New vPanel Design

[holmes4]

I always find my self wandering around the panel interface trying to find the function I want. I remember I've seen it somewhere, but it's rarely where I expect it to be. I generally dislike cascading menus, especially when the upper category isn't obvious.

What I'd like to see as an opening page or at least accessible with one click is a page that lists all of the functions with direct links.

[LoadStar]

I posted this in another thread, but I think that this could be worked into a redesign of the VPanel:

It would be nice to have a "dashboard" page, possibly one I could set as my browser start page. Things I envision on this page:
- number of support calls "in work" (if this number suddenly jumps, we know there might be an issue)
- top XX issues ("can't complete calls to 712 area code" "phones aren't ringing" etc.)
- date/time of any planned service interruptions and expected restoration date
- news and service updates ("New Vpanel interface debuts 6/23" "New Beta Feature: Simul-Ring" "URGENT: Please reboot your telephone adapters now!" etc.)
- Last XX call log
- Voicemail
- Frequently used features on/off

Ideally, this would be an AJAX page that could update automatically, and it would have a "stay logged in on this computer" that would store a cookie, so it could be set as a start page for a browser. This wouldn't completely eliminate the VPanel, but it would be a "one stop shop" for 80% of the things that customers would need or want to know about or do with their VOIPo service.

If you REALLY wanted to get fancy, this could be a portal type of environment, with different "widgets" or "portlets" that could be plugged in... i.e. a "call log" portlet, a "support status" portlet, a "voicemail" portlet, that users could snap in the portlets that they think are most important to them.

[lost]

It would be great if you let us know what you think would be better nav wise.

Tim, some of them are scattered around different screens and can be confusing and hard to remember. Some features must be configured in several screens, like Telemarketing Block is enabled on the basic screen but the list is managed on a different screens.

You could start by grouping some into a logical "Incoming" and "Outgoing" configuration groups. Under the Incoming section, you can have the call forwarding, call routes, teleblock, DND, virtual numbers, etc, and under the Outgoing section, you can have caller id, call routes, directory assistance, international calls, etc. On the same level as Incoming and Outgoing, you can have Devices (and put SotfPhone/BYOD under there).

Top Level:

Incoming Settings
Outgoing Settings
Call Logs
Voicemail
[E911*]
Devices
Account
Support

Under Account, put the items that are currently in different Preferences blue bar/tabs, but streamline them into one screen instead of multiple tabs.

Billing gets moved under Account as well.

*I would prefer to move E911 to Outgoing, but if you want to keep that easy to find then you could leave it on the top level.

[stevech]

This needs a couple of smart end user oriented people to design, rather than a VoIPo engineer/tech who is too close to the product to get the users' perspective.

[VOIPoTim]

This needs a couple of smart end user oriented people to design, rather than a VoIPo engineer/tech who is too close to the product to get the users' perspective.

That's why we're asking here and giving all users the opportunity to let us know what they think should be changed in it.

[4plus3vette]

Under Features, once you click on any feature, such as Call Routes, the "Basic Features" go away and you have to click on the top level Features again to get Basic Features back. Basic Features should be a choice in the list.

Also, under Features, when you select either Contacts or Preferences, the 2nd level menu goes away and is replaced with the a 2nd level menu for Contacts or Preferences. The only way to get the original 2nd level menu back is to select Features again. It would be preferable if the 2nd level menu did not go away, but a third level menu came up for those features.

Personally, I like the overall functionality of the current page (tabbed browsing over drop-down menu browsing). The screen-shot of the new design is more attractive, however, I do like the ability to see all of the 2nd level options of, say, Features when I am in one of those areas without having to move my mouse up to (and possibly clicking on) Features.

Some of the features in Beta may be able to be moved out into other categories as others have suggested.

I know that you are working on documentation, but that is probably one of the things that would help out the vPanel the most. As a new user, when I went in, it was pretty frustrating trying to figure out what some of the features were and how they worked. Having to call or chat with your support team is expensive for you if 95% of those contacts could have been handled by the user by looking up the information themselves.

Overall Tim, I appreciate the ability to change these features at will and I think things look pretty good overall with the site. You could dress it up with "better" graphics," more colors, ..., but over all, I think that your company, via this site, gives more access to options (and just plain more options) than any other phone service that I have used.

Thank you for giving us the ability to provide feedback and for being so involved.

Jim

[4plus3vette]

Here are a couple of other items that would be nice to see:

1. Caller-ID details in call history. This may already be here, but I can't seem to find it. Either have a "mouse-over" or list the data to pass on the name associated with the caller-ID info.

2. Make a customizable start-up page where the user can select a few areas that he can have displayed at login. These areas may be smaller, sub-sets of the real page. For example, perhaps I would like to see today's incoming/outgoing call history, basic features, simulring, voicemail, and distinctive ring on my homepage. You could institute this by a selection box on each navigable page that says "include on your home page."

Take care,

Jim

[mikeb]

Under Features, once you click on any feature, such as Call Routes, the "Basic Features" go away and you have to click on the top level Features again to get Basic Features back. Basic Features should be a choice in the list.

Also, under Features, when you select either Contacts or Preferences, the 2nd level menu goes away and is replaced with the a 2nd level menu for Contacts or Preferences. The only way to get the original 2nd level menu back is to select Features again. It would be preferable if the 2nd level menu did not go away, but a third level menu came up for those features.

Jim

The two issues that Jim mention about the menu items disappearing bother me the most.

Another area of frustration is the lack of instructions about how to use a feature. Please provide information about each feature on the web page where the feature is configured.

Thanks!

[4plus3vette]

Another (minor) one. I was just checking out the instructions for Simulring in the Beta Manual.

It states, "Be sure that you set the ring seconds to a value larger than 0, otherwise, none of your lines will ring."

Why don't you make the default setting for 10 seconds to avoid the problem? People may not immediately know about that issue without reading the manual first.

[4plus3vette]

To help out with Mike's suggestion, since you now have:

http://www.voipo.com/documentation/vPanel.pdf

available, you could probably institute a help button (like F1 or something) and have it bring up a new window that automatically goes to that section of your manual.