Description Henrik Andersson 2016-10-19 11:07:33 CEST

I have seen a project, do not remember which it was, which have a very nice approach of how errors are handled. Each error in the product have a uniq id through the whole product and a description. The uniq id is probably a hash of the specific error description. All these "errors" are extracted from product and imported into a web service accessible for anyone.

Upon a error / problem in the product the administrator / user is presented with a error id, the description and a shortlink to a web service, something like:

    Error: e7a562b8
    Details: http://www.cendio.com/e7a562b8

    The connection to the server failed with reason: unable
    to resolve address.


The uri shows a page with the error details and possible hints of solutions which the user can rank, something in line with:


    Error description

      The connection to server failed with reason: unable
      to resolve address


    Possible solutions

    .---- -- - -

      Make sure that you spelled the server address correctly.

      ^ 4 Votes

    '---- -- - -


    .---- -- - -

      Verify that your computer have working connection to your network.

      ^ 2 Votes

    '---- -- - -

    .---- -- - -

      Verify that the you can resolve the FQDN into an address 

      ^

    '---- -- - -

The solutions are something we are adding over time from support. Let's say we have a support issue, which references error e7a562b8 and the customer get back to us and says he has this specific error / problem but there are no proposed solutions. We help the customer and find his main problem, adds a solution to the error matching the specific error.

With a voting system for solution we have data that can be user in BI such as:

 - Get the most occured error someone would get from ThinLinc

 - Get the most matching solution for a specific error

This feature will provide a self-support platform for customers and offload our actual support over time.