Well suited for college use
- Free, open-source software distributed under the GNU General Public License
- Designed specifically for use by faculty at multi-campus colleges
- Source code can be locally modified, so desired changes can be quickly added
- User-configurable campus, department, and problem-categorization structure
Supports several help modes
- Provides immediate FAQ information based on problem categories
- Expedites office-visit interactions by providing records and showing history
- Supports individualized web-based responses with or without student email
- Counselors or other staff can be included in preparation of response
Variety of roles supported: client, service staff, consultant, manager, reviewer, monitor
Responses made available from any browser
- Full transactional history saved in database; answers remain available indefinitely
- Clients are provided easy-to-remember usernames, can specify passwords
- Clients (and staff, if they wish) are sent email links each time report content is updated
- Site records (and can inform staff) when client looks at response
- Password required for staff access; staff-only notes can be recorded
Adaptive improvement of response quality
- Staff members can use each other's stored responses, aiding specialization
- Responses can use short symbols for web sites or position/office references
- Automatic variation of response to reflect student's campus/department is possible
- FAQ pages are automatically generated from preferred stored responses
- Relevant FAQ page is always easily accessible, promoting consistency of response
- References to web pages, offices, and position-holders can be updated retroactively
Site tracks response time, status of requests, variety of problems, staff activity
Associate-Dean Interface
- Compact format for efficient classification/entry/reply to web-reported or walk-in problems
- Links provided to earlier reports by the same client or for the same problem category
- Optional printed record can be made for walk-in students to carry away
- Home page shows status summary of all problems assigned to this AD, plus unassigned
- Follow-up "detail" page can be used to add further replies, assign staff or consultant, etc.
Student/Client New-Problem Interface
- Starts with problem categorization as first page
- FAQ page relevant to selected category shown at once (may be enough for many clients)
- Registration or login required only if individual answer wanted by client
- Username automatically generated from email or full name
Student/Client Interface to View Replies
- Emailed link directly to problem report sent on every change if client email address supplied
- Otherwise client logs in with assigned username (and optional self-chosen password)
- Additional requests or information can be entered by client at any time
Consultant/Counselor Interface
- Consultants can view problems they submitted or to which service staff has assigned them
- Messages from consultants are visible only to service staff unless they show them to client
Manager Interface
- Activity report either for entire site or for individual staff members
- Designation of FAQ entries (different managers can control different FAQ sections)
- Configuration of campuses, departments, site parameters (requires system privileges)
- Definition of symbols, with potential indexing by campus, department, or problem category
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