Technical support chain automation with guided self-help capability, escalation to live help, and active journaling

A method for automated technical support in a computer network, comprising:

• during a first live help session, creating a journal that includes a history of a problem and a resolution of the problem, the history including a reference to a diagnostic map and a plurality of first telemetry items previously generated as a result of executing the diagnostic map against a first machine;
• during a second live help session, retrieving the journal;
• and
• comparing given information in the journal with data generated during a guided self-help session as a result of executing a given diagnostic map against a second machine;
• and
• if the given information in the journal and the data generated as the result of executing the given diagnostic map are the same, presenting the given information in the journal on a third machine during the second live help session.

A method for automated technical support in a computer network, comprising:

• during a first live help session, creating a journal that includes a history of a problem incident and a problem resolution, wherein the history includes a plurality of first telemetry items generated as a result of executing a first map against a first machine;
• generating a plurality of second telemetry items as a result of executing a second map against a second machine during a guided self-help session;
• determining whether a portion of the first plurality of telemetry items in the journal is present in the second telemetry during a second live help session;
• and
• if the portion is present, presenting at least the portion of the first telemetry on a third machine during the second live help session.

A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions for causing one or more processors to perform the following:

• create a journal that includes a history of a problem incident and a problem resolution during a first live help session, wherein the history includes a plurality of first telemetry items generated as a result of executing a first map against a first machine;
• generate a plurality of second telemetry items as a result of executing a second map against a second machine during a guided self-help session;
• determine whether a portion of the first plurality of telemetry items in the journal is present in the second plurality of telemetry items during a second live help session;
• and
• present at least the portion of the first plurality of telemetry items on a third machine during the second live help session if the portion is present.