Seeker is used to support and manage requests for action. These requests may be Internal (from within the organisation) or External (from outside the organisation). Let's consider some typical requests:

[Internal] - I need to borrow a lap top from 12.15pm today ...
[Internal] - Hello, We've got a new starter, Jane Wilson, she'll need ...
[External] - I want to report a breakdown ...
[Internal] - Hi, When working from home I can't access the ...
[External] - I want to query Invoice No. BR75241 - we didn't receive ...
[Internal] - The projector in Meeting Room 4 is not working ...
[External] - We're getting an error message when we try to ...

You can 'manage' thousands of requests like this by having emails and paper notes flying in all directions but no-one can see how well the requests are managed. As a result inefficiencies creep in. Work is not prioritised and people spend their time chasing other people instead of working. It is inefficient both for people who need support and for those who are tasked to provide it.

Now let's look at how requests for support are handled using Seeker.

• A call is logged on Seeker - the person logging it (a member of staff, or someone from outside the organisation) selects a suitable Category and Priority for the call
• The Category they select determines who the call will be presented to for action
• The Priority they select determines how long is allowed for the call to be responded to and fixed
• As soon as the call is logged, the agents tasked to deal with the problem are notified by email
• They use the helpdesk to respond to the call and the person who logged it can monitor the call and add further responses as necessary
• The dialogue between the person seeking support and the agent providing it is held with the call for either party to review (even if the person who logged the call responds to an email sent from Seeker - their response is trapped and added to the call history)
• Agents and managers can review all support calls and can see at a glance which calls are not being dealt with properly and take appropriate action.

Please Note ...

• You can try Seeker FREE for as long as you need to evaluate it
• There are no implementation delays or start-up costs

In the e-economy, you may never meet your customers and your staff may be anywhere. User-friendly, proactive support is essential.

This page provides a very brief summary of how Seeker works. To find out more:

• Read the User Guide to gain a complete understanding of how Seeker works
• Take a detailed look at the Full Picture (Seeker's Features List) - if you are already familiar with helpdesk software
• Have a look at some Case Studies to review some real examples of how Seeker is used by our customers.
• Check out Pricing for Seeker
• Request a Free Trial
• Give it a try! Log a call on our helpdesk and see how it works.

Getting Started

>

See how quick and easy it is to get your organisation set up to provide measurable, effective support to your staff or customers.

This page provides an overview of the fundamental structure and features of Seeker. If the information below is too detailed at this stage, our User Guide includes a more general guide to how Seeker works. Please note: the feature list below is not exhaustive.

A Seeker Helpdesk Application has the following components:

• Users
• Agents
• Team Leaders
• Queues
• Categories
• Sub-Categories
• Priorities
• Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
• Actions
• Parameters

Features for Users

Users of a Seeker Helpdesk are defined as members of staff of the company operating the Helpdesk. Users of Seeker Call Manager are defined as people from outside the organization. Users are able to:

• Log a call and specify the
  • Category of the call
  • Sub-Category of the call
  • Priority of the call
• Attach a file to the call
• Review their current calls
• Check whether a call is being answered in accordance with Service Level Agreements
• View the SLAs for Response time and Fix time which are shown graphically and as actual times
• View the Call list showing exactly how long each call has until each SLA expires (or how far past each SLA the call is)
• Be aware of calls that are close to passing their SLA expiry times which are shown in Amber
• Be aware of calls that have passed their SLA expiry times which are shown in Red
• View the details of a call and see the actions / comments made by Agents
• Add comments of their own to a call
• Receive automated email notification when a call is updated or completed
• Review calls completed in the last month
• Re-activate a completed call
• Amend their own contact details
• Search the Knowledge Base

Features for Agents

An Agent is defined as someone who will provide First and possibly Second Line Support. An Agent cannot administer a Seeker application. An Agent can log calls on behalf of users and can be a user themselves if they want to log a call for action by another department. Features affecting Agents are:

• Agents can log calls on behalf of users
• Agents can log calls as a user
• Agent can only see calls in Queues the Agent is assigned to
• Agents monitor and act on new calls in their queues
• Optional auto notification by email when new call appears in queue
• When a call is acted on the call is assigned to the Agent
• After a call is assigned, Agent can re-assign to another agent in same Queue
• Ability to change call Category, Sub-Category and Priority
• Ability to change Queue thereby creating workflow
• Ability to suspend call to cater for events beyond Agents control
• Agents select from pre-defined list of Actions and can add description to support Action
• Calls can be logged and completed in one process for simple tasks
• Optional auto notify user when call is updated or completed
• Search for calls by User or by Call Number or filters (see below)
• Agents can filter calls to see:
  • All calls assigned to them
  • All unassigned calls
  • Calls in a specific Queue
• And can further filter calls to see calls:
  • Received today
  • Less than an hour old
  • Between 1 and 4 hours old
  • Between 4 hours and 1 day old
  • Between 1 day and 3 days old
  • Older than 3 days
  • Completed today
• The SLAs for Response time and Fix time are shown graphically and as actual times
• Call list shows exactly how long each call has until each SLA expires (or how far past each SLA the call is)
• Calls nearing the SLA expiry time are highlighted in Amber
• Calls that have passed the SLA expiry times are highlighted in Red
• Calls that have been completed are only in the Call List on the day of completion and are shown as completed
• Calls where the last action was either by another agent or by the user are highlighted
• Agents can enter the time they spend on a call so a total time spent on a call can be seen for reporting or billing purposes
• Search the Knowledge Base
• Make an entry to the Knowledge Base

Features for Team Leaders

A Team Leader administers the application. A Team Leader can access all the features that an Agent can use and can act as an Agent if required by assigning himself to Queues. Features Team Leaders can use are:

• Add, edit and delete Categories and Sub-Categories
• Assign load factors to each Sub-Category (used to calculate workload of each Agent)
• Add, edit and delete Queues
• Specify which Queue a Category initially sends calls to
• Specify whether a Queue notifies its Agents when a new call is logged
• Add, edit and delete Priorities
• Specify Response Time and Fix Time for each Priority
• Add, edit and delete Action definitions - these are pre-defined Actions that Agents select when updating or completing a call
• Add, edit and delete Users and Agents
• Specify which Queues each Agent is assigned to
• Specify the start and finish time of the working day operated by Agents
• Specify the group (or Queue) email addresses used to notify all Agents assigned to a Queue
• Monitor calls and re-assign to different Agents or Queues as required
• View and amend the allocation of all Agents to all Queues
• Review and delete as required call attachments

Application Features

Seeker is designed to be transparent so Team Leaders (and other senior managers) can see exactly how well calls are handled. It also provides tools to review and share the workload equally between Agents (this is automated in the Seeker Autoload ACD module.) These functions are built in to the application.

• The moment a call is logged a timer starts running for the call
• Seeker constantly calculates the time that has elapsed since the call was logged
• The calculation takes into account
  • The start and finish times of the working day operated by Agents
  • Weekends
  • Public Holidays for the country the application is being used in
  • Times when the call is suspended
• Seeker constantly checks the elapsed time with the amount of time specifed in the SLAs for each Priority
• A visual aid is given to alert Agents and Users to calls that either are about to exceed, or have exceeded, the SLAs
• Every time an action is taken, it is recorded against the call
• The call history shows every action and the person responsible for taking the action - so attempts to distort the SLAs are clearly visible
• Each Priority level and each Sub-Category are assigned load factors - these relate to the amount of skill and/or time necessary to deal with a typical call
• The load factors are used to calculate the workload of each Agent. A Team Leader can review the workload of all Agents and transfer calls accordingly.

Reports

Seeker provides a range of reports visible to Team Leaders designed to pinpoint weaknesses and strengths in the management of calls. The information can be used to evaluate the performance of both man and machine enabling informed decisions to be made regarding training and allocation of resources. Reports are available in a popular spreadsheet format or as XML files.

Reports available include:

• Calls by Agent between specified dates
• Summary of calls by Agent between specified dates
• List of Calls by Status and SLA between specified dates for a single category
• List of Calls by Category between specified dates
• Summary of Calls by Category between specified dates
• List of Calls by Status between specified dates
• List of Calls by User between specified dates
• Summary of Calls by User between specified dates
• List of Calls logged per day between specified dates
• Summary of Calls logged per day between specified dates
• List of completed Calls by Agent between specified dates
• List of open Calls by Agent between specified dates
• List of current Categories
• List of Active Users

If you take calls like this (or by email) - log them all and make sure they're dealt with properly!

Getting Started

>

See how quick and easy it is to get your organisation set up to provide measurable, effective support to your staff or customers.

The Big Picture

>

An overview of how Seeker works with the principal concepts and functionality explained.

The Full Picture

>

Review the features that make Seeker what we believe is the most flexible, user-friendly and effective helpdesk available.

No matter how intuitive and flexible the software we build is, we need people to find potential clients, explain the benefits Seeker can bring and to work through the initial process of setting up categories, queues, priorities and users.

What's in it for us?

Nothing beats a personal introduction and explanation when it comes to explaining to a potential client what Seeker can do. No matter how much information is provided on a web site, or in a User Guide - having someone in a position to explain and demonstrate how Seeker can be easily configured to meet an organisation's specific support requirements is invaluable.

What's in it for you?

Seeker is provided on the ASP (Application Service Provider) model - we host the software and clients pay a monthly rental (which means no large up-front costs and ongoing access to the latest software version). In return for introducing and 'signing-up' clients, you receive a share of the monthly rental - which means that you can build up a significant income stream.

To find out more, please go to the Contact page and select 'Partner Enquiry' as your category.

Let's work together

Getting Started

>

See how quick and easy it is to get your organisation set up to provide measurable, effective support to your staff or customers.

The Big Picture

>

An overview of how Seeker works with the principal concepts and functionality explained.

The Full Picture

>

Review the features that make Seeker what we believe is the most flexible, user-friendly and effective helpdesk available.

When you're ready to try Seeker, here's the process:

• you request a free trial from the Contact page
• we create a helpdesk for your organisation, liase with you to understand your business requirements and structure things to meet your needs
• you supply us with a list of users (which we'll set up) or you can add a few test users so you can explore how Seeker works
• you start using the helpdesk and take as much time as you need to evaluate it
• we provide as much support as you need to maximise the benefits (always, not just when you are evaluating it!)
• if you decide Seeker is right for your organisation, we'll remove your test data and start your license

Seeker gives you a head start with superior support for your staff and customers.

Free Trial

>

Use Seeker free for as long as you need to evaluate it. Request a Free Trial on the Contact page

The Big Picture

>

An overview of how Seeker works with the principal concepts and functionality explained.

Let's start at the beginning

How do you deal with enquiries made either by your staff or your customers? Let's think about a typical internal request.

Pete decides he needs a new group email account set up to use on a particular project. He could:

• telephone the IT department and ask someone
• email itsupport@hiscompany.co.uk and make his request

If he telephones, someone might scribble his request on a note and stick it on the computer monitor of someone who could deal with the request. The person who reads the note, may well put it to one side - he is busy at the moment. The note makes its way under clutter on the desk and nothing gets done. 3 days later, Pete, now desperate to get on with his project and get his colleagues on the project using one group email address, rings again. No-one seems to know anything about his request and all that has happened is that time has been wasted.

If he emails his request, it might be seen by the half a dozen IT support people who are subscribed to the itsupport@hiscompany.co.uk email address. But who decides who will act on the request? Everyone could ignore the request because they are busy and think or hope someone else will deal with it. Maybe one of them will act on the request but how many of them will waste their time looking to see if it has been done? A couple of days go by and Pete has heard nothing, so he emails again. He has no way of knowing if anyone has seen or is dealing with his request. Will it get dealt with this time? If it doesn't, who will be able to tell that there are outstanding requests and make sure they are acted upon. The list of things that can go wrong with such a method of dealing with requests for action is literally endless. Inefficiency is built in.

Now, we'll do things properly

Pete wants a new group email address set up. He clicks a link on his desktop that logs him directly into the company Seeker helpdesk. He enters what he wants done and selects a category of 'Email' and a 'Sub-Category' of 'New Account'. When he submits the call, automatically, because of the Category selected - it is routed to the 'Software Support' queue and the IT support staff assigned to that queue are emailed to notify them a new call has been logged. Everyone assigned to the Software Support queue can see the call and can decide to take the call. All calls can be seen and monitored by Jane, the Team Leader for the Software Support queue. She can see that the Priority for the call is 4 hours - it is quite urgent but is not stopping anyone from working - and she allocates the call to Mike. Any other agent looking at the call can see it has been allocated and that they don't need to get involved. But, crucially, Jane, Mike and anyone else assigned to the Software Support queue can see the call. And, 3 hours after the call was logged (75% of the time allowed for the call to be responded to has gone by) the little green 'traffic light' icon next to the call turns Amber. This warns everyone time is running out and the call really needs to be dealt with. Jane sees Mike is still busy on something so she steps in, sets up the email address required by Pete but realises that Pete has not specified who else he wants to be assigned to the new group email address.

She adds a note to the call asking who is to be assigned to the group email address and ticks a checkbox to notify the user - Pete - so that he will receive an email containing the query Jane has raised. When Jane saves the note to the call, she suspends the call which stops the clock ticking. At this point, Pete may not be around so a day might go by before he responds.

Pete has gone to see a client and doesn't see the email until much later that day. When he reads it he clicks 'Reply' and says that he wants, Bill Smith, Martin Brown and Denise Green to be assigned to the new group email address.

Pete's emailed reply is intercepted by Seeker and added to the call. It also reactivates the call. Anyone on the Software Support queue can see the call is alive again and can see Pete's reply. They add the people requested to the group email address and add another note telling Pete what the account details of the new email account are. At this point the call is closed.

The very simple example above outlines the benefits of using Seeker. The call is visible so it MUST be dealt with. Pete can see his enquiry is being dealt with. His responses and the support staff's notes are all kept with the call - all the communication is visible and in one place. No-one has to chase anyone else up and waste their time. Multiply this by the myriad calls for action made between different departments, and from customers, each day - and you have the potential to transform your organisation's efficiency.

Don't put up with inefficiency

The 'traditional' situations described above (dealing with requests for action on the phone or by email) happen in organizations everywhere - all the time. Inefficiency is built in. Time is wasted. Opportunities are missed. Calls are not returned. Complaints are not dealt with properly. Staff and customers can be left unsupported and disappointed.

Using Seeker you can SEE how well you support your staff and customers. And nothing promotes action like transparency.

When your clients or staff want something, do you know how quickly you respond? Can you see how their enquiry is dealt with?

Getting Started

>

See how quick and easy it is to get your organisation set up to provide measurable, effective support to your staff or customers.

This page provides a very brief explanation of the reasons for having a helpdesk. To find out more:

• Read the User Guide to gain a complete understanding of how Seeker works
• Take a detailed look at the Full Picture (Seeker's Features List) - if you are already familiar with helpdesk software
• Have a look at some Case Studies to review some real examples of how Seeker is used by our customers.
• Check out Pricing for Seeker
• Request a Free Trial
• Give it a try! Log a call on our helpdesk and see how it works.

The team behind Seeker

Prophecy was formed by developers who have created bespoke software solutions for a wide variety of clients across different industries including RAC plc, Pioneer, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, DABs Direct (the UK's largest technology mail order company), Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Astra Zeneca and parts of the NHS.

Regardless of who we've built systems for, your main questions will be along the lines of 'does it work?' - 'is it easy to use?' - 'will our people use it? - 'is it reliable?'

Seeker has been available since 2003 and almost all our clients who started using Seeker then are still with us. (We say 'almost all' - there is one who no longer uses it - but they were bought by another company.) We can boast 99.999% uptime and, for many of our customers, Seeker has become a vital part of their business processes.

The thinking behind Seeker

Seeker - our Helpdesk and Call Management software - was born out of frustration with existing poorly featured and difficult to use packages. Asked to source a helpdesk for a client, we could find nothing that met the requirements - so we built one.

We made Seeker web based so you benefit from no start-up costs, no worries about installation or upgrades and rapid deployment. Ask for a Seeker Helpdesk today and you will, quite literally, be using it tomorrow. And we built in a high degree of flexibility so you can use the software to do exactly what you need it to do in your particular organisation.

1000 people in 10 offices with hundreds of clients - or one office with a handful of people - Seeker works for every size of organisation.

Getting Started

>

See how quick and easy it is to get your organisation set up to provide measurable, effective support to your staff or customers.

The Big Picture

>

An overview of how Seeker works with the principal concepts and functionality explained.

The Full Picture

>

Review the features that make Seeker what we believe is the most flexible, user-friendly and effective helpdesk available.

You can use Seeker to support your staff or your clients - or both.

When you support your staff, the structure is simple - you add everyone in your organisation to Seeker, any number of them can be agents and you can use Seeker to support every area of your business. For this implementation of Seeker - an Internal Helpdesk - the monthly charge is based on the number of users - as detailed below.

Pricing for Seeker Internal Helpdesk

Number of users	Price per calendar month
1-50	£50.00
51-100	£100.00
101-150	£150.00
151-200	£185.00
200-350	£300.00
350-500	£425.00
500+	£POA (A bespoke price will be provided to companies with in excess of 500 users)

Pricing for Seeker External Helpdesk

If you use Seeker to support your clients (an External Helpdesk) you'll need to add some of your staff (those who will act as agents) and any number of clients, with any number of users at each client. Because we have no way of knowing whether you might want to add 100 agents working in a call centre environment, logging thousands of calls a day from thousands of client users - or whether you might want to list just 3 of your staff as agents and support occasional calls from, say, 50 clients - we will provide a price after discussing your approximate foreseen requirements.

Every call is monitored against timeframes you specify with highly visible warnings if a call is about to go over time.

Getting Started

>

See how quick and easy it is to get your organisation set up to provide measurable, effective support to your staff or customers.

The Big Picture

>

An overview of how Seeker works with the principal concepts and functionality explained.

The Full Picture

>

Review the features that make Seeker what we believe is the most flexible, user-friendly and effective helpdesk available.

Capita

One of our first clients, Capita is a leading provider of specialist outsourcing and consulting solutions to the UK life and pensions industry. With almost 600 staff based in 8 offices throughout the UK, Capita have been using Seeker since 2003 to manage the myriad requests for support generated every day.

Staff designated as agents provide structured support for Facilities, Human Resources, IT Development, IT Support and Change Management. Seeker is also used to manage calls from Capita clients - many of whom are corporate 'household names'.

To date close to 50,000 calls have been handled.

National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence - NICE

NICE is an independent organisation responsible for providing national guidance on promoting good health and preventing and treating ill health.

With over 800 staff based throughout the UK, NICE have over 40 members of staff designated as agents who provide Hardware, Software, Network, Telephone System, Training, HR and Info Services support. Since starting to use Seeker in 2004 well over 30,000 calls have been handled.

Rushlift Group

Rushlift are a leading provider of innovative materials handling solutions. Rushlift have over 100 staff based throughout the UK with agents providing IT support using Seeker. To date over 5000 calls have been handled.

Seeker becomes an integral part of our customers' provision of support to their staff and their customers.

Getting Started

>

See how quick and easy it is to get your organisation set up to provide measurable, effective support to your staff or customers.

The Big Picture

>

An overview of how Seeker works with the principal concepts and functionality explained.

The Full Picture

>

Review the features that make Seeker what we believe is the most flexible, user-friendly and effective helpdesk available.

When you're ready to try Seeker, here's the process:

• you request a free trial from the Contact page
• we create a helpdesk for your organisation, liase with you to understand your business requirements and structure things to meet your needs
• you supply us with a list of users (which we'll set up) or you can add a few test users so you can explore how Seeker works
• you start using the helpdesk and take as much time as you need to evaluate it
• we provide as much support as you need to maximise the benefits (always, not just when you are evaluating it!)
• if you decide Seeker is right for your organisation, we'll remove your test data and start your license

Seeker gives you a head start with superior support for your staff and customers.

Free Trial

>

Use Seeker free for as long as you need to evaluate it. Request a Free Trial on the Contact page

The Big Picture

>

An overview of how Seeker works with the principal concepts and functionality explained.