An update on Contact Form and Messaging Enhancements

Carmen Lovas April 23, 2017 iCarol clients, iCarol Features, Enhancements, and Updates

In December of 2016, iCarol announced a suite of enhancements for Contact Forms and Messaging. These enhancements include the following benefits:

• Greater Productivity
• Faster completion of forms
• Faster onboarding of new volunteers and staff
• Quicker geographic suggestions
• Widen your volunteer pool
• Improved accessibility
• User friendly interface
• Improved Connection to Help Seekers
• Faster delivery of chat and text messages
• Better Documentation
• Report form opens with chat or text conversation
• Quicker, more accurate referrals
• Improves outcomes
• Streamlined, powerful resource search tools

For more information about the enhancements, please refer to the Help page in iCarol, by clicking Help in the left hand menu. There are two documents and a training webinar available in the “New” section of the Help page with information about the enhancements.

It is our goal to upgrade all clients to the new version of the Contact Form and Messaging by the end of 2017. Therefore, this upgrade is mandatory, and all clients will be upgraded. We began this work by sending out a survey to iCarol Admins which asked which quarter they would like to be upgraded in. We used the responses to this survey to begin scheduling clients for the upgrade. Those who did not respond to the survey have also been scheduled for the upgrade. The timing of the upgrade for each client is based on the features they are using in their Contact Forms. Not all features are available in the new version of the Contact Form yet, but these features will be added throughout the year.

iCarol staff will be in close communication with clients who are being upgraded, and will provide all the information needed to successfully complete the upgrade. Timely responses from clients throughout the upgrade process would be greatly appreciated so the upgrade can proceed in an efficient and effective manner. Clients will be informed of when the upgrade will occur, and if the timing does not work for them, they can request to be rescheduled for a later date. Please be aware, we will do our best to re-schedule clients to a time they request, but we cannot guarantee this. We must balance the requests with the availability of iCarol staff to complete the upgrade.

For those not using Messaging, and therefore only upgrading Contact Forms, and those using Messaging with Messaging portals (please note, Contact Forms not related to Messaging will also be upgraded at the same time), the upgrade process will proceed as follows:

1. During each month in 2017, iCarol will send an email to all clients scheduled to be upgraded the next month.
2. A case will be created by iCarol staff to track the upgrade process.
3. A member of the iCarol Support team will respond to the case and provide the following information:
a. Which week the client is scheduled for the upgrade
b. Where to find information about the enhancements
c. Which forms, if any, are ineligible for the upgrade, due to special features which may not be available in the new version of the Contact Form yet
d. Information about adding demo forms to the client system
4. A member of the iCarol Support team will add demo forms to the client system. These demo forms will be copies of the client’s Contact Forms, upgraded to the new version of the Contact Forms.
5. A member of the iCarol Support team will respond to the case when the demo forms are added. The demo forms will allow clients to preview and play with the new version of the Contact Forms prior to completing the upgrade. They can also be used to train staff and volunteers on the new version of the Contact Form.
6. A week prior to the upgrade week, a member of the iCarol Support Team will respond to the case with the exact date the upgrade will be completed.
7. On the day of the upgrade, the upgrade will be completed, and the demo forms will be deleted. A member of the iCarol Support team will respond to the case to indicate the upgrade is complete. If there were Contact Forms not eligible to be upgraded, iCarol staff will reach out later in the year to schedule the upgrade of these forms.

For those using Messaging without Messaging portals, the upgrade process will be a little different. Please note, Contact Forms not related to Messaging will also be upgraded as the same time. The upgrade process will proceed as follows:

1. During each month in 2017, iCarol will send an email to all clients scheduled to be upgraded the next month.
2. A case will be created by iCarol staff to track the upgrade process.
3. A member of the iCarol Support team will respond to the case and provide the following information:
a. Which week the client is scheduled for the upgrade
b. Where to find information about the enhancements
c. A detailed list of steps to upgrade to Messaging portals
d. Specific questions that the client will need to answer so the iCarol Support team member can begin setting up Messaging portals. Please note, the process cannot continue until these questions are answered, so it is very important that a timely response be sent.

4. Once the answers to the specific questions noted above are received, the iCarol Support team member will begin to set-up Messaging portals in the client system. Once completed, they will respond to the case with instructions on the next step in the process which the client will need to take, which is to assign Vols-Staff member to Portal Programs.
5. Client assigns Vols-Staff to Portal Programs, and responds to the case to let the iCarol Support team member know they have completed the task. Again, the process cannot proceed until the iCarol Support team member receives confirmation that this task is complete.
6. Once confirmation of the task outlined above has been received, the iCarol Support team member will complete the set-up of Messaging portals.
7. The iCarol Support team member will respond to the case and provide instructions on next steps, which include:
a. Setting up Shifts for Portal Programs
b. Updating website with new URL(s) for Messaging
c. Editing Standard Messages
This response will also include which week the upgrade process will be completed in, and information about adding demo forms to the client system.
8. A member of the iCarol Support team will add demo forms to the client system. These demo forms will be copies of the client’s Contact Forms, upgraded to the new version of the Contact Form.
9. A member of the iCarol Support team will respond to the case when the demo forms are added. The demo forms will allow clients to preview and play with the new version of the Contact Form prior to completing the upgrade. They can also be used to train staff and volunteers on the new version of the Contact Form. If there are Contact Forms that are ineligible to be upgraded at this time, these will be noted in this response.
10. A week prior to the upgrade week, a member of the iCarol Support Team will respond to the case with the exact date the upgrade will be completed.
11. On the day of the upgrade, the upgrade will be completed, and the demo forms will be deleted. A member of the iCarol Support team will respond to the case to indicate the upgrade is complete.

If there were Contact Forms not eligible to be upgraded, iCarol staff will reach out later in the year to schedule the upgrade of these forms. If there are any questions about the upgrade process, please feel free to submit a case to the iCarol Support Team via the online case management system, accessed by clicking Help in the left hand menu in your iCarol system.

Tags: call report forms, Feature Enhancements, live chat, messaging, texting

Carmen Lovas

iCarol is your helpline software company that is here to make your job easier as Executive Director or leader of a non-profit contact center. Whether you have a crisis, help or 211 referral line, we are here to help you help more people in your community. Read more...