Re: Support turnaround time

Denham, Mark wrote:
It's been a long time since i've dealt with a bug and I'm wondering what people are experiencing for turn around time to get a resolution when:

1) There is a known fix.
2) No known fix but a workaround is found.
3) No work around and a patch is provided.

It's just a general question, I don't have an issue to deal with. With informix i've usually found I get an answer from this group faster than support - which is not a reflection on the quality of support. There happen to be some very good and responsive people who follow this group.




Notice of Confidentiality: **This E-mail and any of its attachments may contain Lincoln National Corporation proprietary information, which is privileged, confidential,
or subject to copyright belonging to the Lincoln National Corporation family of companies. This E-mail is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient of this E-mail, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, copying, or action taken in relation to the contents of and attachments to this E-mail is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this E-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately and permanently delete the original and any copy of this E-mail and any printout. Thank You.**


It really depends on the situation and how you deal with support.
I won't give any time frames, because I don't want anyone to assume that as a rule of any kind, but I will make some comments...

- If it is a known issue and you are using one of the most common platforms you probably can get a fix at fixcentral.
- If it's a new bug, it really can depend on a few factors:
. Can you provide a test case that works on the labs?
. What kind of bug it is... It's serious, "cosmetic", it can be worked around, is it in an isolated component or on a critical system function (meaning that R&D must have a lot of work and impact measurement)?

In any case, if you have a workaround you should use it. Before I'm hit by someone, let me be very clear about what a workaround is: A temporary solution to be used until a definite solution is provided. I had my history of "fights" with tech support about "workarounds"... Many times a "workaround" in the tech support "jargon" is not a real workaround for us (people who deal with the real systems...)

One thing we should always try to do is to provide a test case demonstrating the problem... We can waste time discussing if this should be done by the tech support or by the customer, but the fact is that most of the time, the customer has more conditions to do it... But many times they don't have the time/imagination to create it...

I'm in a privilege position because I'm usually sitting at the customer site, but with an "IBM attitude"... This meaning I have the conditions, and I push my imagination... :)
The result when you can create a test case is very good most of the times. And the response is quick. Last situation I had was with another IBM product, and the patch (new bug) was produced in about a week... But I had a test case...

Besides this, I recommend a determined attitude... I posted a lot of times before about tech support attitude (not specific to IBM and specially not specific to Informix) stating I find it wrong, but when I browse through the PMRs database many times I find a lot of situations where customers accept to close the cases too easily (and I see a lot of these on the customer end with other software and software companies). If you have a problem, you should have a solution and/or explanation... It's good for you and it's good for the software supplier (because it's good for other customers and for their technical staff).

Regards.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Support turnaround time
    ... No known fix but a workaround is found. ... if you have a workaround you should use it. ... I had my history of "fights" with tech support about "workarounds"... ... We can waste time discussing if this should be done by the tech support or by the customer, but the fact is that most of the time, the customer has more conditions to do it... ...
    (comp.databases.informix)
  • Re: Windows Mail and Windows Live Mail cant "save as" more than o
    ... There shouldn't have to be a workaround for it. ... I phoned microsoft about it, ... I'm trying to help them fix it by reporting it on here and by phone, ... Windows Live Mail has the same problem. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.mail)
  • Re: Bug? Export to text file drops numeric data right of the decimal
    ... > data has numeric values with multiple digits to the right of the decimal ... > when I view the generated text file the data is missing. ... I know one workaround is to change the ... But I really want a fix or and explanation ...
    (microsoft.public.access.externaldata)
  • Re: Cant send meeting invitations (En 12.1.3, Ex 2003)
    ... Is it worth to do that workaround. ... Reverting to a backup copy is painless and quick. ... due to the reason that a released update will only ... And I'll hope that the fix will ...
    (microsoft.public.mac.office.entourage)
  • Re: Opening nef photos in Digital Image Suite 2006
    ... Thomas wrote: ... The only workaround would be to open the files in compatible software and save the files in a ... This is not tech support. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.photos)