The research portal of the German federal state Saxony-Anhalt consists of 47 Universities, Research Institutes, Enterprises, Research Organizations and Institutes. More than 8.467 projects and 44.893 publications are represented here. If you are wondering now how to find the appropriate expert from our competence network consisting of 1.949 scientists? Just click our Live Contact Button and we can guide you through the portal, support your search, send and receive documents and connect you with the expert you are looking for. For simplification of the communication channel we can communicate within our organization as well as  with users without media discontinuity.
Policy Context
The research portal Saxony-Anhalt forms together with the Network of Competence for Applied and Transfer oriented Research, a central communication service center.
We offer direct access to the universities’ resources for the economy. You can find methods of resolutions, descriptions of topics, co-operations, service suppliers, available research techniques as well as different contacts.
The aim of this initiative is the creation of networks to enhance the close collaboration between universities and the industry, to be faster accessible, to offer better support and to make cooperations easier.
Hence, Online-Support Network has been created to support this aim. Within this network contacts of different institutes have been linked with each other.
Now they are directly accessible and can e.g. use web chat, file transfer, web conference and screen sharing functionalities to optimize communication. Nevertheless, the central function is to forward an inquiry directly to the appropriate expert in the network.
The technology transfer’s foster parents are a municipal initiative of the Universities and the federal state Saxony-Anhalt’s Ministry of the Interior.
Their aim is to improve the utilization in the field of sciences in Saxony-Anhalt especially for the industry and increase the innovation rate of medium-sized businesses. If you do not find the solution to your problem, we will find you an expert.
This aim is a component of the 2nd guidelines for the eGovernment strategy in Saxony-Anhalt. In particular to better utilize the regions’ knowledge and to raise its attractiveness for existing and new companies..
Hence, the project of an Online-Support Network is pursued with great interest and supported by:Â
- Ministry of Interior,Saxony-Anhalt, management e-government
- Ministry of Economy and Work, Saxony-Anhalt
- Ministry of Education and Arts, Saxony-Anhalt
- Saxony-Anhalt’s representative office in the European Union
- Capital of Magdeburg
- Employers' Association, Saxony-Anhalt
The main purpose of our initiative is the dissemination of knowledge and transfer of research results.
Hence, in the area of the EU politics our initiative adjusts itself in i2010 eGovernment’s action plan. In particular the Seventh Framework programs "Building the Europe of Knowledge“ Cooperation.
Description of target users and groups
The online network is used by representatives coming from the economic, civil and scientific sectors to immediately get in contact with the specialists and to get assistance.
Thus, this helps to ameliorate the cooperation among science, economy and administration. Due to online support, the experts are easier to reach, can give more assistance and initial cooperation is simplified.
The diverse benefits of various transfer and administration institutions being of different size will be available to potential customers.
Due to the wide range, people looking for assistance sometimes had difficulties to find out the appropriate reference person in the numerous institutions. Connecting the employees within the support network causes the existing capacities to be used more efficiently. The employees are familiar with the federal structure and are able to connect to the right reference person without losing time. Thus, the aim is to pass requests coming from different countries on the appropriate advisors.
Description of the way to implement the initiative
The Administrator is responsible for controlling and configuring the NTRsupport service, setting up the system and administering the Operators. The main functions of the Administrator profile are: service account creation, Operator account creation and maintenance, and, in short, all the operations related to maintaining and controlling the service.Â
Once the Administrator has logged in, the screen will display an options menu on the left divided into different areas:
- Information & Statistics: Statistics and other useful data about the system. Operator connections, Conversations held, Survey results, etc.
- Configure System notifications: allows e-mail alerts to be configured so that they are sent automatically in specific circumstances.
- General Options: Administrator data configuration.
- Customise Aspects: Customise the feel and look of the service, to match the corporative image of your company.
- Integration: Access to the source code examples to integrate NTRsupport in your web page.
- Configure Administrators: Create new site administrators (this feature is only available to the site's first administrator).
- Configure Operators: Create and maintain site Operators.
- Configure Categories: Create and maintain Operator groups.
- Mail Configuration: Configure and maintain site mail.
- Configure Surveys: Create pre- and post-conversation surveys, as well as consult the results stored.
- Configure HelpDesk: Manage incidents; the incident status can be consulted, registering clients, departments, etc. Organise the incoming incidents.
- Configure Installable RC: Configure the computers that can be accessed remotely and organise them in groups.
- Configure Security: Define various security parameters, such as the restricted IP addresses, valid IP address connection, activate interfaces, etc.
- Help: Useful information about the NTRsupport service, including the latest version of the NTRsupport User Manual.
- Suggestions: Send comments and ideas to the NTR team to enhance the NTRsupport product.
- Integration Toolkit: Optional feature for accessing the libraries kit used to integrate NTRsupport with other software applications. For more info please contact NTR Sales Department.
- News: View the list of news articles and specify which operators can see them.
- Log out: Finish the session and disconnect to prevent unauthorised use by other people with access to the computer.
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Technology solution
The Live Support System NTRsupport has been developed by NTRglobal a European company with headquarters in Barcelona.
With just a web browser and an internet connection, we can establish with NTRsupport an immediate connection between our PC or Mac and the PC, Mac, Pocket PC or Linux machine of our visitor. Providing on-demand assistance, no previous installation required.
The Customers can access our online help via a Live Contact Button on our SaaS platform, in our website, intranet or in our e-mail, a web session can be started so questions can be quickly answered.
Our Operators are equipped with a comprehensive set of support tools including drawing and highlighting, video, VoIP, session recording, complete system control, customer collaboration, or group training.
NTRsupport provides your team with a single point of contact solution for all customers whether they are using Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, Linux, or Pocket PC systems.
The solution applies the highest levels of security throughout the entire support process. Strong passwords along with SSL and 256-bit AES encryption protect systems and data from login to logout.
From Demonstrations to multiple clients in multiple locations, the delivery of a high quality support service is very much a part of our daily working.
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Technology choice: Standards-based technologyMain results, benefits and impacts
The database installed at the Technologie-Transfer-Zentrum (technology transfer centre) at the University of Magdeburg is accessed more than 200.000 times per day from over 100 countries. This is the double amount of access compared to the previous year to be traced back to the reduction of the inhibition threshold on establishing contacts.
Despite that, the cost of administration was reduced since time-consuming telephone calls disappeared, votes were able to be simplified and duplication was avoided. Also, content with intense explanation can be conveyed quickly. If an advisor is not able to answer the appropriate question he will pass the question on a different advisor in the network. In this case, transferring the chat history for the chosen customer advisor to know what has already been talked about. The customer then doesn’t need to reexpress his/her concerns at the different institutions as he/she is used to so far.
Such a support network allows organising the administration closer to the people and less complicated.
User-friendly and up to date, contacts and reference persons are available on mouse click and access to current research results is ensured. Thus, expert knowledge is retrievable publicly as well as for companies and potential users. Furthermore, trainees and graduates are placed, huge devices and equipments are offered und topics for the diploma thesis are deployed.
By answering the questions simply and uncomplicatedly, the satisfaction of customers and support service providers was increased. Research projects could be accelerated which resulted in supporting the economy and research of the federal state Saxony-Anhalt.
Return on investment
Return on investment: Not applicable / Not availableTrack record of sharing
Most of the contacts (85%) are coming from Germany. This results in access statistics, also. And so do concerns using the online support. There are especially foreign students using this service to gather information about studying, student grants and work experiences.
During the short test period by now, we also got requests from Bruxelles, the USA and Austria. Here, it deals with the service itself and the possibilities associated with it, but also with papers from German scientists, or with research cooperations.
Lessons learnt
As a first result, the implementation of the communication platform and the 24-hour hotline for companies prove an increase in productivity and flexibility concerning the employees, as well as an increase in customer satisfaction. By this means, the number of communicational processes has increased and the supervisors report on noticeably more requests.
Scope: Cross-border, International, National