The Anatomy of a Great Support Request

“A ticket with precise, useful information can be the difference between a quick solution and one that takes days.”

This is the reason why we want to give you some tipps about how to write a good and efficient support request. Below is a breakdown of what a great support request (also known as “ticket”) should include. Keep in mind, that not every ticket needs the same degree of details because every problem is different. But give us as many details as possible.

Before you submit your support request

Troubleshoot your own issue before submitting a support request.

• Read the documentation.
• See whether there are known issues in the documentation.
• Restart your browser (pay attention to close all browser windows).
• Clear your browser cache and cookies.
• Restart the BiG EVAL windows service (howto).

If none of these steps resolve your issue, contact the support desk by submitting a support request.

What to include in my support request?

Name of Organization

We need to know your organizations name to assign the correct service level agreement.
If you are an external consultant or a BiG EVAL partner, we also need to know your customers name to support you adequately.

Subjectline

Please provide a clear subjectline in your support email or support request form. It is the first thing the support agent sees and it should give him or her a hint of what to expect and probably an idea about a solution. If the support agent knows about a quick fix just by reading the subject line, you may get an immediate answer although there are more tickets in the queue.

Bad Subjectline: Testcase not working

Good Subjectline: Testcase fails with exception “cannot connect to database”

Issue Description

The description is the most important factor when it comes to categorizing a ticket into good or bad tickets.

The more details a description has, the more likely it will be solved quickly and without annoying forth and back communication.

Don’t get us wrong. We do not expect a description with too much details that takes you ages to write. We need the important things. Just the right ones. Don’t be afraid to ask questions in your ticket if you’re unsure.

Bad Description: I cannot click on the start button. An error message appears.
Editors note: there were no details about the error message itself.

Worst Description: The software doesn’t work. Pleaes help immediately!

If you do the work in upfront to include the right details, the rest of the process will be much seamless.

Error messages

If an error message appears, please provide the full and exact error message. Do not shorten the text because our support staff is able to screen the source code of BiG EVAL to find the error message and exactly see, in which cases it gets thrown.
Probably copy the error message or make a screenshot.

Logfiles

Most issues can be solved with the help of your logfiles. You can find them on the BiG EVAL server in the subfolder “Logs” within the installation directory of BiG EVAL (howto). We just need the logfile that was current at the date and time when the issue occured.

Context

Let us know more about the context.

• At what date and time did the issue occure?
• What are you doing when the issue occures? Tell us about every click and especially the inputs you entered into form fields.
• What have you done right before the issue occured?
• Did it happen right after an update or installation of the software?

Screenshot or Video

Pictures and much more Videos tell us the story. It’s important for us to see an error message or a unexpected behavior of the software in pictures.

Technical Details

Give us some technical details:

• BiG EVAL Version (you see that in the footer line of the frontend)
• BiG EVAL Edition (you see that in the licenses management)
• Operating System of the server
• Browser Product and Version

Proper Priorisation

Provide the support staff with proper and honest priorisation. Think about the impact the issue has. Maybe describe the impact to help support staff understand why you want high priority.

Remote Desktop Sessions

Do not ask the support for a remote session right from the beginning. Our support staff first collects needed information to solve the issue efficiently via email. If that doesn’t lead to resolving the problem, our support staff decides to request a remote session if it seems to be more efficient.

Be aware about the legal aspects of a remote desktop session. Our support staff may see confidential information like passwords or your organizations data. That’s why BiG EVAL rejects any liability.

What happens if I provide too little information?

If you submit a support request with obviously too little information, our support staff is allowed to stop the service level agreements until you deliver enough information. Only when enough information is available, the service levels get resumed. In rarely but extremely cases, the support staff is allowed to reject the service request. Additional efforts may be charged to your organization.