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>

A simple kitty teaches a viral lesson or two…

When ‘Oscar, the meanest moggy in Britain’ shot to fame across national press last week our marketing team were somewhat amused and bemused! Why? Because his owner is none other than our very own head of marketing, Caroline Hughes.

Forgetting the subject matter, we were fascinated that such a small local story could go international, literally overnight. “How did it begin and how can we replicate this?” was our ‘ever-questioning’ marketing team’s first response.

It started local; a simple press release to local papers, just to find a missing cat. You’ve got to provide a hook of course so the fact that the cat had a run-in with a neighbour back in May and appeared on TV in 2010 had to be included!

Sure enough the local press picked it up. And that probably would’ve been the end. But then, an anonymous neighbour called the paper to express anger that Oscar was now back (after being found some 34 miles away… hmmm?). The journalist smelt a continuation story and quickly asked Caroline if he could run a nice “he’s back” story (with no mention of the deep local hatred felt for poor Oscar). A short photo shoot captured a few choice ‘scary’ images of Oscar and the story hit the local headlines again, with a far more venomous edge to it than expected.

Then came the endless stream of comments posted online… enough to rank the article so high that it ticked the boxes for a national press agency. Once it was ‘beefed up’ a little more and was circulated ‘on the wire’ from them, there was literally no stopping it!

The next day Oscar’s household was woken at first light by press, TV and radio in what seemed like a never ending stream of media folk requesting interview after interview. The story had already been picked up by the Metro, Daily Mail, Daily Express, BBC and Sky News and even an Arab paper plus many more. And by the next day it had hit France and Switzerland too where it featured on the front page, a street billboard and even a cartoon strip!

With so much engagement with their online article, the Daily Mail then asked to run a more balanced weekend feature. This included a full feline photo shoot, cat charity donation in Oscar’s honour and full hair and make-up (not for the cat though, in case you were wondering).

One thing’s for sure, it was a rich media training experience for Caroline! But why exactly did it go international?

Engagement, engagement, engagement is the answer. It’s not about what you push out there, it’s the reaction to it that sends it viral (be it laughter, disgust or anger). By using quotes that incited hatred towards a cat, the papers were able to stir enough feeling from the general public to make them post comments and even argue with each other online. Proof of that engagement turned a local story into one that would sell worldwide. Plus everyone loves a bit of cattitude too, apparently!

So, is he really that mean?  Of course not! He’s just a big pussy cat….

P.S. Oscar’s on Facebook too. Pawtographs available from Caroline on request (sorry, we couldn’t resist).

Magnificent seven take on epic Channel Challenge

Openreach Marketing Director Rob Lee faces many channel challenges daily, spending his time between the communications channel, the marketing channel and the sales channel. But his  biggest channel challenge came on a bright October day in Dover, as Rob explains...

Accompanied by my son, my future son-in-law, three work colleagues and a cox, we set off in an epic attempt to row the English Channel, all in aid of the fantastic AHOY charity.

The magnificent seven set off for the far away beaches of Calais, buoyed by the sunshine, enthused by the challenge and absolutely knackered from the 45-minute kerfuffle of dragging a traditional 19th Century Thames Cutter down a shingle slope to launch into the waves.

Our motto throughout the three months of training had always been: “How hard can it be?” We had 10 sessions planned on the Thames, the last three being 22-mile rows and some sea training around the Isle of Sheppey.

Needless to say, on the day we braved the channel, we had all done just 5 or 6 sessions on the Thames, our longest training run had been 11 miles and we’d got nowhere near the sea. How hard can it be?

"I thought you were in charge of the oars!"

It was bloody hard... over five hours of agony.  Our plan had been to cover 11 miles quickly, getting past half-way to eliminate the chance to turn around and come back. Sadly we rowed for over two hours, yet I could still see the registration of my car parked on the Dover seafront.

My wife and other family members crossed on the Ferry. They steamed past us cheering encouragement, waving flags, rushing to get to the beach in Calais to greet us. Sadly that was the last we saw of them until we returned to Kent.

Braving 6 ft waves, and some of the biggest tankers and cargo ships I have ever seen at such close quarters, we battled on. The first two hours were full of good humour and banter, the next hour was silent, the fourth and fifth hours became a bit like tired children snapping at each other, how hard can it be?

However, we did it and although we were far too shattered to enjoy the achievement that night, the following days allowed us the luxury of boring every person we met with “I rowed the Channel, you know”, and here I am telling all our customers.

So, I learned a few lessons: training is important, launching from a jetty is important, and never ever doing anything like this again is mandatory.

The Ahoy charity is brilliant, they help vulnerable and disadvantaged kids experience the pleasure of sailing, rowing and – critically – working as a team. We raised nearly £40k, and if you fancy throwing a few quid their way, you can still donate here.

From Semaphore to Smartphone

The 6th annual Manchester Science Festival ran until 4 November this year and included a special guest appearance from Openreach Ollie during an interactive communications technology event at MediaCityUK.

The nine-day, multi-venue Festival engages and inspires people with science, building their confidence in exploring and questioning science in the most creative ways possible. Events take place in cultural and unusual venues around the city, in Salford, Bolton and across Greater Manchester.

Openreach Ollie dials back in time 

At the centre of the Festival is a family programme including science shows and hands-on activities to keep the kids busy and entertained during half term.

One of these was ‘From Semaphore to Smartphone’, a free interactive exhibition which showed how people communicated before smartphones came along! So people could try their hands at sending messages using flags and Morse Code, among other things. Even Openreach Ollie got in on the act.

And as part of the University of Salford’s weekend of technology at MediaCityUK, there was also the ever popular Digital Retro event, showing computers through the ages. From the Dragon 32 and the Commodore 64 all the way to the Raspberry Pi, there was a range of vintage computers and software to try out.

Killer RABIT let loose by Openreach

We’re now three months into a customer trial of RABIT, known officially as the slightly less catchy 'Major Service Outage (MSO) proactive CP notification trial'. RABIT is an innovative new cable protection system which can detect when a cable has been cut or damaged and notify the police so they can be at the site of the incident within minutes.

The technology was piloted earlier this year and the current trial extends its use to interested communications providers.

As a new diagnostic tool, RABIT – the nickname derives from the original Rapid Assessment BT Incident Tracker technology the trial is based on – instantly notifies ISPs of any cable theft.

The information it sends out includes postcodes of the affected customers which can help manage faults and get customers back online faster. And the new tool might help nab a few more scrap metal thieves if they’re caught in the act.

RABIT is the latest in a series of initiatives aimed at tackling the problem of rising cable theft – mostly by organised gangs. We managed to recover 240 tonnes of stolen metal in an 11-month period through a combination of visits to scrap metal dealers and targeted Police operations.

You can see the official briefing here. And the original RABIT press release here.