Knowledge Base still down

I hope it isn't the RSS thing, because this should be in a database, and you can keep the system up for that...

They are properly removing all the articles that have reference to RSS. Articles supporting RSS = banned.

Stange - I would also think the k.b. articles would be in a database....

Am I the ONLY one that despises the "new and improved" KB?? Jaysus I can't believe they think that the new one is better! And the nice critical patch search page and resulting list? GONE. :-(

I do like the new filtering. But I agree that the old patch listing was much better. =

It takes us 5 times as long to find anything. I guess the filtering is not very useful for me.

I actually opened a case about it this morning...specifically because I couldn't find a CTP. And the Lawson person agreed with me...they didn't like the new KB either. :confused:

So am I understanding correctly that the old "patch page" no longer exists and you find technology and application patches using the KB?

It co-existed for a few days, but appears to be completely gone--so now have to go thru the KB.

Opened a case with Lawson to discuss. This is part of the response...and I quote "I believe with the new knowledge base that's the way to find patches now - the critical patch link is gone."

We've opened TWO cases on the patch mess, and complained loudly. Yes, you can search the KB for a patch, if you know the number. And you can search for "corrections". But what you get is a mishmash of patch AND non-patch items, which you have to click and OPEN in order to tell what the hell it is, and if there is even a patch attached. The presentation is horrible, and this is a huge step backwards, in my opinion.

ANd fahgetabout trying to find TECH patches...you can't even get those in the KB. You have to ASK for them. :crazy:

Amen=

Here's the trick to getting the tech patches from the KB. Using the filtering functionality on the left side of the screen. Something similar to this...depending on what technology you use.

Lawson Product Line: S3 (Pref)
Category Type: S3 Tech Corrections [remove]
Lawson Product Line: S3 [remove]
Product Name: Lawson Core Technology Environment and Database [remove]
Release: 9.x [remove]
Release: 9.0.1.7.0 [remove]
Platform: Unix [remove]
Platform OS: AIX [remove]
Platform OS Version: 6.1 [remove]

Forgot to mention that you can also "save search" so the search will be saved to your Favorites

Definitely not better, and as soon as you save a search and then they add something else new that 'may' have helped you won't know because it would not show it in your saved. I want the old one back. Has anyone found that page where it lists all of the recent problems etc for each day. I use to read that weekly to make sure we were catching things that others may have caught before us. Suggestions.

[quote]
Posted By Brad Schauer on 06/15/2011 02:27 PM
Here's the trick to getting the tech patches from the KB. Using the filtering functionality on the left side of the screen. [/quote]


As the last person said, this isn't a "trick" that is useful. Sure, you can filter. But the mess that is presented is absolutely awful to try and persuse. And too often, you can unwittingly filter out an issue that may have occurred with a different version, or OS, but is in fact related to the problem you are researching. I want the old search back!

[quote]
Posted By TRACY on 06/16/2011 11:25 AM
Definitely not better, and as soon as you save a search and then they add something else new that 'may' have helped you won't know because it would not show it in your saved. I want the old one back. Has anyone found that page where it lists all of the recent problems etc for each day. I use to read that weekly to make sure we were catching things that others may have caught before us. Suggestions.
[/quote]


That was one of the most useful pages...and as far as I can tell, it's no longer there. Another improvment. :blink:

EDIT: Whoops! Tracy, I found it. Click on KB Dashboard.

CindyW,

Sorry, was just trying to offer assistance since the patch page is no longer available. Maybe "trick" was the wrong term.

That is what Lawson Support instructed me to do. I agree it's not the patch page.

Cindy I am with you all the way. I agree with you 100%. It's a big step backwards.

I've submitted "comments" about how horrible this new KB is. I wonder if they included any real users when they designed or tested it. If so, I'd like to know what they were smokin' when they beta tested it. I think we should all flood them with comments about how horrible the new and improved system is.

I'm still baffled as to why they are expending resources on it at all given their pending acquisition, particularly since it's not a revenue source and I can't imagine it's the future.

And, I'm I the only one who thinks it's humorous that Lawson's support says "IBM Websphere portal" as the browser title !?!?!!=

[quote]
Posted By John Henley on 06/17/2011 05:38 PM
I'm still baffled as to why they are expending resources on it at all given their pending acquisition, particularly since it's not a revenue source and I can't imagine it's the future.

And, I'm I the only one who thinks it's humorous that Lawson's support says "IBM Websphere portal" as the browser title !?!?!!=
[/quote]

I have always thought that was odd!!

Okay I had to open yet ANOTHER case today, because I could not find the documentation I was looking for. The person stated that they clicked this and that...and up it came. I tried it, got plenty of results, but not what I was searching for. Just wondering...anyone else able to find the Lawson Security Administration Guide...Windows, 9.x, S3 ?? Just wondering if I am missing something really obvious here.

( I found one, finally, but you wouldn't believe what I had to do to get to it.)

Embedded within " The New Lawson Knowledge Base is now available! " notice on the home page:

"Additionally, Product Documentation, including Installation Guides, for a variety of products have been removed temporarily. This documentation will not be available to customers via the KB, and you should contact LGS if you have an immediate requirement for this documentation."

Truly baffling.

I have had dificulty finding PT downloads since the system change and I opened a ticket. Problem is I was told to search the knowledge base with the PT number but that is what was not working. I sent back to the CASE that I just want to know the exact link because I had already spent a lot of time searching.

It is clear that the new knowledgebase system was not quite ready but they wanted to get it out there and resolve problems as they moved forward.

The patch page (now gone) is a HUGE step backwards!!! The 'IBM Websphere Portal' title is very humorous. And it seems to me at least, that the documentation that you find when trying to open a CASE, is not generally available to the normal KB users. I've found several documents when trying to open a CASE that I looked for previously, and was not able to find!

Wake up, Lawson!!

I wonder how many complaints they get on their KB webinar today? It is clearly trying to address the issues they are hearing around the KB not working for people anymore.

I have been experiencing a loop on the Support Site recently and cant seem to even get to the kB articles. Sure is interesting reading all of these posts because it sounds like the Support Site has been a dificult "change" for Lawson.

The Knowledge base is not that difficult once you spend some time in it. I was used to searching in legacy knowledge base that it took some getting used to the new application because it is different than how I used to search. The Knowledge base Hot Topic helped and explained the differences in searching and why some vocabulary changed. Watch that if you haven't yet because it helps explain things. I search the internet often and find that the new knowledge base is similar to most search engines out there. All search engines are a little different but if you spend some time in it will find it isn't as bad as people claim it is. I like that I can save a search and have set some up for corrections knowing I will want to refer to the same list again.

There may be a learning curve, but the "new" search engine is just not effective. I used to be able to enter a search for an error message and generally it would return as the first article in the list. It was useful 100% of the time. Now, it can be extremely difficult to find anything. As an example I enter something as simple as "human resources user guide". The following results are listed first, with the HR guide listed fifth! I don't think I could be any more clear in my search parameters.

Teacher Contract Administration User Guide
General Ledger User Guide
Grant Management User Guide
Inventory Control User Guide

Then try to enter Payroll User Guide and it's #5 behind a couple of versions of HR user guide.

Here are my issues that I have articulated to Lawson multiple times (and have tech support often agree as they use it as a tool also)

Search functionality not working correctly (or effectively)
While actively working in the site, it times out "due to inactivity" and receive multiple iterations of the login to get back in
Response time a major issue. Often wait a couple of minutes to get through logging a simple ticket.

Has anyone heard of an initiative to fix the issues? Nobody at Lawson seems to know.

I have contacted Lawson about the indexing on the KB. It doesn't always produce the right results. Changing the order of the filters produces different results....and they concede it doesn't work too

Here is my question to them..

[quote]Hi

I get different results on the NEW Knowledge Base search depending on the order of items I use to refine the search.

For example:

In the NEW Knowledge Base use the filters:

Category: Correction
Lawson Product Line: S3
Product Name: Portal
Platform: Unix
Platform OS: AIX

This gives a list of fixes, but the Refine Your Results goes up to Release 9.0.1.7 only

Now remove the Platform OS filter

Add the filters
Release: 9.x
Platform OS: AIX

The Refine Your Results will now have the More option which will show releases up to 9.0.1.9

I expect the filters to accurately reflect the data which can be filtered. If there is no option to filter Release 9.0.1.9 (but there is the option for other Releases) then I don't expect the returned data to contain 9.0.1.9 information. It is very misleading and I lose faith in being able to get all the information I need when using the search facility. Is there an optimal way of using the filters? [/quote]

and their response:

[quote]Hi Richard,

Thank you so much for your message, that is an error that we had not seen before.

We have right now some issues with indexing, and that is maybe the reason why the latest release 9.0.1.9.0 does not appear in the dimensions.

We will investigate further.

Thank you again for bringing that to our intention.

Frederique Nielsen[/quote]

That was April 16th this year...it's still not fixed this morning and haven't heard of any progress - so do I trust the indexes to find me the right patches? No! I just keep my fingers crossed and hope...:whistling:

Richard

Has anyone seen what the Infor Xtreme Support Portal looks like? The target date for the KnowledgeBase and CASE system to be migrated is the 15th Oct - a clean cut migration so the KB and CASE won't be on mylawson.com after that...

It'd be nice to know just what the new system will look like before it arrives, maybe even a little play on a prototype....nothing worse than trying to find information quickly only to find that the Information System has been changed. Especially worrying is the claim that it will be intuitive :cry:

I stand corrected! There is some education on the mylawson.com site.

Under Get Support / CASE/KB Migration
there are a couple of overviews under the Helpful Information/Training Materials box. I won't say they are great but they do provide the Overview which they claim.

I will reserve judgement on whether the new system will work as well as the old.

Richard