NETWORK WORKING GROUP                           Alexander McKenzie(BBN)
Request For Comments #421                       27-NOV-72
NIC #12897

            A SOFTWARE CONSULTING SERVICE FOR NETWORK USERS

     As actual or attempted Network use has grown, it has become
increasingly apparent that users with real problems to solve are not
afforded the kinds of software assistance and consulting services
normally provided by computer service facilities. Two mechanisms which
were designed to help fill the void in the past are the Resources
Notebook and the designation of Techincal Liaisons. Unfortunately, the
Resources Notebook tends to have a long undate cycle, and Technical
Liaisons are frequently systems programmers who may work at odd hours
and are sometimes impatient with the questions of naive users.

     In an attempt to deal with this problem in a more satisfactory way,
BBN recently aided a "software consultant", Nancy Neigus, to the
Networtk Control Center staff. Nancy has extensive software experience
on a number of systems, and has spent the last few months familiarizing
with server systems and subsystems via the network.

     This consulting service is experimental in nature, and as such its
limits, even its continued existance, will be influenced by the
expressed needs of the user community. Altough the primary goal is for
Nancy to provide assistan ce in using existing resources, we do not
(currently) exclude the possibility of her participation in such
projects as the checkout of protocol implementations and resolution of
any discovered conflicts. In some cases, it may turn out that successful
network operation of a subsystem requires changes to Host software; we
will attempt to act as a repository and dispatch point of reported
difficulties of its kind.

        Nancy can be contacted via the Network Control Center
telephone:
        (617) 611-0100
Collect calls will be accepted. She will normally be available between
9am and 5pm (Eastern Time) weekdays, but the NCC has round-the-clock
operator coverage and the operators will take messages for her at
other times. Online messages may also be left at the NIC for "NJN",
or, for TIP users, vis the "Gripe" service (see TIP news).

        Please inform users at your site of the this software
consulting service, and encourage them to try it.

       [ This RFC was put into machine readable form for entry ]
       [ into the online RFC archives by Chakravarthy Paila 4/97]