Senior Project - iColumbo

IBM is a worldwide provider of advanced information technologies, including computer systems, software, storage systems and microelectronics. IBM translates these advanced technologies into value for its customers through its professional solutions, services and consulting businesses worldwide.

Once such service is a printing systems Help Desk, which customers may call when having printing problems. Because Help Desk employee turnover is about every seven months and their training is extensive, IBM has wanted to reduce the time needed to train staff by automating some of the customer assistance process with a simple and easy-to-use program for finding problems and solutions related to printers and printing. This program would allow anyone to obtain the desired results no matter their level of expertise in computers, printers or networking. A goal is to reduce time and effort required of the Help Desk staff to solve the problems they encounter daily.

Normally, when a customer calls, the Help Desk personnel must interact with the customer and system administrators to determine the cause of the problem and its corresponding solution. This interaction consists of obtaining the answers to a series of questions from both the customer and the system administrator, guided by a paper-based reference manual. The goal of the new software automates this interaction.

When a customer calls, the software guides the agent through a series of questions until the problem and solution are determined. In particular, the system answers many questions autonomously by interacting directly with InfoPrint Manager without the agent or system administrator even being involved. The new system is considerably easier to use and no longer requires a paper-based manual.