Technical Support

Business Intelligence Roadmap: The Complete Project Lifecycle for Decision-Support Applications (Addison-Wesley Information Technology Series)

OLAP Solutions: Building Multidimensional Information Systems

OLAP enables users to access information from multidimensional data warehouses almost instantly, to view information in any way they like, and to cleanly specify and carry out sophisticated calculations. Although many commercial OLAP tools and products are now available, OLAP is still a difficult and complex technology to master.

• Substantially updated with expanded coverage of implementation methods for data storage, access, and calculation; also, new chapters added to combine OLAP with data warehouse, mining, and decision support tools
• Teaches the best practices for building OLAP models that improve business and organizational decision-making, completely independent of commercial tools, using revised case studies
• Companion Web site provides updates on OLAP standards and tools, code examples, and links to valuable resources

Open Source for the Enterprise: Managing Risks, Reaping Rewards

Open source software is changing the world of Information Technology. But making it work for your company is far more complicated than simply installing a copy of Linux. If you are serious about using open source to cut costs, accelerate development, and reduce vendor lock-in, you must institutionalize skills and create new ways of working. You must understand how open source is different from commercial software and what responsibilities and risks it brings. Open Source for the Enterprise is a sober guide to putting open source to work in the modern IT department.

Open source software is software whose code is freely available to anyone who wants to change and redistribute it. New commercial support services, smaller licensing fees, increased collaboration, and a friendlier platform to sell products and services are just a few of the reasons open source is so attractive to IT departments. Some of the open source projects that are in current, widespread use in businesses large and small include Linux, FreeBSD, Apache, MySQL, PostgreSQL, JBOSS, and Perl. These have been used to such great effect by Google, Amazon, Yahoo!, and major commercial and financial firms, that a wave of publicity has resulted in recent years, bordering on hype. Large vendors such as IBM, Novell, and Hewlett Packard have made open source a lynchpin of their offerings. Open source has entered a new area where it is being used as a marketing device, a collaborative software development methodology, and a business model.

This book provides something far more valuable than either the cheerleading or the fear-mongering one hears about open source. The authors are Dan Woods, former CTO of TheStreet.com and a consultant and author of several books about IT, and Gautam Guliani, Director of Software Architecture at Kaplan Test Prep & Admissions. Each has used open source software for some 15 years at IT departments large and small. They have collected the wisdom of a host of experts from IT departments, open source communities, and software companies.

Open Source for the Enterprise provides a top to bottom view not only of the technology, but of the skills required to manage it and the organizational issues that must be addressed. Here are the sorts of questions answered in the book:

• Why is there a "productization gap" in most open source projects?
• How can the maturity of open source be evaluated?
• How can the ROI of open source be calculated?
• What skills are needed to use open source?
• What sorts of open source projects are appropriate for IT departments at the beginner, intermediate, advanced, and expert levels?
• What questions need to be answered by an open source strategy?
• What policies for governance can be instituted to control the adoption of open source?
• What new commercial services can help manage the risks of open source?
• Do differences in open source licenses matter?
• How will using open source transform an IT department?

Praise for Open Source for the Enterprise: "Open Source has become a strategic business issue; decisions on how and where to choose to use Open Source now have a major impact on the overall direction of IT abilities to support the business both with capabilities and by controlling costs. This is a new game and one generally not covered in existing books on Open Source which continue to assume that the readers are 'deep dive' technologists, Open Source for the Enterprise provides everyone from business managers to technologists with the balanced view that has been missing. Well worth the time to read, and also worth encouraging others in your enterprise to read as well." ----Andy Mulholland - Global CTO Capgemini

"Open Source for the Enterprise is required reading for anyone working with or looking to adopt open source technologies in a corporate environment. Its practical, no-BS approach will make sure you're armed with the information you need to deploy applications successfully (as well as helping you know when to say "no"). If you're trying to sell open source to management, this book will give you the ammunition you need. If you're a manager trying to drive down cost using open source, this book will tell you what questions to ask your staff. In short, it's a clear, concise explanation of how to successfully leverage open source without making the big mistakes that can get you fired." ----Kevin Bedell - founding editor of LinuxWorld Magazine

Running an Effective Help Desk, 2nd Edition

The definitive guide to setting up and running a successful Help Desk-now updated and expanded to include the latest Web-based technologies.

This book is for you if you are:
* A business manager charged with researching, planning, and setting up a Help Desk in your organization
* An IT manager who wants to improve the level of technical support and communication within your organization with the latest support technologies
* A Help Desk manager looking for guidance on how to upgrade traditional Help Desk functions with Internet- or intranet-related processes.

The thoroughly revised, updated, and expanded Second Edition of the critically acclaimed, first-ever guide to running an effective Help Desk, this book tells you everything you need to know to plan, budget, staff, implement, track, upgrade, and even outsource your organization's Help Desk. Drawing upon her extensive experience as a leading North American expert on Help Desk planning and management, author Barbara Czegel:
* Guides you step-by-step through every phase of setting up traditional and Web-related Help Desks for the Internet and an intranet
* Provides a wealth of practical advice on all technical, management, and human-factor aspects of running an effective Help Desk
* Supplies ready-to-use templates in both Word and HTML formats for an array of Help Desk projects.

On the companion website you'll find:
* Real-life Web-based Help Desk examples
* All the templates from the book in HTML and Word formats.

The ASTD Handbook of Training Design and Delivery

This comprehensive companion volume to the bestselling ASTD Training and Development Handbook (Craig, ed.) helps trainers design classroom, self-study, or technology-based training programs. Delivering the latest information on how adults learn best and human performance technology, it shows trainers how to prepare lesson plans, create visual aids, and deliver highly memorable presentations.

Written by experts working with the nation's leading training organization, this book is a treasure trove of information for trainers on how to go about designing a training program, gathering content, finding subject matter experts, determining what fits your training needs, and much more.

A Guide to Computer User Support for Help Desk and Support Specialists, Third Edition

A standard for help desk professionals and those considering becoming support professionals, this text focuses on key information for user support professionals, including decision making, communicating successfully with a client, determining the client's specific needs, and writing for the end user. This text has been updated to reflect the latest in support industry trends, especially the use of Web and email-based support. For those considering entering the field, alternate career paths for user-support workers are described. This edition has retained and updated the CloseUp feature, which details real-life scenarios of working professionals and issues in the workplace. With balanced coverage of both people skills and technical skills, this book is an excellent resource for those in the technical-support field.

Microsoft Windows Vista Help Desk

What do you do when your squeaky new Microsoft operating system doesn’t work? You moan and complain and get personal about Bill Gates's haircut while you wait for Microsoft to figure it out and issue a fix in a hefty service pack in a year or so. Or you could take the smart way out and use this definitive troubleshooting book that will cure your illin' Vista PC in no time flat.

This book exposes the flaws and nuances of Vista and teaches you how to work with its quirky personality and fix the problems you have with it so you can get back to your regularly scheduled life. Microsoft Windows Vista Help Desk digs deep inside the operating system to unveil expert-level tools and techniques. It offers a step-by-step, head-patting, hand-holding experience on how to use Vista as if you are a trained professional. This book covers hiccups, coughs, crashes, blue screens, reboots, system failures, malware infections, and other forehead-aching issues that make happy users clench their fists and profane the good name of the sweet and kind geeks in Redmond, Washington.

Andy Walker is one of North America's top technology journalists and is the author of Que's Absolute Beginner's Guide to Security, Spam, Spyware & Viruses. Since 1995, he has written about technology for dozens of newspapers, magazines, and websites. His personal technology advice column was syndicated across Canada and today it is published at Cyberwalker.com, where millions read the advice annually. He hosted the internationally syndicated TV show Call for Help with Leo Laporte and now he is the star of his own DVD series at GettingStartedVideo.com. He also co-hosts Lab Rats (labrats.tv), a massively popular video podcast. Andy was born in the UK and now lives in Toronto with two cats and a finely tuned Vista computer.

• Troubleshoot your Vista PC every inch of the way–including Internet problems, printing problems, network problems, and user interface problems
• Use the troubleshooting flowcharts to step your way through a problem to find the right solution
• Designed for home users, cubicle dwellers, and students everywhere
• Quickly sort through complex problems to determine whether Vista, your hardware, or a random piece of software is the culprit
• Track down and eradicate viruses, spyware, and other Internet nasties
• Deal with annoying networking issues that have brought your wireless network to its knees
• Set up and troubleshoot multiple user accounts so that you, your spouse, your kids, and even the family pooch can share the same PC

Category: Microsoft Operating System

Covers: Microsoft Windows Vista

User Level: Beginning–Intermediate

A Guide to Customer Service Skills for the Help Desk Professional

This book is designed to provide individuals interested in the field of technical customer support a guide to the "soft skills" and the "self-management skills" needed to deliver excellent customer support at the help desk. It provides the reader with a better understanding of what a career in customer support would entail with strong real-world computer support examples, case studies, and exercises throughout the book. The author is a leading help desk consultant, trainer, and former help desk support engineer and service manager.

The Compleat Guide to Day Trading Stocks

Day trading is Wall Street’s hottest trend and, in The Compleat Guide to Day Trading Stocks, famed futures trader and author Jake Bernstein turns his attention, knowledge, and experience to the exciting world of stock trading. Bernstein covers timing systems, trend following systems, breakout systems, and more—all illustrated with chart examples based on intra-day time frames, and supported by results from his meticulous, historically accurate back testing.

Basic enough for novice traders—yet with enough detail for the most demanding market veterans—Bernstein’s book gives day traders the tools they need to succeed in this fast-paced, relentless market. Special attention is given to:
• Day trading the technology sector
• Risk management and diversification
• Little-known nuances of order placement Jake Bernstein (Northbrook, IL) publishes MBH Weekly, a newsletter covering the commodities and futures markets. Author of The Compleat Day Trader and Strategies for the Electronic Futures Trader, Bernstein is a popular speaker at trading seminars and regularly appears on radio and television.

A Guide to Help Desk Technology, Tools and Techniques

This book focuses on the technology, tools and techniques involved in running an effective help desk. A Guide to Help Desk Technology, Tools & Technology takes a look at the many software options available for tracking and managing the massive influx of data that come into a help desk daily.This title also details the types of tools specific to staff, management and customers alike.