It is possible to install a plugin that will allow practitioners on the staff interface to ask queries and provide details of issues directly to an email support account from within the Koha application.

Step 1 - Download the plugin

Go to https://github.com/bywatersolutions/koha-plugin-support/releases and download the appropriate .kpz file.

Step 2 - Uploading Plugin to Koha

Go to Koha administration > Plugins > Manage plugins

If plugins have been enabled on your system there will be the option to upload plugins.

If plugins have not been enabled on your system please contact Interleaf Technology directly or check the Help Centre. 

Once you have clicked Upload plugin you will be taken to a new page where you will be prompted to choose a file to upload.

Upload the plugin file downloaded earlier.

Once this has been successfully uploaded the Bywater Solutions Support Plugin will appear:

Step 3 - Configuring plugin

On the row the Bywater Solutions Support Plugin is appearing, go to Actions > Configure on the right hand side.

This will take you to a new page with configuration options for the plugin.

Add the email address that will receive queries submitted to the support tool.

There is also the option to decide the type of card, which are templates for how the support query will be submitted.

Selecting All cards will provide a detailed form for the user when they are submitting a query.

Selecting Support Request Card Only will provide a shorter form with a single free text option for the patron to detail their issue. The difference between the two forms will be demonstrated below.

Once these decisions have been made hit Save configuration.

Once the plugin has been successfully installed an icon of the Bywater logo will appear in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

Clicking on the symbol will cause a pop out to appear. Please note that almost all information requested by the plugin will be optional but usually the more information that can be provided the quicker issues can be resolved.

Support form for All cards

The following images walk through submitting a query via the plugin using the All cards option.

The username and email will populate automatically based on the logged in user. The user can then decide how to categorise their query. These categories relate to the different modules and functions available on KOHA.

Once this initial information is filled in click Next and this will bring you to a new page on the plugin. This will look for basic information about the issue you are submitting the query for. This will consist of several free text boxes asking for the following information:

What did you expect to happen?

What actually happened?

Details of any errors that appeared.

If you have cleared the cached on the browser being used.

Once this information is filled out hit Next and this will bring you to a new page on the plugin. This will look for information about the time and frequency of the issue.

If any of the provided options are not exactly correct for your own issue, select the option that is the closest match. There will be an opportunity later in the form to give general details where you can clarify the specific timing of the incident.

Once this information is filled out hit Next and this will bring you to a new page on the plugin. 

This page will look for information on any changes that may have happened on your site recently. This will consist of both a list of areas that a change may have occurred in with options that can be selected as well as free text boxes to add details about the changes.

This page will request information about how to recreate the issue. This consists of a freetext box for users to outline what they did when the error came up. There will also be an option to add a subject line to the email that will be sent as part of this plugin.

 Below is an example of a question being submitted through this process:

The email sent out to the support account will contain the information you added to the plugin in the main body of the email text:

And as an attachment.

Support form for Request cards

This option will only provide two free text boxes, one to define the overall area the issue is occuring in and the other to detail the specifics of the problem. Once these have been filled, hit Submit and an email will be sent out to the address defined previously in the plugin configuration area. 

The email sent out to the support account will contain the information you added to the plugin in the main body of the email text:

And will also include an attachment with the details added to the plugin: