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MetaQuest announces new Technical Support Toolset to aid in proactive Help Desk strategies
- Triage 1.0 diagnostic software environment dramatically cuts support costs
- Enables vendors to bundle an application-specific reporting tool with their applications
- Rapid and accurate problem diagnosis speeds problem resolution
MONTREAL, Canada, January
19, 1998 -- Metaquest Software, Inc. today
announced Triage, a Diagnostic Software Environment that
automatically diagnoses problems associated with the
installation and configuration of software applications.
Designed specifically for software vendors, the Triage
toolset enables developers to tailor and bundle an
application-specific reporting tool with their
applications. This tool is used on the client side to
automatically diagnose problems specific to those
applications, and to return comprehensive diagnostic
reports to the vendor for analysis - thus reducing the
need to contact customers directly to gather diagnostic
information. An analyzer component is then used to
rapidly identify problem areas. Triage 1.0 runs on
Windows 95 and Windows NT. The Beta version is available
free of charge from the MetaQuest web site. General
availability is planned for late February, 1998. Contact
MetaQuest directly for licensing, pricing, and
distribution information.
"Collecting information
represents a significant part of the customer support
process," said Ralph Akhras, president of MetaQuest,
"and installation and configuration problems
represent a significant portion of the technical support
burden. Triage dramatically cuts support costs by
streamlining the process of gathering diagnostic
information, and therefore the time Help Desks spend
trying to accurately identify these problems."
"Triage provides a proactive
means to augment a vendor’s Help Desk
strategy," he added. "Since developers
pre-determine what Triage needs to know when a problem
occurs, the demand for higher skills at the Help Desk
level is lessened. Rapid and more accurate problem
diagnosis leads to quicker problem resolution. By
reducing the costs of problem diagnosis, Triage enables
vendors to allocate support dollars where they benefit
most--resolving real problems, which ultimately creates a
more satisfied customer."
Key Components
The Triage Diagnostic Software Environment includes three
components: a wizard, a client application and an
analyzer. Each serves a specific purpose in streamlining
the problem diagnosis process.
Triage Wizard:
Triage Wizard enables vendors to build a profile for
their application quickly and easily. This profile is a
simple ASCII file that specifies everything a vendor
needs to find out about a customer's machine
configuration in order for the application to install and
run smoothly. Typical specifications include operating
system, hardware configuration, environment variable
settings, registry entries, and the system and
application files installed. The application profile is
bundled with Triage Client, and distributed to the
customer as part of the vendor’s product offering.
Triage Client:
Triage Client is used in two ways:
- Vendors
use Triage Client to prepare reference reports
for all the configurations that their application
supports, i.e., US English Windows 95, French
Windows NT, etc. These reference reports
represent working configurations that will later
be used by Triage Analyzer. Reference reports can
be created in advance, or on the fly when needed
to solve a problem.
- Customers
run Triage Client to automatically perform an
audit of their machine configuration when a
problem occurs. Triage Client returns an audit
report containing only the information requested
per the criteria in the application profile.
Customers are prompted to e-mail the audit report
to the vendor for analysis. This is the extent of
the customer interaction required to facilitate
the information-gathering process.
Triage Analyzer:
Vendors use Triage Analyzer to pinpoint problems quickly
and easily. Triage Analyzer works by comparing a
customer's audit report (problem configuration) with the
reference report for the appropriate working
configuration for the application.
Triage Analyzer scans the report
data, and displays any discrepancies found in a familiar,
graphical-type browser. Problem areas are highlighted,
and may typically include items like a missing DLL, the
wrong version of a particular file, etc. With problems
quickly identified, vendors can then move on to determine
the best course of action to fix them.
Key Features and Benefits
- Enables a
proactive Help Desk Strategy
- Significantly
reduces support costs by reducing telephone
support time
- Eliminates
lengthy problem identification process
- Is useful
during the alpha and beta stages of product
development, when knowledge bases may be
non-existent or the install program is incomplete
and not fully tested
- Small,
standalone executable means Triage Client can be
easily downloaded from a vendor’s web site,
or be transparently embedded in a release
distribution, either on CD or disk
- Same
executable works on Windows 95 and Windows NT
- Single
Triage Client executable works across product
lines
- No install
procedure required; customers simply copy Triage
Client to disk or run it directly off the
vendor’s CD
- No
external DLL dependencies means Triage Client
runs smoothly anytime on any system
- Triage
Client remains transparent to the end user until
needed
- Triage
Wizard’s predefined templates for common
components speed the profile building process
- Custom
templates can be built for reuse across product
lines
- Requires
no knowledge on the part of the customer to
operate
- Customers
can edit audit reports to remove sensitive
information
- Triage
Analyzer only compares information that is
pertinent to the vendor’s application
- Once a
reference report is created, vendor’s can
perform an analysis on any machine
- Generates
comprehensive reports
Motherhood
MetaQuest Software, Inc. develops and markets solutions
for software development and technical support. The
Company’s products are targeted at software
development organizations that require the flexibility to
customize tools to meet their unique development needs.
Products include Census, a defect tracking system for the
Microsoft Windows environment, and Triage - an innovative
solution to reduce the prohibitive costs associated with
technical support.
MetaQuest, Census and Triage
are trademarks of MetaQuest Software, Inc. Microsoft,
Windows, Windows NT and Access are either trademarks or
registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the
United States and/or other countries. All other company
or product names mentioned are the trade or service marks
of their respective owners.
For More
Information Contact:
MetaQuest Software Inc.
416 de Maisonneuve West, Suite 401, Montreal, Quebec H3A
1L2
Tel: 514-341-9113
FAX: 514-341-4757
Internet: info@metaquest.com
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