In October 2020 we released the Homepage feature in nCall – our call handling software package for all Telephone Answering Services – this new view helps you keep your staff up to date and focused. The Homepage view is presented to your staff every time they sign into nCall. They can also quickly visit the Homepage view during their working day via the Home button.
The view contains both company-wide information and also items directly related to the staff member themselves. Helping the staff member to keep abreast of anything you want to share. This view reminds them of any jobs they have been allocated. It also shows data on the calls they have handled. All aspects are easily edited and immediately reflected to all running instances of nCall whether local or remote users. Updates can also be performed by the nCall REST API.
There are 6 parts to the Homepage, each giving specific information:
Homepage – Noticeboard
This is the main central pane. The noticeboard is where you might display general information such as useful company instructions applicable to all operators. In fact any globally useful semi-static information might be shown. For instance you could give the latest Gold price, staff birthdays, what time the local cake shop opens etc.
This is a rich text formatted (RTF) text pane. As a result it allows you to create a branded look directly in nCall or via loading a RTF file created with a 3rd party editor e.g. Wordpad. Links to internet or local resources are fully supported and are automatically highlighted. Like many features in nCall, the user role allowed to edit the Noticeboard can be configured via the Admin Options.
Homepage – News
This section can be used to distribute information that might be temporary or new. A News item can be created for everyone, just certain user roles or for a specific role. Additionally the News item can be related to a specific client or contact and can be set to auto expire. A News item can be pinned (at the top in date order), unpinned (after pinned items in and in date order) or read (grey and collapsed). When the News item is associated to a specific client or contact then a quick link to view that client is automatically included.
In the future the creator of the News item, typically the TAS manager/supervisor, will be able to see who has marked the news items as read. This helps give positive feedback the information has been received by the operator(s), so removing the current doubt of whether a particular operator knows that there is a new client who needs specially call handling for instance.
Homepage – Stats
This graph displays a bar graph showing the last 10 days of calls handled by the viewer. The blue overlay line showing the daily average and the red overlay line showing the accumulative count. We plan to offer a range of graphs that can feature in this section and welcome suggestions on what graphs the operator should see here. Would a graph showing the call stats for the entire operation help the operator understand how the business is performing? Do let us know.
Homepage – My Calls
The user via this panel sees a snapshot of the calls they have handled. All the usual functions of the call lists are available here including view and edit the call, add a note, print, mark as patched etc.
Homepage – To Do
This section is where the operator might record their personal errands and aides-memoires. No-one but the creator can see these Todo’s. When completed they can be ticked off and/or deleted.
Homepage – Tasks
nCall has a powerful built in tool for Tasks. Tasks are jobs requested by your clients and so can be billed accordingly. This billing can be via Time or as a Fixed Fee. The Tasks shown on the nCall call handling software Homepage view are those assigned to the user. Therefore they are made aware of work they have yet to complete. Colour coding of the Tasks quickly shows which tasks are Pending, In-Progress, On-Hold and Completed.
Homepage – API
Creating and editing the Homepage elements is very easy via the nCall client. The option to enhance your business’s workflow further is available as all Homepage aspects are fully accessible via the nCall REST API module. For instance you could automatically create a News item when a new Client completes your onboarding form. Another idea is to create a new To do every month for all operators reminding them to complete their holiday request forms. You could even offer the possibility for a Client to make a request for a specific piece of work, with a known cost and completion date direct into nCall with no extra administration required by you.
To create a To do for a known operator via the nCall REST API is this simple:
curl -u username:password -X POST 127.0.0.1:22005/v7/todo.json -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{\"UserID\":\"94\",\"Description\":\"This is a Todo created by the nCall REST API\"}"
Your operators will be kept up to date and informed via the nCall call handling software Homepage feature.
