RE: Advice re: RoboHelp/RoboDemo maint. packs

["Ruiter, Vicki" <Vicki_Ruiter -at- sra -dot- com>]

Our documentation team uses RoboHelp for online help, context-sensitive
help, and web-based documentation.  I don't think we've ever had reason to
use the phone support from eHelp, but we have emailed a question or two.
However, my experience with RoboHelp is that they seem to be experts at
creating incompatibilities between versions.  A project saved in a later
version of RoboHelp, from my experience, won't even open in an earlier
version of RoboHelp.  So, if you have one person on the maintenance plan,
and that person upgrades their version, don't count on being able to access
that person's projects, or have that person open up your project and work on
it, and have you be able to work on it again with your older version.  If
you have a new hire and have to purchase a later version of RoboHelp for
that person, you'll have the same issues.  (I personally would purchase the
bronze support for all licenses. From the standpoint of someone who has done
purchasing for a small office as well, it's often easier to get the support
purchase when you are doing the initial purchase than it is to go back after
18 months and say, hey, we really need to buy the upgrade for these
licenses....)

Vicki Ruiter
SRA International, Inc.

-----Original Message-----
From: Lisa A. Roth
To: TECHWR-L
Sent: 10/15/03 4:05 PM
Subject: Advice re: RoboHelp/RoboDemo maint. packs


Hello there,

I am currently helping my company to evaluate our needs before
(hopefully) 
purchasing RoboHelp and RoboDemo. To help me with this, I was hoping to 
hear a few opinions from the trenches. I am interested in hearing from 
anyone and everyone, but the opinions of people at small businesses are 
especially welcome.

We are a small business, and I am currently trying to decide whether or
not 
I should recommend purchasing a maintenance plan for RoboHelp and
RoboDemo. 
If yes, then I am also wondering whether we should buy one of the bronze

(i.e., low-level) maintenance plans and funnel technical support issues 
through one user, or whether we should get a maintenance plan for each
of 
the three users.

Herein lies the dilemma:

* Do you feel that your investment in the maintenance plan was
worthwhile? 
How do you use it most of the time?

* Given the availability of such excellent peer-based support such as 
TECHWR-L and similar groups, do you find that your primary reason
    for purchasing the maintenance plan is less for technical support
and 
more for the access to upgrades?

* On the average, how often do you receive these upgrades? Is the
frequency 
enough to result in any substantial
    savings vs. buying the upgrades as you need them? (We may find that
we 
don't need to be "riding the crest" of
     every new version. At least in the beginning, our use of the 
application would most likely NOT take advantage
     of some of the higher-end possibilities.)

Thanks everyone for your thoughts! Much appreciated...

Lisa A. Roth

ECOG
900 Commonwealth Ave
Boston, MA 02215
Phone: (617) 632-3610
Fax: (617) 632-5414

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