Technical Support Update

By Matthew F. Reagan, Centocor


If you received the last issue, you may notice that this looks familiar: It does! The only thing different is the fax phone number which I added to the form. A number of people asked me to reprint this information, since it is in a convenient format, on the back side of the Technical Support Tracking form. This time, Mathias, please make a copy of the form: Don't use the original! That way you can make more when you need them.

For those of you who are reading this for the first time, one of the ideas suggested to me by the membership was to write an informative article about the technical support group at MITI: What is their voice phone number? Fax phone number? Their mailing address? Do they have access to e-mail? Basically, how do you get information to and from MITI's technical support. Once I thought about it, I realized that I didn't know all of the answers. The results of my research are as follows:

Their mailing address:

MITI Technical Support
2895 Temple Avenue
Long Beach, CA 90806

Their phone numbers:

Voice: (310)426-6610 Fax: (310)427-7764

Their Internet e-mail address:

sqrgroup@miti.com
Although they do not have an official address on CompuServe, I know that Gadi Yedwab, their VP of Engineering, is often on the Oracle forum. Questions can be posted there, but that is not an official avenue of help.

Technical Support Manager:

John L. Kellogg You can reach John by using the voice phone number listed above.

Technical support hours:

From 6:00 AM to 5:00 PM (West Coast time) Monday thru Friday except holdays.

The best times to call (based on the number of calls per on-duty analyst):

Between 10:00 AM and 12:00 noon and after 2:00 PM (also West Coast time). When calling support, it helps both you and them if you have the following information readily available:

Product (SQR) and version Hardware platform Operating System and version Database and version Any other related software names and versions (i.e., SQL*Forms V 3.0.16.7 if you are working with the SQREXIT user exit.

When you call in, the analyst will locate your company in the Support Help Desk and open a case for your problem. You will be given the case number and your customer number for future reference.

When calling back about an existing case, refer the analyst to the case number so that case details can be obtained quickly.

The analyst will then search the Support Help Desk for the problem that you are reporting to see if the solution has already been found. If available, an answer will be provided during the initial call. If not, the question will be researched further. You may be requested to provide addition information such as sample reports or data to reproduce a problem. The information should be kept as simple as possible. Sending the data by e-mail is preferrable, but a fax is also acceptable.

Your case will remain open until the problem is resolved. When a bug is reproduced, the analyst will submit a Software Change Request to the Program Development group.

In order to help you gather and keep track of this information when you are calling about a problem, I have drafted an SQR Technical Request Tracking Form and put in on the other side of this page. Feel free to copy it, use it, modify it, change it, etc. If you come up with a better version, give me a call. If I put it into the next issue of the newsletter, you may get your name in print (and possibly a free dinner at the next conference).

Volume II Issue 2 Table of Contents

File maintained by Matt Reagan; last modified 5-FEB-1996.