Hi,
I have bought and started using OSB one week ago, since then I am trying to configure it for my small business website. I really like the overall approach and functionality of the tool, but I have run into multiple issues / inconsistencies which I find hard to understand, and which I would like to get comments / feedback on.
- Documentation is outdated (screenshots etc.) and very lightweight. Screens and fields are explained, but I would really need a "getting started guide" or an in-app wizard how to set up the tool. The complexity is huge (relation of services / employees / timeslots / customizable timeslots / work times / service orders etc.), and the back-end does not reflect these relations adequately. It took me days to set up a properly configuration, but I still have not understood the relations between the entities, the status scheme for orders and where to make which change for employee assignments, free days vs. working time and so on.
- Naming of entities is inconsistent and hard to understand, for example status names are not clear, and they change names when changing a status for an order.
- A lot of small bugs and inconsistencies exist, and they will only be fixed after opening a support ticket (dashboard did not show upcoming appointments, weekly calendar does not show anything etc.)
- The UI is buggy in many places, for example the weekly calendar shows white text on white backgrounds, some UIs show clickable entries which do not do anything when clicked on etc.). Also, many funtions can be reached through different paths, which leads to irritation.
- The pre-configured E-Mail templates are inconsistent and need to be edited manually to look the same. This should be pre-delivered consistently.
- Translation is cumbersome, as the fields cannot be found easily, or the same translation entries are used in different places - but with different meanings, which makes it impossible to translate properly!
Please do not get me wrong: I think this Joomla extension is very powerful and I would love to use it. But currently I am stuck in between finding out by trial and error how to configure it and make the best use out of it, and where to find useful information about how to configure it and understanding the overall concept of the extension. For now, I am unsure if I can make this extension work for me (in a simple use case - 1 small business, 1 emyployee,6 services!).
For future versions, I would strongly recommend the following things:
1) Update and enhance the documentation with more details, clearly explaining all the functionality and providing a "getting started guide"
2) Provide a setup wizard / guided setup functionality which asks questions and configures the tool automatically in the background
3) Execute a thorough review of all elements of the extension to streamline click paths and "what happens where".
Again, please do not see this as criticism. I would be interested in feedback from the creators of this extension and from other users how they see this (or if I am the only person struggling with these issues).
Thanks,
Niclas L.
