Let's face it, no one contacts support because everything is working great. We contact technical support when something is wrong and we need it to be right to complete a task and move on. When we are frustrated it can often be hard to remember to communicate clearly so here are some questions to try and answer so that your support team has the information needed to look into the issue. Below are some examples that show the difference between a limited support request and one with strong details. While you may not be able to answer all the questions every time, trying to include as many answers as possible can go a long way to helping you and your support team reach a resolution.
- What were you trying to do?
- What record(s) specifically were you working with?
- If all records you can say all
- If more than a few you can give a few examples and let us know that there are others.
- If only a few records, give all the records with the issue.
- What is the URL for the record or records with the issue?
- What went wrong-or not as expected?
- When in the process did it go wrong?
- Did you receive an error message?
- What date/time did the issue occur?
- What steps, if any, have you tried already to resolve the issue?
- Which internet browser were you using?
- Is there a deadline for this task that we need to be aware of?
Request with only question one answered.
At first glance this doesn't look so bad, there is an issue with saving on the membership record, but it is unclear whether this is just one record or all records. In response to this kind of request your support team will often test a generic record to see if this is a system wide issue, which it usually is not. If support can save a change to any record, then they have to go back to you and ask for more information which causes delay.
Request with only the first two questions answered.
At least here we know which record to look at, provided you don't have a lot of people named Josh Taylor. If there are multiple records we will need to get the specific link or more detailed information from you.
Request with first three questions answered.
Here we know exactly which record to look at. You have provided the URL and defining information. In response your support team will attempt to save a small and random change to the specific record to replicate your issue. If we have no trouble we will need to get more information. If we are unable to save we will look into the error messages and confirm that this is your issue.
Request with first four/five questions answered.
In response your support team will try to save a random number in the member id field. If we have no trouble we will need to get more information. If we are unable to save we will look into the error messages and confirm that they match what you see.
Request with first six questions answered.
Here we know what information is trying to be saved and exactly what error message is being received. Your support team should be able to quickly replicate the issue and/or help find out why the system isn't seeing the new member id as unique. In these cases it is usually an issue of a duplicate record somewhere in the system. We can respond to the user with the duplicate record and explain steps to correct. Little to no back and forth required.
Request with all questions answered.
While very similar to the prior request this one saves even more time in that we know you've already searched active records for the solution. So we can focus a search on inactive records and/or check system error logs based on the time you provided for more specific details. The browsers are not useful for this case, but different browsers sometimes show information differently so in some cases the browser you use can explain an issue. Finally, the deadline helps us prioritize cases for your organization. *Note that this request even includes a screenshot.