Using the QSS Support Forums © Quintessential School Systems, 2008

The QSS Support Forums are provided so that customers can research issues or report problems with the QSS software. These forums are a browser based web application that is divided into two areas: • The customer (general) topic areas which are accessible by all forum members as well as QSS staff. Customers are welcome to post or reply to all topics in this area. Don’t post private or personal information in this area. • The Quality Support Services area is accessible only by the individual customer and QSS. This is the area where a customer would report software issues that require a timely response. As an example of general topics, there are a number of entries in the QCC Accounts Receivable forum. Posting to these topics will not get as quick a response as posting to your own forum. This information is visible to ALL forums members- don’t post private or personal information, such as a social security number with a name. Drill down to a topic within QSS/OASIS QCC/QCC Accounts Receivable

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Notice that a number of customers have posted to this forum and that a variety of topics are covered. You can see: • The title of the topic • If the topic is open or closed • Who started the topic • How many replies there are • When the topic was last updated When looking at a topic, the original message is at the bottom. Use the browser’s scroll bar to slide up and down the page.

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How to register for the forums You may log on through a link on the QSS support web page, or directly using the URL from your browser.

Navigate to www.qss.com and click on Support.

Click on “Secure Support Area” (this will require a password).

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Then choose “All Forums”. You will need your organization’s user name/mnemonic and support password to get into the Secure Support area, and the Forums. Ask your MIS department for this password.

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QSS Support Forums – Main Screen

This is the initial screen for the Support Forums• It tells you that you aren’t logged in • Shows all forums reachable by you (due to space considerations the example above only shows the first two of those forums) • The new forums have additional information on the right

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Registering for the forums Click on “Log in” to access the registration link, and then click on “register here”:

First read the Rules, Policies and Disclaimers agreement.

You must click “I accept the board rules” and “Proceed”.

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Registration form

The top portion includes: • Login name - which is what you use every time you log in • Password • Email address- so that you can receive messages when someone has responded to your post (this must be unique to you). We recommend that you use your work email address • Publicly displayed name – insert your name, and site (if possible). The forum administrator may reformat this based on the information you give in the next field • Customer/Client name – it is important to use your name and customer name such as “Charlie Brown - Big Mountain SD”

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When you are satisfied with the information you have supplied, click “Submit”. Your registration is now complete! You will see the following message briefly:

You will be taken to the login page:

Enter your Username and Password then click “Log In”. It may take up to one business day for your registration to be reviewed by the forums administrator. Until your registration has been reviewed you won’t be able to post a forum topic to your customer forum.

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Changing your password

Click on “My Stuff” then “My Profile”.

That will bring up a screen where you can change your email address or your password.

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If you want to change it, enter your new password in the two fields then click “Submit” at the bottom of your screen. Feel free to edit the other fields on this data form.

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Guidelines for posting to the forum Things to do: • Include information that exposes the problem • Copy and paste is your friend • Be specific • Upload documents such as reports and $stdlists • Don’t be vague • Don’t be rude • Don’t include sensitive information such as SSN, birth date, etc. A basic example

Click on your forum under Quality Support Services.

Select the “New Topic” tab. Fill in the new topic screen: 11

• Specify a brief subject. • Leave the posting icon as the default unless it is high priority, but don’t make every one a high priority. • Type your text in the message box. • You can add a Graemlin by clicking on the “Smilies” button, and then select the Graemlin of your choice. It will add at your current cursor location. • When finished you can click “Preview Post” to double check it. Scroll down to see the preview. THIS IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED!

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Submit your post

• If you are satisfied click “Submit”. • Your topic has been posted to the forum. Hint: In order to have your spelling checked, you can type the text into a word processing document, and then copy and paste it into the message box. If you have a browser toolbar add-in, like Google spell check, you can also use that. Email Notification You will get an email message when someone has responded to your posting. Remember that if you are still logged in to the forums you will need to refresh the page to see new replies to your forum topic.

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Forum tab

Click on your forum link to see all of your topics, or click on Forums to take you back to the initial list of forums. Reading the reply Click on the topic that you wish to look at and you will see all of the responses.

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Reply/Close Topic If this answers your question, let us know so that we can close the topic. If you still have questions, post a follow up message. Use the “New Reply” button (above the forum topic). Click the “Submit” button and the message will be sent.

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Advanced Posting Concepts Concepts • Use QCC Print Manager to download reports and $stdlists to your P.C. • Reference in forum post • Add graphic images Techniques Download a report using QCC Print Manager Launch Print Manager and select the file you want to download. You will see the triangle to the left of the file you have selected.

Click on the icon to create a PDF or use the downloader option and use Quick Report to download the whole report.

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Creating a PDF

If you want to choose an alternate location to save the file, click on the box with the three dots in it.

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That brings up a dialog box that allows you to choose the directory and file name you wish to use.

Click on the icon to process the PDF. You will get a message letting you know that the file has been created.

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Using download/quick report Double click on the report you want to upload. This will bring a View of the report:

Click on the “Download file” icon. That will bring up a new data form:

Click on the icon for “Send to Quick Report” 19

Then either click “Option” on the menu bar or the diskette icon on the Toolbar.

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That will bring up a Windows dialog box that will allow you to navigate to the directory where you want to save the file and to specify the filename you want to use. It will save the file as a .txt file which is easily readable by most text editors/word processing programs, and is easily viewable in the forums software.

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Download a $stdlist The $stdlist is frequently the most important part of solving a software issue. To include it in a forum topic you can download it using Print Manager using the same technique as that for downloading a report.

Click on the tab for “Spool Files/$STDLIST”. The triangle at the left will show you which report you have selected. Then click on the PDF or Download icon.

To choose an alternate location to save the file, click on the box with the three dots in it.

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That brings up a dialog box that allows you to choose the directory and file name you wish to use.

Click on the icon to process the PDF. You will get a message letting you know that the file has been created. Now that you have downloaded some files that document your issue you can go to the forums and include these files in a forum post.

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Start a new topic, or reply to an existing one

To insert a downloaded file, select “File Manager” which is directly below the text box.

Click “Browse” to navigate to the directory where the file is located. 24

Select the desired file then click on “Open”. That will take you back to the File Manager screen.

You may provide a file caption. Then click on “Add file”.

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You can see that the report is in the list of files. Click on “Browse” again to add the $stdlist.

Select the file and click “Open”.

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When you have specified all of the files that you want to include, click on “Done adding files”.

You can see that you have added two files in File Manager. Click “Submit”. You may go back now and look at your post.

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You can see that the forum entry includes a link to the two files. Click on a link to view the document. Use an Instant UBB Code for text

You may have just a portion of a $stdlist that you want to include in your forum topic. You may copy the text to your clipboard then to make the text look nice, select the Instant UBB Code button for CODE (the # on the tool bar).

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Notice that it puts the code tags in the body of the Message box. Paste the text from the clipboard so that it is between the tags.

Preview the post, or click Submit. You will see that the text has been formatted nicely.

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Including a graphic image If you have an image that you want to include in your forum post you can include it just like you did when using File Manager to upload reports and $stdlists. For example, you may want to include a screen shot from QCC. Using ALT-Prt Scr you can capture the window that is on top. Then you can use a product like MS Paint to highlight what you are trying to show us. We recommend that the image be saved in JPEG format so that it is compact. As you did with the report and $stdlist PDFs, use the File Manager button to upload the image.

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After you have found the file, click “Add file” then “Done adding files”. Click “Submit” and you will see the image embedded in your forum topic.

Using “Instant Graemlins” Instant Graemlins are shown on the “Smilies” button on the tool bar. They are provided to enhance a forum post, or just for fun. Many of them are animated. When a code is selected by clicking on it, text is placed in the reply pane.

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When viewed in the preview screen the Graemlin will show instead of the code.

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Retrieving a lost password

If you don’t remember your UBB password, go to the initial screen and click on “Login”.

Select the link for “Have you forgotten your login information?”.

Enter either your Login Name or Email address, and then click on “I forgot my password”. You will receive an email that contains your password.

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Final tips You can use the search feature when researching an issue.

Enter the text you want to search for, click on “Go”, and you will get back a list of forum posts that include the search text.

Click on a subject link and you will be taken to the forum response.

If you are the only one that uses your P.C., you can simplify your login to the QSS Customer forums by NOT logging out when you are done. Just close the browser. DON’T click on “logout”. When you return to the forums, if you saved your password 34

you can just click on “OK” and be taken right in. Remember, though, that if you follow these procedures and someone else uses your computer they can easily log on as YOU!

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