Customer Portal: Basic config on Admin interface

Before getting started with the customization of the Customer Portal pages and widgets, some basic configuration is necessary on the administration interface.

Assign permissions to staff members

Permissions have to be given to the staff members. An Admin can grant the following types of permissions through a staff member’s profile:

• CP Edit permission lets staff members with this profile access the Customer Portal Administration site and edit customer portal pages in the development area using WebDAV. Staff members with CP Edit permission, but not CP Stage or CP Promote permission, cannot access the Customer Portal editor on the administration interface. Nor can they access the Deploy tab on the Customer Portal Administration site.

• CP Stage permission lets staff members copy the development files to the staging area. Staff members with CP Stage permission but not CP Promote permission will not have the Promote and Rollback buttons enabled on the Customer Portal editor on the administration interface.

• CP Promote permission lets staff members promote the pages from the staging area to the production area where customers can view them.

Note: Staff members who have CP Stage permission automatically have CP Edit permission as well. Staff members with CP Promote permission automatically have CP Edit and CP Stage permissions.

To assign permissions for your customer portal:

1. Click the Configuration button on the navigation pane.
2. Double-click Profiles under Staff Management.
3. Double-click the profile you want to assign permissions to.
4. Click the Permissions button on the ribbon.
5. Give staff members the permissions (editing, staging, or promoting).

Define configuration settings

The Customer Portal gives complete flexibility in creating templates, pages, and widgets. However, other configuration must occur on the administration interface. Configuration settings are used to define common features of the Customer Portal.

• Enabling the development area: MOD_CP_DEVELOPMENT_ENABLED must be enabled before any changes can be made to the development site. If this setting is not enabled it is not possible to make changes to the Customer Portal.

1. Click the Configuration button on the navigation pane.
2. Double-click Configuration Settings under Site Configuration.
3. To open a specific configuration setting, type its name in the Key field and click Search.
4. To display all configuration settings, click the Search button.
5. Type MOD_CP_DEVELOPMENT_ENABLED it in the Key field and click Search
6. In the row for the configuration setting, click the drop-down menu in the Value column and select Yes.

Now that you have enabled your development area, you can begin editing other configuration settings that affect your customer portal.

Modify settings for pages on the Customer Portal

Some other general configuration settings, accessed through the administration interface, control functionality. For example, these settings let you configure searches, including how search results are returned, whether suggested searches are enabled, and whether search text feedback is given to customers.

You can configure the following pages:

• Answers page: Configuration options include answer solved count, search results, search-field weighting, suggested searches, search text feedback, the aliases word list, search priority words, and stop-words.
• Answer details page: The configuration option for the answer details page is the privileged answers feature.
• Ask a Question page: You can configure SmartAssistant suggested answers for the Ask a Question page as well as specify an expiration time during which the form must be submitted.
• Your Account pages: Configuration options include disabling an email link to a customer’s incident in confirmation emails, letting customers see all incidents from their organization, defining the length of time an answer subscription stays active, and allowing duplicate email addresses.

• Log In, Create an Account, and Change Password pages: You can configure the security and strength of customer passwords.