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View helpful articles, tutorials and FAQs on the set-up and configuration

of the FocalScope omnichannel suite, according to best practice.

How to create an online knowledge base / FAQ using FocalScope

At the heart of it, FocalScope's knowledge base feature uses a Standard Response folder and its contents, published to a URL, and then accessed like a customer portal by online users. This article details how to set up and publish knowledge base / FAQ as well as approve registered users who wish to access the contents of the knowledge base / FAQ.

Prerequisites

Installed knowledge base module for FocalScope

Tutorial

Creating a knowledge base folder

The 'knowledge base' folder will store all articles and content to be published to the online knowledge base / FAQ. Set up a new 'knowledge base' folder as follows:

  1. In the [Workspace] screen, right-click the [Shared Items] folder and select [New Folder] 
  2. In the [Folder Properties], give the folder a suitable [Name] and set the [Type] to [Standard Responses]
  3. Click [Ok] to create the new 'knowledge base' folder


Figure 1 - Creating a new knowledge base folder

Setting up the knowledge base / FAQ group and URL

The knowledge base / FAQ needs a group and URL before it can be published online. Once published, the knowledge base / FAQ URL can be embedded into your corporate website or emailed so customers can access the knowledge base / FAQ. To set up a knowledge base / FAQ, do as follows:

  1. In the [Main menu], select [Screen > Administration]
  2. Click the [Advanced properties] tab (highlighted in red)
  3. Navigate to the [Help Desk Module] folder
  4. In the right-hand pane, click the [Add Group] button (bottom-left)
  5. In the [Help Desk Group Properties] window, give the group a suitable [Name] and [Description]
  6. Tick the [Enable KB] and [Enable Support Portal] flags
  7. Optionally, select the [Portal Template]
  8. Select the [Link type] to generate
  9. Click [Save] to create the new help desk group and generate the URL for the online knowledge base / FAQ
  10. Continued in next section...


Figure 2 - Generating the knowledge base URL

Setting up the support form (for ticket submission from the knowledge base / FAQ)

When visitors access the online knowledge base / FAQ, they can submit support tickets. The ticket-submission form can be customized to solicit specific information from visitors depending on the type of support queries they may have. Set up the ticket-submission form as follows:


  1. In the [Help Desk Group Properties] window, click the [Submit Forms] tab
  2. [Add] (bottom -left of the window) a new form or double click the default one to modify it
  3. In the [Help Desk Forms] window, set the [Default folder] where support tickets submitted from the knowledge base / FAQ will be collected in FocalScope
  4. Design a form by dragging some of the precompiled elements to the editor box
  5. Click [Save] to save the form
  6. Continued in next section...



Figure 3 - Setting up the support form for ticket submission

Associating the 'knowledge base' folder with the knowledge base / FAQ

The 'knowledge base' (contents) folder must be associated with the new knowledge base group and URL, otherwise its contents will not be published to the online knowledge base / FAQ. To publish the content in the 'knowledge base' (as configured at the start of this article), do the following:


  1. In the [Help Desk Group Properties] window, click the [Knowledge Base] tab
  2. In the left-hand column, select the knowledge base folder created in the first step of this article 
  3. Click the [-->] button to associate the folder with the URL and tick the [Folder Properties] you wish to activate:
    1. Publish to KB - publishes the contents of the folder to the online knowledge base / FAQ
    2. Content indexing - allows Google to index the published knowledge base / FAQ content
    3. Anonymous Access - allows users to access the published contents without having to register first
  4. Click [Save] to apply the new folder-URL association
  5. Continued in next section...



Figure 4 - Setting the knowledge base folder properties

Approving registered knowledge base / FAQ users

As users visit the knowledge base / FAQ URL and register to access the published contents, their names will appear in the group of the associated knowledge base.


  1. In the [Help Desk Group Properties] window, click the [Users] tab
  2. In the left-hand column, select the names of users you wish to grant access to the knowledge base
  3. Click the [-->] button to transfer the user selection to the 'approved' right-hand column
  4. Click [Save] to confirm the new list of approvals
  5. Continued in next section...



Figure 5 - Approving registered users

Enabling Live Chat functionality in the knowledge base / FAQ

You may wish to enable Live Chat functionality so users can chat with support staff if they do not feel they have had their question(s) answered by the knowledge base / FAQ contents. Enable Live Chat functionality as follows:


  1. In the [Help Desk Group Properties] window, click the [Knowledge base] tab
  2. Tick the [Enable Live Chat] flag and specify the Live Chat group to handle Live Chats from the knowledge base
  3. Click [Save] to enable Live Chat for the knowledge base



Figure 6 - Enabling Live Chat functionality for the knowledge base




Get data as XML and use your own styling

To use your own styling and integrate with your website we offer the following feature:


  1. From Fig 2 [Portal Link] get the URL ( Sample: https://demo.focalscope.com:443/_cros_/net/kb/group/1/kb/ )
  2. Append  ?__fs_export_  suffix to the URL to get the XML ( Sample: https://demo.focalscope.com:443/_cros_/net/kb/group/1/kb/?__fs_export_ )




Let us help

If you have any questions, or need further support, please don’t hesitate to reach out.