Just a quick update with regard to our InstantKB.NET v2.0 release.

We are currently working hard to make this release available as quickly as possible. We are currently aiming for a Christmas public BETA. This release has taken quite some time and we sincerely appreciate everyone’s loyal patience and support.

We welcome any existing InstantKB.NET customer to participate in the beta and welcome all feedback. If you would like to receive more information when the beta is available please tick the "Participate in product testing" checkbox within your My.InstantASP account profile page at http://my.instantasp.co.uk/MyProfile.aspx

InstantKB.NET v2.0 will integrate with InstantForum.NET and the ability to share a single sign-on between all our existing and future products will be available. We are also looking at other ways to integrate the products such as offering the option to automatically create forum topics for knowledge base content or taking advantage of field templates within InstantForum.NET to provide custom fields.

InstantKB.NET v2.0 will be a free update for all customers who purchase InstantKB.NET v1.x 3 months prior to our InstantKB.NET v2.0 release.

I've provided below a brief list of new features you can expect to find in the forthcoming InstantKB.NET v2.0 release...

Features

Customizable Work-Flows

- Customizable work-flows allow you to create processes that mimic existing business processes. For example you could create work-flows for approval of knowledge base articles, trouble-shooting guides or downloads. Or work-flow rules for escalation, opening or closing support tickets. 
- Organize work-flows or even work-flow steps by department to ensure only relevant work-flow is visible
- Create and manage notification lists for individual work-flow steps.
- Create and manage field templates for individual work-flow steps.

Custom Field Templates & Article Data

- Customizable form-fields allow you to create unique field templates that can be used through-out many of the default forms. For example you can ask additional questions during registration, or ask questions when a article comment is submitted
- Knowledge base articles, troubleshooter guides, tickets and downloads can all have their own unique set of custom fields or meta data associated with them. You can control which fields are displayed based on user role
- Control which fields are displayed at each work-flow stage. For example you could provide custom fields a reviewer must complete before they can move an article to the an approved work-flow step or fields a support technician must complete before they can close a ticket.

Knowledge Base Features

- Ajax based client-side tree-navigation. Post backs are no longer required to explore categories.
- Unlimited number of knowledge base categories, sub-categories & articles
- Only categories and articles within categories associated with the current user’s roles will be visible
- RSS feeds available for article categories, latest articles and most popular articles
- Customizable articles views, choose which columns are displayed and where

Knowledge Base Article Features

- Visitors can submit comments and rate articles
- Easily print, email, bookmark or link to articles
- Export articles as PDF for offline reading
- Article attachments, related articles and related external links
- Field level permissions provide control over visible article meta data (Created By, Assigned To, Priority, Custom Fields etc)
- Multiple article templates allow you quickly create consistent content across categories
- Create new knowledge base content directly from a support tickets
- Full audit trail for all knowledge base articles with version control

Troubleshooter Features

- Unlimited number of troubleshooter categories, sub-categories & guides
- Only categories and guides within categories associated with the current user’s roles will be visible
- RSS feeds available for troubleshooter categories, latest guides and most popular guides
- Customizable articles views, choose which columns are displayed and where

Troubleshooter Guide Features

- Create interactive questions for visitors that will allow them to work through a series of steps to find a specific solution to a problem
- Administrators or assigned staff can easily link questions to the next troubleshooting step or possible solution
- Field level permissions provide control over visible guide data
- Full audit trail for all troubleshooter guides with version control
- Troubleshooter guides also inherit many of the standard features available to articles (attachments, comments etc)

Ticket Features

- Users can submit tickets to a specific department. Custom field templates allow you to ask the questions you need when 
raising a new ticket. Staff within the department will be notified when a ticket is raised and can respond accordingly via the staff control panel
- When user's submit a new ticket you can optionally display a list of relevant suggestions from within the knowledge base, troubleshooter or download sections
- Users can manage, search and respond to existing tickets

Download Features

- Unlimited number of download categories, sub-categories & downloads
- Only categories and downloads within categories associated with the current users roles will be visible
- RSS feeds available for download categories, latest downloads and most popular downloads
- Field level permissions provide control over visible download data
- Full audit trail for all downloads with version control
- Downloads also inherit many of the standard features available to articles (comments, rating etc)

Content Tags

- Every knowledge base article, troubleshooting guide, ticket or download can be assigned tags to improve search relevancy and overall discoverability of the content
- A central tag page allows you to view and search tags at a quick glace

Contact Page

- Customizable general contact form. Use field templates to quickly setup a unique feedback, questions or suggestions form to meet your specific requirements.

Staff Control Panel

- Dedicated staff control panel allowing assigned staff to manage categories, knowledge base articles, trouble shooting guides, tickets and/or downloads
- Manage and respond to support tickets, flag tickets, assign tickets, create customizable ticket views, manage ticket work-flow, add ticket notes, view ticket audit trials & much more.

Administrator Control Panel

- Comprehensive control over every aspect of the product
- Manage Categories, Articles, Guides, Tickets, Downloads, Staff, Departments, Members, Groups, Skins, Attachments, General Settings & much more
- Assign staff to manage categories, articles, trouble-shooting guides, tickets and/or downloads
- Create ticket escalation rules & custom work-flow processes
- Create pre-defined categorized replies for ticket questions
- Customize all the features that are visible to users. For example you may wish to simply use the knowledge base portion of the software or just the ticketing system or both but with no troubleshooting guides. You can configure the features you require,
- Comprehensive user tracking and usage statistics

Security & Roles

- Role based permissions provide control over which categories, articles, troubleshooting guides or downloads are visible
- Unique overrideable "Permission Sets" provide comprehensive control over available features
- Protection on all user input from malicious code (injection attacks, cross-site scripting)
- Ban abusive, problem members or limit their permissions within the knowledge base
- Ban problem IP addresses from any further new registrations or login attempts

Permission Sets

- Unique Permission Sets feature offers unrivaled control over application permissions & features
- Permission sets can be associated to any member group or overridden when associated to a specific member
- Permission sets can be assigned to member groups within a category, controlling what features a group can access within a specific category

High Performance

- Designed from the ground-up for massive performance & scalability
- Customizable data caching (greatly reducing database trips)
- SQL Server parameterized stored procedures, well designed tables, optimized indexes & fk constraints
- Strongly typed data objects & custom data collections (No heavy, slow System.Data.DataSet)
- Benchmarked paging algorithm supporting hundreds of thousands of pages & millions of records
- Email queuing system, emails are queued and polled in the background at set intervals
- ASP.NET Viewstate is disabled for 99.9% of pages (smaller pages, less serialization)
- 100% compiled, managed .NET assemblies (No COM or other dependences)

Highly Scalable

- Unique SQL Server based state management (no dependency on the session or application objects)
- Well defined architecture (separate presentation, application & data layers)
- Takes advantage of data caching to minimize database requests

Well Designed

- Object Orientated Architecture
- Implements many best practices (singleton objects, data factory, facade objects, custom data collections)
- Takes advantage of the InstantASP.Common base library and shared InstantASP authentication model
- Enhanced error handling, choose if you want to receive an email for errors or simply log exceptions
- URL Rewriting ensures addresses are search engine friendly and easier to remember & type

Developer Friendly

- Integrates with Microsoft® Visual Studio.NET 2003 (or above)
- Intuitive API with intellisense support within Microsoft® Visual Studio.NET
- Fully commented, clean structured code with class reference documentation
- Follows many familiar Microsoft patterns and practices examples

Multi-Lingual

- Localize every aspect of the forum (UI, Email Templates, Dictionary)
- Drag & Drop Language Packs (automatically detected, no configuration required)

Skinning & Template Driven

- Portable skinning model
- Each skin can have a completely unique layout and visual appearance
- Drag and Drop Skins (automatically detected, no configuration required)
- Easily create & edit skins within the admin area
- Wrappers can be used to easily wrap header and footer HTML around any skin

Search Features

- Optional SQL Server Full-Text Search (both FreeTextTable & ContainsTable are supported)
- Search article or troubleshooter guide attachments and downloads such as PDF files or office documents
- Keyword highlighting, highly optimized TSQL & full-text search queries
- Live RSS feed available for all search results

Member Features

- Comprehensive dedicated control panel for each member
- Members can customize language, skin, time zone, daylight saving time & many other options
- Assign members a primary group and multiple secondary groups (controlling which content is visible)
- Assign a dedicated permission set to any member to override any other permission set
- Define permission sets for member groups or a specific member (controlling which features are available)
- Members activity displayed throughout forum (optional anonymous login feature for members)
- Easily configure which member group new members or member awaiting activation should be placed into
- Easily activate any members awaiting approval within the admin area
- Fully searchable, sort-able members list with ability to restrict access

Login / Registration Features

- Easily configure registration mode (Automated, Confirmation Email or Admin Approval)
- Configure default member groups for new members or member awaiting activation
- Optional Terms & Conditions during registration
- Username or email-address can be specified as primary login detail
- Implements ASP.NET forms authentication with encrypted authentication ticket
- Well designed, documented reusable authentication model

Ease of Use

- Familiar InstallShield Installation Wizard
- Eloquent Intuitive Design
- Comprehensive Web Based Administration

I’ll ensure to keep the forums updated with our progress. Screenshots will be posted very soon within our private customer forums to gather any feedback early before the beta.

We are very excited about the new features and plan to ensure your patience will be rewarded.

Don't hesitate to send any questions or comments to ryan[AT]instantasp.co.uk


Kindest Regards,

Ryan Healey
Director / Developer

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