User support, decision on which system to use¶
Teleconference with Torsten, Wim, Fokke and Maarten.
Notes¶
- ESGF Askbot is running again and maintained by Stephen Pascoe: http://askbot.esgf.org/
- Discussion on confidentially (e.g. in case of insurance company's etc...): Is it needed or not? Decided was that at his moment it is not needed.
- We have reviewed the following possible options:
| Askbot | PhpBB | Best Practical RT at DKRZ | JIRA | xGUS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web Forum | Issue Tracking System | ||||
| Users side | |||||
| Web based, searchable for users | + | + | - | + | + |
| For searching login is not required | + | + | - | + | - |
| OpenID login | + | + | - | - | - |
| Notification on answer provided to a question | + | + | + | + | + |
| Admin side | |||||
| Users need to be logged in to be able to ask questions | + | + | questions by email | + | + |
| Assign questions to staff people | - | automatically | by moderator | ||
| Tracking | - | + | |||
| Users can only use existing keywords | - | + | + | + | + |
| Statistics of staff response time | - | ? | + | ? | ? |
| Refer to existing answers | + | + | + | + | + |
| Remarks | running in ESGF | free + open source | running in IS-ENES | developed and run by KIT, manual | |
- First decision is on Web Forum or Issue tracking system: Decided was that a Web Forum is suited for climate4impact.
- Askbot is the best fit to our needs:
- Users can use the same OpenID login
- For searching login is not required
- Notification on answer provided to a question
- Users and admins can refer to existing answers
- Users need to be logged in to be able to ask questions
- It is already running and maintained in IS-ENES2 for ESGF
- Requirements Askbot does not fulfill:
- Assign questions to staff people; can be covered by 1st line support sending an email to 2nd line support
- Tracking: it is not a tracking system, but we do not need a tracking system.
- Users can use both, existing keywords ("tags" in Askbot language) and new ones but admins can create trees of keywords, which may serve as a recommendation
- Statistics of staff response time: timestamp of post and timestamp of answer are listed at the question (however, last edit of question presumably results in new time)
- We discussed briefly if we would need our own Askbot instance or that we could integrate with ESGF Askbot instance: Decided was to use a new instance.
Next steps¶
- DKRZ will install Askbot for climate4impact
- A separate new instance for climate4impact will be realized, but referring to ESGF Askbot is possible.
- Workflow: Look into integrate the site search interface and user support system (KNMI)
- Propose a list for 1st and 2nd level support people (KNMI)
- Generate questions for the user support system for testing and demonstrating purposes, based on FAQ (WU, KNMI, SMHI, CERFACS)
Goal: Working (prototype) version of the user support system: 11 June 2014 (to show at GA)
Later: organize a test group for this (WU), discuss at next telco.
Telco for discussion on a user support system selection: Monday May 19th, 10:30h.