V4 progress report, roadmap revisions and feedback
V4 preview posts so far
From newest to oldest:
- OnSite – remote desktop application that integrates into the support desk
- Template management, versioning and visual comparison tool
- Live screenshot sharing and file transfers in live chat
- Personnel, user, permissions management, interface screencast, roadmap revisions
- A look at the new live chat interface and engagement options
- A first look at the operators’ desktop application
- Live chat automations, operator skills, logic and groups
- Roadmap and interface peek
- SWIFT4 framework: A brief overview of what’s new
Where we are right now
Around ten months ago we announced the new SWIFT framework – SWIFT4. This was a complete departure from the development route we were originally going to take, which is to build on top of and improve SWIFT3, our existing framework.
SWIFT4 has been generally complete for some time. We are now simultaneously working on our desktop applications and finishing the development of the core modules, built on top of SWIFT4. Arguably, the design and development of SWIFT4 and its libraries has been the largest component of the V4 project. But, the time spent perfecting the framework means that;
- The development and integration of modules can be done relatively very quickly;
- Future modules and features can be implemented very quickly;
- Third-party development becomes much simpler;
- Upgrading (even when you have integrated third-party products) is a snap.
So, the largest and most time consuming part of the roadmap is now out of the way. Our to-do list looks like this:
- Remaining integration of modules (in progress)
- Knowledgebase
- Downloads
- Troubleshooter
- News
- InstaAlert (in progress)
- Implementation of the licensing system
- Implementation of our back-end systems to support V4 (nearly done)
- User citations (in progress)
- Developer citations (in progress)
We will be releasing a public beta sooner rather than later. This will mean beta will release lacking completely complete user citations, maybe lacking InstaAlert and perhaps with unfinished modules. But, beta will ship in a state that functions nearly completely will enable you to completely test and provide excellent pointer.
Revised roadmap
- Developer previews (APIs, etc) – as soon as we practically can; we’re working towards this now
- Public beta – Q2 (mid to late)
- Final release – Q3 (this depends on how the public beta goes, but we do not envisage any show stoppers)
Please remember that once again this is an estimated and tentative roadmap, subject to change.
Why does the roadmap keep changing?
Our development team is small. As far as product design and actual development goes, there are only around five of us. This is splendid in many respects – we all know how each other thinks, we can all work closely collectively, we don’t have too many cooks to spoil the gumbo and we don’t have to design entirely by committee. As a small brain trust, we can develop wonderfully gorgeous and functional products.
But, having a small team at the helm also has a draw back – the pace of the new product development can be slower and things can more easily get in the way, altering our working time frame.
That said, we are confident that the product we are working on is going to amaze and outstand. We are also confident that it will be delivered smoothly, at top quality and in reasonably excellent time.
We know that the chopping and changing of our roadmap is frustrating – you’re keen to get your hands on our shiny new products, just as we’re desperately keen to give it to you. But, we want to and will remain flexible and we simply cannot achieve this while tying ourselves to arbitrary deadlines.
We reckon that maintenance you informed about where we are in the development administer is the best policy. The only other option here would be to not to share anything at all, and we reckon we’re all in agreement here that this option would stink!
Thank you for your understanding and we look forward to continue getting your pointer from the previews we will keep posting.
Pointer from the last previews
We feel passionately about engaging our customers in the 4.0 roadmap, charitable them the chance to shape their future support desk. In most V4 updates, we summarise some of the pointer we received on the last, as well as any subsequent decisions we have full based on the pointer received.
Can you add avatars for Personnel users in Chat Window?
(from allmoney.ws) Yes – personnel avatars are going to be supported.
Cover caps look splendid but are you going to incorporate any remote help features into Kayako (e.g. logmein Rescue, Teamviewer, gotoassist, etc)
(from n8) Yes – see our latest V4 preview. We’re introducing a remote support client called Kayako OnSite. It’ll be free, out of the box.
Will V4 allow you to use a MSSQL backend instead of a MySQL backend? Our Kayako DB is in the GBs and could really use some trimming, but INNODB doesn’t let that happen.
(from Tony Valenti) We’ll use ADODB in V4 – an abstracted database library for PHP. This supports MSSQL, Oracle, MySQL, etc.
Would it be possible for v4 to contain enough flexibility in the knowledge base to allow for tutorial video hosting? At the moment we looked at it, but it would take quite a bit of custom coding work to achieve.
(from Steven Cumper) We’ll keep this in mind when designing the article editor.
Guys – will the API allow us to extract ticket information out of the system and link it to a specific user at a specific company inside our own inhouse CRM package?
(from Oliver Gleave) Yes it will.
One UI feature that I would really like to see is a one-click “Assign ticket to Me” button.
(from Tony Valenti) Way ahead of you on that one!
in V4, it would be very nice if this was implemented as a “many-to-many” relationship so that I could have a status or priority that exists in some departments but not others.
(from Tony Valenti) We may not ship with this functionality, but if it gets frequently requested we’ll add it to the roadmap.
Will the new product be by CSS layout and semantic HTML templates by default?
(from Brent) Absolutely. No in-line CSS and adherence to standards.
What we hope for in Version 4 is the ability to quickly assign a telephone ticket to a registered user. Currently you need to click on the find button and then search for them, before finally selecting them. A simple, AJAX’d input box to find the user would be splendid.
(from Slippy) We’ve done something that covers this. More on that soon!
PLEASE document available template variables this time around.
(from ML) We will circulate full developer and customization citations.
Mac, mac, MAC, macbook, mac version, did I say mac??
(from Paul) It is on the cards. We’re small on dev hands right now, so we have to prioritise. We haven’t forgotten you!
Would be splendid to have some sort of a “Subscribe to Ticket” so that any personnel user could subscribe to any updates to an individual ticket, whether or not they are assigned to it.
(from Sators) Yes, this will be possible. Personnel can ‘Watch’ a ticket and receive alerts, etc.
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