Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly, Fa la la la la la, la la la la... OK enough of the singing (just be glad I was typing it ;)) - it's time for another installment of the PlusNet End of Day. Matt brings us the first update today, from the Development Team: "Hi Matt here from the Java development team. Things have quietened down for the Java team since initial rollout of Madasafish. So we have spent much of the last week getting our ducks in a row for 2008! Personally, I have been introducing an automated Java build process. The aim here is to provide an environment, in a central location, thats exactly like live in which to build our applications. The application files can then be deployed directly from the build environment to our test platforms and ultimately live. The build process will also run all the applications unit tests and produce a report at the end. The report will include details of unit tests results and unit test code coverage. The automated build process is implemented using CruiseControl, Apache Ant and Cobertura for the code coverage results. These were chosen simply on there flexibility, as we have many projects with many dependencies and on the simple fact that we have expertise in these technologies already. This process should provide many benefits for the Java team in 2008. We have also started planning some of our projects for 2008, some of which I'm sure will be of interest to many, keep tuned for updates." Mike from the CSC brings us the AM update: "Calls Offered: 1027 Calls Answered: 845 Longest wait: 16.25 Call Answer Rate: 82% 1) Fault Updates - Fault updates have also been one of the main causes for contact today as customers are calling for fault updates. 2) Email Setups - Lots of email client configuration help needed. People are still quite unaware of the setup guides on the portal. We need to make sure we are telling people about these. (Ed: Don't tell Pete that...) 3) Router Config - Lots of people are still calling for help setting up routers and modems. 4) Username/password Verification - a lot of call with regards to correct format of broadband username, especially for new customers. 5) Sales/Prov Updated - lot of calls for new customers chasing order or wishing to move to us for their broadband and Home Phone. Thanks for reading." Next up is Mark from Networks: "We have had a few people out today to watch their kids nativities, and we have a fair few people on holiday. Theres also some excitement with internal interviews occurring today and people applying for promotion within the dept. Ben: Massaging Mail queues Adey: Fixing problems (firewall changes etc) Mark: Fixing problems (Raising faults with BT..), locking down legacy network devices. Sarah: Email routing problem,radius maintenance. Josh: Fixing internal email issue,staging platform and backup project. Matt: Tickets Dan: Tickets MikeP: housekeeping mainly, with a bit of staging work" Matt from Comms brings us the update: "Yes, today I is back, and the comms update is once again in my hands (muahahahahaa....) So, what's been going on? Well, today I've been mopping up the usernames for the community site and sending tickets to a number of users either to inform them that the link is now made or to request that they choose from two that we have registered. I've also been working on a faults flowchart (and a series of blogs to go along with it) that should help customers understand what's going on, what the limitations are regarding what we can do, and also (most importantly) why the fault is happening and why it's taking so long to get fixed. Chris has been working with Networks today to make sure that the scary mail queues we arrived to this morning begin to drop, and as they are doing I guess that's been a huge success. He's also been fielding change controls from networks, picking up on a few tickets and has also been about in the forums. Finally he's also been working on the results of the latest customer satisfaction survey and helping make the decision on how this is to be carried out over the coming year. Mand has been sat with the n00bs today, guiding them in the ways of the PlusNetter. She's also been chasing problems as per normal, and fielding development change controls. James 'I'll happily call you Teaboy but don't expect to get a cuppa out of me' Bailey has finished his monster blog, which is currently awaiting signoff - and looks like a damn fine job. He's also been actioning tickets, has kept the forums alive almost singlehandedly, and also wishes to point out that he hasn't had any tea made by Mand today. I would sympathise, but given 1) that it will be a cold day in hell before he makes a cup of tea for anyone, let alone Mand and 2) that the teaboy taylor horse is already long dead but will have rotted into dust way before he lets that joke lie I don't think I'm going to. Ed - if that last bit gets cut that won't be the only thing. Comms out. Nice one." Darren from Products has inherited the tea bug with this update: "Today we have all been very busy. I’ve spent most of the day preparing a new affiliate report for MAAF, as well as investigating a Hardware tracking problem. Shaun has been working on the company dashboard, reporting for MAAF and usage analysis. Rich has been reviewing some pretty heavy documentation and working on the VoIP platform. Today is the last day Maria will be in before Christmas and has been working on finalising the Product roadmap, ready for presentation to one of the directors tomorrow. May I add that I also went to make us all a cup of tea today and somehow ended up making tea for the entire Comms team too........ I don’t know how that happened?! Darren" Marketing's update comes from Chris: "Another industrious day in the marketing department. We've been cracking on with work on our upcoming minisite and continuing to develop the BBYW journey! We've also extended the referrals promotion until the end of January so you can still earn up to £30 for every person you refer. I've carried on working on the newsletter which we'll be sending out on Friday all being well. Oh, and Martyn wanted me to mention we had bangers and mash for lunch. Fin." Catherine brings us the update from QA today: "QA here....I'm getting back into things after a couple of days off to do all my Christmas shopping. Now I just have to get it all posted out 🙂 Another quietish day for the team as we are once again two members down; Gary taking some well earned time off and Gavin recovering from last night's rollout. Those hard at work (well, in the office, at least ;)) have been once more working on those niggling last few Madasafish bugs, testing problems, negotiating who gets to roll code when (I think Paul needs a big hat with the words ' I Am The Gatekeeper'), finding out more about our Madasafish counterparts and playing Bloxorz." That's all for today... now only 2 days until I'm off for the week 
Colin
End of Day: 19th December