Need info about RH Server 6 and reports

Question

I'm interisted in RH Server 6 but I'm unable to locate much
practical info about it on the Web site, and a call to sales didn't
help. I need to know what I'm getting us into before I contribute
our $2,000. Can anyone provide this information or point me to its
location on the site:
--I have system requirements from the Adobe site, but what is
the "server" and what does installation and setup entail? About how
how long does it take, or how difficult, to achieve operability?
--According to a piece by John Daigle, the server component
should be installed on a Windows server running IIS 5+. Is IIS a
separate software or standart part of Windows server? If separate,
what preparation should that server have before the installation in
addition to installation of IIS?
--I know nothing about security/firewall protocols. We will
have our own and our customer firewalls to navigate. Are the server
setup instructions adequate for setting all that up? Or are
purchasers expected to have sys admins knowledgeable to set that
up? Is that applied to the RH server or the Windows server? if RH
server, how can I get a copy of instructions for my system people
to review?
--Have users found the RH server/RoboEngine reliable, once
it's operable?
--Is it true that the usage reports aren't customizable? Can
additional usage data be specified in the RH server?
--These report summaries are vague--Areas Requiing Help,
Frequently Viewed Content--stating only that repoorts show the
suchandsuch done "most frequently" or "most often." Does that mean
the top 3, 5, 10 or what? Is there a way to track all of that
activity from most to least?
--The summaries of the reports Unanswered Questions and
Frequently Asked Questions say that terms entered in the Search
field are identified. Questions and terms aren't the same in my
book--am I right that it captures anything entered? Can it do the
same for the Index field?
--I saw no RH server under downloads, or maybe missed it.
Correct in guessing that a demo version is not available?
--Is RH server user doc available on the web site? I found
the Getting Started gude, which isn't much use in evaluating the
product.
I have additional questions, but if you can answer these
questions or direct me to answers some of those may be covered.
Thanks,
Mike
Access database.

Answer 1

Hey, Mike!
I found a few things for you. I'm in a hurry, so I'll list
them quickly.
For the Trial, go to the Adobe downloads page
http://www.adobe.com/downloads/
Then select RoboHelp Server 6 from the dropdown list. You
will be asked to register (free) if you haven't already. When you
arrive at the download page make sure you note the Trial Serial #
To make it easier for you, its:
1336-1033-2628-5062-0993-4570
You can also find a RoboHelp Server 6 Getting Started Guide
here
http://www.adobe.com/support/robohelp/downloads/getting_started_rh6_server.pdf
You were asking about IIS. Yes. As Colum says, this comes
with virtually any version of Windows Server (or Windows XP
Professional). However, you must install and configure it. I am not
an IT or web administrator so it took me a while to learn, but
amazingly I got it to work if you're patient and follow the steps.
(I'm speaking of both IIS and Robohelp Server) Clearly IIS
configuration is not a trivial thing and it is assumed that an
author would have help and cooperation from the IT or Web Admin
folks.
As for customizing reports. At present, the existing reports
are the only ones offered. Since these reports are generated from a
database (Access, SQL Server or Oracle) I would think (haven't done
it myself) that someone familiar with database adminstration could
open the DB (after a backup that is) and be more creative with
generating customized reports.
You are right that the "Question" does in fact mean any
search term or phrase that an end user puts in the search field.
This is the string that is stored and reported as a question. In
discussing this with the Adobe team at STC last month, they agreed
that this was definitely a holdover from the legacy software and is
due for a change sometime in the future.
To answer your other question, text entered in the Index
field is not stored in the database, only the search term field.
Since taking on the old legacy product from eHelp and
Macromedia, Adobe is focusing most of its attention on beefing up
the client authoring app for the next version (Adobe RoboHelp 7).
My assumption is that they are keen on improving the RoboHelp
Server as well. I have passed along many feature requests along the
lines you seem to suggest and hopefully the server will evolve
along with the client app.
Even with its limitations, my clients tell me RoboHelp Server
provides very useful feedback to help them improve their knowledge
base content to make it more helpful and responsive to users needs.
They also like the searchability of PDF, Word, PPT and Excel as
well...something which plain WebHelp without the RoboHelp Server
does not do.
I probably didn't get to everything, but hope this helps.
John