For all the features and efficiencies that Prophet 21® provides distributors, not everyone picks up how to use it right away. It requires a lot of training. But as your operations’ central nervous system, it must work for you and your users to stay productive. So when something gets glitchy, troubleshooting P21 and the user’s whole desktop experience quickly becomes a priority.
At a lot of distributors, this responsibility falls to a lone IT manager—or some lucky soul, like the business owner, who takes on managing IT as just one part of their job description. But fielding calls, emails or in-person cubicle requests quickly distracts from other important tasks. They may not always have time to resolve the issue for good.
5 Common P21 User Issues
Based on our experience, here are five of the most common issues users have with desktop systems and P21:
- Passwords — Users should create passwords that are hard to guess, but easy to remember, which inherently makes them a trouble spot. It does not take much for a user to lock themselves out of the system and need help from an admin.
- Printing — Users regularly struggle with printer networks and formatting, especially those that do not often have to print. Not necessarily a problem specific to P21, but users do encounter it frequently.
- Access — Locating and being able to retrieve critical files will occasionally vex users, depending on the file structure and the access controls in place. Users can also struggle to access P21 from outside the office if they don’t do it often, or if the system is not set up correctly.
- Software help — When users try to do something new on P21, they often need some hand holding. Even when it’s something they don’t do often, like looking up contact information for a vendor, they might need a reminder. Although that’s understandable, their priority suddenly becomes yours, and not always with much warning.
- Something runs slowly — Few scenarios trigger more aggravation with users than waiting for a P21 process longer than they expect.
That last item can quickly open a Pandora’s box of investigations and attempted remedies, preoccupying IT managers as they hunt for the source of the problem.
Who They Gonna Call?
In most cases, distributors do not need a large IT team available to occasionally troubleshoot issues. But when issues do arise, they need resolution quickly.
That’s where Help Desk support services from a knowledgeable P21 service provider come in. Having the ability to call or email P21 experts who know your organization and its IT environment, ensures users get back to work quickly and keep them out of your hair. Reliable IT service providers will also properly fix any reoccurring or systemic problems before they cause significant downtime.
The more your company’s operation relies on P21, the more vital responsive Help Desk support becomes.
Do you have problems keeping up with troubleshooting P21 support tickets? Check out the P21 services we offer and get in touch to explore how we could help.