Live Help uses a "meet-me" design, in which one person (usually the Client) creates a support request and Help Desk Personnel use either the Live Help Expert or Live Help Monitor application to join in.
Let's take a quick walk through a typical startup sequence to illustrate how easy it is to establish a support session. In this example, we will be conducting a session over a network. Suppose an end user is having a problem with a new application and has called the help desk for assistance. The user tries to explain the problem, and the help desk decides to use Live Help to troubleshoot the problem. The session begins with three easy steps:
First, the end user selects the Live Help Client shortcut from the Start menu or the Apps screen to run Live Help. Depending on the Client's configuration, a dialog box displays either their Live Help name or TCP/IP address.
Point
The dialog box shows the IP address of the Client computer, if Live Help Client is using TCP/IP Direct Connect to open a session.
Note
Users may not need to start Live Help Client manually, if it is running as a service on Windows(R), and defined to start at Windows(R) boot.
Do not include or create shortcuts to the Live Help applications in the Startup folder to start them automatically at Windows(R) boot. The Live Help applications may not work properly, because the Windows(R) system may launch them before completing initialization of the communication environment.
The Support Specialist selects the Live Help Expert shortcut from the Start menu or the Apps screen to start the Live Help Expert software.
The Support Specialist clicks the Join button, and then, depending on configuration, does one of the following:
Manually enters the Client's IP address or selects it from the address book.
Chooses the Client's Live Help name from a list of network sessions.
Manually enters the Client's phone number or selects it from the phonebook.
As soon as the session begins, the Support Specialist automatically sees everything on the Client's screen in real-time, and can take Remote Control of the Client's computer.
Point
If Remote Control is configured to start automatically, the Support Specialist immediately has control of the Client's computer.
Starting a support session is as easy as 1, 2, 3 . . . .
The Client demonstrates the problem, and the Support Specialist uses the keyboard, mouse, and Live Help facilities to resolve the problem.
In a network session, other Help Desk Personnel can join at any time.
To learn more about starting a session using a network connection, refer to the section Starting a Network Support Session in Take a Test Drive. Chapter 2 also explains how to start a session using a modem connection. Refer to the section Starting a Modem Support Session for details.
