Question 1

Where is Malcolm! hosted?

Accepted Answer

Malcolm! is currently hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS) within their Europe region.

For Enterprise clients we do offer the possibility of custom hosting set-up - for example we can support tenanted data, different AWS regions or even different hosting providers. Please contact us for more information on this.

Question 2

How do I write a good Frequently Asked Question (FAQ)?

Accepted Answer

Some top tips for writing a good Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) include:

Think like your customers and try to phrase your title in a way a real customer would ask you a question
Use the brief summary area to provide the initial answer - this is what customers will see in search results and when browsing FAQs
For the full answer you can repeat the Brief Summary information but go into more detail
Try and be concise and punchy with your answer - it can be useful to break up the text with subheadings and bullet points
Don't repeat information if it's available elsewhere - better to link to that information! For example if you have an FAQ answering "What times are you open?" and your opening hours are on your main website your answer can simply be "Our opening hours can be seen on our website here" and you can add a link
If you have images or media (eg a YouTube video) that can help with an answer don't be afraid to include it in your answer - Malcolm! fully supports this and customers love it!
Remember to use tags and categories as that will help your customer find their way to the FAQ
Use the feedback option in Malcolm! as that will let customers tell you if the content is useful or not. Regularly review the feedback you get in MyMalcolm!

Question 3

How do I add Intro text for Categories, Authors & Tags?

Accepted Answer

You can add introductory text to your Categories, Authors & Tag listings. This is perfect for giving your customers/users added context or information as they browse your content.

In MyMalcolm you'll see the a "Description" field when you add or edit a Category, Author or Tag.

How to add intro text to Categories, Authors or Tags

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/5ut5kRCq4Q/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.11.09-13_11_50.png (Adding intro text in MyMalcolm)

The Description field supports markdown so it's possible to add styling, links and media too. The content you add will appear on your hosted hub as well as our other formats like embeds, overlays and widgets.

Question 4

Can I turn the spell checker in MyMalcolm off?

Accepted Answer

As you type content in the MyMalcolm FAQ markdown editor your text is automatically spell checked - words that are not recognised by the spell check are highlighted in red. To turn this feature off click the "x" symbol in the "Full answer" area of "Compose your question and answer"

Question 5

Is there a way a user can browse all my FAQs/Articles bypassing Categories?

Accepted Answer

On your hosted hub your users can search for FAQs/Article content by keyword, browse various filtered views (eg most recent, most helpful etc) and also browse the FAQs/Articles within each category.

It can sometimes be useful to offer your users a browsable view of all your FAQ/Articles (regardless of the category/categories they are in) and this is possible via the directory view.

You can enable this Settings --> FAQs --> General where you you can also decide how you want the content on the directory page to be sorted.

When switched on the directory page can be accessed on your hosted hub URL at /faqs/directory and you can create a link to it from a feature box or promo or from text areas like your homepage preamble (all managed from within your theme).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/rb5fS303OE/Screenshot-2021-11-26-at-15.10.19.png (Directory Setting in MyMalcolm)

The directory will also show all the categories towards the top of the page (clicking any of these will take you into the category view) and then FAQs/Articles beneath sorted in the order determined in MyMalcolm.

See the below video for a walk through

Question 6

Can you give me an overview of the FAQ section of MyMalcolm?

Accepted Answer

The FAQ section is of MyMalcolm is where you create and manage your FAQ content.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/GgNemEaBr8/02-faqtransparent.png (FAQs on Malcolm!)

Within the FAQ section there are several different areas:

Overview: here you can see statistics on the number of views, searches and feedbacks on your collection of FAQs. You can also see your highest rated FAQs and the top searches. You can vary the time period these statistics refer to by adjusting the drop down towards the top left of the graphs.
Library: this is where you can access and manage all the individual FAQ's that you have created or are in the process of creating. There are a variety of display, search, sort and filter options on this screen. You can also mark FAQs as favourites, apply labels and select multiple FAQs to do bulk editing.
Feedback: on this screen you can sell all the feedback that has been submitted by your customers on your FAQs
Activity: here you can see an audit trail of all FAQ activity by you and other members of your Team
Authors: create and manage the public authors of your FAQs here - these are shown as part of the FAQ details (or "meta") that your customers can see.
Categories: Create and manage categories here. Your FAQ's can live in one or more Category. Categories enable you to organise your FAQs into logical groups around topics that make sense to your business, for example you could group FAQs around products or services or locations. Customers can browse FAQ's by category.
Labels: Labels are free form text descriptions that you can attach to particular FAQs in your Library. They can help you organise your FAQs. Labels are seen by you and your instance team members only - they aren't seen by your customers.
Tags: Tags are a way of describing your content and allow an alternate way for your customers to browse FAQ's aside from search and categories.

Question 7

How can I change my Hosted Hub URL?

Accepted Answer

You can change the URL of your Hosted Hub via the Settings Section of MyMalcolm. Go to Custom Domains and you choose a new URL on malcolm.support or malcolm.app here. The URL must be available ie not being used by another customer.

You can also configure your own external domain or sub domain in this area as well.

If you want to change the part of the URL after your domain please see this article.

Question 8

Understanding Malcolm! - some concepts and how to use the product

Accepted Answer

Malcolm! is a super powerful and flexible web based product but it might seem a bit confusing at first. Here is a quick primer on some core Malcolm! concepts and features which we hope will help you understand the product and use it in the way that makes sense to you and your business.

Core Components of Malcolm!

Malcolm! has two core content components: Malcolm! FAQ and Malcolm! Workflow.

Malcolm! FAQ is all about answering your user's questions and/or providing information (eg a how-to or a policy).

Before we created Malcolm! we spent a lot of time building online systems that helped companies digitise what they do.

We found that - in broad terms - this came down to designing and developing systems that:

answered questions and
took users through a process.

For example

Lets say you sell and service industrial heating systems. A potential customer might want to know if you service a particular type of boiler that they have in their office.

You can let that potential customer find the answer to that question themselves via Malcolm!. You'd create a question along the lines of "Which types of boiler do you service?" and in your answer you'd include all the makes and models that you work with.

Your potential customer would come to your website, and be able to find the answer themselves using Malcolm!

Next, having learnt you do indeed service the boiler they have in their office they might want to book a service appointment.

To do this you are likely to need to know a few details - for example their name, their company name, where their office is and perhaps a few other details like their phone number and email, when they are available for a service visit, any issues they are having with the boiler and when it was last serviced.

You can create a form that asks all those questions in Malcolm! and add that form as a "Book a service" link onto your website. When a customer fills that form in Malcolm! can email you all the details. Malcolm! can also do lots of other clever things like pass that request into other systems that you might use.

Why would I want to do this?

Customers like it - nowadays more and more people prefer to do things online
You look professional and slick - Malcolm! can integrate with your existing website and you can style all the screens to match your brand
It's available 24/7/365 - customers can find what they need at a time that suits them
Save time - stop burning time answering the same questions or doing the same process again and again
Consistency- receive complete information from your customers in the format you need it
Efficiency - pass customer information collected via Malcolm! into your other systems automatically
Get feedback - Malcolm! let's your customers feedback to you whether the information they found was helpful or areas for improvement
Analytics- get statistics on what customers are searching for, what they are reading and the most popular times for certain types of requests
Great management tools - You and your internal team / staff can see everything at a glance via MyMalcolm - the comprehensive control panel area of Malcolm!

You can see some examples of possible uses of Malcolm! here

Use Malcolm! FAQs and Workflows together or separately

One of the things to bear in mind is that you can use the FAQ and Workflows parts of Malcolm! together or individually. It may be that you want to build a customer knowledge base using Malcolm! FAQ but you have no need for Workflows at the moment. That is no problem! Similarly you might want to create a series of web forms for various user servicing tasks using Malcolm! Workflow but don't need to answer questions with FAQs. Again this is no issue. You simply use the parts of Malcolm! that make sense to you and your business.

How does Malcolm! work with my current website?

At the heart of Malcolm! is flexibility. We want to make it as easy as possible to work with our system. We also want to offer options for a wide user base - from a one man band with no or limited web development knowledge through to big companies who may have large in house technical teams.

At one of the end of the scale is our Hosted Hub. Every instance of Malcolm! comes with a hosted Hub. This is a website that we host for you. You can customise it entirely to your requirements. You can change the branding, the colours, the fonts, the layout, the copy, the icons etc etc. You can even configure it to work on one of your own domains or sub domains.

If you don't have a current website your Hosted Hub could be your main website. If you already have your main website at www.domain.com you could set up your fully branded Malcolm! Hosted Hub at a sub domain like support.domain.com or help.domain.com or customers.domain.com

Some customers may not wish to do this and instead may wish to integrate Malcolm! into their current website. No problem! We have a whole section in the MyMalcolm Control Panel dedicated to this and there a variety of ways you can bring content and functionality from Malcolm! into your own website. We've also got a plugin for Wordpress and a variety of widgets and further integration options. Want a floating widget? No problem. Want a button which opens a modal/overlay? No problem. Customers on our Enterprise plans can have full programmatic access to Malcolm! content and functionality via our comprehensive API.

Don't forget your Internal Customers!

Remember that your business or organisation may have more than one type of "customer!". As well as using Malcolm! with members of the general public you can also use it internally to help a particular business function or department.

For example:

In our example of being an industrial heating sales & service company above you could use an instance of Malcolm! for your service engineers. Various knowledge about things you service could be stored in Malcolm FAQ! and you could build digital versions of processes or business procedure in Malcolm! Workflow - for example job sheets or part order forms.
You could use Malcolm! as an online presence for your Human Resources or Finance department
You could use Malcolm! as a way of communicating information about your premises or facilities
You could use Malcolm! as a home for an internal project or initiative

Question 9

Can I change the terminology/rename FAQs and/or Workflows?

Accepted Answer

Within Malcolm! you can choose the title of your FAQs and Workflows, but you may want to use Malcolm! in a way where the terminology "FAQs" and "Workflows" doesn't make sense. For example you might want to rename FAQs "Policies" or "Help Articles". You might want to rename Workflows "Requests" or "Tasks".

This is no problem - you can rename both things in the Brand section of MyMalcolm.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/QlfRt4MTdW/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2019.08.06-17_22_37.png (Renaming FAQs in MyMalcolm)

Edit your chosen theme, then navigate to the "FAQ" and "Workflow" section in the vertical side navigation.

MyMalcolm will still refer to FAQs and Workflows but any references your users see will be updated to the value you set above.

Question 10

Can I organise or filter my Workflow completions?

Accepted Answer

You can filter your Workflow completions, assign a status and also add notes.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/jPMzrSqIJg/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2021.08.27-17_20_31%20b.png (Browse Workflow completions in MyMalcolm)

This can be really useful if you want to use the Completion screens like a mini CRM - you can categorise or mark your completions to organise them in a certain way. For example you may want to apply the status "Done" or "Processed" to certain Workflows and "Follow Up" to others.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/9ZHHjnH6sB/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2021.08.27-17_21_37.png (Set a status for Workflows in MyMalcolm)

You can also add notes to a Workflow completion that your Team can see. A handy notes icon will appear in the Completions list to show notes exist.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/f1zeN8GXfK/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2021.08.27-17_21_03.png (Add notes to Workflow completions in MyMalcolm)

You can have filter controls at the top right of the completions screen.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/CXIgS6IXpJ/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2021.08.27-17_22_03.png (Filter completions controls in MyMalcolm)

See a video walkthrough of these features below