Appendix 2

Windows NT Workstation Technology improvements

User Interface improvements

Recycle Bin - An electronic dumpster where you drag your trash; however, you can peck and sort through the trash to find something that was just thrown out.

Network Map - Intuitive maps your networking neighborhood -- your highways and byways.

My Computer - A simpler and more intuitive way to organize files -- Disks, folders, documents and files in a Mac-like fashion.

Long Filenames - The combination of organizing your documents in project folders (with drag and drop) and then using long file names makes your work more easily organized and more easy to share and browse.

Short Cuts - It is easy for the user to create 'aliases' or short cuts to frequently accessed networked documents or applications. These can be dragged to the desktop or stored in your own favorite folder for quick and easy access.

Undo - This provides the user an easy way to undo some of the latest file operations (such as rename, move or deletion of files) if they find they made and error or simply want to change their mind.

Wizards - These help wizards can be invaluable in guiding a new user through multi-level tasks and show the user 'English sign posts' choices to complete complex tasks as a series of simple steps. They are crash proof and allow the user a way to trail run extensions to their system without the fear of crashing the system.

On-line Help - An improved, context sensitive help system with a lot of graphics, provides more intuitive on-line help.

Windows Explorer - A more concise way for the power user to explore and navigate documents and applications on their system or network.

Properties - Property sheets are available for all documents, files, folders, applications, disk drives and other elements in a user's system. These are areas where users can modify the behavior of these elements in their computing environment. It is where they can modify the personality of their computing system.

Right clicking - This function triggers a series on context sensitive menu Pop-ups that can greatly reduce the number of mouse clicks required to perform common tasks. This item will be a great boon for the power users.

Control Panel - Much improved control panel is the main user interface to all computer hardware. It includes the new utilities for hardware detection, plug & play, networks, printers, multimedia, install & uninstall and the ability to switch communications stacks and any hardware drivers on a live system. This function will be of great assistance in both preventing problems and in solving technical on-line with the user.

Quick Viewer - This viewer easily allows users to browse through network documents and see a preview of the document even if they do not have that application installed. This is great for sharing attachments in E-mail with other users.

Systems Management Improvements

System Management - Windows NT Workstation is designed to be either centrally or locally managed. This will save an enormous amount of time in fixing technical problems, performing installs or moving user's data without going to the site. Other useful items for central or local systems management include: Control panels, Property sheets, Remote Registry editor, Performance Monitor, Event Viewer, Systems policies editor and DMI agent.

Remote Administration Security - These set of capabilities enable desktop systems to be tested, configured, fixed and updated via the network and, hence, are key in reducing the time to fix distributed PCs.

Hardware Profile - Hardware detection can be run by the user of network administrator to generate a log of the hardware configuration that will be stored in the registry. This will be used by both the user and support personnel in fixing or making changes to user desktop software. This is key in de-skilling the PC support function and enabling end users to correct problems and prevent trouble calls.

Systems Policies - These are a set of files that are typically downloaded from a server to override and enforce a level of compliance and security on certain classes of users. These may include controls on the user interface, network, desktop configuration, sharing capabilities, etc.

Performance Monitor - Windows NT Workstation includes a performance monitor that can be used by PC Helpdesk persons to quickly get an accurate picture of the performance the user experiences. It can be helpful in tuning a system to meet the local workload demands.

Remote Procedure Calls - These are the electronic hooks that are used to enable central control of a users PC to enable the on-line diagnosis and the administration of the prescription to fix a desktop system.

Tape Backup - These embedded tools make it easier for the local PC user to be able to move data in and out of their system as well as archive/restore information for storage management and data protection.

Network Management - Windows NT Workstation includes a number of key network agents or clients to allow the user to access and use network servers, e.g. Netware client for print and file services, Windows NT Servers - for LAN manager enterprise scaleable file and print services, E-Mail client for access to BackOffice services, NTAS servers for access to structured data from SQL databases, SNMP client for connection to a Network management system, e.g. Openview, Netview.

Netwatcher - It allows local and remote management of users connections to network data and services. This enables the network administrator and Helpdesk to test, modify and control user network access for both problem resolution and normal operations.

Administrate File Systems - This feature allows the network manager to take control of your local system, to test and reconfigure all the file systems and other resources.

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) Agent - This is now a common industry standard that is part of Netview (IBM & DEC), Openview (HP). It provides an industry standard mechanism to remotely (via the network) manage desktop machines and enable the Helpdesk diagnosis and control of a local desktop machine.

DMI (Desktop Management Interface) Agent - This is an emerging standard for the support of remote desktop management. This will enable new capabilities in the future.

User Management - This set of features captures the user's identity through a logon procedure and then will configure the system to reflect the personal preferences that that user has set up. These preferences can be set to follow the user if he/she logs on from another desktop in the network. This logon information can be used as a user's master key to access a range of other network services, e.g. Netware files. The user management services will include other information such as User Profiles, System Policies and Server Based Security.

The 'Fix' for printing problems with Windows NT Workstation

32-bit print subsystem - The new 32-bit preemptive print subsystem is able to ride through DOS partition crashes and still deliver a more reliable and manageable set of print services.

Improved Performance - The new Windows NT Workstation 32 bit print spooler operates in the true multitasking environment providing better performance

Color matching - Uses Kodak color matching technology for better WYSIWYG publishing with predictable color control.

Installing and configuring -Printer detection for more than 800 printers and device installation wizard support assures easy and accurate installation of new printers and setup of network printing.

Managing print jobs - Provides the ability to easily manage both local and networked print jobs.

Network Integrated Printing -Networked print management with status on all networked printers, new drivers downloaded automatically from Windows NT server.

Appendix 3

Comments on the site specific data

At the individual site level, we saw considerable variance in the call detail reports due a wide variety of factors. Here, we will provide notes and comments on what we observed.

Site 1

1. Higher percent of hardware calls than average
2. Lower calls rates
3. Mostly engineering and manufacturing users
4. Mostly skilled users

Site 2

1. Call rates per user running 3 times average
2. Head quarters location with executive support needs
3. Helpdesk staff numbers running above average to handle high call rate
4. May be trading off more Helpdesk resources for less training resources

Site 3

1. Inner city site
2. Call rates running 3 times average per user
3. Very high numbers of password reset calls
4. All on-site visits were outsourced
5. High 50% of all calls were status calls
6. High 40% of calls outstanding for more than one day

Site 4

1. Very low call rates running about 1/8 average rate
2. Some problems took a long time (3 weeks) to repair
3. High 90% of all calls fixed by phone

Site 5

1. Low call rates
2. Data here only from the outsourced Helpdesk function
3. Low staffing due to outsourcing the workload

Site 6

1. Call rates are average
2. Helpdesk staffing does not include management heads
3. Very large user site
4. Excellent data capture and coding process
5. Call details also included 13% of other non-PC related calls
6. Calls included PC hardware, software and networking details

Site 7

1. High portion (26%) of hardware calls
2. Helpdesk staffing is low due to outsourcing
3. All PC calls are outsourced
4. PC hardware calls are then referred back to corporation for repair

Site 8

1. PC call rate at 1/2 of industry average

Site 9

1. Smaller site
2. Low PC call rate, about 1/4 industry average
3. Hardware is outsourced
4. High portion 30% of non-related calls analyzed, e.g. telephone changes, adds fixes and deletes

Appendix 4

Helpdesk Calculations Template

1. Take a large 1000-2000 sample of your helpdesk call detail reports.
2. Analyze these reports and determine the percent of calls that should be avoided due to a simpler more intuitive user interface, better file system with long file name support and search tools, crashworthiness due to improved memory management, system wizards to help user complete complex tasks, improved communications connectability and simpler user environments due to lockdown and central registry improvements in Windows NT Workstation.
3. Analyze this same sample of calls and count the percentage of calls that could have been fixed via the network if running Windows NT Workstation rather than sending a technician to site. These should include calls where technical support should be able to solve the call over the network due to the remote management, built-in networking and central registry improvements.
4. Fill in the table below for a cost savings estimate.

A. Your cost per call
What is your annual loaded cost for PC Helps desk operations?	$500,000
How many PC Helpdesk calls do you handle per year?	25,000
Calculated cost per call (costs/# calls per year)	$20
B. Your cost per visit
What is your annual loaded cost for PC software technicians?	$300,000
How many sites visits do they perform per year?	1000
Calculated cost per PC field repair visit (costs/# visits per year)	$300
C. Call avoidance
From your sample, what percentage of calls may be avoided?	10%
D. Visit avoidance
From your sample, what percentage of visits may be avoided?	30%
E. Projected savings if your users are running Windows NT Workstation
Your savings due to calls avoided (cost per call * number of calls avoided)	$50,000
Your savings due to calls avoided (cost per call * number of visits avoided)	$90,000
Your estimated annual helpdesk costs savings	$140,000