Kbase 17626: Technical Support Guidelines for Pacific Rim Distributors
| Autor |
Progress Software Corporation - Progress |
| Acesso |
Público |
| Publicação |
12/28/1999 |
|
Technical Support Guidelines for Pacific Rim Distributors
DRAFT COPY - Currently under review and edit.
INTRODUCTION:
=============
This Progress Technical Support Knowledgebase Entry is intended to
provide our distributors in the Pacific Rim detailed quidelines which
they should follow to effectively engage our support.
WHY YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS:
===========================
This information is vital to insure that calls are opened in a way
that insures the most efficient response times, that the information
is presented in a way that can most effectively allow us to understand
the problem which is being presented to us, and finally to insure that
all of the information is gathered in one call (i.e. in one place).
PROCEDURAL APPROACH:
====================
There has been some confusion with regard to how and when a PROGRESS
Distributor in the Pacific Rim should contact technical support
personnel in the Bedford facility. This document is intended to
clarify how and when this is done.
1. HOW
Since there is a significant difference in time zones, it is
important to keep this in mind when working together. The Bedford
office is available to support all of your non-priority 1 issues
(summary of priority catagories below).
Perhaps the most effective way of communicating with us is by
The World Wide Web using Progress' TechWeb. You may directly enter
calls there. Full details are available at:
http://techweb.progress.com
Use of the "electronic forms" on Progress' TechWeb insures that all
needed information is supplied. This allows for faster resolution of
your issues.
If you cannot access the World Wide Web, you can enter requests by
e-mail. Send messages to support@progress.com. Make sure that you
include the serial number, existing call reference number (if any)
and clearly identify your company name in all e-mails.
If you do not have access to electronic correspondance, you may
contact us by fax at (781) 275-4543 or directly by phone at (781)
280-4999. Please always have your serial number available or if the
call already exists the call reference number. This is required
information.
2. WHEN
The engineers in the Technical Support Facility in Bedford,
Massachusetts (USA) are available to help you with non-priority 1
issues. Because of problems related to timezone differences and the
time sensitivity of priority 1 issues, you should contact our
Melbourne support facility for priority 1 calls during their business
hours (9:00am through 5:00pm Melbourne local time). Their email
address is, aussupport@melbourne.progress.com. All other
calls should be directed to the Bedford office. Please refer to the
guidelines below to help you determine what type of issue you have:
Priority 1: a.k.a "P1 call"
A situation where the database cannot be brought up and your
customer's business is being severly impacted, e.g.
* Any system where the database can not be brought up and your
customer's business is being handicapped (referred to as SYSTEM
DOWN).
* Any situations that impact the ability for a business to function
properly (random crashing of the server, system limits amount of
users, performance problems which do not allow business processing
to complete in scheduled time, etc.).
* Situations that result in database or index corruption.
* Situations that will impact release and deployment of your product
in a commercial environment (referred to as SHOW STOPPERS).
Priority 2
A stabilized, but fragile situation with escalation potential, e.g.
* System is running and situation is stabilized, but cause either has
not been identified or issue not resolved.
* System is stabilized, but an issue has been identified that needs
to be resolved.
* Work-around has been supplied, but is deemed temporary and work
continues to find a solution or produce a patch.
* Situation prevents application development effort, but in a non-
commercial environment.
* Business is operational but is impacted by the issue, and there
exists no valid work-around (Measurement of impact determines
whether this is a P1 or P2).
* Core dumps or server crashes that effect processing.
Priority 3
Normal technical issues that do not impact the normal operation of a
customer's business, but have been escalated to higher priority due
to:
* delay in resolving (open too long for customer, not meeting support
goals for closure).
* Internal or field request to increase priority.
Priority 4
Normal technical issues that do not impact the normal operation of a
customer's business, e.g.
* Issues reported that can be fixed in future releases.
* Product usage questions.
* Error messages.
* Language questions.
* Tracking core files and stack traces.
* Setting up environments.
Priority 5
Product enhancements, e.g.
* Suggestions for product improvements (enhancements, features).
* Non-critical inssues/features
If you have any question about this information, please contact
Mark Meachen at meachen@bedford.progress.com
Progress Software Technical Support Note # 17626
(updated 24 July 1998 - reastman)