Ana Rezende Product Support Manager – MIT and Gateways teams Oracle Support Services zSeries Oracle SIG – 2004

To Ensure Your Business Success Working Effectively with Oracle Support Services

3 Agenda Support Terminology and Tools Working Effectively with Support Escalations Metalink Q&A Goal: To improve your working relationship with Global Product Support

4 Support Terminology and Tools Support Acronyms and Terminology –A CSI number –SR number and Severity Definitions –SR Status Codes –MetaLink –RDA –ODC –Web Conferencing

5 CSI Numbers Your Key to Accessing Oracle Support What is a CSI Number? CPU Support Identification Number Why is it Important? Used to Verify Eligibility for Support Services Identifies Your Account Information Allows Tracking of Service Requests, Updates & Patches for a Product/License Where do I Find it? Packing Slip Sales Representative

6 Service Request Severity Definitions Severity Level 4 No Business Impact No loss of service or resources Severity Level 3 Minor Business Impact Minor loss of service or resources Severity Level 2 Serious Business Impact Severe loss of service or resources w/o acceptable workaround Severity Level 1 Critical Business Impact Complete loss of service or resources and work cannot reasonably continue - the work is considered “mission critical” Use MetaLink iSR for all Severities

7 SR Status Codes NEWNew SR ASGAssigned to Support Rep WIPWork In Progress RVWReview 1CB1st Callback 2CB2nd Callback IRRImmediate Response Required INTAwaiting Internal Response WCPWaiting for Customer to apply Patch CUSWaiting on Customer SLPSleep until Customer Available LMSLeft Message SCLSoft Close HCLHard Close DEVAssigned to Development Support: Customer: Development:

8 Working Effectively with Global Product Support

9 What Does a Support Representative Do? Works a queue of current customer issues in a variety of statuses Provides resolutions and / or workarounds Responds to new incoming SRs. Acts as liaison between customer and development Contributes to Knowledge base content in MetaLink Does not replace Education or Consulting

10 Best Practices Lessons learned from our customers… Shared ownership in resolving the issue Quality and quantity of communication Joint planning on problem resolution

11 Each Environment is Unique! Always test solutions BEFORE introducing them into your production environment. The data, software and hardware configurations, patch combinations, and integration points are different for every customer. We depend on our customers to manage their environments and help us understand them. Customers control the quality and quantity of information about their environment

12 Help Us Understand Your Environment Do you have MetaLink access? Have you tested ODC or dial-in access? Have you downloaded, executed and reviewed RDA? Do you have a test environment? Does your test environment mirror production? Does your schedule allow adequate time for testing? Does your team have the skills for the products installed? Do you maintain a system log book to track changes, manage patches and patch testing?

13 Communicating the Issue Clear problem statement: Cause & Effect –All known facts –Is the issue reproducible? –Detailed history of environment and changes Answer all Template questions Review our knowledge base on MetaLink –Top Tech Docs –Forums Contact Support – iSR A problem well stated is a problem half solved

14 Successful Communication Minimize SR ‘tag’ or ‘pinging’ Documentation is essential Answer all questions Action plans after each update and define who owns each action Monitor changes in SR status and severity Escalate concerns via the Escalation process

15 Escalations Bringing Management Attention to your Service Request

16 Raising Severity vs. Escalations Escalating an issue brings more attention to it, and when appropriate, more resources. This does not automatically mean that the severity level of the SR will be changed. If the severity level of the SR becomes inappropriate over time, it may be raised by mutual agreement between the Oracle Support Representative and the Customer.

17 Escalations Encounter critical roadblocks Communicate business issues to managers within Oracle Support Dissatisfied with resolution or response Escalate issues in a timely manner Quality of escalation criteria is key: –Project deadlines? –Lost Revenue? –Government reporting? –Users at your door

18 Escalation Process Support Representative Manager / Escalation Manager Senior Manager or Director V.P. or Executive Customer

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20 Oracle Support Services oracle.com/support

21 Benefits of MetaLink!!  Increase Support Alternatives – Knowledge Base – Forums – Patches – Service Requests (SRs) – Bugs  Quick and Convenient  24x7 Access e-Business is the future!

OracleMetaLink Top Technical Documents Diagnostic Tools Oracle Support KB search including Bug database Patch download User Administration Oracle DirectConnect & RDA “My Configs & Projects” MetaLink Knowledge Browser

23 OracleMetaLink – Top Tech Docs Your Starting Place –Compiled by the “best and brightest” –Continuously updated –Rich resource for research and problem solving –Electronic documentation –eTRM -Electronic Technical Reference Manual –Refined/enhanced through PAA - Problem Avoidance Architecture Learning folded back into top tech docs –Support Tools

24 Support Tools ACT – Applications Collection Tool Top Tech Docs -> E-Business Suite -> Diagnostic Tests Catalogue RDA – Remote Diagnostic Agent Search for “RDA” or “Remote Diagnostic Assistant” (Doc ID ) Diagnostics OracleMetaLink – Top Tech Docs

25 Top Tech Docs Screen Shot

26 OSS Diagnostics Tests designed and developed by OSS and Oracle Development, gathering information about the technical environment, Application setup or data OSS Diagnostics give users the ability to: Validate and document the current status of the technical environment and Application setup Compare multiple environments (eg: Test verses Production) Decrease time for installation, upgrade and setup processes Reduce time to resolve an issue Automatically collect complete and accurate information requested by Oracle Support Services

27 Problem Solving Process Oracle Support Services MetaLinkLogin Customer ManualKnowledgeSearch Exceptions LogSR(iTAR)Solution Diagnostic Tests usedIssueprevented RunDiagnostics Oracle Applications Error Customer Diagnostic Tests not used MetaLinkLoginLogSR(iTAR) ExceptionsSolution Solution Oracle Applications Error ManualKnowledgeSearch RunDiagnostics

28 Diagnostic Tests - Metrics Growing pro-active problem avoidance Diagnostics installed

29 OracleMetaLink – KB Search Enhanced for Findability General or Advanced? Advanced allows you to specify several options: Filter by product, platform, modified date, document ID and chose from the different knowledge repositories

30 Easier and more visible search options Exclusion operator is now available Improved product weighting Optimized Searching

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32 Up to 10 Searches can be Saved Permanently! Options:  Duplicate  Run  Delete or  Update Note: The previous 10 searches may be recycled or saved permanently!

33 OracleMetaLink – Patch Download Find the patches you need –Simple search –By Patch Number –By Product Family –Saved Searches –Saved searches –Quick Links –Advanced search

34 OracleMetaLink – Patch Download

35 OracleMetaLink Customer User Administration Provides greater control over your company’s MetaLink access –Set user access and permissions –Create/approve new accounts –Remove existing users Enhances security –All new registrations with your support identifier must be approved

36 User Profile Privileges Screen Shot

37 List Users Screen Shot

38 Manage Users Screen Shot 1

39 Manage Users Screen Shot 2

40 Remote Diagnostic Agent (RDA) Gathers detailed information about Oracle environment Enables faster, better problem routing Problem solving agents embedded in software –Context sensitive problem determination and analysis –Access databases for answers –Capture environment that triggered issue

41 Faster Resolution Time –On Demand Connection –Online Collaboration –Customer access to scripts, tools and instruments Proactive Service –Persistent Connection –System monitoring and maintenance Oracle DirectConnect™ ( ODC ) & Web-Conferencing

42 Oracle DirectConnect Accessible through OracleMetaLink Collaborate directly with an Oracle Support engineer A secure encrypted connection between Oracle Support and your system Available from MetaLink for resolving open SR’s Coordinate use with the support engineer working your SR Chat/Desktop Sharing/File Transfer

43 Oracle DirectConnect

44 OracleMetaLink: My Configs & Projects Internal Code name “My Support” Global initiative to move to proactive support Provides new capabilities on MetaLink Ability to manage your support needs by project Ability to catalog your environments Ability to view configuration details on your environments Health check reports based on rules for best practices and supportability Attach Configurations and Projects to TARs for faster resolution Oracle can begin to enable proactive support capabilities

45 OracleMetaLink: My Configs & Projects “Configs” Ability to catalog all your configurations Detailed description of business-critical environments Both manual and automated configuration description creation and maintenance Projects can also be associated to configurations Third-party software impact

46 Configuration Details View detail of configuration information Secure Encrypted Upload Support Agent Installed on each server Uploads every 24hrs; low system impact Stored in MetaLink Configuration Repository

47 Health check reports for critical areas Checks against current knowledge base Presents Findings, Risks & Recommendations: Warnings and Cautions! Summary Reports give a comprehensive view of systems Key Issues: Availability, Integrity, & Performance Fix problem areas before problems occur!

48 “Projects” Ability to manage your configurations by project View your system configurations the way you manage your business Identify Project Contacts & Project Roles Identify milestones and critical dates Project Dependencies OracleMetaLink: My Configs & Projects

49 Quick Reference MetaLink: –WEWS User Guide – Doc ID: –RDA Info – Doc ID: –ODC Info – Doc ID: –Escalation Process – Doc ID: Severity Definitions and Support Policies: ODC Website:

A Q & Q U E S T I O N S A N S W E R S