Skip to main content
P
PeterCaseCommunity Manager
Community Manager
November 10, 2016
Question

Changes in PTC's November Web Release: Your Case Opening Experience, Related Content in Articles, and More

  • November 10, 2016
  • 39 replies
  • 12753 views

This Thursday November 10th, a new set of improvements to your web experience at PTC will be rolled out. These include changes to the PTC Case Logger, Knowledge Base Articles and more.

 

New Case Logger

After encouraging results from a proof of concept earlier this year, we're simplifying the case opening process, and using some advanced technology, which we call "Dylan", to give you the best chances of solving your issue on the spot. Dylan takes questions and issue descriptions in natural language and suggests high confidence solutions, based on the associations our engineers have made in the past for similar cases. Descriptions in English and all major European languages are handled, and if any of the results is associated with a pending recommendation for one of your connected products, it will be highlighted.

 

In case Dylan doesn't come up with a suitable solution, or if you still have questions, you can continue to the next page to open a case. The engineer you work with will review the solutions already shown before contacting you, saving time for everyone.

 

FAQs:

 

1. Does this tool replace the Index Search ?

No. Index Search is still PTC's one-stop repository, quickly serving rich content which can be easily filtered and navigated. As well as articles, the index search contains help center topics, reference documents, community threads, video tutorials and more. We recommend starting here to find answers to any questions you have about PTC's products.

 

2. How can I get the most relevant articles when using the new case logger?

Because the engine behind the scenes is processing natural language, plain descriptions as you would explain to an engineer handling your case work best, and longer descriptions also usually give better results than shorter ones.

 

3. What is the underlying technology?

The PTC Datalabs team used a neural network algorithm and deep learning technologies to create finely tuned "models" specifically for PTC's products.

The model "learns" the words and word arrangements used to describe problems over many years, and importantly, the association with a specific article.

Dylan is not a search engine. In fact, it can happen that some articles suggested will not contain any the words entered in an issue description or question, but will still be relevant. Dylan finds hidden relationships between words to direct us to solutions.

 

Articles: Related Content Expanded

 

Last release, we introduced a new dimension to the article viewer to show other content sources such as Product Documentation, Help Topics, and Community Threads which are referencing the current article. As this feature was heavily used, we decided to expand the scope, adding a section called "Others also liked". As the name suggests, once a handful of readers have liked the article you're reading, and share common likes of other articles, we'll display them for you to explore.

 

Here's a short video to introduce both of the above features:

 

 

Other Changes this Release

 

For a full set of release notes for the November 10th ("16.4") web release, see here.

 

Feedback

In case you have feedback about the new case logging experience, affinity-related content in articles, or any of the other changes in this release we'd love to hear it. Please use comments on this post, or open an Idea in this Community Group. We're constantly looking to incorporate your suggestions as we iterate and continually improve this service.

    39 replies

    Show previous replies
    T
    23-Emerald IV
    TomU23-Emerald IV
    23-Emerald IV
    November 17, 2016

    Marco Tosin‌,

    Keep in mind that the individual responsible for this particular article may know absolutely nothing about query builder.  Since you are asking about something different that what the article covers, the response is probably appropriate (although it could probably be worded differently.)

    Where I have a much bigger complaint is when an article is supposed to be solving a specific problem and the only answer given is "works to product specification".  If the article contains a question, at least say "yes" or "no", and preferably why.  It would be so helpful if every article had two required sections - "workaround" and "supporting documentation".  Here are a few examples of articles that are not helpful:

    https://support.ptc.com/appserver/cs/view/solution.jsp?n=CS148290

    (So what exactly is the user supposed to do???)

    https://support.ptc.com/appserver/cs/view/solution.jsp?n=CS215709

    (Why is the preference being ignored?  Is there a workaround?  Is this behavior documented somewhere?)

    https://support.ptc.com/appserver/cs/view/solution.jsp?n=CS249250

    (The question is about Creo 3.  Why do we care if it works to specification for Creo 4?  Does the specification really call for this behavior?)

    A few more examples:

    Marco Tosin
    21-Topaz I
    Marco Tosin21-Topaz I
    21-Topaz I
    November 17, 2016

    Tom,

    my previous comment has two aims.

    The first is to push the support to provide, where possible, more information on how to search for data stored in Windchill (and the use of the query builder is one of these ways).

    I agree with you that, in this case, my question would be out of context, but in a broader vision of users support, I think it should be the responsible for the article to forward the request to the right person of the technical support.

    For example, if someone in your company call you asking for clarification on something you do not do, but for which you know the person in charge, it wouldn't be better if you pass the call to the right person or give the phone number to the applicant instead of forcing him to seek this person in the phone book?

    See below part of a mail I received last week from a TS senior engineer when I pointed him to this document Resource for reporting

    Waowwww I’m very impressed, really!

    You built a very helpful page for our community, thanks for that!

    I can see internally if we can summarize this in a Public Knowledge Hub article for the same. (see example of knowledge hub article CS240504 ).

    Thanks again Marco for your work and the help you provide to the community.


    The second aim is exactly what you have indicated in your response.

    Marco
    H
    Heidi5-Regular Member
    5-Regular Member
    November 17, 2016

    Hello Marco Tosin‌, Tom Uminn‌ ,

    Thank you for raising these points about the responses you have received for your feedback and the quality of some of the articles in our knowledge base.

    I can see where the confusion has arisen with your feedback Marco. You were leaving a helpful suggestion but the engineer interpreted it as a request for assistance. If you make it clear that your intent is to provide a suggestion/advice that will help the engineer take the right action and the response you receive will be more appropriate.

    I will flag all six articles that you cited Tom and ask the responsible engineers to improve them. These articles are all examples of where we have fallen short of the mark.

    P
    PeterCaseCommunity ManagerAuthor
    Community Manager
    November 18, 2016

    Tom, (Antonio),

    Your suggestion to be able to dismiss the banner by "marking as read" has been added to the roadmap. Implementation date TBD but expect early 2017.

    Thanks for your suggestions!

    P
    PeterCaseCommunity ManagerAuthor
    Community Manager
    November 18, 2016

    Awesone work, Marco. Thanks for aggregating so much valuable information for others to benefit from. Thanks also to both Tom and yourself for your help in helping us to continually improve our Knowledge articles.

    Marco Tosin
    21-Topaz I
    Marco Tosin21-Topaz I
    21-Topaz I
    November 18, 2016

    Hi Heidi Khetani

    thanks for your explanation.

    I have commented again a couple of articles, with the link to this discussion.

    Marco
    D
    DanielReid12-Amethyst
    12-Amethyst
    November 18, 2016

    Another minor annoyance, though perhaps just because it's a change.  The first box that asks for Product doesn’t have a drop box of products.  Typing of course works to start filling in matches.  That's great actually but if you're unsure of the specific product name, the drop box is handy.  I noticed that after submitting on the first screen, a drop box is again available for Product.

    If there were an indication (given it is a new behavior) that you should just start typing, that might be good enough.

    T
    23-Emerald IV
    TomU23-Emerald IV
    23-Emerald IV
    November 18, 2016

    Here's an example of both autocomplete and a scrollable list.

    crayola colors - complete.ly

    D
    DanielReid12-Amethyst
    12-Amethyst
    December 5, 2016

    I guess I tend to prefer the way Windchill works with, for example, selecting a context while creating a Workspace.  If you start typing, the drop-down list (if you expand it) will filter to the closest matches.  Or, when re-assigning a task, typing jumps you in the list to the closest match.  In both, you can start typing but then still use the drop-down to make the actual selection.

    D
    dhermosillo15-Moonstone
    15-Moonstone
    January 5, 2017

    These are the default responses I get when I comment on errors in an article or have questions.  It's to the point that I don't even comment anymore because it seems support doesn't read them or use the information to improve the article.

    Commenting on a article should automatically open a case.

    Show more replies
    Terms & ConditionsCookie settingsAccessibility statement