I spent a number of years as a full-time, on-site IBM SE for a large customer
and the most important part of my job was interceding on their behalf with
the IBM Support center for all sorts of products. I also read a lot of the PMRs
when I'm looking for clues to problems of my own. Here are some tips for
speeding things up.
1) Do your homework. Know precisely what problem you are having. A
vague problem description will add at least two turnarounds. Have
detailed instructions on how to recreate the problem. Giving a precise
description of the problem makes it more likely that support will
recognize it as a known problem, or hand it to a specialist right off.
2) Consider the time zones and work week for your geography and that
of Austin and Raleigh. Every turnaround can be 24 hours if you don't.
3) Be at the latest maintenance level of the code and be able to recreate
the problem at that level.
4) Read the diagnostics manual. It is excellent. You know what data they
are going to ask for, so have it ready, and VERIFY that the data is good
before you send it.
5) Verify that the data got there after you send it. The longest delays in
most PMRs happen when the support center asks for data and there
are several turnarounds in getting the right data to them.
6) Use electronic tickets. This makes it easy to bug them if you have
not heard back. Don't wait.
And remember that you, the customer, will almost always know more
about the product and its behavior in your environment than the first
people you talk to in Support. They have access only to very simple
environments compared to most customers.
Cordially,
Leslie A. Clark
IBM Global Services - Systems Mgmt & Networking
(248) 552-4968 Voicemail, Fax, Pager
---------------------- Forwarded by Leslie Clark/Southfield/IBM on 05/06/99
07:56 AM ---------------------------
Scott Wilson <Scott.Wilson@PREDICTIVE.COM> on 05/05/99 05:37:02 PM
Please respond to Discussion of IBM NetView and POLYCENTER Manager on NetView
<NV-L@UCSBVM.UCSB.EDU>
To: NV-L@UCSBVM.UCSB.EDU
cc: (bcc: Leslie Clark/Southfield/IBM)
Subject: Re: Netview support
Having worked lots with NetView support, and also working extensively with
OpenView in multiple customer environments...
I have to agree with James here. I have had my problems with NetView support in
the past, and have used NetView support extensively over the years, and I do
feel that you must know how to escalate problems in order to get action some
times. The problem that I see is that none of the lower level techs will ever
offer to escalate. You must tell them that the problem needs to be escaleted or
set to a "crit sit" - and a crit sit will get you VERY good response based on my
experiences!
All help desks have their issues, take a poll on the OVForum reflector and ask
the same question of the HP help desk and you will get the same mixed reviews.
HTH,
Scott
James Shanks <James_Shanks@TIVOLI.COM> on 05/05/99 01:20:11 PM
Please respond to Discussion of IBM NetView and POLYCENTER Manager on NetView
<NV-L@UCSBVM.UCSB.EDU>
To: NV-L@UCSBVM.UCSB.EDU
cc: (bcc: Scott Wilson/Herndon/Mid Atlantic/Predictive)
Subject: Re: Netview support
I hesitate to get involved here, because obviously I am part of the
problem. But there are channels for problem escalation when you have one
open. You can request duty manager involvement if you don't think your
response is timely. And you can become a "crit sit" if you think the
appropriate resources are not being brought to bear on your issue. These
get you additional people looking at the problem resolution process and
making sure that the problem is being worked.
But other than that, I am not aware of anyway you can "nudge Support"
except through your IBM/ Tivoli Marketing rep. He or she can complain on
your behalf, but unless you have a current problem open, I don't see that
as having much effect. Most of the timeliness issues I am aware of come
down to headcount issues -- how many skilled people you have and how many
want to do the product Support job.
I don't suppose it will do any good to say that our stats on problem
resolution time, APAR turn around, and all like that are competitive with
other Support groups in Tivoli. In fact NetView consistently beats
Framework in these areas.
But if your aren't satisfied, then by all means, you should let someone
know.
My two cents.
James Shanks
Tivoli (NetView for UNIX) L3 Support
Connie Logg <cal@SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> on 05/05/99 12:50:52 PM
Please respond to Discussion of IBM NetView and POLYCENTER Manager on
NetView <NV-L@UCSBVM.UCSB.EDU>
To: NV-L@UCSBVM.UCSB.EDU
cc: (bcc: James Shanks/Tivoli Systems)
Subject: Re: Netview support
I thoroughly agree.
At 02:40 PM 5/5/99 +1000, you wrote:
>Netviewers
>
>I'm looking for feedback on Netview Support. From our point of view in
>Australia, Support can only be described as extremely poor. Whenever we
log
>a call, we find it takes forever to get a problem acknowledged and have to
>continuously chase to get a response. More often than not, problems are
>fixed ourself or through the cooperation of this forum.
>
>Your feedback will be used to give Netview support a bit of a nudge in the
>case that this problem is universal
>
>Thanks and regards
>
>Phil
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" Of course the opinions expressed here are my own. "
Connie Logg CAL@SLAC.Stanford.Edu ph: 650-926-2879
Network Management and Performance Analyst
SLAC (MS 97), P.O. Box 4349, Stanford, CA 94309
"Happiness is found along the way, not at the end of the road."
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