Maximize Your Support Value!

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Maximize Your Support Value!

• Jennifer MacIntosh
• Manager, Support Business Strategy

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Objectives

• At the end of this session you will be able to

Understand our different Support Program
Plans Register yourself on the support
website Use the support website to your advantage
Search knowledgebase Log cases Track ongoing
cases Use TeleSupport more efficiently Escalate
issues when needed
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Agenda

• Global Support Organization
• Support Program Plans
• Software Releases
• Web-Based Support
• Support Process for
• logging, handling, resolving a case
• TeleSupport
• Software Bugs
• Feedback

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Cognos Global Support
To ensure our customers success with Cognos
Enterprise Business Intelligence
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Global Customer Support Organization

• North America - Staff of 150
• Ottawa, ON
• Burlington, MA
• Europe - Staff of 58
• Bracknell, England
• Paris, France
• Frankfurt, Germany
• Asia Pacific - Staff of 16
• Sydney, Australia
• Tokyo, Japan

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SCP Certified

• SCP Certification quantifies the effectiveness of
  customer support
• Based upon a stringent set of performance
  standards
• Represents best practices in the industry
• Audited annually
• Cognos confirmed their place among the best
  support organizations by achieving SCP
  Certification for their North American support
  center, said Ben Stephens, SCP auditor. The
  Cognos team demonstrated their commitment to
  providing world class service to their customers
  by passing the rigorous requirements of the SCP
  Certification program.

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Support Programs
Standard Support
Standard Plus Support

• Provides comprehensive package designed to meet
  the needs of the majority of our customers
• Unlimited case logging
• 2 Contacts

• Includes features of Standard
  Support
• FastPath response time
• 2 Additional Contacts
• 6 Extended coverage cases

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Support Programs

• Global Support

Alliance Support

• Highest level of support
• Includes an assigned Technical Team of Senior
  Analysts
• Fastest response times, Account Planning
  coordination

• Option for multinational customers who want
  consistent, Global Support under a single
  worldwide agreement.
• Can be added to Standard, Standard Plus or
  Alliance

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Support Programs
COMPONENT
ALLIANCE
STANDARD PLUS
New Releases and Documentation
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Maintenance Releases
Standard
FastPath
FastPath
Telephone Support
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2
Number of Support Contacts
4
Yes
Yes
eSupport Services (http//support.cognos.com)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Supportlink Magazine
Yes
Yes
Product Enhancement Program
Yes
Yes
Yes
Case Status Reporting
Problem Alerts
Yes
Assigned Technical Team
Yes
Account Coordination and Planning
Yes
Extended Coverage
option
6 calls included
as required
Additional Support Contacts
as required
as required
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Software Releases

• New Releases
• Major feature enhancements including new
  functions, technology and performance
• Signified by a change in the version number i.e..
  6.0 to 7.0
• Maintenance Releases
• Addresses problems in the software
• Sent to customers who have encountered one of the
  problems fixed by the release.
• Signified by a change in the build number i.e.
  Impromptu version 6.0 506 to 6.0 613
• Available for download from the Global Services
  Website

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Software Releases

• Support for Older Versions of Cognos Software
• We strongly recommend customers upgrade as new
  releases become available.
• Cognos provides support (i.e. Fixes/Patches) for
  the current version of each product for a
  12-month period from the date that the newer
  version is shipped to entitled customers.

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Web Support Tools

• support.cognos.com
• Learn how to register a user
• Knowledge Search
• Support Talk
• Newsgroups
• Support Link

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Register a User

• http//support.cognos.com

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Registration Page
15
Registration Page
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Supported Customers Home Page
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Case Management

• Available to all supported customers
• Use it to create a new Case
• Check the status of an ongoing case
• Monitor existing cases and add information to the
  case at any time
• Display detailed information about the case
• Only Case Priorities 3, 4, 5 can be logged
  using Case Management

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Case Logging Components

• What To Do Before You Log a Case
• Who Should Log a Case?
• What Information is Needed Before Logging a Case?
• Setting the Case Priority
• Options for Logging your case
• Case Logging - http//support.cognos.com
• TeleSupport
• North America 1-800-637-7447
• Europe (excluding Eastern Europe, Italy, Middle
  East) - 800 14 COGNOS
• Eastern Europe, Italy, Middle East - 44 1344 707
  799

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What to do Before You Log a Case?

• A few guidelines will help you make the most
  effective use of support
• Verify the problem is related to Cognos software
• Attempt to reproduce the problem
• Check the obvious things
• Review all relevant documentation
• Have any changes recently taking place in your
  environment?
• Log on to our Web site and use the Knowledge
  Search

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Who Should Log a Case?

• Number of contacts is dependent on your Support
  Plan
• Standard - 2
• Standard Plus - 4
• Alliance - 4
• All inquiries must be channeled through one of
  these contacts
• Additional contacts may be purchased if required
• To Change contacts
• Contact profile
• http//support.cognos.com/servlet-cs/updatecontact
  

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What Information is Needed Before Logging a Case?

• Be prepared to provide the following information
• Your customer support number
• Your case reference number, if it is an ongoing
  case
• The phone number where you can be reached
• Have the version numbers of
• Operating System
• Database
• Product version and build number
• A description of what you were doing when the
  problem occurred
• Any steps you have taken to attempt to solve the
  problem
• The exact wording of any error messages that
  appeared on your screen.

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Setting Case Priority
Alliance
Standard
Definition/Impact
Priority
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Case Handling

• Using Telesupport
• Priority 1 cases are routed to the first
  available support analyst
• All other cases are logged by Administrative Team
  and placed in the Callback Pool
• Ongoing Cases
• Case Management
• Add updates
• Check for status
• Attach files
• Telesupport
• Use the IVR to enter case reference number to be
  transferred to the analyst working on the case.

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Case Commitment
Case Commitment
Priority
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Case Resolution

• Case Resolution
• Customer and analyst work together to determine
  when a case should be marked resolved.
• Cases can be resolved in several ways
• Analyst determines cause of problem and explains
  steps to resolve.
• Problem is determined to be a bug and the support
  analyst attempts to find a work around
• Problem cannot be reproduced, but is logged and
  addressed again when further information becomes
  available.

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Case Escalation

• Case Escalation
• Customers who have concerns on how a case is
  progressing can ask the analyst to have the case
  escalated.
• Database triggers notification when case is not
  progressing.
• Critical case reassignment on cases without
  resolution.

TSA Net

• Multi-Vendor Coordination TSA Net
• Another avenue of escalation

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What if its a bug?

• If the issue you are encountering is deemed a
  bug the following occurs
• Recorded in problem tracking system
• Hot fixes available for emergency problems
• Considered for delivery in Maintenance Releases
• Problem Reproduction
• Partnership
• Your participation in preparing test case

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Additional Support Services

• Extended Coverage
• Senior analysts available 24x7x365
• Provided in English only from North America
• 190 US/hr minimum 2-hour charge
  
  
  
• Cognos Connect
• Website on CD
• Available as a Quarterly
  Subscription
  49.95US/Year
• http//support.cognos.com/cognosconnect

• Support Link
• Technical Magazine
• Delivered Quarterly to your contacts
• Available on-line

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Providing Feedback

• We count on your feedback to help us determine
  your level of satisfaction with our Support
  Services.
• Information is used to determine how we can
  improve
• Three types of surveys
• Daily Satisfaction Survey based on resolved
  cases
• Prognostics Survey comparative survey
• Web-based Survey use the feedback button to
  send comments over the web.

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Questions