So you have great helpdesk software that comes with a just OK knowledge base. You realize that implementing a better knowledge base would decrease support and increase productivity. The knowledge base must seamlessly integrate into the helpdesk if it is to replace the just ok knowledge base that comes with the helpdesk.

If you are in this situation we have a solution!

We have created a free m3|KB widget that you can use with your helpdesk. The widget features an auto-complete search that displays the results from m3|KB as you type. We currently offer integration for Cerberus Helpdesk GUI Version 3.0 RC2.

Contact us if you would like a copy of the widget or if you need a widget developed for your specific helpdesk.

To see the widget in action have a look at our helpdesk and try the search:

https://solidphp.com/support/helpdesk/index.php

I’ve created a new video tutorial on how to install m3 applications like m3|KB. All m3 software uses the same installer so I figured this would be a good place to start. This video is the first in a series of tutorials we plan to release for m3 and all SolidPHP products. What tutorials do you think would be useful for future videos?

Click here to view the tutorial.

Common practice in the software industry is to offer a perpetual product with an included upgrade period. This period is usually 6 months to 1 year. After the initial period expires customers have the option to (but are not required to) renew their upgrade package. Without the renewal the customer can no longer download the latest release. In this post I’ll show you how to configure PHPAudit to enforce upgrade periods.

This post assumes you have a working PHPAudit installation, order system and at least one product configured.

1. Start by logging into the PHPAudit admin area, follow this path:

2. Next, we need to create a package for the initial upgrade period:

3. Now we need to create the renewal package:

4. Finally, add the upgrade packages from step #2 and #3 to the product:

4a. As an alternative to step #4 above, you can also add the upgrade packages at the pricing level. This powerful feature allows you to assign custom upgrade packages within different pricing tiers for a single product. Here’s how:

Customers will now have the initial upgrade term included automatically with each new order! When it comes time for renewal, the customer will need to complete the following steps:

This “how to” article covers a question we are often asked. If you have a suggestion for a new article let us know. Enjoy the article and feel free to add comments

As mentioned in our newsletter earlier this month the price of PHPAudit will be increasing from 1st June 2008.

This is part of our effort to standardise pricing across both PHPAudit and Iono, following our acquisition of the latter late last year. Changes were made to Iono previously in January and so these tweaks will bring PHPAudit into line with the pricing model going forward. This near-parity of pricing between PHPAudit and Iono allows our customers to choose the most suitable product based on features rather than price.

From 1^st June 2008, PHPAudit pricing will be as follows:
PHPAudit 250: $99.99 inc. 12 months of support & updates ($75 renewal fee for a further year)
PHPAudit 1000: $225 inc. 12 months of support & updates ($100 renewal fee for a further year)
PHPAudit 2500: $350 inc. 12 months of support & updates ($150 renewal fee for a further year)

The renewal pricing for our PHPAudit Unlimited customers will follow that of PHPAudit 2500, and so increases to $150 per year.

Complete parity of pricing is expected to be achieved towards the end of the year, following the necessary technical changes to both PHPAudit and Iono to support this.

Existing customers nearing the limit of their current license should consider upgrading prior to 1st June to beat the price rise. Equally existing PHPAudit Lite users and prospective customers may wish to purchase either a PHPAudit 1000 or PHPAudit 2500 license to future-proof themselves and avoid the price increase.

I was browsing through 2003 backups the other day when I ran across the very first version of PHPAudit. This version was never released to the general public. We used it internally for contract projects from 2002 until the official PHPAudit v1.0 release on August 6th, 2003.

Compared to the PHPAudit of today it’s quite lacking, but does give a good picture of how development has progressed through the years. I’ve made a few screenshots that show pretty much all there was to it back then.

The Dashboard

Add Product & Licensing

Show All Products

Add/Edit Product Licenses

License Statistics

Product Integration Code

We are pleased to announce our newest product, m3|KB. After having gone through an extensive private beta testing period we feel the software is stable and ready for public distribution. This release makes m3|KB the first product built on our m3 framework. m3|KB is the spiritual successor to our older knowledge base software, Helpexec.

m3|KB hits the road running with all of the standard features you would expect in a knowledge base application and many more that you wouldn’t. Thanks to the m3 framework we have full support for localization, skin based templates, multiple front end profiles (w/ full source code) and many other modern features.

It has taken considerable time and effort to finally get to this point and with m3 we’ve adopted a new approach of doing things right from the start. Hopefully the effort put into development will be clear from the advanced features, smooth interface and documentation from the start.

PHPAudit and Iono have filled part of the ‘????’ gap for several years, handling the invoicing and provision of your products. SolidPHP is proud to announce a new component for businesses to take advantage of.

Online fraud is a huge problem for all successful retailers, and that’s why we’re releasing our m3|Verify order and card verification service.

A fully automated service, m3|Verify captures a users details during checkout and using proprietary algorithms produces an ‘Order Score’. This rates the order based on the likelihood for fraud, and also provides detailed information so that all decisions can be reviewed. Using this information, you can decide whether to process the order, ask for further information, or reject the transaction. This can be used to reduce and eliminate chargeback’s and their associated fees, and confirm the people you are dealing with are who they say they are.

Currently compatible with PHPAudit (iono compatibility will be released with v2.7.0), the online API based service can easily be integrated with most billing systems. You also have the option of using our virtual terminal, which allows you to manually submit details and get an on the spot score returned.

Our flat rate pricing starts at just $7 per month – see our m3|Verify site for details. Reduce your ???? uncertainty and increase your profits today.

As the new SolidPHP site and m3 started to come together, I found myself increasingly reflecting on what happened in 2007 and where we are heading.

For most of our customers, it will come as a surprise that until 2007, a large amount of our time and revenue came from large contracts rather than our own products. In early 2007, that all changed and lead to a very interesting year.

Some of the highlights:

1. Andy’s new baby girl!
2. Finally getting to serve some of our customers who’ve been begging us to take on their custom development for months/years
3. Acquiring Iono
4. Finishing the m3 Framework
5. Starting work on the new SolidPHP website

Yes, it’s been a very interesting year and probably shaped SolidPHP more than the previous years all put together.

My two highlights, mainly because of my involvement with them, has been the acquisition of Iono and the new website. For many of our customers, it would probably be a dream come true to be able to acquire your main competitor. Late in 2007, this became a reality for us. In a way, it’s affected us far more than we could imagine. Being able to examine another business that mirrors your own on the outside but inside is a completely different beast is hugely revealing and rewarding. It forced us to re-examine certain parts of our own existing business (for the better I think) and probably one of the biggest changes customers will be able to see is documentation right from the start in m3. Rather curiously, one of the most memorable things about it was probably the day before it was announced, a prospective PHPAudit buyer saying “Fine, I’ll go to Iono” because we refused them a discount. Suffice to say, they didn’t get a discount on Iono either (but are now a very happy PHPAudit customer!).

The new SolidPHP website is also a huge favourite of mine. While we used to have a SolidPHP site, this was removed quite some time ago as it was outdated and didn’t seem to portray the business the way we wanted it to. We started work on the new site in 2007, and over the last few months, have tweaked and added to it. While it’s not quite finished and will be undergoing some minor changes in the next few weeks, we hope you agree that it’s far better than what we had before! If you have any comments on it, myself and Andy would really like to hear so please get in touch.

Despite everything, we came out of 2007 healthier than ever. As we now move close to the first stable release of a product built on m3, it’s amazing to think about everything that actually went into this. It’s easy to look at quantifiable things like time and money, but, in the bigger picture so much else goes in – immeasurable amounts of effort, the emotional ups and downs, the love and affection for developing great products. So much more goes into a product than can be measured, and I hope that this will show as you take a look at m3|KB and beyond.

2008 is going to be a big year for SolidPHP. I hope you will join us on this journey.