Artisoft TeleVantage PC PBX Phone Systems

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How to Capture and Communicate Issues with U.S. Infotel Corp.

There are several types of issues that could arise while operating the Dialer/PBX System. This document describes the process of reporting these issues to U.S. Infotel Corporation for resolution. The process consists of two basic steps: user narrative and evidence.

User Narrative

This simply means describing the issue. This information should be submitted in an ASCII text file (.txt), commonly associated with the Windows Notepad accessory. This document should be named according to the date and time of the error, following this convention:

YYYYMMDD_HHmm.txt

where:

Example: The following file was created May 7, 2001 at 4:20 PM.

20010507_1620.txt

The document should include (where applicable):

Evidence

If possible, the evidence should include a screen shot in Windows bitmap (.bmp) format, usually created with the Windows Paint or Paintbrush accessory. Screen shots should be named according to the YYYYMMDD_HHmm.bmp convention described above. If it is not possible to obtain a screen shot, the user narrative should contain a detailed description of the screen at the time of the error.

The report should also include relevant error logs, such as the following:

Creating User Narrative

The following example illustrates a typical issue report, and may be used as a guide for writing your own.

Date/Time: 20010610_1624
Module of Occurrence: Enterprise.Tcp
Documented by: John Doe
Error Message or Problem: Supervisor executable won’t start (shortcut doesn’t work)
Station #: Supervisor
Machine Name: Ody_Super001
Screen Shot File Name: 20010610_1624.bmp
Background Information: I just updated the enterprisetcp.exe to a new version. I rebooted the computer and then, when I clicked on the shortcut, the program didn’t start.
Details: I received an error that said that it couldn’t find the file.
Response: I clicked “OK” on the error and then nothing else happened. I went through Windows Explorer to find the file and clicked on the file itself and it launched the program okay.
Attempted to duplicate: Yes, I attempted to duplicate the error after the shift was complete at 10 PM and the same thing happened. Again I was able to launch the program directly thought Windows Explorer.

To create the report:

  1. Click Start » Programs » Accessories » Notepad. This starts the Windows Notepad accessory.
  2. Write your report, using the example above as a guide.
  3. On the Notepad program's menu bar, click File » Save As... The "Save As" dialog will appear.
  4. In the "Save As" dialog, navigate to your Windows desktop.
  5. In the File name field, type a name for the file following the convention described above.
  6. From the Save as type drop-down list, choose "256 Color Bitmap".
  7. Click Save. This places a file of the screen shot on your desktop.

Capturing a Screen Shot

You must be at the affected PC (the one with the error message) to perform these steps:

  1. Press the Print Screen key on the keyboard. This is usually located above the Insert key, near the middle of the keyboard.
  2. Click Start » Programs » Accessories » Paint. This starts the Windows Paint accessory.
  3. When the Paint program appears, hold down the CTRL key while pressing V. This will paste the screen shot into a new bitmap file. (You can also do this by clicking Edit » Paste on the Paint program's menu bar.)
  4. On the Paint program's menu bar, click File » Save As... The "Save As" dialog will appear.
  5. In the "Save As" dialog, navigate to your Windows desktop.
  6. In the File name field, type a name for the file following the convention described above.
  7. From the Save as type drop-down list, choose "Text Documents".
  8. Click Save. This places a file of the report on your desktop.

Capturing Error Logs

These steps apply to the Odyssey Call Center System. Specific instructions for capturing logs from other U.S. Infotel systems will be provided on-site during installation and deployment.

NOTE: The Odyssey engine generates log files upon user demand. The logs only record events that occurred within the last 30 seconds. Therefore, it's important to capture the logs as soon as possible after the error occurs.
  1. On the engine screen's menu bar, click Trace. This is all that is necessary to create the log files.
  2. In Windows Explorer, navigate to the dialer installation folder. Right click the "Engine" folder's icon, then click Copy.
  3. Go to your Windows desktop and right-click it.
  4. On the popup menu, click Paste. This places a copy of the "Engine" folder on your desktop.

Packaging the Report

The following steps require WinZip, PKZip, or a similar program for creating ZIP archives. Such programs are readily available at download.com. These instructions assume you have WinZip installed.

  1. Go to your Windows desktop.
  2. Select the following items:

    • The user narrative text (.txt) file created above.
    • The screen shot bitmap (.bmp) file(s) created above.
    • The copy of the "Engine" folder created above.

    NOTE: To select multiple objects, hold down the Ctrl key while clicking each object. Confirm that each object's label is highlighted when you click it.

  3. Right-click any of the highlighted objects.
  4. On the popup menu, click Add to Zip.
  5. Click I Agree on the WinZip splash screen. The main WinZip window will appear, with an "Add" dialog in front of it.
  6. Click New... on the "Add" dialog. A "New Archive" dialog will appear.
  7. On the "New Archive" dialog, navigate to your Windows desktop.
  8. In the File name field, enter a name for the Zip file based on the file naming convention described above.
  9. From the Files of type drop-down list, choose "Zip files".
  10. Click OK.
  11. On the "Add" dialog, click Add. The selected files and folder should appear in the main WinZip window.
  12. Close WinZip. The new ZIP archive file's icon should now appear on your Windows desktop.

Submitting the Report