Here at HAYNE, we have an outstanding support knowledgebase
At the time of writing (September 2025) I have been in IT support for 30 years. For 24 of those years, I have supported products that now form part of the IBM Cognos suite of applications. Naturally, most day-to-day issues have been seen before. Therefore, much of my job is simply reading the patterns of symptoms and then repeating advice and techniques that I have used (in the past) to solve that issue.
The rise of the Knowledge Centred Support Model
In my first days in IT support I used to carry around a small black diary, into which I stored all of those tricks and tips in the neatest handwriting that I could manage. By the time I started supporting what would become known as IBM/Cognos applications (2001), my handwriting was getting worse. So, I migrated to storing my tips inside individual Word documents which I wrote and sent out to customers each time I saw the same problem.
Then, in 2007, Cognos introduced something which was to become a ‘game-changer’ for my entire working life: KCS. The concept of KCS was originally invented in 1992 by a group of companies. It originally stood for “Knowledge centred Support”, which is still the best description for most scenarios of how it is used.
“I passionately believe in KCS.”
At its heart, it is simply trying to prevent ‘reinventing the wheel’, by storing knowledge found in the past and re-using it later on. Cognos implemented it by providing me with a website where I could create content (‘knowledgebase articles’) which could be searched both internally (Cognos employees) and externally (customers) for solutions to known issues. I would go onto creating literally thousands of those articles, most of which are still in use by IBM today.
I left IBM in autumn 2020 and joined HAYNE. At the time, HAYNE did not have a knowledgebase. Luckily, by summer 2022 we had implemented a brand-new helpdesk system which had knowledgebase capabilities. Over the next 3 years our HAYNE Support offering has improved leaps and bounds; much of our greater efficiency has been achieved through our excellent knowledgebase.
So let’s answer a few questions you may have about the HAYNE knowledgebase!
What is the HAYNE knowledgebase?
It is a portion of our helpdesk website, where both customers and HAYNE employees can find troubleshooting and ‘how to’ articles, on topics that we have seen since HAYNE was founded in 2009. There are sections for each of the products that we support (for example IBM Controller, IBM Planning Analytics, IBM Cognos Analytics and Tagetik) plus sections for other third-party software (for example Microsoft Office, Microsoft SQL) and other technologies that customers use for their software solution.
What benefits does the HAYNE knowledgebase bring to support?
Among other things:
- Reduction in time-to-resolution for support tickets, due to quick location of cause/solutions
- Customer self-service, allowing potential prevention of new tickets needing to be raised
- This includes an AI driven feature that auto-searches the knowledgebase for possible solutions, as the customer types in the description when raising a ticket, and suggests the solutions to them before they complete the ticket creation process
- Reducing the effects of key skilled personnel (both HAYNE and customer) being on holiday or sick
- Retention of knowledge (both HAYNE and customer) when skilled personnel move jobs
- For example, allowing customers’ new superusers to quickly ‘get up to speed’ with the software as soon as they join, by browsing our knowledgebase.
What is the risk/pain of not having access to the HAYNE knowledgebase for your support?
Since 2024/2025, IBM has removed public access to the majority of their knowledgebase (Technote) website. Instead, it is only accessible to IBM Partners (e.g. HAYNE) and customers with direct support from IBM. This has made the ability to be able to access a comprehensive database of information (HAYNE knowledgebase) even more vital to IBM customers. Other vendors (for example Tagetik) do not have a traditional publicly-accessible knowledgebase, so users of their software are in a similar position.
“The HAYNE knowledgebase reduces the risks of delays/frustration, by giving our customers access to an extensive knowledgebase (related to the product that they have support for)”
How does HAYNE see the future of the knowledgebase?
The HAYNE knowledgebase already provides a central pillar of HAYNE support. It currently (September 2025) contains:
- 1480 articles in total (internal and public)
- 297 customer-facing IBM Controller articles
- 78 customer-facing IBM Planning Analytics articles
- 21 customer-facing IBM Cognos Analytics articles
- 31 customer-facing Tagetik articles
- 81 customer-facing related-technology (e.g. Microsoft/Citrix) articles
- 386 public customer-specific solution (bespoke) articles
Those numbers will continue to increase in the future, and therefore the importance of the knowledgebase will increase over time.
Why is the HAYNE knowledgebase My Best Friend, Greatest Ally, and Closest Confidante?
Ok, so that was a little bit of hyperbole, but it is not too much of a stretch of a metaphor!
- I speak to it every day
- It helps me with my toughest problems
- I tell it everything I know!
