Thread

Now, who said “There’s more than one way to do it”? Oh yes, Larry Wall. But still.

Its always great to hear what people are doing with EE. I had never thought about using it this way. Now you’ve got me thinking. I’ve always thought there must be a way to keep the client up-to-date during development, without them having to learn an additional piece of software. And this might be it.

Why make them have to learn how to use billing software, project management software and then EE. . . . if we could do most of that in EE, then they could be learning EE without evening knowing about it?

Hm. . . . <thinking out loud> what if I could come up with a way to install a project management weblog in all new EE installs, with reserved access, so only the client and I could see it, that could track progress, payments and the link? It could then transition into some sort of support tracking tool. . . . hm. .  but how to consolidate that financial info back into an accounting system. . . rss would be a bit too public.. .. maybe the new site could email out the info with just a client number . . . .  ???? this is going to keep me up at night I can tell already.</thinking out loud>

This is a great thread. If I come up with something I’ll post back and I hope others will continue to do the same.

Seem like its raised more questions for me than answers at the moment.

Kurt, that’s exactly the kind of thing I’m trying to build. First get the details nailed down by building it with a standard EE setup, and shortly after, migrate it to a module system that I can drop on every client. Especially if I can get it to hook into my “home” installation. Oh man, you’re getting me all excited again, and I have to do billable work! Thanks! 😊

Nice thread….I am still confused how is this legal with respect to licence?
What is the difference of allowing users to post entry to weblog called “support tickets” but it is not to weblog called “blogs”?
Anyone from staff care to comment?

This a side, to throw in a bucket of ideas, it would be nice to setup your clients onMetwaWeblog - Wikiso clients can email into their ‘support tickets system’.
All the best!

Using some elements as described above myself.

Here, have a cookie :p Free milk if you figure out how to use it. (hint, url title prefix)

@lebisol - I believe the way we’re talking about here is to have a separate licensed install of EE for each new client, that can some-how talk-back to a home install. Sort of like a hub and spoke set up.

Home-Base EE

- Client One EE
- Client Two EE
- Client Three EE

And each client’s install of EE would have a special weblog or something added to it that supports the project management, billing, and support/education needs of the project.

Somehow, the Client’s install needs to send back info to the Home-Base EE. Perhaps even more powerful is if info could be sent both ways.

As I was thinking about this yesterday, the mo-blog email tool might be part of the answer to this puzzle, as it can feed content into a weblog.

Each site would be a separately licensed install of EE, so this wouldn’t be in conflict with EE’s license.

Ah got it, thanks Kurt just making sure I spread the word about EE with correct info and completely second the use of mo-blog to better client-support experience.

Another big request or wish-list item from many web based business is ‘live-chat/support’ for pre-sales types of questions…perhaps a string of ‘comments’ available for later reference ones ‘potential’ turns into ‘true/paying’ customer?

In any case, subscribing to this thread.
Thanks averyone!

Surely it would be best to wait until EE 2.0 then leverage CI to do some more advanced stuff as well as commerce features?

I am working on a simple app that tracks my clients details, hosting details and EE licence details so I don’t forget anything!

I’d love a Basecamp type solution that could be hosted on my site. I’m sure it can be done but would need some custom work.

@stinhambo: I don’t think it really matters whether or not EE 2.0 is out or not.

Build it now, and adapt as necessary. I’d rather be building it now and getting some kinks worked out, than built it in 3 months and have to get the kinks out then.

Hi there!

I’m the guy who used EE as a help desk system for our school.

http://www.mackenty.org/index.php/site/comments/a_trouble_ticket_success_story_part_1/
http://www.mackenty.org/index.php/site/comments/a_trouble_ticket_success_story_part_2/

Here’s the thing:

EE works (and is working) REALLY well for us. It only took a few hours to get the system up and running, and we were formally commended for our flexibility and creative answer to our help-desk problem. We are still using it today.

But the thing is, I’m not a great programmer, nor a great designer. So, while the system is working well, I look at other solutions (especially http://www.userscape.com/products/helpspot/) with envy.  I’m sure if I had the time and inclination, I could re-write our current help desk solution so it was better with statistics, sent emails to techies and users, and was aesthetically friendlier.

But I don’t have the time or the skill 😊 So, while I love EE and will continue to use it, I suspect other web-based solutions would better serve the needs of my school.

Something to think about. EE //can// do it, but does that mean EE is the //best// way to do it.

Best of luck to you!!

I’ve been a silent reader of this thread for several days now as well as .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) which also discusses project management possibilities. I spent the better part of this past weekend racking my brain for a solution to sharing information across domains; i.e the kind of back and forth that Kurt mentions a few posts ago.

Stepping back a bit, I prefer the idea of keeping all project information centralized on the developers domain. But…given that preference, wouldn’t it be cool to give the client the sensation that they’re not leaving their site to make a project request, submit a support ticket etc. I’d guess that better minds then mine might be able to work thru all the security issues associated with trying to submit data contained in a form (SAEF) living on one domain to another domain; but that aside, there doesn’t seem to be too many options other than an e-mail solution for sharing the data. Unless I’m wrong thought(which very well could be the case) this doesn’t seem like a very elegant solution.

So…why not use something like .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to load the support ticket form living on the developers site to the users site?
(i.e. load the form living on the support aps server to an iframe on the clients server - still one hurdle though, how to get around the need for the user to login twice; once to access this feature on their site, and the second being the login to the support ap???)

That in cunjunction with something similar to Stephan Slaters solution (see here) I think you’d have a pretty sweet solution.