Making the Most of Your eSupport Resources

1
Making the Most of Your eSupport Resources
2
Objectives

• How to log into Blackbaud.com
• How to make the most of the top resources on our
  award-winning support website
• Knowledgebase
• Forums
• Case Central
• Newsletters
• Blogs
• Questions about our website?
• Type questions during the Live Meeting session
• QA session following presentation

3
Your Blackbaud.com login

• Our support resources are benefits of your
  maintenance plan, so theyre accessible only to
  our customers and require you to log in to access
  them.
• If you dont have a Blackbaud.com login, your
  site administrator can invite you to create one.
• By default, your site administrator is the person
  who signed your organizations purchase
  agreement.
• To log in, click Please Log In at the top of any
  Blackbaud.com web page. Or, youll be prompted
  to log in when you try to access a secure section
  of our website if you arent already logged in.

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Login process

• Enter your user name and password, and click Log
  In. We recommend marking the Save User Name and
  Password option so you dont have to enter your
  login on subsequent visits.
• If youre not sure if you have a Blackbaud.com
  account or if you dont know your Blackbaud.com
  user name, click Need your User Name? on the
  login screen.
• Click Need your Password? if you dont know your
  password, and well guide you through the process
  of resetting it.

5
Knowledgebase

• Knowledgebase is the first place to go when you
  have questions or need to troubleshoot software
  issues.
• Knowledge Centered Support We document every
  question were asked.
• Note We wait to publish solutions until were
  contacted about the same question or issue a
  second time, with the exception of software
  issues, which we publish immediately.
• Support analysts add and update Knowledgebase
  solutions daily.

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How do I search Knowledgebase?

• Select Knowledgebase from our websites Support
  menu.
• Type your question or problem using key words or
  phrases, or enter the solution ID (BBxxxxx) if
  you know it, in the Ask a Question field, and
  click Ask.
• For subsequent searches, enter your question in
  the New Question field in the upper right window.
  
• Error messages Enter the exact error message
  preceded by Error (e.g., Error Invalid File
  Name).
• All suggestions begin with Unable to.
• Filter your search results, if necessary, by
  product and/or document type.
• Knowledgebase automatically filters the results
  based on your organizations products and
  maintenance level.
• Document types include solutions, user guides,
  and suggestions.

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Knowledgebase features

• Alerts
• Display at the top of the Knowledgebase home page
  until theyve been read or expire
• Based on the Blackbaud products your organization
  owns
• May include software release announcements,
  notifications about critical issues, and
  information about special support hours
• Click Alerts in the Knowledgebase banner to see
  all current alerts for your products.
• Knowledgebase Subscriptions
• Enable you to automatically be notified when
  solutions and alerts are updated or new alerts
  are added
• Can subscribe to individual solutions or alerts,
  all alerts, or all alerts by product
• Solution and Search Feedback
• To share feedback about a particular solution,
  complete the feedback form at the bottom of the
  solution.
• To share comments about Knowledgebase in general,
  complete the feedback form on the search results
  screen.

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Knowledgebase features, cont.

• New and Popular Solutions
• Display on the Knowledgebase home page beneath
  the Ask a Question box
• Include newly added solutions and the most
  frequently accessed solutions about your
  organization's products only
• Recent Activity
• Click My Recent Activity in the Welcome box to
  view your recently asked questions and recently
  viewed solutions.
• Click the Previous button beneath the New
  Question box to see questions you previously
  asked.
• Sharing and Bookmarking Solutions
• Click Email Page at the top of a solution to
  email a solution to yourself or a coworker.
• To bookmark a solution, open the solution and add
  it to your web browser's Favorites or Bookmarks
  just as you would any other web page.

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Knowledgebase Help

• Learn more about Knowledgebase by visiting
  Knowledgebase Help.
• Select Knowledgebase Help from the Welcome box.
• Or, click Help in the top banner bar.

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Forums

• Gathering place for everyone in the nonprofit
  community to exchange ideas
• All posts, including shared documents, are
  publicly available so you dont need a
  Blackbaud.com login to view them.
• Post questions and brainstorm with other users
  about software issues, how-to questions, best
  practices, etc.
• Share your knowledge with your peers by reviewing
  and replying to posts.

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How do I get started with the forums?

• Select Forums from our websites Support menu.
• The forums are organized into six broad
  categories (e.g., Product Forums), and then
  further divided by subforums (e.g., The Raisers
  Edge).
• Browse the categories of interest.
• Add a new post or reply to a post.
• For an overview of the forums, select Forum
  Guidelines from the Shortcuts menu when youre
  logged in.

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How can I be notified about new posts or replies?

• RSS
• Subscribe to an RSS Reader, such as Google
  Reader.
• Then, look for the RSS icon at the bottom right
  of forum pages.
• Click the icon and copy the web address (URL) of
  the page.
• Log into your RSS reader and add the address to
  your list of RSS feed subscriptions.
• Email
• Sign into the forums and click Edit Profile on
  the top right of the page.
• Select the Email tab.
• Mark Receive Emails to receive emails from other
  forum participants.
• To be notified by email of new posts to
  forums/threads to which you have subscribed as
  well as any replies to one of your posts, mark
  Enable Email Notifications of forum/thread
  subscriptions and replies to my posts.
• Click Forum Subscriptions from the Shortcuts
  menu. Click No next to any forum to change it to
  Yes to receive emails from that forum.

13
Case Central

• Online interface with Support's case management
  database so you can review your organization's
  previous cases and communicate with us online
• Quick way to contact Support We automatically
  prioritize each case by creation time and
  severity so youll receive assistance from the
  next available analyst.
• Confidential Only individuals associated with
  your organization can access your cases.

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How do I create a case?

• Select Case Central from our websites Support
  menu.
• Provide a summary of your question or issue and
  select your product.
• When you click Continue, Knowledgebase will
  automatically search for any related solutions
  and return a split screen.
• On the left, review the top Knowledgebase search
  results.
• If the search results do not address your
  question or issue, continue creating your case by
  completing the Create a Case form on the right.

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How do I review my cases?

• Select Case Search from the left navigation bar
  to review your cases.
• Enter your case number and click Find, or select
  using the criteria (i.e., Product Family, Case
  Condition, Date of Creation).
• Click Search.
• Cases automatically display the most recent cases
  first, and column headings are clickable so you
  can sort the display in numerous ways.
• From the case search results, click a case number
  to view the case and/or add any notes.

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Case Central Help

• Select Case Central Help from the left navigation
  bar to learn more about Case Central.

17
Support Newsletters

• Include the latest software information, tips for
  using your software effectively, and
  announcements about upcoming events
• Incorporate summaries from recent product blog
  posts
• To subscribe
• Log into www.blackbaud.com and click your name at
  the top of any Blackbaud web page to access your
  profile.
• Click View Subscriptions.
• Mark the checkbox beside the newsletters you want
  to receive, and click Submit.
• To browse recent issues, select Support
  Newsletters from the Support menu.
• Visit Newsletter Subscription Help if you stop
  receiving newsletters.

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Support Blogs

• Follow our employees as they share insights into
  Blackbaud products and nonprofits.
• To get started
• Select Blogs from the Support or Company menus on
  our website.
• Find a blog and start reading and commenting. 
• Or, scan the blog aggregator for a story that
  interests you http//forums.blackbaud.com/blogs/
  
• To automatically receive new blog content,
  subscribe to our blog RSS feeds
• Within a blog, click RSS under Blog Info on the
  right side of the page.
• Click Subscribe to this feed.

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Support Benefits

• For more information about your support benefits,
  review our Customer Support Guide http//supp
  ortguide.blackbaud.com