CUSTOMER
SUPPORT SERVICES GUIDE
Table of Contents
How we work to satisfy our customers required performance levels
Our quality control capabilities
The management structure and procedures that we employed to assist customers
| Our Approach to Service |
Archie Marshall’s approach to computer network consulting services and support reflects
our company’s commitment to the particular needs of the Internet and Intranet service provider
community. We stay abreast of the key issues and topics, whether they relate to marketing,
technology or network management and offer a wide menu of services to our customers.
Our service offerings are categorized as follows:
- Custom software development
- Hardware and software recommendation
- Training
- Marketing and Product development
- Systems integration
At Archie Marshall, Inc. our business is to delivery value and satisfaction in every product
or service. To achieve this, we assist our clients with the every aspect of their Internet or
Intranet projects, from InterNIC applications to configuration and troubleshooting. In other words,
we work to meet all the networking needs of clients.
| How we work to satisfy our customers required performance levels |
As a growing company, Archie Marshall is making a substantial investment in all of its customer
services, including training and customer engineering. The company's service goal is to maintain a
level of customer service that is equal to the "gold standard" of the internetworking community. To
achieve this, we modularize our service offerings, standardize on vendor product sets that meets the
highest price/performance levels in the industry and provide vendor certified training for all our
staff members that design or end-user solutions.
| Our quality control capabilities |
Each end-user solution, becomes a project and every person on the project team is accountable for the
overall quality of the project. Through customer partnership, Archie Marshall incorporates quality improvement
processes in all stages of the project development or implementation processes. Together, Archie Marshall, Inc.
and its customer develop a list of deliverables that best describe the entire project. These deliverables are tracked,
continuously improving quality. The data gathered by the tracking sessions confirms the process capability and
provides feedback for process improvements.
| Our Spare Parts Policy |
Spare parts for customers, will only be house on a contractual basis. Presently, our service programs offer support
in two ways. Support for self-maintenance (troubleshooting) and professional consulting engineering services for
project expansion. As a result a recommended spare parts list is a standard feature of our end-user solution packages.
Our North American customers use direct vendor support programs for sparing.
| Service Provision |
Archie Marshall (AMarshalIInc), offers professional network consulting and implementation services to customers
during the planning, implementation, recovery, or expansion phase of their networks. Upon request an Amarshallinc
network consultant evaluates the customers' present and future networking needs and provide pricing for individual
components or a turnkey solution. All end-user solution packages are provide with thirty (30) to sixty (60) days free
technical support. Customers’ requesting AmarshallInc's services are required to provide at least a brief statement of work.
Our support services programs are offered on a contractual basis to customer requiring technical support for self-maintenance.
Non-contractual support is offered at consulting rates.
| There are 2 comprehensive support packages to choose from. |
Change Management Support (SUP-CMS) SUP-CMS is offered on a Quarterly, Semi Annual or Annual basis and is best suited for customers who need relative short-term external technical support for network expansion or modification projects. ISP Technical Support (SUP-ITSP) and ISP Technical Support Plus (SUP-ITSPPlus) SUP-ITSP is offered on an Annual basis only. This support package offers comprehensive ongoing technical support for all the components of an ISP network that were either designed, re-engineered or implemented by us. The Plus package adds annual on-site 5 days training and managed USENET services.
| The management structure and procedures that we employed to assist customers |
As a growing company, we have implemented a multidimensional structure to manage and support our projects. By doing this
we are able to maximize our strengths and minimize the weakness of both our project and functional structures. As a result
the lead consultant manages all engineering projects and additional staffing is assigned in one of two ways.
- Assign tasks required for projects to specialized staff members
- Contract for project tasks with outside organizations
Our lead consultant has the responsibility for defining the appropriate policies and procedures to
facilitate the effective management of each project. All Internetworking projects will flow through our organizational structure
as engineering projects.
| Escalation Procedures |
Archie Marshall has developed these guidelines to assist with the management of calls made by contracted customers.
Problem Class and Definitions Class URG: Production network is down, causing critical impact to business operation if service is not restored quickly. Archie Marshall, Inc. and the customer are willing to commit substantial resources around the clock to resolve this situation. Class FDB: Production network is severely degrading, impacting on significant aspects of the business operation. Archie Marshall, Inc. and the customer are willing to commit full time resources during business hours to resolve the situation Class NC: Network is degrading, but most business operations continue to function. Class AST: Customer require information or assistance with configuration
Problem Escalation Notification
Elapsed Time Class URG Class FDB Class NC Class AST 1 Hour Technical Engineer 4 Hour Vice President Technical Engineer 24 Hour President Vice President 48 Hour President Technical Engineer 96 Hour Vice President Technical Engineer
Requesting Escalation
If the forward progress or quality of service is not satisfactory, we encourage our customers to escalate the problem.
| Our Shop/Test/Repair Facility |
Our primary business focus is computer network consultation, provision of turnkey networking solution and support for
self-maintenance. Hence we have an in-house a local area network which provides a Unix, Windows NT and SQL database
test bed for the ISP and Internet products that we support.
Test LAB Equipment
Equipment Description Quantity Routers and VOIP cards 5 Ethernet Switches 2 Windows Servers 2 Solaris and Linux Servers 4 Ethereal Protocol Analyzer 5 SNMP Network Management Station 1
With this lab facility
we can build and test several, leased line, Frame Relay and LAN
configuration for our customers.
Over the next 6 -12 months we will add facilitiesto support
Gigabit Ethernet.
When the lab is not in
use, it is available upon request for use by customers with the
technical support contract Plus.
Other customers will be billed at hourly rate for its use. Remote
access via the Internet is also available.
All contents copyright © 1997 Archie Marshall, Inc. All Rights Reserved.