Conference 7.286::digital

3466.0. "End User feedback to CNS, Digital's MIS Dept." by LAOSS1::UDICK_ST (It can't be too easy to use ...) Wed Oct 26 1994 16:46

    The following letter was sent to James Roberts from CNS in an effort
    try and communicate my desires for services from CNS.
    
    -Steve
    
    
James,

Thanks for meeting with me last week. I would just like to
follow up with the items that we talked about and address
some other issues.

As a former Digital Consultant I would visit customers and
talk to the end users and then provide that feedback to the
MIS department. Typically the things that the end users
wanted could be easily provided but MIS was not aware of the
issues  were really frustrating the end users. Why, because
the lines of communications had broken down. This is
typically because MIS was busy putting out fires and dealing
the day to day issues involved with keeping the systems
running. But what they had really lost was the customer
focus that is necessary for the end users to see them as
added value, i.e. the answer to the question "What have you
done for me lately." was not apparent.

I am pretty sure that MIS is not aware of my needs as an end
user. I am equally sure that I am not aware of the programs
that you have in place to improve the service that you
provide to the Sales Organization. Somehow we need to
improve communication so that we can succeed together.
Things that I have seen work at various customers include
developing a liaison program where MIS would meet with the
"Power Users" to keep them up to date on what is going on.
The "Power Users" are formally tasked by their management
chain to provide the routine first level of support. I get 2-
3 users in my cube daily with question on how to copy files
or move files to their PC. As I am no longer in Sales
Support, I do not know if I can continue this support and be
successful in my new sales job.

The programs that come out of MIS appear to be uncoordinated
and not well communicated. There is the Work at Home
program, the IR tool, Internet Access and the Sales Horizon
program. The Sales Horizon program's remote access is
different than the planned Remote access program via TCP/IP.
The architecture that we put in place with the last sales
laptop program was unsupportable and doomed for failure.
What lessons have been learned so that this time we can
deliver a world class solution. Digital should be a show
case for how to correctly implement Client/Server computing
yet today we are still running 90% of our applications off
of a terminal screen. I understand that we are moving to
Pathworks V5.1. Currently, most users are running Pathworks
4.1 without the transports (TCP/IP, DECnet) necessary to
deliver client/server applications.

The purpose of this letter is to define my requirements.
Hopefully you can provide feedback on how they can be
addressed.

Remote Access

I would like highspeed (28.8 - 56K) remote TCP/IP access to
the Easynet. I have explored ISDN access and GTE will be
providing it by December 94. We have the Terminal Servers
and the modems necessary to provide 9.6 connections now but
for the lack of a Terminal Server memory upgrade ($200 MLP)
we are unable to get access. I am exploring with my manager
the possibility of providing high speed modems into an
existing WinNT RAS Server. We currently have one working
today at 14.4.

Laptop Program

I have heard that we are getting upgraded laptops. What is
the plan and what is the architecture to allow us to take
advantage of these systems. Is there a plan to allow
software upgrades. Will they be running full Pathworks and
Linkworks, the ALL-IN-1 of the 90's.

We recently hired several new people in the LAO Facility.
Their frustration with getting a system set up and access to
information was in marked contrast to the experience relayed
to me from a manager who left Digital to go to work for
Microsoft. When he reported the first day he had a PC setup
that connected to the server and had a mail and scheduler
that worked.

Onsite Support

Can we get a Pathworks System manager on site at LAO. It is
my perception that we need a Pathworks System manager one
day a week to start until the folks are trained and then
maybe every other week. No other company that I know does
not designate a system manager for the users to contact. I
do not even know all of the services that are offered off of
the site servers.

Name Services

I would love to have access to a Digital Naming Service or
X.500 service so that I could use Teamlinks or Infobroker to
access the Email addresses of Digital employees and even
VARS and Distributors that we do business with. Having this
information available would allow me to improve
communications to people who sell our products and allow
Digital to use it's Information Systems as a competitive
weapon.

Internet Access.

I would like to see a 1 day training class on Internet
access. Pathworks 5.1 includes Mosaic but it took me 2 days
to get it working with the SEAL Gateway. We should make this
easy for other users. With Internet access I was able to get
information about SUN's new systems to use competitively.

Information Repository

This is a terrible application and if you have ever used it
you will be amazed at how difficult it is to get information
down to end users. Our current implementation of VTX is not
much better. Can we develop a strategy to allow better
access to information. Are we considering moving to Mosaic
Servers. I have information overload and really need a tool
to help me find information. There are many text retrieval
tools like Excalibur and Verity that would allow us to
quickly find mail messages and VAXnotes files.

Here is an example of how easy it is to get information from
the information repository. We wonder why our cost of sales
is so high.

>>There was an error in the access instructions in the memothat was sent
>>Friday announcing the availability of the new "DigitalEquipment
>>Corporation:  Financial Focus(Q1FY95)" customer presentation.

 >>To access the presentation via the Integrated Repository (VTX IR), select
 >>Item 4 from the main menu, Search by Document ID.  Enter"OL005E" to
 >>specify the Financial Focus presentation.  You can then select item 2 and
 >>mail Postscript, Powerpoint or ASCII versions of the presentation.

Easynet Information

The Easynet contains a great deal of information the only
problem is you have to find it. I really need the ability to
browse the Easynet so that from my PC I can easily find and
mount file systems that have information that I need. The
Network Warriors and the Pathworks Product Sales Specialists
have information on line that we need to get not only to our
ABU reps but also to the VAR's and Distributors.

VAXnotes

I do not think that the management making funding decisions
are aware of just how integral VAXnotes is to our ability to
successfully support our customers. We have not invested in
this product and we know of the success of Lotus Notes. What
is our plan for providing future VAXnotes functionality
i.e.:

1.   Improved Searches.

2.   Conferences that easy to add. The problem now is that
  you have to do too much to find the conference , that you
  want to add to your notebook.

3.   Batch Searches so that you can tell a server to look in
  these 3 conferences and notify you when it is done and
  display the results.

4.   Windows Access from home.

5.   A monitoring utility similar to PAVN that automatically
  mails you notes that are added to a conference that you are
  monitoring.
  
6.   TIMA like functionality for searching all of the
  information sources on the network. If TIMA could be made
  easier to use it would be a very, very effective tool for
  Sales Support.

See Attachment #1 for 1992 memo requesting additional
support.

DEMO Center Support

Now that OpenNET has been officially decommited we need to
have access after hours to network support so that if we
need to finish setting up a customer demo after hours and
the network is having problems we can get support.

FAX Gateway

I would like to be able to set up the ability to fax
information to Distributors, Customers and VARS. Do we have
this service from DECmailworks.

Presentations

There was a OPAL CD that was available. It would be great to
be able to browse the site server, and then drag and drop
presentations to my pc. Current delivery methods are so
difficult as to be virtually unusable by anyone other than
PC Power users.

Windows Domain Naming Architecture

Could you please communicate your architecture for
implementing Windows NT Server Domain Name Architecture.

Improved Communications

If you are unable to meet my needs as an end user there are
probably good reasons but please let me know when you will
be able to meet them and the plan to do so. If you cannot
address them at this time please recommend a method for me
to solve my own problem so that when you are able to address
the problem from a corporate point of view the solution that
I have implemented will fit into your IS Architecture. For
example, I need remote IP Access. I am doing it today via NT
Sever running WINS. I do not know how this will affect your
plans.

I have communicated to CNS that NT Domains are popping up
all over the place. I have been asking for over a year to
hear your plans for Domain Names. The impact of this lack of
communication is that if the names that are being used
conflict with your architecture, then the end user must
totally reinstall Window NTS costing digital thousands of
dollars in man-hours. I am not asking you to implement the
plan just communicate the architecture so that I can comply.

Thanks for listening, I look forward to hearing from you. I
know your organization is dealing with having to do more
with less but improved communications will allow us to focus
our efforts so as to get the greatest return for our
investment.


Steve

------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
--
Attachment #1

Judy,

As we have discussed at SPATT, Sales Support makes
significant use
of VAXnotes as a tool for research and to find answers to
questions.
If we placed some development energy on improving it we will
likely
see increased use by both Sales Support and, if it is made
easier to use
by Sales.

If you agree we should get it on the list of SPATT sponsored
applications.

Steve - I don't know who in engineering needs to be
influenced to
increase the staffing.

Regards,

Bill

From:     BGYBRD::UDICK         9-NOV-1992 19:49:34.46
To:  OFFPLS::HORZEMPA
CC:
Subj:     Sales Support Tools

Bill,

I feel pretty safe in saying that the major tool used by
Sales Support is
VAXnotes. Significant improvements in Sales Support
productivity as well
as Sales Productivity could be made if we made improvements
to that
application. We have a total of 1 engineer working on
VAXnotes.

There have been many hacks such as PAVN (Automated VAXnotes)
that allow you
mail yourself all of the new notes and allows searches in
Batch.

Investment in this application could greatly improve
communications to the field.

To whom should we address our cards and letters.

Thanks,

Steve
------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------
Steve,

      Thanks for bringing this up.

      VAXNOTES IS BY FAR THE MOST VALUABLE TOOL I HAVE AS A
SUPPORT
         SPECIALIST.


      NO QUESTIONS. NO DOUBT.



      Hunter Smith
    

    As a senior sales executive writing this from a DECMATE III, I
    completely agree with everything described in this note. IR is so
    difficult to use I have given up -- 
    
    RE: PC's - It seems no one at corporate knows that 320P's sent to the 
    field had Powerpoint 2.0. originally installed - and no upgrade was ever 
    provided. Thus from 7pm to 2am I got to insert #X of 33 (for Windows)
    and number X of 7 for Powerpoint 3.0 - Talk about your fun evening!!
    
    But - hey - it was worth it to read that Corporate Powerpoint 3.0 ONLY
    sales training presentation --- NOT
    
    RE: Sales Horizon - this will not work for sales people - too many
    prescreens.
    RE: Expense Forms - What a mess - it seems that in generating this
    application there was no thought given to returning from a customer
    site. It took me hours to fix the formulas - 
    
    The MIS department responsible for providing automated tools to the
    sales force must as a minimum spend one week "walking in our shoes"-
    
    Its what we demand of customers we sell client server solutions to
    - We call it iterative prototyping - 
    
    We must start to do internally what we sell externally. 

    One thing you should note:
    
    CNS is not Digital's "MIS".  If you think about it, Digital does not
    really have a single "MIS" entity in it's current organization.
    
    CNS does not control the entire computing environment; you can't really
    blame them for all the (definitely not new) problems.
    
    --Ron

    You raise a lot of issue, not all involve CNS.  For example, the
    providing of desktop/laptop systems and the software that runs on it is
    not a CNS activity.  We have recently announced a country-wide set of
    support options for desktop systems where the price is consistant
    across all Territories.  The same to support the H.O.M.E program will
    also be announced shortly.
    
    Part of the frustration we all feel is that services cost money and the
    need to meet our budget goals has helped change some of the ways we do
    business.  In .0 it is pointed out that a system manager is needed for
    a local site server.  I know in my Territory we have centalized that
    function and a group of skilled individuals provide that service for a
    number of systems from Maine to New Jersey (from the KYO and MRO
    facilities).  I believe your Territory is doing the same.  One result
    is that we break the tie between a system and a specific individual. 
    Calling your HelpDesk will route calls to that team.
    
    That is just one example.  I would suggest anyone needing service
    information or wish to discuss business needs contact their local
    HelpDesk and ask for the Client Services Manager.  I understand not all
    territories may use this specific title, but they should be able to
    guide you to the right person.
    
    In Eastern Production Territory and AKO,BXB, BXC, and MKO, call Bob
    Morrison.  At NRO, OGO, PKO, UOP, and SHR call Donna Ceriani.
    
    I'm a member of the Desktop team, feel free to contact me with any
    issues in that arena, I'll be glad to take them to the Team.

    
     The point is made that we have local implementations that effect
    corporate wide resouces. Those resources are scarce and costly.
    So what you have here is local resouces duplicating efforts and
    services because there is no direction from corporate.
    
     Hey, someone needs to step forward and say, we own this. And here
    are your options for implementation. The bottom line IMHO is that the
    infastructure of the EasyNet is changing, yet the same old resouce
    tools are not.
    
    -Mike Z.

    As others have noted, it's not always CNS providing the services.  It
    can be difficult to identify where issues should be forwarded, but I
    believe all support organizations eventually report up to:
    
    (from VTX LIVEWIRE CMC listing)
    
           Bob McNulty               Chief Information Officer,
                                       Quality, and Operations
                                       Management Services
    
    You may want to forward your list of issues to his office?
    
    /Diane

    The program manager for Sales Horizon is Tim Walsh.  I'm sure he'd be
    open to feedback, and they're working on V2.0 already...
    
    Pat Campbell
    Digital SI

    My main concern is the lack of communication between all of those
    providing service to the end user.
    
    Thanks,
    
    Steve

One of our biggest fears here in Upstate New York is how CNS is going to 
support the whole Telecommuting (aka H.O.M.E.) program. Currently, sales 
support does quite a bit of support to the rest of the organization when it 
comes to personal productivity tools (PCs, Pathworks, etc).

I don't think CNS has the right tools, training, technology or planning
to support the computing infrastructure today, much less what they are 
planning to roll out over the next few months.

There is a CNS survey underway currently, so give them your feedback.

    I've given them my feedback (both solicited and unsolicited) on their
    "support" (or lack thereof) of the Telecommuting program.  Everyone
    I've talked to who is any way shapre or form connected with CNS DOES
    NOT UNDERSTAND the requirements of the end user, even though they have
    been clearly outlined over and over again by numerous messages from
    myself and my counterparts as well as the excellent base note.
    
    Some of us have been forced to "exist" on the home program due to
    offices closing already.  I am not convinced that any one in CNS (or
    whatever group is working with them on the Telecommuting
    infrastructure) has a clue as to what is needed to provide an adequate
    architecture so that those of us left can concentrate on doing our jobs
    instead of spending time trying to figure out how to get things
    accomplished so CNS can cut costs and look good on the books.
    
    This may sound rather harsh but I've been trying to get information
    from internal sources so I can move forward and get on with business
    for the last couple of months to no avail.  I literally give up (and I
    don't give up easily!)
    
    Cindy
    that I can make decisions and move forward 

    6 months later no improvements.
    
    In typical matter I went out and spent my own money and now have WinNT
    with RAS into the office.
    
    I appreciate the cost issues that Digital and CNS have to put up with
    but it doesn't cost that much to communicate.
    
    -Steve