250,000 Email Business Directory/250,000 Email Business Directory.iso/msie/cd/win95/webpages/mspage/ms_offic/rescu~1.doc

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Microsoft® Office
White Paper
                                                             for Windows® 95
RESCUE for the HELPDESK

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A comprehensive study of the operations of F100 Helpdesks with projections
of the business benefits that will accrue when the users migrate to Office
95. A White Paper on the Impact of Office for Windows 95.
July 28, 1995

WorkGroup Technologies, Inc.

400 Lafayette Road

Hampton, N.H.   USA   03842




Executive Summary

In the second quarter of 1995, WorkGroup Technologies undertook a
comprehensive study of  Helpdesks in twelve F100 firms having large numbers
of installed PCs. After extensive research and evaluation of each
HelpdeskΓÇÖs experiences with Microsoft Office version 4 applications and
previous versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access, WorkGroup
Technologies has determined that Office 95 will provide substantial
Helpdesk savings for high volume users who migrate to Office 95.


Key Findings

The study covers the impact of Office 95, average call volume, savings and
their attendant costs that were observed across the 12 organizations. After
analyzing the PC related applications calls within the database of helpdesk
calls, we have been able to identify areas where we expect Office 95 to
offer significant operational impact.

ΓÇó Our analysis has shown that user organizations should see, in a steady
  state environment, a 48% reduction of all Microsoft Office application
  related help calls, which corresponds to a reduction in the total number
  of PC helpdesk calls of between 3% and 7%, due to Office 95 improved help
  facilities.


The Study found 48% of Microsoft application helpdesk calls could be
avoided by use Office 95.
ΓÇó Office 95 Answer Wizard achieves a very high success rate (between 70%
  and 85% dependent on application) in answering genuine (having excluded
  housekeeping issues) application questions.
ΓÇó With use of Office 95 in an example average site with 8,733 PCs[1] we
  estimate a reduction of 414 calls per month, resulting in  savings of
  $8,281[2] per month.
ΓÇó With use of Office 95 we expect there will be between 5% and 11%
  reduction in site visits by technicians, corresponding to 123 visits per
  month, in the average site with 8,733 PCs, generating an estimated saving
  of over $36,000[3] per month.
ΓÇó Both the calls avoided and the visits avoided due to the improved help
  facilities in Office 95 should generate an estimated annual savings of
  approximately $542,000 for the average site with 8,733 PC users
  (approximately $62 per user per year).

We expect to see proportional savings in other larger and smaller
installations. In order to achieve these savings, the users in an
organization must be made aware of the improved Office 95 help facilities
and be encouraged to use it, as opposed to ΓÇ£just picking up the phone and
calling the helpdesk.ΓÇ¥


Between 5% and 11% of on site visits can be avoided by use of techniques
made possible by Office 95

The reduction in the number of calls that would require a technician to
visit the users site, is a result of using the Network Installation Wizard
and the technique of illustrating descriptions with the Answer Wizard.
Many current site visits are to re-install software, in whole or in part,
which with Office 95 may now be achieved by use of the Network Installation
Wizard by helpdesk personnel.  In addition, there are cases where user
questions to the helpdesk can be answered by talking the user though their
problem on the phone and using the Answer Wizard to illustrate the solution
rather than a technician visiting the user.

In addition to these substantial projected cost savings, there may also be
business benefits due to:

ΓÇó Reduced end user downtime and thus higher user productivity.
ΓÇó Higher helpdesk productivity.
ΓÇó Reduction in the load on the ΓÇ£hidden helpdeskΓÇ¥ (users asking colleagues
  how to use the software).

The impact, resulting from use of Office 95 applications as described in
this paper, is incremental to the findings of the Windows 95 Helpdesk
study, see Appendix A4 for a summary of that study.


Study Overview and Background

WorkGroup Technologies was retained to quantify potential Helpdesk benefits
that might be derived through the major operational enhancements that will
be delivered as part of Office 95.  The new on-line help system includes
the Answer Wizard and traditional indexed help, both of which are
integrated in Office 95 and in the individual applications; Word, Excel,
PowerPoint  and Access.  Schedule+ was not included in this study, as it
was not in consistent use at the sample sites.  Schedule+ for Office 95
includes an Answer Wizard.


Helpdesks are moving from an expense center to an integral part of the
technology implement-ation matrix.

If your Helpdesk is like the support organizations that were covered in the
study, it is probably being asked to do more with less. Demand for support
has risen sharply, but staff levels have either remained flat or dropped.
For this reason, the future of successful support rests in a user's ability
to interface with a Helpdesk possessing complementary support tools that
take advantage of broad open-system standards which facilitate the required
technology interfaces.


This paper reviews the Helpdesk operations of a number of large sites who
are existing Windows 3.x users, identifies the types of problems they are
currently experiencing within Microsoft applications, Word, Access, Excel
and PowerPoint and then isolates problems that the Office 95 applications
will either prevent or assist in resolving more efficiently.  It is the
objective of this white paper to provide reasonable quantitative estimates
of how the use of Office 95 functional enhancements deliver productivity
improvements to users, while lowering customerΓÇÖs internal and external
support costs.

Primary white paper objectives are:

ΓÇó Project steady state cost and productivity benefits after an organization
  migrates to Office 95.
ΓÇó Provide a methodology that can be extrapolated to a customerΓÇÖs current
  Helpdesk environment.
ΓÇó Note user productivity gains through improved Helpdesk efficiency.


Site Selection and Qualification

To achieve the objectives, WorkGroup Technologies recruited large user
sites from a variety of industries among both large Microsoft Windows 3.x
installed users and the F500.  Ten sites were chosen, representing a wide
range of industries, with no more than two sites in any one industry.  The
study was limited to sites within the United States of America.  Sites were
screened to meet specific criterion. In order for sites to qualify, they
had to:

ΓÇó Operate a centralized Helpdesk.
ΓÇó Utilize electronic logging of call reports or tickets.
ΓÇó Support 1000 or more PC users.
ΓÇó Be willing to provide 6 months of call reports.

Study participants included firms engaged in the following types of
business:

|Aerospace       |Food & Beverage      |
|Manufacturer    |Manufacturer         |
|Full Service    |Process Manufacturing|
|Bank            |Company              |
|Major Consulting|Life Insurance       |
|Firm            |Company              |
|Retailer        |Automotive Company   |
|Chemical Company|Financial Services   |
|                |Company              |
|Stock Brokerage |                     |
|Firm            |                     |


Data Collection Process


During our research, we analyzed, in detail, more than 47,000 individual PC
call reports.

After qualifying and selecting the sites, WorkGroup Technologies provided a
briefing package of documents that outlined the research programΓÇÖs
objectives and the type of information sought.  We then conducted telephone
interviews to determine the structure of their Helpdesk operation and to
acquire demographics on users, desktop device base, business problems and
general information about their Helpdesk. We requested call report summary
information and up to 6 months of call report detail for our analysis.
During the call report analysis phase, we evaluated in detail, more than
47,000 individual PC-related calls.  We identified common trouble call
clusters and then coded the call reports along a common schema to develop a
comparative matrix.  Specific call types were then analyzed to determine if
Office 95 would either eliminate the call or contribute materially to a
faster, more efficient resolution.  Results of this detailed analysis
provided the call ticket counts used to generate the improvement figures
cited throughout this report.



Helpdesk Goals

The existence of a Helpdesk clearly has a singular purpose - to assist
users in resolving difficulties they incur while using their PCs.  Every
Helpdesk subscribes to the following three goals:

ΓÇó Call avoidance

Obviously, the best call is no call at all.  The majority of Helpdesks
today attempt to do everything possible to eliminate calls, from assisting
in the selection of a more reliable product to conducting in-depth training
for users.  Any product or methodology reducing calls to the helpdesk is
closely examined.  Office 95 with its improved help functions and Wizards
is clearly such a product.


Rapid problem resolution; either on-the-phone or via the network


Problem resolution in 1 hour or less in 80% of the cases.

If a call cannot be avoided, then the HelpdeskΓÇÖs goal is to resolve the
call as effectively and quickly as possible.  Simply put, user downtime is
unproductive time.  While our sample achieved an average repair time of
less than one hour 61% of the time, all indicated their goal was to achieve
a better than 80% rate.  Systems or software that allow helpdesk personnel
easy remote access to a userΓÇÖs PC for diagnostics, rebooting, remote
loading of software with tools such as the Network Installation Wizard and,
remote management are very effective methods of resolving problems without
the overhead of a physical site visit.  Windows 95 and Office 95 offer a
rich set of features that respond to these requirements.


Technician visit prevention by reducing events that will cause visits


Reduce site visits to an absolute minimum.

Finally, while site visits will always be a necessity of all helpdesks,
substantially reducing the number of visits as well as their duration is a
major goal given the costs associated with field calls.  The Network
Installation Wizard, a component of the Office 95 resource kit reduces the
need for a technician to visit the user with a pack of diskettes.  Further,
many current site visit problems encountered by users will be either
eliminated or shifted to remote repair categories with the implementation
of Windows 95. These benefits are quantified in the companion study,
ΓÇ£RESCUE for the HELPDESKΓÇ¥, a White Paper on the Impact of Windows 95.


Current Helpdesk Problems

After analyzing over 47,000 call detail reports from ten Helpdesks
(responsible for more than 1.4 million Helpdesk calls per year) WorkGroup
Technologies has gained significant insight into the types and frequencies
of problems experienced by users.  The size of the sample base is more than
adequate to achieve statistically significant results.


During our analysis, we segmented the customer call reports into the
following categories:

ΓÇó Hardware ΓÇö All hardware attributable problems including descriptions such
  as:  ΓÇ£burned out monitor, squealing hard drive, paper jams, broken
  keyboard, dead mouse, memory failure, stolen mouse, disk failure, need
  hardware installed, stolen SIMMs, smoke coming out of monitor....ΓÇ¥
ΓÇó Printing ΓÇö Printing software difficulties described as:  ΓÇ£canΓÇÖt print,
  printing garbage, canΓÇÖt connect to printer, printer queue is stalled,
  wonΓÇÖt print right, pagination is not right, wonΓÇÖt print the right fonts,
  canΓÇÖt get application to print, printer not accessible, print job
  hangs....ΓÇ¥
ΓÇó Networking ΓÇö Network related problems show on the call reports as:
  ΓÇ£network down, TCP/IP address problems, canΓÇÖt connect via dial-in, slow
  response, network application locks up, canΓÇÖt get network response, log me
  out....ΓÇ¥


Operator error, not the application, is far more often the real culprit.

ΓÇó Applications ΓÇö Application software related problems such as a wide range
  of typical ΓÇ£How ToΓÇ¥ questions on the functions of the software
  applications as well as: ΓÇ£canΓÇÖt open file, canΓÇÖt import file, application
  freezes the PC, out of memory....ΓÇ¥  Office 95 addresses not only the ΓÇ£how
  toΓÇ¥ questions far more effectively but offers some linkages with the
  operating system.
ΓÇó Operating System ΓÇö Operating system software difficulties frequently
  described by the users as: ΓÇ£General Protection Faults, wonΓÇÖt boot, out of
  memory, out of heapspace, crashes, lost files, canΓÇÖt start Windows, canΓÇÖt
  run DOS, lost application groups, out of GDI resources, not enough, stuff
  in autoexec.bat bad, system crashes or locks up...ΓÇ¥
ΓÇó Other ΓÇö Other problems not in the above categories such as: ΓÇ£need
  audiovisual equipment, need LCD panel, need new telephone number, need
  voicemail setup, projector broken, need carrying bag for laptop, need new
  battery for laptop, etc.ΓÇ¥


Site Data Analysis

Of the 12 sites surveyed WorkGroup Technologies was able to conduct in
depth interviews with all of helpdesk managers and from ten of these sites
acquire large volumes of call detail reports which were analyzed in detail.
Table 1 provides information captured during interviews including
information on throughput and staffing.

Site Statistics
|Site             |1    |2    |3    |4    |5    |6    |7    |8    |9    |10   |Average |
|                                                                                 |
|# PC Supported   |5200 |1350 |10450|15100|15450|30000|4530 |3525 |917  |810  |8,733   |
|Monthly call     |7100 |3000 |30000|2000 |2000 |15000|5500 |3000 |1000 |1000 |6,960   |
|count            |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |        |
|Helpdesk staff   |10   |13   |60   |6    |4    |60   |8    |10   |16   |10   |20      |
|call/staff/month |710  |231  |500  |333  |500  |250  |688  |300  |63   |100  |367     |
|PC & Net         |0.27 |1.78 |1.58 |0.13 |0.11 |0.50 |0.42 |0.30 |.44  |0.16 |0.57    |
|calls/user/month |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |        |
|Percent calls    |60%  |75%  |70%  |90%  |60%  |94%  |95%  |70%  |85%  |95%  |79%     |
|fixed in 4 hrs.  |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |        |
|% PC and Network |20%  |80%  |55%  |100% |85%  |100% |35%  |35%  |40%  |13%  |56%     |
|calls            |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |        |
|Monthly # PC and |1420 |2400 |16500|2000 |1700 |15000|1925 |1050 |400  |130  |4253    |
|Network calls    |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |        |
|# PC & Net calls |568  |1368 |6600 |400  |1360 |2250 |1540 |315  |280  |26   |1471    |
|onsite/month     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |        |

Table 1

The most consistent problem areas are applications and operating systems
followed by networking.  Office 95 will have impact upon the Microsoft
application based problems.  The nature of how Office 95 impacts
application helpdesk calls is described below.



Research Results

This paper focuses on the application related helpdesk calls and
specifically the Microsoft Office application related calls within that
set.  There are a number of functional and product improvements in Office
95 that allow end users to resolve their questions and reduce the number of
assistance calls to the helpdesk.  Appendix A1 includes the most frequent
questions, extracted from the helpdesk databases which ask for help with
functions of the four applications, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access.

WorkGroup Technologies analyzed over 2,000 application related calls by
testing them against Office 95 on-line help and projected how each of the
various problems can be avoided and/or more easily resolved with Office 95.
While there may be some ΓÇ£hindsight effectΓÇ¥ that makes it easier to fix a
problem after you know what the problem is, the vast majority of problems
are directly impacted by Office 95.

It should be noted the results of our research are specific to the
companies that participated in the program.  It is clear from the research
every company encounters significant differences in helpdesk call make up,
as well as costs, due to variations in hardware, software and peripherals
populations.  For this reason, the figures shown are for illustrative
purposes only, although it is more than reasonable to assume, due to the
sample size, that similar savings ratios will apply to the majority of
other organizations.

Problem Categories Percentages
|Type        |Average   |
|                       |
|% PC        |17%       |
|Hardware    |          |
|% PC        |8%        |
|Printing    |          |
|% PC        |15%       |
|Networking  |          |
|% PC        |30%       |
|Application |          |
|% PC        |23%       |
|Operating   |          |
|System      |          |
|% Other     |6%        |

Table 2

As shown in Table 2, application and operating systems calls are received
most frequently by helpdesks running at 30% and 23% respectively. Table 3
differentiates application calls between Microsoft Office products and
other applications.

Microsoft Application Calls
|                    |%     |# of    |
|                    |      |calls in|
|                    |      |average |
|                    |      |site    |
|                                    |
|Total Calls         |100%  |6,960   |
|Application calls   |30%   |2088    |
|Microsoft Office    |12.46%|867     |
|application calls   |      |        |
|Other application   |17.54%|1221    |
|calls               |      |        |

Table 3

The Microsoft Office application calls were further analyzed and
categorized into two types:

ΓÇó ΓÇ£How toΓÇ¥ calls where users asked how to complete a function or task
  within a specific application (64% of Microsoft Office application calls)
ΓÇó ΓÇ£HousekeepingΓÇ¥ calls where users requested help in resolving MIS issues,
  e.g. ΓÇ£please install the latest version of Word.ΓÇ¥ (36% of Microsoft Office
  application calls)

Within Office 95 the ΓÇ£HelpΓÇ¥ functions are separate in each of the specific
applications but are also linked.  All five applications within Office 95,
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Schedule+ now contain Answer Wizards
which allow the user to pose English language questions, such as ΓÇ£how do I
print headers.ΓÇ¥  The new Answer Wizards no longer rely only on text based
descriptions, they can deliver information in three ways which Microsoft
calls; step-by-step answers, visual answers and interactive answers. The
form of the information delivery is dynamically selected by the Answer
Wizard, dependent on the question posed by the user and the topic selected
from the generated lists.

ΓÇó Step-by-Step Answers; secondary help windows that stay on top of the
  application workspace and contain  step by step information in cue card
  format.
ΓÇó Visual Answers; graphic representations of concepts and processes.  The
  user interacts with the graphics to obtain pop up descriptions and
  branching to Step-by-Step Answers.
ΓÇó Interactive Answers; user are shown, in a series of ghosted example
  steps, the keyboard and mouse selections to perform the requested task.

The Answer Wizards performed well and pointed the user to a selection of
topics for a high percentage of the ΓÇ£ how toΓÇ¥ type questions.  Evaluators
varied in their reaction to Answer Wizard, but found the Answer Wizard gave
a solution to the usersΓÇÖ ΓÇ£how toΓÇ¥ questions between 70% to 85% of the time.
 Some evaluators found the Answer Wizard to be their preferred mode of help
in all circumstances, others preferred the more traditional ΓÇ£indexΓÇ¥ within
help.  These variations would appear to depend on the users familiarity
with the software and with the reviewersΓÇÖ mental paradigms.  Users can
choose the form of help they prefer from the same tabbed dialogue box after
help is selected.  The interactive answers ghosted steps, invoked by the
Answer Wizards, were generally liked and assessed as an effective way to
communicate the solution.  Refer to Appendix A3 for details of the
analysis.


Call Avoidance

As shown in Table 4 below, Office 95 can reduce the total Office
application helpdesk call volume by  48% (5.9% of total helpdesk calls) in
an ΓÇ£average siteΓÇ¥ of 8,733 PCs and a helpdesk call volume of 6,960 calls
per month, given that users are made aware of the improved Office 95 help
and are encouraged to use it.  This translates to an average savings of
$8,281 per month for the average site.

Calls Potentially Avoided by Use of Office 95
|        |# of    |# calls  |% of      |% of   |
|        |calls   |avoided  |Office    |Total  |
|        |per     |per month|Applicatio|Helpdes|
|        |month   |         |n Calls   |k calls|
|                                              |
|Word    |352     |182      |52%       |5.06%  |
|Excel   |320     |148      |46%       |4.60%  |
|PowerPoi|110     |49       |45%       |1.58%  |
|nt      |        |         |          |       |
|Access  |85      |35       |42%       |1.22%  |
|Office  |867     |414      |48%       |5.95%  |
|Total   |        |         |          |       |

Table 4



On-site Visit Avoidance

In addition to reducing call volumes, WorkGroup Technologies estimates that
Office 95 can also reduce the number of required on-site visits by 123
visits each month, generating an monthly savings of $36,000. There are two
principal areas where Office 95 can assist in reducing on-site visits by
helpdesk or other technical support staff.  The first is the technique
where the helpdesk person, in answer to a call which has not been avoided,
listens to the userΓÇÖs need and then refers the user to the new Office 95
applications help as a practical way to illustrate the solution.  The
Helpdesk person can lead the user to the solution using the Answer Wizard
over the phone, explaining the conventions and terminology of each step in
an interactive fashion.  This process can be further facilitated by the
Windows 95 remote administration facilities which allows the helpdesk
person to effectively take control of the userΓÇÖs PC and invoke examples for
the user to view.  The second area where visits can be avoided is when
users need to install, reinstall or update Microsoft applications or some
of its components. Technicians, through use of the Network Installation
Wizard in conjunction with Windows 95, can remotely complete these tasks,
reducing the need for visits to user sites.  From inspection of calls
identified in Table 5 as ΓÇ£potentially solved by Windows 95 and Network
Installation WizardΓÇ¥ we estimate that between 47% and 65% support calls of
these calls or 79 per month could be handled by remote means, thus avoiding
a technician on-site visit. We estimate an additional 44 visits can be
avoided by helpdesk staff talking users through the Answer Wizard over the
phone.

Average On-Site Visit Avoidance
(per month)
|               |Excel|Word |PowerPoin|Access|Total |
|               |     |     |t        |      |      |
|                                                    |
|# of Office    |320  |352  |110      |85    |867   |
|calls          |     |     |         |      |      |
|# of calls     |64   |53   |19       |15    |150   |
|potentially    |     |     |         |      |      |
|solved per     |     |     |         |      |      |
|month using    |     |     |         |      |      |
|Windows 95 and |     |     |         |      |      |
|Network        |     |     |         |      |      |
|Installation   |     |     |         |      |      |
|Wizard         |     |     |         |      |      |
|Estimated % of |47%  |53%  |58%      |67%   |      |
|visits avoided |     |     |         |      |      |
|(of row above) |     |     |         |      |      |
|Estimated      |30   |28   |11       |10    |79    |
|visits avoided |     |     |         |      |      |
|by using       |     |     |         |      |      |
|Windows 95 and |     |     |         |      |      |
|Network        |     |     |         |      |      |
|Installation   |     |     |         |      |      |
|Wizard         |     |     |         |      |      |
|Estimated      |13   |25   |4        |2     |44    |
|visits avoided |     |     |         |      |      |
|by talking the |     |     |         |      |      |
|user through an|     |     |         |      |      |
|Answer Wizard  |     |     |         |      |      |
|example        |     |     |         |      |      |
|Total visits   |     |     |         |      |123   |
|avoided        |     |     |         |      |      |

Table 5


Expected Cost Savings

At the individual site level there is considerable variance in the call
detail reports reviewed due to different modes of operation, organizations,
metrics, outsourcing,  data capture tools being used and other factors.
WorkGroup Technologies believes the results, which are derived from across
the ten sites in the sample used for this study, are however indicative of
general industry trends.

Table 6 summarizes the expected cost savings for the example average site
of 8,733 PCs of  $8,281 per month for the 414 calls that are avoided and
$36,877 per month for the 123 on-site visits avoided. This would provide a
resulting $62 cost saving per user per year, if the users were all running
Office 95 versus previous versions of the applications.


Expected Cost Savings
|                |#   |Cost/c|Total     |
|                |Call|all   |savings in|
|                |s   |      |Average   |
|                |    |      |site      |
|                                       |
|Potential Calls |414 |$20   |$8,281    |
|avoided per     |    |      |          |
|month           |    |      |          |
|Potential Visit |123 |$300  |$36,877   |
|avoidance       |    |      |          |
|per month       |    |      |          |
|Expected        |    |      |$45,158   |
|savings/ month  |    |      |          |
|Expected        |    |      |$541,896  |
|savings/ year   |    |      |          |
|Expected        |    |      |$62.05    |
|savings/year/   |    |      |          |
|User            |    |      |          |

Table 6

Avoided help desk calls ( as shown in the previous tables as ΓÇ£ number of
calls potentially avoidedΓÇ¥ ) are our estimate of examined user calls which
can be effectively answered with the new and improved Office 95 on-line
help.  The behavioral culture in an organization will determine how many
helpdesk calls are actually made.  WorkGroup Technologies believes Office
95 on-line help provides a step forward in providing easy to access and
easy to understand answers and explanations to user questions.
Organizations will benefit by setting expectations that on-line help is to
be used first, before calling the helpdesk. With experience users will
realize it is quicker and easier to use the embedded Office 95 help, than
to call the helpdesk.

There are variations of behavioral culture which might affect the total
savings in any specific organization, due to factors such as, user
preference to human interaction rather than on-line help, lack of initial
training, etc.  The reader is encouraged to use the worksheet in Appendix
A2 to estimate their own savings, taking into account behavioral culture as
well as the projected cost savings.


Additional Corporate Business Benefits

Several additional benefit areas that will accrue to organizations
deploying Office 95 have not been incorporated in this analysis, such as,
increased user productivity, decreased learning time and reduction in
ΓÇ£hidden support costs.ΓÇ¥  For example, a major corporate benefit is the
increased user productivity gained from reduced downtime.  Further, new
users will be able to use Office 95 applications with less training or
learning time.  The improved Office 95 help may also reduce the so called
ΓÇ£hidden peer-to-peer support costsΓÇ¥ of colleague queries which reduce the
productivity of the more experienced user.  While not quantifiable factors
for this report, we would expect significant gains in these areas.



Summary


Between 3% and 7% of the total volume of Helpdesk calls can be avoided
through the employment of Office 95.

After analyzing thousands of helpdesk call reports, talking to 12 Helpdesk
managers in F100 companies who support over 120,000 PC users, through more
than 1.4 million calls per year and having studied and used Office 95
applications, WorkGroup Technologies has been able to identify areas where
we expect Office 95 will offer significant operational impact.  Our
analysis has shown that after the initial learning curve user organizations
should see a reduction in the total number of PC helpdesk calls of 5%
(range 3% to 7%) or 48% of Office applications calls due to Office 95
improved help facilities. This may also mean that existing helpdesk
resources may be able to handle 5%-more users with no increase in staff.
In our example, an average site with 8,733 PCs, we estimate a reduction of
approximately 414 calls per month at a saving of $8,280.  We expect
proportional savings in other larger and smaller installations.


Based on our analysis of individual call reports, we feel that a reduction
of between 5% and 11% in onsite visits will occur through the use of Office
95. With an average cost of $300 per visit, the savings can be significant.


We also expect to see a reduction in the number of calls that will require
on-site technician visits, as more problems are solved by use of the
Network Installation Wizard in conjunction with Windows 95 and by talking
the user though their problem on the phone and using the Answer Wizard to
illustrate the solution.  For a typical organization with 8,733 PCs, we
expect there will be 5-11% reduction in calls needing site visits, the
median, 8% would correspond to 123 calls per month, generating an estimated
saving of over $36,000 per month.  Both the calls and on-site visits
avoided should generate an estimated annual savings of approximately
$542,000 for the example average site with 8,733 PC users.

Based on the average call volume savings and their attendant costs observed
across the 10 sites with quantified data, WorkGroup Technologies estimates
the resulting savings from Office 95 at $62 per user per year.

In addition to these substantial projected cost savings, there may also be
business benefits due to reduced end user downtime, reduced hidden ΓÇ£peer-to-
peerΓÇ¥ support costs and higher helpdesk productivity.


Appendix A1:  Summary of the Helpdesk of Calls

This appendix contains a summary of the type of calls, extracted from the
database of actual user calls, which related to use of Microsoft Office
applications.  The question topics are in bold type and the reviewers
comments are in normal type.


EXCEL:



How to problems:

1. Moving and combining files is explained very well when the procedure is
  handled within the same workbook.
2. Copy a chart into Word is not explained in the Excel Wizard or help
  index files.
3. Importing and exporting files for other applications.  This is addressed
  by the Wizard for other Office applications and Lotus Notes but need
  improvement for general importing and exporting.
4. Calculating ranges and linking cells.  The Wizard provides the basics
  for calculating ranges.
5. Working with Arrays, adding and deleting all or portions of them is very
  well explained by the Wizard.
6. What are and how to use imbedded statistical functions is done with
  ghosting and very easy to follow.


Format problems:

1. Formatting a chart is done by ghosting within the help Wizard.
2. Change axis labels on a chart is explained with four easy to follow
  steps within the Wizard.
3. Hiding and unhiding-hiding rows and columns, here the ghost Wizard steps
  you through the process.
4. Text and number formatting and selection is explained very well by the
  Wizard even to the point of special formats for cell entries.
5. Column and row height and width.  The Wizard help is very straight
  forward in helping you through this process.


Printing problems:

1. Adding and deleting headers and footers is specifically addressed by the
  Wizard.

2. Changing header/footer text size and font.  The Wizard takes you right
  to the font screen to affect changes.

3. Changing or modifying text in the header or footer.  This works very
  well with the Wizard.

4. Printing part of a sheet with column labels the ghost Wizard leads the
  user through this function.



POWER POINT:


How to problems:

1. How to find missing tool bars.  The wizard will tell you where to find
  the menu and restore the toolbar.
2. Importing and exporting to other applications is specifically addressed
  for Lotus Notes.
3. Slide shows:
    - build a slide show operation is listed in easy to follow steps by the
    Wizard.
    -.modifying and updating is explained by the Wizard in how to make
    changes to a show.
    - file and save a slide show presentation is accomplished by the Wizard
    ghosting.
4. Clip Art availability and importing other drawing to the library.  The
  Wizard will tell you both how to find the clip art gallery and how to add
  art to the PowerPoint gallery.


Format problems:

1. Updating and or modifying a slide show.  The Wizard provides how-to in
  logical steps.
2. Changing the appearance of the slides.  The Wizard directs you to the
  format menu.
3. Applying a template is accomplished by the Wizard using the ghosting
  function.


Printing problems:

1. Printing from Power Point.  The Wizard provides seven different printing
  options of the user to choose.
2. Printing a color presentation in black & white.  The ghosting function
  takes the user through this process.
3. Changing from landscape to portrait.  The Wizard gives the user all the
  choices available to printing a PowerPoint file.


WORD:


How to problems:

1. Convert files form other applications.  The Wizard provides a listing of
  all file conversion routines contained in Word.
2. Use the column function, create, delete, change and view.  The Wizard
  will explain this in detail, using six steps.
3. Build, change, file and use templates.  The Wizard explains each of
  these issues to allow the user to implement and use templates.
4. Insert, change page breaks and section breaks.  Ghosting within the
  Wizard will step the user through this procedure.


Format problems:

1. Combine two or more files into one document.  Ghosting will bring the
  user through the steps to combine files.
2. Document text spacing.  Again the ghosting function will show the user
  how to use text spacing.
3. Sizing clip art or graphics in a document.  The Wizard lists four
  different ways to re-size a graphic in Word.
4. Finding and using tool bars.  Ghosting will bring the user to a list of
  all available toolbars.


Printing problems:

1. Change paper size.  Ghosting leads the user through the process of
  changing paper size.
2. Printing envelopes and labels is accomplished by the Wizard in two
  steps.
3. Erroneous page breaks when printing is specifically addressed by the
  Help Wizard.
4. Viewing, changing and modifying text in a header or footer.  The Wizard
  will direct the user to the appropriate menu to accomplish this task.


ACCESS: (Test release 3)


How to problems:

1. Exporting and importing data with other applications.  Wizard lists the
  steps for a range of applications.
2. Using the expression builder.  A series of step-by step answers explain
  expressions and the builder.
3. Write queries to produce required results.  Simple and complex queries
  are explained in step-by step format.
4. Saving query result data.  Visual answers and step-by-step answers
  explain how to save and export query results in many different forms.


Format problems:

1. Modify text size and font.  Step-by step answers provided.
2. Change column width.  Step-by-step answers provided.
3. Indexing a field.  Step-by-step answers explain indexing and show how to
  index in several ways.
4. Increasing the filed length.  Explanation and method in step-by-step
  form.


Printing problems:

1. Making and printing labels.  A series of step-by-step answers guide the
  user.
2. More than one form/record per page.  No direct answer generated.
3. Fitting query outputs to one page.  How to print records or groups on
  separate pages is explained, but not how to condense on one page.


Appendix A2:  Helpdesk Calculation Worksheet

This template worksheet is supplied to help you estimate what your annual
cost savings will be when your organization migrates from an environment
using previous versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint to one running Office
95. You will use your trouble call detail reports and your cost numbers to
arrive at an estimate of your annual savings.

ΓÇó Take a large 1000-2000 sample of your trouble call detail reports.
ΓÇó Analyze these reports and determine the percentage of calls that would be
  avoided due to the new and improved help and Answer Wizards in Office 95.
ΓÇó Analyze this same sample of calls and count the percentage of calls that
  could have been fixed via the telephone and the network if running Network
  Installation Wizard in the Office 95 resource kit, and Windows 95 rather
  than sending a technician on site.
ΓÇó Fill in the table below for a cost savings estimate.
|A. Your cost per call                 |          |
|What is your annual loaded cost for PC|$500,000  |
|Helps desk operations?                |          |
|How many PC Helpdesk calls do you     |25,000    |
|handle per year?                      |          |
|Calculate cost per call (costs/# calls|$20       |
|per year)                             |          |
|B. Your cost per visit                |          |
|What is your annual loaded cost for PC|$300,000  |
|repair technicians?                   |          |
|How many site visits do they perform  |1000      |
|per year?                             |          |
|Calculate cost per PC field repair    |$300      |
|visit (costs/# visits per year)       |          |
|C. Call avoidance                     |          |
|From your sample, what percentage of  |5%        |
|calls may be avoided?                 |          |
|D. Visit avoidance                    |          |
|From your sample, what percentage of  |8%        |
|visits may be avoided?                |          |
|E. Projected savings if your users are|          |
|running Office 95                     |          |
|Your savings due to calls avoided     |$25,000   |
|(cost per call * number of            |          |
|calls avoided)                        |          |
|Your savings due to calls avoided     |$24,000   |
|(cost per call * number of            |          |
|visits avoided)                       |          |
|Your estimated annual helpdesk cost   |$49,000   |
|savings                               |          |


Appendix A3: Model design

Overall the business impact follows the logic: Of 100% all helpdesk calls,
approximately 30% are application calls,  12% are Microsoft application
calls, of which 60% (range 49-74%) are ΓÇ£how toΓÇ¥ calls (7% of total helpdesk
calls), of which 80% (range 70-85%) are solved by Answer Wizard ( which
corresponds to a median of 5% of total helpdesk calls)

Analysis of Application Calls in the Helpdesk Database
|Application           |Excel|Word |PowerPo|Acces|Tot|
|                      |     |     |int    |s    |al |
|                                                   |
|# Office application  |320  |352  |110    |85   |867|
|calls in average site |     |     |       |     |   |
|% distribution of     |40%  |37%  |13%    |10%  |100|
|Office application    |     |     |       |     |%  |
|calls                 |     |     |       |     |   |
|Category of call      |     |     |       |     |   |
|"How To?" calls as %  |59%  |74%  |57%    |49%  |   |
|of MS application     |     |     |       |     |   |
|calls                 |     |     |       |     |   |
|% of MS application   |46%  |52%  |45%    |42%  |   |
|calls potentially     |     |     |       |     |   |
|solved by Office 95   |     |     |       |     |   |
|Help                  |     |     |       |     |   |
|% of MS application   |20%  |15%  |17%    |17%  |   |
|calls potentially     |     |     |       |     |   |
|solved by Windows 95  |     |     |       |     |   |
|% of all calls where  |34%  |25%  |36%    |47%  |   |
|problem assessed is   |     |     |       |     |   |
|caused by user or MIS |     |     |       |     |   |
|i.e. housekeeping or  |     |     |       |     |   |
|human error  ( not the|     |     |       |     |   |
|application)          |     |     |       |     |   |
|Office 95 success rate|78%  |70%  |78%    |85%  |   |
|as % of ΓÇ£how toΓÇ¥ calls|     |     |       |     |   |
|Windows 95 success    |33%  |20%  |30%    |37%  |   |
|rate as % of ΓÇ£how toΓÇ¥ |     |     |       |     |   |
|calls                 |     |     |       |     |   |

*Note: Rows 2,3 & 4 total more than 100% due to overlapping classifications

Table A3

The study used the approach of selecting a sample application related call,
(e.g. a call referencing a Microsoft application, Word) from the database
of end user help desk calls, and then evaluated the type of problem from
among the following three categories, Table 4 summarizes the results.

ΓÇó A ΓÇ£how toΓÇ¥ application oriented call
ΓÇó A problem resulting from the user or MIS environment, but not related to
  the application directly (e.g. ΓÇ£ file was not installed or has been
  renamedΓÇ¥)
ΓÇó A problem that would be addressed by Windows 95, as addressed in the
  separate white paper ΓÇ£Rescue for the HelpdeskΓÇ¥ April 95.

The  ΓÇ£how toΓÇ¥ sample calls were taken as problems and the help facility in
the application was invoked to find a solution.  The mode of examination
was to attempt to solve the problem using the Answer Wizard first, then if
this failed to communicate a solution, ΓÇ£findΓÇ¥ or ΓÇ£indexΓÇ¥ was selected to
further investigate the problem.

Table A3 summarizes the results of this investigation and shows the
analysis of the 867 Microsoft application calls in the average site.  Of
these, between 49% and 74%, varying by Microsoft application, were calls
asking how to achieve a function related to the application.  Of these ΓÇ£how
toΓÇ¥ calls, WorkGroup Technologies determined that in approximately 50%, of
cases, (Word 52%, Excel 46% and PowerPoint 45%), the user would be able to
solve the question by using the Office 95 Help.  A further percentage of
these calls, 15% for Word, 17% for both Access and PowerPoint and 20% for
Excel related calls, are potentially solved by the Network Installation
Wizard and Windows 95 environment and its help capabilities.  The remaining
calls were classified as housekeeping related problems caused by the user
or the MIS supported environment at the sites, shown in the table, and a
few calls relating to instability in the previous version of the software
application (not shown in table).  The two rows at the bottom of Table 5,
show the high success rate, (Word 70%, Excel and PowerPoint both 78%, and
Access 87%) of the new help capabilities within the new Word version 7,
Excel version 7, PowerPoint version 7 and Access version 7 applications,
shown as a percentage of calls where the user wants to learn how to achieve
a function with the Microsoft Office application.


Appendix A4:  Summary of the WorkGroup Technologies white paper on Windows
95 (published April 95)

In the first quarter of 1995, WorkGroup Technologies undertook a
comprehensive study of 12 Helpdesks in F100 firms having large numbers of
installed PCs. After extensive research and evaluation of each HelpdeskΓÇÖs
experiences with Windows 3.x and Windows for Workgroups 3.x, we determined
Windows 95 will provide substantial Helpdesk savings for high volume users
who switch to Windows 95.

ΓÇó Our analysis has shown that, in a steady state environment, users should
  see a reduction in volume of PC Helpdesk calls of between 7% and 14%
  annually.
ΓÇó In an example average site (based on this study), with 8,733 PCs[4], the
  findings anticipate an elimination of 457 calls per month for potential
  savings of $9,140 per month[5].
ΓÇó In this same average sized site (8,733 PCs), WorkGroup Technologies
  projects a further savings due to on-site visit avoidance of 1018 visits
  per month through the use of Windows 95 features such as remote
  management, remote communications access, hardware and software plug &
  play support, user and configuration registry and improved network and
  systems security features. The dollar value, associated with on-site visit
  avoidance is projected was $305,400/month6 (corresponding to $432 per user
  per year).

                                  #########
Acknowledgments
We would like to take a moment and recognize the 12 Helpdesk managers and
their staff for working with us during the interview and for supplying the
data that made much of this paper possible. We know we cannot mention you
by name; however, you know to whom this applies. We thank you for helping
us prepare this study.

© 1995 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
The information contained in this document represents the current view of
Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date of
publication. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions,
it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft,
and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented
after the date of publication.
This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO
WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS DOCUMENT.
Microsoft, PivotTable, PowerPoint, Visual Basic, Visual C++, Windows, the
Office Compatible logo, and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or
trademarks of Microsoft in the United States and/or other countries.
Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.




-----------------------
[1] Based on the average size of the sites WorkGroup Technologies studied
for this report.
[2] Based on $20 cost to fix a call at the Helpdesk level as per Helpdesk
Institute 1994 Survey.
[3] Based on $300 estimated cost for field repair of a PC problem,
WorkGroup Technologies.

4 Based on the average size of the sites WorkGroup Technologies studied for
this report.
[4] Based on $20 cost to fix a call at the Helpdesk level as per Helpdesk
Institute 1994 Survey.
 6Based on $300 estimated cost for field repair of a PC problem, WorkGroup
Technologies.