The Business Master (3rd Edition)

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P E R S O N A L H O T N E T Hotline Phone Calling/Tracking A Personal Call Tracking/ Help Desk System Version 4.00 Copyright 1990,1991 - Joey Robichaux P.O. Box 82311 Baton Rouge, La. 70884 (504) 752-2620 Basics Do you run a help-desk? Maybe you call it a hotline, or a customer service center, or a trouble desk? Whatever you call it, you've discovered a few things. First, you're swamped by calls. Second, you're run ragged solving the same types of problems over and over again. Finally, things are happening so quick it's hard to share information among your staff. That's where Hotnet comes in. It's your help-desk solution. Hotnet logs calls -- but even more, Hotnet does it simply and quick. When the phone's ringing off the wall, you don't want to be struggling with your software. Hotnet queries your calls -- again, simply and quickly. Recycle your solutions -- if you've solved a problem once, use that solution. Don't reinvent the wheel -- don't look up the same obscure error messages again and again. Let Hotnet tell you the answers. Finally, Hotnet manages your information. Track your progress; spot trends before they become real problems; prove your efforts to management with Hotnet's reporting functions. Definition of Shareware Shareware distribution gives you a chance to try software before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you must register the product. Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights. The main difference between Shareware and commerical software is the method of distribution. The author specifically grants the right to copy and distribute the software, either to all or to a specific group. Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. Disclaimer - Agreement Users of HOTNET must accept this disclaimer of warranty: "Hotnet is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of Hotnet." Hotnet is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. If you use Hotnet after a reasonable trial period, you must make a registration payment of $49 to the author. This licenses one copy for use on any one workstation at any one time. If multiple people use Hotnet, you must license multiple copies. Discounts are available -- please contact the author for details. Commercial users of Hotnet must register and pay for their copies of Hotnet within 30 days of first use or their license is withdrawn. Registration When you register Personal Hotnet you'll receive: * a copy of the latest version of Personal Hotnet, direct from the author and guaranteed virus-free; * a printed copy of this reference manual; * notification of upgrades and new releases; * access to free technical support. Who to Contact For technical support, enquiries, and multiple copy discount information, the author can be contacted in the following ways: * On Compuserve, via EASYPLEX to ID 71336,336. * By US Mail: Joey Robichaux P. O. Box 82311 Baton Rouge, La. 70884 * Telephone : (504) 752-2620. Fax : (504) 751-2722 Hardware Requirements Hotnet runs on any IBM compatible PC-DOS/MS-DOS machine. A hard drive is required for optimum performance. You should have at least 512K available conventional RAM. Hotnet supports both color and monochrome video monitors. Personal Hotnet does not provide printing support. Printing is available in Professional Hotnet. Starting Hotnet (also TSR) Create a subdirectory on your hard disk. Copy the Personal Hotnet files to this subdirectory. Next, check your FILES and BUFFERS statements in your CONFIG.SYS file. You should at least have FILES = 42 and BUFFERS = 8. If you're running Microsoft Windows or some "shell" programs, you may have to increase the FILES even greater. If Hotnet terminates with an "Open" error or a "REDOINDEX" error, this is most likely because of insufficient file handles. To start HOTNET, simply type "HOTNET" at the DOS prompt. To start HOTNET as a TSR, just supply any dummy parameter when you start HOTNET. For example, "HOTNET TSR". The Alt - Equal Sign keys (ALT=) activate Hotnet(tsr). The TSR version tucks itself away into expanded or extended memory. If none is available, it loads into a temporary disk file. If you terminate Hotet(tsr) normally (with the Terminate function), this file is deleted. If you turn the machine off without terminating Hotnet, the disk file stays around. It doesn't hurt anything, but it does use up disk space. You can delete old ones without hurting anything; just try "DIR *." and look for strange alpha or numeric names. NOTE: You cannot run bot HOTNET and HOTNET(tsr) at the same time on the SAME machine ... you'll hang one or the other on file/record locking problems. The first time HOTNET runs, it spends a few moments building the necessary data files. Auto Log-In When you use Hotnet, you "Log In" so Hotnet knows who is answering calls. Hotnet automatically logs you in if you dedicate an environment variable. This takes a few bytes of environment space, so you may decide not to use this option. Use an environment variable called LOGNAME. Place this in your LOGIN script or AUTOEXEC.BAT file. You can use the following DOS command: SET LOGNAME=USERNAME where USERNAME is the user's name. Hotnet uses this to track who is answering and recording calls. If you don't use the LOGNAME variable, you must log in manually with the Manual Log in function of Hotnet. This function is the second pick on the Main Menu. Scrolling Picklists Hotnet maintains data files with a feature called scrolling picklists. Select a data file and Hotnet pops open a window. It sequentially loads portions of records in each window. A highlighting bar rests on the first record in the window. You can move this bar and scroll the records in the list; you can pick records from the list by highlighting them and pressing Enter. (That's why they call it a scrolling picklist!) Use the up and down arrow keys to move highlighted bar. If you press PgUp or PgDn, the window scrolls an entire screen at a time. To jump to the first record in the list, press the Home key. To reach all the way to the bottom, press the End key. To locate a record by key search, press the first letter of the desired key. The window scrolls to the first record with a key matching the letter. Press another key and the window scrolls to the first record whose key matches the two letter sequence. You can also use the Backspace key to correct searches. This technique is called successive refinement. It is used in most of the picklist sequences except tracking number order. Use scrolling picklists to insert new records, select old records to edit or browse, delete existing records, or return to the previous menu. In some cases you can even do a free-form phrase search. The message line at the bottom of the screen tells you what you can do. For instance, to add a new record, press the Insert key. A blank window pops open to capture the new record. In general, you can press F10 or Ctrl-W, or enter all the data fields, to save the new record, or Escape to abort the addition. Once you press F10, Ctrl-W, or Escape, the display returns to the scrolling picklist. To edit or browse a record, press Enter after highlighting the desired record. The scrolling picklist fetches the entire record and opens a new window for this record. The message area at the bottom of the display again prompts you for any action. For example, you may be able to press "E" to edit the record data or Escape to quit and return to the scrolling picklist. To delete a record from the scrolling picklist, press the Delete key after you've highlighted the desired record. Confirm the delete by pressing the "D" key. Phone Call File The Phone Call File lets you log call information. You can capture items such as Caller Name, Problem Category, Call Type, Date/Time Call Received, Date/Time Call Solved, plus others. You can use thousands of characters to describe the call and resolution in the free-form comments field. You can also use the F3 function key to pop up the Crib Sheets file. You can place any type of textual information you might need in the Crib Sheets. For example, you may want to keep a list of network supervisors, a list of vendor support numbers, a list of standard recommended products, etc. When you're editing the comments field, you can use these three function keys: F2 = insert date, time, and logname F5 = accept comments and close call (plug solve time and date) F10 = accept comments The Comments Field When you're entering free-form comments, you're in a mini-word processor mode. This simple word processor does word-wrapping and responds to many standard word processing commands, including the following: F2 Enter Date, Time, and Logname stamp F5 Finish edit, save data, and close call (plug date and time as solved) F10 Finish edit and save data Up arrow or CTRL-E Cursor up Down arrow or CTRL-X Cursor down Left arrow or CTRL-S Cursor left Right arrow or CTRL-D Cursor right CTRL-left arrow or CTRL-A Cursor left one word CTRL-right arrow or CTRL-F Cursor right one word HOME Beginning line END End of line CTRL-HOME Beginning of current window CTRL-END End of current window PgUp Previous edit window PgDn Next edit window CTRL-PgUp Beginning of comments field CTRL-PgDn End of comments field Return Move to beginning of next line Delete Delete character at cursor Backspace Delete character to left of cursor Tab Insert tab character or spaces CTRL-Y Delete the current line CTRL-T Delete word right CTRL-B Reformat paragraph Insert Toggle insert mode CTRL-W Finish edit and save data ESCAPE Abort edit without save Free-Form Text Search Hotnet uses a high-powered "free form text search" facility that makes it a snap to retrieve special records. Not only is it easy to enter call information, it's just as easy to locate that information. When you press the F2 function key from the Phone Call scrolling picklist, Hotnet asks you for a search string. This can be any string -- characters, blanks, punction marks, or whatever -- that you'd like to locate. For instance, to find all comments with the words "nuclear fission", you could use these search strings: nuclear fission lear fiss r fis nuclear fi ... and so on ... The search is not case-sensitive. It matches lower- case to upper-case. Hotnet searches the caller name, the short description, the locate, and the free-form comments field. Hotnet returns all matching records, one at a time. You can optionally browse or edit these records, or you can skip to the next locate record. Crib Sheets The Crib Sheet file is a place to store textual information to help you provide customer support. For instance, do you have any "notes" tacked up on your bulletin board for reference? Perhaps a list of network supervisors, lists of vendor telephone numbers, or perhaps a list of key definitions? Put data like this in your Crib Sheets -- you can refer to these sheets later by popping them up while you're fielding a phone call. Each Crib Sheet consists of two data items: a Title and Text. The Title describes the Crib Sheet record; the Text is a free-form text field containing the textual information. This field will "scroll" up or down; you can enter around 32,000 characters of information if you need to. Utilities The Utilities menu lets you perform housekeeping maintenance as well as configure your Personal Hotnet environment. For example, you can Rebuild Index files, Purge Solved records, or Remove Calls before a certain date. You can also choose to: Default all new calls to either solved or unsolved. Default to Insert or Overstrike mode. Use US style or free-style phone numbers Always check for available file handles on startup. Reporting with Personal Hotnet Personal Hotnet does not include a report generator. You can use your favorite Xbase report writer to generate reports. Or, you might prefer to purchase Personal Hotnet's older brother, Professional Hotnet. Professional Hotnet includes the report module, Hotrpt. Hotrpt contains 20 predefined reports, plus you can modify or customize your own reports with an optional third party package. Errors While this program has been heavily tested, it's still possible for bugs to creep in -- particularly in a networked environment. Most errors tend to be involved in network rights. When Hotnet intercepts a terminal error, it pops open an error window. This window lists the program module, the error type, and the line number. If you encounter this error window, please note the information (or do a screen print) and notify the program author. *** MULTIPLE ERRORS in PROC REDOINDEX *** If you see this error message, the most likely cause is an insufficient number of file handles. Simply increase the number of files in your CONFIG.SYS. *** RUN error *** Usually an insufficient conventional memory problem. Try unloading any TSR's to free up as much conventional memory as possible. *** picklists look "wierd" *** This is often caused by a clobbered index file. You can either use Utilities to rebuild the index files, or you can delete *.NTX files from DOS. Hotnet will then automatically rebuild the index files. ** free form search works "strange" *** Probably a clobbered word index file. Either rebuild index files from Utilities, or delete the PHONE.IA file from DOS. Hotnet will automatically rebuild the index file. *** Terminal Error -- Index Error *** These errors are associated with the free-form index file, PHONE.IA. When these errors occur, the index file is deleted. When you restart Hotnet, the index file is automatically rebuilt -- so the error probably will not happen again (at least, immediately!) If these errors happen consistently, drop to DOS. Delete file PHONE.IA. Next, sign into Hotnet, select Utilities, then Build New Index. This will probably handle the problem. Final Well, I said it was a thin manual! Seriously, I sincerely believe that Hotnet is so easy to use that this manual is not all that necessary -- with a few exceptions. And I hope I've covered those exceptions! Please feel free to call or EMAIL any questions -- I'd be glad to help out! Please check the file ORDER.FRM for more information on ordering Personal Hotnet and Professional Hotnet.