Just a quick note that we’re currently upgrading our helpdesk. If you send an email and don’t get an auto-response with a ticket id, we have not received your email.

Our server may also be a bit sluggish/slow.

Once we are upgraded, I will add an update. Any emergency issues can be sent via the forums, via private messenger to either myself (Alasdair) or Andy (Rockwell).

Are you currently entitled to PHPAudit support and downloads access? If you purchased PHPAudit more than 12 months ago or haven’t renewed in that time, you won’t be! For access to PHPAudit v2.4, you’ll need to renew this via our client area.

We will also be making an important announcement next month - now is the time to renew and be prepared! All customers with active support and downloads access will benefit from this announcement, so don’t delay!

As an added bonus, for the next 10 days until Friday 1 May 2009, we’ve taken 10% off all our renewal prices - no coupons or rebates, simply an immediate discount!

We are currently looking for PHPAudit users who would be interested in beta testing a brand new product. This product is relevant to everyone using PHPAudit, regardless of your target market!

We will be running a private beta this month, limited to approximately 10 people, before moving to a public beta at some point next month.

Full details are available in our forums, click here to read.

We’ve just released the next incremental update to PHPAudit, version 2.4. Click here to read the release announcement.

PHPAudit Lite users should read this important announcement regarding a change you need to make to your license key before upgrading.

Just wanted to make a quick post to let everyone know we are under a hurricane watch here in Wilmington. This means hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours. Expect delays in support ticket response time over the weekend and possibly into next week.

We are safe and well prepared for the storm. Here’s a link to our local news covering the storm:

http://www.wect.com/Global/story.asp?S=8701080

**Update**

The storm came and went without any power loss or damage. All systems are up and running!

We are pleased to announce the release of our latest product, m3|Spy! It is built on our new m3 Framework and allows you to track visitors to your web site in real-time.

Every visit is logged and recorded, allowing you to scroll through past visits from the same user. Find out where users arrive and leave your site, and then use this data to improve the chances they will decide to stay and purchase. Track visitors on any page - website, order form or support desk. Real-time monitor to see people as they navigate the site.

m3|Spy also has a powerful reporting system. Designed to improve your conversion ratio, Spy contains a variety of different reports to help you fine-tune your site which will drive more sales and profits. Reports range from the popular referrals to the most common entry and exit points.

Read more about m3|Spy here:

http://solidphp.com/products/m3spy/index.php

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.