VanguardMS Customer Support Help Page

VanguardMS Customer Support Area

This area is for use by the VanguardMS customer support community. This page contains:

VanguardMS Escalation Process

Escalation Submission Form

On-Line Reports and How to Use Them

Status Report of Escalation Open to VanguardMS Engineering

Definition of Terms

Email Archive

Feedback about this page

VanguardMS Escalation Process

This is a brief overview of the Escalation Process. A more complete definition of the process is contained in VanguardMS Engineering Support Policy.

Field Support.
When a customer problem is identified, field support personnel check configuration; validate the application using application notes, FAQ data searches, etc; gather and analyze data (including Alarm Logs, Node and detailed Stats, crash reports, logs of recent changes to customer environment; etc); and seek support from 1st and 2nd Level Support groups if the problem is not resolved in a timely manner.
Level 1 Support.
Level 1 Support is provided by Global Support Engineering who can be contacted by phone or by email (using the MS Mail "Cust. Serv." icon). The role of GSE in dealing with a customer problem is to document the nature of the problem and to capture basic information about product line, release level, configuration, and application; verify proper installation and configuration; resolve the problem on the phone; dispatch on-site service (if appropriate); or, failing to resolve the problem in a timely manner, escalate the problem to Level 2 Support . Wayne Shaker is the manager of GSE.

In some cases, groups other than GSE may be qualified by VanguardMS to provide Level 1 Support and to contact Level 2 Support directly. Examples of such Level 1 groups are On-Line Center, accepted VAR's, etc.
Level 2 Support.
Level 2 Support is provided by Global Network Engineering who respond to an escalation from a Level 1 Support function. The role of GNE is to more deeply evaluate a problem drawing upon technical experts within GNE and VanguardMS Engineering; attempt to duplicate the problem (when necessary); contact the customer directly to get more information and, if necessary, gain access to the customer's network for diagnosis and data gathering; or recommend configuration changes, software upgrades or unit replacement to attempt to resolve the problem. Failing to resolve the problem in a timely manner, GNE will escalate the problem and all associated data to VanguardMS Engineering. Jeff Amaral is the manager of GNE.
Escalations to Engineering.
Problems Escalated to Engineering are logged in a problem tracking system; categorized by the severity of the impact on the customer; and assigned to a manager and engineer for evaluation and resolution. Depending on the nature and severity of the problem, the resolution may be a software patch release; a temporary workaround; or resolved in a subsequent standard release of software. All open escalations to engineering are reviewed weekly by Engineering and GNE and documented in the Status Report of Escalation Open to VanguardMS Engineering. Wayne Dixon is the VanguardMS Engineering Escalations Manager.

Escalation Submission Form

A problem is Escalated to Engineering after level 1 and level 2 means of support have been exhausted and have failed to remedy the problem. At that point in the process, an escalation is logged to the engineering problem tracking system by GSE or GNE via Clarify. Clarify Access page.

In addition to Escalations, DDTS also allows the logging of one time crashes. Query DDTS Crash Database

Most system crashes are one-time, self-recoverable events which cause a brief outage. These types of problems are generally difficult to diagnosis and resolve, and require a number of occurrences to identify the trend and to isolate the underlying cause. The crash data base is used to log these sporadic occurrences. Immediate diagnosis or resolution is generally not possible. (Any other type of crash of a more severe nature is handled as an Escalation.)

Defects which are observed, but which do not require commitment of a resolution to our customer, may also be logged through Clarify. These defects will be evaluated when possible and over time lead to improved overall product quality.


On-Line Reports and How to Use Them

All open escalation's to engineering are reviewed weekly by Engineering and GNE and documented in the Status Report of Escalation Open to VanguardMS Engineering.

Questions, additional inputs, or corrections regarding an escalation or the content of this report should be forwarded to Dave Brooks. Under no circumstances should the field establish direct contact with the manager or engineer who are assigned to an escalation without Dave Brooks or Wayne Dixon's direct involvement.

Status Report of Escalation Open to VanguardMS Engineering

This report is organized alphabetically by end user customer name. Each escalation can be identified by the CR# assigned by GNE/ GSE. Each summary contains the following information about the escalation:


Definition of Terms (used in the Escalation Report)

This section covers the terms used to track and categorize escalation's to engineering.

Problem Severity:

Severity 1 (Critical):
A problem that prevents the implementation of a required major feature(s) and exhibits an unacceptable impact on the customer's operation or service availability for which there is no known work around. Requires immediate engineering attention and daily status updates. The normal remedy for a problem occurring on a supported release of software is upgrade via a software patch.
Severity 2 (Major):
A problem with a required feature(s) that seriously degrades the products performance or limit's service availability, but does not prevent product implementation or is mitigated by a temporary work around implemented. This includes any node crash which requires manual operator intervention for recovery. Within 5 working days from when a severity 2 problem is Escalated to Engineering, the problem must be reviewed, and within 20 working days thereafter, a commitment is required as to when the problem will be resolved. The normal remedy for a problem occurring on a supported release of software is upgrade to the next standard release or to a specific software patch.
Severity 3 (Minor):
A problem with a required feature(s) that degrades the products performance, appearance, or service availability, but does not seriously impact the customer's operations. This includes a so-called one-time node crash which is self-recovering and apparently not repeatable. A severity 3 problem requires review by engineering within 20 working days from the point that the problem is Escalated to Engineering. Remedy for a problem occurring on a supported release of software is only made via a standard release
Severity 4 (No customer impact):
A problem that does not degrade any product functionality, performance or service availability. Severity 4 escalation generally relate to documentation errors or omissions and are remedied by a subsequent issue of that document.

Escalation Tracking States:

Every escalation progresses through a number of states as it is being evaluated, fixed, tested, delivered to the customer and finally resolved in the next release of software.

Assigned State (A).
Escalation is assigned to the appropriate VanguardMS manager and engineer to schedule this effort .
Open State (O).
An engineer is actively working on the escalation.
Postponed State (P).
Escalation is placed on hold. Generally this indicates that insufficient information exists to allow further progress. This moves responsibility for the escalation back to GNE until the needed information is obtained from the customer/ customer application.
Resolved State (R).
A fix for this problem has been found and is ready for a patch to be built or to be submitted into a new release.
Verified State (V).
A patch has been built and tested and is ready for limited distribution by GNE/ GSE to those customers experiencing this problem.
Closed State (C).
The resolution of this problem has been included in a standard release of software.
Rejected State (C).
The escalation was found not to be a problem of design and all associated activities has stopped.

Email Archive

An archive has been established to create a reference library for useful information. The archive can be sorted by Author, Subject, Date, or Thread. A partial list of the repetitive but informative email captured is:

Click here to view this archive.

Feedback about this page

Send you feedback, suggestions for additions, and improvements about this page to Wayne Dixon. We want this to serve your needs and to improve our overall customer satisfaction.