Document toolboxDocument toolbox

(2022.1) Using the Customer Portal

Owned by Karis Hathaway (Deactivated)
Sept 27, 2021

The Customer Portal provides you the ability to easily submit new tickets to PCR, review existing tickets or find information by searching the Customer Wiki.  The portal provides various categories to help route tickets to the correct groups or individuals faster.  There are seven types of tickets that can be submitted: Bugs (Report a Problem), Request Professional Services, Upgrade Requests, Outage Reports, Suggest a New Feature, General Requests, and COMIT Help. The various ticket types are described in more detail below in the Landing Page section below.

  • Tickets may be submitted via email, or through the portal. However, we strongly encourage using the portal. 
  • Tickets submitted through the portal are automatically routed to the correct groups, resulting in faster issue resolution. 
  • Tickets are submitted by an individual, for the organization.
  • All tickets are visible on the portal to everyone in the organization.
  • We recommend setting up a distribution list and limiting portal access to specific users.
  • You will receive an email when a comment is added to your ticket.

Landing Page

You may access Customer Portal from your browser using the URL help.pcr.com. 

This will bring you to the Customer Portal landing page (if you are logged in already). If you are not logged into the system already, you will need to log into the system using the provided username (typically the email address you use to communicate with PCR). Once you log into the system you will see the Landing Page.  From the landing page, you can search the wiki/knowledgebase or submit a new ticket.  Sometimes you will see a shortened menu of recent items and a link to the Customer Portal under the heading "Popular". Clicking the Customer Portal link will bring up the full list of issue types (if they are not displayed already).

Home Page


Landing Page showing all Request Types

Landing Page


Searching

Finding information on the wiki is fairly easy from the Customer Portal.  You may search the wiki using the search box on the landing page, or when you submit a new Jira ticket through the portal, Jira will automatically search the wiki using keywords you entered into the ticket summary. These automatic searches can help customers find information related to the ticket they want to submit, and maybe get the answers to their question before having to submit a ticket.

Submitting a Ticket

From the portal, click on one of the request types to start a new ticket. Fill out the required fields on the form and click "Create". Once the ticket has been created, the customer will be able to access it via the Customer Portal. 


Below is an example of the ticket submission form for an "Upgrade Request".  

After the ticket is created, you will see a summary of the request.  You can use the links to share the issue with others, turn off notifications or go back to the Customer Portal.


The following sections describe how to submit specific issue types.

How Can I report a Bug?

 Click here to expand...

Users can Report a Bug in PCR-360 with the Report a Problem form at help.pcr.com. 

  1. On the Report a Problem form at help.pcr.com, enter the following information.
  2. Enter a Summary of the bug being reported. This is a required field.
    1. For example, "Big Red Oops error when closing a GLA".
      Example of the Bug Summary
  3. Enter the Description of what problem or bug is happening. This is a required field.
    Example of the Bug Description
  4. Enter the Steps to Reproduce the bug. This is a required field and important so PCR can track the underlying cause of the bug.
    Example of the Bug Steps to Reproduce
  5. Enter the System where the bug happens.  This is a required field.
    Example of the System drop down
  6. Enter the PCR-360 version into the Affects Version/s field. This is a required field.
    1. To find the version click the About at the top right in PCR-360.
  7. Any additional information can be entered into the remaining optional fields:
    1. Impact
    2. Any Attachments with screenshots of the bug.
  8. Click the Create button. 
    Example of the JSD Create button

    The bug ticket will be submitted to the PCR Helpdesk team to investigate the bug and look for a solution.

How do I request an upgrade?

 Click here to expand...

Users can request a newer version of PCR-360 for either the Test or Prod environment with the Upgrade Request form at help.pcr.com. 

  1. On the Upgrade Request form at help.pcr.com, enter the following information.
  2. Enter a Summary of the work needed. This is a required field.
    1. For example, "Upgrade our Test environment to 2019.6".
  3. Select the System that needs to be upgraded. This is a required field.
    Example of the System field on the Upgrade Request form
  4. If there is a particular date the upgrade should be done on, enter that date in the Requested Completion Date field. We cannot guarantee an upgrade can be completed on the requested date, but we will work with you to find a date that works for both you and PCR.
  5. Any additional information can be entered into the remaining optional fields:
    1. Additional Details
    2. Impact
  6. Click the Create button. 
    Example of the JSD Create button

    The Upgrade Request will be submitted to the PCR Helpdesk Team to schedule the requested upgrade.


How do I request a new feature?

 Click here to expand...

Users can request a newer version of PCR-360 for either the Test or Prod environment with the Upgrade Request form at help.pcr.com. 

  1. On the Upgrade Request form at help.pcr.com, enter the following information.
  2. Enter a Summary of the work needed. This is a required field.
    1. For example, "Upgrade our Test environment to 2019.6".
  3. Select the System that needs to be upgraded. This is a required field.
    Example of the System field on the Upgrade Request form
  4. If there is a particular date the upgrade should be done on, enter that date in the Requested Completion Date field. We cannot guarantee an upgrade can be completed on the requested date, but we will work with you to find a date that works for both you and PCR.
  5. Any additional information can be entered into the remaining optional fields:
    1. Additional Details
    2. Impact
  6. Click the Create button. 
    Example of the JSD Create button

    The Upgrade Request will be submitted to the PCR Helpdesk Team to schedule the requested upgrade.


How can I request Professional Services?

 Click here to expand...

Professional Computing Resources offers a number of services for our customers with the Request Professional Services form at help.pcr.com. 

  1. On the Request Professional Services form at help.pcr.com, enter the following information.
  2. Enter a Summary of the work needed. This is a required field.
    1. For example, "Make the Service Reference field required".
  3. Enter the type of work requested in the What Kind of Service? field. This is a required field.
    1. (2022.1) Custom Events - create customized behaviors in PCR-360
    2. Custom Integrations - connect with external applications via the API
    3. Custom Validations - add validation logic for some data type
    4. Data Refreshes - copy prod data to test to keep test data current
    5. (2022.1) Importing a File - help writing Imports or Import Conditional Logic
    6. Paid Feature - pay to add a specific feature, or escalate a feature into a specific patch/version
    7. Report Writing - get an AdHoc grid built to specification
    8. Training - request additional training above and beyond the initial training PCR provides
  4. Enter a Description and outline your requirements for the requested work. Make sure to include all relevant details of the needed work.
  5. If there is a particular date the upgrade should be done on, enter that date in the Requested Completion Date field.
  6. Any additional information can be entered into the remaining optional fields:
    1. Requested Completion Date
    2. Impact
    3. Attachment
  7. Click the Create button. 
    Example of the JSD Create button

    The Professional Services Request will be submitted to the PCR Account Manager who will confirm details and work to schedule the requested work.

How do I report an Outage?

 Click here to expand...

Outages are any issues where Users cannot access the application. The problem might be anything from the server being down, to Permissions not being set correctly.

  1. On the Outage Report form at help.pcr.com, enter the following information.
  2. Enter a Summary of the work needed. This is a required field.
    1. For example, "Some of our users can't log in".
  3. Enter a Description of the problem that Users are experiencing. Include as many details as possible to help us identify and resolve the issue.
    1. For example, "We have five Users that are not able to log in. Everyone else seems to have access. Why is this happening?".
  4. Select the System that is experiencing an outage or failure. This is a required field.
    Example of the System field on the Upgrade Request form
  5. Enter the Impact on Users. This can help PCR more quickly determine the root cause of an Outage and provides a starting place to find the root cause.
    1. Critical - no one can access the application
    2. High - a couple of Users are not having issues, but most everyone else is not able to use the application.
    3. Medium - a few Users are having issues, but the issue appears contained to them.
    4. Low - one or two Users are having problems
  6. Optionally enter the PCR-360 version into the Affects Version/s field. 
    1. To find the version click the About at the top right in PCR-360.
  7. Click the Create button. 
    Example of the JSD Create button

    The Outage Report will be submitted to the PCR Helpdesk team to determine the cause and seek a resolution.

How do I ask a General Question?

 Click here to expand...

Users can request Forum access or ask other general questions with the General Requests form at help.pcr.com. 

  1. On the General Requests form at help.pcr.com, enter the following information.
  2. Enter a Summary of the work needed. This is a required field.
    1. For example, "Give a user forum access".
  3. Enter a Description, which should be the details of a given request. This is a required field.
    1. For example, "Please give our new hire "Tim Smith" access to the PCR forum. His email is tsmith@example.edu."
  4. Any additional information can be entered into the remaining optional fields:
    1. Type of Request
      1. Access to the Forums - request access for users to the PCR forum.
      2. Question - any question that is not covered with the other helpdesk ticket types.
      3. Other 
    2. Impact
  5. Click the Create button. 
    Example of the JSD Create button

    The General Request will be submitted to the PCR Helpdesk Team for review; PCR will find an answer to your request as quickly as possible.


Viewing Helpdesk Tickets


To view your tickets, log in to the Customer Portal, click the Requests button in the upper right-hand corner of the page and select "My Requests." You can also choose your organization if you want to see all the tickets for your organization, or "All Requests" to see everything.  Selecting any of those options will open the "Requests" page.



Depending on which option you chose from the Requests menu, the Requests page will display all the tickets you have submitted, your organization has submitted, or all the tickets for you and your organization.


The Requests page offers three filter options to help you limit your results and find the ticket you are looking for:

  1. By Ticket status
  2. By Reporter (who submitted the ticket, i.e., Organization or yourself)
  3. By Request type

You also have the option of using the search field to find tickets by matching keywords on the tickets. The search does not update the list automatically; you will need to click the "Enter" key to limit the results.

Clicking on any of the items in the list will open the full ticket details.  The details page is where you will add additional comments, share the ticket with others in your organization, and review the comments left on the ticket.


Resolving Requests

From the Requests page, select the ticket you want to close, this will open the full ticket detail page.  On the right-hand menu, click "Resolve this issue."

You will be prompted with a dialog to add a comment; we recommend adding a comment to let your organization and PCR know why you are closing the ticket. After you enter your comment click "Resolve this issue".  


You can reopen a Resolved Ticket by leaving a comment on the ticket.  This will automatically reopen the ticket and notify PCR that the ticket was reopened.