Review: Sky Blue Support 1.0
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Sky Blue Solutions was formed in November 2005. The SBS (Sky Blue Support) software was released in September 2006.
The product uses Microsoft SQL Server 2005 for database management and Microsoft VB.Net 2005 as a front end programming language.
Installation of Sky Blue Support is fairly simple. You just have to download and run the setup file, available from Blue Support’s official website. At the start of the installation a screen prompts you to choose one installation type out of two options specified. One option is for first time installation (for server machine, installs database engine). The other installation type is for client machine (installs minimum components). The setup automatically installs the required version of Microsoft Dot Net Framework and SQL Server if needed.
Features
Main functions offered by Sky Blue Support include:
- maintaining customer data
- call logging for the customers that have been added in the database
- stats and reports for present day, the day before or any previous time span
- administration tasks
- help and knowledge base
All of the above features are offered by typical helpdesk software and are self explanatory. In help section of the product comprehensive steps for performing each task are provided along with screenshots.
My Impressions
I have tested Sky Blue Support against the following areas, where I grade them with stars, 1 thru 5 (more is better):- Functionality: I look for useful functions rather than a lot
- Customizability: If you need to align your tool to your business, you'll probably need to customize the tool
- Ease of use: A helpdesk tool must aid, not hinder, the support process
- Speed: Any customer service rep that had to wait on a system while talking to a customer, understands the "need for speed" :-)
- Reliability: You need a tool you can trust, with data integrity, and that works when you need to
The Score
FunctionalitySky Blue Support offers a decent set of features for managing customer data and call log. Apart from the functions, the knowledge base feature is an interesting part of the software. In this facility a user can add comments, tips or an article related to specific problems. Anyone can login and search article in the knowledge base by typing a keyword or phrase in a text field provided. After typing the keyword the entire database is searched and the article if found is displayed.
Sky Blue Support also offers backup and restore feature in a simplified manner. All you have to do is to select the desired location and click backup or restore button. The backup file is named as “Sky_Blue_Support_Backup_200701271754”. Here 2007 is the year, 01 represents month (January), and 1754 represents time (5:54 PM).
The product provides a facility for dynamic generation of reports by specifying your criteria. Some reports were displayed graphically as a pie chart. The product also allows you to export reports in different formats like rich text (rtf), Word, Excel and Crystal Report Format.
The product fulfills all the functional requirements that were expected.
I will give it ***** 5 stars.
Customizability
Sky Blue Support lacked customization options. The software allows you to modify the functional aspects, like adding severities for different jobs like High, Low, and Medium etc according to our own requirements. It has a number of custom fields you can use for your own purpose.
In terms of user interface, there isn’t much customization. There is no facility of changing theme or color scheme. On 800x600 screen resolution some fields were not being displayed, so I had to switch to 1024x768. Another problem with product is that the naming format for backup file cannot be modified. So if you want to implement you own file naming convention, you will have to rename each backup file! ** 2 stars
Ease of Use
Sky Blue Support provides an intuitive interface to the user. Different forms are displayed in tabs due to which navigation between them is very easy. When a record is double clicked, its details automatically open in a separate tab. From there you can make any changes by clicking the edit button. This feature can be a time saver in helpdesk environment.
The only shortcoming of the product was that it had no hot keys for the Admin Options, Backup Database, and Restore Database. **** 4 stars.
Speedd
All the operations were performed in an efficient manner, except the first login which caused a tiny delay due to initialization of database. ***** 5 stars.
Reliability
The software uses MS SQL Server which offers better and secure management of database. Before quitting a form, any unsaved changes in database are notified to the user. During use I found no bugs.
***** 5 stars.
Overall impression
Sky Blue Support provides an easy to learn and manage tool for a typical helpdesk environment. I very much liked the intuitive navigation. If you have special needs that requires customization, or keeping track of assets, this product may not be for you.
**** I give Sky Blue Support 4 stars out of 5.
