You can build a Workflow quickly via the Workflow Builder in MyMalcolm. To get started, first go to the Workflow section of MyMalcolm and then click "Create a Workflow" towards the top right of the screen. You can then choose whether to build a Workflow from scratch, start with one of our templates or - if you have already created some Workflows previously - clone one of those previously created Workflows. You can then use our drag and drop builder to create your Workflow. Our Workflow builder enables you to: * Drag and drop question elements onto your form * Customise those question elements * Configure Filters, Validators and Rules * Split forms over multiple pages * Customise page titles and progress bars * Customise thank you page Once you have created the content of your form, you can to the Configure tab and configure various options including setting up email notifications or Integrations. By default your Workflow is created as a web form that you access via a URL. But you can also surface that Workflow in a variety of other ways (including float it over page in a widget, via a modal/overlay launched by a button you place on a site, or via embeds or plugins) - take a look at the Share section of MyMalcolm to do this. Watch a video guide to building a Workflow below.

You can build a Workflow quickly via the Workflow Builder in MyMalcolm. To get started, first go to the Workflow section of MyMalcolm and then click "Create a Workflow" towards the top right of the screen. You can then choose whether to build a Workflow from scratch, start with one of our templates or - if you have already created some Workflows previously - clone one of those previously created Workflows. You can then use our drag and drop builder to create your Workflow. Our Workflow builder enables you to: * Drag and drop question elements onto your form * Customise those question elements * Configure Filters, Validators and Rules * Split forms over multiple pages * Customise page titles and progress bars * Customise thank you page Once you have created the content of your form, you can to the Configure tab and configure various options including setting up email notifications or Integrations. By default your Workflow is created as a web form that you access via a URL. But you can also surface that Workflow in a variety of other ways (including float it over page in a widget, via a modal/overlay launched by a button you place on a site, or via embeds or plugins) - take a look at the Share section of MyMalcolm to do this. Watch a video guide to building a Workflow below.

Yes, to protect against abuse there are a few restrictions on your Malcolm! free trial. These are: * You are limited to 5 FAQs * You are limited to 1 Workflow * Your file uploads are limited to a total of 50MB. If you sign up to a plan via the Billing section of MyMalcolm your restrictions will be lifted.

Yes, to protect against abuse there are a few restrictions on your Malcolm! free trial. These are: * You are limited to 5 FAQs * You are limited to 1 Workflow * Your file uploads are limited to a total of 50MB. If you sign up to a plan via the Billing section of MyMalcolm your restrictions will be lifted.

The Malcolm! widget is a great way to put your content in front of users. By using the widget you can float content over an existing website or application. Want to let your users find out answers to FAQs about a product or service you provide but don't want them to make them navigate from the screen they are on? The Malcolm! widget is what you need. Or perhaps you'd like to float a feedback or get in touch form over your website? Super easy to do with the Malcolm! widget. You can even make the content displayed contextual to the screen the widget is floating over. How cool is that? We recommend you place the Malcolm! widget embed code on every page of your website. You can then configure whether the widget displays or not (and what it displays) from within MyMalcolm! Here is how to start using the Malcolm! widget. **Step 1: Create an embed** Go the Share section of MyMalcolm and select the Embed tab and then Create an embed. Select Widget as the type of embed you want to create. Give your embed a name. **Step 2: Choose your content** From this area you can choose a single FAQ or Workflow to display in the widget, or you can choose collections of content. These collections can be a category, a tag or an author. You can also make a collection out of a search result including a search that is contextual to the meta content of the page that the widget is on - you can query content based on the page title, meta keywords, meta description or a meta search tag. Users can navigate content within the widget via clicking on items in the user interface eg categories, tags or authors. If you don't choose a specific FAQ, Workflow or collection of content the default content displayed will be the most popular content. **Step 3: Configure the visual style of your widget** You can configure various options about the visual appearance and behaviour of your widget. The options include what the widget looks like in it's pre-expand state (a button or a drawer), the text used on the pre-expand, the colours and logo plus the location of the widget on your screen. You can also configure whether you want the search and footer used on expanded widget and whether the transition from pre-expand to post-expand and vice versa are animated or not. **Step 4: Set up URL rules and visibility settings** We recommend you put the Malcolm! widget embed code on every page of your website. But you might not want the widget to appear on every page. Using URL rules you can mangage and easily change which pages the widget does appear on from within MyMalcolm! You may not want the widget to display on mobile browsers, or you may want the widget to only appear at certain times (for example when your office is closed) - you can configure these options in visibility settings. **Step 5: Publish and place code on site** Finally when you are happy publish your widget. Finally collect your code - you can cut and paste this or have it emailed to you (or the person who is responsible for implementation). If you use Google Tag Manager you can also deploy the embed code via this system. [See here for more details.](https://support.malcolm.support/faqs/can-i-put-malcolm-widget-code-into-another-site-via-google-tag-manager)

The Malcolm! widget is a great way to put your content in front of users. By using the widget you can float content over an existing website or application. Want to let your users find out answers to FAQs about a product or service you provide but don't want them to make them navigate from the screen they are on? The Malcolm! widget is what you need. Or perhaps you'd like to float a feedback or get in touch form over your website? Super easy to do with the Malcolm! widget. You can even make the content displayed contextual to the screen the widget is floating over. How cool is that? We recommend you place the Malcolm! widget embed code on every page of your website. You can then configure whether the widget displays or not (and what it displays) from within MyMalcolm! Here is how to start using the Malcolm! widget. **Step 1: Create an embed** Go the Share section of MyMalcolm and select the Embed tab and then Create an embed. Select Widget as the type of embed you want to create. Give your embed a name. **Step 2: Choose your content** From this area you can choose a single FAQ or Workflow to display in the widget, or you can choose collections of content. These collections can be a category, a tag or an author. You can also make a collection out of a search result including a search that is contextual to the meta content of the page that the widget is on - you can query content based on the page title, meta keywords, meta description or a meta search tag. Users can navigate content within the widget via clicking on items in the user interface eg categories, tags or authors. If you don't choose a specific FAQ, Workflow or collection of content the default content displayed will be the most popular content. **Step 3: Configure the visual style of your widget** You can configure various options about the visual appearance and behaviour of your widget. The options include what the widget looks like in it's pre-expand state (a button or a drawer), the text used on the pre-expand, the colours and logo plus the location of the widget on your screen. You can also configure whether you want the search and footer used on expanded widget and whether the transition from pre-expand to post-expand and vice versa are animated or not. **Step 4: Set up URL rules and visibility settings** We recommend you put the Malcolm! widget embed code on every page of your website. But you might not want the widget to appear on every page. Using URL rules you can mangage and easily change which pages the widget does appear on from within MyMalcolm! You may not want the widget to display on mobile browsers, or you may want the widget to only appear at certain times (for example when your office is closed) - you can configure these options in visibility settings. **Step 5: Publish and place code on site** Finally when you are happy publish your widget. Finally collect your code - you can cut and paste this or have it emailed to you (or the person who is responsible for implementation). If you use Google Tag Manager you can also deploy the embed code via this system. [See here for more details.](https://support.malcolm.support/faqs/can-i-put-malcolm-widget-code-into-another-site-via-google-tag-manager)

It can be very useful to give your users the option to save progress on a Workflow and come back to complete the rest later. It's especially helpful if a you have built a long multi-stage Workflow like an application form. You turn this feature on in MyMalcolm - go to the Configure screen of each individual Workflow. When turned on users will see an option to "Finish Later" at the bottom of each Workflow screen. When clicked this will bring up an overlay asking them to enter their email address. A unique link will then be emailed that when clicked will take the user back to the same stage of the Workflow they were previously at. If you need to retrieve these links (for example someone completing the form didn't receive or has lost the email with the resume link in) you can also get to the link via the Completions area of the Workflow section of MyMalcolm - click the link under "Resume link" to copy the URL your clipboard.

It can be very useful to give your users the option to save progress on a Workflow and come back to complete the rest later. It's especially helpful if a you have built a long multi-stage Workflow like an application form. You turn this feature on in MyMalcolm - go to the Configure screen of each individual Workflow. When turned on users will see an option to "Finish Later" at the bottom of each Workflow screen. When clicked this will bring up an overlay asking them to enter their email address. A unique link will then be emailed that when clicked will take the user back to the same stage of the Workflow they were previously at. If you need to retrieve these links (for example someone completing the form didn't receive or has lost the email with the resume link in) you can also get to the link via the Completions area of the Workflow section of MyMalcolm - click the link under "Resume link" to copy the URL your clipboard.

A very powerful feature of Malcolm! is the ability to populate one or more values within a Workflow via the URL to the Workflow itself. Malcolm! also offers associated options around whether a user completing a Workflow can see or edit that value. This is extremely powerful if - for example - you want to pass into a Workflow information that lets you identify who has completed it - such as a customer ID or perhaps some other form of unique reference that lets you know what the information relates to (eg an order or transaction id) For example, let's say a customer has created an order with order ID 12345 and you need some further information to fulfil the order. Rather than send them a Workflow which asks them for their order ID as one of the questions (or relies on you manually linking the submitted Workflow with a completed order your side) you could send them a link in the format https://url.com/workflows/order-info-needed?orderid=12345 You can put values for multiple fields in the URL too eg https://url.com/workflows/order-info-needed?orderid=12345&anotherfield=abcde You can choose whether the user filling in the Workflow will see the Order ID repeated on their Workflow or not. If they can see it you can choose whether they can edit it or not. You can also choose what the descriptors in the URL (in the example above the "orderid" part) actually are. All these configurations are made by clicking on the individual element in the Workflow builder in MyMalcolm and scrolling to the "Settings" area. When the Workflow is submitted you will receive the Order ID (and any other fields you have completed via the URL) as part of the submitted information. When you combine the ability to populate fields by variables in the URL with the integration functionality of Malcolm! it becomes even more powerful as you could programmatically send out Workflows for completion (with some identifying information inserted via an auto generated URL) and then combine them with your other systems on submission via an integration or a webhook using the identifying information to link things together. This becomes a great way to send out surveys, create follow ups to marketing campaigns, extend the functionality you offer to "logged in" users etc etc - the possibilities are endless!

A very powerful feature of Malcolm! is the ability to populate one or more values within a Workflow via the URL to the Workflow itself. Malcolm! also offers associated options around whether a user completing a Workflow can see or edit that value. This is extremely powerful if - for example - you want to pass into a Workflow information that lets you identify who has completed it - such as a customer ID or perhaps some other form of unique reference that lets you know what the information relates to (eg an order or transaction id) For example, let's say a customer has created an order with order ID 12345 and you need some further information to fulfil the order. Rather than send them a Workflow which asks them for their order ID as one of the questions (or relies on you manually linking the submitted Workflow with a completed order your side) you could send them a link in the format https://url.com/workflows/order-info-needed?orderid=12345 You can put values for multiple fields in the URL too eg https://url.com/workflows/order-info-needed?orderid=12345&anotherfield=abcde You can choose whether the user filling in the Workflow will see the Order ID repeated on their Workflow or not. If they can see it you can choose whether they can edit it or not. You can also choose what the descriptors in the URL (in the example above the "orderid" part) actually are. All these configurations are made by clicking on the individual element in the Workflow builder in MyMalcolm and scrolling to the "Settings" area. When the Workflow is submitted you will receive the Order ID (and any other fields you have completed via the URL) as part of the submitted information. When you combine the ability to populate fields by variables in the URL with the integration functionality of Malcolm! it becomes even more powerful as you could programmatically send out Workflows for completion (with some identifying information inserted via an auto generated URL) and then combine them with your other systems on submission via an integration or a webhook using the identifying information to link things together. This becomes a great way to send out surveys, create follow ups to marketing campaigns, extend the functionality you offer to "logged in" users etc etc - the possibilities are endless!

When creating a Workflow (you might prefer to call it a form or a user journey) you may want to vary what is presented to the user based on their earlier inputs. For example if you sell different types of product and want to build a returns form the information you ask for might vary from product to product. So you'd ideally ask the user to choose the type of product they want to return, then show them further relevant questions that related to that type of product only. Rules and routing in Malcolm! Workflows let you do just this - you can create complex and adaptive multi-step user journeys / forms easily via this feature. Below is a simple example of how rules and routing work. In this example we create a simple form that asks a user for some basic details (their name, email address and "further details"). If they select "yes" to the question "Do you have documents or files to upload?" we'll include a screen for them to upload those files before they complete the form. If the user selects "no" we won't show them this screen and they will go direct to the Thank You screen. Here is the setup in the Workflow builder in MyMalcolm: Conceptually it is important to understand that rules and routing works at a page level (not at a question level). So where you have questions that will only be shown to the user in certain scenarios you should put those questions on their own page. You then use rules to show or hide those pages. In our example we have set the "Include page by default" setting on page 2 to be off. By doing this page 2 is "hidden" and can only be seen by routing to it via a rule. You configure rules at a question/element level. So in our example we now need to set up a rule on the "Do you have files or documents to upload?" question/element. To do this click on that question/element. In the overlay that appears select "rules". Then add the rule that if the value is equal to yes to include page 2. The available options in values will vary according to the type of question/element you are editing. In "Then...." you have the option of including a page, hiding a page or moving to it. If you move to a page the Workflow will then continue from that page and jump over any pages before. You can see the full range of options for this element type below.

When creating a Workflow (you might prefer to call it a form or a user journey) you may want to vary what is presented to the user based on their earlier inputs. For example if you sell different types of product and want to build a returns form the information you ask for might vary from product to product. So you'd ideally ask the user to choose the type of product they want to return, then show them further relevant questions that related to that type of product only. Rules and routing in Malcolm! Workflows let you do just this - you can create complex and adaptive multi-step user journeys / forms easily via this feature. Below is a simple example of how rules and routing work. In this example we create a simple form that asks a user for some basic details (their name, email address and "further details"). If they select "yes" to the question "Do you have documents or files to upload?" we'll include a screen for them to upload those files before they complete the form. If the user selects "no" we won't show them this screen and they will go direct to the Thank You screen. Here is the setup in the Workflow builder in MyMalcolm: Conceptually it is important to understand that rules and routing works at a page level (not at a question level). So where you have questions that will only be shown to the user in certain scenarios you should put those questions on their own page. You then use rules to show or hide those pages. In our example we have set the "Include page by default" setting on page 2 to be off. By doing this page 2 is "hidden" and can only be seen by routing to it via a rule. You configure rules at a question/element level. So in our example we now need to set up a rule on the "Do you have files or documents to upload?" question/element. To do this click on that question/element. In the overlay that appears select "rules". Then add the rule that if the value is equal to yes to include page 2. The available options in values will vary according to the type of question/element you are editing. In "Then...." you have the option of including a page, hiding a page or moving to it. If you move to a page the Workflow will then continue from that page and jump over any pages before. You can see the full range of options for this element type below.

Every instance of Malcolm! comes complete with a Hosted Hub that you can configure and customise. [You can find out more about the Hosted Hub here](https://support.malcolm.support/faqs/what-is-my-support-hub) and if you want to turn if off you can [find out how to do that here. ](https://support.malcolm.support/faqs/how-do-i-turn-off-my-hosted-hub) In MyMalcolm if you click "View Live" towards the top the screen you'll see what your Hosted Hub currently looks like. The two things you are probably most likely to want to change are the URL the Hub is on and the Hub's look, feel and content. Here is how to configure each of those areas. **1. Configure the URL** In MyMalcolm, go to the Settings section, then select "Custom Domains" from the vertical left hand menu. In this area you can change the URL your Hosted Hub will use. It's possible (and no extra charge) to use your own external domain or sub-domain. **2. Change your Hub's look, feel and content** You can extensively customise your Hosted Hub to suit your own requirements. To do this, go to the Brand section of MyMalcolm, clone an existing theme, then choose the edit icon on your cloned theme. In the edit theme area use the left hand vertical navigation to see all the custom options you have.

Every instance of Malcolm! comes complete with a Hosted Hub that you can configure and customise. [You can find out more about the Hosted Hub here](https://support.malcolm.support/faqs/what-is-my-support-hub) and if you want to turn if off you can [find out how to do that here. ](https://support.malcolm.support/faqs/how-do-i-turn-off-my-hosted-hub) In MyMalcolm if you click "View Live" towards the top the screen you'll see what your Hosted Hub currently looks like. The two things you are probably most likely to want to change are the URL the Hub is on and the Hub's look, feel and content. Here is how to configure each of those areas. **1. Configure the URL** In MyMalcolm, go to the Settings section, then select "Custom Domains" from the vertical left hand menu. In this area you can change the URL your Hosted Hub will use. It's possible (and no extra charge) to use your own external domain or sub-domain. **2. Change your Hub's look, feel and content** You can extensively customise your Hosted Hub to suit your own requirements. To do this, go to the Brand section of MyMalcolm, clone an existing theme, then choose the edit icon on your cloned theme. In the edit theme area use the left hand vertical navigation to see all the custom options you have.

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

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

A Workflow is a web based form that your customers complete. You can build these forms quickly in MyMalcolm and use them to create a digital version of a business process. **For example** * A contact form * A survey * A customer enquiry * A new customer details form You can build everything from simple single screen journeys through to more complex multi-step journeys with conditional routing (ie offering certain choices based on previous answers). Malcolm! automatically stores all data - including abandoned forms. You can export this data at any time. You can also pass that collected data through to other systems via Integrations or Webhooks.

A Workflow is a web based form that your customers complete. You can build these forms quickly in MyMalcolm and use them to create a digital version of a business process. **For example** * A contact form * A survey * A customer enquiry * A new customer details form You can build everything from simple single screen journeys through to more complex multi-step journeys with conditional routing (ie offering certain choices based on previous answers). Malcolm! automatically stores all data - including abandoned forms. You can export this data at any time. You can also pass that collected data through to other systems via Integrations or Webhooks.

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). Malcolm! Workflow is all about taking your users through tasks or procedures. 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](https://malcolm.app/examples) **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](https://malcolm.app/examples/human-resources) or [Finance department](https://malcolm.app/examples/finance) * You could use Malcolm! as a way of [communicating information about your premises or facilities](https://malcolm.app/examples/commercial) * You could use Malcolm! as a home for an [internal project or initiative](https://malcolm.app/examples/internal)

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). Malcolm! Workflow is all about taking your users through tasks or procedures. 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](https://malcolm.app/examples) **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](https://malcolm.app/examples/human-resources) or [Finance department](https://malcolm.app/examples/finance) * You could use Malcolm! as a way of [communicating information about your premises or facilities](https://malcolm.app/examples/commercial) * You could use Malcolm! as a home for an [internal project or initiative](https://malcolm.app/examples/internal)

Malcolm! let's you password protect individual items of content (e.g. a particular FAQ or Workflow) and/or your Hosted Hub. The best option for you will depend on how exactly you use and implement Malcolm! **Password Protection on Hosted Hub** You can add a "start of session" password to your Hosted Hub via the Visibility tab in the Settings section in MyMalcolm. In this area you can add one or more passwords. For example you could add one password that all your users share, or you could give each user an individual password. You can supply a label/description next to the password in MyMalcolm to remind yourself who that password was created for. From the same area you can suspend or delete previously created passwords, as well as see when passwords were last used. When a user visits any page on your Hosted Hub they create a web session. The first time they do this they will be asked for their password. You can configure the exact wording that is used on the password request screen in MyMalcolm! The user will then remain logged in for the remainder of their session. Sessions typically end when the user closes their web browser or after a long period of inactivity. **Password Protection on Individual Content Items** You can also add configure password protection on individual items of content like an FAQ or a Workflow. You do this via the Visibility tab in the Configure section of the individual FAQ or Workflow (which you access via the library in the respective FAQ or Workflow section of MyMalcolm). The default setting for items of content is that they inherit the settings from the Hub. So if no password is set at a Hub level no password is required to view the content. If a password is set at a Hub level then a password will be required at the start of the user session. If you want to ensure that a password is always required before a particular FAQ or Workflow is accessed you should set it at this content level. Bear in mind however that if you also have a Hub password set and a user starts their session with a direct link to individual content that is password protected they will need to enter two passwords: one to get them into the Hub session and a further password to view the content. You can also set an individual item of content to never require a password, even if the Hub has a password set. This can be useful if, for example, you want to put all your content behind a Hub password but want to create a Workflow that lets people request access. In this scenario you would create a Workflow for the purpose of requesting access, set it to never require a password then link to it from the text you can configure on the Hub password request screen. When requests come in you can review them and if you approve you can manually set up the user's password. **Also worth noting** If a user makes three failed password attempts they will not be able to attempt a further password within that session for 30 minutes.

Malcolm! let's you password protect individual items of content (e.g. a particular FAQ or Workflow) and/or your Hosted Hub. The best option for you will depend on how exactly you use and implement Malcolm! **Password Protection on Hosted Hub** You can add a "start of session" password to your Hosted Hub via the Visibility tab in the Settings section in MyMalcolm. In this area you can add one or more passwords. For example you could add one password that all your users share, or you could give each user an individual password. You can supply a label/description next to the password in MyMalcolm to remind yourself who that password was created for. From the same area you can suspend or delete previously created passwords, as well as see when passwords were last used. When a user visits any page on your Hosted Hub they create a web session. The first time they do this they will be asked for their password. You can configure the exact wording that is used on the password request screen in MyMalcolm! The user will then remain logged in for the remainder of their session. Sessions typically end when the user closes their web browser or after a long period of inactivity. **Password Protection on Individual Content Items** You can also add configure password protection on individual items of content like an FAQ or a Workflow. You do this via the Visibility tab in the Configure section of the individual FAQ or Workflow (which you access via the library in the respective FAQ or Workflow section of MyMalcolm). The default setting for items of content is that they inherit the settings from the Hub. So if no password is set at a Hub level no password is required to view the content. If a password is set at a Hub level then a password will be required at the start of the user session. If you want to ensure that a password is always required before a particular FAQ or Workflow is accessed you should set it at this content level. Bear in mind however that if you also have a Hub password set and a user starts their session with a direct link to individual content that is password protected they will need to enter two passwords: one to get them into the Hub session and a further password to view the content. You can also set an individual item of content to never require a password, even if the Hub has a password set. This can be useful if, for example, you want to put all your content behind a Hub password but want to create a Workflow that lets people request access. In this scenario you would create a Workflow for the purpose of requesting access, set it to never require a password then link to it from the text you can configure on the Hub password request screen. When requests come in you can review them and if you approve you can manually set up the user's password. **Also worth noting** If a user makes three failed password attempts they will not be able to attempt a further password within that session for 30 minutes.

Categories offer a way of organising your FAQs around similar areas. For example you may wish to group some of FAQs into a "pre sales" category and others into a "post sales" category. Or if you sell many different types of product you might want to create categories for each product and categorise your FAQs in this way. Customers may choose to browse FAQs by category as well as searching. An FAQ can exist in more than 1 category and you can also create sub categories within categories.

Categories offer a way of organising your FAQs around similar areas. For example you may wish to group some of FAQs into a "pre sales" category and others into a "post sales" category. Or if you sell many different types of product you might want to create categories for each product and categorise your FAQs in this way. Customers may choose to browse FAQs by category as well as searching. An FAQ can exist in more than 1 category and you can also create sub categories within categories.

Tags are a way (along with folders) of helping your organise and label your media. They can be useful when your media library becomes large. For example, if you use rights managed images in your FAQs you could use tags to help you remember the expiry dates of those rights.

Tags are a way (along with folders) of helping your organise and label your media. They can be useful when your media library becomes large. For example, if you use rights managed images in your FAQs you could use tags to help you remember the expiry dates of those rights.

The Share section of MyMalcolm gives you tools to embed and share content from Malcolm! into your existing websites, applications and social spaces. You can bring content from Malcolm! directly into your current website via embeds. Choose the content you want to embed and how you want it displayed and we'll give you some code. Inserting that code into your current website will load in your content from Malcolm! You can embed individual FAQs or Workflows, create custom widgets that can pull in things like search results, category listings, all content by a particular author, recent content, tagged content, most popular content and much more. If you don't have a website or you want to group all your Malcolm! content together you can use our Hosted Hub. We also have a plugin for Wordpress. In addition to the above customers on our Enterprise plans have full access to our API which means they can pull from and push content to Malcolm! in a variety of ways - please speak to your account manager for more details.

The Share section of MyMalcolm gives you tools to embed and share content from Malcolm! into your existing websites, applications and social spaces. You can bring content from Malcolm! directly into your current website via embeds. Choose the content you want to embed and how you want it displayed and we'll give you some code. Inserting that code into your current website will load in your content from Malcolm! You can embed individual FAQs or Workflows, create custom widgets that can pull in things like search results, category listings, all content by a particular author, recent content, tagged content, most popular content and much more. If you don't have a website or you want to group all your Malcolm! content together you can use our Hosted Hub. We also have a plugin for Wordpress. In addition to the above customers on our Enterprise plans have full access to our API which means they can pull from and push content to Malcolm! in a variety of ways - please speak to your account manager for more details.

An instance is a collection of related FAQ’s and/or Workflows that your users will see and interact with plus a set of management tools that you and other members of your staff or team will use. Each instance also includes an optional hosted hub that you can customise and brand. If you decide to use Malcolm! in two distinct areas of your business it can make sense to have two different instances. For example you could use one instance of Malcolm! to support customers of your product or service and another instance as an internal HR portal. [You can see some examples of how Malcolm! instances can be used here](https://malcolm.app/examples) **Instance Billing** Our billing is based around instances. You can start an instance any time and enjoy a 14 day trial. This can be great for trying ideas out. If you want to keep using the instance beyond 14 days you'll need to choose a plan and give us your card details, or agree an enterprise plan with us. **Instance Owners** Each instance will have an owner. This is the master user who is ultimately responsible for the instance. If you are on a Team or Enterprise plan you can invite other users to the instance too. If you need to transfer ownership of the instance to another user (for instance if you are leaving a company or organisation) you can do that as long as the proposed new owner agrees.

An instance is a collection of related FAQ’s and/or Workflows that your users will see and interact with plus a set of management tools that you and other members of your staff or team will use. Each instance also includes an optional hosted hub that you can customise and brand. If you decide to use Malcolm! in two distinct areas of your business it can make sense to have two different instances. For example you could use one instance of Malcolm! to support customers of your product or service and another instance as an internal HR portal. [You can see some examples of how Malcolm! instances can be used here](https://malcolm.app/examples) **Instance Billing** Our billing is based around instances. You can start an instance any time and enjoy a 14 day trial. This can be great for trying ideas out. If you want to keep using the instance beyond 14 days you'll need to choose a plan and give us your card details, or agree an enterprise plan with us. **Instance Owners** Each instance will have an owner. This is the master user who is ultimately responsible for the instance. If you are on a Team or Enterprise plan you can invite other users to the instance too. If you need to transfer ownership of the instance to another user (for instance if you are leaving a company or organisation) you can do that as long as the proposed new owner agrees.

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