Table of Contents

What is the DeskDirector Client Portal?

Niamh Ferns Updated by Niamh Ferns

Client Portal Overview

The DeskDirector Client Portal is the tool your customers use to reach out and interact to your technicians.

DeskDirector Client Portal Features

  • Create, view, edit, and close tickets from a single interface
  • Chat with technicians using the DeskDirector Chat from the same interface
  • Upskill with modules for Learning and BiggerBrains
  • Process tickets for approvals
  • View Quotes and Invoices
  • and many more ...

Getting Started

The DeskDirector Client Portal can be accessed by opening DeskDirector in a browser or by opening the DeskDirector App then entering in your credentials. If the contact's email address is also tied up to an Admin Console or Tech Portal account, they will be prompted to choose which they want to login with.

Select "Client Portal" then you will be prompted for authentication. Lastly, if the email address is a contact for multiple companies, they will be prompted to choose which company's client portal they want to access.

If you select the wrong company when logging in, don't worry as you can easily switch accounts directly in the Client Portal

Once logged in, you will be presented with the Client Portal:

The first page that will load upon logging in is the landing page set for the contact (See How do I set a landing page?). The screenshot above is using the default system menu with the default menu items.

The default menu items can't be removed, but can be controlled using permissions.

Switching Companies/Contacts

DeskDirector Portal users can easily switch which account they are logged in to from the top-right hand side of the screen. This is great for situations where one contact belongs to several sister companies in one DeskDirector instance and wants to be able to keep track of their tickets from each business.

If they have other accounts in your system, they will be shown a dropdown where they can select a company to switch to. Once clicked, the page will refresh and they will be logged into that account.

"How does the account list get populated?"

Alternate accounts are determined by matching the user's email address with other contacts in your system. If there is a match with another contact, and that contact is not disabled or inactive, the user will be able to switch to it.

Contact Support

Tickets/Service Types

The main purpose of the client portal is for users to be able to submit tickets. They can either submit tickets via the Contact Support menu or directly via https://[Your MSP Name].deskdirector.com/portal/v2/request-support.

They will be greeted by a page that looks like the screenshot below. Click on the Create a New Ticket button to submit a ticket:

If the client does not have chat permissions enabled, it bypasses this page and they will see the list of request type categories instead:

Select the category of your request, select a Service Type that matches your issue or concern, then fill out the form. As easy as that!

Generic Tickets

When submitting a concern/issue via the client portal, there are instances where the existing categories and Service Types do not match your request. We have considered this and added the Something Else option for just this reason.

You should see this option right at the bottom of all the current service type categories.
This is a configurable option. If you would prefer it not be there, see disable the "Something Else" option.

Chat Sessions

Client portal users can create chat sessions that will allow them to speak to technicians in real time. This can be done in 2 places:

  • From the Contact Support screen (Known as a pre-ticket chat.)
  • From an existing ticket (Known as a post-ticket chat.)
Pre-ticket Chats

Portal users can request a chat before they create a ticket. They can do this by heading to Contact Support > Chat to a Technician (more about Pre-ticket chat here).

Users can only have one active pre-ticket chat open at any one time. 'Active' is defined as being in either the waiting or handled state.

Once the client initiates a chat, our system will create a pre-ticket, then also look for an available tech to handle the chat.

Post-ticket chat

Users can also chat on an existing ticket by heading to one of their open tickets and pressing the "Chat Now" button:

These chat sessions will have the ticket number attached to them so members/resources will be able to easily pull up the relevant ticket. Users can only have one active ticket chat open per ticket at any one time. 'Active' is defined as being in either the waiting or handled state.

Post-ticket chat sessions cannot be created on closed tickets.
Chat History

Portal users will be able to view their past chat sessions via their Tickets list/history. The chat history will appear as a timeline item on the corresponding ticket that it was associated with.

Because this history is associated with a ticket, this means that users will not be able to view Pre-ticket chats that did not get associated with a ticket.

Ticket List

This is where your clients can find their tickets. Let's go over the parts that make up the ticket list.

The animation above is for a contact with All Tickets permission. Without this permission, the All Tickets/My Tickets dropdown won't appear, including the Filter by Contact option.
Ticket List Filter

The ticket list filter is made up of several parts:

  • Search Ticket: users can filter tickets by searching using keywords from ticket title, summaries, descriptions, or ticket numbers
  • Sorting: there are multiple sorting options available in the right corner of the search box.
  • Category (All tickets/My tickets): this option is only available if a user has "All Tickets" permission, is an approver, or is the default contact for their company. You can read more about these permissions here. The category filter allows users to select whether they want to view all tickets, or only their own.
  • Ticket state (Open/Closed): users can choose whether they want to search by open or closed tickets
  • Refresh: users can manually refresh the ticket list
  • Filter by Contact: This can be used to filter tickets further to specific users. This is done by clicking the vertical ellipses on the right hand side of the filter box. A pop-up will appear showing a list of contacts you can select from. After clicking this button a dialog will appear. From here a contact can be selected:

Ticket Details

The ticket details page is where your customers are going to be interacting with you. Depending on their permission levels they can perform many actions, from approving tickets to requesting a chat. Lets go over each part of this UI:

  • Ticket Title bar: This shows a set of breadcrumbs so the user knows where they are in the ticket hierarchy, the ticket title and the ticket number. They can click the Tickets link to get back to the ticket list.

  • Ticket Timeline Header: The timeline header is broken down into the following parts:

  • Ticket summary: This is the name of the ticket. If a user is the default contact for their company, is an Approver, or has the All Tickets permission they will be able to edit the ticket summary.
    • Chat: This button will create a chat session for the user. This will only appear if they have the chat permission
    • Print: This button can be used to print a copy of the ticket
    • Refresh: Manually refresh the ticket details
  • Ticket Timeline: The timeline shows all the public notes, time entries, and attachments that have been added to the ticket. If an attachment is clicked, a dialog will appear that will allow them to preview the file (if possible). If a file cannot be rendered in the browser, they will be able to download it to their computer to view.

  • Ticket Input: From here your users can reply, flag, fast track, or close tickets. They Also have the ability to attach files.

  • Ticket Information: The ticket information shows all of the relevant details of the ticket. If the user is an Approver, is the default contact for their company, or has the All Tickets permission, a "Change" button will appear under the ticket owner name which they will be able to change.

Setting a Custom Landing Page

A landing page is the first page that will load for a client once logged in to the Client Portal. Setting a landing page for your clients can be easily done from the Admin Portal using our Menus. If you want a specific menu item as landing page, just click and drag it to the top of the menu group.

"Why are landing pages essential?"

Landing pages enable you to personalize a client's experience while using the Client Portal. For example, you can create a menu specific for Approvers and have "Approvals" as the landing page.

This means, each time any of the approvers login to the client portal, they will be greeted with tickets that are pending their approval.

Frequently Asked Questions

"What if none of the existing request types do not match my current issue/concern?"

You can use the "Something Else" option to submit your request. This will present a generic form where you can enter a summary and description of your issue/concern.

"The user can not see the 'Something Else' option under his form."

Doublecheck your global portal settings or the company's setting to confirm if the "Something Else" option was disabled or not.

"Can I rename 'Something else'?"

No, you can't, but you can easily create another generic service type and name it however you like. You can then disable the default "Something else".

"Can I move 'Something else' to the top?"

No, you can't, but you can create a generic service type and follow the ordering logic for service types

How did we do?

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