[FQuest Announce] QuestAdmin - Now With Order Forms!

[sheila]

FutureQuest is very pleased to announce the addition of increased functionality within the QuestAdmin account management interface.

It is now possible to place orders from QuestAdmin! This had been a long-term goal for FutureQuest and, with some hard work and long hours, it has become reality.

QuestAdmin will allow you to easily place orders for:


Upgrades or downgrades to your package(s)


Value Added Services such as additional disk space, MX record changes, etc


New packages to be set up under your account (Full, IRs, DS-IRs, Parked, etc)


When you place your orders using QuestAdmin, it knows who you are, so you no longer need to enter such data as your name, your address, or your Reseller ID (for FutureQuest resellers (http://www.futurequest.net/Services/Resellers/)) into the order forms. As an added benefit, because you are logged in to QuestAdmin when placing the order, you no longer have to confirm the order by email. Once you click the Confirm & Submit Order button within QuestAdmin, the order is placed!

QuestAdmin is just getting smarter and smarter! :yeah:

Of course, QuestAdmin continues to offer you the ability to update the contact information on file for your account, to view your payment history and account transactions, and to access a complete list of your account's active services -- and there are more enhancements planned for the future!

You can visit QuestAdmin at
http://www.QuestAdmin.net

If you have not yet used QuestAdmin you will need to first create a QuestAdmin login. To do so, click on the Create Login (https://secure.questadmin.net/cgi-ssl/mgr.py/createlogin) tab and submit the form. QuestAdmin is available to all FutureQuest site owners with at least one Full Package (http://www.FutureQuest.net/Services/Compare/).

We hope this new QuestAdmin order process, with its more personalized approach, will provide more convenience in the management of your FutureQuest account.

Note: If the order you are placing is to be set up as a new account, and not under your existing account, you will want to use the site Order Forms (http://www.FutureQuest.net/Order/) and not QuestAdmin to place the order.

FutureQuest, Inc.
http://www.FutureQuest.net

:QTFQuest:

[Matt]

Great to see this! I didn't see any mention of the option to "suspend an account" and it would certainly be nice to be able to request this from within QuestAdmin.

Thanks,
Matt

[sheila]

Could you clarify what you mean by "suspend an account"? We don't really have such an option, even if you contact us at the Service Desk. We can deactivate an account, if that is what you mean? Billing does still continue, though. Also, sites that are deactivated for 30 days are subject to being deleted from the servers.

Well, we are always willing to take suggestions for the feature list, but first I wanted to make sure we understand the request...

[hobbes]

Can I request an upgrade to PHP5 or MySQL5 ;)

[dank]

I suppose it's a nice convenience, but most of the stuff (reseller id, phone number, email address) is already remembered by browser auto-fill. It's less trouble to fill those fields out than to log into QuestAdmin. I hope the hard work and long hours are an exaggeration... Nothing negative about the addition, but I don't see a whole lot of added value unless it's just the first step of more to come.

Dan

[Matt]

We can deactivate an account, if that is what you mean?
I think I prefer the term "suspend," but yes, this is what I meant.

-Matt

[frankc]

Yes, it'd be nice, in the "Change a Service: Logged In to Account #" list to be able to deactivate a domain without the "confirm link in email" fol-de-rol.

Thanks!

[Monty]

I appreciate all the time, work, and money that's gone into the whole project. Coming from the days of "Bob, can I please get another copy of my invoice emailed" to where we are today puts things into perspective. Thanks to Sheila and the staff for making it all happen.

[sheila]

I suppose it's a nice convenience, but most of the stuff (reseller id, phone number, email address) is already remembered by browser auto-fill. It's less trouble to fill those fields out than to log into QuestAdmin. I hope the hard work and long hours are an exaggeration... Nothing negative about the addition, but I don't see a whole lot of added value unless it's just the first step of more to come.
Actually, there's more to what it does than simply remembering the contact info. That is just one aspect of it. It also ensures that the changes are made to the correct account (our current order forms have no idea of whether you want to set new packages up on an existing account or create a new account...we often have to email clients and clarify this). It does error checking to ensure you can't re-order something that is already set up. It can make assumptions about certain aspects of an order (especially Value-Added-Services) that should assist clients in submitting correct order information (such as correct path information for IRMs, for example...this is often a problem for newbie clients who don't "get" the way IRMs work or what the information means that is requested in the order form). There's more, but I hope this gives some idea... There is also the potential for even smarter error checking in the future (enhancements to the current process), simply because QuestAdmin does know what account it is working with.

And, of course, it eliminates the need for the whole confirmation email song and dance.

I'm sorry to say it did take long hours. Yes, for simply adding contact information as you originally posited, it should not take much time to add just that, but the additional error checking to ensure that the correct account, package, path, etc... were being used, this all takes extra time to and work to write the code so that the form process handle it correctly. It may not seem like it should have taken that much time, or it may seem like it wasn't a worthy investment of much time for the payoff, but we actually did get many requests from clients for such a feature. We also had many clients email us saying they were trying to log in to QuestAdmin so they could place an order or upgrade/downgrade, so there are definitely clients who expect to find that feature in there.

I guess that part of it, Dan, is that you know your way around the order forms so well, that for you personally, this may not offer much added value. But we do get lots of comments, even on a daily basis, regarding the use of our current order forms and for many of our clients the current order forms are unclear and confusing. We are hoping to smooth some of that confusion with what is now available in QuestAdmin.

I think I prefer the term "suspend," but yes, this is what I meant.

OK. From our point of view (looking out at you from behind the Service Desk) a hosting package is either "Activated" or "Deactivated". To have a hosting package deactivated, you would submit a cancellation request.

I'm trying to wrap my head around the implications of using the word "suspend" instead of "cancel/deactivate", and all I can come up with is that you feel the need to have hosting packages under your account temporarily deactivated from time to time? We do have a few resellers who have emailed us on occasion to have us deactivate an account temporarily (usually to address difficulties they are having in dealing with their client). I'm not sure if this is something we want to add to QuestAdmin or not. I'm wondering how often such a thing is needed (not just by you, but by resellers in general)?

Yes, it'd be nice, in the "Change a Service: Logged In to Account #" list to be able to deactivate a domain without the "confirm link in email" fol-de-rol.!

This is on the ToDo list.

I appreciate all the time, work, and money that's gone into the whole project. Coming from the days of "Bob, can I please get another copy of my invoice emailed" to where we are today puts things into perspective. Thanks to Sheila and the staff for making it all happen.

You're welcome. :)

[Matt]

I'm trying to wrap my head around the implications of using the word "suspend" instead of "cancel/deactivate", and all I can come up with is that you feel the need to have hosting packages under your account temporarily deactivated from time to time? We do have a few resellers who have emailed us on occasion to have us deactivate an account temporarily (usually to address difficulties they are having in dealing with their client). I'm not sure if this is something we want to add to QuestAdmin or not. I'm wondering how often such a thing is needed (not just by you, but by resellers in general)?

As a customer, "cancel" my account sounds like "shut it down I don't want it anymore" and "deactivate" sounds almost like "cancel." Maybe the "suspend" feature I am referring to (again we're talking about the same thing, just using different terms) isn't used that much, but I'll bet it's because resellers don't know it is even an option (there's no mention of it on the site) Really, I would just add to the upgrade/downgrade options the option to "suspend account" (downgrade to service suspended) or "terminate account" (downgrade out of existence).

-Matt

[sheila]

As a customer, "cancel" my account sounds like "shut it down I don't want it anymore" and "deactivate" sounds almost like "cancel." Maybe the "suspend" feature I am referring to (again we're talking about the same thing, just using different terms) isn't used that much, but I'll bet it's because resellers don't know it is even an option (there's no mention of it on the site) Really, I would just add to the upgrade/downgrade options the option to "suspend account" (downgrade to service suspended) or "terminate account" (downgrade out of existence).
Thanks for the additional clarification. We'll roll this around a bit and see what we can come up with.

[Matt]

Not wanting to speak in complete ignorance, I logged in to check out the latest version. Having gotten accustomed to the pre-QuestAdmin routines, I don't see a big reason to switch and tend to agree with Dan's assessment "It's less trouble to fill those fields out than to log into QuestAdmin". However, for new resellers, QuestAdmin is probably a better route.

Sheila wrote: "And, of course, it eliminates the need for the whole confirmation email song and dance." I guess I see the confirmation e-mail "song and dance" as documenting a request. Probably just because I've gotten accustomed to the "old way."

As you point out, Sheila, building a somewhat smart interface requires "some hard work and long hours." With that in mind, I hope that some of these developments translate to a smoother order process for retail customers.

As a developer, I would love to see an API interface to QuestAdmin (and the CNC for that matter). This would enable resellers to tie FQ services directly into their web sites.

Thank you for the effort that you have put into the reseller capabilities.
-Matt