Call Center

Call Center User's Guide

Description

The Call Center is a web-based system allowing agencies, clients, donors, etc., to communicate with Fresh Start via a web browser, email, or phone. This guide describes how these contacts should be handled. It is strongly suggested that you play the part of an end-user and utilize these systems to understand what the end-user would experience. There is a separate guide that describes how to handle donors.

Volunteers are assigned to various Call Center groups, depending on what work they want to do. For example, we have an Agency group, which handles questions on how agencies utilize our systems. We also groups for Clients, the Director, Donations, President, Volunteers, Web Master, etc.

The basic unit of work is a ticket, which contains the correspondence between a user and Fresh Start. Anyone in a group can access a ticket and take action on it. That way, if someone can't handle their tickets, anyone can pick them up.

Contact Methods

Tickets are created when an end-user contacts Fresh Start. There are three ways that tickets are created: Email, website, or via our phone system.

Once a ticket has been created and assigned to a group, anyone in that group can use the Call Center system to email the end-user. All correspondence to/from the end-user is copied to the ticket. An end-user can only have one ticket open per group.

Workflow

The basic workflow is as follows:

  1. An end-user uses the website form to submit a question, sends an email to the info-account, or calls our main number and leaves a message

  2. As a Call Center member, you will have a Call Center button in your list of apps when you log in. Multiple groups use the Call Center, and depending upon what groups you're in, you will see a display something like the following: 

    This displays the number of phone calls that are open, messages needing some action, and the total number of open tickets in that group.

    main_menu.JPG

  3. Click on a green button with the name of the group that you want to access.
  4. If you were to click on the green Volunteer button, you would see a list of open tickets, as shown below:

    tickets_menu_non_donor.JPG
  5. This shows the ticket number, the ticket status, when it was created and last updated, the ticket owner's initials, the end-user's name, and a title that should describe what the ticket is about.

    The Sts (status) field provides a visual status of the ticket:
    1. A yellow phone indicates that we need to contact the end-user.
    2. A green phone means we're waiting to hear from the end-user.
    3. An hourglass icon that implies that you're waiting for some event to occur in the future. 

  6. To view a ticket, click on the ticket number. You will then see a ticket similar to the following:

    ticket_non_donor.JPG

    This shows the group that the ticket belongs to, the ticket owner, the next action for the ticket, the end-user's name, and contact info. 

    There are a series of buttons which:

      1. Sends an email to the owner of the ticket.

      2. Sends an email to the end-user.

      3. Displays the history showing who has done what with the ticket

  7. Below that is the correspondence with the end-user and/or notes that have been created. Finally, there is a button to add a new note.

    If any photos have been received, they will be displayed under the notes. If you place the cursor over a photo, a magnified view will appear to the right, showing photo details.

The way that I (Geoff) like to handle tickets is to:

Feel free to use any system that works for you

Replying to an Email

  1. Pressing the "Reply to email" button causes a new web page to appear:

    reply_to_email_non_donor.JPG

    The end-user's email address is filled in, and there are a series of canned responses that you can utilize. Each group (i.e. Donations, Clients, Agencies, etc) has its own set of canned responses. The titles of the canned responses should give you an idea as to what they're about. Select one that best matches the question, or write your own.
  2. You can edit the canned responses. In some cases, there are fields that need to be replaced. For example, in the above canned response, you would need to replace “[Enter dates]” with the dates that we run new-volunteer tours/training. Be careful not to corrupt the HTML (the stuff between the <>).
  3. Pressing the "Email View" button displays what the email will look like to the end-user. Press again to switch back to edit mode.
  4. When you're all set, press the "Send" button. Then press the "Return to Tickets" button. The "Status" icon will change to a green phone.
  5. You will then see a list of tickets. Lather-rinse-repeat for any other tickets that need responses.

Open Tickets Page Details

This section provides details on all of the various buttons and fields on the Open Tickets page:

Ticket Page Details

This section provides details on all of the various buttons and fields on the Open Tickets page:

Photos

Photos are typically only associated with the Donations group, but an end-user may want to send photos for other reasons.  Photos appear at the bottom of the ticket. If you're using a PC, you can place the cursor over a section of the image, and a magnified view of the image will appear to the right. If you're on a device that doesn't have a mouse/trackpad, you can click on the filename above the image. This will open up a separate browser window just containing the image.

There are 2 ways that photos can be sent:

Once you close a ticket, the photos are deleted. As a result, you probably want to make sure that you're completely finished with the ticket before closing it.

Update User Setting

On the main page of the Call Center, you will see a link for "Press here to update your account information." When you click on this link, you will see the normal settings to update your account information, plus the following:

call_center_settings.JPG

Enter the initials that you want to display on tickets that you own on the Open Tickets page.

The "Send group email notifications on" section only applies to the Donations group.  Check any days that you want to receive emails regarding new tickets. You will always receive email, regardless of what's checked above, when an end-user updates a ticket that you own.

Press Submit when you're done.

Call Center User's Guide for the Donations Group

Description

The Fresh Start Furniture Bank Call Center group is responsible for handling web-based queries and e-mail from donors wishing to donate items to Fresh Start Furniture Bank. This guide describes how these contacts should be handled. It is strongly suggested that you play the part of a donor and utilize these systems to understand what the donor would experience.

Workflow

The basic workflow is as follows:

Open Tickets Page Details

This section provides details on all of the various buttons and fields on the Open Tickets page:

Ticket Page Details

This section provides details on all of the various buttons and fields on the Open Tickets page:

Photos

It is important to receive photos of items before scheduling a pick-up. It's amazing how many donors will tell you that their items are in great shape…until you see them. Photos provide a chance to turn down items before the transport team shows up at the donor's house. 

Photos allow you to see if there are obvious rips/tears/stains/etc on an item. You can also tell if something is an antique, beat up, or too large for our clients.

Photos appear at the bottom of the ticket. If you're using a PC, you can place the cursor over a section of the image, and a magnified view of the image will appear to the right. If you're on a device that doesn't have a mouse/trackpad, you can click on the filename above the image. This will open up a separate browser window just containing the image.

The message sent to the donor when they requested a pick-up includes instructions on how to send photos.  There are 2 ways that they can do this:

Update User Settings

On the main page of the Call Center, you will see a link for "Press here to update your account information." When you click on this link, you will see the normal settings to update your account information, plus the following:

call_center_settings.JPG

Info email from GetHelpMail.com

There's a website called FindHelpMail.com, which connects people who need help with an appropriate agency/group.  We receive emails from them in our Info account.  The following describes how to handle these emails:

 

How To Print The Transport Schedule

Transport Schedule

Description

This guide describes how to view the transportation schedule, set the route, and schedule new transport slots.

Viewing the Transport Schedule

You can view the transport schedule by going into the Call Center app and selecting the Donations group. There will be a black navigation bar at the top of the page. If your FSFB account has the "Transport Admin" privilege, you will see a "Transport Schedule" link on the black menu bar. Clicking on that link will display a page similar to this:

transport_schedule.JPG
 
This shows the date of the transport, an optional title, the towns we will be picking up from, the overall duration of the transport, how many pick-ups have been scheduled, and the amount of time available for pick-ups.

If you click on one of the dates, it will display the details for that pick-up:

transport_details.JPG

You can edit any of the fields on the form.  Press Update to save your changes.

At the bottom of the page, under the list of pick-ups, you will find the following buttons:

Transport Schedule Routing

To arrange the pick-up schedule:

  1. Use the above section to open the transport schedule for a given date. Typically, we do this on the Thursday (Friday at the latest) before the pick-up.
  2. Press the Map button at the bottom of the page.
  3. Use Google Maps to arrange the pick-ups in an order that makes sense.
  4. We like to schedule the furthest away pick-up first and then work our way back towards the store. That way if we have to drop off furniture at the store mid-route, we're closer to the store.
  5. Note the order of the pick-ups.
  6. Return to the browser page you opened in step 1 and drag the tickets, using the cursor, into the same order you did in step 4. Note that you can't do this with a tablet/phone, as you don't have a mouse.
  7. Press the Map button to make sure that the order is correct.
  8. If appropriate, use the Send Email buttons to notify the donors and the team.

Creating a New Transport Slot

At the bottom of the Transport Schedule display, there is a button labeled "Schedule New Transport".  Click on that and you will see:

transport_details.JPG

Manage Groups and Users