When you send a feature request to ServiceCore, it may feel like it's gone into a black hole, but we promise it hasn't! A real person on our Support Team reads every request that comes through.
If your request can be answered with an article/video in our Help Center or a little training from our Learning Hub, we’ll reply to your feature request with that information. Sometimes requests we receive are for things that already exist or are about to be released, so we want to make sure you know that!
If your request is for a new feature or an improvement to an existing feature, our Support Team adds it to our internal Feature Request board where the Product Team tracks, reviews, and prioritizes it alongside feedback from other customers and our internal teams.
What We Mean by “Product”
You're probably used to the term "product" referring to your inventory in ServiceCore.
Even though ServiceCore doesn't exist as a physical object, like a portable toilet unit or dumpster bin, it’s still our product.
Our Product Team (the 'what' and 'why') works with our Engineering Team (the 'how' and 'when') to build features and functions that make ServiceCore better for all of our customers.
How We Track Feature Requests
Our Support Team tracks and shares all of your feature requests and feedback with our Product and Engineering Teams each time something is submitted.
They meet regularly to review our list of requests and evaluate the likelihood of building each one based on a few different factors.
Our decision to not work on a feature request from a customer is not made lightly. Usually it's because the item already exists, was solved by other work, or doesn't align with our core industry, values, or vision for the future of ServiceCore.
Sometimes our decision is made because the feature request would only benefit a small number of customers, has little appeal to our broader customer base, or would affect data integrity or system security.
How We Decide What to Build
Our Product Team decides which feature requests get added to our roadmap throughout the year. When that happens, it means we’ve decided to spend the time, effort, resources, and money to build it.
However, the Product Team still needs to scope the feature request as a project for our Engineering team to work on. That means we still don't know exactly when it will be worked on. Additionally, items on the roadmap are always subject to change if priorities shift.
We take several factors into consideration, including but not limited to:
- How many customers would be impacted by this feature?
- What is the overall impact of the feature itself? (e.g. reducing clicks in workflows, reducing time to complete tasks, etc...)
- How much effort will it take to build this feature?
- Does the feature align with our long-term business strategy?
- How many parts of the product does this affect?
The short answer is that it’s complicated, but we embrace the challenge and complexity.
Why a Feature May Look Different
When you hear the good news that your request is live in ServiceCore, you may be surprised at what you see and how it works; it might not look exactly like what you originally asked for.
This happens because there’s rarely only one way to solve a problem. When we decide to put a feature request on the roadmap, that’s when the hard part starts: the planning phase.
The planning phase often takes longer than the building phase. That’s because we want to “build the right thing” before we proceed to “build the thing right.”
To do that, we take the feature request you sent and ask, “What's the problem you're really trying to solve?” To answer that question, we talk to our customers, create mockups and designs, map out flowcharts, and speak to subject matter experts if needed.
After gathering all of that information, we decide on the best way to solve the problem regardless of what it ends up looking like in the end.
Stay Up-to-Date on What’s Been Released
After a new feature is planned, designed, built, tested, and delivered, our Support Team will let you know by replying to your original support ticket.
All new features and improvements can be found in our Product Hub, organized by date of release. We also post a release summary in our private Facebook group every Wednesday.
If you have any questions, please reach out to our Support team through the chat widget on the bottom of this page or by sending an email to support@servicecore.com!