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At a minimum, they allow you to create visual presence in a store, using “Staff Identifiers” to reveal you as the owner and staff who might be able to assist the customers. You can get more sophisticated with the “Customer Alert Mat” which alters you to come to your stores if you are available online. Finally, using channels, create combinations of staff that respond as a group to your customers.
The devices are:
STAFF IDENTIFIER (no transfer) - Is a 2 primitive object that identifies each of your staff members in your store and whether they are online (green), offline (red) or optionally unavailable (blue/red shade). The device also automatically forwards notecards dropped on it
CUSTOMER ALERT MAT (no transfer) - is a 1 primitive object that captures individuals who walk over them, and manages whether a messages should be sent to staff if no staff are present in the location.
OPTIONAL OBJECTS (Non-Permanent)
AVATAR UUID KEY REPORTER (no modify) - is a 1 primitive object that you use to get the UUID of an avatar if you do not use an SL browser that can conveniently get your staff UUID's for you. You rez it next to your staff member, touch it, then select the member from the list to get their key. When you have the keys of your staff, you can remove the object.
TITLER (no copy) - is a 40 character wide titling system that allows you to take a screen shot within Second Life with text below the head shot of your staff. This is for purchasers who do not have Photoshop, Gimp or another image editing tool to augment the headshots of their staff. CSI includes 2 TITLER objects (no copy, no transfer) Each titler line is 10 prims and can accommodate 40 characters. If the text is less than 40 characters, it is centered. Once you are finished with the titler, you move it back into inventory.
Customer Service Informant Setup
There are three types of setup: BASIC, FULL and ADVANCED.
BASIC SETUP
The most basic CSI setup involves simply deploying individual STAFF IDENTIFIER devices. Each Staff Identifier device requires a notecard with a series of parameters set up. You simply place as many STAFF IDENTIFIERS as you need for each member of your staff.
FULL SETUP
A full setup involves adding one or more CUSTOMER ALERT MATs to your store, usually at the entrances. The CUSTOMER ALERT MAT does nothing without Staff Identifier devices. In my store, I control access to the store through an open doorway. The customer has to pass through the doorway to access the store, and as they walk through, the MAT picks up on who walked in.
You'll want to place the mat on the floor or make the mat large, rather than making it a thin vertical object they pass through. The reason is because staff members will arrive at the store, and need to hit that object in order for the system to stop alerting other staff. While the object you get in the pack age is WHITE, you can show/hide it with a command line option. By default, you use "/55555 HIDE" and "/55555 SHOW" to hide and show the mat.
ADVANCED SETUP
A more sophisticated setup involves using ALERT CHANNELS. For more information, see that section below.
STAFF IDENTIFIER -- FEATURES & SET UP
The Staff Identifier is a 1.25 meter square object consisting of two prims, which can be resized to your liking. The outer prim gives the status of your staff member, while the inner prim simply identifies your staff member using a head shot.
When a customer touches the Staff Identifier, one of two things happen. If the staff member is online, they are summoned to the location. If they are not online or unavailable, the system tells the customer to create a notecard and drop it on the object.
When an object is dropped on the Staff Identifier, it is confirmed to be a notecard, then it is forwarded to the staff member, or if you have a FORWARD specified, to that person instead. The Staff Identifier only accepts notecards. All other object types are deleted, and if that happens, the customer is informed of the action.
If a staff member, owner or manager touches the Staff Identifier, the system toggles between OnLine/OffLine to unavailable. If staff are not allowed to set their Unavailability, it resets the object. This is used when settings have been changed.
When you configure the Staff Identifier for one of your staff members, you modify the "!Parameters" notecard inside the object. The notecard contains a series of parameters that describes the operation. Parameters have the format of “VARIABLE=Value”. The variable can be upper and lower case, and the value cannot. If you include spaces around the variable and value, they are automatically trimmed.
The following is a sample of the variables that can appear in the note card. If the line is prefixed by a "#", in the notecard it is considered a comment and ignored. In the sample below, the lines that beging with a "#" are optional parameters, with the value specified as the default. Note: With the exception of the AlertChannel, which is auto generated for your sim and parcel name.
###############################################################
Name=Staff Name and/or Title
key=d7513f10-857d-8764-1587-c59ab2cb10db
Store=The Chamber (MAIN)
URL=Lionheart Scar/112/185/31
# AllowUnavailable=Yes
# Forward=d7513f10-857d-8764-1587-c59ab2cb10db
# Manager=Name 1
# Manager=Name 2
# Ignore=Ignore 1
# Ignore=Ignore 2
# AlertChannel=-500000
###############################################################
NAME - This variable controls the name and/or title of the staff member. We recommend that you use their first name only, instead of their full name. But any value you want to include will work.
KEY - This is the avatar's UUID. It's required to send messages, dialog boxes and notecards to the avatar. When a customer clicks the Staff Identifier, the a message is sent to the avatar (if they are logged on), otherwise, the person who clicked it gets a message saying that member is offline or unavailable.
STORE - Is the name of the store where the avatar clicked the Staff Identifier. This allows you to deploy the Staff Identifiers in multiple store locations. When a message is sent to a staff member, they'll know what store they are going to.
URL - Is the "SIM/X/Y/Z" coordinate that you are sending your staff member when a customer clicks the Staff Identifier object. It is prefixed by "secondlife://" so in the sample "secondlife://Lionheart Scar/112/185/31" appears in Local Chat, and the staff member can click on it to open up a teleport window to transfer to that location.
ALLOWUNAVIALABLE - This optional setting allows you to turn off the "Unavailable" feature. This feature allows your staff member to come to the store(s) and indicate that they are unavailable to be summoned by the Staff Identifier. This allows the staff member to be undisturbed when they are not on duty.
FORWARD - This is the UUID of an avatar that receives notecard drops. By default, it goes to the avatar identified by the KEY (described above), however, with a FORWARD, all notecards go to the person you identify with the FORWARD. This allows one person to receive all or most of the notecard requests, rather than individual staff members dealing with them. A FORWARD does not affect how the staff are alerted by a customer.
MANAGER - When an avatar touches the Staff Identifier, it identifies whether the person is the Avatar identified by the KEY, the owner of the object, one of many managers or just a customer. When the owner, staff member or a manager touches it, it can toggle the staff member's status or reset the object. IMPORTANT: You specify managers by name, not their key.
With managers, you can specify them all one one line (separated by commas) or several lines:
Manager=John Doe,Peter Smith
Manager=Albert Jones
is the same as:
Manager=John Doe
Manager=Peter Smith
Manager=Albert Jones
IGNORE - This is a list of the names of Avatars that you should ignore if they touch or otherwise trigger the device with. The list prevents unwanted traffic from certain individuals who might use the presence of the Staff Identifier to harass you or one of your staff. Any action involving these named avatars are simply ignored.
ALERTCHANNEL - This is used in conjunction with the Staff Identifiers and the Customer Alert Mat. The value is a communication channel (+/- 2 billion), that identifies the channel that associates the mat with one or more staff members.
For example, suppose you have staff that supports planes and other staff that support parachutes. You can clump all the staff together, but using different ALERT CHANNELS allow you to control which set of staff are notified when a Customer Alert Mat is touched by a customer. NOTE: This parameter is also used in weird cases where the auto generated channel conflicts with another owner on the current or adjacent SIM.
CUSTOMER ALERT MAT -- FEATURES & SET UP
The Customer Alert Mat is a typically hidden object that you place at the entrance to your store, or to a section of your store. It should be an object that lays on the ground, rather than an object that is vertical. The reason, is if your staff teleport to a specific location, they may miss the
When you configure a Customer Alert Mat, you modify the "!Parameters" notecard inside the object. The notecard contains a series of parameters that describes the operation. Parameters have the format of “VARIABLE=Value”. The variable can be upper and lower case, and the value cannot. If you include spaces around the variable and value, they are automatically trimmed.
The following is a sample of the variables that can appear in the note card. If the line is prefixed by a "#", in the notecard it is considered a comment and ignored. In the sample below, the lines that beging with a "#" are optional parameters, with the value specified as the default. Note: With the exception of the AlertChannel, which is auto generated for your sim and parcel name.
NOTE: For the STAFF, MANAGER and IGNORE parameters, you can specify more than one value, and specify several avatars on one line when separated by commas or if you prefer, one line per entry, for example:
Manager=John Doe,Peter Smith
Manager=Albert Jones
is the same as:
Manager=John Doe
Manager=Peter Smith
Manager=Albert Jones
###############################################################
# AlertName=Store Entry
# Manager=Staff Manager 1
# Manager=Staff Manager 2
# Listen=55555
# Ignore=Ignore Avatar 1
# Ignore=Ignore Avatar 2
# Staff=Staff Member 1
# Staff=Staff Member 2
# Offset=1.2
# SensorRadius=20
# SensorDuration=60
# AlertChannel=-500000
###############################################################
ALERTNAME - Alert Name identifies the mat that was touched by an avatar. Typically it is at the front of the store, but it could be near a department.
MANAGER - These are the names of the individuals who, in addition to the owner can show and hide the welcome mat. This is used in conjunction with sharing the mat with the group. Where all the listed managers are in the group. It allows them to update Manager, Ignore and Staff settings in the notecard.
LISTEN - Is the channel that the owner and managers use to show and hide the mat. With the default of 55555. to show the mat, type “/55555 Show”. To hide the mat, type “/55555 hide”.
STAFF - Are the names of the individuals who are considered the staff for the store and provide some kind of customer support. You must include the owner and managers in this list if they are to provide support. The mat scans every minute, by default, for avatars that are within a specific distance of the mat. If staff are present, no other online avatars are informed of customer arrivals. If staff are not present, the mat sends a message to Staff Identifier objects indicating that there are customers in the store until a staff member arrives.
Once a staff member walks onto the mat or gets into the store within 20m, by default, the system automatically identifies that staff who are present and stops sending messages to other online staff members. The first time each staff member arrives, they get a dialogue identifying all the customers in the store, and subsequent times they aren't bothered with additional messages, even if new customers arrive. It's assumed that staff who are present in the store, but aren't assisting other customers have the wherewithal to recognize new customers.
IGNORE - This is a list of the names of Avatars that the mat will ignore if they trigger the device with. The list prevents unwanted traffic from certain individuals who might use it to harass you or one of your staff. Any action involving these named avatars are simply ignored.
Ignore can also used for Staff Members. Suppose you have 4 staff. Two support planes and the other supports parachutes. On the customer mat near the Planes department, you list who the staff are, and the two staff members who support Parachutes are ignored. This allows the two staff members supporting Parachutes to walk into the Planes department and not alert those staff about the presence of them as a customer.
OFFSET - This is a positive/negative number that gives the offset to the center of the mat. When there are no staff members in the store, the system will send a message to the Staff Identifiers and they, in turn, will send a message to all online staff. With the location of the customer mat. In some situations, you may want the staff member to arrive above the center of the mat or below to prevent them falling through the floor to being pushed to an upper floor. Offset, allows you to control this.
SENSORRADIUS - Identifies the distance from the center of the mat to the outer edge where mat scans for avatars. As long as staff are in this sphere, the system assumes staff are present in a store. Default: 20m
SENSORDURATION - Identifies the number of seconds between each scan for avatars. We strongly recommend you do not set this value below 15 seconds, to avoid server lag. Default: 60 seconds
ALERTCHANNEL - This is used in conjunction with the Staff Identifiers and the Customer Alert Mat. The value is a communication channel (+/- 2 billion), that identifies the channel that associates the mat with one or more staff members. For example, suppose you have staff that supports planes and other staff that support parachutes. You can clump all the staff together, but using different ALERT CHANNELS allow you to control which set of staff are notified when a Customer Alert Mat is touched by a customer. NOTE: This parameter is also used in weird cases where the auto generated channel conflicts with another owner on the current or adjacent SIM.
AVATAR UUID KEY REPORTER -- FEATURES & SET UP
AVATAR UUID KEY REPORTER is a 1 primitive object that you use to get the UUID of an avatar if you do not use an SL browser that can conveniently get your staff UUID's for you (such as Emerald). You rez it next to your staff member, touch it, then select the member from the list to get their key. When you have identified the keys of your staff, you can remove the object.
TITLER -- FEATURES & SET UP
TITLER is a 40 character wide titling system that allows you to take a screen shot within Second Life with text below the head shot of your staff member. This allows purchasers who are unfamilar with non SL tools like Photoshop, Gimp or another image editing tool to augment the headshots of their staff with text. CSI includes 2 TITLER objects. Each title line is 10 prims and can accommodate up to 40 characters which are automatically centered in the space provided.
To use the Titler:
(1) Right click the Titler, then select “Edit...” from the menu.
(2) Click the “General” tab, and change the description field to the text you want to display.
(3) Close the Edit window.
(4) Left-Click the Titler, and a dialog message will appear. The options are shown below.
TITLER DIALOG OPTIONS
0.01m, 0.05m, 0.1m, 0.25m, 0.5m - Sets the scaling factor for the device. The default is 0.1m. This value is added or removed from the DEPTH or HEIGHT of elements in the titler.
MIN DEPTH - Used to set the minimum depth of the titler object to 0.01m. This the smallest possible value for a primitive.
+DEPTH - Adds the scaling factor to the depth of the title. This is used when you want to scale the TITLER down from it's current size.
-DEPTH - Removes the scaling factor from the depth of the title. Not used frequently.
+HEIGHT - Adds the scaling factor to the height of each item in the title. This is used when you want to increase the height of the letters.
-HEIGHT - Removes the scaling factor to the height of each item in the title. This is used when you want to increase the height of the letters.
FILL - Fills every character with a “#” character. This makes it easier to see the size of the characters when scaling.
DISPLAY MSG - Displays the first 40 characters of the message contained in the Description Field.
QUICK SETTING OF THE WIDTH AND SCALE OF THE TITLER
The dialogue doesn't support setting the width, but you can do this by setting the scale (as described below), then adjusting the height to an appropriate value.
(1) Right click the Titler, then select “Edit...” from the menu.
(2) Hold down the Ctrl and Shift keys. You'll notice 8 handle boxes appear at the corners of the object.
(3) Move your mouse to one of the handles, then LEFT-CLICK and hold the mouse button, then, to scale the title.
(4) Close the Edit Box.
Note: If you discover you cannot scale the object smaller, close the edit box, click the titler and select +DEPTH. Rescale the TITLER, then go back into the menu and select “Min Depth”.
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