Apr 94 Top 10
Volume Number: 10
Issue Number: 4
Column Tag: Think top 10
The New Face 
of Technical Support at Symantec
By Rick Hartmann, Symantec Technical Support, Symantec Corp.
This is a monthly column written by Symantec’s Technical Support Engineers
intended to provide you with information on Symantec products. Each month we cover
either a specific application of tools or a “Q&A” list.
The New Face of Technical Support at Symantec
This month we are going to deviate from the usual Think Top Ten to present the
details of our new technical support policy at Symantec. We will still include some
current “Top Ten” questions and answers at the end of this article.
As some of you may already know, Symantec recently began a new fee-based
service plan. This, in addition to relocating all Symantec Customer Service, Order
Administration, and Technical Support to our new centralized facility in Eugene,
Oregon, has caused many significant changes and improvements in technical support.
Our goal in this article is to describe our new support policies so you can better select
the method of support that will be the most effective at the least cost.
Fundamental to this plan is our continuing effort to ensure that Symantec
provides our customers high quality, comprehensive, and cost effective technical
support options. This has always been our goal and has not changed.
Symantec Support Solutions has three tiers: StandardCare, PriorityCare, and
PremiumCare. StandardCare is available to registered users of Symantec products and
includes unlimited free support via electronic and automated services as well as
limited free telephone support.
PriorityCare and PremiumCare provide both individual users and corporate
customers with fee-based options designed to meet their requirements.
SUMMARY OF SERVICES
StandardCare
Symantec Support Solutions provide several support options to all registered
Symantec customers free-of-charge as part of StandardCare. All users have
unlimited access to technical product information, sample files and electronic
messaging via CompuServe, America OnLine and Symantec's download bulletin board
service (BBS). Internet is supported with an anonymous FTP server only (no
messaging, downloads only). Average response time to an electronic message on any of
the supported systems is 48 hours Monday through Friday.
Technical and general product information is also available 24 hours a day
through a toll-free facsimile retrieval service. Symantec provides 90 days limited
telephone support for questions regarding installation and general usage of our
Development Tools products.
The free services are designed to provide all our customers with the assistance
they may need to successfully install, configure and start using our products.
For the Development Tools customer, to help the customer successfully run any
of the included demo programs would serve this purpose. For example, for the Think C
compiler, running the “Hello World” demo would show that the Think Project Manager
was properly installed and operational. To be able to use any Think Reference database
with the Think Reference application would verify its correct installation.
We are unable to support previous versions of our products. At the time of
writing, Think C 6.0.x, Think Pascal 4.0.x, Think Reference 2.0.x, and Symantec C++
6.0.x are supported versions. Contact Customer Service to verify if you have the
latest version or to purchase an upgrade. Having the latest version ensures that the
product is at its most functional level and can reduce the cost of technical support.
Customers can make unlimited calls for 90 days from the first call on general
usage questions. What this means for the Development Tools customer is we will assist
in explaining the use of various configuration options, explain menu selections, and
how to use any functionality the product provides. We will also provide references, not
recommendations, to third party books and periodicals (like this one) which
specifically relate to the customer’s coding problem or question. Our policy does not
allow us to write or debug programs within StandardCare.
PriorityCare
Customers requiring immediate telephone support for questions not covered by
Standard Care can select two payment options for per-incident services:
A flat-fee of $25 when calling an 800-toll-free priority number or $2 per
minute, up to a $25 limit, when calling a 900 priority number. This priority service
is available Monday through Friday from 6a.m. to 5p.m. Pacific time.
This service is designed for the software developer who has only occasional need
of technical support. All types of support questions will be answered on these lines.
If we determine that a defect in our product is causing the problem, we will apply
a credit to the customer’s credit card account.
PremiumCare
Symantec offers two levels of PremiumCare service subscriptions: Gold and
Platinum. PremiumCare Gold is designed more for consultants and small developer
groups. It provides technical support service for each licensed user that includes 800
toll-free service, unlimited calls, extended service hours, and quarterly updates of
technical notes and bulletins. Annual subscription prices for PremiumCare Gold are
$149 per user for Development Tools products; site service contracts are available.
PremiumCare Platinum is targeted to major developers who need the most
responsive levels of technical service. In addition to all the services provided at the
Gold level, Platinum subscribers receive priority access to senior staff, technical
notes, a support center manual and automatic software revision updates. Annual
subscription cost for PremiumCare Platinum is $5000 for two subscriber contacts.
Additional contacts cost $1500 annually.
For additional support, users can subscribe to two PremiumCare Platinum
options including extended 24 hour support and an assigned primary senior support
technician. PremiumCare Platinum options have an additional annual cost of $2500
per option.
Consulting Services
If a developer requires assistance in either writing or debugging code using one of
our supported products, we can provide consulting services at the rate of $150 per
hour. This service is provided on an appointment basis and can be scheduled during a
customer call on any support service line. Payment is by credit card or purchase
order. Delivery of service may be through phone or mail including e-mail.
Summary
It should be emphasized that we are now focusing on differentiating technical
support from consulting. It is the goal of technical support to educate our customers in
the independent use of our products.
For independent consultants, programmers, and students the most cost effective
method of getting support is through one of the online services. By posting questions to
any of our forums, you are likely to receive an answer from a peer who has
encountered the same problem before and solved it.
In order to further increase the responsiveness of our online services, we have
instituted the use of “Section Leaders” who can answer many of your questions.
Although they are not Symantec employees, they are “hired” to bridge the gap between
technical support and our online customers. Each Section Leader was chosen for their
expertise in our products and their demonstrated performance in answering questions
on our forum. We believe this approach will improve our response and allow us to
effectively serve more online customers.
For software developers, our support services now offer a wide range of options.
Which ones you choose depend on a variety of factors. As a guideline, if you have a staff
of programmers who are experienced with our products, then occasional use of the
800 or 900 service may be the most cost effective. If you think you’ll have more than
four incidents per year then the Gold Premium Care subscription would be the better
choice over the 800 service.
For large corporations who develop commercial or custom applications using our
development tools and must have support for time-critical development projects, our
Platinum Premium Care subscription would be the best choice. Having the options of
contact with the same senior support engineer and weekend/afterhours support
guarantee the most expedient solution to your problems.
If, in determining the cause of a problem, it is determined that it was caused by a
defect in our software we will waive the charge in the case of an 800/900 number
call.
If you do decide to call for support at any level, please make sure you have first
followed all the recommended procedures described in the user manual under
“Contacting Technical Support”. The more effort you have put into solving the
problem, the lower the cost of your support call.
If you have questions about our support policies, please call Symantec Customer
Service or Technical Support. We will be happy to explain your options and assist you
in selecting the best level of support.
A Few of the Top Ten
Now that we’ve covered our support policy, let’s take a look at some “Top Ten”
questions and answers.
Q. What is “Internal Error ZREF,” and what can I do about it?
(This question was first asked in the August 1993 issue. We still get numerous calls
on it so it bears repeating once more.)
A. It means that your project file is corrupted. Removing objects from the project
and rebuilding may fix it, providing the corruption was in the object portion of
the project. If it wasn’t, you need to create a new project and add the sources into
it. If your project file grows towards sixteen megabytes, you may also see this
error. Try storing your debug info separately: this will cut down on the project
size. Unfortunately this still means you will need to rebuild the project from
scratch. If you have AppleScript then you can use the “Save project as text” and
“Create Project From Text” AppleScripts (in the ‘:Scripting:Sample
Applescripts’ Folder) to automate this task.
Q. I just typed in this small program that uses iostreams from a standard C++
textbook. I get all sorts of link errors. Why won’t your compiler run this
program? I already have ANSI++ in my project.
A. First, to use the IOStreams library, you must #include the file iostream.h. You
also need to add ANSI++, CPlusLib, AND IOStreams to your project. Do not add
the unix library to your project. IOStreams contains all the functionality of the
unix library.
Since adding these libraries will push the segment size over 32K, you’ll need to
re-segment your project. We suggest that you include CPLusLib and your source in
one segment and ANSI++ and IOStreams each in their own segment.
Q. Is there a way to configure the #include path option, similar to standard C/C++
command-line compilers? We have searched the documentation. It suggests that
it follows a fixed search pattern (through the project folder, then the THINK
folder, etc...). Is this correct? Is there no way to modify or extend this search
mechanism? For example, we want to create a project which generates a
library. Several other projects will link to this library and need to #include its
header files. Do we have to put the library in the THINK folder or somehow fit the
library and all projects which use it into the same folder hierarchy? Ideally we
would like each project to be in its own, independant folder, seperate from each
other and the library. Similarly, we don't want to clutter up the THINK folder
either.
A. Actually, it does go a little further than that. When you
#include "foo.h" // note double quotes here
the search is in the following order:
1) The same folder as the file containing the #include. [Watch out! This one can
really confuse you if you have more than one foo.h in the search path.]
2) The same folder as the project, and recursively all of its sub folders except the
one name "Aliases", if there is one.
3) Folders indicated by aliases in the "Aliases" folder within the project folder, and
recursively all of their sub folders.
4) The same folder that contains the THINK Project Manager, and recursively all of
its sub folders except for the one named "Aliases", if there is one.
5) Folders indicated by aliases in the "Aliases" folder within the THINK folder, and
recursively all of their sub folders.
If you #include , using the ‘<’ and ‘>’ instead of quotes, only steps (4) and
(5) are used.
Specifically, regarding the question about libraries: See step (3) above. Put the
library in its own folder. For a project that will use that library, create a folder
named "Aliases" inside the project folder. Create an alias of the library's folder, and
drag it into your project's Aliases folder. Your project now thinks it owns the library,
but other projects can also do the same. (Thanks to Steve Stockman who contributed
this Question and his Answer from Compuserve.)
That’s all we have room for this month. Thanks to all previous and current
members of the Symantec Technical Support team for their contributions; Colen
Garoutte-Carson, Kenneth Johnson, Chris Prinos, Kevin Irlen, and e specially Scott
Shurr for his input and proofreading assistance.
Referenced by (2):