Here's an interesting for for y'all. We have a very good and fairly long relationship with a BMC partner that we use for consulting/development/purchasing and, when the time comes in November or so, we will also be using them for support instead of BMC.
First, a little background. We use Remedy Customer Support 5.6 with a not-too-customized version of the Customer Access Interface deployed through the mid-tier. The submitter mode on the AR server is locked, so that customers with account using read licenses can submit and work their own tickets through the web. However, we have many customers that insist on using the phone for the initial submission of an issue, and then want to work the ticket from then on through the web. You see where I'm going with this? The customer can't update tickets via the web if they were not the submitter, unless they have a fixed or floating license. Floating licenses are expensive, so we've been reluctant to go down that road. Our VP of support doesn't like the BMC partner that we've been using nearly full time for the past two years (they're GREAT, BTW), so now this VP is bringing in another consulting firm who claims that for $6400, they will solve the customer access interface licensing "problem" without purchasing any new licenses from BMC and also in a "BMC approved" manner. I call B.S. First, I find it hard to believe that BMC would allow some sort of scheme where you can get away with not buying licenses and still give your customer base read/write access to their tickets. Second, how else would one run a server in locked submitter mode, while still allowing customers to modify "their" tickets even if the ticket was submitted on their behalf by a tech support agent? The first thing that comes to mind would be to have a trigger or scheduled job or something at the database level change the submitter column to the customer's login name on insert of a new record. I seriously doubt that's a "BMC approved" solution. Perhaps this firm is going to suggest something like having the customer's "log in" but all the actual interaction with ARS will be proxied through a single user with a fixed license and all the necessary permissions. But even that seems like something that BMC might balk at. Thanks. Mike _______________________________________________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:"Where the Answers Are"
