6 ways to gain best Reckon Community Support around the clock

gazza73 · January 2016

Key information to include in Forum requests, to expedite solutions.

Reckon Community is a forum contributed to, and monitored, 24/7 by End Users, Partners and Reckon staff. Provided a clear definition is presented about the program, system, environment and process, help can be quickly at hand.

KNOW YOUR ENVIRONMENT

1. the operating system, service level and whether 32-bit/64bit.
(ie: Win 7 PRO 64-bit)
(see control Panel for System Properties)
2. the particular Reckon product, year, version release in question
(ie: RA 2014 Premier)
(perform CTL + 1, or HELP ABOUT, to determine your product credentials)
3. the version, year and patch level of MS Office suite in use
(ie: MS Office 2013 32-bit)
(see HELP ABOUT or FILE --> OFFICE Account --> ABOUT.....)
4. the version of PDF converter installed
(ie: Reckon PDF Converter v4)
(see Devices and Printers for a list of those installed)
5. the pre-existence and/or removal procedure, if any, of prior versions of all the above.
(ie: previous versions that may have been un-installed, or upgraded, or replaced)
6. capture and upload a screenshot of the example of what is being discussed
(Use a technique to frame and capture (ie: ALT PrtScn) the screen of interest,
as a JPG file, and upload the JPG)

Using the Community Forum, is not only useful for Users raising initial questions, but help thousands of others seeking similar help.

SEARCH FOR ANSWERS FIRST

The most common questions have answers right here on the FORUM using the SEARCH facility. Include a KEY WORD representing the key issue (point 6), and enhance that by seeking out solutions that are relevant ONLY to the versions of related products above.

OBTAIN FREE PHONE SUPPORT DURING BUSINESS HOURS IF ELIGIBLE

Re-Registrations for older legacy products will need a phone call, because software prior to 2013 is no longer on the live ONLINE database. Re-registration by bonafide owners, is a free phone service during business hours, or in exceptional cases, by email request.

A variety of phone numbers are available for ONLINE/HOSTED customer support, ENTERPRISE support, PARTNER support as well.

As a long time Partner, this quick reference list has a comprehensive shortlist of services and contact options: http://www.alchester.com.au/reckon-support/

As a last resort, for urgent matters outside of business hours, Reckon also provide a pay-for-service option as well.

USE YOUR ID TO FETCH DOWNLOADS, GUIDES and TRIAL KITS

USE THE COMMUNITY TO SOLVE NEW QUERIES

Prepare a new POST to the COMMUNITY, but be sure to TAG it with the RECKON PRODUCT in use, and summarise the exact versions of your ENVIRONMENT as outlined (in bold) above

Gary Pope
m: 0408994799
e: gaz@alchester.com.au
An Accredited Partner- Consultant (VIC. Aust)
http://www.alchester.com.au/reckon-ac...
"Working with Accountants/Bookkeepers PPs/APs, as an
independent IT Professional and retired FCPA Accountant"

John Graetz · January 2016

Beautifully put Gary. Now all that we need is somebody like the moderator to vet all posts and send them back when they don't comply and ask for them to be re-submitted. The moderator should then post a reply to that effect, so that everybody else is aware of what is going on. By doing this we may not have to read some of the queries that come through which nobody can understand, as evidenced by the fact that nobody is responding. John L G

gazza73 · January 2016

Thanks John - your input is always terrific, positive and helpful, like a number of the leading contributors here. I'll share an overview of the dependencies/relationships that we need forum articles to help us all with, to make this a positive outcome for all.

The Accredited and Professional Partners who well look after the Accounting, Bookkeeping, compliance and advice side of the business, along with the many End-User contributors who appreciatively contribute their experience and know how on procedures and short cuts take care of most of the RED items specific to Reckon.

But it is the overall IT environment, including communications, internet, networking and complimentary products that need that additional technical assistance, which is what we're trying to help with here for AP's and their clients.

cheers!
Gary

John Graetz · January 2016

Like you Andrew, it occurred to me that there is nothing at present which remotely directs a person to even do a search on the problem that they have, before they lodge a post. That seems to be the case to a large degree in recent days when people raise emailing issues with Windows 10 when this subject has been covered and satisfied, countless times in the past on the forum. Your questionnaire idea is a great thought. Even if there were a series of points of protocol, or whatever, which people had to read through first before they lodge a post, including an acknowledgement that they had even done a search for the problem, this would represent a potentially great improvement to the quality of requests lodged. Potentially it would even save the same repetitive questions being raised time and time again. That "mandatory" reading should then cover the points that Gary has suggested. That shouldn't be too hard a task for Reckon to implement - hmmmm "shouldn't be too hard"??? We live in hope.
John L G

Rav · January 2016

I like the suggestions you're discussing here folks.

Although not quite a questionnaire, there forum does have a info prompt when a user goes through the process of creating a new post (example below)

Some really good additional points raised by Gary though which I will incorporate within this.

John, in regard to search, I agree that a user conducting a search using some keywords would most likely result in finding a thread (or several) which may contain exactly the assistance they might be looking for, or at least somewhere close to it which can then be further built upon.

The Community already has a vast repository of searchable information which is only growing each day. On this note, the Community in-forum keyword search works really well, but when people think of search, the first thing that pops to mind is of course, the almighty Google. Trying not to be biased of course, but personally I think our SEO is awesome and picks up new Community threads very quickly. So just popping in a few Reckon keywords on Google, the search engine the majority of people use everyday, will pop up a lot of relevant information.

The challenge of course is to cultivate the inclination or, willingness so to speak, to conduct that information search which I find will vary from one person to another.

Appreciate your thoughts.

Cheers
Rav

Rav · January 2016

Love the post Gary! Some great points raised which will help new and existing members on our Community.

John Graetz · January 2016

Thanks Rav. To counter the problem of potentially not bothering to do a search first, how about putting a prominent statement, right at the start, where it is going to be readily visible. Some appropriate wording like say "Have you used the Community search function above, to determine whether or not your problem has been reported previously and a fix provided?" Anything that can be done to direct people to the search area first would have to be a great improvement.
John L G

gazza73 · January 2016

Community SEARCH

Following up on John's comment and appreciated input, there are FOUR Search features to consider.

1. There is the Knowledgebase itself, which attempts to identify formal, definitive, known solutions to common installation/environment issues. But back to the question of how to encourage forum users to SEARCH before POSTING:

2. The Community forum where a NEW POST can be created has TWO SEARCH facilities right bang smack in front of the user. There is the search box (the slot to the right of NEW POST, and

3. there is the longer GREEN SEARCH ICON slot right there under the NEW POST box. In fact the above (1) slot and this one (2), are larger and more colorful than the "NEW POST" small menu item, and yet users reach for the "let me put my question out there now..." button so prematurely.

4. However, and unfortunately, will sound critical, but the search engine/keyword feature is no match for an external GOOGLE search. I have found that within 30 minutes of a new post being placed on the Community Forum, good old Google already knows about it. Try it for yourself. I'll be cheeky here to prove a point, because there are very few posts that specifically have the text: "50,000" as a subject or post content. But try searching for that in the three ways here, and Google comes up trumps, along with the above two.

Bad searches, and why so.....

But general questions like: "why can't I log in" will not provide good search results. Think for a moment. Reckon has dozens of products for Accounting practices, end users, private investors, small businesses, and years of different versions and sub-versions thereof. Login to what, from what for what, as what? More information is obviously needed. The point is, why not enjoy that? Some critical, urgent matters needing help by users such as MAPI 80004006 errors, Outlook 2016 issues, login issues, all point to specific, relevant community forum articles very quickly from Google.

Plus, be careful when feedback comes from contributing members who surely mean well, but unless they preface their answers along the lines of what THEIR ENVIRONMENT is, then they may have a different set of systems/programs/related tools in place, and their experience with what seems a similar symptom, can lead to users implementing additional features to their system that impact the original problem further, to no avail. So by all means share the ideas, because just talking about them, can generate thought processes that uncover another aspect of the ENVIRONMENT (or product) that leads to a solution, but not necessarily by the suggested steps contributed directly. It is a diagnosis, interpretive process after all, because a majority of questions come from anonymous users, who have rights to privacy of what might be a rather confidential set of figures/examples. In those situation, using a COPY of the COMPANY file, and putting a dummy test transaction in for illustration, is a real help to getting problems solved so much quicker.

Mind you, this is often frustrating when accounting users who are brilliant at bookkeeping and compliance reporting, are confronted by some obscure computer message that is totally gobbly-gook to them.

My best suggestion is to
- pin point any unique error code, and at the very least,
- do your search including the operating system name
and Reckon product name/version.

That was the point of this forum article, and the 6 points raised at the very beginning. The SOLUTION you seek, is totally dependent on realising you are asking about matters that are exactly your environment your operating system, your product and THEIR versions.

Community Search for '50,000'

Google Search for "50,000 Reckon"
finds it on first hit out of 591,000 items!

This forum topic comes up #1 out of 7,990,000 already!

Gary Pope
m: 0408994799
e: gaz@alchester.com.au
An Accredited Partner- Consultant (VIC. Aust)
http://www.alchester.com.au/reckon-ac...
"Working with Accountants/Bookkeepers PPs/APs, as an
independent IT Professional and retired FCPA Accountant"

Rav · January 2016

SEO done right is a wonderful thing

Datarec · January 2016

We appreciate your detailed posts Gary.

- Reckon Data Recovery Team

gazza73 · February 2016

Followup suggestion:

Solutions to questions on this forum can be provided FASTER.
Provide a clear outline of the system, Reckon program and associated applications .

Take care to include the information mentioned at the start of this topic, to help identify whether the topic is a perceived RECKON program bug, a user process issue, or a system/network environment matter.

Not surprisingly, 90% of the questions on this forum in the past 10 months have been in the latter two categories, once duplicated questions about the same query are eliminated.

The trick is in how you can use Google to search for your perceived "Reckon related query" by including the right key information in your question.

Today, with the increased integration of Reckon to other business products, recognise the importance of having your system environment well supported. Environment covers: operating systems, Cloud infrastructure, internet communications, local networks, ancillary services, middleware and integrated products, to name a few. These require technical support outside of Reckon.

So help this Community Forum pin point the best people to help with your question.

The majority of questions identify a need to have greater engagement for either:

PROCESSES: a suitably experienced Accredited Partner who can provide tutoring/education on bookkeeping/accounting matters.
ENVIRONMENT: engaging with partners who have that important combination of Reckon product experience, plus business expertise and the necessary Computer Systems Administration/networking/integration skills,

Building a relationship with both Accredited Partners (Accountants/Bookkeepers) and Accredited Partners (IT/Consulting), can significantly improve your experience with Reckon Products. They all work together to help.

What's left, is proper liaison and clear examples of what might be a Reckon product issue that needs prompt attention by the Development Team at Reckon. If forum members collectively direct questions in such a way, that final aspect can be separated from the rest, for the benefit of all users of Reckon products.

This overview explains all this, in simple to understand language, with links and examples to where the right resources are available to assist users:

http://blog.reckon.com/accredited-partner-interview-advice-for-solving-community-support-queries

Check it out before asking a question already on the forum. Everybody wins!

Cheers!

Gary Pope
m: 0408994799
e: gaz@alchester.com.au
An Accredited Partner- Consultant (VIC. Aust)
http://www.alchester.com.au/reckon-ac...

"Working with Accountants/Bookkeepers PPs/APs, as an
independent IT Professional and retired FCPA Accountant"

6 ways to gain best Reckon Community Support around the clock

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