Steven Canter Director, Global Service Delivery

Smart ERP Solutions Steve.C@SmartERP.com

Working Effectively with PeopleSoft Support

Agenda

• Introduction

• Being Prepared

• Opening an SR

• Managing the SR

• Other Strategies

• Q & A

About

Smart ERP Solutions

Smart ERP Solutions

Comprised of the best former developers, architects, support, functional consultants and executives from PeopleSoft/Oracle Unique best practices and expertise in PeopleSoft strategic

planning, implementation, upgrade and add-on / customization services Provide cost-effective, robust and repeatable add-on “Smart

Solutions” for PeopleSoft applications as an alternative to customizations High Quality of Service at Every Level and Role: Executive

Leadership, Project Management, Functional and Technical Expertise

About This Presentation

• Based on my 10+ years experience as CIO for a company running PeopleSoft FSCM

• This content is NOT officially sanctioned by Oracle

• Adapt the recommendations here to fit the needs of your organization

• Your mileage may vary

Common Complaints • My support analyst doesn’t understand the

problem

• They won’t help me unless I replicate in Demo

• It takes them forever to respond

• They say it’s “Working as Designed”

• They won’t help me unless I’m current on maintenance/ bundles

Preparing for a Good Experience

Being Prepared • Be responsive and knowledgeable about your SR

• Know your version (Ctrl-J information)

• Know what bundles you have applied

• Be aware if you have customizations that may impact you

• Know your technical architecture

• Consider using Oracle Configuration Manager

Why OCM?

• Automatically collects information about your system and uploads it to an Oracle repository

• Allows for proactive notifications on issues that impact your specific configuration

• Allows Oracle Support to see details about your configuration that may assist with resolving your problems

• Once installed, it is low overhead and fairly automatic

OCM Concerns

• Privacy issues (not really)

• Additional software to install/configure/maintain

• Removes ability to tell “little white lies” to Oracle

• If not using OCM, then you can still create and save a configuration in My Oracle Support to speed SR creation

Other Items

• Provide My Oracle Support access to the right people

• Use the correct Support Identifier

• Make sure your contact information is correct

• Know the phone numbers to call if needed - http://www.oracle.com/us/support/contact-068555.html

CreatingYour SR

When to Log an SR • ALWAYS!!!

• Even if the issue is small and you have already corrected it, you should take a few minutes to open an SR – Include your fix as an attachment and use Priority 3

• Reporting a problem to Oracle now may save someone else a problem later on and vise versa

• Saves you work on retrofit when patching or upgrading

• Believe it or not, they really do want you to file SRs

Creating the SR

• Use a good description Problem Summary

• Be specific in your Problem Description

• Differentiate between a Tools SR and Functional SR

• Always a good idea to include attachments

• Choose the correct Severity

What Severity to Use

• Severity 1 – The entire system or a key subset is down or there is significant data corruption occurring.

• Severity 2- Significant defect no acceptable workaround is available. Should be your default severity.

• Severity 3 – Minor impact. Use if you have put in your own custom or can easily workaround. Don’t use if you want an Oracle fix.

• Severity 4 – Enhancement or information request

More on Severity

• Being in test before go-live doesn’t preclude Severity 1 or Severity 2 if you cannot go live with the defect

• You can open at a lower severity now and then raise it later if the situation warrants

• If Severity 1 or Severity 2, be prepared to defend your position (more on that later)

Severity 1 issues • Always open the ticket via web so that you

can include screen shots, traces, etc.

• If very urgent, immediately follow up with a phone call and provide the SR number

• Be prepared to work 24/7 or provide reasonable responsiveness beyond normal working hours

• Ensure that you have provided best contact information

Business Impact

• Should always include Business Impact information for Severity 1 and Severity 2 issues

• Explain in business terms (not in PeopleSoft lingo or in tech language) how this issue impacts the business or the users

• Include metrics such as frequency, time to resolve, and financial impact

Replicating the Issue • Replicate in Demo if you can. Sometimes

easy, sometimes not. If not, then replicate in your Test

• Provide crystal clear replication steps – include screen shots of important setup parameters

• If replicating in your own Test system, then also include a trace file

• Include important configuration details

Online Trace Settings

AE Trace Settings

Other Traces

• How to trace a COBOL program: https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/ui/km/SearchDocDisplay.jspx?_afrLoop=95594598618497&type=DOCUMENT&id=1092955.1&displayIndex=3&_afrWindowMode=0&_adf.ctrl-state=15rsdemjrw_160

• How to trace an SQR program: https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/ui/km/SearchDocDisplay.jspx?_afrLoop=95849690974880&type=DOCUMENT&id=1325869.1&displayIndex=1&_afrWindowMode=0&_adf.ctrl-state=15rsdemjrw_181

Other Things to Include

• Will you need a POC? (more on that later)

• Describe the business impact that this is having

• Is this issue consistent or intermittent – provide details

• Did this just crop up? If so, then why now? (trying to implement new feature, configuration change, etc.)

After Your SR is Open

Rule #1 – Be Responsive

• If you aren’t responding, your issue won’t be resolved

• If you wait days before responding to a request for information, your SR will fall to the bottom of the analysts priority list

• Lack of responsiveness will impact your ability to ask for escalation or to qualify for a POC (more later)

• If you are delayed trying to get the necessary information, at least update the SR with that information

Requesting a POC • Proof of Concept is provided by Development

for a specific customer for a specific issue

• POCs have NOT gone through the normal QA process

• Use when you cannot wait until the release of a bundle to receive the necessary fix

• Must specifically request to receive a POC

• Final fix that is released in a bundle may be different

Changing Severity

• Should be relatively rare

• Generally one of the following should apply o The original severity was incorrect

o The problem is worse than originally thought

o A crucial date is approaching

• Request your analyst to increase severity if necessary

Escalations

• Escalation is NOT a change in severity

• Use Escalation when you are not getting the level of support you need on a specific SR o Support analyst is not getting back to you in a timely fashion

o Support analyst is unable to understand/replicate your problem

o SR has been sitting with Development for an excessive period of time

o SR is noted as “Working as Designed” and you disagree

How to Escalate • DON’T do it over the web

• DON’T go through the automated response system

• DO call the 800- number and get to a live person

• Give the person on the phone your SR number, say that you want to escalate the ticket and request a callback from a manager

• You should get a callback within a few hours

What Can Escalation Do? • Light a fire under your support analyst

• Change/add support analysts for your SR

• Bring in resources from other areas (Dev or Strategy)

• Act as a liaison with development

• Make your SR an agenda item on regular internal status meetings

What To Do When Escalating

• Make sure you have the name and contact information of the manager that you have spoken with

• Identify an action plan for your SR (may be preliminary)

• After the call, document the call as a note in your SR for visibility

My SRs are Out of Control!

• This can happen if you either are implementing a new module or working on an upgrade

• Separate your SRs by priority (high/medium/low)

• Speak to a manager (follow Escalation process)

• Ask for related SRs to be treated as a single unit of work

• Ask for regular (weekly?) conference calls to review status of high priority issues

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