Ah, another week draws to a close. And although we don't like the busy word round these parts it's certainly been a busy week for me. I did manage to do items 1 and 6 from my to do list today and scrub item 3, and this is item number 5 so I'll shortly be able to scratch that off. Unfortunately didn't get round to item 10 which was finish writing the to do list. Maybe next week I'll get that one licked. So let's get on with the show and start off an action packed End of Day with the CSC top 5 from Ben:
1. Router configuration It's no surprise to see this one retaining it's number 1 position, as a lot of customers are getting stuck with their router configuration. I think that a lot of calls used to be logged as username / password verification when a customer tried to get themselves online and just needed their details correcting. However these calls are now being pushed into more detailed router configuration setups when we need to perform factory resets to allow customers access to the setup pages of the router.
2. Wireless setups We're now supplying wireless routers as an option during the signup process for all of our Broadband Your Way accounts, meaning that more customers are able to take advantage of this feature. This is provoking a lot of calls in from customers who are already online who now want to connect up without using a cable. We're limited with the technical support that we can provide for this, but we always do our best to get our customers connected.
3. New faults There have been no major issues or service outages reported today, just the normal mix of faults comprised of no synchronisation, intermittent synchronisation and speed faults. Most of the synchronisation faults are easily resolved by the usual master socket checks and the speed faults are easily identified as usage issues or they are related to a dropping connection.
4. Email problems Everything to do with email is being lumped in here as there have been no specific issues prompting calls, just a large number of customers needing help getting their accounts set up or help resolving all sorts of different problems with sending or receiving email.
5. Provisioning updates We're seeing a few delayed orders today, some caused by BT, but also some caused by delays with hardware delivery. It's hard for us to deal with these calls as they invariably require interaction with either another department within the company, our warehouse or BT.
Second today is Rys from Dev:
It's been a while since I've done one of these. Since my last hello in an EOD, I've been hilariously ill (chest infection and flu) and hilariously busy, taking over primary development of a project, along with a bit of management of its remote team.
Getting my head around new code, new project practices and new people meant that come 5.30 in recent weeks I've not only missed my EOD post window, but all I've want to do is flee the keyboard and do something else completely unrelated to work.
The project encompasses our partner and reseller businesses from a dev point of view, and it runs at quite a different pace from my previous project, but things are calmed down enough now that I can think about doing these again. Good times!
Outside of that, there's heavy focus on our revision control and alpha integration environment changes. They're progressing well, and we're getting to that stage where their work is common quite a bit of the time, as the two converge and we get close to a first release.
Elsewhere we've got WBMC streams ongoing, some changes to our PHP framework, account change improvements and myriad other bits and pieces. Oh, and a new boss! Check the community site for more about that, exciting times indeed.
Now for the Comms Team end of Day it's Mand:
Today we've been orbrey-less as he's off gallavanting in Edinburgh.
So, Bob, Chris and I have battled on, with our daily activities being as follows:
Chris: Forums, blogging (about forums), and analysing our Customer Satisfaction Survey, which we'll publish the results of on Monday for you.
Bob: When I asked him he simply replied 'Port!'. I'll assume that he means the ongoing Ironport work, rather than the drinking of Port. But with Bob you just never know. I happen to know he's also worked on a few Networks Change Controls this afternoon.
Mand: I've been working on Development Change Controls, Home Phone special offer work, clearing out my tasks ready for a new week, and chasing up a couple of tricky Openreach escalations.
It being Friday I thought I'd give you an update on Bob's grievance.txt issue, and a scoreboard:
CParr 16 Mand 6 Matt 2 Group efforts 4
We've also (just) welcomed James back to the team, after his stint in our Product team.
Anyway, it's Friday evening and t'pub is calling, so we'll leave you with a random link and a cheerio. Cheerio.
Next today Gav from Marketing:
This week we've expanded our offer of Home Phone for £1.99 for 3 months (when taken with broadband on a 12 month contract). This is now available on Option 1 through uSwitch and Option 2, Option 3 and pro to all customers.
Chris has been planning new referrals handouts, as requested by our customers here.
We've also been working on a seasonal refresh for the site, which we hopefully will be implemented soon.
Have a good weekend all,
Gav
And a very special treat, an EOW from our forum moderation team:
Deep from the bowels of Mod central...
<FloatingHead> Ya know, we should get in on this EOD malarkey, what have you guys been doing recently? <DrPenguin> Quotes... Quotes.. the bane of my life.. /twitch <TheStudent> I think I've nearly managed to get my iPhone to work prop....... <ForumPlod> Doh, there goes another post mangled by TheStudent <FloatingHead> Sigh.. alright guys, you seem busy. Leave it to me.
The forums have been fairly busy this week, with some interesting threads developing. Top of my list would be the speed problems thread (naturally it's top - it's my thread!). If you believe you've been suffering from speed problems, dive in and post your details so we can collate as much information as possible.
Cream of the crop currently in the Offtopic forum is certain words - Do you have problems with spelling certain words? Let us know what they are and you might win a prize!*
Last but not least we're looking for more victims, uh.. I mean volunteers to help moderate the forums. Interested in helping out? Check out this thread for details of the Moderators Elections that will be running soon!
Have a great weekend, and don't do anything I wouldn't do.
FloatingHead
* By the way, I may have fibbed a little about the prize, but let us know anyway!
Nige next introducing you to the software platform team:
The software platform team gets its own EOD slot, mawaaahhhhh!....I mean: Hello everyone.
We're the guys who beaver away making sure the software which runs our business systems is secure, scalable and matches our technological and strategic goals. The work is a good mix of hands on coding, architectural design, technical innovation, oversight and mentoring. It's also my perfect job.
Today's been fairly typical: Bill has been improving how our billing system reacts if the payment processing system we use isn't available. I've been handling a range of design/implementation queries from the guys working on the new account change application and planning tutorials to reduce the training overhead, freeing me to do other things. We may be needing those training guides soon, which makes producing them seem even more worthwhile. Who says you can't expand in a recession?
Happy Friday, all.
Penultimate entry for today comes from Phil in Business Support:
How do all from Business Support.
Another good day on the grind today, with a 100% call answer rate as I speak (no, that isn't a challenge) and a full team, though Fridays are always the best and quietest.
So today, Myself - Plenty of faults, plenty of tickets and a good sprinkling of calls Mark - Looking busy, because he technically isn't here Chris - Speed fault junky and helping the residential faults team Adam - Contacting customers about high volumes of email in "unspecified" mailboxes, not an easy task Jon - Attending the Plusnetter of the month meeting and customer tickets Martin - Logged faults reports for the most part
Have a good weekend folks, we are off to relax in our favourite spot.
And lastly but certainly not leastly, brought to you by Jen…this week in HR…
We’ve seen a flurry of returned 6 month performance reviews. Keep up the good work guys!
Barbs has been busy sifting through lots of old documents on our HR and Legal filestore and generally having a good old Spring Clean (although not much could convince us it’s Spring). She’s also been sorting out HR security for managers, that is, what info managers can and can’t see.
She and Amanda have also been trying to look after our welfare by arranging for an afternoon of optional ‘flu jabs for all staff here at Internet House. Meanwhile, Gem’s been doing the absence report…hopefully the ‘flu jab’ll have a positive effect on that!!
Gem and Amanda have both been working on role profile reviews. Plus, they’ve both been supporting Products and Marketing with departmental changes. CSC have been making shift and role changes so Gem’s been supporting that too.
Amanda has been continuing with 360° and she also managed to get out and about for 2 days to attend the BT HR meeting for Consumer & Enterprises.
I’ve still been trying to sort out the Christmas party…just waiting for the final few to come back with their responses now! And making sure our Lealta benefits cards are on their way to us in time for a bit of discounted Christmas shopping.
Childcare vouchers are now a go-go and we’re set to have the first lot of employees receive this benefit following their next pay. I’ve also been sorting out offer forms for our CSC temps who are joining us on the Plusnet payroll as of next week. Welcome!
Anyway, think that’s all from me today…seems like I’ve waffled on.
Waffle? Me? Never! 
Not a chance Jen... my turn for a bit of waffle methinks. It's 8pm and long should I have gone home so I won't be saying all that much now, just suffice it to say enjoy the weekend folks and have fun. We'll be back on Monday with all the news you want to hear, or something like that anyway. Have fun!