How the SmartSimple Support Desk Works

What is the role of the Support Desk?

The role of the Support Desk is to be your first point of contact for anything SmartSimple related. If you have a question, have an idea for a new feature, or need a resolution to a problem, then we are the place to start.

Contact Information

It is our goal to provide you with timely and complete answers to your questions or concerns and to ensure that you are getting the most out of the SmartSimple platform within your organization.

You can connect with us through any of the following channels:

• Phone (Canada and United States): (+1) 416-591-1668
• Phone (Canada and United States) Toll Free: 866-239-0991
• Phone (Europe): 353(0) 1 554-7428
• Email: support@smartsimple.com
• Direct: From the Help menu within SmartSimple, just select the Support Request option

You may also contact our live agents who provide round-the-clock technical support 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. You have access to live support during the following hours: 

• GMT: 9pm Sunday - 2am Saturday
• EST: 4pm Sunday - 9pm Friday
• PST: 1pm Sunday - 6pm Friday
• AEST: 8am Monday - 1pm Saturday

Contact Live Agent here

Community Portal

Current clients may log tickets through their own instance using our Community Portal function. The Community Portal is a dashboard that simplifies the process of managing your tickets and connecting with SmartSimple. 

To enter the Community Portal:

1. Click the 9-square menu icon on the top right of your page:

2. Under the heading Help, select Support.

3. Press Enter to launch the Community Portal.

Inside the Community Portal

Below is a list of activities that can be performed from within the Community Portal. 

Topic	Activities
Ticket Information	Create tickets View all active tickets Close resolved tickets View enhancements Export ticket information
Community Features	View upcoming Webinars Read community news View your event registrations
Links to Access	Live Chat  Access to SmartSimple Forums Discussion Boards Access to the SmartWiki Link to SmartSimple Youtube

What the Support Desk Does

The SmartSimple Community Support Desk provides first level support to clients plus a triage of the issue to determine if it needs to be redirected to other specialists within the company. You can anticipate the Community Support Desk will be able to answer questions related to:

• Accessing your organization's copy of SmartSimple.
• Logging into the system (including lost passwords, etc).
• All standard features and functions within the system.

The Community Support Desk will generally not be able to directly assist you if the issue is related to:

• Your organization's specific processes.
• Industry related issues.
• In-depth technical issues.

For these types of issues the Community Support Desk will redirect to the appropriate industry or technical specialist.

In all cases a ticket number is issued and an email sent to you confirming that the issue has been logged, even if the issue was resolved on the first call. Where the ticket cannot be resolved on the first call the issue will be managed by Community Support Desk personnel - even if other specialists are involved.

Ticket Service Levels

The Service Levels determine the classification and process of each Support Ticket:

Severity of Impact	Description	Example	Support Process
Critical	Issues relating to system availability or performance preventing usage or access to the system as a whole or to its primary functionality.	Server Unavailable This critical impact ticket was raised for an issue that directly affected system availability for multiple users. Client was unable to log into their SmartSimple instance and was receiving an error message stating that the server was unavailable.	Client promptly contacted SmartSimple Support and explained the situation with a screenshot of the error message. Support immediately actioned the issue with our development team and was able to restore service after a brief outage.
High	Issues relating to system availability or performance preventing usage or access to the system as a whole or its primary functionality.	User Unable to Submit Application This high impact ticket explained that an end user was unable to submit their application. This was an issue for a specific end user; no other users were affected by the same issue.	Client promptly emailed SmartSimple Support with the user's name, email, application ID, and grant program.  Support checked the relevant application and determined a portion of the budget had not been completely properly. The end user was notified and the application was successfully submitted.
Medium	Issues that prevent a subsection of the system processes from working for all users or configuration changes that need to take place in a timely manner.	Payment Activities Not Saving This medium impact ticket stated that changes made to Payment Activities (Level 3 Entity in the UTA) were not being applied after saving. This issues prevented some system features from behaving as the client had intended.	The client submitted a ticket explaining which grant the error was applicable to, which level of activity, the details of the issue, and a specific example with the application ID.  This issue was resolved once Support notified the client that these activities were meant to be created through an automated process (called Batch Create Payment) and not created manually, which is why they were experiencing the issue. The automated process was utilized to create the payment activity and the client was able to continue their work.
Low	General questions relating to configuration.	Make Report Exportable This low impact ticket was submitted asking that we assist a client with making an existing report exportable.	The client contacted Support with the process they were attempting to do, the relevant IDs, and what outcome they wanted.  Support checked the report and made the requested changes in the backup instance. Once the client confirmed the changes resulted in the desired export ability, they were applied to production.

What other support options are available through the SmartSimple Community?

We provide several methods for becoming more familiar and increasing your knowledge of the SmartSimple platform outside of our Community Support Desk. They are:

• SmartSimple Wikipedia (Wiki) – This is our very own online SmartSimple encyclopedia. The easiest way to find the information you need would be to search by the 'key words' of the topic that you are trying to gather more information on. Or you can browse the Wiki by category or view the index alphabetically.
• Some quick Wiki tips!
  • When searching 'key words' try to keep the words to a minimum and try to avoid using long phrases or sentences.
  • Search on the key points rather than more general topics, so if you are looking for information on creating and making your own reports search on words like 'create report' or 'report builder'.
  • Most important of all, we strive to keep the Wiki up to date so if you can’t find something in the Wiki then let us know and we will help you find it or add it to our list of topics to update.
• Online training sessions - We continually offer online training sessions that are available for anyone that uses SmartSimple. They are categorized into Basic, Intermediate, Advanced and Open to best suit your current knowledge of the SmartSimple platform. Please contact the Community Support Desk to find out more information or schedule a session.
• Mobile Support - We also offer a unique type of onsite support. We are continually looking at the types of requests and tickets that come in through the SmartSimple Community Support Desk. If we see an opportunity that would benefit your organization to have some additional onsite support then we will reach out and schedule an onsite visit with our mobile support and make sure you are getting the most out of SmartSimple.

Premium Support

SmartSimple's Premium Support Services provide you with a Dedicated Support Representative (DSR) who will handle all of your support requests directly and will have in-depth knowledge of your SmartSimple system. You'll also benefit from an optional monthly call with our Director of Customer Experience to discuss any questions about system functionality, training, or configuration. 

While Essential Support, also known as our Technical Community Support, comes standard in all of our Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Premium Support Services offer enhanced access to our support team. 

Item	Technical Community Support	Premium Support
Live Agent	General client support group on rotation	Named Dedicated Support Representative (DSR)
Director Level Access	Upon request or escalation	Regular meetings and on-demand access consultations
Configuration Services	At additional fee as estimated	Included (up to 4 hours per request)
Training	At additional fee as estimated	Included (up to 3 hours per quarter)
Fee	Included in licensing	Please contact your Account Manager

You may contact your Account Manager for more details about Premium Support Services.