PM13 Breakout session ONE: AG3 User Support

This group will look at (these all being AG3-Cycle 1 goals):

• Help Desk
  • Identify and deploy suitable Trouble Ticketing system
  • Create Help Desk Service Level Agreement (SLA)
  • Run Help Desk
• Science Engagement
  • Science user requirements
  • Website
  • Workshops
  • User Education
  • Documentation & Tutorials
  • User guides
  • User tools help
• Science Call
  • Use case capture
  • Science work flow development
  • Science verification & Documentation
• Preparing for Beta
  • beta testers
  • getting ready for NAM 2008 - demos etc
  • beta documentation package

Participants

• NicholasWalton
• SilviaDalla
• EduardoGonzalez
• AnitaRichards (p.m. to VO Ops - Break2)
• JonathanTedds (p.m. to VO Ops - Break2)
• AndyLawrence
• ElizabethAuden
• Dugan
• Gary ?? (for part)
• Keith ?? (for part)
• ...

Notes

Help Desk

• Identify and deploy suitable Trouble Ticketing system
• Create Help Desk Service Level Agreement (SLA)
• Run Help Desk
  • From issue to solution
  • feed of report to relevant scientist/ developer
  • ensuring timely first response
  • ensuring loop is closed

Discussion: Three types of users, end user scientists, deployers and developers. For now (2008) we'll focus on a system for astronomy end users.

• How many user requests for support will we get? Lets say ~100 requests / month.
• unified single help access page - http://www.astrogrid.org/supprt
• looked at http://www.viginmedia.com/help and http://www.ubuntu.com/support

Solution: Structured approach to providing help > Link to the Dcoumentation -> then ... Knowledge database > then ... FAQs and finally, enter a new 'question' via the issue tracking system. Model on the www.ubuntu.com

• concept of a rota, month durations, with a scientist and developer on 'duty' to be responsible for dealing with incoming 'issues'.
• issue goes from 'trac' to 'bugzilla' (if appropriate) and then when solved, trac issue gets suitably updated. Users will be able to see status of their issues int he trac systems, also get an email (automatically).
• helpdesk-sci@astrogrid.org and helpdesk-tech@astrogrid.org - internal emails so that the on-duty tech/scientist will get any bugzilla updates.
• AstroGrid will aim to make an initial response to any new issue within 1-3 working days (TBD)

where do non UK users go: astronomy to leicester, solar/stp to MSSL.

Science Engagement

• Science user requirements
• Website
• Workshops

Problem: ~ 50 astronomy locations in UK - how to build up a user base of AstroGrid users from those groups.

Discussion:

Seminars - one hour talks. NAW to organise.

Workshops:

Fit a one day workshop - morning with say 1.5 hour plenary talk/live demo. then afternoon workshop with live group work based on a set of work sheets.

Solution: Make worksheets - scientists to IoA end jan 2008 - tbd. (have draft sheets in advance of meeting).

Action and Time: Workshops will start after the NAM. Begin with AG core partners sites - Edin, Leic, Cam.

People and Effort:

• User Education

• Documentation & Tutorials

Directory structure:

• VODesktop2008beta-doc --> this will have all documents describing 2008 beta - the manual
  • vod2008b-

VODesktop2008beta-tutorial --> this will have all tutorials and worksheets for the 2008 beta release

• User guides
• User tools help

Science Call

• Use case capture
• Science work flow development
• Science verification & Documentation

Preparing for Beta

• beta testers
  • identifying beta testers
  • defining what we want out of this period
• getting ready for NAM 2008 - demos etc
• beta documentation package

• beta functionality
  • the right data and applications – confirming we're ok
  • meta-data check of key UK resources
• we'll put up a beta trac site betatrac.astrogrid.org - add the VODesktop2008beta doc pages to that site.

then email the beta users and let them know where to get the beta jar file from.

How will we distribute the vodesktop jar file - via some sort of installer?

Accounts to be set up for the scientists by Gary

Got to haves for the 2008 beta:

• list of beta testers
  • guidance doc for the beta testers
  • mechanism for them to feed back (surveymonkey, trac)
• documentation for the vodesktop2008beta
  • website to support the new doc set
  • FAQ
  • worksheets and tutorials
• some testing period