Dazzle

[GL_Guy]

I don't do books, I don't do websites - They are the responsibility of someone else within GL. I have only written one section of a manual in my two years employment, which was the installation guide for NFER Nelson's Dyslexia Screener.

 

What I do is make software work. I provide solutions, and where there are no solutions available I try my best to provide a workaround. I report bugs back to the development team and await an update or patch. If I get a patch, I upload it to http://priorityone.granada-learning.com along with a description. I collate feature requests fro future releases.

 

To be frank, the quality of response depends entirely on the quality of query. over 90% of the work I get in involves an immediate response to the customer for additional information because their initial "Fresco don't work on my class computer" doesn't really give me anything to go on, and I can't honestly remember the last time a ticket came through that had ALL of the information I needed without me having to ask. They miss off flash version, or just put "latest one", thay mail with print issues, but don't tell me their printer memory, or connection method, they don't include the version of the app they have issue with etc etc.

 

I am home based, and have a full test rig in my office, as most of the time I have to replicate as accurately as I can, my customer's operating environment in order to find a solution. I support over 1700 Granada Learning applications on all Windows operating systems from 98 upwards, and Apple Mac OS9 upwards - As you must be able to appreciate, I am quite busy for most of my day, which is one reason why our online help may not feature information on the application you are looking for.

 

We have used this ticket logging system since Sept 2005, and I am the administrator of it - Having just ran off a report, I can tell you that the oldest ticket pertaining to GL CD based software that was in a state of "solution suggested" was in fact only five days old, although it is getting late and I may not have ran the report correctly. If you could give me a ticket number or account name, I can check

 

Please bear in mind that I cannot use this forum as a replacement for GL tech support - Support is what I do and I am unfortunately not currently in a position that I can afford to have Granada Support dwindle to such an extent that my services are no longer required

[GL_Guy]

Almost forgot - Craig, I sent you a PM

[contink]

I don't do books, I don't do websites - They are the responsibility of someone else within GL.

Hmm.. ok, I can't help but think that it would be helpful if someone had told you..

 

From what I've read you are the outsourced support and as such fed whatever GL themselves actually feel like sending. Add to that it's not really in your own interests for them to actually put more effort into their website FAQ as it means you get more queries.

 

I know what you mean about the amount of info people send ("it doesn't work" is always very useful :|) but it's not something I've ever done, if anything I tend to go overboard.

 

 

 

Please bear in mind that I cannot use this forum as a replacement for GL tech support - Support is what I do and I am unfortunately not currently in a position that I can afford to have Granada Support dwindle to such an extent that my services are no longer required

T'is fair enough..

 

Overall though i can't help but think that having one person handling the websites, another doing manuals and then you handling the actual stuff bumped up the chain.. with none of that actually meeting in the middle or collaborating a great deal it seems that GL are making a rod for their own back.. The whole point of a FAQ for example is that it gets updated with stuff that could avoid someone needing to ask the same question.. I'd have thought that would be a natural part of your remit.. Stuff like addinig in keywords to aid with searching help docs is a no brainer too..

 

All in all though, as you said, it's not in your interests to go there.. From a customer point of view though, it's not ideal. Ah well..

[GL_Guy]

I'm not outsourced support - I have been a Granada Learning employee since August 2005.

 

I know it's not ideal, but things are improving. We have new owners who seem to be injecting new life and energy into GL and are very forward thinking.

 

The main reason for me not updating knowledgebase articles is because we are currently considering a new support tool - This doesn't mean that knowledgebase articles aren't being collated - As I said, I support over 1700 applications at the moment, so as you can imagine, I have loads of knowledgebase articles ready for importation into whichever support tool we use, with loads more stuck in my head because I don't have the time to get them into print... The more I can get into the support tool, the more "self service" hits it gets, the more time I will have to run over our new products and prep more knowledgebase articles for our customers.

[witch]

P'raps a line in your sig or a note on your Avatar would tell us who you are - then we would know where to come for help!

[contink]

I'm not outsourced support - I have been a Granada Learning employee since August 2005.

Duly noted.

 

I know it's not ideal, but things are improving. We have new owners who seem to be injecting new life and energy into GL and are very forward thinking.

Well I guess that's got to be an improvement. Here's looking forward to the future...

 

.. and as for 1700 different packages... The word "Ouch!" seems rather inadequate..

[GL_Guy]

P'raps a line in your sig or a note on your Avatar would tell us who you are - then we would know where to come for help!

 

But considering what I have just said above, why would I do that?

[witch]

Sorry, don't get it

You are prepared to admit who you are when asked, but not to broadcast it to everyone in case you don't get called in 'officially'?

Why admit it at all?

 

Also, it is likely that we will all know who you are anyway, very quickly, so your cunning plan to stay below the radar will backfire!

I should imagine that there are plenty off people off this forum that will need your help anyway so I doubt we would significantly reduce your 'official' workload by much.

[GrumbleDook]

P'raps a line in your sig or a note on your Avatar would tell us who you are - then we would know where to come for help!

 

But considering what I have just said above, why would I do that?

 

Because not everyone will have read this thread in years to come and they will puzzle about things that you might be saying.

 

We try to persuade suppliers or people who work for a commerical provider of resources / ervices to schools to put the name of the company in their sig ... not a full blown advert (as some people have done previously) but something simple like your name, your job title and the company.

 

Something like ...

 

Tony Sheppard

God

Univerals Creations (you get the idea)

 

Some companies just prefer to lurk, but we like everyone to be involved and it saves any members getting worried about having the hard sell by the back door.

 

Hope you enjoy it here, pop over the the General Chat section and introduce yourself in the introductin sticky.

 

HAND

[Andie]

WITCH, I know you said you'd gone through permissions thoroughly already, which probably means you know all this, but it may help someone else anyway.

 

I've used two utilities called Filemon and Regmon in the past with my Win2k workstations to diagnose problems with permissions in software when the obvious things didn't work. Looking on the net for where to download these, I have found that these two have recently been replaced for operating systems post-2k SP4. There is now one utility called Process Monitor. I haven't tried it yet, but the blurb indicates it does the same thing as Filemon and Regmon only better. The link below has information on how to use it and a link to download it:

 

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/processesandthreads/processmonitor.mspx

 

There are also links from here to downloads for Filemon and Regmon; or you can Google these to get them.

 

With Filemon and Regmon, you would set them up to be run as an administrator. Then log in as a pupil, start Filemon/Regmon, type in the admin password to get them running, then start the problem software. At the point it stops running, you halt Filemon/Regmon and capture the data. You can then search for Access Denied on any of the lines produced, which gives you an idea of where permission problems may lie.

 

Sorry if this is a bit vague - it's a while since I've run these. But hopefully the link will help.

[GL_Guy]

Hi Tony,

 

I'd rather not if it all the same - Not because I am unhelpful, and not because I am going to try to sell stuff.

 

If people just come to me for a fix becuase of where I work, then it negates my reason for being here. I like to see how our software works in the real world and the issues it creates for real users - And I especially like to see how you all work around the issues you get. I prefer not to interject with a workaround straight away, and when I do, I always try to offer a free solution - After all, I do support, not sales.

[witch]

Thanks Andie, will try it

[Geoff]

I'd rather not if it all the same.

 

I do not think forum members will accept that. When you are masquerading as a 'average' forum poster but you actually work for an educational software supplier.

 

If people just come to me for a fix becuase of where I work, then it negates my reason for being here.

 

We have other forum members here who work for educational hardware/software suppliers and identify themselves as such. This is exactly what happens. Not because we barrage them with questions, but because they voluntarily comment on threads that discuss their area of business or their products. Just as you have here.

 

I like to see how our software works in the real world and the issues it creates for real users

 

Just because someone has a 'I work for blah' signature will not stop anyone slating their product on this forum. I 100% guarantee that!

 

I prefer not to interject with a workaround straight away

 

I fail to see how this attitude is constructive. It's completely diametrically opposed to the aims of this site. Please reconsider.

[GL_Guy]

You obviously confuse me with someone who is concerned with what others "accept" Geoff. I have been in this game for far to long to concern myself with what others think.

 

To suggest I "masquerade" would imply that I am pretending to be something I am not. If this was the case then I wouldn't have mentioned who I work for.

 

For me to accurately recreate everyone's working environment would be impossible, so to see how GL's products work within real live environments is a real boon for me and pays dividens when attending development meetings for future products.

 

I don't want anyone to stop slating the products I support - On the contrary - If people are in difficulty then they should ask for help. If soeone can show me where a product is poorly written or bug riddled, then this is useful feedback for me to feed back up the chain to the development team.

 

I don't visit this forum on a daily basis, as I have a job to do which takes up a great deal of my actual working day (not that I am trying to suggest that anyone spends all of their working day on here, whilst skiving). I don't visit during my free time unless I'm bored (wife's out, no footy on and I can't be bothered dragging my motorbike out), so the chances of me seeing a new thread which is about one of my company's products and being able to respond quickly are less than slim.

 

If an administrator is "diametrically opposed" to what I do on this forum, then they are free to banish me from it.

[GrumbleDook]

@GL_Guy

 

PM on the way to you.

[lucass1868]

Hey guys, I don't know if anyone is still active on this thread...

 

When this thread was made I was 7 years old and my primary school had replaced their RM and Time computers running W98 and 2000 with Dell Optiplexes running XP.

My classmates and I were all upset that Dazzle was not on the new computers and we couldn't understand why. Our teacher just said it didn't work anymore.

 

These days as a tech in a school too, I salute you all for trying - it's good to have some closure 16 years later:)