ICAS3031A Provide advice to clients

Activity 1.1
Visit and review the following two websites and use the information to answer the questions. Help Desk Software Australia (currently at <www.helpdesksoftware.com.au> . At this website, click on the Products tab and then click on Screenshots. This will show pictures of how the screen looks and its functions. This will help ou to answer the followin! "uestions. Ilient (currently at <ilient.com> . At this website! click on the "roduct tab then download or open the "#$ file "roduct description. %ook at the screen shots and the "#$ file! then answer the following questions& 1. 'hat are the main functions(tasks these programs offer) Its helpdesk software and helps to log support calls and jobs for anything ranging from help desks to problem tracking with products and services.

2. *f you were working with these software programs! how could you identify new
problems when you returned from your lunch break) By sorting the job/request queue in order they are received. By clicking on the type of job request to quickly sort list in ascending order so there is no need to go to a search screen to look up particular requests.

. +ow could you find out if there were previous problems or requests from the
client) By using client history! in history tab! address details! and the history for the client! all the requests that have come in can be accessed.

Activity 1., - no answer required Activity 1.3

'hen you have the +elp./A0 test drive running! e1periment with it. 2reate a new request (click the labelled button on the left of the screen . /he request is from Adriana 0ivera who wants technical support with email. 1. $ind out if there are already issues for Adriana. *f there are! does it help us with this request) +ow) "es! looking at previous requests will give a more complete picture of the problem and how it was handled last time! and how the solution can be improved to avoid same problem in future. ,. 'hy is it important to look for previous logs or requests before going any further in attempting to solve the problem) 3ive three reasons. #ooking at previous requests will give a more complete picture of the problem by$ a. alerting the support staff to previous technical problems b. providing additional information about problems or requests the client has made previously

c. providing more information about why this particular request has been made.

Activity 1.4
#iscussing issues with friends and colleagues is a common way to find information. /he following scenario helps you develop this skill. 5ou have been using 'indows ,666 for some time and are thinking of moving to 'indows 7" "ro. $ind an independent online chat or user group and analyse their comments. /ry to get both facts and feelings (opinion about the product. 'indows ,666 benefits

%indows 2&&& has lower system requirements! and has a simpler interface 'no ()tyles( to mess with*. %indows 2&&& is slightly less e+pensive! and has no product activation. %indows 2&&& has been out for a while! and most of the common problems and security holes have been uncovered and fi+ed. ,hird-party software and hardware products that aren.t yet /0-compatible may be compatible with %indows 2&&&1 check the manufacturers of your devices and applications for /0 support before you upgrade.

'indows 7" benefits

%indows /0 is somewhat faster than %indows 2&&&! assuming you have a fast processor and tons of memory 'although it will run fine with a &&2h3 0entium II and 1242B of 562*. ,he new %indows /0 interface is more cheerful and colorful than earlier versions! although the less-cartoony (7lassic( interface can still be used if desired. %indows /0 has more bells and whistles! such as the %indows 2ovie 2aker! builtin 78 writer support! the Internet 7onnection 9irewall! and 5emote 8esktop 7onnection. %indows /0 has better support for games and comes with more games than %indows 2&&&. %indows /0 is the latest :) - if you don.t upgrade now! you.ll probably end up migrating to /0 eventually anyway! and we mere mortals can only take so many :) upgrades. 2anufacturers of e+isting hardware and software products are more likely to add %indows /0 compatibility now than %indows 2&&& compatibility.

Activities 1.8 Ans Varies Activity 1.6

1. 2icrosoft 0roject 2&1& 2. 0equired "rocessor
;&& 2<3 or faster processor 0equired 9perating .ystem %indows ;! =ista with )01! /0 'must have )0 * ' 2-bit*! %indows )erver 2&&4! %indows )erver 2&& with )02 and 2)/2# >.& ' 2-bit :ffice only* or later 2- or >?-bit :)

0equired :emory @12 2B 562 or more 0equired +ard disc .pace 2 AB available disc space 0equired #isplay 1&2? + ;>4 or higher resolution monitor 0equired 2onnectivity Internet functionality requires an Internet connection 0equired ;rowser %indows Internet B+plorer ; or later! 2-bit browser only

. http$//www.microsoftstore.com http$//technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee>2? @1.asp+ http$//www.microsoft.com/project/en-us/project-management.asp+ ?. Co Idea

Activity 1.7
.olving a clients< problem is sometimes a matter of some basic training. *n this role=play activity! you will practice one=to=one training. A client has requested support because they would like to insert tables into their :icrosoft 9utlook email message! but every time they try to insert the table! it is converted to te1t. 5ou have investigated and found no problem with the software or hardware. 5ou conclude that you need to provide training to the client on how to use this function. /ake turns as trainer.

,his role-play is intended to give practice in a situation where a support person has to e+plain conclusions to the client and get feedback from the client.

Activity 1.>
/his activity gives you practice in describing a technical problem or situation to a client. 5ou have ?ust downloaded +elp./A0 (Activity 1.1 and have been asked if your organisation<s(educational institute<s current set up will allow the program to run effectively. 5ou need to prepare a report for your boss (not a technical person describing the requirements. /he report should be less than half a page.

Activity 1.9
3etting and using feedback is very important. /his activity will make you think about feedback. /alk about the following questions with a class member! or make some notes of your answers to help you understand what feedback means to you. 1. 'hat do you understand by the term @feedback<)

9eedback is the reaction or opinion of a customer! supervisor or colleague to an organisation or employee about services! work performance! etc.
,. 2an you think of a time when someone gave you feedback that was useful to you) *f you can! describe the situation and try to think about why that feedback was useful. *f you cannot think of a time when you received useful feedback! think about what might make feedback useful to you.

D 7onstructive feedback! such as a colleague telling you if you have done a job well! or if you have made a mistake and how to correct the mistake. D 0ositive feedback! including when you have achieved a goal and a customer/supervisor is happy with the outcome. ,his will allow you to know what works. D 7ritical feedback! such as a customer! colleague or supervisor informing you of problems with your work. ,his allows you to make changes so that you do not make the same mistakes again! or to correct a process. ,his sort of feedback should always be constructive and about the job E it should not be personal or derogatory.

Activity ,.1 Answer the following question individually. If possible, compare your answers with those given by other people. 1. At what point shoul you begin to get agreement with a client on their

har ware, software or network requirements)

,he agreement should start at your first analysis of the problem. 6t each step after that you should confirm agreement with the client. If the original problem is not agreed to by the client! any solutions or implementation are not likely to be agreed! and are not likely to meet the clientFs need.
'hat are the procedures for approving changes to hardware! software or the network in your organisation(educational institute) B+ample steps$

A.

5aising and recording of changes 6ssessing the impact! cost! benefit and risk of proposed changes 8eveloping business justification and obtaining approval 2anaging and co-ordinating change implementation 2onitoring an reporting on implementation !eviewing an closing change re"uests. +ow do these procedures differ depending on the cost and time associated with

client requirements)
If assessed cost is more than allocated budget it can affect the approval. )imilarly if time to be taken in change process effects other operations of organi3ation then procedure has to be changed.

Activity ,., B1plaining why one option is better than another is an important part of documenting a solution. /his activity asks you to select an option and recommend it. *n small group (if possible consider the following scenario. A group of users from a chain of opticians wants to circulate special offers to customers. /he offer will differ depending on where the customer lives. /wo possible solutions have been suggested.

1.

Cse the e1isting database to provide a basic list of customers with an address in a

certain postcode. /his would be the cheapest solution because no changes are required. +owever! it would take time for staff to match each offer with the customer<s postcode. ,. Cpgrade the database by adding new fields. /his could allow marketing to be

more targeted by collecting more information about the customers and give more options for marketing for the future. /his would cost three times as much as .olution 1. 'hat recommendation will you make) B1plain why you are making the recommendation. 5our response should be in writing.
:n a cost-benefit basis an adjustment to the e+isting database would usually be recommended if it would fully meet the need.

Activity #.3
#efining costs and benefits is an important part of documenting a solution and advising clients. /his activity is designed to get you thinking about the costs and benefits of purchasing new software. 5our firm is considering using specialised pro?ect management software for systems pro?ects. 2onduct research on the internet to identify the costs and benefits of using a popular pro?ect management software program. #ocument these in point form.
)elected 0roject is 2) 0roject 2&1& and cost varies from G11& to G>1H depending on features. Benefits$ Aives robust project management tools with the right blend of usability! power! and fle+ibility to manage projects more efficiently and effectively 0rovide templates Aives Iuick Bstimate on project timelines 0rovides with Jwhat-ifF scenarios.

Activity ,.$
:aking sure that you formally document all requirements is an important part of making a recommendation and maintaining effective communication with the client. /his activity asks you to think about what additional requirements are likely to occur. Bither in a group of three or on your own! brainstorm the following scenario. 5ou have recommended a software upgrade as the solution to the problem you have been investigating. 'hat additional hardware(software(training requirements might be needed for the software upgrade)

7onsiderations might include the following$ %hat training will be needed for users and maintenance peopleK %ill any hardware need to be upgradedK 'If so! how e+tensive must this beK* %ill the upgraded software run properly on the current versions of the operating system or systems that the organisation runsK

Activity ,.8
5ou work on a help desk which has found it needs an improved system for entering and tracking logged requests and problems. /he recommendation currently has documentation about the following issues&

what software should be chosen! including licensing cost hardware and supporting software requirements for the system.
/he client now has an additional requirement. /he system needs to track the cost of staff time spent on any particular problem or request! and include an online report showing total costs attached to that particular problem or request. 0eview the websites you e1amined in Activity 1.1 and Activity 1., and see if this additional requirement can be met from the software considered. "repare a summarised report in point form. 7annot understand

Activity #.6
3etting client approval for implementation is not always simple. /he role=play below describes a situation where obtaining approval is complicated. 9ne person should play the role of an */ support personD the other will play the role of the client, Anton. %he support person is helping Anton, who wants some a itional information

from the organisation&s atabase. Anton agrees that a new online report will meet his nee s, but still wishes he coul have the new screen he originally wante . %he support person nee s to get Anton&s approval for implementation, but e'pects complaints about not getting approval for the screen. %he screen has been estimate as being four times the cost of the report to evelop an two times the cost to maintain. %he organisation&s rules allow Anton to sign for the low(cost report, but the screen is a much higher cost an woul nee to be approve by his senior manager. )ou o not thin* the cost of a new screen can be +ustifie . ,ersua e Anton to agree to sign an approval form for the report.

0ole "lay

Activity ,.E
,he person you have worked with to identify user requirements is not always the same person who can approve the final implementation. %hat factors about the organisation or the requirements might mean that it cannot be approved immediately by the userK

9actors effecting approval includes$ )atisfaction of the basic requirement criteria 9easibility of the proposed solution Lnowledge of the users in the area reaching minimum level required to use operate

Activity #./his activity asks you to consider training options for various staff. Answer this individually or have a class discussion. Answer on your own or have a class iscussion In the following cases, what sort of technical support an training might be re"uire . 1. A new system is to be installe an eight people in the epartment nee

to use it. It is a mo erately comple' system 6 training session or sessions for the whole epartment ,. A new report has been evelope for /ohamme . 0e nee s to *now

how to run it. %his is a very simple proce ure. 6 short one(on(one training session woul meet the re"uirements

Activity ,.F 1 2o answer re"uire Activity #.13

'hat factors can make it difficult to agree with the client on the level of technical support required) )hortage of resources! especially lack of client time and conflicting priorities may make agreement difficult. 6lso! the client may want a particular solution! which may or may not be feasible.

Activity #.11
*t is important to communicate well when arranging a time for support. /his e1ercise helps you think through the communication process.

A staff member needs training in changes that are soon to be introduced to your organisation<s in=house system. /he change is not great and you e1pect it to take half an hour and would like to do it at the staff member<s desk. 1. 0ow will you ma*e the first contact.

Initial contact may be a quick phone call or email to the client to request to schedule a brief training session.

2. +ow will you follow up that contact)

9ollow-up contact might be an email confirming the details given over the phone

. 'hat information should you provide the client so that they are fully aware of
the details of the training session (such as what they will learn! time it will take! time and date ) 7onfirm the details such as date and time of scheduled training session! appro+imate length and location of training! as well as the topics to be covered. @. 0ow will you communicate this information to the client so they can prepare for the training session. 'hat is diff btween this ques and ques A)))

Activity ,.1,
/his activity is about preparing to deliver a support session to a client. Goe needs to import a te1t file into a worksheet! but has had difficulty mastering the procedure. "repare a session outline of what will be covered in the training session. "repare a draft email to Goe requesting that a short training session be scheduled with Goe to learn how to use this function. *nclude information about the anticipated length of the training session. :ake sure you also include information about what will be covered in the training session. Hi Joe, Further to our discussions, I would like to propose that we meet for a maximum one-hour training session. The main goal of the session will be to learn how to use Excel to import text files. The session will co er! Importing a text file Importing a "#$ file I would also like to confirm the following date and time as per our original discussions! %onda&, 'th November 2007 3.30 pm to 4.30 pm Location: your office Loo for!ard to seein" you t#en. $e"ards % %ones

Activity #.13

/his activity will give you practice in delivering a support session to a client. 9ne person should role=play Gane. Another person should role= play the support person. 4ane is ,A to the finance manager an nee s to put charts an graphs from a sprea sheet into a presentation pac*age for her manager to use. 5he has ha problems oing this in the past, which she reporte as a fault in the software set(up. After investigation the problem has been i entifie as a training issue. !ole(play the one(on(one instruction session that you woul have with 4ane. 0ole "lay

Activity ,.14
A link can be a very good way to provide permanent and speedy access to help for clients. #o some online research to find out what website link you might give to some clients who have begun to use :icrosoft "ro?ect ,66E. /hey have done a short training course and need a source of information beyond the online help.

http$//support.microsoft.com/ph/H 1 www.2&1 .net/blog//downloads/2)0roject2&&;IuickAuide.pdf

Activity ,.18
/hink about the kind of help documentation you have found most useful in learning to use new software. *f you were asked what sort of help documentation you would like! what would you say) :nline user manuals with screenshots

Activity ,.1H
"repare a @how=to< guide for Goe (Activity ,.1, that provides step=by=step instructions for importing a te1t file into :icrosoft B1cel.

,he following e+ample is based on inserting a 7)= file into B+cel. 1. 7reate a new workbook or insert a new worksheet. 2. Ao to #ata! click on 3et B1ternal #ata and then click *mport /e1t $ile. . In the 2hoose a $ile dialog bo+! locate and double-click the te+t file you want to import! and then click on 3et #ata. ?. 6ccept the selected #elimited data option! and click on Ie1t. @. )elect the delimiters that reflect how the data in the te+t file is separated 'such as ,ab or 7omma*. >. 0review the data! and if it displays in columns! click on Ie1t. ;. 6ccept the 3eneral column data format! and click on Ie1t.

4. 7lick on $inish to import the text file into the Excel worksheet. 9. Save the workbook.

Activity A.1
/his is a research task. 6in a form that a commercial organisation uses to gather fee bac* about its I% support. If it is not possible to get an e'ample from a commercial organisation, obtain one use by your e ucational institute. B+ample$

http$//www.brookes.ac.uk/services/cs/csfeedback.html http$//www.digi.com/support/techsupportfeedbackform

Activity A.,
2omplete this activity on your own or as part of a group. Csing the form you researched in Activity A.1! as well as the information presented so far in this chapter! create a 16=question feedback form to provide to clients once an */ support issue is solved or a request is completed. )ample ques in form$

1. %hich 0art of project does this feedback relate toK 2. %ere you acknowledged immediately and served as soon as practicableK . %ere you treated in a courteous and considerate mannerK ?. 8id you receive the information or assistance you requiredK MM @. 8id you receive adequate service in a timely mannerK MM >. %ere you satisfied with your overall e+perience with our team .

Activity A.A
0ole=play this activity with a fellow stu ent or wor* colleague if possible. !eferring to the form you locate in Activity 3.1, or the one you create in Activity 3.#, e'plain how the form shoul be fille in. Alternatively, create step( by(step instructions e'plaining how to complete an submit the fee bac* form, as well as the benefits of completing the fee bac* form. 0ole "layJe1plain the form

Activity A.$
"rovide three reasons why it is important to give clients the opportunity to provide feedback once they have received customer support. ,he main reason is to provide information that will help to improve performance. 9eedback also enables the developer to identify whether the solution met the clientFs needs$ are they satisfied with the outcomes. 6ee bac* enables the eveloper to i entify how the service7pro uct can be improve in the future.

Activity A.8
"rovide three reasons why it is important to give clients the opportunity to provide feedback once they have received customer support. ,able .1 suggests that pressure on the client! and the need to find an appropriate time as disadvantages. ,he table suggests that the form is likely to be filled in and the client sees the attention as personal as advantages.

Activity A.H
/his is a reflection e1ercise. /hink of a time (preferably at work when you listened to someone<s feedback and changed your way of doing things as a result. "ersonal B1p

Activity A.E
/his is a research pro?ect. 0esearch an information and communications technology company on the internet to find out how they have used feedback to change their practices and improve service to clients. B+ample situation$ 9eedback$ #ess information on any part of project say how to handle accounts of students 5esponding to feedback$ feedback has led to the development of an accounts related user Auide answers will depend on the types of feedback forms they locate.