the prerequisites are: 1. one or more people have to come forward to be 'accountable' for the nrcfoss node. 2. A physical space - preferably provided by an educational institution. I am cc-ing the mumbai volunteers on this, so they can give their input. Further there is a group at nrcfossconsult@googlegroups.com where discussions of this sort can take place with a permanent archive. I am also cc- ing that mailing list
> While de-briefing about the meeting on 24th, several ILUG-Cal members > have expressed a strong interest in a FOSS Helpline in Kolkata. Please > inform us the requirements from our end as well as from your end at > NRC-FOSS.
> IIRC, your model so far has been focused on getting one person to > "man" > the phone, we discussed an alternative model where :
> a) a dedicated Helpline number is setup and advertised;
> b) setup an online trouble ticketing system (e.g. using RT), where the > calls are logged and using SugarCRM in tandem for tracking the > "customers"
> c) out of the pool of the volunteers ready to handle calls, round- > robin > scheduling is used to forward the calls to the designated volunteer's > cell/landline/voip/skype no. (perhaps using Asterix or OpenPBX et al)
> d) if the issue can be closed then and there by the volunteer > answering > the call then its fine, else a ticket would be raised by the volunteer > concerned on behalf of the "customer"
> e) the volunteer pool will attempt to find the answer to the > problem and > get back to the "customer"
> f) as the "customers" become saavy, they could directly create their > user accounts and log their queries online.
> g) common queries would end up in a wiki-style knowledge-base as a > value-add.
> h) the ILUG-Cal community would be supporting the initiative.
My view on this -not sure if this view is shared by NRC-FOSS- would be to delegate the hosting of the NRC-FOSS node to an organization or Educational Institution which is able to provide:
a)Space b)A person for manning the help line (dedicated or part time as per requirement) on the phone/email/internet and for entering support requests and answers into a tracking system
The role of the LUG/LUGs or the community would be to pick up the support tickets online from the tracking system and handle it. The community would also provide guidance to the hosting organization and its support person on technical matters as needed.
In the above system, once the query is answered by the LUG, the hosting organization gets the answer back to the 'customer' on the phone or by email as requested by the caller.
If we employ this system, we could even select a host organization which could provide Level 1 support, and only delegate the more difficult technical questions to the volunteer teams from the various LUGs in the region or other volunteer groups.
I think if we keep things simple, we will be setting this up for success.
> the prerequisites are: 1. one or more people have to come forward to > be 'accountable' for the nrcfoss node. 2. A physical space - > preferably provided by an educational institution. I am cc-ing the > mumbai volunteers on this, so they can give their input. Further > there is a group at nrcfossconsult@googlegroups.com where discussions > of this sort can take place with a permanent archive. I am also cc- > ing that mailing list
> On 04-Apr-07, at 12:23 PM, Indranil Das Gupta wrote:
> > Dear Prof. Krishnan/Kenneth
> > While de-briefing about the meeting on 24th, several ILUG-Cal members > > have expressed a strong interest in a FOSS Helpline in Kolkata. Please > > inform us the requirements from our end as well as from your end at > > NRC-FOSS.
> > IIRC, your model so far has been focused on getting one person to > > "man" > > the phone, we discussed an alternative model where :
> > a) a dedicated Helpline number is setup and advertised;
> > b) setup an online trouble ticketing system (e.g. using RT), where the > > calls are logged and using SugarCRM in tandem for tracking the > > "customers"
> > c) out of the pool of the volunteers ready to handle calls, round- > > robin > > scheduling is used to forward the calls to the designated volunteer's > > cell/landline/voip/skype no. (perhaps using Asterix or OpenPBX et al)
> > d) if the issue can be closed then and there by the volunteer > > answering > > the call then its fine, else a ticket would be raised by the volunteer > > concerned on behalf of the "customer"
> > e) the volunteer pool will attempt to find the answer to the > > problem and > > get back to the "customer"
> > f) as the "customers" become saavy, they could directly create their > > user accounts and log their queries online.
> > g) common queries would end up in a wiki-style knowledge-base as a > > value-add.
> > h) the ILUG-Cal community would be supporting the initiative.
Prashant Verma wrote: > The role of the LUG/LUGs or the community would be to pick up the > support tickets online from the tracking system and handle it. The > community would also provide guidance to the hosting organization and > its support person on technical matters as needed.
What's the incentive for the LUG/LUGs/LUG members who are part of this workflow to pick up tickets ? What are the mechanisms proposed to be available to them for escalations ? What is the Scope Of Support being envisaged ? What are the base distributions being visualized as the supported OS ?
:Sankarshan
- --
You see things; and you say 'Why?'; But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?' - George Bernard Shaw -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Red Hat - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
<sankarshan.mukhopadh...@gmail.com> wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1
> Prashant Verma wrote: > > The role of the LUG/LUGs or the community would be to pick up the > > support tickets online from the tracking system and handle it. The > > community would also provide guidance to the hosting organization and > > its support person on technical matters as needed.
> What's the incentive for the LUG/LUGs/LUG members who are part of this > workflow to pick up tickets ?
One of the benefits to the LUGs could be..quoting Kenneth: "we hope lug/fsug people will be able to untilise the node for logistics ". Other incentives? Ideas are welcome.
>What are the mechanisms proposed to be > available to them for escalations ?
Escalation of what, and from who?
>What is the Scope Of Support being > envisaged ? What are the base distributions being visualized as the > supported OS ?
Scope of Support will be in keeping with the resources available. So if the resources are a help line and the community, then the scope would ideally be all of the support issues that could be handled by the support team and the community. And this decision, and that on the supported distributions as well - needs to be made by NRC FOSS.
Prashant Verma wrote: > One of the benefits to the LUGs could be..quoting Kenneth: "we hope > lug/fsug people will be able to untilise the node for logistics ". > Other incentives? Ideas are welcome.
Why would a LUG member who is either a student or gainfully employed find it exciting enough to do a Support Engineer role ?
>> What are the mechanisms proposed to be >> available to them for escalations ?
> Escalation of what, and from who?
Issues in the various components which would not be able to be fixed by the Support Engineer
:SM
- --
You see things; and you say 'Why?'; But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?' - George Bernard Shaw -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Red Hat - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
<sankarshan.mukhopadh...@gmail.com> wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1
> Prashant Verma wrote: > > One of the benefits to the LUGs could be..quoting Kenneth: "we hope > > lug/fsug people will be able to untilise the node for logistics ". > > Other incentives? Ideas are welcome.
> Why would a LUG member who is either a student or gainfully employed > find it exciting enough to do a Support Engineer role ?
My view is that the community members would be excited to solve real life problems and venturing into unknown territory which many of the support requests might involve. I believe a huge amount of learning would also come from participation in such a project.
> >> What are the mechanisms proposed to be > >> available to them for escalations ?
> > Escalation of what, and from who?
> Issues in the various components which would not be able to be fixed by > the Support Engineer
Reasoning, I think this is where we will need to involve distro/ application developers for supported distros and apps, and NRC FOSS may need to have a mechanism put in place for requests escalated from the Nodal centres which would subsequently be resolved centrally. Other ideas, especially those coming from real life examples of support are welcome.
On 10-Apr-07, at 2:06 PM, Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay wrote:
>> One of the benefits to the LUGs could be..quoting Kenneth: "we hope >> lug/fsug people will be able to untilise the node for logistics ". >> Other incentives? Ideas are welcome.
> Why would a LUG member who is either a student or gainfully employed > find it exciting enough to do a Support Engineer role ?
this is going offtrack. Nobody is talking about support engineers or supporting anything. It is assumed that lugs are interested in spreading foss/linux/oss/foss culture etc etc. One problem is that since lugs are informal bodies, officialdom does not pay much attention to them. As a result they dont get much support from managements of colleges and other institutions when they want to conduct activities. NRC-FOSS comes in here - we have authority (we *are* suits) and managements listen and entertain us. This helps to conduct collegewide activities which again raises the profile and awareness of foss. Thats it - we provide and address, a visiting card and pressure from the top - the lugs can take advantage of this. This has worked well in tamilnadu, and our experiences in jaipur and durgapur have also shown it can work elsewhere.
Prashant Verma wrote: > My view is that the community members would be excited to solve real > life problems and venturing into unknown territory which many of the > support requests might involve. I believe a huge amount of learning > would also come from participation in such a project.
There are two risks that I think ought to be factored in:
[1] Student volunteer Technical Support Engineer: Skills capacity and capability to think logically (logical deductive powers if you may so term it) along with what would be a incentive for a student to enroll as such (a recognised certificate ? , a summer internship ?)
[2] Professional volunteer Technical Support Engineer: Skill specialisation and amount of time for the effort
:SM
- --
You see things; and you say 'Why?'; But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?' - George Bernard Shaw -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Red Hat - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
Kenneth Gonsalves wrote: > this is going offtrack. Nobody is talking about support engineers or > supporting anything. It is assumed that lugs are interested in
Indranil Das Gupta wrote: > Dear Prof. Krishnan/Kenneth
> While de-briefing about the meeting on 24th, several ILUG-Cal members > have expressed a strong interest in a FOSS Helpline in Kolkata. Please > inform us the requirements from our end as well as from your end at > NRC-FOSS.
> IIRC, your model so far has been focused on getting one person to "man" > the phone, we discussed an alternative model where :
> a) a dedicated Helpline number is setup and advertised;
> b) setup an online trouble ticketing system (e.g. using RT), where the > calls are logged and using SugarCRM in tandem for tracking the > "customers"
> c) out of the pool of the volunteers ready to handle calls, round-robin > scheduling is used to forward the calls to the designated volunteer's > cell/landline/voip/skype no. (perhaps using Asterix or OpenPBX et al)
> d) if the issue can be closed then and there by the volunteer answering > the call then its fine, else a ticket would be raised by the volunteer > concerned on behalf of the "customer"
> e) the volunteer pool will attempt to find the answer to the problem and > get back to the "customer"
So, where does all this leave the thread ?
:Sankarshan
- --
You see things; and you say 'Why?'; But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?' - George Bernard Shaw -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Red Hat - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
On 10-Apr-07, at 2:45 PM, Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay wrote:
> So, where does all this leave the thread ?
what indranil was proposing was - i think - in addition to the basic idea. Or, he is talking from the lug point of view whereas we are talking from the other point of view. That is what discussion is for.
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