Complaints Desk for Windows ver. 2.0
by Barbara Holmes

Overview:

Reviewing Complaints Desk 2.0 by Spectrum was both a joy and a problem. The minimum requirements are 386, 4 mb RAM (8 recommended), 8mb. space of hard drive, monochrome or color monitor, Windows 3.1 or higher, network ready, relational data base with data import capabilities, and mouse.

The system I used to review it on is a 486, 16 mb RAM, Windows 95. The first installation of Complaints Desk wiped out my ability to use any of my communication software (Winsock, Netscape, hyperterminal). Thus I un-installed, and re-installed without accepting the changes to my autoexec.bat & config.sys files. This gave me the ability to still use the program, but reduced the ability to "network" with others (a feature I was not able to perform in the test anyway). With this second installation, all my communications software worked except for Netscape. So on the beauty of the program.

Recording complaints:

The program is designed for logging complaints from customers, recording the actions taken (and by whom) to resolve the complaint, and developing reports and charts to summarize the complaints received. The book and initial set up is designed for a company selling wine. But due to the fabulous capability to customize the fields, it can serve almost any purpose. The core of the program is that it is in database format. While this may tend to frighten those not familiar with databases, the program works you through the fields and records in a very easy to follow on-screen format.

I used both their given fields and then later customized them to what I need for my job. The only problem I found with the customization was in the categories of complaints section. The program gives you a total of five customizable categories (fields). Within these five categories, you can insert an unlimited (I think) number of sub categories. Thus if category 1 was "failed to do", you could have sub-categories of: failed to give receipt, failed to give proper change, failed to give correct product etc. In my customization, this limitation of 5 categories caused me to have to combine some categories, as the program we now use has seven.

In addition to "filling in" the on-screen form with the necessary data (date, name, account number etc.) you can use a pull down menu to insert free text descriptions of the complaint and of the various actions taken to resolve the complaint. The "action" section for the attempts to resolve also requires you to insert date, time, and who is making the attempt. Thus in a report to top management, one can review the efforts of the staff to resolve complaints to include the timeliness of their actions.

Another feature is that of creation of response letters. Again one can use the default template, or you can create your own. In either case you can merge information from the fields of your database into the letter, as you wish. After sufficient data has been entered into the file, you can print charts of your complaints using criteria you select, such as: resolved/unresolved complaints, complaints about a certain department or circumstance. The graphs can be any one of several formats, and 2 or 3 dimensional.

Protection:

Access to the program is determined in the setup. Access is given to individuals with a password, and their access can be full or limited to read only. In my scenario, I gave full access to the individuals who have the primary responsibility to receive complaints. I then gave access for read (which includes report generation and printing) to supervisors of those individuals and top management. I tested this by closing the program down, and logging on as different individuals and met with no problems.

Report Generation

The report generation section is really a whole different program. I think Spectrum must have acquired it from another company, or visa versa because the default templates and examples in the manual refer to a bookstore rather than a wine shop. This portion of the program also has the ability to be used as given with predefined templates or it can be customized to suit your needs. In my case I inserted the company logo in the header of the reports. I also followed the customization criteria as created in the database i.e. the changes for the categories of complaints etc. Moving data around on the report was a simple point and click operation. But getting it to perform arithmetic operations was very difficult. The printed reports depict the status of complaints based upon the criteria you define when developing the reports. You can define several different types of reports. The limitation to this is ten reports. One not familiar with databases will have some difficulty customizing reports.

What can be improved upon?

Spectrum needs to beef up and correct their documentation. The manual given is helpful, but chockfull of typographical/spelling errors. In addition, I found one case in which the instruction read click the left mouse button, when indeed you needed to click the right mouse button! Also, in the installation, the disks are labeled 1-9, but the on-screen instructions divided the program into two separate entities Complaints Desk and Report Designer and starts the loading of report designer with disk 1 thru 5 (which in fact are labeled disk 4-9). This could be very confusing to those with limited knowledge of applications software.