Customer and Admin Portal for IT Support Provider
A global technology company aims to build a dashboard for their staff and customers to efficiently keep track of the IT support services that it provides to enterprises.
Time:
Feb 2020 - June 2020
Platform:
Web
Team:
5-6 members
Industry:
Tech
A customer-facing web app supplemented by an administrative panel
About the Project
ManageX, the web-based application that GoodCore developed for the client, is composed of two parts: a customer-facing site and an administrative backend.
The customer-facing portal allows new and existing clients to use the portal to place orders for either of two types of services: Microsoft Office 365 transformation and cyber security. For each service, a form is presented to the customer where they can specify the precise particulars of the required service. The system automatically calculates and presents a quotation to the user, who can then proceed to pay for the selected services within the system.
The administrative portal allows the VaporVM staff to keep track of pending services as well as services successfully rendered. The dashboard enables the admin to perform a variety of functions, such as project management, user and customer management, and resource assignment.
The system helps both VaporVM staff and customers to collaborate in a better manner, via in-app live chat support and video call features.
About Client
VaporVM has almost a decade of experience in providing Fortune 500 companies with IT consulting and support services. Their offerings are primarily focused on cloud technology, cyber security, data analytics and AI, IoT, and managed services. VaporVM enables enterprises to achieve scalability and cost-efficiency over the course of their digital evolution and expansion journey.
Problem
Our client VaporVM wanted to set up a proper platform via which their customers could easily place their orders for IT services of their choice. Considering the complex and critical nature of the support services that our client provides to its customers, it was important that the registration and project initiation process be quick, simple, efficient, and hassle-free.
The second problem pertained to the difficulty that VaporVM staff faced when managing multiple projects for numerous customers. They cater to enterprises, including numerous Fortune 500 companies, all over the world, and often handle projects on a large scale. To make the project management process more structured and organized, our client felt the need for a unified platform that would allow their employees to manage all their ongoing projects in one place and streamline the process of resource assignment.
Solution
The solution that our client had in mind was based on a two-part web portal for customers and VaporVM staff. Our development team successfully managed to bring their vision to life in the form of ManageX.
We aimed to develop a web-based portal that would allow the customers to register and choose the services they wanted assistance with. The backend portal was to allow VaporVM administrators to manage and supervise each project efficiently.
The web app that we created provides a clean, easy-to-use interface that simplifies the process of service(s) selection and payment for the customers. The system also carries out complex calculations at the backend so that customers are presented with accurate quotations as soon as they fill in their exact requirements regarding their chosen services.
The admin dashboard is also built with a similar aim for user-friendliness. It incorporates a modular interface that makes it convenient for users to perform various activities within the same platform. Some of the graphical elements that we have used help the administrators to monitor every project’s progress with ease. Other sections of the dashboard include resource assignment, user management, and reporting tools.
To facilitate collaboration and interaction between customers and their assigned teams, we have included relevant integrations for live chat and videoconferencing.
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Customer Dashboard
Upon logging into the portal, the customer is led to a dashboard where they can view the details for all of their projects, including a list of individual high-level sub-tasks and expected dates of completion for each project. The customer can monitor the progress for each project, along with a breakdown of completed and in-progress tasks.
Customers can view a list of the resources assigned to their team for individual projects. In case they want to discuss the project particulars with any of the team members, they can check who is available online and speak to them in real-time via chat or video call.
Once a project is 100% complete, the customer can view a comprehensive report on it. They can also download the report for perusal at a later time.
In the Billing & Purchases section of the dashboard, the customer can view a list of all the orders they have placed with VaporVM to date.
Customer Profile
Customers who register on the web portal can update their personal details, i.e. their name, contact number, password, and the name of their organization, via the My Profile section. They can also add a photo of themselves.
VaporVM Admin Portal
The backend portal is designed to be used by VaporVM staff for administrative purposes. It is divided into six primary sections:
1. Projects:
This section defines how the admin can manage projects from the ManageX admin portal. Administrators with the appropriate permissions can view all projects in this dashboard. They can assign resources of their choice to each project and can also add new projects manually.
2. Resource assignment:
A separate sub-section is available to enable administrators to dedicatedly assign resources to specific projects.
3. User management:
Here, designated administrators can add new VaporVM staff members to the system. They can also look up existing staff members and edit their information.
4. Customer management:
VaporVM admin can search through the customer database to look up a specific customer by name or other criteria. They can also manually add new customers or edit the personal details for existing customers.
5. Quotation management:
This tab allows administrators to view a list of paid and pending quotations or search for a particular quotation using certain filters. For pending quotations, staff members can carry out further discussions with customers and modify the project particulars accordingly at the backend. They can also give discounts to customers on projects that have not yet been paid for.
6. Payments management:
Here, the admin can view a record of past payments made by customers via the portal.
Questionnaire with Complex App Logic
The multifaceted support services offered by our client for Office 365 and cybersecurity involve complex computations for each project that they take on. Therefore, it was imperative that the system that we build for them incorporates the logic for these calculations flawlessly at the backend. At the front end, the process of order placement is simplified with the help of a well-designed questionnaire that every customer is taken through. The costs are calculated at the end, based on the customer’s answer to each question.
Live Chat and Videoconferencing Integrations
The system incorporates live chat, powered by a third-party integration called tawk.to. There is also an exclusive video call feature, available only to verified customers so that they can easily discuss project details with VaporVM staff within the app. We achieved this via TokBox integration, allowing the creation of chat rooms so that multiple video calls could be held in parallel.
Real-Time Availability Check
The customer dashboard not only allows a customer to view the list of team members assigned to their project but also lets them check whether a particular team member is online or not. The online status is signalled by the signature green dot next to the team member’s name. VaporVM staff members can also check if a particular customer is online. This availability check feature was implemented using Redis and Socket.IO.
Jira Integration
As soon as a new customer signs up on the platform, a user account is automatically created for them in Jira as well. For the duration of their partnership with VaporVM, all of their projects’ details and progress status are synchronised between ManageX and Jira.
Payment Integrations
To allow seamless online payment for customers when placing their order via the VaporVM portal, we have integrated multiple payment options within the system, including credit card and PayPal payment.
Our Process
Our collaboration with VaporVM started with a comprehensive discovery process where we discussed at length the project’s scope and the exact features that they wished to see in the ManageX platform. We conducted thorough R&D to explore various third-party plugins and libraries that could be used for certain features such as live chat and payment.
After the approval of UI/UX designs and prototypes began the development process. It was decided that the platform would be built on a microservices architecture and be implemented using Docker. The development phase was followed by an extensive testing cycle, including user acceptance testing.
Since our client had their own team of technically sound staff, they only required a month or so of support after the initial implementation of the project.
Team
The project was carried to successful completion by a team of six – comprising a UI/UX designer, front-end and back-end developers, and QA engineer – overseen by the project manager.
Technologies
React
Laravel
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