As Google Apps grows across your organisation there are always lots of questions users have. There is also lots of cool functionality that unless users are made aware of they can miss out on – and heck, you’ve paid for it all why not let them use it!
Being a web-based service from such a user-centric organisation as Google means we can all leverage off the rich user help they provide. A tip for all using (or running a pilot/POC) Google Apps is to create separate Google Site focussed on pointing the users to the relevant help pages and embed appropriate videos (nothing helps a user than seeing it in action).
The site can also be used to collect feedback, allow your users to answer questions and manage their own learning – create a list for this (here’s how).
To give you users the links to the Google Apps Help that looks like http://google.com/support/a/users/?hl=en, the following code can be added to your site homepage (copy it, edit the page, click the [html] button and paste it in):
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<h2>Get help with Google Apps services</h2>
<div>
<ol style="list-style-type:decimal">
<li style="font-size:1em;margin-top:0.5em;margin-left:0.5em;list-style-type:none"><a href="http://mail.google.com/support/?ctx=ausers&hl=en"><img alt="Email" src="http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/images/gmail_icon.gif" style="border-top-width:0px;border-right-width:0px;border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:top;border-style:initial;border-color:initial"></a> Email - <span style="font-size:12px;color:rgb(102, 102, 102)">Visit the <a href="http://mail.google.com/support/?hl=en">Gmail Help Center</a></span>
</li>
<li style="font-size:1em;margin-top:0.5em;margin-left:0.5em;list-style-type:none"><a href="http://www.google.com/support/calendar/?ctx=ausers&hl=en"><img alt="Calendar" src="http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/images/calendar_icon.gif" style="border-top-width:0px;border-right-width:0px;border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:top;border-style:initial;border-color:initial"></a> Calendar - <span style="font-size:12px;color:rgb(102, 102, 102)">Visit the <a href="http://www.google.com/support/calendar/?ctx=ausers&hl=en">Google Calendar Help Center</a></span>
</li>
<li style="font-size:1em;margin-top:0.5em;margin-left:0.5em;list-style-type:none"><a href="http://www.google.com/support/sites/?ctx=ausers&hl=en"><img alt="Sites" src="http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/images/sites_35.gif" style="border-top-width:0px;border-right-width:0px;border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:top;border-style:initial;border-color:initial"></a> Sites - <span style="font-size:12px;color:rgb(102, 102, 102)">Visit the <a href="http://www.google.com/support/sites/?ctx=ausers&hl=en">Google Sites Help Center</a></span>
</li>
<li style="font-size:1em;margin-top:0.5em;margin-left:0.5em;list-style-type:none"><a href="http://www.google.com/support/talk/?ctx=ausers&hl=en"><img alt="Chat" src="http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/images/talk_icon.gif" style="border-top-width:0px;border-right-width:0px;border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:top;border-style:initial;border-color:initial"></a> Chat - <span style="font-size:12px;color:rgb(102, 102, 102)">Visit the <a href="http://www.google.com/support/talk/?ctx=ausers&hl=en">Google Talk Help Center</a></span>
</li>
<li style="font-size:1em;margin-top:0.5em;margin-left:0.5em;list-style-type:none"><a href="http://docs.google.com/support/?ctx=ausers&hl=en"><img alt="Docs" src="http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/images/docs_icon_sm.gif" style="border-top-width:0px;border-right-width:0px;border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;vertical-align:top;border-style:initial;border-color:initial"></a> Docs - <span style="font-size:12px;color:rgb(102, 102, 102)">Visit the <a href="http://docs.google.com/support/?ctx=ausers&hl=en">Google Docs Help Center</a></span></li>
<li style="font-size:1em;margin-top:0.5em;margin-left:0.5em;list-style-type:none"><a href="http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?answer=106608&hl=en&ctx=ausers"><img alt="Video" height="35" src="http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/images/video_icon.gif" style="border-top-width:0px;border-right-width:0px;border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;vertical-align:top;border-style:initial;border-color:initial" width="35"></a> Video - <span style="font-size:12px;color:rgb(102, 102, 102)">Visit the <a href="http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?answer=106608&hl=en&ctx=ausers">Video FAQ</a></span></li>
<li style="font-size:1em;margin-top:0.5em;margin-left:0.5em;list-style-type:none"><a href="http://www.google.com/support/a/?ctx=ausers&hl=en"><img alt="Admin Control Panel" src="http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/images/controlpanel.gif" style="border-top-width:0px;border-right-width:0px;border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:top;border-style:initial;border-color:initial"></a> Admin Control Panel - <span style="font-size:12px;color:rgb(102, 102, 102)">Visit the <a href="http://www.google.com/support/a/?ctx=ausers&hl=en">Admin Help Center</a></span>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
<h2>Also see</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/googleapps">Google Apps YouTube channel</a></li></ul>
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