Download The Use of Technology in Providing Proactive Customer Support

The Use of Technology in
Providing Proactive
Customer Support
By Eashwar Iyer
IOUG-A Live! 2000, 11th May 2000, 11.15am
Paper# 464
Goals & Objectives
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
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Basics of setting up a Wide Area Network
(WAN)
Using the Internet as an alternative
Look at a Case Study to see how a WAN,
Oracle Application Server, Oracle Database
Server and PL/SQL could be used
effectively to provide Proactive Support to
Customers with the help of a sample
application at the end
by Eashwar Iyer ([email protected])
2
The Driving Factors

For a small Software Development House (SDH),
wouldn’t it be highly desirable if a low cost, high
speed WAN could be set up to:
• Access the clients’ LAN
• Access the clients’ Database
• Without compromising the security of the network and
database

If this is possible, it could be used to:
• Distribute the developed application
• Troubleshoot the implemented application and
• Monitor the environment for possible bugs
by Eashwar Iyer ([email protected])
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Wide Area Networks

Components of a WAN
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Pros and Cons of setting up a private WAN
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LANs
Dedicated connections
Dial-up connections
Routers
Highly Secure
High Maintenance
High Speed WANs are Costly
Dial-up WANs are Very Slow and Costly
Using Internet Technology as an alternative
by Eashwar Iyer ([email protected])
4
Using the Internet to Set Up
a WAN: Pros and Cons

Pros
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Very Cost Effective
High Speed Connections
High Availability
Secure
Cons
• Security issues have to be worked out
• High dependence on the Internet Service Provider (ISP)
by Eashwar Iyer ([email protected])
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Using the Internet to Set Up
a WAN - Three Examples

Using a Virtual Private Network (VPN)
• Firewall
• Encryption
• Authentication

Using a Firewall or a Router
• IP address filtering
• IP Masquerading

Using a Linux box as the Internet Host
• IP Masquerading
by Eashwar Iyer ([email protected])
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An example of a VPN setup
Connects LANs of a Head Office, Branch
Office, External Organization, Mobile
users etc.
 Uses VPN hardware and software for
encryption and authentication
 Following slide shows the Network
Diagram

by Eashwar Iyer ([email protected])
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An example of Firewall and
Linux setup

Connects LANs of a Head Office, Branch
Office and External Organization with
Filtering Firewalls and Linux respectively
 Firewalls filter the incoming IP addresses
allowing only valid ones
 Following slide shows the Network Diagram
by Eashwar Iyer ([email protected])
9
Putting the Technology to Use
How setting up a low-cost WAN helps
Software Development Houses (SDH)?
 Some of the typical activities of a SDH
include•
•
•
•
•
Develop Applications
Deploy Applications
User Acceptance Test
Bug Fixes etc.
Maintain the Applications
by Eashwar Iyer ([email protected])
11
Case Study
Proactive Error Handling
User Acceptance Test: One
of the Crucial Phases
Error Handling in Applications - some important
elements to store:
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Application name
Application version
Program name
Program module
Error id
Error number
Error description
Date/Time
User-id
by Eashwar Iyer ([email protected])
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Explore User-Id Naming
Standards

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Oracle User-Ids
Network/Domain User-Ids
E-Mail Ids?
Use E-Mail Aliases effectively
by Eashwar Iyer ([email protected])
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Network Setup for the
Case Study


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
Connects LANs of the Customer and the Software
House with Filtering Firewalls and Linux as the
Internet Host respectively
Customer’s LAN has a Firewall that filters the
incoming IP addresses allowing only valid ones
SDH’s LAN has a Linux Internet Host with IP
Masquerading that allows any of its workstations to
access the customer’s LAN
Following slide shows the Network Diagram
by Eashwar Iyer ([email protected])
15
Error Monitoring

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Monitor the stored data or “Error Logs”
Don’t wait for users to log the error or
complain of problems being faced in the
Application!
Take action
Contact users before and/or after taking
action
by Eashwar Iyer ([email protected])
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Error Handling System (EHS)
- A Simple Web Application

EHS is
• A PL/SQL Web application
• Generated using Oracle Designer

EHS uses
• A PL/SQL cartridge defined on the Oracle Application
Server
• A database link to the customer’s database defined on
the SDH’s Database Server

EHS runs on
• Any client machine with a Browser in the SDH’s LAN
by Eashwar Iyer ([email protected])
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Main Menu of the EHS
• The menu has
hyperlinks to all
modules
Query Screen for Viewing Errorlog
• Error Log can be
queried from this
screen
Screen for Displaying Error Log Records
• The query results are displayed
on this screen.
• The user-id has a hyperlink
through which the user can be
reached via e-mail
Recording Actions
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Actions taken after viewing the Errors can
be recorded in the EHS
The recorded Actions can be viewed by the
Project/Maintenance Manager
…All these being completely transparent to
the users
by Eashwar Iyer ([email protected])
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Conclusion



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Low cost WANs can be setup using the
Internet Technology.
WANs are important for SDHs enabling them
to deploy and support their products.
Proactive Support could be provided to
customers.
These were demonstrated by the EHS, a simple
application, fully generated from Oracle
Designer with minimal efforts.
by Eashwar Iyer ([email protected])
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What Next?

The EHS can be extended to cover other
requirements to provide proactive support to
customers.
 I would love to hear from you if you use this
concept and/or add more functionality to this.
by Eashwar Iyer ([email protected])
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uestions?
by Eashwar Iyer ([email protected])
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Please spare a few minutes to fill
the paper evaluation sheet.
The Use of Technology in Providing Proactive Customer Support
By Eashwar Iyer
IOUG-A Live! 2000, 11th May 2000, 11.15am
Paper# 464
by Eashwar Iyer ([email protected])
26