Ana RezendeProduct Support Manager –MIT and Gateways teamsOracle Support Services

Ana-Cristina.Rezende@oracle.com

zSeries Oracle SIG – 2004

To Ensure Your Business Success

Working Effectively with Oracle Support Services

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Agenda

• Support Terminology and Tools• Working Effectively with Support• Escalations• Metalink• Q&A

Goal: To improve your working relationship with Global Product Support

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Support Terminology and Tools

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

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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

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Service RequestSeverity Definitions

Severity Level 4 No Business ImpactNo loss of service or resources

Severity Level 3 Minor Business ImpactMinor 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

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SR Status Codes

• NEW New SR• ASG Assigned to Support Rep• WIP Work In Progress• RVW Review• 1CB 1st Callback• 2CB 2nd Callback• IRR Immediate Response Required• INT Awaiting Internal Response

• WCP Waiting for Customer to apply Patch• CUS Waiting on Customer• SLP Sleep until Customer Available• LMS Left Message• SCL Soft Close• HCL Hard Close

• DEV Assigned to Development

Support:

Customer:

Development:

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Working Effectively with Global Product Support

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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

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Best PracticesLessons learned from our customers…

 

• Shared ownership in resolving the issue

• Quality and quantity of communication

• Joint planning on problem resolution

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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

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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?

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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 – iSRA problem well stated is a problem half solved

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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

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Escalations

Bringing Management Attention to your Service Request

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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.

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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

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Escalation Process

Support Representative

Manager /Escalation Manager

Senior Manager or Director

V.P. or Executive

Customer

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Oracle Support Servicesoracle.com/support

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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

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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

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• 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 175853.1)• Diagnostics

OracleMetaLink – Top Tech Docs

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Top Tech Docs Screen Shot

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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

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Problem Solving Process

Oracle SupportOracle SupportServicesServices

MetaLinkMetaLinkLoginLogin

CustomerCustomer

Manual Manual Knowledge Knowledge

SearchSearchExceptions

LogLogSRSR

(iTAR)(iTAR)

SolutionSolution

Diagnostic Tests used

Issue Issue preventedpreventedRunRun

DiagnosticsDiagnostics

OracleOracleApplicationsApplications

ErrorErrorCustomerCustomer

Diagnostic Tests not used

MetaLinkMetaLinkLoginLogin

LogLogSRSR

(iTAR)(iTAR)Exceptions

SolutionSolution

Exceptions

SolutionSolution

OracleOracleApplicationsApplications

ErrorError

Manual Manual Knowledge Knowledge

SearchSearch

RunRunDiagnosticsDiagnostics

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Diagnostic Tests - Metrics• Growing pro-active problem avoidance

Number of Logged SRs by One of Our Customers Using Diagnostics

05

101520253035404550

SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL

Num

ber o

f log

ged

SRs

Diagnostics installed

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OracleMetaLink – KB SearchEnhanced 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

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Easier and more visible search options

Exclusion operator is now available

Improved product weighting

Optimized Searching

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Up to 10 Searches can be Saved Permanently!

Options:DuplicateRunDelete or Update

Note:The previous 10 searches may be recycled or saved permanently!

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OracleMetaLink – Patch Download

• Find the patches you need– Simple search

– By Patch Number– By Product Family– Saved Searches

– Saved searches– Quick Links– Advanced search

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OracleMetaLink – Patch Download

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OracleMetaLinkCustomer 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

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User Profile Privileges Screen Shot

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List Users Screen Shot

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Manage Users Screen Shot 1

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Manage Users Screen Shot 2

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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

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• 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

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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

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Oracle DirectConnect

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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

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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

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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

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Health check reports forcritical 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!

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“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

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Quick Reference

• MetaLink: http://metalink.oracle.com/

– WEWS User Guide – Doc ID: 166650.1– RDA Info – Doc ID: 175853.1– ODC Info – Doc ID: 222608.1– Escalation Process – Doc ID: 199389.1

• Severity Definitions and Support Policies: http://www.oracle.com/support/index.html?policies.html

• ODC Website: http://www.metalink.oracle.com/odc/west

AQ&Q U E S T I O N SQ U E S T I O N SA N S W E R SA N S W E R S