Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!ucsd!ucbvax!ASD.WPAFB.AF.MIL!hassler From: hassler@ASD.WPAFB.AF.MIL (Barry D. Hassler) Newsgroups: comp.sys.pyramid Subject: Re: The Quality of Pyramid's Service Message-ID: <330845.8909051501@asd.wpafb.af.mil> Date: 5 Sep 89 15:01:09 GMT References: <17531@bellcore.bellcore.com> Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 53 Might as well throw my two cents in this fray for all its worth too.... I currently am pleased with RTOC's support for the most part, but that was not always the case, and there continue to be exceptions to this. Pyramid seems to have done an awful lot of work in the past year and a half in beefing up RTOC and improving is ability to respond properly to customer complaints. However, by the tone of some of the other responses to this subject thread, maybe they are just treating the organization for which I work differently (Control Data/IIS is a large VAR of Pyramid with installed systems scattered across the country, and for which we are responsible for administration and on-site support). Tom Reingold complained in his original posting that he constantly has to hound RTOC to follow up on problems, and Carl Gutekunst agrees this is the "right" thing to do. While I agree that constant hounding is sometimes necessary, it shouldn't have to be. Maybe I'm lucky, my "rep" inside RTOC (I ALWAYS call the same small group of individuals - they are familiar with my particular systems, their use, and their configuration) does follow up with me. When I am in a "critical stage" (ongoing problems impacting performance of the system(s)), they generally follow up on the order of at least once per day. This should be the norm - RTOC following up with the customer on the status of SPRs. Working with Users as I do occasionally, I must agree that MANY problems are really just User Brain Damage (to quote Carl Gutekunst). I can certainly imagine it is difficult for RTOC to weed out those situations from the other "real" problems. This is another reason why I alway's ask specifically for one person at RTOC whenever I call (and a few alternates). These few people know that when I call, the chances are that it is a "real" problem (I humbly admit to a recent case where I should have "RTFM'd", but didn't and was rather embarrased by the answer). I don't think Pyramid condones this as the norm, but it certainly works for me. All in all, from my standpoint, RTOC has greatly improved over that past year or so. We (Control Data, IIS) used to have to make high level phone calls from our management into the upper levels of Pyramid management to get problems resolved. At least for those systems I am more-or-less in touch with that we support (as well as the few I am directly responsible for), the situation has improved greatly. I am also fairly certain Pyramid is aware that RTOC still has some work to do in improving its responsiveness to the user and is working in that direction. Naturally, the opinions expressed above are my own, although I believe they represent those of my employer and others within the organization (how's that for a disclaimer?). -- Barry D. Hassler hassler@asd.wpafb.af.mil Control Data Corporation (513) 427-6369 Integrated Information Services Project Leader, ASD Central Datacomm System Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio