deleted; Waiting for Customer Response. Any of the pre-configured statuses can be edited or deleted. You can also add as many custom statuses as needed. By default, all new tickets are assigned the New status. After this, status is changed manually by a user who resolves a ticket. Note: each status has such an option as notification on due time. If a ticket remains untouched longer than due period, PBA starts sending notification to a user responsible for a ticket resolution. Due period is configured per ticket priority (on page 44). To add a trouble ticket status: 1 Open the Configuration Director > Trouble Tickets > Statuses submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of statuses available appears on the screen. 2 Click Add New Status. The adding new status form is displayed. Fill out the form: Type the status name into the Status field. For example, "Delayed" or "Rejected". This must be a short name, one word preferably. Input a HTML link to the icon that will illustrate the status into the Icon field. For example, "<img src='/images/icons/icon.gif'>". Inner link is preferable, but if you trust some outer server, outer link may be used as well. It is recommended using pictures exactly or less than 14*14 pixels. Enter a free-form description of the status into the Description field. Select the Is Notifiable when overdue check box to make PBA send notifications every time a ticket due period is over (see the Note above). To use the status and allow its assignment to trouble tickets, select the Enabled check box. To disallow a status assignment to tickets, leave this check box clear. 3 Click Save.

47 Managing Trouble Ticketing System 47 Adding Ticket Category Trouble tickets are sorted by queues by categories. In case a ticket has been placed from control panel, a category is assigned to it by requester. If a ticket has been posted by , it is placed to the default queue assigned to collector (on page 42) and then assigned a default category set for this queue. A category can be included into only one queue. A ticket category is referred to a ticket subject. A queue refers to a more general issue. Thus, categories included in a queue reflect different types of problems related to the same scope of operations. For example, such queue as Billing can include such categories as Payments Processing, Payment Methods Management, etc. All ticket categories are shown to reporter in a single list in control panel. Thus, categories names must clearly tell about the type of problem. This will facilitate further tickets sorting by queues. To add a category: 1 Open the Configuration Director > Trouble Tickets > Categories submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of statuses available appears on the screen. 2 Click Add New Category. The adding new category form is displayed. Fill out the form: Enter the category descriptive name into the Category Name field. Click [...] next to the Queue field. From the window that opens select the queue the category will belong to. To allow assigning the category to trouble tickets, select the Enabled check box. To disallow a category assignment, leave this check box clear. 3 Click Save.

48 Managing Trouble Ticketing System 48 Enabling and Disabling Trouble Ticket System and Configuring Ticket Settings To configure ticket settings: 1 Open the Configuration Director > Trouble Tickets > Settings submenu of the Navigation tree. The ticket settings are displayed. 2 Click Edit. The ticket settings are displayed for editing. Fill out the form: To enable Trouble Ticket System select the Enable TTS check box. To disable TTS, clear this check box. In the Setting for ticket processing part of the form, enter the default values used in ticket priorities, tickets mail messages, and tickets auto processing: The Ticket Tag field is pre-filled with default expression that defines format of e- mail message subject in ticket notification. placeholder is replaced with a ticket identifier assigned in PBA. No other placeholders are available. You can change the expression or use the default one. Each queue can be assigned a user called default owner. The queue default owner is responsible for tickets in a queue. In this case, each ticket in a queue can be assigned a different owner selected from registered users. To automatically assign a queue default owner as owner of all tickets placed in a queue, select the Autochange of Ticket Owner check box. Enter how long (in hours) a ticket can stay not closed before it will be closed automatically into the Period to autoclose tickets (hours) field. We recommend to enter a non-zero value, the auto-close period must be long enough. The value in the Default Due Period (hours) field defines the default period of time during which a ticket may stay untouched after posting. If no changes (status, comment, etc.) are made during due period, PBA starts sending notifications to a ticket owner. The default due period pre-fills respective field when adding a new priority. The value in the Default Notification period (minutes) field defies the default frequency of notifications sending after a ticket due period is over. The default notification period pre-fills respective field when adding a new priority. The value in the Default ETA (hours) field defines default approximate time in hours needed to resolve a ticket. The default ETA pre-fills respective field (Average time to resolve a ticket) when adding a new priority. In the Settings to collect the tickets part of the form, enter the default settings used in collectors configuration. The default values pre-fill respective fields when you add a new collector. Default values can be changed per collector. Type hostname of POP3 server used for delivering s in the Default Server field. Type POP3 server port in the Default Port field. If you want to accept problem reports only from users registered in PBA (for your customers' accounts and for your account), select the Accept mails from registered users only check box.

49 Managing Trouble Ticketing System 49 If you would like to always send replies to ticket reporter by , then select the Do not allow ticket replies without notification check box. TTS uses a separate set of notification templates used to send notifications in case trouble tickets related event takes place (for example ticket due period is over). PBA allows grouping TTS notification templates into sets. In the Misc part of the form you can select the notification templates set to be used. By default, the notification templates set shipped with PBA is used. You can add a new templates set and configure customer notification templates. To select another notification templates set, click [...] next to the Template Set field. From the window that opens select a template set. 3 Click Save to confirm changes. Managing Ticket Notification Templates Sets Trouble Ticket System provides notifications for all events related to trouble tickets processing. Notification templates used by TTS are grouped into sets. One preconfigured notification templates set called Default is ready for use. Notification templates used in TTS are managed together with all other notification templates, however, grouping them by sets facilitates trouble tickets notifications selection and assignment. TTS notification templates sets are managed under Configuration Director > Trouble Tickets > Template Sets. Notification templates set to be used is selected in two cases: Under Configuration Director > Trouble Tickets > Settings. This selection is used mostly in case there if no collector configured and notifications are sent between users responsible for trouble tickets processing. Under Configuration Director > Trouble Tickets > Collectors, per collector. Notification templates form this set are used for replies sent to responders that post tickets via . What can be done to TTS notification templates sets: Using placeholders, configure additional information to be inserted into a ticket report. This is done per TTS notification template set and affects all the notification templates that belong to a set: Add a new record to an existing notification templates set. Such a record defines a chain Event type > Notification template > Contact type (ticket requester , ticket watcher , etc.). Events and contact types are pre-defined, and notification template can be either standard or custom. In this case, a custom notification template can be configured under Communication Director > Notification Manager > Notification Templates. Delete or edit a record in an existing Notification templates set. For example, you can change event a notification is sent, select another contact type, or reassign notification template to be used for an message. Add a new notification templates set, and add custom records into it.

50 Managing Trouble Ticketing System 50 Adding New or Changing Existing Notification Template Set General Parameters Additional information to be inserted into TTS notifications is defined using placeholders per notification templates set and affects all the notification templates that belong to a set. To add a new notification template set: 1 Open Configuration Director > Trouble Tickets > Templates Sets submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of TTS notification template sets appears on the screen. 2 Click Add New Template Set. Fill out the form that appears: Enter the template set short name into the Name field. The Format of Ticket Record field is used to define a set of placeholders replaced with an actual ticket details in the message body. Actually, here you compose a message body using placeholders. Enter placeholders in the order you want the respective data to be inserted in a message. The Format of Subscription Information in new Ticket field contains placeholders replaced with customer subscription data. Note: Only placeholders available for the Trouble Ticket Notification message type are allowed. 3 Click Save. To add or remove additional data in notifications: 1 Open Configuration Director > Trouble Tickets > Templates Sets submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of TTS notification template sets appears on the screen. 2 Select a template set by clicking on respective link in the Template Set ID or Name column. The list of records included in the selected template set appears on the screen. 3 Click Edit. Template set configuration details appear on the screen. 4 Change the template set configuration in the same way as this described above for a new template set and click Save.

51 Managing Trouble Ticketing System 51 Adding Record to Template Set A record in a template set specifies what notification template is used for message sent on a particular event and the address to send a message. Event types set and contact types are fixed. Notification templates only of the Trouble Ticket Notification message type can be used. The default set of notification templates is available, however if you configure a new notification template of the Trouble Ticket Notification message type, you can use it in TTS template set records. To add a record to template set: 1 Open Configuration Director > Trouble Tickets > Templates Sets submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of TTS notification template sets appears on the screen. 2 Select a template set by clicking on respective link in the Template Set ID or Name column. The list of records included in the selected template set appears on the screen. 3 Click Add Notification Record. Fill the form that appears: Select the event the notification is to be sent from the On Event list: Ticket Created - ticket has been posted. Ticket Updated - ticket status has been changed or other changes applied (moved to other queue, category changed, etc.). Ticket Reply - a reply on a ticket has been sent to customer or posted via CP. Ticket Comment - a comment visible to your users has been added to ticket. Ticket Resolved - ticket has been processed and closed with Resolved status. Ticket Reopened - ticket has been reopened for further processing. Ticket Due - ticket due period is over. Due period is set per ticket priority (on page 44). Select the type of contact the notification is to be sent from the Contact Type list: Support - added to a ticket details, under People tab. Requester - additional requester added to a ticket details, under People tab. Owner - ticket owner , i.e., a user responsible for ticket resolution specified in a ticket general settings. Watcher - of a user assigned as watcher to a queue a ticket is placed into. Requester - of user who has posted a ticket. Click [...] next to the Template Name field. From the window that opens, select the notification template to be used for message. 4 Click Add.

52 Managing Trouble Ticketing System 52 Managing Trouble Tickets Trouble ticket itself is a message containing general problem or request description. Each trouble ticket has the following standard set of parameters: General. The section comprises ticket ID, date of creation, problem description and due date. Each trouble ticket may optionally have some files related to the problem attached (a screen capture, for instance) or a subscription. People. The section lists customer and vendor users related to the ticket. State. The section reflects current ticket processing status and priority. Tickets with the highest priority are processed first, others - in the priority descending order. Also, here you can see queue and category ticket belongs to. Trouble tickets queues are used for differentiating tickets by nature of problem/request reported. Customer can not post ticket directly to a queue. He selects a category that suits his problem in his CP. Category is assigned to a queue. Category selected by customer defines the queue ticket is posted to. Another way to post ticket is sending . address to collect tickets is specified in collector. Each collector has default queue assigned. When ticket gets to collector, the queue is assigned to it by default. Also collector defines settings for sending replies and comments. Processing Trouble Ticket As trouble ticket appears in one of the queues, it has to be replied within the due period set for tickets of its priority. Trouble ticket reply may be accompanied by trouble ticket status change. For example, when your support staff member gets a ticket, he may change its status to "InProgress". For each trouble ticket, there is history of actions kept. Using it you can track ticket changes history. To process a trouble ticket: 1 Open the Operation Director > Support Manager > Queues submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of queues available appears on the screen. 2 Select a queue, tickets of which you want to process, by clicking on the respective link in the Queues column. The list of tickets that belong to the selected queue appears on the screen. 3 Select a trouble ticket you want to process by clicking on the respective link in the Ticket or in the Short Description column. Trouble ticket details appear on the screen. 4 Switch to the General tab. The operations over a ticket are: Temporarily suspend a ticket processing. Click Temporarily Stall. To set the date the ticket is to be released, click below the End of Stall. From the calendar that appears, select the ticket release date. Suspend ticket. Click Stall. Mark the ticket as resolved and close it. Click Resolve. Add comment visible only to users. Click Comment and enter the text into the Message field. Click Comment again.

53 Managing Trouble Ticketing System 53 Send reply to a ticket to a ticket reporter. Click Reply and enter the reply text into the Message field. Click Reply again. Change the ticket state and reassign responsible users. Click Edit. Adding More Contacts to Ticket If needed, a ticket can be assigned an additional addresses used both for reporter and support representatives notification. To add contacts to ticket: 1 Open the Operation Director > Support Manager > Queues submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of queues available appears on the screen. 2 Select a queue, tickets of which you want to process, by clicking on the respective link in the Queues column. The list of tickets that belong to the selected queue appears on the screen. 3 Select a trouble ticket you want to process by clicking on the respective link in the Ticket or in the Short Description column. Trouble ticket details appear on the screen. 4 Switch to the People tab. The list of additional addresses (if any) appears on the screen. 5 Add contact To add used to notify the ticket reporter: Enter the address into the field. Click Add Requester . To add used to notify support representative or other person involved in the ticket processing: Enter the address into the field. Click Add Support .

54 Managing Trouble Ticketing System 54 Adding Customer Trouble Ticket Generally, customer adds trouble tickets himself through his/her Control Panel. However, if he is unable to access his CP, it may come in handy for you to create trouble ticket for him manually. To add a customer trouble ticket: 1 Open the Operation Director > Support Manager > Queues submenu of the Navigation tree. The list of queues appears on the screen. 2 Select a queue you want to add a trouble ticket to by clicking on the respective link in the Queue column. The list of queue trouble tickets (if any) appears on the screen. 3 Click Add New Ticket. The adding new ticket dialog window is displayed. Fill out the form: Click [...] next to the Requester field. From the window that opens, select the customer or user you place the ticket for. Click [...] next to the Owner field. From the window that opens, select the user responsible for ticket resolution. Click [...] next to the Subscription field. From the window that opens, select the subscription the ticket is related to. Shortly describe the reported problem in the Short Description field. If necessary, click [...] next to the Queue field. From the window that opens, select a queue the new ticket will belong to. Select the ticket priority from the Priority list. Select the ticket category from the Category list. Enter the detailed problem description into the Message field. If necessary, click Browse... next to the Attach field. From the window that opens, select a file to attach to the ticket. If you attach a file, select its type from the Attach Type drop-down list. If you are not sure of the file type, leave the list as is (Auto-Detect). 4 Click Add to finish adding new trouble ticket.

55 Managing Trouble Ticketing System 55 Configuring Message Settings Per User Tickets processed by your users can be amended with a user personal header, footer, and quote sign. Message settings are applied to notifications send in case a user processes a trouble ticket. The message settings are configured and applied per logged user. Thus, to configure message settings for a user, you need first to log in to PBA control panel using this user login and password. To configure message settings: 1 Open the Operation Director > Support Manager > Message Settings submenu of the Navigation tree. The message settings details are displayed. 2 Click Edit. The message settings are displayed for editing. Change the settings Enter a message header text (plain text) into the Message Header field. Enter a message footer text (plain text) into the Message Footer field. Enter the sign used to mark strings a user answers into the Quote String field. 3 Click Save.