Xref: utzoo comp.sys.dec:2346 comp.unix.ultrix:2373 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!snorkelwacker!mit-eddie!mit-amt!media-lab.media.mit.edu!saus From: saus@media-lab.media.mit.edu (Mark Sausville) Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec,comp.unix.ultrix Subject: Re: DSIN access (was Re: Electronic SPR submission) Message-ID: Date: 20 Dec 89 19:29:47 GMT References: <1311@gvgpsa.GVG.TEK.COM> <3312@rti.UUCP> <257C0037.9126@paris.ics.uci.edu> <1399@crltrx.crl.dec.com> <3434@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU> <3275.2584b4f3@fps.mcw.edu> <8967@cbmvax.UUCP> <1989Dec13.201513.10674@decatl.dec.com> Sender: saus@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU Organization: /u/saus/.organization Lines: 101 In-reply-to: hoyt@decatl.dec.com's message of 13 Dec 89 20:15:13 GMT In article <1989Dec13.201513.10674@decatl.dec.com> hoyt@decatl.dec.com (Kurt Hoyt) writes: OK, dream a little. What would the ideal support center for Ultrix (as an example)? Remember that somebody has to pay for this center (mainly you, the customer). Criticize, fantasize, but be realistic (kinda contradicts the notion of 'ideal', don't it?). Let your imagination run wild. But don't just do it here. Send mail to me. I might be able to do something about it. No promises, no commitments, just someone near the problem who could make a difference. I saw parts of the discussion from last April. Also, be sure to note whether or not you current have a software support contract (and who it is with...). I hope to hear from you (I've cleared out some disk space and fire-proofed my workstation...). -- Kurt Hoyt Digital Equipment Corporation hoyt@decatl.alf.dec.com or hoyt@decatl.dec.com or hoyt%decatl@decwrl.dec.com "Daddy, you not people, you a GUY! Mommy a girl." -- Faith Hoyt Well Kurt, here goes: 1. A complete revamping of the logging process. You need triage and dispatch to appropriate people. Lots of calls can be handled by relatively unwizardly people. Other calls are urgent and may only be soluble by people who have and can UNDERSTAND the sources (by the way, I had 3.1 sources before Atlanta and it took me a REALLY long time to get them; that's totally insane.). One of the most frustrating things about the current setup is that the customer has to know when to put on pressure to elevate calls. If you have experience, you understand that if something is just sitting, you have to make enough noise to get it bumped up to the next level. Then you have to do it again ... and again .... The bottom line is that right now, to get what you pay for, you have to be a professional squeaky wheel. I have neither the time or inclination to do this. 2. Email submissions of problem reports should play a major role in any reconstitution of Support. Many things are best handled off line. I am a support person, so I know whereof I speak. In fact, as part of your triage, people who don't or won't submit email reports could have it done for them by clerical personnel. If people don't have connectivity, fax is another way to keep it electronic (i.e. out of the mail). I've heard vague reports recently about products for Ultrix which go from ascii text straight to FAX (if anyone knows details about this, let me know). My advice is go out and buy it now. 3. Ultrix support needs its own "Colorado", you know, hardware experts who can dialin to a remote console on the customer's machine. Right now, Colorado is too VMS oriented to be of use to Ultrix users and communication between Colorado and Atlanta is slow and buggy. Indeed it is very difficult to find people within Digital who understand the the interaction of the hardware and the software (at least Ultrix). 4. Perhaps Digital could once again encourage third parties to develop value added environments on Ultrix platforms. It's probably a mistake for Digital to try to be the be-all and end-all software source for Ultrix machines. DEC has never been sucessful at this before and I see no reason to expect that you will be now. These third party developers should see a special interface to Support in recognition of the fact that they probably would lighten the Ultrix support load. 5. You NEED some way to indentify POSITIVELY whether or not a program or module is yours and if so what version it is. I don't have time to reload the system for the convenience of Support. In addition, you need a rational cataloging and distribution scheme for bug fixes. The amount of wheel spinning that goes on in the DEC support organization (hardware and software) to fix bugs that have already been dealt with internally is truly bizarre. Addressing this points alone would probably enhance productivity by 50%. 6. You may find that a national support center may not be the way to do things. It may be that several regional centers might be better able to support the customers. What I'm really getting at here is that as a place grows, it's abilty to respond quickly diminishes. You need to find an organization whose response time is never seriously compromised. You'd also be able to retain good people if they are able to move around the country. The software support I'm getting now (I don't bother mostly) is not worth what I'm paying. I came into this organization with the system I'm maintaining already bought. I wouldn't buy the support now. Source (for us) is a better deal. That's it for now. I could probably say more but I'm blathered out for the moment. Mark Sausville MIT Media Laboratory Computer Systems Administrator Room E15-354 617-253-0325 20 Ames Street saus@media-lab.media.mit.edu Cambridge, MA 02139