Automated Support

Using Automated support is similar to talking to a human specialist, just much faster, more thorough and automatic.

Hi support. I seem to have a problem with a printer.

Ok. Can you tell me, which printer, list all printers, scan all driver dlls report versions and checksums

Can you also send me general checkup information? Free disk space, current load, hardware error conditions, etc

Ok support, here's all that detail

Hi, I can see problems on a USB printer, can you send me advanced USB details on....

Hi again, I see from your general checkup that you have a model ABC disk drive, could you send me the serial number and internal status counters, you may have a model that was recalled.

Fieldpine systems include advanced tools to allow remote diagnostic analysis. This speeds both problem isolation and resolution by removing the manual component from support calls.

For Users

911 Support is a program that runs on your computer and helps diagnose the issue you are having.

It works much like a visit to the doctor; You report the problems and symptoms you are having and the doctor runs a number of relevant tests to try and isolate the problem. With an automated system, you get the experience and skill of top professionals in specialist areas.

To do this, the Fieldpine 911 Support tool looks at many aspects and error counters inside your computer. Comparing these to known problem patterns. While being very advanced, it breaks down problems to very simple terms for you. It leads you through a series of questions while it investigates. Of course, not everything can be solved by a computer, and so if talking to a human specialist is required, they receive all the test results and can address your issue quicker

For Support Professionals

Fieldpine 911 is intended to be used in the early stages of problem reporting. It ensures that rudimentary causes are trapped early before support staff contact. It also ensures that as much relevant information is collected before call escalation

The tools look at all aspects of problem program and the operating environment, looking for anomolies and possible problems. At the same time, a large number of basic checks are performed, freeing you from needing to check basic issues such as low disk space or hardware errors. The focus is in providing resolution to problems, interpreting the information rather than just displaying data that still needs comprehending.

While the caller might be reporting problems with a printer, the diagnostic tools may detect and report that the PC has been logging serious hardware errors which could be the root cause of problems.

The support tools can be started under user action, automatically in the background, or as a service. Once started, you connect to support sessions via the internet to control the diagnostics.

Born out of DevOps, this tools ensures that calls need only be escalated to more specialised staff that do not match any known fault condition, and verifies that system environment is not faulty in some manner. For developers this means that many known problems have already been isolated and even obscure causes have already been checked. Part of the testing can also include automatic collection of key logs and traces, saving further time from requesting them.

For Developers

Fieldpine 911 is designed to ensure that once a problem, or potential problem, has been isolated the tests necessary for identificaton, reporting and repairing of the problem are pushed to the field. With computer systems becoming more and more complex, the linkages and failure surface increases exponentially. 911 will attempt to advise some of the considerations on a target system that might be causing this fault call.

By defining 'test cases' you can pre check and report known conditions, or you can gain insights into reported faults that match specific criteria - invaluable for checking potential scope of a problem. Test cases can be added to the global test library, so that users do not need to contact different vendors to analyse different applications.

My Test Case #1
when
    Windows = 10
    my-app-version < 5.6
    file xyz.dat size >  500Mb
    file errorlog.txt contains "exception at 574b"
report
    text 'You have not run cleanup ....'

My Network Performance
when
    ping mysite.com loss > 20%
    or ping mysite.com response > 500mS
    and mysite.com[status = 'ok']
check
    local network errors
report
    text 'There seems to be a network
          performance issue to our website'

Examples of Tests & Checks

Current CPU, IO and memory load.
Monitored dynamically to observe activity. Disks checked to ensure DMA active, IO seek performance within tolerance. CPU measured to ensure that VM's are not over committed and we are only getting a very small time slice. Network setup captured, and simple network tests undertaken. Databases checked to see if remote users are attached Has any monitoring or debug software self installed itself Do databases still have required indexes Application specific counters Process DLLs, threads, versions Free disk space, temporary internet files, recycle bins Benchmarks for VM environments to ensure you are getting a fair slice of real processing time Hardware configuration and device errors Disk drive error counters (SMART) Memory ECC errors Scan images and DLLs to verify checksums match expected values (have programs been damaged) Windows resource exhaustion (Handles, ATOMs...) Access Database internals, Jet version, metadata, indexes

The diagnostic tools do not install drivers or anything dangerous, they are only calling the myriad of available diagnostic points in various products.