Your membership comes with a private channel where you can reach the Stellar and mWater team directly. This page explains how it works, starting from scratch.
Never used Slack before? Slack is a messaging app, a bit like WhatsApp for work. You have exactly one channel, it has your organization's name on it, and there is nothing here you can break. If you can send a message, you know enough to start.
Waiting on an invitation? It arrives by email from Slack shortly after your membership is activated. If it hasn't shown up, email support@stellardata.co.
If you only do these, you have everything you need.
Open the email from Slack and click Join. Set a password, and you're in. You'll land directly in your organization's channel. There is nothing to search for and nowhere else you need to go.
Slack runs in a web browser, but replies are much easier to keep up with in the app. Get it from slack.com/downloads, or search "Slack" in the App Store or Google Play. Sign in with the same email address.
Type in the message box at the bottom of the channel and press Enter. Anything is fair game: a broken dashboard, a stubborn import, a report you dread pulling together, or "is this the right way to set up our indicators?" Your first message doesn't have to be a well formed question.
Slack looks busy the first time you open it. In practice you only use five things, and they are in the same place on the phone app and the desktop app.
A simplified sketch, not a screenshot. Your channel is named after your organization, so the name will differ.
Two minutes, and it covers everything you'll actually use. Nothing in this video is specific to Stellar. It is just how Slack works.
These are the ones that trip up newcomers. None of them takes more than a moment to learn.
When we answer your message, our reply appears in a thread attached to it rather than as a new message in the channel. Click "N replies" under your message to read it, and reply inside the thread to keep going.
One request, one thread. It lets several conversations run at the same time without any of them getting tangled.
Pressing Enter sends, so a long message written in paragraphs can go out half finished. Use Shift + Enter to start a new line, then send once the whole message is there.
Sent something too early? Hover over the message, click the three dots and choose Edit message. Delete works the same way.
By default Slack notifies you about activity in your channel, which is usually what you want here. It is how you will know we have replied.
If it is too much, or you want quiet hours outside your working day, set it once and forget it under Preferences then Notifications.
Paste a screenshot straight into the message box, or drag a file in. A CSV that will not import, a chart showing the wrong total, an error message: showing us is much faster than writing a description.
Files stay in the channel, so both of us can find them again later.
When your channel name goes bold in the sidebar, something new is waiting. A red badge with a number means someone mentioned you directly.
Opening the channel marks it read, and nothing is deleted.
Everything said in your channel stays there and can be searched. If we walked you through something three months ago, search the channel rather than asking again, though asking again is completely fine too.
Use the search box at the top of Slack.
Post a message and it reaches the whole Stellar and mWater team rather than one person's inbox. Whoever is best placed to answer will reply.
We reply within one business day, and usually much sooner, with global staff coverage across time zones.
Ask as many questions as you like, about how to do something, why something is happening, or whether mWater can do a particular thing. Those are always free. Substantial pieces of work such as data recovery, shapefile and asset imports, platform integrations, custom indicators and advanced dashboard builds draw on the 10 technical assistance tasks included in your membership each year.
We will always tell you before something counts as one, and you can say no. If you are not sure which yours is, just ask.
The channel is the quickest, and nothing you were doing before has stopped working.
You don't need any of these to use your channel. They are here for whenever you want them. All are made by Slack.
Slack keeps a full library of short tutorials at slack.com/help, and a written starter guide for new users.
If our message is part of a thread, open the thread and type in the box at the bottom of it. That keeps the whole exchange in one place.
If you are starting something new, type in the main message box at the bottom of the channel instead. Either way the message reaches us.
No. Your channel is private, and your team joins as single-channel guests, an account type that can only see the one channel it was invited to. You cannot see other organizations, their channels or their staff, and they cannot see you.
No. Guest access is covered by Stellar. There is nothing to buy and no subscription to manage on your side.
It won't. Slack handles multiple workspaces side by side. The Stellar workspace appears alongside your own in the sidebar, or under the workspace switcher on mobile, and the two stay completely separate. Sign in with the same email address and Slack will offer to add the second workspace.
Two people per organization. Use both places if you can, so nothing stalls while one of you is travelling or on leave.
To add your second person, post their name and email address in the channel and we will send the invitation.
Slack is convenient, not compulsory. Keep sending problem reports to problems@mwater.co the way you always have. The team reading that inbox can see which organizations are Stellar members, so your reports are handled accordingly.
Let us know that Slack is blocked and we will not leave anything waiting for you in a channel you cannot open.
Most likely it is sitting in a thread. Look under your original message for "N replies" and click it. You can also click Threads at the top of the Slack sidebar to see every thread you are part of in one list.
If it really isn't there, ask again in the channel. No harm done.
No. Slack looks like a chat app but it does not expect you to be sitting in it. Answer when it suits you. Your channel and everything in it will still be there.
No, and nothing you did before has stopped working. Problem reports still go to problems@mwater.co exactly as before. Billing goes to support@stellardata.co. See the three routes above.
The channel is the right place for ordinary program data, screenshots and exports. Please don't post passwords or API keys. If we need credentials to help with something, we will tell you a safe way to send them.
Post it in your channel, or send a problem report to problems@mwater.co. No question is too small to ask.