Are you making the most of our resources?

We have a huge variety of processes, products and services – and they all change as technology evolves to meet new demands. The sheer volume of information sometimes makes it difficult to find what you need, when you need it. So we have a few tips on how to make sure you get the most out of the resources we have.

Over the next few blogs, we’ll outline some of the key support tools available, including how you can personalise the Openreach portal, and access business process documents and pricing information.

To kick things off, we’ll show you where to get guidance on the basics: a quick tour of the portal, using the navigation to find your way around – and how to set things up so you’re notified anytime something is updated in the sections that are of interest to you.

Getting started

First things first, on our website homepage you’ll see a Help & Support tab in the top menu. This will take you through to a page with jumping off points to various ‘How to...’ guides, computer-based training (CBT) modules and frequently asked questions (FAQs). More about them later!

For a quick introduction to the portal and how to use it, click on Using the portal in the left hand menu. This gives you it in a nutshell – and there’s also a downloadable quick start guide.

Alternatively, you can watch a presentation outlining the main features of the portal and how to use them (this may take a few moments to load and you’ll get more out of it if you can hear the presentation as well).

Moving around

Once you’ve got your bearings, you can begin to move about. The left-hand navigation pane and the product catalogue are the best places to start. We have a wealth of information and a comprehensive set of documentation for every product and it’s all structured consistently, regardless of product.

But not everyone needs to see all of this information all of the time – so, for example, if you're in a technical role then you probably don't need to see the business documents (and vice-versa). So, once you’ve logged in, you can easily switch between a Business View, a Process view, and a Technical View.

Watch the Product catalogue presentation to learn more.

Keeping up to date

It’s easy to keep up with changes to the portal, using RSS feeds. This means you don’t have to check back to keep track of changes – you’ll be notified automatically. Here’s how to set it up for your browser:

• If there’s an RSS icon directly below the navigation bar on the right-hand side, you'll know we have a news feed for it.
• Click on the icon and a pop-up window will display a short message and ask you if you want to subscribe to the feed
• Click on the words Subscribe to this feed in the pop-up window
• A second pop-up window will ask you if you want to give the feed an easy to remember name and add it your list of browser Favourites. Do that and you're done!

From then on, whenever we update subject matter on the website that you've indicated an interest in, a link will automatically be added to the Favourites list in your browser. Click on that link and you're there!

There’s also a short guide on setting up and using news feeds available to download.

Second crash drama for hero engineer

Engineer Scott Wavell sprang into action after an elderly woman was knocked down by a truck outside Dyserth telephone exchange in Wales, using first aid skills he gained in the army to tend to the victim.

And it was a case of déjà vu for Scott, as six years ago he tended another woman injured in a road accident.

Scott, who served in the army for nine years as a vehicle mechanic before joining Openreach in 1997, said: “In this latest incident I drove into the road and saw a woman waving her arms at the rear of the truck and realised something was wrong.

Hero engineer Scott Wavell

“I immediately stopped, grabbed my first aid kit and ran over and saw a woman aged about 65 lying face down on the ground and barely conscious.

“Some people were trying to move her to get her off the wet road but I realised this was the wrong thing to do so I kept them away from her and tried to ensure people remained calm.

“It took around 20 minutes for an ambulance to arrive and, during that time, I kept a phone line open to the ambulance service and stayed by the woman’s side.

“She lost consciousness after about five minutes but we managed to rouse her.

“The police and ambulance crew arrived and took over and the paramedics spent more than an hour stabilising the woman at the scene before taking her to hospital.

“I didn’t do a lot – it was just a case of remaining calm, which wasn’t a problem for me after my military career, including serving in the Gulf War. But I must be jinxed for this to happen to me twice.”

New vans put engineers in the driving seat

The first of more than 300 brand new Ford Transit vans have been delivered to new engineers in Gloucester. The combination of more manpower and new wheels means we’ll have more engineers out and about getting our service delivery back on track for customers.

Rob Lee, Openreach marketing director, said: “This is great news for both us and our customers as our newly recruited engineering workforce, some of whom are ex-service personnel, can get out on the road to help meet the outstanding demand for our products and services.”

All the vans are kitted out in the latest superfast branding so they’ll also be acting as mobile adverts for our fibre broadband rollout – and hopefully encourage more people to ask about getting it.

Rob said: “The campaign continues to generate awareness and take-up of our fibre access products across the whole of the UK and we are now setting our sights on achieving the next million end user connections.”

Find out what’s involved in rolling out new van livery in a blog by Stewart Signs>