[Nottingham] (Help/Call - ) Support documentation Policies

[T.J long thing]

Hi Martin,



Thanks that helps I think were going to have to get stricter with people that do support whether it’s support engineers or consultants.



Think we need to get the policies in place and approved from management before the support desk grows with any more regular engineers.



Thanks

TJ



________________________________
From: Nottingham <nottingham-bounces at mailman.lug.org.uk> on behalf of Martin via Nottingham <nottingham at mailman.lug.org.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2019 6:03:05 PM
To: nottingham at mailman.lug.org.uk <nottingham at mailman.lug.org.uk>
Cc: Martin <martin at ml1.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [Nottingham] (Help/Call - ) Support documentation Policies

TJ,

Sorry for a slow response. Surprised noone else hasn't already replied.


For a 'helpline' or any sort of real-time support:

My experience has been that trying to keep 'end-of-day' notes is too
unreliable to be relied upon... "Things happen"(tm) and you can all too
easily lose the write-up time...

More commonly done and far better is to use a 'job tracker' utility or
even a bugtracker to formally log a support call/task and to log the
problem/reasons through to the progress and completion/outcome.

Failing that, just keep a text file log for each call with a strict
convention for the notes.

A very good idea is to keep everything simple! (And robust.)

It is essential to make the policy that the notes are made at the time,
in real time, and that another support call is not taken until the
existing support call notes have been completed and saved/submitted.

Essentially, ensure there is an 'audit trail' with log entry times
logging what has happened.

Any other method usually involves head scratching, duplication,
frustration, and never going home on time!


Another note is that as soon as there is more than one person involved,
you really do need to formalise and log all that you do for the support...


Hope that is of help,

Good luck,
Martin



On 11/09/2019 18:52, T.J long thing via Nottingham wrote:
> Hi Guys,
>
>
>
> It’s been a while but I’m wondering if anyone had thoughts on policies
> involving time allowances for support teams to update notes in support
> cases.
>
>
>
> To set the scene the company I work for is tiny (5 people in the office
> about the same out in the world somewhere) so other than holiday’s I not
> only ran the support desk I pretty much was the support desk. I’m pretty
> forgetful so most day’s the last thing I did was update my notes in our
> support portal so I knew where I got to the next day. Recently our
> customer base grew significantly so our directors hired another support
> person. He’s not so forgetful so doesn’t tend to write things down which
> worked until he starts going off sick. Suddenly I’m looking into cases I
> have no idea if they’re done, part done or not even touched. Because of
> this I was thinking of putting forward a policy of the last 30 mins of
> everyday are for updating notes only (we already work 30 mins after the
> lines are supposed to close anyway). Having not managed more than me I’m
> not sure how common this is? Does anyone out there no of any other way’s
> companies try to make sure notes and documentation are done?
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
> TJ



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