The Crow's Nest is a means by which suitably authorised end-users (usually those with permissions to access the [Staff] > [Tools] menu area) can send observations, technical issues and requests for change directly to Esferico or their 1st line support provider (for schools, usually an SLS).

The Crow's Nest operates in a similar way to an online Forum - you can create a new discussion, an initial post or body text containing the more detailed information about the report, and continue to add reports in discussion with Esferico or other users of the Mystic application.

The Crow's Nest is principally for three types of report, all of which refer to the actual technical means in which Mystic / Pergamon operates and not the procedural mechanism which you may have learned during training.

• Observations - Strange behaviours, Mystic not performing as expected on certain operating systems or browsers etc.
• Technical Support Issues - You know Mystic works in a particular way, but clicking a button, selecting a menu item etc. is not doing what you know Mystic should be doing.
• Requests for Change (RFCs) - You need a new function or a change to an existing function and would like to request the change.

Your 1st line procedural support is usually provided by whoever originally provided your Mystic or Pergamon license. In the case of schools for example, this is usually an SLS (Schools's Library Service) or the organisation providing this service. SLS's usually do far more than just support Mystic and Pergamon and therefore will not be monitoring The Crow's Nest continually.

If you need procedural help (e.g “How do I do such-and-such?”), your current contact method is still the best option (e.g. Telephone).

Remember that Mystic is an online application - which means that if someone reports a problem, any fix / change that the development team come up with will reach everybody at the same time. You don't need to do anything to upgrade the software yourself.

Just as with using a normal Forum therefore, it is a good idea to search The Crow's Nest first to see if someone has already reported it. You can do this by just entering some relevant words into the Search bar (separated by commas if you want the words/phrases to be regarded as different terms) and click [Search]. If someone has reported it, you can read any progress that has been made (double click the displayed result) and contribute to the conversation, without needing to create a new report.

The main Crow's Nest window is a very simple search results display. There are three ways to see results.

• Search - Enter one or more search terms into the criteria field (separated by commas) and click the [Search] button or toolbar. Anything matching your search will terms will be displayed.
• Followed - Just click this button if you want to see any Reports that you are already following. You can follow a report by clicking the [Follow] button (see below), but if you add a comment onto a report then The Crow's Nest will automatically put you on the Following list.
• Clients - If you are a provider of support, clicking the [Clients] toolbar button will display all reports that are current for any users of Mystic.

Search results will show you some basic details about the report (e.g. the operating system and browser in use, and the title that the reporter created). If you are following the report, it will also show you whether there are new posts in the report (e.g. responses and contributions from other people) that you have not yet seen. If you used the [Clients] search option, it will also show you whether you are not yet following the report conversation.

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