New Features and Changes in vFire Core 9.4
This topic relates to vFire 9.4, released in May/June 2016. You may also wish to view other new features or the release notes in full.
vFire Core 9.4 includes the following new features and changes.
|
Feature |
Functionality |
|---|---|
| "Add Me" feature for Major Incidents | Users with the required permissions can now select an Add Me button for Major Incidents. See Add Me for more details. |
| Exchange 365 Certification | You can now use a Microsoft Exchange 365 server for incoming and outgoing email with the IMAP and POP3 protocols. See Email Settings for more details. |
| vFire Statistics Tool | A new option has been added which can be used to troubleshoot system performance issues, as well as participate in the planning and development of the product. See vFire Statistics Tool for more details. |
| Terminology change | This is throughout the vFire Core and portal interfaces, and is designed to strengthen the system's alignment with ITIL standards. See Updated Terminology for more details. As part of the terminology change, the vFire Customer Portal is now referred to as vFire Self Service. See vFire Customer Portal becomes vFire Self Service for more details. |
| Create Custom Pages | System administrators can now create custom pages for use within vFire Self Service by taking a copy of an existing page in the Install directory, renaming it, and creating a custom link within the portal. See Creating Custom Pages for more details. |
Add Me
Users can now add themselves to a Major Incident so that the full impact of the Major Incident can be captured and reported on, and the user can receive feedback and updates, such as when the Major Incident is resolved.
There is now an additional set of checkboxes in the Self Service Portal Role: Options Tab tab which can be used to give permissions to "add me" to major incidents.
Users with the necessary permissions will see an Add Me box in the Major Incidents widget in their vFire Self Service home page. Once they choose to be added to the major incident, an incident will be cloned and assigned to them and the Add Me button will disappear. The user can then review the major incident, add notes and attachments as standard.
As a system administrator, you need to carry out the following steps:
- Enable the Review Major Incidents widget and the Show Add Me Button option in the
- If necessary, configure the IPK Status Ref number. The system assumes that the IPK Status Ref for a major incident is 5. In some of the long-established systems, this Ref may be different. System administrators needing to change this setting should consult Alemba Support if in doubt.
- Create a call template for each partition, if call templates are partitioned in your system.
- In the Self Service Portal Settings (Partitioned) window, specify which call template will be used for each partition. This is very important to ensure that the analysts can access the call
With these settings in place, the Major Incident widget should be visible in the Self Service portal, with the Add Me button available until selected by the user.
vFire Statistics Tool
The vFire Statistics Tool gathers system information to help troubleshoot performance and user issues and support improvements to the system. It ships with the product and can be run to generate a snapshot of system background information.
It can be run as a one-off, using the new vFire Statistics option in the Help menu if users are trying to troubleshoot. This is typically done in conjunction with Alemba Support, and will generate an email that is automatically sent to them containing system statistics. The user initiating the report can specify additional recipients if they wish.
It can also be run as a monthly report, which is automatically generated at the start of every calendar month and sent to Alemba. The data gathered from these reports is completely anonymous, and the statistics generated will be used to improve the product and schedule enhancements. They cannot and will not be used for any other purpose, such as marketing or directly contacting a user. System administrators can choose to participate in this data collection process by selecting the option in the System Settings window. The checkbox is deselected by default.
For more details, see
Updated Terminology
In the 9.4.0 release, vFire Core strengthens its ITIL alignment with a terminology update.
We have rebranded the vFire Customer Portal and changed labels across the system to reflect ITIL standards.
This terminology change only affects out-of-the-box fields and labels; in-house content and modifications remain untouched by the upgrade. See Limitations of Terminology Update for more details.
The following changes will be observed after installing or upgrading to vFire Core 9.4.0:
| Pre 9.4.0 | 9.4.0 onwards |
|---|---|
|
Customer Customer Survey |
User User Survey |
|
Officer Current Officer |
Analyst Current Analyst |
|
External Officer Linked External Officer |
External Contact Linked External Contact |
| User | This term has been replaced with the most appropriate term for the context, to prevent confusion with the Customer-to-User change |
|
User ID |
Login ID |
Limitations of Terminology Update
The terminology changes introduced in 9.4.0 do not apply to the API or user-created content or user-modified labels, when upgrading.
A custom screen set named New Customer Screen Set will remain unchanged.
A created field named Customer ID will remain unchanged (both Label and Display Name values).
If you changed the Label value (but not Display Name) of the standard Customer field to Employee, the label value will continue to be Employee. However, as this is a standard (out of the box) field, the Display Name value will be changed to User by the upgrade. The reverse is also true - if the Display Name value is changed but not the Label.
If you changed both the Label and Display Name values of the standard Customer field to Employee, both will continue to be Employee.
vFire Customer Portal becomes vFire Self Service
The title vFire Customer Portal has been replaced with vFire Self Service or Self Service Portal, as follows.
| Pre 9.4.0 | 9.4.0 onwards |
|---|---|
| Customer Portal
vFire Customer Portal |
Self Service within the Portal vFire Self Service |
|
Portal (when referring to the vFire Customer Portal), or Customer Portal Default Portal |
Self Service Portalwithin vFire Core, the vFire Server Console and so on Default Self Service Portal Portal is still displayed within vFire Core in some circumstances. |