+1 for automated message in light of the recent outage 11/10/2014

[#1]

I have watched this thread with some bemusement
Why you ask
Because I wasn't even aware of the Service Status Phone Line - where is it publicised and why isn't it a lot more obvious
It certainly isn't here http://www.plus.net/supportpages.html?a=2 and while I looked at this page why are so many items shown as green with a status duration of 0 Days 0 Hrs 0 Mins

[#2]

It can be found at the bottom of this page http://www.plus.net/support/customer_service/using/settings.shtml
Which appears to be the only reference to this number on the PN site, which is hidden at the bottom of the page. How many customers are likely to view that page?, not many i would i have thought
Thanks to purleigh for finding this.
It just a complete embarrassment, especially after what was said last time

Quote from: Kelly

I'll pick that up.   Outragous we aren't using it really

Quote from: Chris

Quote from: I Thought i would give the PN Service Status Line (0800 917 6714,) a ring, After listening to the message ,that any open issues when be heard after the message, as i thought there was none. What a great resources the Service Status Line , if only PN could be bothered to use/update it, Is there a reason why the issue is not on there PN? Regards Mike This number is now going to have service effecting issues updated as and when required from today onwards. I'll also try to get more visibility of this on our website.

It seems the most simple tasks are to hard for PN these days.
I spoke to tech support Sunday , i happened to mention about the service status line, he did not have a clue what i was talking about, says it all really, regarding this issue.
Regards
Mike

[#3]

Afternoon all,
I've just had some information back on this situation that seems to explain the issue.
It seems that the recorded message wasn't ported over to the SS number due to a new member of staff in the resourcing team. As they deal with the messaging, this meant that the update was never applied to this line leading to the lack of information. At present, this is a manual process so the new member of the team is now fully briefed on the process so we should see this included moving forward.
As the process is manual we are only able to cover this during the working hours of the resource team for the moment so this means an update will be applied during the hours of 9am and 10pm. Anything outside of this will not be applied. Ideally this would be an automated message application however the nature of an outage dictates that stock responses cannot be used so for the time being, this will be the way in which the service operates.
Hopefully we'll find a way around this in the future, be it a generic message pointing towards the service status page or an inclusion of this into a manual update as part of the call out process when we have a service affecting issue.
@ Anotherone - In this instance it is a simple case of human error however there may well be a period of development needed in order to get some form of automation to this should we decide to go down this route.
@ Oldjim & I.T.Works - From the information I've been given, the SS number is something we've had available for some time however it hasn't been utilised in the past for unbeknown reasons. I suspect that this was something attached to improvements or updates to the Service Status platforms and/or processes which I don't believe has had much cover internally. It certainly is something that adds a great feature to the Service Status service so moving forward it should be something we continue to develop.
As for the questioning of a support agent, I would believe this to be a feature that they would have little to do with regardless of the feature being well know or not. As it would be customer facing and maintained by offline workflows this is something that the support centre staff would have no interaction with, much in the same way as the updates to service status.
Moving forward I think this should be something that we make the support staff aware of however up until now, this hasn't be the case. We currently have Chris Purvey looking into this so I would hope to see a little more coverage internally so as to make the staff aware of it. As for making this number a little more visible for ease of use, I would expect this to be covered in the work we're due to see on this front already.

[#4]

@ Adam C
Thanks for the comprehensive update, much appreciated, although how the service status line works ( or does not :)), leave massive room for improvement
If an update was needed out side of those hours , surely another department/ person would be able to put a message on the SSL? or this that to much to ask ?
Regards
Mike  

[#5]

Cheers Adam, for the feedback, albeit a bit quicker than I was expecting tbh
That explains it & I suppose a New member of staff can be forgiven, as I / We don't know if they were briefed prior to the outage, & if so (well it can still be forgiven, in this instance)
Moving forward, & now the New member of staff, will have time to get to grips with the system etc, before this kind of Outage happens again (well here's hoping it doesn't happen again (They say it all comes in 3's))
Looking forward to see the SS Number presented on more support / Contact pages, resulting in more visibility,
Glad Chris Purvey is already on the case

[#6]

Thanks for the prompt and detailed response Adam, that certainly sounds like a move in the correct direction.

Quote from: Oldjim

I have watched this thread with some bemusement Why you ask Because I wasn't even aware of the Service Status Phone Line - where is it publicised and why isn't it a lot more obvious

It used to be Jim. My suspicion IIRC was that someone decided that as the information had been added to the main CSC number there was little point in promoting a SS Line, but clearly there was no foresight into the the likely events with a large increase in customer numbers and any significant service outage.
It seems pretty obvious to me that you do NOT want the main CSC lines clogged with people who just want to find out what is going on and otherwise do not need any help. There are times in the past where I have phoned CSC because of an outage out of hours, and no SS information was available anywhere, mainly to be sure that Plusnet was aware of the problem and somebody was dealing with it.
That brings us to Mike's point

Quote from: I

If an update was needed out side of those hours , surely another department/ person would be able to put a message on the SSL? or this that to much to ask ?

As the CRT member on call would be providing a SS message when required out of hours then surely they could be trained to add it to the SS Line until such time as it becomes automated?

[#7]

Quote from: Anotherone

As the CRT member on call would be providing a SS message when required out of hours then surely they could be trained to add it to the SS Line until such time as it becomes automated?

This isn't something that we've not considered. The CRT members who are on call and post Service Statuses out of hours will usually do this from home. To update the SS Line requires you to be in the office. We are looking at other options such as another team that has members of the team in the building 24/7 who could potentially take this over until it becomes automated but this is work in progress and something that Chris Purvey is looking into.

[#8]

Thanks for the reply Linn, I know Chris Purvey will deal with it in an appropriate manner.

[#9]

Quote from: Linn

This isn't something that we've not considered.

So, removing the double negative: "This is something we've considered."? 

[#10]

Adam,
Thank you for the comprehensive explanation.
I observe though if there were a clear documented communication process for a MSO event (written to ISO 9001 or ITIL process / quantity standards) then there would be no need for staff (new or old) to be 'briefed' they'd just need to pull the SOP from the 'shelf' and follow it.  In the event of a disaster there is nothing worse than having to rely on memory, which is even why the most experienced airline pool lots still carry and refer to the operations manual for everything they do.
If "in office" tasks are required, how difficult is it to have pre-written instructions which a shift leader can be pointed to?
Kevin

[#11]

On a Positive note
This is progress, & hopefully it will never be needed, @Least the New members of staff / Team will be fully trained in the full routine, on the off chance of it being needed again in the future

[#12]

Ok I know it is not a MSO again however
The latest SS message is currently not on the PN Service Status Line (0800 917 6714,) despite assurances New members of staff will be fully trained to do so
Any reason that it has not been updated ?
However Option 2 has been updated on the main 0800 432 0200 Number

[#13]

Just checked again, in the hope that it was delayed & still no message of any kind on the Service Status Line (0800 917 6714,)

[#14]

@TORPC After taking all of the various recommendations to get the Service Status Line back up and running a task was raised for our IT team to move the line over to our new IVR system. This work is still ongoing which means that it's not possible to update the line whilst it's being moved over.
We are expecting the work to be completed by the end of the day today but there's every chance it may be delayed until early next week.
Thankfully, the issue last night wasn't a major one.

[#15]

So that means it's going to take up space on lines into the IVR system? So is the capacity of the IVR system going to be increased? because if not if that's the case, then everything will just be as clogged up as if one had rung the CSC number