A Guide to Efficient Support with IBM

 

 

This is a complete guide for IBM Support, below is an index to navigate easily:

1. Severity Definitions and Response Targets
2. How to file high-quality SR & Guidelines to ensure a speedy resolution on any Support Request
3. How to escalate any Support Request outside of business hours
4. How to request an Escalation on IBM Support website
5. Support Request Closure Information
6. Product support details

 

 To get the best experience from IBM support, kindly follow this guide.

 

 

1) Severity Definitions and Response Targets:

 

Production Support		Initial Response Targets	Severity Definition Guidelines
Response Times	Sev 1	Within less than 2 hours	Production is down, and no workaround is available.
	Sev 2	Within 2 business hours	Major functionality is impaired, and a service, business feature, or function of the service is severely restricted in its use.
	Sev 3	Within 2-4 business hours	Partial, non-critical loss of functionality; the service or functionality is usable, but the issue does not represent a critical impact on operations.
	Sev 4	Within 12-24 business hours	General Usage questions, cosmetic issues, an inquiry or non-technical requests.
Hours of Coverage	Sev 1	24 Hours x 7 Days	All are routed directly to in-region Engineers
	Sev 2, 3 & 4	5 days per week (Monday to Friday) 9 hours per the operations days ( 9 A.M. to 6 P.M Saudi Time ), excluding national or statutory holidays

 

Important: IBM support is responsible for break\fix cases only, and implementing new features or changing the configuration requires IBM Expert Labs to engage.

Premium Support & Advanced Support & Custom Support Severity Definitions and Response Targets are not mentioned in this blog, as they are tailored support needs and depend on business and environment.

Note: Passing your internal deadline for deploying a new version or adding a new function, does not automatically indicate, that it is a severity 1 case. You have to set severity based on how actually passing the deadline affects you.

IBM will use commercially reasonable efforts to respond to cases raised by authorized contacts within the criteria outlined in the IBM Support Guide. IBM's initial response may result in the resolution of the request, or it will form the basis for determining what additional actions may be required to achieve technical resolution.

Depending on the complexity of the request, the next response may take days; Agreement between clients and IBM Support professionals is vital to determine what the next action is and when the next checkpoint will be; Severity 2, 3, and 4 problems reported outside business hours will be responded to the next business day.

 

( IBM Severity Definitions and Response Targets: https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/739151 )

 

 

2) How to file high-quality Support Request & Guidelines to ensure a speedy resolution on any Support Request:

 

Remember: the more details you can supply upfront, the better, and it will reduce scoping time; To fill out a high-quality SR, provide as much detail as possible by copying and pasting the following into the Support Request and answering them:

 

1. How many users are impacted by this? Internal, External, One business group, one branch office? (Indicate technical and business impact upfront and be aware of severity classification when submitting an SR so the support can prioritize the case).
2. Did anything change in the environment before the issue occurred?
3. What date/time (Time zone Saudi Arabia – GMT +3) did the issue begin? (Timestamps of all relevant actions in the flow to encounter the error)
4. What was the entire error message displayed on the screen or in the logs?
5. What is the product versions and build numbers are being used?
6. What are the steps to reproduce the problem?
7. What troubleshooting steps have you performed before contacting IBM?
8. Are you going to be out of the office in the next few days? (If the answer is yes, let the support know so they don’t close your ticket, and it’s better to share your availability).
9. Send a screenshot of the entire screen, and if the issues cannot be easily described or involve multiple steps, a video may be more useful than a series of screenshots.
10. If needed, apply a trap or trace code to the system.

 

 

Note: If you have several issues and are unsure which product to pick?

Please raise each matter individually, highlighting if you suspect a common cause. This will ensure efficiency, and the specific product-related questions are addressed by a subject matter expert.

Similarly, if you suspect an issue outside of any IBM products, concurrent tickets with the potential stakeholders' vendors - parallel assessment will ensure resolution is not bottlenecked on one aspect.

 

 

3) How to escalate any Support Request outside of business hours:

 

A duty manager has the authority to take the appropriate actions to resolve the client's dissatisfaction with their support experience. After the duty manager is engaged, they will review the case and your concerns. They will then determine the appropriate actions and help ensure that the case and the you are updated.

Please reach out to the Duty Manager in case one of the following happens to you:

• You need to communicate a critical business impact to IBM Support Management
• Your support request has not been resolved to your satisfaction
• Unexplained/unresolved system downtime
• Change in the environment and a new issue occurs

 

Call the Duty Manager and mention the following details:

• Your Contact Name:
• Your Contact Phone:
• Your Contact Email Address:
• IBM Support Request Number:
• Product Name and Version:
• Problem Description (Synopsis of the issue): 
• Escalation Justification / Business impact (Example: Production Down and no response / Executive Visibility / Critical Timeline or Deadline / Any other important information):
• What assistance is requested from IBM Support? 

 

For Software:

• Toll-Free: 8008444302
• Tel: +44 23 9228 9261
• Emergency Phones: +2010 246 72222, +2010 246 73333

For Hardware:

• Toll-Free: 8008444302
• Tel: +44 23 9228 9261
• Emergency Phones: +2010 246 72222, +2010 246 73333

 

( Duty Manager:  https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/directory-contacts )

 

 

4) How to request an Escalation on IBM Support website:

 

All escalations are reviewed for assignment during normal business hours from Monday through Friday. After they are reviewed, a managed escalation is assigned to an owner who reaches out to the client to discuss the success criteria and scope for the escalation. The owner then collaborates with other stakeholders, schedules needed meetings, and provides status updates until the client issue is resolved.

It's often the fastest and easiest to use IBM's chatbot to request an escalation.

 

1. Click Chat with Support, which is available on select IBM support pages.
2. Interact with the chatbot with your natural language. The chatbot recognizes requests that appear to indicate an escalation. 
3. Click Yes to confirm that you are requesting an escalation. The chatbot displays links to additional information that may help you with your concern without escalating.

 

 

4. If none of the options are helpful, click None. A link to start the Managed Escalation workflow displays.
   
   

 

In addition, you can escalate by following these steps:

 

 

On the Support site, click Escalate an Issue, and then follow the prompts and questions on the Customer Escalations pages. The Support site will guide you through the escalations process. The information IBM needs in order to help you with your problem changes depending on the type of assistance you're looking for. When you request an Escalation, your issue is routed to an escalation owner, who works with you to find a resolution.

 

1. On the bottom of the IBM Support Site, click Escalate an Issue.
2. Click Yes at the Is your Escalation related to a specific IBM product or service? prompt.
3. Click Yes when asked if there is a support case you would like to reference.
4. Enter the case number (ex. TS0000000), and then click Continue.
5. Confirm the basic details displayed in the Customer Escalation window, and then click Continue.
6. Complete the Escalations form, being as descriptive as possible, and then click Submit. You will receive a confirmation email. IBM will then contact you about your escalations.

 

 

 

5) Support Request Closure Information:

A support request is typically closed when you confirm that a resolution has been reached or if IBM is still waiting to hear back from you after many attempts to contact you during a period of time. Support requests may also be closed if they cannot be resolved, or if IBM chooses not to resolve specific issues, with acknowledgment and agreement from you.

Your request will remain open, and you will be contacted when a fix is available in a production release. If an experimental build to address your issue is posted, IBM will contact you. You can also sign up to receive notifications of updates and upgrades as soon as they become available.

 

 

 

6) Product support details:

Please check this website if your product is listed; there is additional guidance provided, beyond what is presented in the Support Guide, to help optimize your support experience with the specified product team:

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6415965