eSupport

Shifting Customers to the Internet for Support

Published: January 2002Published: January 2002

Agenda

● Solution Overview● Products and Technology● Architecture● Deployment● Summary● For Further Information

Solution OverviewSituation● The Microsoft Product Support Services Internet Web site consisted of a single

monolithic application, which presented several management and development challenges

Solution● Develop a component-based infrastructure that exposes data through .NET XML

Web services that multiple subscribing applications can use, enforcing a common set of business rules for all consumers of the Web service and insulating the infrastructure from UI changes that require no schema or business rule modifications

Benefits● Increased customer satisfaction and faster time to resolution ● Per incident cost savings; 30–35 percent of Windows XP incidents have been

submitted over the Web versus over the phone, and each one saves approximately 53% of average minutes per incident compared to over the phone

● Ease of use; The presentation layer is tightly integrated with the Windows XP Help Center, providing seamless internet data access with user desktop computers

Products And Technology● Microsoft .NET Framework Beta

2● Visual Studio .NET Beta 2● IIS 5.0● Windows 2000 SP2● Passport version 1.4● SQL Server 2000

● XML data● Unicode

● ASP +● C#● C++

Architecture● eSupport infrastructure built entirely through

Visual Studio .NET● Five developers completed

● Four intranet sites● Five XML Web services● Two Windows NT services● One console application● One Internet Server Application Programming Interface (ISAPI) filter● Reusable utilities and class libraries

● Two developers created/converted six Unicode databases● Two developers handled consolidation of incident, contract,

and product data worldwide

Deployment● eSupport project team developed, tested, and

implemented infrastructure● Components were written in C# through .NET-based technologies● XML Web services return data in standard XML format● Using .NET makes it possible to easily publish, install, and

configure application components on an intranet site

● Lessons Learned● IIS metadata describing the Web sites for XML Web services and

Internet and intranet applications must be stored in the IIS meta-database

● Not all configuration data can be stored in application configuration files

Summary● The integration of Windows XP with the eSupport infrastructure has

resulted in more customers using the electronic submission process and a reduction in the amount of time needed to resolve customer issues

● The interoperability provided by the .NET Framework ensured that eSupport infrastructure integrated seamlessly with existing applications, and that security requirements for authentication and authorization were met

● The project’s XML-based approach saved countless hours of troubleshooting problems that never occurred because human error was eliminated from creating, configuring, and installing components of the Internet site

For More Information● Additional content on Microsoft IT

deployments and best practices can be found on http://www.microsoft.com● Microsoft TechNet

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itshowcase

● Microsoft Case Study Resourceshttp://www.microsoft.com/resources/casestudies

● E-mail IT Showcaseshowcase@microsoft.com

This document is provided for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS DOCUMENT.

© 2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This presentation is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, Microsoft Press, Visual Studio, Visual SourceSafe, Windows and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.