Internet Software Sciences Newsletter #29 February 2008 Issue

Internet Software Sciences | (www.inet-sciences.com) | Toll Free (888) 949-0942 | Sales@inet-sciences.com | Los Altos, CA USA

Welcome to the February 2008 ISS Newsletter. We hope you have been enjoying the benefits of Web+Center, the Help Desk and Sales CRM Solution that are quick and easy to implement, and that you have previously downloaded.

If you haven't had a chance to use the Web+Center suite of web-based applications, please download version 5.0 for Windows OR Linux.

Newsletter Article Index:

Web+Center Version 6.0 Final Beta Program and upgrade policies and costs
How to properly configure and use the Web+Center file upload feature

Scott Vanderlip - President - Internet Software Sciences

Web+Center Version 6.0 Final Beta Program and upgrade policies and costs

Overview
The Web+Center Version 6.0 beta test program is just about completed. Thank you to the many Web+Center users and their useful feedback during this important evaluation cycle of the software before it is officially labeled "Production". For those wishing to evaluate Version 6.0 on-line, navigate to the Internet Software Sciences Home Page and click on the appropriate application link under the Version 6.0 release information. For those that still want to participate in the beta test program, it is still available for DOWNLOAD. The beta release should not be used for production systems or upgrades from Version 5.0 but only for evaluation and testing. Your important comments and testing helps to build a solid product that is well tested, and fits the requirements for real world organizations and companies.

Upgrading Policies and Costs
Version 6.0 production will be available soon and an upgrade script will be available for those wishing to upgrade from Version 5.0 to Version 6.0. A newsletter will announce when the production release and upgrades options are available. Please review the following policies and costs outlined below to obtain the upgrade scripts.

Licensed Users with current annual support/upgrade contracts - FREE upgrade script available - Contact ISS to obtain instructions and scripts.
License Users without current annual support/upgrade contracts - Annual support contracts must be renewed first - Contact ISS for support renewal and scripts
FREE (3) Tech Users - Version 6.0 only supports (2) tech users with the free version. An additional tech license (3 total) must be purchased for $300 and an optional support contract for $100 per year.
New installs (without database upgrades) of Version 6.0 for 2 techs is FREE.

Configuring the Web+Center File Upload Feature

Overview
One useful feature of the Web+Center help desk is the ability for customers and technicians to upload and share file/documents with the case ticket form. This feature must be separately enabled and a separate physical directory and virtual directory must be defined to fully configure this feature. The file download/upload option takes a specified file from a browser based file viewer and then renames the file by appending a "C" + Case number to the file name to create a unique file name that is then placed in the specified download directory on the server. A link is then added to the case history with this unique file name so that file can be accessed by the customer or technician anytime in the future.

The files are stored in the regular file structure so one should choose a file directory/drive that has sufficient capacity for the downloaded files. To allow for easy retrievial of any type of the file and to prevent the webserver from executing scipts or executables, the virtual directory permissions for the download folder should have only READ permissions Instructions for configuring the file download feature can be found in section 3.8 of the Web+Center User guide in the section called: How to configure File Download options for the Customer+Center and Tech+Center . For convenience, these are outlined below:

Figure 1 - File Upload configuration on Other Configuration page

Step 1: Enable file upload option for the Tech+Center and or/Customer+Center:
- Click on the Administration button in the button panel.
- Click on System Configuration Menu link.
- Click on Other Configuration link.
- Under the File Upload Options check which application (Tech+Center or Customer+Center) to enable which application you wish to allow users to upload files.
Step 2: Enter the name of the physical file folder path that you must have previously created separately. An example of a valid folder path might be "c:\wcdownloads".
Step 3: Enter the name of the virtual directory that points to this folder you just specified. This virtual directory must also be created separately. A valid virtual directory might be "wcdownloads"
Step 4: Check the Renamed Uploaded file based on case number option to create unique file names.
Step 5: Specify the maximum file download size. Place a 0 into that field to allow any file size.
Step 6:Press the Submit button to commit these changes.
Step 7: Using Windows explorer, create the folder you specified in step 2. Set the file security permissions for this folder for "everyone" with full control with no other users. It may be necessary to reboot the machine to have these permissions apply. Besure that any inheritance of security permissions from a higher level directory is also removed if needed.
Step 8: Create a virtual directory with the virtual directory name specifed in step 3. IMPORTANT: Set the Access settings for this virtual to be READ only! (see below).

Figure 2 - IIS Virtual Directory Application Settings screenshot

Step 9: The file download option icon

will appear in the upper right hand corner of the Tech+Center ticket form. The customer form will have a text link. An initial submit of the case ticket must be first done to obtain a case number before a file can be downloaded and renamed based on the case number. There is no limit to the number of files that can be uploaded per ticket, but only 1 file at a time can be uploaded.
Other Notes:
Depending upon your webserver version and various installed Norton or McAfee anti-virus products, you may experience problems that are outside of Web+Center environment but still fixable. Our FAQ knowledge base includes articles on:

Evaluate Web+Center Help Desk Today! Click for details

The Web+Center Suite of applications provides an optimal solution for your IT Help desk, asset tracking, or customer support operations and reservation processes. By providing a practical balance of feature-richness and usability with low total cost of ownership, it will be one of the best investments you make for your organization.

If you need more information, please visit our web site at www.inet-sciences.com or call Toll Free (888) 949-0942 or call us on our new international Skype IP phone connection with Skype name of "InternetSoftwareSciences". We look forward to hearing from you about your variety of uses of the Web+Center products.