You can help make your call to technical support as efficient as possible by following the checklists of instructions below. If you need to speak with a Certified Support Technician, be sure to have the following information ready if it is relevant.
• Company name
• Authorized contact name
• Your area code and phone number
• Your pager number
• Your fax number
• The operating system version number of the client
• The operating system version number of the server
• The exact error message
• A detailed description of the problem
• A description of the business impact of the problem
• Incident numbers previously assigned to, or associated with this incident
• Whether the production system is down
• Whether you are under deadline pressure
• If you will be away from your office during the day
• Alternate contacts who are knowledgeable about the problem
• Alternate contact methods (cell phone, pager, e-mail)
• Steps to reproduce the problem
• Copies of session logs, trace files or other diagnostic information
To ensure that the Incident is handled according to your expectations, follow this checklist before ending your call with our support team:
• Review with the technician the severity level which has been assigned; the severity level should reflect the business and technical impact of the problem
• Review with the technician any action items
• Confirm who is responsible for the call back
• Confirm the incident number
The Certified Support Technician will assist you in determining the severity level of the incident, based on your description. For information about severity levels, see the section below on Problem Severity and Priority.
The impact of a problem is a composite of many factors: the number of individuals impacted, the type of service disrupted, the length of outage, the number of times the problem has recurred, the availability of a bypass, and the length of time the problem has been open.
Severity codes provide the means for assigning a value to a problem so that the impact of the problem can be communicated to the people involved in the support process. These codes can be arranged in order from 1 to 5 with number one (1) being the most critical. Problems of lesser significance are assigned lower numbers. Severity code assignment is made by the support center when the ticket is created.
Priority indicates how urgent it is that the problem be fixed. Priorities along with severity are the basis for determining what problems are worked on and in what sequence with what level of resource. As an example, a component failure might be a severity two because of the impact it has. But if there is a recovery procedure which enables it to be bypassed, the priority of resolution may be reduced below that of a severity two problem for which there is no bypass or perhaps even a severity three.
The certified support technician will ask questions about the severity of the problem. Based on the description of the problem and its impact on the business, the technician will determine which one of the Severity Levels apply to the incident.
The Severity Level definition is independent of the computing environment. Due to the volatile nature of support calls it is likely that tickets will often change in priority as it is worked to a resolution; however, the initial severity level assigned will always remain the same.
The benefits of assigning severity are important:
• It provides a way of measuring service quality and problem management responsiveness based on impact.
• It immediately highlights the most urgent situations.
• It provides the basis for prioritization.
Accepted Call Response Times
The following metrics are used as guidelines for staffing and process improvements. The support center is constantly evaluating our metrics to ensure we are meeting these goals. Each severity code affects response times. Typically, if a ticket is not handled within a reasonable time, the problem should be escalated. When it becomes apparent the target time will be exceeded, escalation should be done before the maximum time stated. These times should be established to involve management and ensure resolution of the problem if not fixed in an appropriate time frame. If the problem exceeds this time it should also appear on a management report as an "exception problem".
• 90% of all support calls during business hours are answered by a technician
• 50% of all support calls during business hours are solved without escalation
• 90% of all support calls left in VM during business hours are returned in 30 minutes
• 100% of all support calls left in VM during business hours are returned within 1 hour
• 90% of all after hour support emergencies are fielded within 1 hour
• 100% of all after hour support emergencies are fielded within 2 hours
The highest severity is 1 (P1). A P1 call is considered a critical call and will initially have the highest priority. The production system is down and normal business processes cannot proceed. More than 90% of the users are affected. There is no timely workaround that provides the lost functionality. The incident has one or more of the following:
• Severe business operation impact.
Examples: Inability to perform any work required to operate the business; Critical server failures that are core to business functions.
• Data Corruption caused by software error or failure events. It is extremely important that data corruption be prevented.
• Sever performance degradation, causing unreasonable waits for resources or response, or performance at a level that does not complete critical business functions.
When a P1 call is received the support center will use all available resources to solve the problem as soon as possible.
A severity 2 (P2) call is classified as an urgent call. The system is up, but not functioning at "normal" capacity. A major function is not available and it is affecting a significant number of users. The incident causes a severe impact on business regardless of the environment. No acceptable workaround is available; however, business operations can continue in a restricted fashion. The incident has one or more of the following characteristics:
• Moderate business impact.
Examples: Performance is slow, but workload is manageable; emails are flowing internally but not externally.
• Application error or erroneous results caused by internal software error.
Examples: Absence of some important functionality, but continued operation in a restricted fashion; Word and Excel load but the file can't be saved.
• Severe impact to a single user.
Examples: Equipment failure or complete software failure.
A severity 3 (P3) call is classified as a routine call. It is a minor or intermittent incident occurring and not significantly affecting production. The incident has one or more of the following characteristics:
• A software error for which there is a customer-acceptable workaround.
• Minimal degraded performance due to software error.
• Issue affecting a single user.
• Software error or incorrect behavior with minor impact to the operation of the system.
A severity 4 (P4) call is classified as a request or training call. It is a minor request not significantly affecting production. The incident has one or more of the following characteristics:
• A software error for which there is a customer-acceptable workaround.
• Minimal degraded performance due to software error.
• Software error or incorrect behavior with minor impact to the operation of the system.
A severity 5 (P5) call is classified as an informational call. It is a minor call for information that does not require an immediate sense of urgency — a task to be completed soon. The incident has one or more of the following characteristics:
• A request for help with 'how-to'.
• Negligible business impact.
• Single user issue.
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