New Venture Management or The Art of Software Support

New Venture Management: The Entrepreneur's Roadmap

Author: Donald F Kuratko

This book is about effectiveness; and what a new manger needs to know to run a new venture successfully.

New venture opportunities, planning, marketing, financing, and growth management.

For entrepreneurs looking to develop a new venture or small business.

 

See also: Church Supper Cookbook or Bar Bat Mitzvah Planner

The Art of Software Support: Design and Operation of Support Centers and Help Desks

Author: Francoise Tourniair

56945-9

The first complete, real-world guide to building and running help desks and software support centers.

Quality software support is now a fundamental differentiator in satisfying both your external and internal customers. And in today's high-pressure, heterogeneous computing environments, it's more difficult to deliver quality support than ever before.

The Art of Software Support' gives you proven, best-in-class integrated tools and techniques for structuring and operating a customer-focused support organization—and for overcoming the crisis mentality that's so common in support organizations. Whether you're starting a software support or help desk organization, or seeking to improve the one you already have, you'll find invaluable guidance on:

• Choosing and implementing the call management model that's right for your organization.
• Selecting tools—including phone systems, fax systems, knowledge bases, customer tracking applications, and other software.
• Measuring support center performance.
• Packaging support programs that can make your organization a profit center.

Learn when to outsource—and when not to. And discover practical, easy-to-implement ideas for every stage of the software lifecycle, from new product planning and testing, to managing software bugs and fixes. The Art of Software Support also gives you time-and-money-saving tools you can use right now, including:

• A sample user's guide.
• Call resolution checklists.
• Worksheets for determining staffing levels and justifying budgets.

Perhaps most important, The Art of Software Support offers practical help with the tough challenge of supervising support people. You'll learn how to determine staffing levels, hire the right people—and keep them, even in difficult times.

Whether you manage software support, or you're a support engineer working “in the trenches,” The Art of Software Support will dramatically enhance your effectiveness.

Table of Contents:

	Preface and Acknowledgments
Ch. 1	Introduction	1
Ch. 2	Call Management Models	13
Ch. 3	Call Management Implementation	45
Ch. 4	Measuring Support Center Performance	85
Ch. 5	Packaging Support Programs	107
Ch. 6	Support Organization Structure	133
Ch. 7	Managing Support People	157
Ch. 8	Managing Software Bugs and Code Fixes	189
Ch. 9	Tools for Software Support	203
Ch. 10	New Product Planning	247
Appendix A	Sample User's Guide	261
Appendix B	Call Resolution Overview	297
Appendix C	Determining Staffing Levels	301
Appendix D	Creating and Justifying a Support Center Budget	325
	Bibliography	331
	Index	333