Accounts Related Questions

Please refer to this section for all your Accounting and financial related queries, such as upgrading or downgrading subscriptions

Included:

  • WorkPool Software: Your subscription fee grants you access to the WorkPool software for a fixed period of time, based on the number of users and business units you have subscribed to as part of your license (see pricing matrix).
  • Limited email support for general product related questions (1 day response time). Business specific consulting is excluded. See our Support FAQ section for billing policies that may apply on work that falls outside of general product support.
  • Access to WorkPool software updates and new versions as they become available (labour excluded). Updates and new releases are typically the result of many hours of development and testing. All of this value and continuous improvements and new features are provided to the subscriber as part of their monthly subscription. Customers hosting their own WorkPool server/s must enter into a monthly service agreement and are responsible to maintain their own hardware and server software. Changes and reinstallations may be required with version upgrades.

Excluded:

  • Phone Support: This is only available to clients who host on the WorkPool Cloud, with a server service plan or with a service level agreement (SLA)
  • General I.T. Support, including technical support for servers (unless the server is hosted on the WorkPool Cloud)
  • All Labour (see Support FAQ section)
  • Server reinstallations as may be required for major platform or version upgrades.
  • Changes and upgrades to custom development, required to upgrade, such as reports and special features that are non-standard on the WorkPool application.

Upgrading your WorkPool Subscription is a simple process and can be started by having an authorised person at your company send a written (email will be sufficient) request to the WorkPool Support Desk.

WorkPool will then start an upgrade process and automatically adjust your existing debit orders to reflect this increase in User Subscription license or send an invoice through to your accounting person/department to be paid by EFT, should you be one of our Annual Subscribers.

Downgrading User Licenses:

Downgrades to the number of user licenses you have installed are only allowed at the end of your annual subscription term. As per our subscription matrix the minimum number of user licenses allowed is 5. You can therefore not reduce your licenses to less than 5.

Notice of the downgrade must be communicated in writing and be received by the WorkPool Accounts Department 3 (three) months prior to your anniversary date, this is as per the terms of the standard WorkPool Subscriber Service Agreement. Please ensure that you have been given a reference number by the WorkPool Accounts department as confirmation that your request has been received. Should you wish to settle the entire subscription amount still outstanding for the year in advance, this can be done with prior arrangement. An early settlement may entitle you to qualify for a 5-10% discount on the subscription amount still due for your remaining period based on time remaining.

Downgrading Business Units:

Business Units cannot be removed by clients once a license has been installed and a new unit has been created. Only unused business unit licenses can be cancelled as per the same terms as the user licenses. Removing a business unit that is/was in use involves several steps of merging data and data clean-up. This must be performed by a WorkPool Support representative in conjunction with the instruction from the client and is a billable request based on time and material.

Please see the download & purchase page for specific costing surrounding your WorkPool Subscription.

As part of the Subscriber Service Agreement between yourself and WorkPool a condition of contract is that the Subscriber (you) will make payment by debit order on the first working day of every calendar month from the Subscriber’s nominated bank account. This is because WorkPool’s monthly billing cycle is managed by an outsourced, system-automated function responsible for collections, renewals, management of transactions and the auto-generation as well as sending of monthly invoices. Therefore, payments made by debit order require zero manual intervention and all administration is completed automatically as part of this function. Processing alternative payment arrangements require additional manual labour and monitoring systems to facilitate the creation and sending of monthly invoices as well as the monitoring and management of license files to ensure you can continue to enjoy an uninterrupted service.
Since alternative payment arrangements are the exception to the rule, they are not priced into the standard monthly subscription fee.

The following alternative payment options exist in cases where payment by debit order is impossible and such a situation can be sufficiently motivated by the client:

  1. Annual Payment in Advance: The option of one payment made annually in advance. On this option you will receive a 10% discount on the annual subscription fee! User license upgrades are allowed during the year where the client will purchase additional user or business units licenses for the remaining term at time of the upgrade.
  2. Payment on Presentation of Invoice (100+ users only): For WorkPool subscriptions with 100 or more users we do offer clients the option to pay on presentation of invoice, as long as these payments are made in advance. Terms and conditions, including penalties still apply as per the standard Subscriber Agreement.
  3. Monthly Payment by EFT (Manual Processing): This option may only be approved by special request. Applications to convert to this payment option must be done in writing and must come from the Sponsor himself/herself indicating the reason why this change is required along with sufficient information to support this request. An additional minimum monthly administration may apply based on the account. Additional terms and conditions are applicable when converting to manual invoice and payment via EFT, specifically that 1) payment may never be withheld and changes and cancellations must adhere to the process as per debit orders, and 2) payment for the subscription and hosting (if applicable) is strictly due in advance before the start of the month. I.e. the subscription for March must be paid by or before the last day of February to ensure the account is up to date on or before the start of the month the subscription applies to.

Irrespective of the alternative payment option selected above, the Subscriber agrees that no indulgence granted to him/her by WorkPool at any time shall prejudice any of WorkPool’s rights against the Subscriber, including WorkPool’s right to revert to the original payment terms of the contract.

Data and Import/Export Related Questions

Please refer to this section for Data related queries such as importing and exporting data into or out of WorkPool.

WorkPool’s server storage is generally configured as follows:

  1. Space for the basic Operating System, system files and applications
  2. WorkPool Database (content)
  3. Attachments (emails, tasks, activities, etc.)
  4. Database snapshot backups
  5. Bespoke extensions or files

Most of the items listed above are either quite small in size or mostly fixed in size. It is the database and attachments that generally make up the biggest part of storage and will grow over time necessitating a disk expansion or disk upgrade. The rate of growth and total size of data depends on the usage of WorkPool in a particular business, e.g. if you only use tasks and not emails your server storage will be significantly different to another business that use both. It is also best practice to allocate additional space for at least two uncompressed database backups to be stored on the system. This disk space might be required should an existing database need to be backed up and another restored. Our WorkPool Support team can provide authorised users with a breakdown of the database and attachments disk space used on request.

Technically yes; however, this is not recommended and could have significant drawbacks. WorkPool is a business nervous system and as such connect multiple pieces of information to create an evidentiary string. For many people WorkPool is also their compliance tool that needs to stand up to an audit. The WorkPool database and files (including email attachments) take up the biggest portion of disk space used. To remove files or information from the database you would be stripping out pieces of information or breaking connections and will deteriorate the quality and the value of the information stored in WorkPool. For this reason, removing data is not recommended.

Software applications store and link data in their databases in different ways. This is because each application will structure the information in a way that will best represent the entities they deal with based on the needs of the users of their system. This is rarely a problem for the user as the software application will take care of storing the information in the correct database location based on the input from the user. It does however mean that although all data may be stored in the database it does not necessarily mean it can be extracted in a way that is compatible with, or in a format that can be imported into, another application like WorkPool.

As a business nervous system, WorkPool’s data structure is not only complex but also dynamic in nature and can even automatically change over time based on the needs of the company. This interconnected approach allows us to ensure that the user can get the most benefit from cross linking and accessing information across modules, like customer information with workflow, communication information, etc.

Spotlight data that can be exported and imported into WorkPool:

  1. Client Information: This would be client information like contact details, date of birth, etc.
  2. Tasks/Activities: This would be the activities/notes stored on Spotlight against a certain client.
  3. Documents/Attachments: These would be the documents stored on the shared network drive (like scanned in documents, etc). Most clients simply decide to keep this shared folder with all the client folders & documents on the network and access it as and when they need to go back. Alternatively WorkPool does have a tool that will allow the user to import these files, one client at a time and then add them to WorkPool in a format that will best suit the client.

WorkPool Support Related Questions

Please refer to this section for Support related queries such as billable or non-billable WorkPool Support requests.

The WorkPool Support team will always advise you in advance of performing any billable support tasks. Billable work includes any work or special requests that fall outside of the normal WorkPool Subscriber or Service Level Agreement (where applicable). The WorkPool Support team will confirm in writing:

  1. A brief description of the work to be undertaken
  2. fixed cost or estimate of the time and/or material envisaged to complete the work.
  3. Any other fees that may be applicable

Where required, a formal estimate/quotation document may be requested. On receipt of your written acceptance of the quote, a tax invoice will be issued to you for payment. Once confirmation of payment has been received and reconciled with your account the Support Team will then allocate and confirm the resources necessary to complete the work.

Examples of regular billable support requests:
Server moves or reinstallations. Performing data imports or data exports. Creating special/custom database reports. Performing bulk update operations on your database such as closing or moving of tasks in bulk. Special requests or manual labour required during WorkPool updates, upgrades or changes to your WorkPool server there this is not covered by your service plan. Issues caused by the action or inaction of WorkPool Users which are contrary to the advice supplied by a WorkPool representative or the WorkPool support desk, training documentation or any other published reference material. E.g. creating recurring tasks that trigger every minute, not managing emails in inboxes, never archiving signed off tasks, leaving activities open, etc.

Exceptions to this Policy:
Customers with a Service Plan or Service Level Agreement (SLA) that dictates the terms of support related activities and associated costs. Customers are welcome to contact their Relationship Manager or the WorkPool Support team should they wish to enter into a special Service Level Agreement specific to their company’s operational requirements for example to expedite support requests or address critical bugs.

In most cases the total cost is determined based on the time and effort it takes to complete a task. Requests for server installations and moves are typically at a fixed cost, where this cost is based on a specific internal process being followed and where the time and effort for the work is determined based on the average time and effort involved to complete such a task based on historic data. The WorkPool Support team or your WorkPool Consultant will communicate all costs to you and forward any supporting documentation for your attention that they require at various stages of the process. For ad hoc work or special requests where a fixed cost does not apply, the WorkPool Support team will provide you with an estimate based on the time and/or material envisaged to complete the work. In addition, the WorkPool Support team will offer you advance notice of any variables that could occur based on past experiences.

The standard WorkPool Support rate in South Africa is currently R425 per hour (excluding VAT). International customers will be quoted in their own local currency. Changes to fees will be published on the website with 30 days’ notice. Estimates are based on the actual/average time it takes a WorkPool Support resource to complete a specific support task type, which will include any time and/or material and/or travel. The estimate would include the full scope of effort including but not limited to: taking instructions, identifying the problems, testing (if applicable) and any other pre- or post-follow up actions such as communication and documentation. Travel and/or accommodation costs, where applicable, will be quoted as a separate line item in the estimate.

We actively seek ways to improve and streamline our Support service to ensure we manage costs and can offer a professional, efficient and cost effective service to our clients. Our ability to keep to delivery dates and remain within a fair margin of the estimates provided can be linked directly to the level of cooperation by and performance from both the client and or third party service providers. Some of the factors that affect these estimates are:

  1. The detail and quality of the information provided to us as part of the client’s request. The more specific the information provided to us the better and more accurate the estimate will be. The client’s own experience and technical proficiency with WorkPool also plays a big role.
  2. How standard the type of work or type of the request from the client is. I.e. the more unique and therefore less regular and less predictable the type of request, the more difficult it is to estimate all the variables. In cases where a process or formal structure exists to deliver on a specific type of request, the better these activities can be managed – as long as all parties follow the rules and steps of the process.
  3. Delayed or non-delivery on commitments by the client and or agent service providers such as in making their resources available, keeping to deadlines and timelines, quality of their testing done on the solution, providing WorkPool with any information they require in a timely fashion, clear and concise communication and documentation, etc.
  4. Scope creep.
  5. Any unforeseen or unpredictable events with regards to the client’s I.T. environment or a lack of training on the WorkPool system.
  6. Clients not honouring their payment commitments or not doing so in a timely fashion. This single variable is often the cause of significant delays both to the start and end of a support task. These unnecessary delays and additional communications to follow up payment can cause the costs to increase substantially past the original estimates.

In addition to our general company policy that WorkPool Resources do not work on risk, this policy specifically applies to Support-related work where a fixed cost is applicable e.g. installations and upgrades as well as for smaller ad-hoc jobs (e.g. less than 5 hours in effort). It also applies to any client whose account is currently in arrears.

We want to acknowledge that most of our clients honour their commitments for making payment and that many have a relationship with WorkPool that spans many years with an account in good standing. This policy was put in place to ensure that we can continue to offer our clients a cost effective service without introducing an additional cost layer for debtors. This is because we have lately had a significant increase in the number of clients who do not honour their payment commitments or delay in making payment, which includes incidents where:

  1. Payment records have been tampered with.
  2. Clients breach the subscriber agreement by withholding payment for service rendered to impose upon WorkPool resources to do extra work by adding new requirements or making changes to specifications after the fact (scope creep).
  3. Client refuse to make payment before some other, unrelated issue, has been resolved that has no bearing on or was not part of the agreement.
  4. Clients or their agent/s, service provider/s or contractor/s not participating or providing essential information and documentation, that form part of our processes, in a timely manner. As per the previous section above, delays caused by parties who no longer treat documentation as a high priority once the work has been completed can add a significant amount of extra time to the process, even when completing such documentation is in their best interest and will assist them to manage their risks.
  5. WorkPool has needed to take legal action against clients as our only remaining means to recover costs, which typically results in a lose-lose situation for both WorkPool and the client.

Since these amounts are typically, relatively small it is neither cost effective nor practical to take legal action and incur further expenses in the collections process. Irrespective of the strength of our legal position, the client may be unable to pay due to cash-flow issues or taking such an action will take away valuable time from our key resources. As a result, WorkPool is left to either write off the debt, which will negatively impact upon the relationship due to a small amount that was illegally withheld or not paid, or, WorkPool will proceed to recover the full indebtedness including any legal fees from the client, in which case the relationship is typically irrevocably damaged from the client’s perspective. As maintaining good relationships with our clients is extremely important to us, this policy aims to prevent any unnecessary delays or non-payments and therefore removing any obstacles to maintaining a productive relationship.

Possible Exceptions to this Policy:

  1. Where the client requests to pay for the work by means of a debit order and where the client has an existing debit order in good standing.
  2. Clients with a Service Level Agreement (SLA) that dictates the terms of the work to be performed for them as well as payment for these.
  3. Where the work to be performed forms part of a separated WorkPool project where the work has already been scoped and approved for payment as part of the project budget.
  4. Where an authorised WorkPool Resource communicated an exception to this rule in advance, typically due to operational reasons.

An email message that originates from an application outside of WorkPool (i.e. external person or system) that WorkPool is attempting to download and import but is unable to do so because the content of the message has been compromised and it is irreparably broken. Messages can be compromised when:

  1. The application sending the email does not comply with the international internet messaging format for email communications
  2. Other systems and Internet Service Providers reading and then tampering with the body of the email during transmission (i.e. between the original sender and you the receiver)
  3. Bulk messaging systems (spammers) sending “broken” messages as a way to exploit vulnerabilities and bypass spam and anti-virus filters

WorkPool makes use of Oracle’s JavaMail API component to process email communications. This component is mature and internationally recognised as complying to the various international internet standards set forth for email processing by the various industry bodies. In cases where the JavaMail API is unable to extract a message it is because it has tried all the options but, due to reasons above, cannot read and extract the entire contents. Therefore, in these cases, the email message will be classified as an “unsupported” message. In the vast majority of cases these messages are spam messages.

WorkPool will make various attempts and apply different strategies to download and import a message into the system. After about four (4) failed attempts WorkPool will notify the user of the email that is stuck in their mailbox by adding a new email message in their mailbox to inform them of the problem as well as displaying a warning message on the main email screen (in the header). Since many of our users use WorkPool’s email client exclusively for email management, it is essential that we communicate the situation to the user as soon as possible and in the same interface they use for emails. The downloading process is then temporarily suspended for this user so that:

  1. They can investigate and address the problem. The most common solution is for the user to click on the warning icon provided to inspect the contents of their mailbox on the server. They can then identify the problematic email and delete it so the mailbox can be reactivated and downloading can continue. Alternatively if this is a valid, i.e. business related, email message they can ask the sender to resend the message in a different format or use an alternative email client to inspect the contents of the email message. The mailbox can be enabled again without the unsupported email being removed to download the other emails in the mailbox, however after 4 attempts will again disable the mailbox until action is taken.
  2. The business is protected and does not come to any financial harm due to the potential bandwidth that can be consumed if WorkPool continuous to try and download this message from the mail server (i.e. endless loop). This is specifically applicable in cases where a small business is paying for bandwidth, have a fixed amount of data per month (fixed cap), or may be liable for additional charges from the email service provider for excessive bandwidth usage. By disabling the mailbox WorkPool protects the business and can avoid situations where an individual goes away on leave, or leaves their mailbox unattended for a few days, and the business incurs an additional expense due to bandwidth consumed.

What can I do to correct or prevent the situation?

  1. We encourage our users to support us and the efforts of the open source community to work towards an environment where all software vendors follow the rules and apply the industry standards relating to email messaging by reporting the offenders. We understand that in some cases these rules are broken unintentionally, through ignorance or a lack of technical expertise, so reporting this could be as simple as contacting the original sender to inform them of the situation and asking them to address it.
  2. If the source of the problem is spam (i.e. unsolicited email communication) or the sender does not honour your request to change their format to fix the problem you can inform your email administrator to block their email communication. That is if un-subscribing is not an option.
  3. Should receiving this email communication be a business imperative or you wish to continue to receive this email communication and the sender is not likely to honour your request to fix the situation (e.g. in the case of newsletters or government notification services) you can subscribe to receive this communication in a different address and then forward it into WorkPool from an email client that is compliant to international standards.

The opening of documents from a WorkPool page, be it Word, Excel, PDF documents and even images are all controlled by and displayed by the software installed on the specific device you are trying to open the document on. A quick and easy test to see if your device is capable of opening a specific document type from WorkPool, is to right click on the document link (in WorkPool) and then download this document onto your device. Once downloaded onto your device, you can try to open the document with the standard program associated with that type of file, should the document still not open it would most likely mean you do not have a program installed on your device that can open this file type. It is recommended you contact your I.T. department or person for more information on which software to use or download and how to install this; however if you can open the document please read further as the issue is most likely caused by your Internet Browser.

The issues you are experiencing with opening PDF documents can be caused by (but may not be limited to) the 3 following reasons listed below:

  1. The Adobe Reader (or other PDF viewing program) is faulty and can be corrected by un-installing and then reinstalling the program.
  2. The PDF reader Plug-in for the browser is faulty and reinstalling this may resolve the issue for you but many times it is only possible to resolve this issue by stopping this plug-in from being used by changing the following setting (as per the links provided below) in the browser.
  3. The installed PDF Reader can not interpret your PDF document correctly and must either be updated or changed to use another PDF Reader, please see the links below for further details.

Browser Specific Links:

Internet Explorer 8 and newer
Chrome
Firefox
Safari

Or:

Full Document

Please note that the links above have links to further pages which will also be of assistance, please do follow these to discover the solution to your issue.

Mozilla (the company that produces Firefox) will offer an Extended Support Release (ESR) based on an official release of Firefox for desktop, for use by organizations including schools, universities, businesses and others who need extended support for mass deployments. This version of Firefox is designed with stability, manageability and security in mind and only implements new features in major releases once they have been tested on the Firefox – for personal use (the bleeding edge version), as such the only updates that are made to a major version of Firefox ESR, are critical security updates.

You can read more about their plan here.

You can download Mozilla Firefox ESR here, please ensure that you select the relevant version for your operating system from the “English (South African)” option.

If you already have Firefox installed on your P.C. please uninstall this first by following these instructions, if you wish to keep your personal settings, history and favourites do NOT proceed past point 10. Then double click the downloaded file and follow the installation instructions, any favourites and browsing history should be preserved as Firefox ESR uses the same settings as Firefox Personal, provided you have not deleted them.

Below you will find a list of WorkPool Recommended and Supported Browsers, these browsers have all been tested with WorkPool and will work, except in cases where known issues have been documented. We have also added a short list of browsers which are unsupported, this list is merely informational as it is not practical for us to list all browsers.

Recommended Browsers:
These Browsers have been tested with WorkPool by WorkPool, in fact we use these browsers in WorkPool on a daily basis ourselves and any issues that have been found during testing are corrected as soon as possible. These browsers will give the WorkPool user the best user experience possible:

Firefox ESR download
Internet Explorer version 11

Supported Browsers:
These browsers are known to work with WorkPool i.e. they will not break WorkPool and you are welcome to use any of these browsers, they should give little to no issues, except in cases where there are known issues with a specific part or component in WorkPool. Any issues found with these browsers are logged by us and corrected as and when we are able to – this is treated with a “best effort” development priority and may or may not be corrected in the next release (minor or major) of WorkPool. It is for this reason that we separate the browsers between “Recommended” and “Supported”.

Firefox (personal use version)
Google Chrome (version 4.7 and newer)
Safari (for Apple Mac)

Mobile Device Browsers:
Firefox
Google Chrome
Safari

Mobile browsers, while carrying the brand name of their fully fledged desktop counterpart are NOT the same and only contain part of or a subset of the desktop version’s features and functionality. For this reason one may find that while Safari on a Mac laptop works fine, the same function in WorkPool, accessed on an iPad may yield different results. It must also be said that due to the vast operating system, hardware and performance differences between mobile devices and desktop systems, the mobile device may at times be the source of an issue and not the browser or WorkPool itself.

No Longer Maintained (Legacy Browsers):
Internet Explorer version 9, 10 and older.

Currently Unsupported:
These browsers may (or may not) have serious issues with WorkPool and are of such a nature that we do not recommend using them for WorkPool, use one of these at your own peril!

Microsoft Edge (the default browser for Windows 10)
Opera
Seamonkey
Any other browser not specifically mentioned or listed in the above sections may not be supported.

What does it mean when a browser is Unsupported?
Due to the sheer variety of Internet Browsers available to users it is not practical (even possible) for WorkPool to test and support all browsers and while the browser may work with WorkPool in most cases, we will not devote resources to correcting issues unless we (WorkPool) feel that there is a valid case for correcting a specific issue in an unsupported browser. In most cases issues range from severely annoying at the worst and “we have never heard of that browser before” at best and we therefore recommend that users rather stick to one of our Recommended browsers.

Technical FAQ’s

Please refer to this section for FAQ’s related to technical details.

It is prudent for all users to protect their computers by installing anti-virus, malware scanning software, personal firewalls, etc., regardless of what the system is used for. This is not a requirement from WorkPool’s perspective, but rather good practice to protect your computer. It is the user and the IT department/provider’s responsibility to install and maintain this software.

Depending on what operating system you use and what the computer is used for, different details will apply. Please also keep in mind that the WorkPool application runs on a server with all users accessing the system via an Internet browser that runs on their own computer. These environments are separate, meaning if one gets infected with a virus it does not mean that the other environment – or other users accessing the same server – are infected as well.

WorkPool User Computers (desktops, laptops, tablets etc):

Users access the WorkPool server via their Internet Browser, meaning that for the purpose of virus scanning, WorkPool can be thought of as a normal website. Since there is no WorkPool software running on the user’s computer, the only way they can be infected would be by opening/downloading an infected file, e.g. an email attachment, which was stored in WorkPool. Having an up to date virus scanner on the user’s desktop will mitigate this risk, and is therefore recommended for any desktop system.

Linux-based WorkPool servers:

Most of our WorkPool Servers run on a Linux operating system. While Linux is not immune to viruses, Linux servers have proven to be less susceptible to viruses and malware – especially when running with no graphical user interface (like we require for WorkPool servers) – and require far less maintenance to remain secure. As common viruses and malware specifically target Windows networks and systems, a virus scanner on a Linux-based WorkPool server is not commonly required.

If you have a virus scanner that does cater for Linux servers however, and would like us to configure it on your server, please let us know so that we can look into this for you. Please note however that while we are able to assist with the installation and configuration of a virus scanner, it would at all times be your own responsibility to monitor and maintain it.

A note on the WorkPool cloud:

Part of the WorkPool cloud offering is that we secure your server from risks such as malware and malicious attacks. The systems that we have in place – such as enterprise-grade firewalls and monitoring solutions – effectively eliminate most attack options on hosted WorkPool servers, meaning nothing is able to get in and jeopardize your data. As there is also nothing being executed on the WorkPool server itself, there is typically no risk of virus or malware attacks on the server, and therefore no real need for a virus scanner on the Cloud solution.

Yes. We believe that WorkPool should always be run from exactly where it best suits your business, your connectivity and your control requirements, be this on the WorkPool cloud or elsewhere.

Our WorkPool Cloud environment is designed specifically for meeting the needs of our WorkPool clients and their servers, so hosting on the WorkPool Cloud is not always an option for all clients based on their own corporate policies or other business requirements such as systems integration. Please also see our Cloud comparison matrix for a breakdown of the responsibilities, fees as well as advantages and disadvantages of either option. If you fall into the self-managed server category, please carefully consider implications and advantages/disadvantages in discussions with your IT provider so that you can make an informed decision and all parties are aware of the implications and processes involved.

Absolutely. The WorkPool cloud is in fact based on this very idea, and we have put lots of effort into creating a platform that runs well on VM’s.You are welcome to run your WorkPool Server as a VM on you own virtualised environment, however any support, troubleshooting/investigations or special configuration requests related to the hypervisor will be billed for on a time and material basis.

As there are also many combinations of hypervisors and guest operating systems, we cannot guarantee that your environment will fully support WorkPool as a VM, and as such, we can only endorse VM’s installed using our own official server ISO, which is a image based on Ubuntu Linux 64bit and has been optimized for WorkPool servers.

We successfully run WorkPool as a VM on a few of the more well-known hypervisors and virtualisation systems. While some of these systems work out-of-the-box, others may require the installation or configuration of additional components to function efficiently.

Configurations known to work as-is:

  • Linux KVM virtualization with an Debian 8 guest
  • Linux LXC virtualization with Debian 8

Configurations known to work, but requiring additional configurations:

  • VMWare server/ESX/ESXi with Debian 8/Windows guest. Once installed, it is recommended to contact us to have the VMWare guest Tools installed. Please see here for more information regarding the Guest Tools.
  • Windows Hyper-V with Debian 8 GuestHyper-V’s default networking configurations for Linux guests are known to cause driver compatibility issues. It is recommended to configure your server to use a paravirtual network card for the guest.

Not recommended/Not supported:

  • Desktop virtualization suits such as VMWare Player and VirtualBox
  • WorkPoool Sub-Systems assume a set amount of RAM on startup. Servers with Balloon RAM configurations will prevent the correct startup of these sub-systems and are therefore not supported.

Disclaimer: These FAQ pages are compiled from questions received and answered by WorkPool Support, and are therefore based on generic information and technology available at the time of documentation. The contents may change without warning, and solutions proposed herein may no longer be valid or applicable based on changes since time of publication. These FAQ pages should therefore in no way be considered professional advice, but merely a forum for proposed solutions to common issues.

Always consult with your IT technician and/or department before implementing any solution discussed here, and ensure that whatever is implemented is in line with your own internal policies.

Calendar Related Questions

Please refer to this section for all your WorkPool Calendar related queries, such as setting up feeds or sharing your Google Calendar.

Step 1:

  1. Log into your Google account at www.google.com
  2. Click on the Calendar link, located at the top left of the screen with several other related links.
  3. Located at the top right corner of your Google Calendar you should see a grey/white cog, clicking on the cog will reveal a drop down menu from which you can select the calendar settings option.
  4. Check that your current time zone is correct (usually (GMT+02:00) Harare), if not, please change this now and press the save button, to apply the setting.
  5. Below the Calendar Settings heading you will see four links; General, Calendars, Mobile Setup and Labs. Click the Calendars link.
  6. You will need to share your calendar, to do this click on the ‘share this calendar’ link under the Sharing heading, in line with the calendar you want to share.
  7. You will be taken to the Sharing Settings page, tick the ‘make this calendar public’ tick box and the ‘share only my free/busy information (Hide Details)’ tick box.
  8. Click the save button at the bottom of the page, this will take you back to your calendar page, following the instructions above as a guideline; navigate back to the calendar sharing page and under your calendars name (top left) click on Calendar Details.
  9. At the bottom of this page you will see a ‘Private address section’ with 3 coloured Buttons, click on the Orange XML button, this will create a popup containing your calendars private address. Copy the link on this popup by highlighting the entire link and then right clicking copying. Click the OK Button, to close the window.

Step 2:

  1. Click on your WorkPool My Calendar button and located on the left side of the screen about half way down you will find the new Feeds section, click on the ‘Add Feed’ link.
  2. You will be presented with the Calendar Feed Page, enter the name you want for this feed, such as ‘My Google Calendar’, and then in the ‘feed URL’ field, right click and paste the link that you copied from your Google Calendar.
  3. Select a colour you want to use for your Google Calendar feed and check that the ‘Enabled’ tick box has been ticked before clicking the save button.
  4. You will now see all your Google calendar events in your WorkPool Calendar. Naturally if you do not have any events in your Google calendar for this month, you will see no difference. If you wish to test your new Calendar Feed, create a new event in your Google Calendar and then click on the My Calendar button in WorkPool to refresh your screen.

WorkPool Training Related Questions

Please refer to this section for WorkPool Training related queries such as Basic, Advanced/Administrative, Directory Reporting and Process Training.

1.) Directory and Task Management 101 ( R 5,100.00 ex. V.A.T.)

This course consists of two 4 hour sessions over 2 days (8 hours total, 4 hours per day) and covers the use of the WorkPool Directory and Tasks. This course is recommended for all new WorkPool Users who are just starting out on WorkPool, however is also of value to seasoned WorkPool users as it contains many valuable insights, tips and tricks to using WorkPool.

1.) WorkPool System Administrator Training (R 2,700.00 ex. V.A.T.)

WorkPool contains a number of administrative sections all of which contain configuration, settings and additional features only available to the administrator. This course allows you to get to grips with the more technical aspects of your WorkPool and will empower you with the information and reports to know for example who has the most emails in their inbox, compare one resource’s performance to another, or how many Tasks of a specific Classification were logged over the last month, etc. If these are things you want to know then this is the course for you!

1.) WorkPool Directory Reporting Training (R 2,700.00 ex. V.A.T.)

The WorkPool Directory not only contains your client information but also allows you to mine and act on this data through the creation your own reports, this will allow you to send out bulk email or SMS communications to your clients, create Tasks in bulk or extract your client information for further manipulation. Time is also spent on showing you how the View Definitions and Reporting interact with one another as well as ways to tweak this so that your reporting works better for your business.

1.) Introduction to Building your own Processes in WorkPool (R 3,200.00 ex. V.A.T.)

A working knowledge of WorkPool Tasks, Activities and Views is required for people attending this course. Adding Processes to your WorkPool is the logical next step after using manual tasks for a period of time. Processes bring about many benefits to the business and users alike by reducing their administration, checklists and manual processes while reducing micro-management associated to quality assurance and mitigating business risks by allowing management central control. In short, by introducing processes you ensure people do what they are supposed to do, when they are supposed to do it and how they are supposed to do it. By attending this course you will be taught the theory on our process engine and how to build your own basic processes using our process design tool and leverage this as a function in your own business. This is a hands on, 3-4 hour course where the trainer will take you through building a generic process as part of the course content.

2.) Advanced Process Management Features (R 3,200.00 ex. V.A.T.)

People attending this course but have completed the previous (Introduction to Building your own Processes in WorkPool) course. This course will cover interactions between the WorkPool Processes and Directory Module, where data will be read from and written to Views in the Directory as well as used in transition logic. We will also cover all the expressions and options available in the process engine as well as inter-process communication, alternate HTML interfaces, dynamic Flow durations, Calendar features and Process loop options. This is a 3-4 hour course depending on the audience and agenda (in case of a specific focus).

1.) Training Environment, Duration and Location:

Learners are required to have access to a Computer (at a minimum 2 users to 1 P.C.) with a working internet connection or access to their Live/Demo WorkPool Server for practical exercises. Training Sessions are generally 3 hours in length and we highly recommend that only one session is booked per day in cases where multiple sessions may be applicable. We have found that many users struggle to concentrate on the training and therefore cannot derive the maximum value from the session if we try to cram too much into a day. WorkPool training can be held at the client’s premises or at the WorkPool offices. Travel costs may need to be recovered from the client should the venue be located outside the greater Cape Town metropolitan area. Classes can vary in size and can consist of one up to a maximum of 10 learners. Special arrangements can be made for larger training groups.

2.) Additional Costs:

All training courses include a 30min administration and preparation fee associated with Printing and preparing User Manuals as well as capturing of the training results and questionnaires where applicable. Travel expenses are not included in the cost of the training and will be quoted for separately if applicable; any additional costs associated with training will always be quoted for up front and approved by the client before commencement.

3.) Payment:

Course dates and information can only be confirmed once payment has been received.

4.) Reservations:

As Course Content, Costs and Duration listed on our Website may change from time to time (this Website will always carry the current fees), any purchase orders signed and paid for will secure the Course Content, Costs and Duration listed at the time of payment.