While we always recommend contacting us directly by phone when encountering an urgent or severe problem to get the quickest response and attention, we are including incident report classification using our web-based incident reporting tool. This will allow customers to easily classify issues when using our electronic tool to create or manage incident reports and provide that additional information immediately to our GTAC support agents. Customers will also be able to classify their issue when calling directly on the phone.
Our support goals related to response times and resolution remain the same. We always strive to address any and all reported issues quickly and completely and have always had internal processes to identify critical situations. We will continue to deliver responsive and specialized support for all issues reported to us in all classification categories.
Here are the classification categories with both a brief and a detailed description:
Critical - Production site down, action halted, time critical
The production system or deployment is currently inoperative. Continued usage of one or more critical functions of the product/deployment is impossible and prevents normal usage or deployment. Critical business operation and usage are severely affected on a production system or deployment process system. The problem is time critical and causes a production or deployment stoppage.
High - Severe functionality loss, production/usage impact, time sensitive
A severe functionality loss of the production system or deployment, but the system remains operational. A problem that severely affects or restricts significant functionality of the product and restricts continued usage. The problem is time-sensitive and may be causing an immediate functional stoppage.
General - Minor functionality impact, usage continues, default priority
A functionality issue has occurred but processing can continue, or a non-business critical function is not performing properly. Business operations are continuing and the impact is minor or a workaround exists. The problem can be time-sensitive but is not causing an immediate work stoppage and usage can continue in a restricted fashion. This is the default priority level if an incident priority is not otherwise specified.
Low - Support information/questions, enhancement requests
A request or question for general support or information on a product. There is no work stoppage and operations can continue in an unrestricted manner. This includes requests for a new feature or functionality in the existing product or important to long-term functionality.
When classifying an issue as "Critical", you will be required to provide additional information to clarify this assessment.
If an incident report (IR) is incorrectly classified, it will be reclassified by our GTAC support agents after review. If there is not a common understanding or agreement of the classification, the issue can be addressed and discussed further as needed.
All issues reported are important to us. We hope this addition to our tools will help us help you in addressing and resolving your issues to your complete satisfaction.
The GTAC team