═══ 1. Running the HODstar Supporter Demonstration Product ═══ This demo shows many of the features of HODstar Supporter and is not a true tutorial. As you browse the demo, note the following features: o Multiple database engine support o Administrator control of support staff access o Ability to view and associate network resources to customers and their calls o Automatic refresh of lists, profiles, and monitors o Automatic alarming of calls, either new or ongoing o True multi-threaded, multi-tasking performance o Complete configuration of call types, event types, search keys, refresh times, and alarm times o Clearly established enhancement path ═══ 2. Installing and Running the Demo ═══ Use the information in this chapter to install and run the demo version of HODstar Supporter. ═══ 2.1. Demo and Product Overview ═══ HODstar Supporter is a facility to both track your customer calls, and to model your network. These features work together. Essentially HODstar Supporter is a combination of two products. Your help desk staff can start taking calls almost immediately. Modeling your network takes preparation. HODstar Supporter is object-oriented. Your network is composed of objects. For example users, printers, and machines are all basic building blocks of your network. HODstar Supporter organizes these objects into lists. Each list in turn shows you a full profile for each object in that category, and shows you what other types of object relate to that profile. For example, printers are shown as a list of the actual printers your network uses. By opening a profile for one of the printers in the list, you can quickly see what that printer does for your network. Just as importantly from that profile you can see how that printer relates to each objects. This demo includes a database of objects for a small network, and an INI file for a client machine. Normally you would build your own database and model your own network, after first building your own INI file. ═══ 2.2. Installing the Demo ═══ Make sure you are in the same directory as the source installation path. This is diskette 1 for users installing off diskette, and the temporary path containing all files for users installing off their hard drive. 1. Run the INSTALL.EXE Program This routine installs either from diskette or from a single directory on a hard drive. Merely copy both diskettes to a temporary directory if you want to install from hard drive. 2. Configure the INSTALL Screen Read the 'license' (actually just an information file in the Demonstration version). Make sure that the drive and path specified have at least 4MB free, and that you are able to copy files to that path (only relevant to network users). 3. Select the INSTALL Button From the INSTALL Screen If installing from diskette you will be prompted at one point to switch diskettes. Users installing from hard drive will not see this prompt. When the installation is done, read the final message. Close the Installation program when completed. ═══ 2.3. Starting the Demo ═══ Look for the newly-created HODstar folder. This installation routine defaults to opening this folder for you. 1. Logon to HODstar Supporter Run the 'Supporter Control Panel'. At the logon prompt specify 'HODSUPER' for the User ID field, and 'PASSWORD' for the password field. You are now active as a Supervisor, the highest security level, on HODstar Supporter. The HODSUPER ID should only be used when first setting up your support system. After creating your actual administrator and supervisor IDs delete or downgrade the access for the HODSUPER ID. The Control Panel must be active and the user logged-on before running any other Supporter module. The one exception to this requirement is the Supporter Maintenance Panel. The Maintenance Panel is normally made available only to administrators and Supervisors. ═══ 2.4. Listing Resources ═══ You are now ready to list all network resources by their object category. In this example we will look at lists of Groups. Look for the 'Groups Resource List' object in the HODstar folder. Double-click on this icon. As the Group Resource List comes up it sets itself up to automatically refresh as often as you specify, and when refreshed will show you all Groups defined in your database. You can also view groups just by network once you have fully modeled your network. Click on any entry and, while keeping the left mouse button held down, drag the mouse pointer so that it selects two or more entries. When selected, release the left mouse button and click once on the right button. This will popup a menu of options. The popup menu can also be displayed by clicking once on the Resources drop down menu from the action bar. Select CHANGE from the popup menu. This will start one or more Profile notebooks for the selected Groups. Move on to the next section. ═══ 2.5. Profiling Resources ═══ Once the Profile notebooks are displayed, you can move between pages by clicking on that page tabs, or by using the Page Up/Page Down keys. Note that pages are organized into major sections using tabs on the bottom of the screen. Each major section in turn is made up of minor sections with tabs to the right of the notebook. Minor sections may contain pages without tabs. Each field on the screen is identified by text next to it. As you change any field the field contents are highlighted in red, and the title of the Profile notebook changes to remind you that there are unsaved changes. Specific fields such as telephone numbers and alias IDs are automatically formatted for you, All objects include a notebook page just for long notes. This page can hold up to 3,072 characters (about two to three typed pages). The next release of HODstar Supporter will provide programmable pages and fields that you can define to fine-tune profile information to your environment. ═══ 2.6. Showing Relationships Between Resources ═══ Your network objects relate to each other. These relations are made as assignments or associations existing as a result of an assignment. For example, a printer may be assigned to a User. Therefore the User is dependent on/associated with that assigned printer. Assignments Within the Profile notebook click on the Assignments page tab at the bottom of the notebook. This page permits you to assign other network resources to this profile. For example, you will want to assign one or more of your Users to be a member of a Group. Click on the REFRESH button to see what network resources are assigned to this object. A plus ('+') sign appears next to object categories that have individual assignments. Click on the plus sign to show each assignment for that object category. Note that you can delete and clear assignments once they have been assigned. Assignments can be made by selecting the 'Add From Category' button, or by dragging one or more selected entries from a List object to this page. For example, you could add several Users to this Group by selecting them from the 'Users Resource List', dragging the selected entries to this page, and releasing the mouse button. Or you could select the Users object category on this page, then click the 'Add From Category' button. Not only can you see the relationships but you can also 'zoom in' on each assignment to see the full details of the assigned resource. Click on an added User, then select the 'View Profile' button to see how this works. Changes are not permanent until you click the SAVE button. Practice adding and deleting resources. Associations Click on the Associations tab at the bottom of the notebook. This page shows you everything this object is assigned to (the previous page showed you instead what was assigned to this object). Associations are excellent for showing you who or what is impacted by this object. If this object were a printer, for example, and the printer were to breakdown then you would use this page to get a feel for who to notify. ═══ 2.7. Using the Call Tracking System ═══ Now that you have a feel for how Supporter is organized, let's practice tracking calls. Essentially there are two parts involved in tracking a customer call. The first is the call itself. The second are the queues your support staff use to track these calls. Each call is actually a header identifying the call itself - what type of call, who the customer is, and who last handled the call. Associated to this call header are one or more events that describe what has been done with the call. For example, the first event for all calls is the opening of the call. Each time work is done with the call, or the call is transferred, that is another event. Closing a call is its last event (though calls can be re-opened and libraried). As with all HODstar objects, Calls can be Listed and Profiled. Most productively, however, you will want to setup queues for your support staff. Each queue is essentially a way to just list certain types of calls. Your call dispatcher, for example, will probably use the ALLNEW queue optionally installed from the Maintenance Panel. This queue shows all new calls, and alarms calls not acted upon within a specific time frame. Alarming is how calls are kept from 'slipping-through'. Supporter provides two types of call alarms. The first type is the New call alarm. An alarm is generated whenever a new call is not taken and acted upon within a time frame you determine. The second type is the Inactivity alarm - an alarm is generated whenever an ongoing call is not acted upon within a time frame you determine. ═══ 2.8. Defining Queues ═══ You need to define a queue before your support staff can use them. From the HODstar Folder, find the Queues Resource List object, and double-click its icon. After the list is displayed and the automatic refresh control setup, look for the 'ALLNEW' queue, select it, and then select the CHANGE option from either the popup menu or from the 'Resources' drop-down menu. Once the Profile notebook is displayed, look over the options available to you. Each option depends on the other. Any call to be displayed must meet all the specified criteria (this AND this AND this). Note that each queue is either 'Active' (used to monitor current calls) or 'Library' (used to research calls using older, approved call reports). By default, each queue monitors all call Event types. You can select specific Events to ignore. For the ALLNEW queue, all call events except NEW and ALARMED are ignored. Note that you can monitor just calls assigned to a specific support group or user. The Monitor Override Defaults control how your queue monitor behaves once it is active. These options are set to defaults here, and can be overridden once the queue monitor is started. This permits your users to quickly scan for related calls that normally would not appear in their queue. Go to the 'Call Types' page. On the left are listed all the Call Types you use to organize your calls. HODstar provides defaults but you can also add your own types. On the right are all the call types the queue monitor will ignore. The default ALLNEW queue does not ignore any type of call, but for example you may want to define a new calls queue just for LAN problems or for hardware problems. The final 'Alarms' page determines when calls alarm. Each priority level can be set to alarm after a specific number of minutes or hours pass since the last update. Not shown is the Priority 0 level - all level 0 calls alarm immediately. Note that alarmed calls can notify operators monitoring their queues or can run any program of your choice to notify remote support staff. You might use the HODstar Pager program to create a standalone program to notify your offsite LAN Administrator for example. Close the Queue Profile notebook, return to the Queue Resource list, and then go on to the next section. ═══ 2.9. Trapping a Customer Call ═══ So you've modeled your network, defined your support staff, and setup call queues. Now you're ready for customer calls! The following are the steps your support staff take when they start for the day. 1. Monitoring the Queue From the Queues Resource list, select the ALLNEW queue, then select the MONITOR button at the bottom of the list. This activates the ALLNEW queue. Once the ALLNEW queue monitor is activated and its automatic refresh setup, the monitor will refresh and scan for any new calls. Again, a new call is one opened but not yet assigned to anyone. Any alarmed calls are also detected and shown to the operator. Since you're using the demonstration database you should have several calls alarming. Note that the alarm here is both audible and visual. A beeping alarm brings the user to their PC, and the popup rises above any other running applications with a list of the calls alarming. The user can Acknowledge or open one or more of the alarmed calls. Or Ignore/Cancel the alarm and do nothing with the calls. You could also have specified to run a program with passed call parameters upon an alarm. 2. Viewing a Call Select one call and then click the ACKNOWLEDGE button. This brings you into the call header. Once the call is displayed, look over the different parts of the first page of the notebook. Note that you are currently in a View mode. Calls must be 'locked' before they can be updated. This prevents your support staff from accidentally overwriting each other. Click on the 'LOCK' check box in the middle of the page, just above the General Call Description field. Your support staff identify the customer by just selecting the ADD FROM LIST button - this automatically fills in all related fields. Or they can type the customer ALIAS into the ALIAS field, and then select the REFRESH PROFILE button. Note that these are the same buttons - they change what they do based on whether there is any data in the ALIAS field. Note that you can view the User's full profile as well as their resource assignments and associations from the call entry panel. Support staff can give a quick overview of the call in the Summary field - this field is displayed in all list objects and lets users browse calls and quickly understand their contents. The General Call Description field holds up to 3,072 characters (about two-three types pages). 3. Browsing Call History Go to the next page in the Call notebook by clicking on the 'History' tab at the bottom of the notebook. Then select the REFRESH button. This page shows you the current history of events for this call. 4. Viewing a Call Event Select any one of the events, then click the VIEW button at the bottom of the notebook. ═══ 2.10. Reconfiguring HODstar Supporter ═══ Start the Support Maintenance Panel from the HODstar folder. User the Page-up/Page-down keys to look over each page. In your actual environment you would override automatic refresh times, database settings, and other global options for Supporter from here. These pages and their options are fully explained in the online Supporter tutorial. ═══ 3. Summary and Additional Information ═══ In this demo you have: o Installed the product o Listed objects/resources o Profiled these objects/resources o Defined a Call Queue o Monitored a Queue o Viewed an Alarmed Call o Viewed Call Events o Overviewed Supporter Configuration Contact HODstar Support Solutions to purchase a trial version of HODstar Supporter and to receive a catalog of other HODstar products! Call our voice line to place orders and to schedule faxes of catalog to you. HODstar(TM) Support Solutions contact information - Voice orders: (817) 379-0220 Electronic mail - FAX: (817) 379-4020 Internet: pmsh30a@prodigy.com Prodigy: PMSH30A Overland mail - HODstar(TM) Support Solutions Sales and Services dept. 417 Hovenkamp Keller, TX 76248-3422 We welcome money order, purchase order, and MasterCard/VISA. HODstar offers 10% discount for cash orders. ═══ 4. Trademarks ═══ The following products are trademarks of HODstar(TM) Support Solutions: o HODstar Monitor o HODstar Supporter o HODstar Pager o HODstar Broadcaster o HODstar Supporter o HODstar Loader The following products are trademarks of International Business Machines, Inc.: o Database2 (DB2) o Database 2/2 (DB2/2) o Operating System/2 (OS/2) o OS/2 LAN Server Windows and Windows NT is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Netware is a trademark of Novell Corporation.