E-NAMOSUPPORT: A WEB-BASED HELPDESK

SUPPORT ENVIRONMENT FOR SENIOR CITIZENS

Wei Zhou, Takami Yasuda, Shigeki Yokoi

Graduate School of Information Science, Nagoya University, Japan

Keywords: Helpdesk, Lifelong learning, Frequently Asked Questions, Information Cycle Model.

Abstract: This study aims to track the development of a helpdesk support environment -- E-namoSupport -- to solve

digital divide between seniors and other generations. This is one part of the E-namokun project, an

information promotion project started in Nagoya city, Japan. E-namoSupport is a helpdesk system that has

the following characteristics: (1) unlike general helpdesk systems, which generally only cover one

organization, E-namoSupport has been developed through joint government, university, and NPO

cooperation; (2) users are senior citizens with little or no PC experience; (3) its aim is not only to solve

problems or answer questions, but also helping senior citizens learn more computer knowledge and further

their computer skills. In the E-namoSupport environment we have developed four subsystems: a case trace

system (CTS); a consultation management system (CMS); an FAQ System (FAQS); and an FAQ analysis

system (FAQAS). We propose an information cycle model that efficiently manages information flow in the

four subsystems as well as in organizations. We take senior citizens’ attributes into account using a set of

quizzes that help operators describe enquiry cases and make conversation flow more smoothly. We also

design an easy-to-use interface and functions that help users access FAQS. Moreover, we develop E-

namoSupport as a learning environment, providing suitable learning contents by analysing users’ interests

and needs, which helps users to improve their IT abilities of and enjoy life in the information age.

1 INTRODUCTION

Although the availability of personal computers to

senior citizens has increased, this availability is

lower than for other generations. A recent survey

(MPHPT, 2003) revealed that in Japan, over 90% of

those aged between 13 to 39 years use the Internet,

the percentage of use by those aged over 65 years

old is extremely low, at less than 15%. This

remarkable gap has been a cause for considerable

concern. To combat this digital divide, in 2004, the

easy-to-use E-namokun project, which aims at

bringing more people, especially senior citizens, in

touch with the information age by providing simple

Internet (Masato, 2005) and email (Kiichirou, 2005)

tools, was been started in Nagoya city. The project

was developed through joint government, university,

and NPO cooperation, which is a national first.

In order to encourage more senior citizens to

enjoy the project, several help and support methods

have been planned and implemented. Courses on the

use of E-namokun software were held at each ward’s

Lifelong Learning Center; special consultation

rooms have been set up in two wards’ Lifelong

Learning Centers, providing face-to-face

consultation for those using computers or the E-

namokun software. Furthermore, a call center was

set up to provide installation, utilization, and

certification support, and other help for E-namokun

software users. Such supports are viewed as key

processes because the level of user satisfaction has a

significant impact on whether they will maintain

their interest in using computers.

As the importance of customer support is widely

recognized, helpdesk systems are becoming more

popular. In this context, we developed an enhanced

web-based helpdesk-support environment called E-

namoSupport, which has four subsystems including

a Case Trace System (CTS) for call center, a

Consultation Management System (CMS) for

consultation rooms, an FAQ System (FAQS) for

users, and an FAQ Analysis System (FAQAS).

Together, these provide an integrated and extensible

platform that transforms the user service support into

Zhou W., Yasuda T. and Yokoi S. (2006).

E-NAMOSUPPORT: A WEB-BASED HELPDESK SUPPORT ENVIRONMENT FOR SENIOR CITIZENS.

In Proceedings of WEBIST 2006 - Second International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies - Society, e-Business and

e-Government / e-Learning, pages 29-36

DOI: 10.5220/0001239000290036

 SciTePress

an effective and efficient service that meets senior

citizens’ requirements and offers them satisfaction.

The rest of the paper is organized as follows. In

section 2 we discuss related work; section 3

describes E-namoSupport features; section 4

describes the architecture and information cycle

model; and section 5 shows the four subsystems. In

section 6 and 7 we offer some conclusions and

discuss both our present and future works.

2 RELATED WORK

Currently there is no hard and fast definition of the

term ‘help desk,’ however its name implies a basic

function of being a source of information or action

on demand, to aid the caller in carrying out a given

task. The Gartner group’s definition of the help

desk’s mission (R.C.Marcella, 1996) is to provide a

single point of contact and responsibility for rapid

closure of end-user’s problems.

With the advent of web technology that can

provide dynamic, interactive, platform independent,

and distributed services, operators and supporters

can access online knowledge databases to track

cases and provide answers; users can ask a question

and get suitable solutions via any web browser.

Web-based help desk systems provide several key

functions that organize helpdesk activities into

single web-based applications that can be accessed

and maintained through a web browser. A number of

web-based helpdesk products are popularly used in

enterprises. For example, WebHotLine (S Foo,

2002) is designed and developed as an intelligent

helpdesk environment in a large multinational

corporation with major functions including fault

information retrieval, online multilingual translation

capability, different operating modes of video-

conferencing, and direct intelligent fault diagnosis.

NTT Inc (Kuwata, 1998) suggested an automated

follow-up service for help desk customers, which

identifies customer interests from their queries and

automatically sends related Q&A information back

to the customers.

In the field of education, some universities create

their own help desks based on the FAQ style. For

example, the State University of New York (Sandra,

1992) has an automated help desk system to answer

student questions. FAQ share systems (Huu Le Van,

2002) aim to optimize the student-teacher interaction

and evaluate learning effectiveness. These cases

have been used in educational environments.

Currently, there are some commercial FAQs

available for senior users, visually handicapped

people, and novices, such as IBM and Fujitsu, which

adopt easily accessed interfaces that take into

consideration the difficulties users face when using

computers.

Also, there are several relevant studies that

examine the use of help desks. For example,

Christine evaluates how shifts in management,

organizational structure, incentives, software

technologies, and other factors affect the

development of help desk systems in a large

organization (Christine, 2004).

3 THE FEATURES OF

E-NAMOSUPPORT SYSTEM

All of the above mentioned help desk systems have

two major goals -- to make the best use of the

customer information gathered and to provide the

best service quality. Our goals are as the same as

these; moreover, because E-namokun project’s

organizations and users differs from general

systems, the E-namoSupport helpdesk support

system has some additional features, which are listed

below:

(1) Information cycle in multiple organizations.

The E-namokun project was developed through

joint government, university, and NPO cooperation,

which was a first for Japan. Therefore, unlike

general helpdesk systems that assist only one

organization, the E-namoSupport system is used by

multiple organizations. Our main tasks have been

related to how to gather information from different

parts and how to retrieve, reuse, and retain

information. We proposed an information cycle

model that processes information gathering,

information publishing and information analysis

among these organizations.

(2) Design for senior citizens.

Our users are mainly senior citizens and almost

all of them are computer novices. When these users

encounter a problem and call the operator, most of

them cannot describe the problem in detail. In order

to help operators describe enquiry cases correctly

and in detail, we designed a set of case items to

make conversations between the operator and the

user run more smoothly. Further, in consideration of

senior citizens’ age-related attributes, we designed

an easy-to-use interface with enlarged characters,

buttons, and pointers, simplifying the operations,

WEBIST 2006 - SOCIETY, E-BUSINESS AND E-GOVERNMENT

Figure 1: Overview of E-namoSupport Environment.

providing easily understood contents, and avoiding

the use of technical terms.

(3) Learning content provisions.

Our aim is not only to answer questions and

provide solutions to problems; we also aim to help

senior citizens learn more computer knowledge and

improve their IT abilities, helping them enjoy their

lives in the information age. By analyzing the FAQ

accessing status, we can understand senior citizens’

learning needs and interests; based on this

information, we can provide suitable learning

content.

4 OVERVIEW OF THE

E-NAMOSUPPORT SYSTEM

4.1 Structure of the E-namoSupport

Environment

Before showing our system, we should first describe

the duties and relationships of organizations in the E-

namoSupport environment. As shown in figure 1,

there are three types of organizations: a local

government, two universities, and an NPO. Their

duties are listed below:

• (Government) Local Lifelong Learning

Center:

Local lifelong learning center in Nagoya city sets

up special consultation rooms in ward lifelong

learning centers to provide face-to-face consulting

services for senior citizens. Consultants exchange

information with each other, cooperate with the call

center to get case solutions if they cannot resolve

them alone, and give advice to help the call center

create FAQ contents.

• (University) Technical support group:

The technical support group at Nagoya

University and Chukyo University takes charge of

technical and system support, including E-

namoSupport maintenance and solving technical

problems coming from the call center.

• (NPO) IT promotion organization:

The IT promotion Agency of the eco-cycle NPO,

short for IT promotion organization, establishes the

call center to provide support service through

telephone and email, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, as

well as developing the FAQ system that users can

access anytime via the Web. It manages user

personal data, traces enquiry cases, answers and

solves problems, asks for technical help from

E-NAMOSUPPORT: A WEB-BASED HELPDESK SUPPORT ENVIRONMENT FOR SENIOR CITIZENS

technical support group, gathers enquiry cases from

the consultation rooms, creates the FAQ documents

and publishes them, analyzes the FAQ accessing

status, and so on.

We developed four subsystems, including the

consultation management system (CMS) for

consultation rooms, the case trace system (CTS), the

FAQ system (FAQS), and the FAQ analysis system

(FAQAS) for the call center.

The E-namoSupport environment offers total

support to users: telephone and mail support from the

call center, face-to-face support from the

consultation room and problem solving by the users

themselves using the FAQs on the Web.

4.2 Information Cycle Model

We built an integrated information cycle flow that

not only covers the organizations but also uses

information gathered during the fulfillment of a

problem, resolving to improve effectiveness and

efficiency. The representation of the subsystems’

relationships and the information processes are

described in the information cycle model shown in

figure 2, which stresses the importance of an

interconnected and integrated flow of information.

Figure 2: Information Cycle Model.

First, enquiry case information is gathered and

managed by CTS and CMS. The call center’s

operators turn the well-organized case information

into FAQs and then publish them. FAQAS monitors

and collects users’ FAQ access information and

analyzes and reports the results. Based on these

analysis data, operators adjust the case information,

add necessary case, and modify the FAQ contents to

meet and reflect users’ needs and interests.

5 SYSTEM CONFIGURATIONS

There are 4 subsystems in E-namoSupport

environment. In this chapter we describe their

functions and characteristics in detail.

5.1 Case Trace System (CTS)

The case trace system (CTS) used by the call center

allows operators to input, retrieve, search, and deal

with enquiry case information accessed by telephone

or email. In order to process cases efficiently, we set

five-status marks to each case: new, confirming,

answer-waiting, calling back, and closed, as shown

in figure 3.

When operators add a new case, the case’s status

is “new”. After they finish dealing with the case, its

status is changed to “closed”. When the operators are

in the process of solving the case, the case’s status is

“confirming”. If the operators cannot answer the case

and they dispatch it to the technical support group,

the case status is set to “answer-waiting”. After they

receive an answer from technical support group, the

operators then call back to the user. If the user

cannot be contacted, the case status is set to “calling

back”.

Every case is marked as being one of five

statuses, so it can be easily located and managed.

Each operator can retrieve, trace, and deal with other

operators’ cases, so that each case can be dealt with

in a smooth and timely manner.

Our users are mostly computer novices, who do

not know even basic technical terms. When they

encounter a problem and call the operator, it is

difficult for them to describe the problem in detail;

usually they can only say “It does not work”, “It

turns dark”, “A strange window appears” and so on.

In order to help operators describe a case correctly

and in detail, we designed a set of case items and

quizzes to make the conversation between operator

and user run smoothly. The relationship between the

quizzes and items are shown in table 1. Talking with

users while using these quizzes, the operator can

easily get useful information then input the case

item.

Figure 4 shows the case process interface. The

top of the interface is a set of buttons to let operators

change the case’s status; the bottom of the interface

is the log list, which records the change process of

the case. The middle of interface shows details of the

case.

WEBIST 2006 - SOCIETY, E-BUSINESS AND E-GOVERNMENT

Figure 3: Case Process Flow and Five Statuses.

Table 1: Quizzes and Case Items.

Quizzes Items

Can you tell me what current interface you are using? Category, Inquiry Info

Can you move your mouse and see your pointer moving on screen? Inquiry Info

Is there any error message showing on the screen? ErrMessage

What did you do after the problem occurred? ErrMessagedo

Can you tell me PC’s maker, software version or other information? If you do

not know how to find them, I can tell you…

OSVer, E-namoVer, Hardware,

Maker

When do you want us to call you back and what is your contact phone number? Emergency, UserInfo, Contact Info

Figure 4: Case Process Interface.

5.2 Consultation Management

System (CMS)

Two lifelong learning centers at a ward level have

established special consultation rooms to provide a

face-to-face consulting service for E-namokun users.

Consultants are not full-time staff but rather

volunteers who work in their spare time. In order to

exchange and utilize consultation case information

among the consultants to improve their consulting

abilities, we developed the consultation management

system (CMS).

Similar to the enquiry case, the consultation case

has 4-status marks: new, answer-collecting,

commenting, and closed. Through CMS, consultants

can exchange their opinions; comment and offer

feedback to others, and ask for solutions. The system

can enrich consultants’ knowledge and strengthen

their problem solving skills.

E-NAMOSUPPORT: A WEB-BASED HELPDESK SUPPORT ENVIRONMENT FOR SENIOR CITIZENS

Figure 5: FAQ Interface.

5.3 FAQ System (FAQS)

By providing FAQs on the Web, we aim to train

users and improve their problem solving abilities.

We developed the FAQ system not only as a support

method, but also as a learning platform. We choose

suitable learning content that will satisfy user needs.

We also designed the interface and functions taking

into consideration those physical attributes affected

by the aging process.

5.3.1 Learning Content

The FAQs come from cases produced by CTS and

CMS. All are “closed” status cases that relate to

issues frequently asked about by users. To provide

suitable contents, we consider two content select

criteria:

(1) Content should satisfy users’ interests.

(2) Content should satisfy what users want to

learn.

From FAQAS, we can get the statistics and

analysis information required to grasp users’

interests and needs. Based on these, we adjust the

FAQs by adding contents, modifying content

categories, and adjusting difficulty levels to provide

highly relevant knowledge for users.

5.3.2 Interface and Function Design

Current websites are twice as hard for seniors to use

as they are for younger users (Coyne P. K., 2003). In

relation to the attributes of the aging process,

“eyesight,” “precision of movement,” and “memory

and understanding” typically deteriorate (Coyne P.

K., 2003). If we don’t consider these attributes when

designing guidelines for seniors, they will not use the

system. We follow the design guidelines (Mari

Fujiwara, 2005) listed below in order to make

websites easier to use for seniors:

(1) Visibility improvement

We enlarged the size of the characters, buttons,

and pointer, and set the color of character and

background to be easily distinguished. Moreover, the

color changes when the user clicks a button, so users

can confirm the operation immediately.

(2) Operation improvement

To avoid missing an operation, we put more

intervals between the buttons, and scroll-movement

is replaced by button-click. Complex and multi

operations are simplified by a single click. To avoid

a situation where the user misses the focus, we don’t

use pop-up windows.

(3) Consideration of Cognitive Factors

We aimed for a simple interface including only

the necessary minimum functions and limited the

quantity of buttons to 8, the hierarchy of depth to 4,

and the result list to 10. Moreover, the “Topic Path”

is always shown on the top of the main body so that

the user will not lose their way while browsing. In

addition, we replace technical terms for familiar

expressions.

To access FAQ easily we define a button named

“when in trouble” embedded in the E-namokun

software. When the button is clicked, the FAQ site

appears. The FAQ interface is shown in figure 5. The

left one is the top of the FAQ pages and the right one

is the FAQ list result searched by users.

5.4 FAQ Analysis System (FAQAS)

The main aim of FAQAS is to determine senior

citizens’ information needs:

WEBIST 2006 - SOCIETY, E-BUSINESS AND E-GOVERNMENT

(1) Identify the types of information which are

of most interest to senior citizens.

In the FAQ system, we set a counter when

accessing each page, so we can see which content is

more popular and which functions are used most

frequently. FAQAS analyses this counter data and

reports it in a graph or table (see Figure 6).

(2) Investigate the willingness of senior citizens

to learn.

In the FAQ system there is a search function by

which users can enter words to find information they

want. We analyze the inputted words and record

each word’s frequency. If the inputted word doesn’t

appear on the result list and the inputted word’s

frequency exceeds the normal value defined

beforehand, FAQAS will notice it and create a users’

learning needs report, which can help to find holes in

the FAQ content.

Figure 6: FAQ Access Statistics Interface.

6 CURRENT WORK AND

EVALUATION

The E-namoSupport is a part of the E-namokun

project, which is an information promotion project to

help bridge the digital divide for senior citizens. In

order to allow more senior citizens enjoy the project,

other than the use of the E-namoSupport

environment, other support methods such as short

courses, text support, and hardware support,

providing recycled PCs for free have been

implemented.

E-namokun short courses began running in the

local lifelong learning centers of wards in Nagoya

city from September 2005 and will be held until

March 2006. These courses were publicized to senior

citizens throughout Nagoya City through public

brochures, and also received coverage in the

newspaper and on television. As a result, more than

2,000 seniors applied to join the courses, although

the capacity was only 600 places. The teaching scene

in the E-namokun course is shown in figure 7. This

highlights the level of demand from senior citizens.

This also highlights demand and the need to increase

the availability of computer education and support

for senior citizens.

Figure 7: E-namokun Course Scene.

Figure 8: Scene depicting use of E-namoSupport System

by call center operator.

We are now implementing the E-namoSupport

system beginning from November 2005. A scene

depicting the use of the E-namoSupport system by a

call center operator is shown in figure 8. Call center

operators are using the CTS for their daily case

process work and about 10-20 cases are managed

every day. We have obtained operators’ comments.

They expressed that the system is an effective system

to input, retrieve, search, deal with enquiry case

information and easily turn the case into FAQ.

We are collecting the evaluation results, which

we get in two ways: (1) questionnaires about

satisfaction levels related to the interface, function

and content provided by call center operators,

consultants from the consultation room and end

users; (2) FAQAS analysis data, from which we get

access frequency, interest levels and learning needs.

In the future we plan to improve our system based on

the experiment results and extend system functions

by increasing the support service’s range.

E-NAMOSUPPORT: A WEB-BASED HELPDESK SUPPORT ENVIRONMENT FOR SENIOR CITIZENS

7 CONCLUSIONS

In this paper, we described a helpdesk support

environment -- the E-namoSupport -- for computer

beginner with a special emphasis on senior citizens.

Unlike general helpdesk systems, E-namoSupport

proposes an information cycle model, which

integrates information among three types of

organizations and four subsystems: the case trace

system (CTS) for call centers, the consultation

management system (CMS) for consultation rooms,

the FAQ system (FAQS) for users, and the FAQ

analysis system (FAQAS). E-namoSupport considers

users with little or no computer experience by using

a set of quizzes to help describe enquiry cases.

Seniors’ attributes were taken into consideration

when designing the easy-to-use interface and

functions. Moreover, E-namoSupport is not only a

support environment but also a learning environment

that provides suitable learning contents by analyzing

users’ interests and needs.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank Li Yi, who has a lot of practical

experience in working as helpdesk operator in a large

international enterprise and who gives us useful

advice in the design of the E-namoSupport system.

We would like to thank all people connected to

the E-namokun project, especially Nagoya City, the

Nagoya Urban Industries Promotion Corporation,

and the IT promotion Agency of the eco-cycle NPO.

This research was partially funded by Nagoya

Urban Industries Promotion Corporation Joint

Research, and Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research

-- 21st century COE program “Intellectual

integration (IMI) of the voice images for the social

information base” of the Ministry of Education,

Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan.

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