The Quality of Pyramid's Service

[Barry D. Hassler]

Might as well throw my two cents in this fray for all its worth too....

I currently am pleased with RTOC's support for the most part, but that  was
not  always  the case, and there continue to be exceptions to this. Pyramid
seems to have done an awful lot of work in the past  year  and  a  half  in
beefing  up  RTOC  and improving is ability to respond properly to customer
complaints. However, by the tone of some of the  other  responses  to  this
subject   thread,  maybe  they are just treating the organization for which
I work differently (Control Data/IIS  is  a  large  VAR  of  Pyramid   with
installed   systems  scattered   across  the  country,  and  for  which  we
are  responsible for administration and on-site support).

Tom Reingold complained in his original posting that he constantly  has  to
hound  RTOC to follow up on problems, and Carl Gutekunst agrees this is the
"right" thing to do. While I agree  that  constant  hounding  is  sometimes
necessary,  it  shouldn't have to be. Maybe I'm lucky, my "rep" inside RTOC
(I ALWAYS call the same small group of individuals - they are familiar with
my  particular  systems, their use, and their configuration) does follow up
with me. When I am in a  "critical  stage"  (ongoing   problems   impacting
performance  of the system(s)), they generally follow up on the order of at
least once per day. This should be the norm - RTOC following  up  with  the
customer on the status of SPRs.

Working with Users as I do occasionally, I must agree  that  MANY  problems
are  really  just  User  Brain  Damage  (to  quote  Carl  Gutekunst). I can
certainly imagine it is difficult for RTOC to  weed  out  those  situations
from  the  other  "real" problems. This is another reason why I alway's ask
specifically for one person at RTOC whenever I call (and a few alternates).
These few people know that when I call, the chances are that it is a "real"
problem (I humbly admit to a recent case where I should have "RTFM'd",  but
didn't  and  was  rather  embarrased  by the answer). I don't think Pyramid
condones this as the norm, but it certainly works for me.

All in all, from my standpoint, RTOC has greatly improved  over  that  past
year  or  so.  We (Control Data, IIS) used to have to make high level phone
calls from our management into the upper levels of  Pyramid  management  to
get  problems  resolved.  At  least  for those systems I am more-or-less in
touch with that we support (as well as the few I  am  directly  responsible
for), the situation has improved greatly.  I am also fairly certain Pyramid
is  aware  that  RTOC  still  has  some  work  to  do  in   improving   its
responsiveness to the user and is working in that direction.

Naturally, the opinions expressed above are my own, although I believe they
represent  those  of  my employer and others within the organization (how's
that for a disclaimer?).

-- 
Barry D. Hassler			hassler at asd.wpafb.af.mil
Control Data Corporation		(513) 427-6369
Integrated Information Services

Project Leader, ASD Central Datacomm System
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio