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Version 5.0.1
http://support.ibm.com
2 						 November, 2014
Cover design by Rick Nelson,
IBM Raleigh
What’s New . . .
Phone Contacts
Version 5.0.1 dated August 2014
updated many of the web links to
align with IBM’s constantly changing
internet landscape.
The November 2014 update changes
the ownership of this handbook, after
18 years.
I would appreciate your feedback on
what you like and what you think
should be improved about this
document. e-mail me at markiem@
us.ibm.com
3 						 November, 2014
Contents
What’s New 	 ...................................................................................		 2
Overview of IBM Support	 ..............................................................		 4
	 IBM Commitment.........................................................................		 4
	 Software Support Organization	 ......................................................	 4
Software Support Portfolio	 .................................................................	 5
IBM Software Support			 ......................................................	 5
	 Support Foundation ..........................................................................	 5	
	 Passport Advantage & IBM Software Maintenance	 ................................		 6
	 System z (S/390)	 .........................................................................		 7
	 Support Line and SoftwareXcel	 .....................................................		 7
	 IBM Selected Support Offering 	 .......................................................	 8
Premium Support 	 ............................................................................	 8
	 Enhanced Technical Support 	 ........................................................	 8
	 IBM Software Accelerated Value Service..................................................	 9
	 Advanced Support for System i & System p 	 .............................................	 10
	 Custom Requirements		 ........................................................	 10
Client Electronic Support .............................................................................	 12
Contacting Software Support	 .................................................................	 14
Getting IBM Software Support	 ................................................................		 14
	 Electronic Access	 .........................................................................		 15
	 Voice Access	 .........................................................................		 16
	 Response Objectives	 ................................................................		 16
	 How your call is handled by IBM Software Support ...................................	 17
	 How a Code Defect is Handled by Support	 ....	 ...................................	 17
	 How Technical Questions (How-to/Install)
		 are handled by Support ...........................................................		 18
	 Your Responsibilities 	 ...................................................................	 19
Escalation Procedures		 ................................................................		 19		
Reopening A PMR/Incident/Support Case	 ............................................	 19
	 Submitting Software Requirements .....................................................		 19
Preventing Problems	 .........................................................................		 21
Practices		 ..........................................................................		 23
	 Lifecycle and Support Extensions	 .........................................................	 23
	 Running on Unsupported Operating Systems .............................................	 23
	 Third party and open source software	 ..............................................	 23
Additional Detail on Services		 .........................................................	 26
Passport Advantage How To	 ....................................................................	 28
Appendix A: Problem Identification Worksheet	 .........................................	 30
Appendix B: Passport Advantage Site Technical Contact.......................................	 31
Appendix C: Contact Information ...........................................................		 33
Appendix D: Acquisitions (Ascental, Consul, Datapower, Filenet, Micromuse, etc. )......	 34
Appendix E: Canadian Technical Support Offering............................................	 45
Appendix F: Acronyms & other terms	 ......................................................	 46
Disclaimer: IBM reserves the right to make changes to the Software Support Guide and the policies within it at any time to
improve or enhance the support provided to our customers. All changes will be posted to ourWeb version of this guide at
http://www.ibm.com/support/customercare/sas/f/handbook/home.html and will be included in future printed editions of this guide.
QUESTIONS: If you have any questions concerning this guide or the policies and procedures included within,please
contact the author Matt Markie at email: markiem@us.ibm.com
© Copyright IBM Corp.1996,2014.US Government Users Restricted Rights - Use,duplication or disclosure restricted by GSAADP Schedule
Contract with IBM Corp.
4 						 November, 2014
Overview of Support
also recognize that in order to enable
you to concentrate on your core busi-
ness issues, it is crucial that we provide
world class information technology
services that complement our informa-
tion system solutions.
The intent of software support is to
provide you with the quality software
support and services you need. Our
vision is to achieve a level of support
excellence that exceeds your expecta-
tions and differentiates IBM in the
marketplace by providing:
•	 Rapid response to your requests
•	 Fast relief to high impact problems
•	 Timely problem resolution
•	 High quality fixes and information
•	 Up-to-date service and installation
information.
We are committed to achieving the
highest level of customer satisfaction
in the industry, with quality focused
programs designed to provide services
that enhance and maximize the use
of IBM products. As your solutions
partner, we are dedicated to enabling
your success.
Software Support Organization
IBM’s software support organization is
a global network of centers with exper-
tise across our broad product portfolio.
The organization is made up of teams
of individuals that work together
to provide you with the responsive
software support that you require.  Our
worldwide centers are structured to
provide you with local language access
in most major countries and with the
skills to help you identify the source of
your problem amongst the products for
which you have purchased support. For
complex problems, we have special-
ized, skilled product teams with access
to the experts in our Development
Laboratories, as required.  Therefore,
you have access to the right level of
IBM expertise when you need it — no
matter where they are located.
The people of our software support
organizations are highly skilled,
motivated, energetic, and are eager to
solve your software problems or answer
your questions.  Our goal is to ensure
your satisfaction each time you need to
contact us for support by:
•	 responding to your requests within
targeted guidelines
•	 providing ongoing communication re-
garding your problem status through
problem resolution
•	 taking ownership of your request for
support
•	 providing a defined escalation process
when management assistance is
needed
•	 maintaining our commitment to con-
tinuous improvement of our service
processes
Welcome To IBM Software
Support
The purpose of this document is to
provide guidelines and reference
materials that you may need when
you require IBM service and support.  
Actual terms and conditions are found
in the license materials for your soft-
ware. We’ve produced this guide with
the following objectives in mind:
•	 To introduce you to IBM Software
Support, including our operating
systems applications and middleware
such as Information Management,
Lotus, Rational, Tivoli, and Web-
Sphere
•	 Provide information on the support
and services currently available
from IBM, including definitions of
programs, policies, and procedures
•	 Help you to effectively utilize IBM
Software Support
•	 Explain how you can enhance your
IBM Software Support with addi-
tional services to meet your needs
•	 Introduce you to the people of IBM
Software Support
Please review this guide carefully
as it contains important information
regarding the service and support of
your IBM products. Thank you for
choosing IBM solutions!
The IBM Commitment
We believe that having your business
is both a privilege and a responsibility.
We hope to maintain that business by
providing you with solutions to your
information technology problems. We
5 						 November, 2014
Software Support Portfolio
General Self-help Capabilities
include features like:
•	 Basic search capability for the follow-
ing:
•	 IBM software defects, that is, closed
APARs (Authorized Program
Analysis Report)
•	 Software fixes
•	 Technotes for resolved issues.
•	 Information on how to purchase soft-
ware support
•	 Marketing Information, such as product
overviews, newsletters, RedBooks,
White Papers, and Announcement
Letters
•	 Technical information, such as Red-
Books and White Papers
•	 Links to education and training infor-
mation
•	 Links to this Software Support Hand-
book
Currently there are several types of support available for the family of IBM Software Products.  The pyramid below outlines the
progression of support available.
Support
Foundation
Support Foundation
offerings provide
comprehensive,
high quality remote technical sup-
port to your IT organization. Remote
technical support allows you to obtain
assistance from IBM for suspected
defects and product-specific, task-
oriented questions regarding the
installation and operation of currently
supported IBM software products.
These offerings do not extend the an-
nounced end of service date (program
services) and the remote technical
support included in this offering will
be provided until the end of service
date for a product. Support Foundation
offerings are not intended for end-user
help desk support.
Electronic Support:
All IBM customers are
entitled to take advan-
tage of the Electronic
Support services available at http://
support.ibm.com . We offer a vast range
of on-line service offerings designed to
augment and enhance the value of your
IT operation. With these resources and
tools, our self-help software support
Internet site will meet many of your
support needs.
Electronic Support will  be available for
at least one year from when you acquire
your product from IBM.
6 						 November, 2014
IBM Software Support
Support Foundation offerings supple-
ment your support staff skills by
providing telephone or electronic
access to IBM’s technical support
knowledgebase(s) and technical
product specialists.
Assistance provided by Support Foun-
dation offerings
Support Foundation offerings pro-
vide:
•	 Remote problem analysis and
assistance during normal
country business hours in
your time zone. For example,
in North America, those
hours would be Monday
through Friday, 8:00A.M. to
5:00P.M., excluding national
or statutory holidays.
•	 Assistance with identify-
ing the failing product/
component.  (Performed
for products covered by a
support contract.)
•	 Assistance with remote
problem determination
and resolution.
•	 Provided in local language
for most major countries.
•	 Voice and electronic access
support for code-related
problems.
•	 Support for routine, short du-
ration installation and usage
questions
•	 7 day, 24 hour support for
mission critical emergencies
(Severity 1) during off-shift
hours.
•	 Provided by voice in most
countries.
•	 Provided in English, with
the local language accom-
modated when possible.
•	 Telephone (voice) or electronic
access via the Web, in coun-
tries where it is available.
•	 Response time objective of
two hours during prime shift
for voice and electronic problem
submissions.
•	 Response objective for critical/
emergency problems during off-shift
hours is two hours.
•	 Unlimited number of technical sup-
port incidents.
Support Foundation Offerings
Offerings include:
•	 Subscription and Support acquired
through Passport Advantage and
Passport Advantage Express
•	 Software Maintenance for System p
and System i software (SWMA)
•	 Support Line
•	 SoftwareXcel for U.S. System z
customers
•	 Selected Support for designated no-
charge IBM and non-IBM products
Maintenance acquired
through Passport
Advantage or Passport
Advantage Express
Passport Advantage and Passport Advantage
Express are comprehensive IBM offerings
that cover software license acquisition, prod-
uct upgrades and technical support under a
single, common set of agreements, processes
and tools. To ensure our customers always
have access to the latest version of their
software and to remote technical support,
Subscription and Support is included in
the license acquisition for all distributed
software products and is renewable on an
annual basis.
Technical support offers customers an
integrated technical support solution for
IBM distributed software. In addition to the
Support Foundation features, the following
are also included:
•	 Access to registered Web site for
enhanced electronic support features
(except the operating system software):
•	 Download interim fixes and fix packs.
•	 Search for technotes, authorized
program analysis reports (APARs) and
other product and technical informa-
tion to help answer technical ques-
tions.
•	 Receive weekly e-mail updates for
flashes and fixes that can be enabled
through the My Notifications function.
•	 Submit and track Problem Manage-
ment Records (PMRs) electronically
by using the Service Request (SR)
tool.
•	 Ability to assign a Site Technical
Contact (STC) who maintains the list of
technical IS staff whom you authorize to
submit/view problem records to IBM.
•	 There is no limit to the number of
technical IS staff who can be authorized
to submit problems to the IBM Support
specialists.
Refer to the “Additional Detail on Services”
chapter of this book and the Passport Ad-
vantage website for more information about
Passport Advantage and Passport Advantage
Express:  http://www.ibm.com/software/
howtobuy/passportadvantage/
IBM’s Software Maintenance for
System i and System p software
IBM Software Maintenance offerings
for System i and System p provide com-
prehensive coverage for software license
acquisition, product upgrades and techni-
cal support under a single, common set of
agreements, processes and tools. To ensure
our customers always have access to the
latest version of their software and to remote
technical support, Software Maintenance
is included in the license acquisition for all
System i and System p operating systems
and associated software products, and is
renewable on an annual basis.
IBM’s Software Maintenance for
Storage Products
Software maintenance is a must-have for
all IBM storage licensed software products.
Software Maintenance (SWMA) provides
Support & Subscription for all IBM storage
7 						 November, 2014
licensed software running on IBM stor-
age hardware products. By default, it is
bundled with the software license with
the initial product sale.
The following list are just a few of
the examples of IBM storage products
that require SWMA in addition to HW
warranty and/or HW MA : include
XIV, Storwize V7000, Storwize V5000,
the new FlashSystem V840, Protec-
TIER editions, SONAS, SAN Volume
Controller, etc.
HW MA cannot be used to solution SW
issues with your storage products.
IBM Software Secure Support
via U.S. Citizens
IBM Software Support via U.S. Citizens
complements the prerequisite IBM
Software Maintenance for AIX, IBM
Software Maintenance for select AIX
LPPs, Support Line for Storage,
Support Line for Linux and System z
Defect support, by providing standard
IBM software support exclusively by
U.S. citizens who are located in the
United States.
•	 IBM provides U.S. Citizen sup-
port via telephone, only to your
information systems (IS) technical
support personnel during prime
shift hours of  8AM - 5PM  in your
time zone, Monday through Friday,
excluding national holidays
•	 A Service Request will be created
and placed in an incoming queue
which is managed and handled
by a U.S. citizen. IBM provides
assistance for your 1) routine, short
duration installation and usage
(how-to) questions; and 2) code-
related questions (“Support”).
Information systems (IS) technical
support personnel can open an
unlimited number of technical
support incidents.
•	 Response time objective is within
two hours during prime shift
hours of coverage for voice prob-
lem submissions
ing, self help from the Internet is still available.
A third type of product on the System z
platform are those which are intended to be
installed and run on any platform. Those
products carry the support characteristics of the
distributed platforms (described below)
Discontinuance of Program Services
IBM provides program service for most of its
software products, as assurance that failures
to conform to specifications will be addressed.   
Thus, discontinuance of program service for the
last release in a version of a software product is
an indication of IBM’s expectation that cus-
tomers will not experience
disruptions due to program
defects. When service is
discontinued, corrections
to known problems remain
available, but the develop-
ment team is redirected to other work, and no
new, tested corrections will be generated for
general use. Known problems may be reviewed
and ordered via electronic vehicles such as the
internet (e.g., http://support.ibm.com) However
support provided by the IBM Support Center
will be discontinued. At discontinuance of pro-
gram service, associated services terminate as
well, e.g. IBM Support Line and SoftwareXcel.  
The IBM Customer Agreement (for monthly
license charge products) provides information
on notification requirements for discontinuance
of program services.
IBM’s Support Line (or equivalent
services by country)
The Support Line offering provides sup-
port for those operating systems and associ-
ated products that are not available with the
Passport Advantage Subscription and Support
and Software Maintenance offerings. Having
Subscription Support, Software Maintenance
and Support Line will ensure total support
coverage for your enterprise needs, including
IBM and selected non-IBM products.
Refer to the Supported Products List for
the Support Groups and products supported
There is a similar IBM offering for
middleware described in the details of
Passport Advantage on page 24.
Program Services
Program Services is
a support element
baked into some
IBM products
which allows you to report IBM defects
to IBM.  While Program Services is
primarily the purview of System z,  
some non-System z products purchased
before 2003 included some form of Pro-
gram Services,  such as the ability to re-
port defects by fax or mail.  Check your
program license for details.  Program
Services do not supply
all the elements of
Foundation Support
but provides a base for
the services above.
IBM System z Software:
Program Services support for most
System z (S/390, zSeries) products
includes problem support for defects in
IBM code and publications via telephone
(voice), and electronic access. This sup-
port is available until such time as it is
withdrawn with at least 6 months notice
via an IBM announcement letter. IBM
will provide remote technical special-
ists necessary to resolve defects in the
majority of our mainframe products at no
additional cost to you.  Support for criti-
cal IBM defect problems is available 24
hours a day, 7 days a week.
IBM Subscription & Support Offer-
ing (S&S) for selected mainframe
products
Some System z products are only sold as
one time charge (unlike the recurring
charge products that predominate the
platform). These products have a separate
subscription and support offering which,
if acquired, provides for the same level
of support as Program Services.  It also
includes future releases and versions.
Without the subscription & support offer-
8 						 November, 2014
in your geography, at http://www.ibm.
com/services/supline/products/ . More
information is available at http://www.
ibm.com/services/us/index.wss/so/its/
a1000030. Please check with your local
country representative to make sure
Support is announced in your country.
Changes are made periodically to re-
flect new products added and products
that are no longer supported.
IBM’s SoftwareXcel for System z
customers in the United States
SoftwareXcel (enterprise edition)
provides:
•	 Resolve for System z, which is
the ability to report problems and
routine installation and “how to”
questions electronically.
•	 Alert for System z, which is the
ability to be notified of high
impact fixes.
•	 Electronic access to Frequently
Asked Questions
•	 Ability to electronically submit
routine installation and “how to”
questions and receive responses
during prime shift.  (Voice and 24
x 7 options are available)
•	 24x7 fullshift voice uplift is
required for an offshift re-
sponse to “how to” questions
•	 Electronic download of fixes by
linking to IBM’s support database
•	 Premium response, which provides
the ability during prime shift
hours to receive assistance with
defect problems within one hour
of electronic or phone receipt by
IBM. While premium response
can happen with each exchange
on a problem, it must be requested
each time.
•	 Remote Screen Viewing capability
Please refer to http://www.ibm.com/
services/us/index.wss/so/its/a1000185
for more information.
IBM Selected Support Offering
(Support-only offering for desig-
nated IBM no-charge and non-IBM
products)
The Selected Support offering is
available for designated no-charge
IBM and non-IBM products. Often
support-only offerings are made
available for products or offering
code that is developed and delivered
through the open source community.
The open source business model
is built on the concept of free and
frictionless access to technology with
optional paid support. In the open
source business model, the product
is available at no charge to download
and use so customers can begin
development, testing and deployment
at no cost. The offering code could
be available from an IBM website,
or from the applicable
third party provider.
The Selected Support
offerings are purchased
via an annual sub-
scription and are available for pur-
chase through Passport Advantage or
Passport Advantage Express.
Refer to the ‘Additional Detail on
Services’  section for more informa-
tion about IBM Selected Support
Offering.
Designated Programs eligible for
Selected Support are listed at: http://
www.ibm.com/software/lotus/pass-
portadvantage/paselectedsupportpro-
grams.html.
These Pro-
grams currently
include things
like:
•	 Apache
Software
Founda-
tion [ASF]
Geronimo open source application
server software
•	 IBM WebSphere Application Server
Community Edition
•	 Eclipse Foundation Eclipse open
source development platform
•	 IBM Informix Innovator-C and
Ultimate-C Editions
Premium Support
Premium Support offerings are services
that provide both additional and special-
ized support on Operating Systems or
middleware products. Premium Support
offerings focus on the vertical depth
of support, and feature a personalized
relationship with our technical experts,
on-site assistance and knowledge
transfers as well as horizontal breadth
for multi-product and multi-vendor IT
environments to maximize IT infra-
structure availability.
With Premium Support, you receive the
following:
•	 Proactive problem prevention and
knowledge transfer
•	 Situation management and reporting
•	 Escalations
•	 Account management
•	 Assigned technical analyst
•	 Optional or planned on-site days
•	 Emergency on-site days
•	 Remote technical advice hours
•	 Event-specific after-hours support for
all severities
Premium Support offerings include offer-
ings such as:
•	 IBM Account Advocate (for U.S. cus-
tomers)
9 						 November, 2014
•	 IBM Enhanced Technical Support
(ETS) (for customers in the U.S.,
Canada and Europe)
•	 IBM Software Accelerated Value
Program for applications and
middleware products
•	 IBM Advanced Support for System i
and System p software (for custom-
ers in the U.S. and Europe)
•	 Further IBM Premium Support
Services (for customers in Japan
and the Asia Pacific region)
IBM Account Advocate, for U.S.
customers
This optional fee feature provides you
with remote telephone or electronic ac-
cess to an account advocate team which
will assist you with coordination and es-
calation of reported problems for prod-
ucts you have covered by Support Line.
Account Advocate support extends to
distributed middleware products sup-
ported on the operating systems cov-
ered by Account Advocate and covered
by IBM Subscription and Support. This
feature is available during prime shift
only. Contact your IBM representative
for additional information.
For more information on Account
Advocate services and the products
to which it applies, visit: http://
www.ibm.com/services/us/index.
wss/offering/its/a1000147
IBM Enhanced Technical Sup-
port (ETS) for U.S., Canadian
and European customers
Enhanced Technical Support (ETS)
offers an integrated approach for
proactive, coordinated support for
multi-product and multi-vendor IT
environments, including Hardware,
Software, Middleware, Server and
Storage platforms, on top of standard
annuity support offerings, to meet
the increasing needs for higher IT
infrastructure availability at an effec-
tive cost.
ETS provides proactive recommenda-
tions and guidance to preempt prob-
lems, and enhanced problem manage-
ment to improve availability across the
whole hardware & software IT infra-
structure.
ETS services are built around three
value propositions:
•	 Personalized enhanced support:
An assigned priority support team,
known as an “Account Advocate
Team” in some areas, learns the
key strengths and weaknesses of
your IT infrastructure to help you
to increase the up-time & produc-
tivity of your Business Solution.
•	 Proactive approach: Your priority
support team provides guidance
and advice to help preempt prob-
lems and assuring highest avail-
ability of your IT infrastructure.
•	 Integrated services: Reduces the
complexities of multi-product and
multi-vendor environment with a
fast and direct access to the Global
IBM knowledge pool.
ETS covers common IT infrastructure
support, including IBM Server and
Storage platforms, IBM Middleware
and strategic OEM products, like Linux
and Microsoft.
ETS offers several enhanced prior-
ity support capabilities on top of the
standard basic support offerings such
as hardware & software Maintenance,
Support Line, and Passport Advantage.
For more information on ETS and addi-
tional support services visit
EMEA : http://www.ibm.com/services/
europe/maintenance/tech_support.
html
US & Canada: http://www.ibm.com/
services/us/index.wss/offering/its/
a1009019
IBM Software Accelerated
Value Program
The perfect complement to the IBM
software behind your mission-critical
applications and high-availability
solutions are IBM’s Guidance and
Optimization Services. Our capabili-
ties expand from advisory services
known as the Software Accelerated
Value Program and managed busi-
ness solutions, to enhanced support
and extended support services and
skill transfer. Depending on the level
of services selected, you decide when
and where our software experts take
over and provide assistance for a
successful deployment or implemen-
tation or manage the full lifecycle
of your projects. Our tiered offering
levels provide flexibility in building
a partnership with IBM. In turn, that
partnership assists you with pre-
ventative actions, delivering smooth
interoperability management, and
overcoming implementation barriers
for new technology.
The key to building this partner-
ship is through our Accelerated
Value Leader and Accelerated Value
Specialist.
•	 Assistance from an Ac-
celerated Value Leader.
The AVL is your single point of
contact who facilitates com-
munications between your team
and the IBM engineers and
10 						November, 2014
development, helps with proactive
change and configuration manage-
ment, provides strategic advice,
helps remove barriers for software
adoption, assists with production
preparation and stability as well as
analyzes and improves processes
related to the supported environ-
ment.
•	 Assistance from an Accel-
erated Value Specialist. T
The AVS provides experienced and
proven technical skills to help ex-
pedite problem resolution through
advanced troubleshooting, along
with risk mitigation planning,
critical fix advice, and diagnostic
coaching. Additionally, the AVS
assists with product deployment
and configuration and shares best
practices for key tactical initiatives.
Additional services available depending
on level of services purchased:
•	 On-site activities. These
activities are customized to your
specific needs and may include
assistance with installation,
configuration or implementation of
product features or solutions, ad-
vanced troubleshooting, assistance
with backup and recovery services,
identifying skill gaps, risks and
dependencies for your software
solutions.
•	 Emergency on-site assis-
tance. In the event of a business
critical (severity 1) situation, we’re
ready to help IBM makes every
effort to dispatch an engineer to
your site within an expedited time
period.
•	 Knowledge Sharing.  Exclu-
sive webinars, customized enable-
ment and skills transfer, one to
one or small group discussion on
the features and implementation
of a specific product, work sessions
to discuss needs, challenges and
devise solutions.
•	 Delivery Plan: A shared
document between the client and
the Accelerated Value team that
articulates the client’€™s priorities
and business needs for the com-
ing year.
•	 Quarterly Report. A report,
prepared by the AVL, that
clearly articulates the value and
benefits the client derived from
Accelerated Value during the
previous quarter.
You can purchase the IBM Software
Accelerated Value Program for many
IBM products. A list of the products
covered can be found at: http://www.
ibm.com/software/support/accelerat-
edvalue/productfamily.html,
the For more information on IBM
Software Accelerated Value Program,
see http//www.ibm.com/software/
support/acceleratedvalue/contactus.
html.  or email: software_acceler-
ated_value@us.ibm.com
Visit our website
IBM Custom Technical Sup-
port for System i and System p
operating system software
Custom Technical Support for Sys-
tem i and System p software provides
customers with an additional special-
ized proactive support, enhanced
problem management and perfor-
mance reports, and an assigned
Technical Solutions Manager on AIX
and i5/OS Operation Systems. This
service:
•	 Creates a technical support
profile
•	 Performs an initial on-site re-
view of customer environment
•	 Provides an escalated level of
response
•	 Assists with upgrade and migra-
tion planning
Further IBM Premium Support
Services for customers in Japan
and the Asia Pacific region
Further Premium Support Services
are available in Asia Pacific and
Japan at an additional fee. Most of
these offerings provide you with an
integrated problem management
approach, on-site assistance, faster
response times and/or extended
preventive/proactive services.
For more information on availabil-
ity and additional support services
contact the IBM representative for
your region.
Custom Requirements
Custom Requirements services are
optional services that are available to
you for an additional fee. They can
be customized to fit your individual
needs. Designed to provide addition-
al value, these offerings are aimed
at clients who run business critical
systems, need high availability and
need to minimize system downtime.
The offerings are focused on the cli-
ent’s environment, are often proactive
so as to focus on problem avoidance
and are tailored to meet the needs of
each client and their environment.
Complete information about IBM’s
Support Family of Services for
most countries can be found on the
Internet at:
http://www.ibm.com/services
Support without a Contract
11 						November, 2014
Electronic Support
The most basic form of support is
to use IBM’s Client Self-Assist tools
provided via the Internet. We offer
a vast range of on-line options and
services designed to augment and
enhance the value of your IT opera-
tion. With these resources and tools,
our support sites are likely to meet
most of your needs.
For self help on middleware, pro-
gramming languages, and most ap-
plication software the IBM Software
Support homepage is available at
http://support.ibm.com.
For self help on IBM operating
systems, virtualization and clustering
software, the IBM Systems Support
home page is available at http://sup-
port.ibm.com.
Product Warranty and Program
Services Support
For most IBM Mainframe platform
software products, you are en-
titled to report IBM defects during
normal business hours (and offshift
for critical problems) by voice or
electronic and will receive assistance
in identifying the problem source,
as long as the product release is
current.   Should the problem turn
out to be a defect in IBM code, we
will issue defect correction informa-
tion, a restriction, or a bypass per
the IBM Customer Agreement (the
document that defines support for
IBM mainframe software).  Beyond  
the self-help support provided via
the Internet, Installation support,
problem source identification as-
sistance (beyond IBM defects) and
support for Q&As is delivered as
part of fee services. As long as the
product is current, you are entitled to
receive fixes for defects and release
upgrades.
Most IBM Distributed (non-S/390)
platform software is provided with
the first year of Subscription and
Support include, giving you the
ability to report suspected defects by
phone or electronically (where avail-
able), get installation and Q&A support,
fixes for IBM defects, and product release
and version upgrades. If you elect to
not renew the Subscription and Support
when it expires, your support is limited
to self help from the internet.
IBM Electronic Support offers a portfolio
of online support tools and resources
that provides comprehensive technical
12 						November, 2014
information to diagnose and resolve
problems and maintain your IBM prod-
ucts. IBM has developed many smart
online tools and proactive features that
can help you prevent problems from oc-
curring in the first place, or quickly and
easily troubleshoot problems when they
occur. With improved personalization of
support resources, you can focus on and
be alerted to exactly the information you
need for efficient and effective problem
prevention and resolution.
IBM Electronic Support addresses five
critical areas to ensure you have the best
possible support experience:
1.	 Simplifying support and creating
more consistency across all IBM prod-
ucts.
2.	 Delivering intelligent resources
and tools that display information fo-
cused on the products you use.
3.	 Providing proactive capabilities
that solve problems before operations are
affected.
4.	 Thriving collaborative communi-
ties that connect to worldwide support
networks and knowledge.
5.	 Enabling seamless and smooth
transition between online and live sup-
port teams for quick problem resolution.
IBM Support Portal
The IBM Support Portal is your gateway
to technical support tools and informa-
tion for all IBM systems, software, and
services. It brings all the support re-
sources available for IBM hardware and
software offerings together in one place.
The IBM Support Portal provides power-
ful features that make it fast and easy to
find the exact information or tool you
need.
•	 Select your IBM products for direct
access to all pertinent resources.
•	 Browse featured support links that
guide you to the most critical and
useful information and tools.
•	 Filter the results of a simple text
search with one click to pinpoint
the most appropriate documents.
How does the IBM Support Por-
tal help you?
You get a unified, centralized view for
all:
•	 Technical support tools and
information
•	 Technical support contract infor-
mation
•	 Hardware, software, and services
IBM Support Portal provides an expe-
rience that:
•	 Exploits IBM’s solutions and
integration
•	 Provides more efficient access to a
wealth of technical information
•	 Simplifies your experience, with a
single place for support
•	 Is part of your current support
contracts, so there’s no extra
charge
That’s complete, customized support
And what does it mean to
you and your business?
It can lower your total cost of owner-
ship for IBM technology by
giving you flexibility and choice
and making you more efficient
in keeping that technology –
and your business – running.
Where to start?
Getting started on the IBM
Support Portal is easy:
1. Go to the IBM Support Portal
2. Select the products of inter-
est.
3. View your page!
To access tools requiring
registration and contract-related
information, follow the Sign in
link and login using your IBM
ID. If you don’t have an IBM ID
choose ‘Register now’ in the sign in
box..
IBM Service Request
You can use the Service Request
Application to open, update, monitor
your service requests (also known
Electronic Support
13 						November, 2014
as Problem Management Records -
PMRs) on-line and to report problems
on nearly all IBM supported software
products. Customers who have support
contracts, like Passport Advantage, Ac-
celerated Value, SoftwareXcel, Support-
Line, Software Maintenance Agreement
(SWMA) and Monthly License Charges
(MLC), can open service requests via
the web 24x7.
With Service Request you can;
•	 Describe software issue and
environment in problem submis-
sion form (eliminates call center
contact)
•	 Monitor/update existing requests
– view a list of all service requests
associated with customer numbers
for support contracts
•	 Attach multiple files to service
requests
•	 Receive notification when your
service request has been updated
by IBM Support
IBM Service Request (SR) is available
on both the IBM Support Portal and
the IBMLink ServiceLink main menus
and follows IBM’s Technical Support
Transformation strategy of moving to
one electronic problem reporting portal.
The Electronic Technical Response
(ETR) application, that SR is replacing,
will continue to be available on IBM-
Link ServiceLink until an evaluation of
the transition is completed.
For additional help and information on
how to use the application, please visit
Service Request Assistance.
14 						November, 2014
Define the Problem:
If you can describe the problem and
symptoms before contacting software
support, you can expedite the problem
solving process. It is very important
to be as specific as possible when
explaining a problem or question to
our software support specialists. Our
specialists want to give you the right
solution, so, the better they under-
stand your specific problem, the bet-
ter they are able to resolve it.
Gather Background Informa-
tion:
To solve problems effectively, the soft-
ware support specialist needs to have
all of the relevant information about
the problem. Your ability to answer
the following questions will help us to
solve your software problem.
•	 What levels of software were
you running when the problem
occurred? Please include all
relevant products, i.e. operating
system as well as related prod-
ucts.
•	 Has the problem happened
before, or is this an isolated
problem?
•	 What steps led to the failure?
•	 Can the problem be recreated? If
so, what steps are required?
•	 Have any changes been made to
the system (hardware, NetWare
or software)?
•	 Were any messages or other
diagnostic information produced?
If so, what were they?
•	 It is often helpful to have a print-
out of the message number(s) of
any messages received when you
contact support.
•	 Define your problem or question
in specific terms and provide the
version and release level of the
product(s) involved.
Recommendation for mid
and large-range Customers
IBM prides itself on delivering world
class software support with highly
skilled, Customer-focused people.
However, IBM support can never
take the place of your company’s
internal help desk. Many successful
companies have found the best way
to interact with IBM software support
is through a cadre of highly skilled
and trained employees who under-
stand their company’s environment
and act in conjunction with their
internal help desk. These senior staff
members are able to filter, sort, and
prioritize their company’s problems
and direct them toward the best
resource (IBM and non-IBM) for
resolution. These are the people who
become authorized contacts to col-
laborate with IBM software support
for fast resolution of IBM problems as
well as assuming a similar role with
other vendors.
We encourage you to adopt such a
structure, if you haven’t already, as
it will help us secure the success of
your IBM solutions.
Before contacting IBM
Software Support
To resolve your software support
service request in the most expedi-
ent way possible, it is important that
you take the following steps before
you contact a software support center.
You will need to gather information
about the problem and have it on
hand when discussing the situation
with the software support specialist.
The following steps are an example of
what is required:
Gather Relevant Diagnostic
Information (if possible):
It is often necessary that our software
support specialists analyze spe-
cific diagnostic information, such as
relevant logs, storage dumps, traces,
etc., in order to resolve your problem.
Gathering this information is often
the most critical step in resolving your
problem. Product specific diagnostic
documentation can be very helpful in
identifying what information is typi-
cally required to resolve problems. If
you are unsure about what documen-
tation is required, you can check out  
IBM Support Assistant (ISA) (http://
www.ibm.com/software/support/isa/),
try searching on MustGather and the
product with which you are having
trouble. Not all products will have
an ISA plug-in available but you may
find additional information on the
individual product support page under
troubleshooting.  You can always
contact software support for assistance
in gathering the needed diagnostic
information.
Determine the Severity Level
You need to initially assign a severity
level to the problem when you report
it. After that, Severity Levels are de-
termined during a mutual discussion
by you and the support analyst, based
on the business impact of the issue. If
you designated a problem as a Severity
1, IBM will work on it 7 days a week,
24 hours a day, providing you are also
Getting IBM Support
15 						November, 2014
Severity Level			Severity Definitions			Examples	
Severity 1 	 			 - Critical situation/System Down		 - All users ofTivoli Problem Management
				 - Business critical software component is	 	 are unable to register a call
				 inoperable			 	 - The Lotus Notes mail server is down and
				 - usually applies to production environment	 affecting all users.
				 - Critical interface has failed
				 Note:We will work with you 7x24 to resolve critical problems providing you have a technical resource 	
				 available to work during those hours.
					
Severity 2 				 Severe Impact: A software component is		 - All users ofTivoli Problem Management 		
				 severely restricted in its use,causing		 receive a database manager error while		
				 significant business impact			 attempting to view open problems
	
Severity 3				 Moderate impact: A non-critical software 		 - A client cannot connect to a server
				 component is malfunctioning, causing
				moderate business impact
	
Severity 4				 Minimal impact: A non-critical software 		 - Documentation is incorrect.
				 component is malfunctioning,causing minimal	 - Additional documentation requested
				 impact,or a non-technical request is made.
available to work during those hours.
You can change the severity level of a
problem if circumstances change from
when it was first entered to match cur-
rent business impact conditions.
A description of the severity levels is in
the table above.
When speaking with a software sup-
port specialist, you should also men-
tion the following items if they apply to
your situation:
•	 you are under business deadline
pressure
•	 your availability (i.e. when you
will be able to work with IBM
Software Support)
•	 Alternate ways to reach you,
more than one phone number,
pager, email address
•	 you can designate a knowledge-
able alternate contact with whom
we can speak
•	 you have other open problems
(PMRs/Incidents) with IBM re-
garding this service request
•	 you are participating in an early
support program
•	 you have researched this situa-
tion prior to calling IBM and have
detailed information or documenta-
tion to provide for the problem.
Accessing Software Support
When submitting a problem to IBM
Software Support about a particular
service request, please have the follow-
ing information ready:
•	 IBM Customer Number1
•	 Product serial number or support ac-
cess number, if available
•	 Machine type/model/serial number
(SW Maintenance)
•	 Company name
1. you should be able to get your IBM Cus-
tomer number from your client rep, from product
invoices, or the call center may be able to help
from your machine type / serial or even your
Customer name.
•	 Contact name
•	 Preferred means of contact (voice or
e-mail)
•	 Telephone number where you can be
reached
•	 Related product and version information
•	 Related operating system and database
information
•	 Detailed description of the issue
•	 Severity of the issue in relationship to the
impact of it affecting your business needs
(per the above table).
Submitting problems electroni-
cally
Through services offerings or the IBM
Support Portal,  you may post support
questions and problems electronically
to the IBM support specialists.  Prior to
submitting a problem via the Internet
you will need the same information as if
you were placing a problem by telephone.
This capability allows you to put all of the
pertinent information about your problem
into the problem record via the Internet
16 						November, 2014
without having to wait for someone
to call you back. This should save
you time and help with problem
resolution time.
If you are submitting a severity one
problem or updating a severity one
problem or raising the severity of an
existing problem to severity one and
it is outside of normal business hours
in your country you should open
your problem by voice or follow-up
your web submission with a call to
your local support center referencing
the problem number you receive on
the web. We want to ensure that your
emergency call will be handled in
the appropriate time frame.
Voice Access
IBM Voice Support is available for
most System z platform software
products and for distributed platform
products to all current support con-
tract holders through a Single Point
of Contact (SPOC) telephone number
in your country (where available).   
You will be required to provide your
IBM Customer Number for validation
of the support service to which you
are entitled to as well as the product
about which you are calling.   Please
refer to IBM’s Planetwide Site for
specific country phone numbers.  
In most cases, we provide native
language support.
	Severity 	Impact 			Response Goal 	
	 1		 Critical business impact 	 Within two hours
	
	 2 		 Significant business impact 	 Within two business hours
	 3		 Some business impact 	 Within two business hours	
	
	 4 		 Minimal business impact 	 Within two business hours
Distributed Platform Response Objectives
for Clients with appropriate services offerings
RESPONSE OBJECTIVES
Please note: IBM will use commer-
cially reasonable efforts to respond
to service calls from your authorized
callers within the response goal out-
lined below. Our initial response may
result in resolution of your request,
or it will form the basis for deter-
mining what additional actions be
required to achieve technical resolu-
tion of your request.  Depending on
the complexity of your request, the
next response may take days.  Be
sure you and your support rep agree
on what the next action is and when
the next checkpoint will be.
Support Center Hours
IBM Support Center hours cover
the prevailing business hours for
the country where your product or
contract is registered.  You should
keep this in mind if you are consid-
ering outsourcing your operation or
help desk to a firm that is overseas
or working in another time zone.
(There could be a few exception
for countries where M - F is not their
normal work week or business working
time is not the same as for your Country
due to different time zones. In those
cases contact your Business Partner/
Reseller or IBM Sales Rep to get your
hours of coverage.)
Distributed systems (with subscription
and support or software maintenance)
and Support Line:
When you contact software support
to report a problem, or update/gain
status on a problem, your request will
be routed to a technical specialist.
IBM’s goal is to respond to your service
request within 2 business hours during
prime shift, and within 2 hours during
off-shift hours for critical problems.
Note that non-severity 1 problems
reported offshift will be queued for the
next business day.
System z response objectives:
For problems reported against Monthly
License Charge (MLC)
(i.e., System/390 or System z) software
products, and the One Time Charge
System z products for which you’ve
acquired the S&S offering, IBM’s
response objectives continue to be
based upon the severity of the request.
The table on this page describes these
objectives:
Offshift support
During Off shift hours we will use
commercially reasonable efforts to
respond, by telephone, within two
hours to service calls which you specify
	Severity 	Impact 			Response Goal 	
	 1		 Critical business impact 	 Within two hours
	
	 2 		 Significant business impact 	 Within four business hours
	 3		 Some business impact 	 By the end of next business day
	
	 4 		 Minimal business impact 	 By the end of next business day
System z Platform Response Objectives
Improved responsiveness is available through services offerings
17 						November, 2014
to be Customer Critical problems
(severity 1). Normal country business
hours are defined by your time zone
and the prevailing business hours
within your country, e.g.: 8:00am
to 5:00pm in North America or
9:00am to 6:00pm in some parts of
Asia and Europe, Monday through
Friday, except national holidays. Off-
shift hours are defined as all other
hours outside of normal country
business hours. Offshift support will
be provided in English however,
we will try to accommodate local
language where possible. An ap-
propriately skilled technical person
from your site must be available to
work with IBM’s technical support
staff during the entire time we are
performing support services outside
of normal country business hours.
IBM recommends that you use voice
or place a follow-up call to the local
support center with the electronic
PMR/Incident/Support Case num-
ber. This action helps to ensure a
prompt response.
Severity 2,3, and 4 problems reported
offshift will be queued for the next
business day.
How your service request is
handled by IBM Software Sup-
port
You may submit your request for
assistance by using Services Portal,
a Services Interface or by telephone
(where available).  These requests
are logged into the IBM problem
management system.
Once logged, a unique Service
Request (also known as problem
management record (PMR)) or
Incident/Support Case is created.  
Please make note of this SR num-
ber,  Incident number, or Support
Case number and use it in any
future communication on this issue
with the support center. Your SR,  
Incident, or Support Case is routed
to a resolution team for handling. A
resolution team is simply a group of
software support specialists.  You may
be transferred directly to the resolu-
tion team or your issue will be placed
in a queue for response.  In either
case, the next person to contact you
will be a specialist in the appropriate
resolution team.
At the resolution team level your Ser-
vice Request is researched, resolved,
or escalated as appropriate. Due to
the level of specialization required to
maintain superior technical exper-
tise at the team level, it is sometimes
necessary to involve more than one
support team in resolving a particu-
lar software problem. This is easily
handled, as our support teams are
all networked together and work as
one to resolve whatever problems or
issues arise.
In order to investigate the issue,
IBM may need to access information
on your system relative to the failure,
or may need to recreate the failure
to get additional information. Should
the problem be configuration related,
it is possible you may need to recre-
ate the problem to get that required
information.
Our software support specialists may
request that you send IBM the problem
information, systems data or test cases,
etc., or that our support specialists be
able to view it with you electronically.
To accomplish this, IBM has two ap-
proved tools; Assist On-site (AOS) and
SmartCloud. While other tools may
exist, IBM discourages their use since
our support people are not trained on
them nor can IBM take responsibility
for the security of your data with these
other vendor tools. By the terms and
conditions of the applicable support
agreements: (i) this information will
be non-confidential (for example, not
labeled “your company confidential”);
and (ii) you should not supply IBM with
any personally-identifiable informa-
tion (whether in data or other form).
You will be responsible for reasonable
costs and other amounts that IBM may
incur relating to any such information
mistakenly provided to IBM or the loss
or disclosure of such information by
IBM, including those arising out of any
third party claims.
Once your documentation is completely
received by IBM approved means, IBM
will use it only for the purposes for
which it was provided - that is, to fix
defects or to support IBM products or
services. We will not disclose it to other
parties, except to contractors of IBM
who we may use to help us fix defects
or provide support; and we will delete,
destroy or return it when it is no longer
required. If you elect to have us return
physical media, you will be responsible
for arranging for return transport of
the media. IBM will provide the tapes
to your designated carrier at the IBM
location, but otherwise will have no
responsibility/liability for return of the
media.”
For more information on exchanging
diagnostic data with IBM, please refer
to the Service Users License Agreement
at http://www.ibm.com/de/support/
ecurep/service.html.
If you and the IBM support special-
ist agree, you may decide to send your
problem information or test cases to
18 						November, 2014
Note: Fixes are created and tested at the
latest maintenance levels so it is in your
best interest to keep your software current
on maintenance.
•	 The defect is determined to be
of lower impact which does not
require an immediate, permanent
fix, we may defer the fix for a future
release. APARs will reflect deferred
fixes with a closing code of “FIN”
(Fixed If there is a Next release) to
designate plans for inclusion in a
future release.
Because of the complexities of the
environments supported, APARs  and
SPRs will often take several weeks, pos-
sibly months, to debug and to write, test,
package and distribute a fix.  For high
impact problems, we will make every
effort to develop a bypass or workaround
that you can use until the APAR has
been resolved and a Program Temporary
Fix (PTF) has been created. Code fixes
for IBM products may be distributed via
software subscriptions, service packages
or in a future release of the product.
Note: If the Resolution Team determines
that the issue is not a software defect in
supported IBM code, we will continue to
work the problem to resolution only at
your request and with your concurrence,
under a separate services agreement.
After you have received a program fix,
we will follow up with you to confirm
resolution of your problem. If you have
verified the fix, please contact the
support center so that the PMR/Inci-
dent/Support Case may be placed in a
resolved status. If for some reason the
problem is not resolved, or you are dis-
satisfied with the solution, your problem
record will remain open while IBM sup-
port personnel continue to work on the
problem. The PMR/Incident/Support
Case will not be closed until the problem
has been resolved to your satisfaction.
mines that the issue is the result of a
software defect that has previously been
reported, the following actions may be
taken:
•	 A fix or workaround is provided to
circumvent or correct the issue
•	 If no workaround is available and it
is determined that one is required,
the Resolution Team will work
with you to find the best feasible
workaround
•	 The Resolution Team will advise
you when the defect (APAR) is
closed, assists in fix implementation
and updates the customers problem
record
A new defect: If the Resolution Team
determines that the issue is the result of
an IBM software defect that has not been
reported before, we will work with you to
create an Authorized Program Analysis
Report (APAR) or Software Problem Re-
port (SPR) to track the resolution of the
defect. These APAR’s and SPRs, along
with any necessary documentation that
you may be asked to provide are routed
to the appropriate development teams.
The development teams analyze the
APAR or SPR to determine how the de-
fect will be addressed. One of a number
of fix actions may result:
•	 The defect is determined to be of
high impact, a code fix is created
and delivered to you
IBM. There are several approved meth-
ods and tools that can be used.  Please
refer to the document “Exchanging
Information with IBM Technical Sup-
port” for more information.  The IBM
support specialist working with you can
help you set up the transfer.
The following site discusses different
ways to send and receive files to and
from IBM: http://www.ibm.com/
software/support/exchangeinfo.html,
and the following discusses how to use
ECURep to send files to IBM: http://
www.ibm.com/de/support/ecurep/.
You need to understand and acknowl-
edge that IBM may use its global
resources, including but not limited to,
IBM Affiliates and personnel located
in various countries, for the delivery
of service and services. By sending us
problem information, you warrant that
none of your data exported to, or oth-
erwise accessible by IBM is controlled
as a defense article under the U.S. In-
ternational Traffic in Arms Regulation
(ITAR) or under any other country’s
laws or regulations.
How a Code Defect is Handled
During this investigation process, the
Resolution Team determines if your de-
fect issue falls into one of three catego-
ries as described below.
A known defect-related issue in an IBM
Product: If the Resolution Team deter-
19 						November, 2014
How technical questions
(how-to/install) are handled
(For Clients with the appropriate services
or support offerings)
Technical question support allows you to
obtain assistance from IBM for product
specific, task-oriented questions regard-
ing the installation and operation of
currently supported IBM software. In
the course of providing answers to your
technical questions, we may refer you to
product documentation or publications,
or we may be able to provide a direct
answer to assist you with short duration
problems involving:
•	 Installation
•	 Usage (how-to)
•	 Specific usage/installation questions
for documented functions
•	 Product compatibility and interoper-
ability questions
•	 Technical references to publications,
such as redbooks or manuals
•	 Assistance with interpretation of
publications
•	 Providing available configuration
samples
•	 Planning information for software
fixes
•	 IBM database searches
Subscription and Support and Sup-
port Line are not structured to address
everything -- the following are examples
of areas that are beyond their scope:
•   Performance analysis
•   Writing, troubleshooting or custom-
izing client’s code
•   Extensive configuration questions
•	 Recovering a database, or data
recovery
•   Consulting
•	 Interpretation or triage of customer
or third party generated defect
scanning reports
  Most of these types of situations require
some form of Advanced Support Offer-
ing.  For further information about these
services please  contact your IBM Repre-
sentative who can help direct you to
resources who can discuss your needs.
Your Responsibilities
IBM does not warrant that our products
are defect free, however we do endeavor
to fix them to work as designed. You
may be surprised to learn you play a
key role in this effort. Our remote soft-
ware support is available to provide you
assistance and guidance, however we
assume that you will provide informa-
tion about your system and the failing
component, information that is key to
resolving the problem.
This information includes capturing
documentation at the time of a failure,
applying a trap or trace code to your
system, possibly formatting the output
from the trap or trace, and sending
documentation or trace information,
in hardcopy or soft copy, to the remote
support center. You are also responsi-
ble for obtaining fixes, by downloading
or by receiving ones that have been
shipped to you on media, applying the
fixes to your systems and testing the
fixes to ensure they meet your needs.
Occasionally, removal of installed fixes
may be necessary in the process of iso-
lating problems. And sometimes fixing
a problem will mean the installation of
a later release of the software as some
fixes cannot be retrofitted into earlier
code.
You need to be aware of your respon-
sibilities when working with an IBM
support center. If you do not have the
required skill or are not positioned to
do the work, you can engage a services
provider such as IBM Global Technical
Services (GTS) or a business partner to
assist you, for an additional fee. If you
are already involved in a services en-
gagement in which GTS or a Business
Partner is designing and implement-
ing an application for you, you should
ensure the statement of work is very
clear as to whose responsibility it is to
work suspected code defect issues with
IBM, to ensure proper entitlement for
remote support.
Problem handling Best Prac-
tices
We have found that the following
practices, help us to ensure we can
provide the most timely resolution to
your question or problem:
•	 Submitting problems electroni-
cally, enables the resolution team
to better understand the issue and
be more prepared with the right
skill and guidance to respond to
your concern. It also allows you
to make the best use of your time.
•	 Keeping the questions/issues
separate (one problem per PMR/
Incident/Support Case) we can
provide better service to our
clients.
•	 Selecting the appropriate Severity
and letting us know the business
impact will help to get the right
focus on your problem
•	 Keeping IBM support informed of
Major Upgrades/Implementations.
•	 Staying current on Product Re-
lease levels
•	 Providing timely feedback on
recommendations and close the
Service Request when you feel the
problem has been resolved. If the
problem reoccurs you may reopen
the original Service Request by
resubmitting it electronically.
20 						November, 2014
Escalation Procedures
We believe IBM Support is “Best of
Breed.” If at any point in our service
process, you feel we are not meeting
our commitments to you (as outlined
in this handbook), you may call our
attention to this problem by doing
one or all of the following:
1.	 Be certain to explain the busi-
ness impact of your problem to
the service representative
2.	 Raise the Severity Level of the
problem
3.	 Ask to speak to the person’s
manager - Escalations to an
IBM manager will receive
prompt attention and manage-
ment focus.  You can find con-
tact numbers for your geograph-
ic area in the IBM Directory of
worldwide contacts.
4.	 Ask for a “Duty Manager” - The
Duty Manager or field manager
will work with our technical
staff to ensure your request is
being handled appropriately.
5.	 After allowing the Duty Man-
ager time to make an impact, if
further escalation is required
then open a Complaint or
nominate as a Critical Situa-
tion (“CritSit”), if warranted, by
asking any member of your IBM
Client team to do so on your
behalf.
Reopening A PMR/Incident/
Support Case
If the recommendations that we pro-
vide you to resolve your problem fail
to satisfy your requirements you may
reopen the PMR/Incident/Support
Case by calling your local support
center and referencing the original
PMR/Incident or Support Case
number.  (Note:  For IBM PMRs/In-
cidents this must be done within 28
days of original closing date).
Submitting Software Require-
ments
Sometimes what appeared to be a
defect turns out to be “working as
designed” (or “broken as designed”
as some Customers phrase it).  If
that’s the case, the most effective
vehicle available to provide IBM
software development your software
requirements is to attend one of
IBM’s technical conferences. One
of the primary objectives of user
groups such as GUIDE, SHARE,
COMMON, or the TECHNICAL
INTERCHANGE is to collect user
requirements for future releases of
our software products. Technical
conferences provide an excellent op-
portunity for you to discuss require-
ments directly with our development
teams.
If you do not have the opportunity
to attend user group meetings or
would simply prefer not to wait until
the next meeting, you can search
for similar requirements or open a
requirement through IBM’s Request
for Enhancement (RFE) Community.
Survey
After your problem has been closed,
you may be randomly selected
to participate in a web survey to
determine your satisfaction with the
way your problem was handled. The
survey focuses on three elements;
ease of opening the problem, remote
support, and overall.
As I said earlier in this book, I think
IBM has the best software support in
the industry, and our support teams
are judged on the overall scores.
Quite frankly, anything less than
“very satisfied” says they haven’t
delivered to my promise to you. Be
honest with your rating, but try to
focus on the service you were given
and the competence and helpful-
ness of the individual or individuals
involved in the problem.
21 						November, 2014
Preventing Problems
Regardless of what type of system you
are running, from the largest main-
frame to the smallest laptop, you want
your system to be available when you
need it to get your work done. The
data should also be secure from loss or
contamination, ensuring confidence
in the accuracy of the results. IBM
recommends the installation of Pre-
ventive Service Packages to proactively
avoid impacting problems caused by
software defects already known and
corrected by IBM.
Preventive Service Packages
The delivery mechanism and media
varies by operating system platform
(see the table on the next page) and in
some case by the software product, but
the idea is the same: to install fixes
for bugs (APARs) that may affect the
stability of your system or the security
of your data BEFORE you experience
a problem.
Preventive Service Packages are
updated frequently. If you have a
stable environment where you never
encounter problems, you do not need
to install every package. However,
we recommend periodic installation,
since fixes are nearly always built at
the latest maintenance level. Keeping
fairly current with service will reduce
the volume of change required should
you need a fix for a problem you are
experiencing. The frequency of these
installations will be based on your
operating environment. Before mak-
ing major changes, such as adding
new hardware, software or even major
applications, you should consider in-
stalling maintenance. There is a chart
on the next page with a summary of
maintenance recommendations by
software platform.
There are several types of mainte-
nance. Typically, a fix is a resolution
for a specific product defect. A fix is also
called a patch, program temporary fix
(PTF) or update. A fix pack is a cumula-
tive fix that resolves multiple product
defects. It is also referred to as a patch,
update or preventive service package. An
upgrade is a new version of software with
new functions added.”
Fix Central
Fix Central makes it simpler to find
the fixes from IBM, you can search by
product, operating system, release, or
even by APAR ID or fix ID. IBM product
teams are in the process of adopting this
delivery option, so if the fix you want is
not available through Fix Central, it will
be available on the product support page.
Fix Central can be found at
http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/
High Impact APARs
IBM also maintains a list of fixes for
High Impact APARs that should be
conscientiously installed between fix
pack installations, depending on the
applicability to your environment. These
APARs are categorized as “HIPER”
which means the problems they describe
and fix are in one or more of the follow-
ing categories:
•	 Problems that cause the destruction
and/or contamination of customer
data.
•	 Problems that cause the customer to
re-IPL, reboot, recycle, or restart
one or more systems or subsys-
tems.
•	 Problems that cause a
major loss of function.
•	 Problems that cause severe
impact to system perfor-
mance or throughput.
To locate more information,
navigate to the support page for a
product and search on “fix list.”
Stay Informed
We know it’s hard to stay informed.
That’s why we have a system that will e-
mail you when new fixes or alerts come
out. You create a profile indicating what
kinds of information you’re interested
in, so you only receive the information
you’re looking for. There are different
types of automated information:
Support Subscriptions can be set up via
http://www.ibm.com/support/mynotifi-
cations
Allows you to receive security adviso-
ries and alerts that maintenance fixes
are available. See the website for the
complete list of what you can sign up
for. The basic free service is extremely
helpful, but you can also choose to
expand the capabilities of this service.   
For System z, information about Secu-
rity / Integrity APARs and the ability
to receive notifications can be found
at http://www.vm.ibm.com/security/
aparinfo.html
System z Platform -- PSP and
EnhancedHolddata
Lists of fixes for these HIPER APARs
are available from IBM Software Support
22 						November, 2014
Operating System	 Preventive Service Package	 Method		 Packaging		 Frequency	
	/Platform
System p	 / AIX		 Technology Levels (TL) and Intermediate	 Fix Central	 TLs are accumulations of fixes,	Technical Levels	
			 Service Packs (SP)	 See the IBM AIX OS			 new device support and	 are currently 	
			Service Strategy Details and Best Practices		 programming enhancements	 available annually	
									TLs will receive maintenance	and SPs are 	
									via SPs for 2 years 		available three	
									An AIX SP is an accumulation	times a yea	
									of fixes on top of itsTL			
														
														
System i5OS & OS/400	 CUM CD-ROM			 Fix Central	 CD-ROM of recommended 	 3 - 8 per year
			 Group PTFs,Service Packs,		 		 service			 Depending on
			 HIPER PTFs			 					age of the release
z/OS			 Recommended Service Upgrade	 Customers use 	 All uninstalled PTFs		 HIPERs reviewed 	
				RSU			SMP/E Internet	applicable to the 		recommended
							delivery system,	customer’s selected SMP	weekly
									zone with IBM 		RSU Quarterly
									recommendations (RSU)
									and service information
									(Enhanced HOLDDATA).
									Delivered electronically or
									(if too large for electronic
									delivery) via tape.
									Installed using SMP/E.
VM			 Recommended Service Upgrade	 Customer orders	 Cumulative IBM Recom-	 2-4 times a year	
				RSU			via ShopzSeries	mended service,preapp.ied			
									and prebuilt. Installed using			
									VMSES/E					
VSE			 Recommended Service Level (RSL)	 Customer orders	 List of Recommended PTFs	 every 2-3 months
							by phone or 	
							fromVSE Home
							Page							
			 Fast Service Upgrade		 Customer orders	 complete system with all PTFs 	every 6-12 months	
							via ShopzSeries	PTFs applied				
	 Not all options are available in all geographies
in Preventive Service Planning (PSP)
information “buckets”.  (http://www.ibm.
com/support/customercare/psearch/
search?domain=psp ) In addition, this
information is available via Enhanced
HOLDDATA.
See http://service.boulder.ibm.
com/390holddata.html for details. IBM
also offers services to notify you of these
High Impact APARs as soon as a bypass
or fix is available, or Local support ser-
vices may also be available to help you
select preventive service or a preventive
service strategy to meet your specific
Check the IBM Software Product Lifecycle
link from http://www.ibm.com/software/
info/supportlifecycle at least once every
quarter for 12-month advance notification
of End of Service dates or links to IBM an-
nouncement letters. With that information,
you can be more proactive and efficient in
planning product upgrades.
needs. There is education on IBM
Education Assistant.
For the z/OS parallel sysplex environ-
ment, IBM has maintenance recom-
mendations at http://www.ibm.com/
servers/eserver/zseries/library/white-
papers/psos390maint.html. Preventive
service takes a little time to do well, but
the returns to, system stability and data
integrity, make it worthwhile.
Plan upgrades more effi-
ciently
23 						November, 2014
Practices
IBM Software Support
Lifecycle policy
The IBM Software Support Lifecycle
policy specifies the length of time
support will be available for IBM
software from when the product is
available for purchase to the time
the product is no longer supported.
IBM software customers can track
how long their version and release
of a particular IBM software product
will be supported and will be able to
effectively plan their software invest-
ment, without any breaks in support.
Most system z software products
have a three year support period and
provide advance notice of withdrawal
from support via an announcement
letter. Discontinuance of program
service for the last release in a version
of a software product is an indication
of IBM’s expectation that customers
will not experience a high level of
trouble due to program defects. When
service is discontinued, corrections
to known problems remain avail-
able, but the development team is
redirected to other work, and no new,
tested corrections will be generated
for general use. Known problems may
be reviewed and ordered via electron-
ic vehicles such as the internet (e.g,
http://www.ibm.com/software/sup-
port) however support provided by the
IBM Client Support representatives,
will be discontinued. At discontinu-
ance of program service, associated
services terminate as well, e.g. IBM
Support Line and SoftwareXcel. The
IBM Customer Agreement (ICA)
for monthly license charge products
(mainframe) provides information on
notification requirements for discon-
tinuance of program services.
For distributed software products
(IBM software that is licensed under
the International Program License
Agreement, IPLA):
Starting in February 2008 the major-
ity of Lotus, Information Management,
Rational, Tivoli and WebSphere branded  
IPLA products have been announced
with an Enhanced Support Lifecycle
which provides support for a minimum
of five years, beginning at the date the
product is available for purchase (gen-
eral availability date).
•	 Display information for bundled
software, showing that all compo-
nents of a product bundle are sup-
ported for the same period of time.
•	 Provide notice of End of Support
(EOS) at least twelve months before
product support is withdrawn, giv-
ing you a reasonable period of time
to use the software before migrating
to a new version or release. Estab-
lish effective dates for withdrawal of
product support in either April or
September.
•	 Display all information on lifecycle
dates in one location, enabling you
to effectively plan your migration.
Products with a Standard Support
Lifecycle policy provide support for all
products for a minimum of three years,
beginning at the date the product is
available for purchase (general availabil-
ity date).   When service is discontinued,
corrections to known problems remain
available, but the development team is
redirected to other work, and no new,
tested corrections will be generated for
general use. Known problems may be
reviewed and ordered via electronic
vehicles such as the internet (e.g, http://
support.ibm.com) however support
provided by the IBM Client Support
representatives, will be discontinued.
Note: Some IBM products may not
adhere to these enhanced or standard
policies. Products not adhering to these
policies include but are not limited to
IBM Software that is sold “as is”, prod-
ucts recently acquired by IBM, which
may still adhere to legacy lifecycle
agreements, and some operating system
software (example AIX VXX on pSeries
servers) which have their own policy.  
The AIX Best Practices for system
maintenance have been consolidated
into a single PDF document for your
convenience.  You can reference this
document at http://www14.software.
ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/best/
aix_service_strategy_v3.pdf
To obtain the most accurate lifecycle
information for your product, subscribe
to RSS updates and view the lifecycle
dates under the product lifecycle A-Z
list visit:
http://www.ibm.com/software/support/
lifecycle/
IBM may modify this policy at any time,
and will communicate the modification
and any exceptions via a product an-
nouncement letter, or in a general policy
announcement.
Support Extensions
Support Extensions are accommoda-
tions for Customers who are unable to
migrate to a supported software product
release within the time provided. IBM
will offer Support Extensions for the dis-
tributed platform middleware products
with an Enhanced Support Lifecycle
policy for a minimum period of 3 years
following the product’s end of support
date. Support Extensions for the distrib-
uted platform middleware products and
zSeries platform IPLA products with
Standard Support Lifecycle policy for a
minimum period of 2 years following
the product’s end of support date. Sup-
port Extensions for the operating system
(Systems i, p, and z) products will
continue to be handled on an individual
product basis.
To request support extension please con-
tact your IBM Sales Representative.
IBM Middleware support on
unsupported operating sys-
tems
IBM Software Support will provide
support for IBM middleware, assuming
that middleware is still within its sup-
port period. That support will con-
tinue normally until such time that the
24 						November, 2014
back-level operating system is identified
as a probable cause of the problem or a
contributing factor, at which time you
may be asked to recreate the problem
on a supported level of the operating
system.
Third party software and
Open Source software
Third party software or code is included
or bundled with some of our IBM of-
ferings. This code is included for your
convenience, but is not considered part
of the IBM program. These non-IBM
programs are licensed directly by their
providers. You agree to use the non-IBM
programs under the provider's terms
and conditions. These are provided in
the IBM licensing agreement which
accompanies the IBM offering at time of
purchase.
Because this software is included or
bundled with our IBM offerings, IBM
does testing to ensure the Third Party
products will work with IBM programs
and function appropriately. Based on
this, IBM Software support will diag-
nose problems concerning customer
problems utilizing the knowledge of
how our IBM offerings work with the
Third Party software. Once we have
concluded that the IBM program is
working correctly, but the issue still ex-
ists, IBM must refer you, the customer,
to the Third Party vendor for further
diagnosis.
IBM provides these non-IBM programs
without any warranties or representa-
tion, including, but not limited to, the
warranty of non-infringement and the
implied warranties of merchantability or
fitness for a particular purpose. Under
no circumstances will IBM be liable for
any direct or indirect damages, includ-
ing without limitation, lost profits, lost
savings, or any incidental, special, or
other economic consequential damages,
even if IBM is informed of their pos-
sibility. Some jurisdictions do not allow
the exclusion or limitation of incidental
or consequential damages, so the above
exclusion or limitation may not apply to
you.
IBM does not possess the in-depth
technical skills to diagnose Third Party
software problems. We must refer our
customers to those Third Party software
vendors for technical support when we
diagnose the problem is not with IBM
Software.
A special case of the above is open
source software which may be included
as part of the solutions IBM provides.
Because this code is owned by the open
source community and not by IBM, it
will be identified in the license materi-
als or in an attachment to the license
materials as "unwarranted". Because
the code is not IBM's, there are no
expressed or implied warranties or
indemnification. However, like the third
party software described above, IBM
does testing so that we are comfort-
able our programs will work with the
Open Source software and function as
they were intended. Like the case of
the Third Party software, IBM soft-
ware support will attempt to diagnose
suspected defects using our knowledge
of the interaction of IBM code and the
open source software. In some cases
we may even have the source code and
may be able to provide workarounds for
reported problems, however the final
arbiter over whether a supported fix
can be provided may belong to the open
source community (hence, the "unwar-
ranted" designation).
IBM Secure Engineering
Practices
Secure Engineering is an important
element of the overall IBM security
strategy. It is reflected in our internal
initiative that works to address the
dynamic nature of security in our
development process. IBM uses various
methods to communicate security vul-
nerability information to customers. We
use Security Bulletins when publicly
disclosing security vulnerabilities dis-
covered in IBM offerings and leverages
alternative tools and processes, where
appropriate (i.e., for System z, managed
and cloud-based services), for more
targeted and discrete communications
with entitled customers. Please visit
IBM Secure Engineering for further
information about these practices.
IBM maintains information about se-
curity problems which may arise on the
Resource Link Security Portal.
25 						November, 2014
Exchanging data with IBM
Our software support specialists may
request that you send in the problem
information or test cases or that they be
able to view it with you electronically.
To accomplish this, you may be offered
several options by the IBM support spe-
cialist. By the terms and conditions of
the applicable support agreements, this
information will be non-confidential
(for example, not labeled “your com-
pany confidential”)
Once your documentation is completely
received by IBM approved means,
IBM will use it only for the purposes
for which it was provided - that is, to
fix defects or to provide support  for
IBM products or services. We will not
disclose it to other parties, except to
contractors of IBM who we may use to
help us fix defects or provide support;
and we will delete, destroy or return it
when it is no longer required.  If you
elect to have us return physical media,
you will be responsible for arranging for
return transport of the media. IBM will
provide the tapes to your designated
carrier at the IBM location, but other-
wise will have no responsibility/liability
for return of the media.
For more information on exchanging
diagnostic data with IBM, please refer
to the Service Users License Agreement
at http://www.ibm.com/de/support/
ecurep/service.html.
If you and the IBM support special-
ist agree, you may decide to send your
problem information or test cases to
IBM. There are several approved meth-
ods and tools that can be used.  Please
refer to the document “Exchanging
Information with IBM Technical Sup-
port” for more information.  The IBM
support specialist working with you can
help you set up the transfer.
The following site discusses different
ways to send and receive files to and
from IBM: http://www.ibm.com/
software/support/exchangeinfo.html,
and the following discusses how to use
ECURep to send files to IBM: http://
www.ibm.com/de/support/ecurep/.
You need to understand and acknowl-
edge that IBM may use its global
resources, including but not limited to,
IBM Affiliates and personnel located
in various countries, for the delivery
of service and services. By sending us
problem information, you warrant that
none of your data exported to, or oth-
erwise accessible by IBM is controlled
as a defense article under the U.S. In-
ternational Traffic in Arms Regulation
(ITAR) or under any other country’s
laws or regulations.
26 						November, 2014
Passport Advantage and
Passport Advantage Express
Software Subscription & Support Cover-
age
•	 When you renew Software Sub-
scription & Support for a product at
a site, you should renew Software
Subscription & Support for all cop-
ies/licenses of that program at that
site, no matter how you acquired
those copies, and you must renew
Software Subscription & Support for
all copies/licenses of that program
for which you want technical sup-
port. (Note: To be authorized to
upgrade you licenses or contact
Technical Support with questions or
issues, the license must be covered
with current Software Subscrip-
tion & Support.) Where applicable,
Software Subscription & Support for
both the host and the workstation
licenses should be renewed.
•	 You are entitled to Software Sub-
scription & Support only on the
licenses covered.
•	 If you need technical support cov-
erage or want to install a new ver-
sion/release on one of the licenses
with lapsed Software Subscription
& Support coverage, you will need
to acquire “Software Subscription
& Support Reinstatement”. This is
the only way you will be able to
reinstate your licenses in Software
Subscription & Support.
•	 Support may be accessed by your
technical support personnel who
may or may not reside at your site
depending on the authorization
your Site Technical Contact defined
for them.
IBM Software Secure Support via U.S.
Citizens
IBM Software Secure Support via U.S.
Citizens complements the prerequisite
IBM Passport Advantage Subscription
and Support by providing standard IBM
software support exclusively by U.S.
citizens who are located in the United
States. Data analysis and call data will
be contained in an isolated network
within a facility that meets U.S. Govern-
ment security specifications. In this
offering:
•	 IBM provides U.S. Citizen sup-
port via telephone, only to your
information systems (IS) technical
support personnel during the hours
of 8 AM Eastern to 8 PM Eastern,
Monday through Friday, excluding
national or statutory holidays.
•	 A Service Request will be created
and placed in an incoming queue
which is managed and handled by
a U.S. citizen.
•	 IBM provides assistance for your 1)
routine, short duration installation
and usage (how-to) questions; and
2) code-related questions (“Sup-
port”).
•	 Information systems (IS) techni-
cal support personnel can open
an unlimited number of technical
support incidents.
•	 Response time objective of two
hours during prime shift for voice
problem submissions.
For information on ordering the secure
support, see http://www.ibm.com/soft-
ware/support/premium/contactus.html
There is a similar offering for AIX and
Storage described on page 7 of this
publication.
IBM Selected Support Offer-
ing (support-only offering for
designated IBM no-charge
and non-IBM products)
Remote Technical Support
IBM has implemented a tiered approach
for the Selected Support offering. On a
product by product basis, up to 3 tiers
may be made available: IBM Entry
Support, IBM Enhanced Support and
IBM Elite Support. Support is delivered
remotely via IBM’s support teams, and
includes:
•	 General usage and installation
questions
•	 Product compatibility and interop-
erability questions
•	 Interpretation of product documen-
tation
•	 Review of diagnostic information to
help isolate the cause of a problem
•	 Basic configuration assistance and
samples understanding
•	 IBM will make available to you Se-
lected Program defect corrections,
if any, that it develops.  (non-IBM
product fixes, if any, are provided
by the third party provider)
For all tiers of support, there is no limit
to the number of technical support
incidents that can be reported through
remote assistance.
Remote technical support problems are
reported to IBM by phone (not available
for IBM Entry Support) or by using the
IBM Service Request (SR) tool, located
at www.ibm.com/support Refer to the
Contacting IBM section of this Hand-
book for more information.
The Selected Support offerings are
purchased via an annual subscription
and are available for purchase through
Passport Advantage or Passport Advan-
tage Express.
Developer Assistance
IBM Selected Support offerings may
also include remote Developer Assis-
tance Incidents. This assistance goes
beyond the support provided through
traditional remote technical support.
Under this feature, developers may
receive assistance with finding answers
to specific programming questions, best
practice usage of the product (i.e., the
Application Programming Interface),
etc. Developer Assistance Incidents are
intended to cover specific and short
duration questions. Professional services
offerings should be used for questions
that are best resolved with an extended
program design review.
Developer Assistance Incident coverage
includes:
•	 Expert Development Assistance
•	 Application Design and Architec-
ture Assistance
•	 Configuration Assistance
•	 Performance & Tuning Assistance
Unlike traditional remote technical
support where the number of requests is
unlimited, the number of Developer As-
sistance incidents that can be reported
to IBM is fixed, determined by the Se-
lected Support offering purchased and
varies by supported product. Developer
Assistance Incidents are reported to
IBM in the same way as general product
usage questions or problems: by phone
Additional Detail on Services
27 						November, 2014
Support Only Offering			 IBM	 IBM		 IBM		
				 Entry	 Enhanced	 Elite 		
				 Support	 Support Support
Electronic Problem Submission			 Yes	 Yes		 Yes	
Voice Problem Submission			 No	 Yes		 Yes
Number of electronic an/or voice problems	 Unlimited	 Unlimited	 Unlimited
Support Hours*				 8am-5PM	 8am-5PM	 8am-5PM		
					 Mon-Fri	 Mon-Fri	 Mon-Fri		
							 (24x7 for Sev1)
ResponseTarget **				 8 bus hrs	 4 bus.hrs	 2 bus.hrs
Technical Contacts***			 1	 2		 Unlimited	
Developer Assistance Incidents ****		 Not Avail	 Variable 	 Variable
Availability				 Worldwide Worldwide	 Worldwide	
*Times listed are for the customer’s time zone. Support is not available on public holidays for IBM
Entry Support and IBM Enhanced Support. Severity 1 support is available on public holidays for IBM
Elite Support
**Response target is IBM’s objective to respond to your high severity support request. In some cases
the initial response could result in a resolution of your request, or it will form the basis for determining
what additional actions are required to achieve technical resolution of your request.
***The Technical Contact is the individual designated by the client as the person to contact IBM for
support. All communication with IBM related to the IBM Support-only offering must be performed by
Assistant Incidents included. (on a product-by-product basis, IBM Enhanced Support will offer 0, 1, 2,
3 or 5 Developer Assistance Incidents and IBM Elite Support will offer 0, 1, 2, 3, 5 or 10 incidents)
**** The number of Developer Assistance Incidents will vary by supported product. Refer to the
announcement letter for the number of Developer Assistant Incidents included. (on a product-by-
product basis, IBM Enhanced Support will offer 0, 1, 2, 3 or 5 Developer Assistance Incidents and IBM
or using the IBM Service Request (SR)
tool, located at http://support.ibm.com.
Each time you use one of your Devel-
oper Assistance Incidents, your available
incident count will be decremented.
To gain maximum benefit from your
Developer Assistance Incidents:
•	 Developer Assistance Incidents
must be specifically requested
during the initial call or electronic
submission for support assistance
•	 If you access IBM Support via the
phone, advise the IBM Representa-
tive that Developer Assistance is
being requested
•	 If you access IBM support via SR,
ensure that the Developer As-
sistance Incident component is
selected
•	 Your technical contact should
understand that available Developer
Assistance Incidents will be decre-
mented by one incident
Designated Programs eligible for Se-
lected Support are listed at: http://www.
ibm.com/software/lotus/passportadvan-
tage/paselectedsupportprograms.html
The table at the top of the next page de-
scribes the features of Selected Support
in more detail.
Additional information:
In addition to traditional remote sup-
port and Developer assistance, the
following online support may also be
available:
	 Online documentation
	 Access to technical articles on IBM Soft-
ware Support web sites
	 Access to technical forums on IBM
developerWorks ( http://www-128.ibm.com/
developerworks/ )
	 Access to relevant IBM DeveloperWorks
Newsletters and Articles
	 Access to technical webcasts and events
	 Professional services offerings (additional
charge)
IBM Selected Support Offering Terms:
Consistent with the Selected Support tier pur-
chased, IBM will provide support only for the
copies of software covered under your agree-
ment.
Independent Software Vendor (ISV), Systems
Integrator (SI) or Solution Providers: consistent
with the Selected Support tier purchased, IBM
will provide support only for the copies of soft-
ware covered under you agreement during the
internal development and maintenance phases
of your solutions.  You are restricted from con-
tacting IBM with support issues that may arise
from your end customers’ usage of the product
unless you have an OEM contract with IBM.  
•
28 						November, 2014
Passport Advantage -- How To
Site Technical Contact
(STC) for Passport Ad-
vantage:
For products where Software
Maintenance is acquired
through Passport Advantage
or other IBM sales channels
(this is mostly the middleware
on the distributed platforms),
Site Technical Contacts (STCs)
need to be identified.  Each
site, including the originating
and all additional sites, enroll-
ing in the Passport Advantage
(PA) program must designate
a Site Technical Contact (STC)
responsible for the Software
Maintenance offering at that
site. More information about
the PA Site Enrollment Form
can be found on the PA Web
site at: http://www.ibm.com/
software/passportadvantage.
This person will be responsible
for:
•	 allocating and/registering
Authorized Callers to en-
able them to have access to
electronic technical sup-
port.
•	 keeping all access and
caller overall compliance
for the software products
within their site
If you did not purchase your
IBM middleware through
Passport Advantage and do not
have a Site Technical Contact
or you do not know who your
Site Technical Contact is, fill
out and send an SR contact
form at www.ibm.com/soft-
ware/support/help-contactus.
html.  The SR help desk will
then assist you with your request.
Site Technical Contact
Process for Adding Au-
thorized Callers:
The Site Technical Contact
(STC) is responsible for ensuring
that your company’s IS support
personnel understand how to
work with IBM remote technical
support.
To take full advantage of the fea-
tures and benefits of IBM’s sup-
port services on IBM’s Software
Support Web site that includes
web-based access to personalized
features such as My Notifica-
tions, entitled content, and IBM’s
Service Request (SR)tool, you
must first register with IBM by
going to http://support.ibm.com
and selecting “Register” that is
located in the top right-hand
corner. If you already have an
IBM ID and password from an-
other participating ibm.com web
site such as Passport Advantage
Online, you can use that same
ID and password to log in to the
IBM Software Support Web site.
IBM’s Service Request (SR) is
IBM’s electronic problem sub-
mission tool that you can use to
create service requests to report
and manage issues you are hav-
ing while installing or using IBM
software. To access SR, all users
must 1) be registered with IBM
and 2) be on your company’s SR
Authorized Caller list.
Please note that not all methods
of accessing remote technical
support are included in all sup-
port offerings. The information
below applies to SR.
The STC will be added as an
Authorized Caller by IBM. The
STC will then add Authorized
Callers to SR. After the STC is
added, they will receive an e-mail
Welcome Letter that is specifical-
ly designed for their access to SR.
The STC is to follow the instruc-
tions in the e-mail Welcome Let-
ter. It is important that the STC
use the link embedded in the
e-mail and follows the instruc-
tions contained in the e-mail
to ensure that their Authorized
Caller record is set up correctly.
After the STC has used the URL
in the e-mail Welcome Letter
to access SR the first time, they
can then access SR directly from
the IBM Software Support Web
site at http://support.ibm.com,
by clicking on the “Open service
request” tab, then click on “SR”
and use their IBM ID and pass-
word to log in.
The STC is responsible for creat-
ing and managing a list of Sec-
ondary Site Technical Contacts
(SSTCs) and Authorized Callers
who can access SR. SSTCs can
add Authorized Callers and sub-
mit and create service requests.
29 						November, 2014
Authorized Callers can submit
and create service requests. To
add Authorized Callers, users
must have first registered with
IBM and give the STC or SSTC
their IBM ID. The STC then logs
into SR, selects “Relationship
administration” from the left side
of the page and then selects “Add
caller”, which is also located on
the left side of the page. After a
user has been added as an SSTC
or Authorized Caller in SR, a
welcome e-mail will be sent to
the new user with instructions on
how to access SR. The new user
can then electronically submit
and track service requests using
SR.  Keep in mind the support
hours are the prevailing business
hours where the software is li-
censed, not where the authorized
callers are (if they are remotely
located).
Users can also electronically
request access to SR by using
the SR Caller Self-Nomination
form, which can be accessed by
logging into SR. If you are not
a caller on a contract, the form
will be displayed. Complete and
submit it. If you are already a
caller on a contract, and want
to be added to another contract,
log into SR, select “Relationship
administration” from the left side
of the page, and then select “Add
relationship”  and complete and
submit the form.
Each time a user requests access
to SR using the SR Caller Self-
Nomination form, the STC will
receive an e-mail notifying them
of the request. The STC or SSTC
can approve or deny the request by
logging into SR, selecting “Rela-
tionship management” from the
left side of the page and selecting
“Manage nominations”, which is
also located on the left side of the
page. If the user is approved, an
e-mail will be sent to the new user
containing instructions on how to
access SR.
To access additional information on
SR:
•	 go to our Support Web site at
http://support.ibm.com, click
the “Assistance” tab and then
click “SR Help”
•	 log into SR then click “Help”
or “SR Help” located on the
left side of the page
You can also access SR Help
directly at https://www-946.ibm.
com/sr/help/.
Note: Adding and updating the
Authorized Caller information
in SR applies only to SR. You
must update Passport Advantage
Online (www.ibm.com/software/
passportadvantage and choose the
Passport Advantage Online tab and
then “Customer sign in”) for any
changes to your Passport Advan-
tage program contacts, including
the Site Technical Contact, to apply
there.
Enhanced Electronic Ca-
pabilities
The enhanced electronic support
features allows IBM to provide
customers with “around-the-clock
self-service” capabilities.   The
chart at the bottom of this page
outlines the electronic support
capabilities and their features.
Electronic support capabilities
are found at url: www.ibm.com/
software/support and provide the
following:
For more information on the
Software Maintenance Offering - a
valuable option in our Passport
Advantage program - please visit
the http://www.ibm.com/software/
passportadvantage web site and
review the tutorial.
Advanced Search	 	 Searching across multiple technical 	 	
	 	 	 	 repositories to resolve a problem or 	 	
	 	 	 	 answer a question you may have had
Fix Download		 	 Download fixes to problems
Electronic Prob Submission	 Submit problems on line if you didn’t 	
	 	 	 	 find what you needed in your search.  	
	 	 	 	 Establish real-time collaboration 	 	
	 	 	 	 between you and our technicians, 	 	
	 	 	 	 when appropriate
Personalization	 	 Customizable web views of support 	 	
	 	 	 	 content based on user preferences
Automatic Lang Translation	 Dynamic web translation of technical 	
	 	 	 	 content into one of several languages
Note: above services not available in all countries or for all products at this time
30 						November, 2014
APPENDIX A: 			 PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION WORKSHEET
Complete this form before calling Technical Support
This form helps you identify problems and assists IBM Technical Support in finding solutions.
System Information
What is the failing product?
What is the version and release number?	
What machine model, operating system, and version are running?
Problem Description
What are the expected  results?	
What statement or command is being used?
What are the exact symptoms and syntax?  
What is or isn’t happening, including exact error number and message text?
Is anyone else experiencing the problem?
Is this the first time this operation has been attempted?
Is this the first time this problem has occurred?
Environment
When did this activity work last?
What has changed since the activity last worked?
                     __ Hardware type/model                 __  Application
                     __ Operating system/version           __  Level of usage
__ New product version/release __ Maintenance applied
If the problem does not occur every time, under what conditions does the problem not occur?
Is there any other software running on the system which may be conflicting with this product?
Problem Isolation
Identify the specific feature of the software causing the problem.
Can the problem be reproduced? If so, please provide a reproducible test case or instructions on how to reproduce the error condition
31 						November, 2014
Appendix B: Passport Advantage Site Technical Contact Information
Once registered and authorized on this
site, a caller is able to:
•	 submit service requests through the
EIS Web site.  
•	 access registered electronic support
provided in the support web site at:
www.ibm.com/software/support
	 The following information will be pro-
vided in the support welcome letter that
will be sent to the STC along with their
Passport Advantage customer number
which is your unique identifier when
working with either voice or electronic
problem submission.
Site Technical Contact Registration
Activity:
In order to access our technical support
Web site, you will be required to regis-
ter with a current email address, IBM
customer number, and name.  You will
be prompted to select your user name
and password which will entitle you to
access the site 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week.  Once registered, you will be able
to enter any number of IS personnel to
your authorized contact list. To simplify
the management of your contact list,
you will be able to set each authorized
person to a status of “Active”, “Inactive”,
or “Terminated”.  Please take the time
to ensure that all of the authorized IS
personnel within your site are added
to this list. This will enable them to
contact IBM on your behalf.  Once you
have added your IS personnel to your
authorized contact list, each authorized
contact must go to the website and
register prior to using the electronic
problem submission.
Please ensure that all authorized
contacts have the information contained
within the Support Welcome letter,
links to this IBM Software Support
Guide and URLs, and any other support
notices you may receive during the
period of your Software Maintenance
coverage.
STC Process for Adding
Authorized Callers:
The Primary Site Technical
Contact (PSTC) is responsible for
ensuring that your company’s IS
support personnel understand how
to work with IBM remote technical
support.
To take full advantage of the fea-
tures and benefits of IBM’s support
services on IBM’s Software Support
Web site that includes web-based
access to personalized features
such as My Notifications, entitled
content, and IBM Service Request
(SR), you must first register with
IBM by going to www.ibm.com/
software/support and selecting
“Register” that is located in the top
right-hand corner. If you already
have an IBM ID and password from
another participating ibm.com web
site such as Passport Advantage
Online, you can use that same ID
and password to log in to the IBM
Software Support Web site.
Service Request (SR) is IBM’s elec-
tronic problem submission tool that
you can use to create service re-
quests to report and manage issues
you are having while installing or
using IBM software.  To access SR,
all users must 1) be registered with
IBM and 2) be on your company’s
SR Authorized Caller list.
Please note that not all methods of
accessing remote technical support
are included in all support offer-
ings. The following information
applies to the SR tool only.
Each site, including the originating
and all additional sites, enrolling in
the Passport Advantage (PA) program
must designate a Site Technical Contact
(STC) responsible for the Software
Maintenance offering at that site. More
information about the PA Site Enroll-
ment Form can be found on the PA Web
site at: http://www.ibm.com/software/
passportadvantage. This person will be
responsible for:
•	 allocating and/registering Authorized
Callers to enable them to have access
to electronic technical support.
•	 keeping all access and caller informa-
tion current
•	 overall compliance for the software
products within their site
The STC will be authorized to:
•	 add/maintain the Caller List on the
Electronic Incident Submission (EIS)
Web site
•	 The STC  is the only authorized caller
to edit the Caller List for a site; Please
note that the callers you enable for
support should be technically capable
of working problems with the products
associated on their contract
•	 change the status of the technical
caller, which will limit the caller’s ac-
cess to remote support.
There are 3 levels of technical caller
status:
•	 Active - user can submit new Inci-
dents/PMR’s, as well as view/update
existing problems
•	 Inactive -  user is in view-only mode -
and cannot create or update problem
records/incidents
•	 Terminated -  user is not authorized to
access support at all
32 						November, 2014
Users can also electronically request
access to SR by using the SR Caller
Self-Nomination form, which can
be accessed by logging into SR.  If
you are not a caller on a contract, the
form will be displayed. Complete and
submit it. If you are already a caller
on a contract, and want to be added to
another contract, log into SR, select
“Relationship administration” from the
left side of the page, and then select
“Add relationship”.  Complete and
submit the form.
Each time a user requests access to SR
using the SR Caller Self-Nomination
form, the STC will receive an e-mail
notifying them of the request.  The
STC or SSTC can approve or deny the
request by logging into SR, selecting
“Relationship administration” from
the left side of the page and selecting
“Manage relationships”, which is also
located on the left side of the page. If
the user is approved, an e-mail will
be sent to the new user containing
instructions on how to access SR.
To access additional information on
SR:
-	 go directly to our SR assistance
site at https://www-946.ibm.com/sr/
help/, and select your country
-	 log into SR then click “Help” or
“Help” located on the left side of the
page
Note: Adding and updating the
Authorized Caller information in SR
applies only to SR. You must update
Passport Advantage Online (www.
ibm.com/software/passportadvantage
and choose the Passport Advantage
Online tab and then “Customer sign
in”) for any changes to your Pass-
port Advantage program contacts,
including the Site Technical Contact, to
apply there.
The STC will be added as an
Authorized Caller by IBM when the
contract is processed.   The STC will
then add Authorized Callers to SR.  
After the STC is added, they will
receive an e-mail Welcome Letter
that is specifically designed for their
access to SR. The STC is to follow
the instructions in the e-mail Wel-
come Letter. It is important that the
STC use the link embedded in the
e-mail and follows the instructions
contained in the e-mail to ensure
that their Authorized Caller record is
set up correctly.
After the STC has used the URL in
the e-mail Welcome Letter to access
SR the first time, they can then ac-
cess SR directly from the IBM Soft-
ware Support Web site at www.ibm.
com/software/support, by clicking on
the “Open service request” tab, then
click on “SR” and use their IBM ID
and password to log in.
The STC is responsible for creating
and managing a list of Secondary
Site Technical Contacts (SSTCs) and
Authorized Callers who can access
SR. SSTCs can add Authorized Call-
ers and submit and create service
requests.  Authorized Callers can
submit and create service requests.  
To add Authorized Callers, users
must have first registered with IBM
and give the STC or SSTC their IBM
ID.  The STC then logs into SR,
selects “Relationship administration”
from the left side of the page and
then selects “Manage relationhips”,.  
After a user has been added as an
SSTC or Authorized Caller in SR, a
welcome e-mail will be sent to the
new user with instructions on how
to access SR.  The new user can
then electronically submit and track
service requests using SR.
33 						November, 2014
Appendix C: Contacts
Contact via Web
Open Service Request is a tool to help
clients find the right place to open any
problem, hardware or software, in any
country where IBM does business. This
is the starting place when it is not evident
where to go to open a service request.
Service Request (SR) offers clients online
problem management to open, edit and
track open and closed PMRs by customer
number for all IBM software. Timesaving
options: create new PMRs with prefilled
demographic fields; describe problems
yourself and choose severity; submit
PMRs directly to correct support queue;
attach troubleshooting files directly to
PMR; receive alerts when IBM updates
PMR; view reports on open and closed
PMRs.
You can find information about getting
help for SR at http://www.ibm.com/soft-
ware/support/help-contactus.html
IBMLink - SoftwareXcel support con-
tracts offer clients on the System z
platform the IBMLink online problem
management tool to open problem records
and ask usage questions on System z
software products. You can open, track,
update, and close a defect or problem
record; order corrective/preventive/tol-
eration maintenance; search for known
problems or technical support informa-
tion: track applicable problem reports:
receive alerts on high impact problems
and fixes in error; and view planning
information for new releases and preven-
tive maintenance.
Contact via phone
f you have an active service contract
maintenance agreement with IBM , or
are covered by Program Services, you
may contact customer support teams
via telephone. For individual countries,
please visit the Technical Support sec-
tion of the IBM Directory of worldwide
contacts at http://www.ibm.com/planet-
wide/ .
To contact your local IBM Sales team,
please also visit  the IBM Directory of
worldwide contacts at http://www.ibm.
com/planetwide/ .
Note: the geography phone
numbers have been removed
from this document. Planet-
wide (pointers above) will be
IBM’s sole source for contact
information.
34 						November, 2014
Appendix D: IBM Acquisitions
Welcome, clients and customers of
acquired software companies. We will
be working over the coming months
to integrate the support for acquired
product support organizations into
IBM.
With most IBM Software acquisitions,
IBM strives to deliver a consistent
integration of the acquired company’s
technology within an IBM product
portfolio. However, there is a transition
period during which existing client
contracts and support delivery may
be available to you based on current
legacy support contracts, or using exist-
ing support infrastructure and contact
methods. The information on these
pages is intended to give you a starting
point on what to expect for support
through this transition from your
legacy support to the IBM Support Of-
ferings described earlier in this book.
To lend continuity to customers of ac-
quired companies, IBM uses a system
called Flexible Contract Terms (FCT).
FCT allows customers to temporarily
continue most support terms negotiat-
ed while product was under the Legacy
Company’s branding. Customers will
be provided information on how to
move from FCT to the enterprise-
hardened IBM support offerings. These
IBM offerings carry many benefits our
customers have come to expect from
IBM branded products.
The annual, renewable subscription
support offering is priced per Server.
Fully Integrated Acquisitions
The following past acquired companies
and their support programs have been
fully integrated into IBM Products
and support offerings, please refer
to support portfolio for definitions of
offeringss:
Aspera Support Communication page
at http://www-01.ibm.com/software/
info/aspera/support/ .
IBM SUPPORT FOR BIGFIX
IBM’s acquisition of BigFix, brings
capabilities that enable customers an
intelligent way to secure the enterprise
by managing and automating security
and compliance updates on thousands
of computers around the globe.
Effective 1 February 2011, BigFix
product support was integrated into
IBM. The IBM Software Support
organization will provide support for
BigFix products under the end users’
existing agreements for the remainder
of their contract terms.
As a BigFix customer, you will receive
a Welcome letter from IBM detailing
the new process for contacting and
obtaining support for your BigFix
products.  For all new customers after
January, 2011, you will receive an
IBM Customer Number at the time of
purchase along with details on how
to contact IBM Support for your IBM
Tivoli Endpoint Manager Product.
For more details on IBM Support,
please see Support portfolio section of
the IBM Support Handbook, sections
on “Assistance Provided” and “Main-
•	 Algorithmics
•	 Ascential
•	 Coremetrics
•	 Curam
•	 Datacap
•	 Encentuate
•	 Exeros
•	 I2
•	 ILOG
•	 Iniate
•	 Lombardi
•	 Micromuse
•	 MRO Maximo
•	 Ounce
•	 Star Analytics
•	 Tealeaf
•	 Unica
•	 Vallent
•	 Watchfire
IBM SUPPORT FOR ASPERA
En December 19, 2013 IBM acquired
Aspera. Aspera’s technology helps
companies securely speed the move-
ment of massive data files around
the world. Licensed to clients and
partners either in the cloud or on
premise, Aspera’s high-speed transfer
technology reduces transmission
times for large files or data sets by up
to 99.9 percent – potentially cutting a
26 hour transfer of a 24 gigabyte file,
sent halfway around the world, down
to just 30 seconds. Aspera’s patented
fasp™ technology overcomes inherent
bottlenecks in broadband wide area
networks that slow the transfer of
extremely large files, such as high-
definition video or scientific research
files, over distance.
At http://www.ibm.com/software/
info/aspera/support/ you will find
contact centers to reach out to,
should you have any questions re-
garding this transition. For the latest
information regarding the Technical
Support transition, refer to the IBM
35 						November, 2014
IBM SUPPORT FOR CLOUDANT
On February 24, 2014 IBM an-
nounced the acquisition of Cloud-
ant, a leading NoSQL database as a
service provider founded in 2008.
Cloudant provides a highly flexible,
scalable rapid deployment offering for
developers of web and mobile applica-
tions without the need to manage the
Database infrastructure.  Cloudant
will be transitioning to IBM systems
and business practices over the next
9-12 months. In the meantime, cus-
tomers using a Cloudant product will
be supported by the current Cloudant
Customer Support team, using exist-
ing systems and practices and under
the terms of their current mainte-
nance agreement.  Modifications to
existing processes will be communi-
cated to customers prior to changes
taking effect. More information can
be found at https://cloudant.com/.
IBM SUPPORT FOR COGNOS
PRODUCTS
IBM Cognos business intelligence (BI)
and financial performance manage-
ment solutions deliver world-leading
enterprise planning, consolidation
and BI software, support and services
to help companies plan, understand
and manage financial and operational
performance. IBM Cognos solutions
bring together technology, analyti-
cal applications, best practices, and
a broad network of partners to give
customers an open, adaptive and
complete performance solution. Over
23,000 customers in more than 135
countries around the world choose
IBM Cognos solutions.
Dates to note:
•	 January 31, 2008: Acquisition of
Cognos by IBM completed.
•	 January 1, 2009: Transfer of business
from Cognos into IBM occurred.
•	 June 1, 2009: IBM Support systems
and processes adopted.
For all resources associated with the tran-
sition to IBM Support, visit http://www.
ibm.com/software/data/cognos/customer-
center/dbwi/index.html
Cognos Support offerings
Cognos Support offers Support Plans
specific to Cognos software customers and
Appliance customers. Cognos software
customers purchase software from IBM
Cognos and install and maintain such
software on their own hardware, whereas
Appliance customers purchase hardware
from IBM Cognos on which software solu-
tions are pre-installed and configured.
All Support Plans are founded on:
1.	 Product (Appliance) Continuation:
access to various new and upgrade
releases of software and/or hardware.
2.	 Online Support: 24x7, self-serve
tenance acquired through Passport
Advantage or Passport Advantage
Express”.
IBM SUPPORT FOR CLARITY
On October 21 2010, IBM complet-
ed the acquisition of the software
portfolio of Clarity Systems, Inc.,
a privately held business analytics
company headquartered in Toronto,
Canada.   Clarity Systems delivers
financial governance software that
enables organizations to automate
the process of collecting, preparing,
certifying and controlling financial
statements for electronic filing, in
support of mandates by the SEC
and other financial regulatory
agencies. To significantly reduce
the risks of potential error and the
lengthy times required to create
and file financial documents, Clar-
ity Systems software allows finance
professionals to seamlessly inte-
grate information for more efficient
planning, consolidation and finan-
cial reporting.   In January 2012,
legacy Clarity Systems customers
moved to the IBM support systems
for case management. A Welcome
to Support letter was sent and Cli-
ent Experience webinars conducted
prior to this move. The in country
local telephone numbers have
also changed and can be found at
http://www.ibm.com/planetwide.
All open support cases have been
moved to the IBM Service Request
tool and can be accessed by using
the IBM Support Portal.  Should
you have any questions regarding
support processes or the support
integration into IBM, please e-mail
clientcare@ca.ibm.com
36 						November, 2014
Technical and business resourc-
es
The IBM Cognos Software Support web
site is located at www.ibm.com/cognos/
support. This site provides access to a
wide range of self service support for your
IBM Cognos software. Some of the key
support features allow you to:
•	 Downloading IBM Cognos software.
•	 Search IBM technical support
knowledge base, including Cognos
Reources.
•	 Find troubleshooting, planning and
installation documents
•	 Open a service request (electronic
problem submission tools).
•	 Access the IBM Support Handbook
and IBM Cognos Support Guides,
which contain detailed informa-
tion about IBM’s software support
services.
•	 Connect with others via the Forums
and Communities link.
The web site also includes valuable
administration information and help
features, such as:
•	 Online Authorized Caller registra-
tion and list maintenance.
•	 Site tours, including one for elec-
tronic problem submission, at the
Software Support Assistance loca-
tion.
The Cognos Customer Center provides a
good starting point for finding informa-
tion about Cognos Support, Professional
and closed PMRs by customer number.
Timesaving options include: create
new PMRs with pre filled demographic
fields; describe problems yourself and
choose severity; submit PMRs di-
rectly to correct support queue; attach
troubleshooting files directly to PMR;
receive alerts when IBM updates PMR;
view reports on open and closed PMRs.
Please refer to the Cognos Service
Request page or information on service
request topics such as:
•	 When to submit a service request
•	 What steps to take before you
submit a service request
•	 How to submit a service request
•	 How to escalate a service request
You can find information about assis-
tance for SR at the Contact the SR help
desk site.
What is the Cognos Product
Lifecycle?
Products released after January 1 2009
plus IBM Cognos 8 BI Version 8.4,
fall under the Standard IBM Software
Support Lifecycle Policy. Please refer to
the following site for full details of this
policy:
•	 IBM Software Support Lifecycle
Policy
Products released before January 1,
2009, excluding IBM Cognos 8 BI
Version 8.4, fall under the previous
Cognos Lifecycle policy, as described
in the Cognos Support Plans Guide.
Refer to the Cognos supported products
web page for the support status of your
product.
access to Web resources such
as Technotes, Proven Practices
(White Papers) and Product
Downloads (if applicable) The
difference between the plans is
in the Assisted Support focus.
3.	 Assisted Support: the support
services available to you when
you require live, interactive
support from IBM. The Cognos
Support offerings available to
customers include: Standard;
Software Development Kit Code
Level; Advantage; and, Premier.
For any Cognos Support offering
purchased outside of IBM Passport
Advantage, Express or Premium,
please see the Support Plans Guide
for additional information. The Cog-
nos Support Plans Guide provides an
overview of the plans offered before
the acquisition of Cognos by IBM,
including information on: SDK code-
level support; on-line support pro-
grams; and, information on getting
the most from your Support Plan.
A Support Plan is a purchasable sup-
port service offering with defined de-
liverables, rights, joint commitments
and service levels. A Support Plan
encapsulates the shared working
arrangement between you and IBM
Cognos Support. Support Plans are
also referred to as Support Offerings.
•	 The Cognos Support Plans
Guide
•	 FAQs for Cognos Customers and
Partners
Problem reporting for Cognos
customers
The Service Request (SR) tool offers
Cognos clients online problem man-
agement to open, edit and track open
37 						November, 2014
Services and Education.
Cognos Customer Center
At Cognos we appreciate your busi-
ness and look forward to working
with you.
IBM SUPPORT FOR CONSUL
PRODUCTS
Consul’s enterprise security audit-
ing and compliance solutions col-
lect and analyze vast quantities of
user and system activity to monitor,
report and investigate both mali-
cious and accidental violations of
information use.
Effective July 2007, Consul prod-
ucts and support were integrated
into IBM.
As part of the transition of Consul
Legacy Software products into IBM
Support, the Terms & Condition’s
(T&C’s) documented in existing
Consul contracts will be honored
through the remaining length of
the agreement, at which point, a
mutually beneficial IBM service
agreement may be negotiated.
For more details on IBM Support, .
For more details see IBM Software
Maintenance under Enhanced
Support.
For information regarding the
Consul acquisition, including Sup-
port FAQs, Important links, and
Education opportunities, please see
the Consul support resources.
IBM SUPPORT FOR DAEJA
On September 19, 2013, IBM an-
nounced the acquisition of Daeja
Image Systems Ltd. (“Daeja”),  
leading provider of document and
image viewing solutions for enter-
For information regarding the Dat-
amirror acquisition, including Support,
Downloads, and FAQs, please see the
following link.
IBM SUPPORT FOR DATAPOW-
ER PRODUCTS
IBM WebSphere DataPower SOA
Appliances are purpose-built, easy-to-
deploy network devices that simplify,
help secure, and accelerate your XML
and Web services deployments while
extending your SOA infrastructure.
These new appliances offer an innova-
tive, pragmatic approach to harness
the power of SOA while simultaneously
enabling you to leverage the value of
your existing application, security, and
networking infrastructure investments.
Effective November 1, 2005, Data-
Power appliances and support were
integrated into IBM.
Support for WebSphere DataPower
appliances will be provided by IBM
Support initiated through Software
IBM Support for both firmware and
hardware.  Customers with 7x24
contracts will continue to get the
off-shift support to which they are
entitled. Additional information
regarding DataPower support offerings
and self-help is available at: http://
www.ibm.com/support/docview.
wss?rs=2362&uid=swg21260903.
This information covers a range of
support topics including:
•	 WebSphere DataPower extended
maintenance and support services
•	 Specifics for customers with valid
support contracts on how to con-
tact IBM WebSphere DataPower
Technical Support
prise content management is now part
of IBM.  Support for the Daeja product
will be provided by IBM and the exist-
ing acquired support team. Effective
April 1, 2014 the terms and conditions
of support for the Daeja product will fall
under the IBM Passport Advantage sup-
port terms.  For additional information
regarding Daeja support please refer-
ence http://www.ibm.com/software/
ecm/daeja/support/.
IBM SUPPORT FOR DATAMIR-
ROR PRODUCTS
On September 4, 2007, IBM acquired
DataMirror a public company based
in Markham, Ontario. DataMirror is a
leading provider of real-time changed
data capture software for dynamic
changed-data integration, replication
and high availability.
Datamirror provides Change Data
Capture (CDC) software with high
performance, real-time data integration
solution that addresses data integra-
tion challenges across heterogeneous
environments. Native log-based CDC
technology detects mission-critical data
events in real time without impact-
ing system performance. Bidirectional
real-time CDC synchronizes informa-
tion between data sources to provide a
single version of the truth throughout
an enterprise. IBM Information Server
Change Data Capture is fully integrated
into IBM Information Server and pro-
vides real-time data feeds to DataStage
and Quality Stage.
As of April 28th 2008 Datamirror
support has been integrated into IBM
Software Support. The IBM Software
Support organization will provide sup-
port for Datamirror products under the
end users’ existing agreements with
Datamirror for the remainder of their
contract terms.
38 						November, 2014
Client rep.  Your Client representative
will make the necessary request on
your behalf.
Accessing older FileNet software
versions
To request code for older versions of IBM
FileNet software please contact your Cli-
ent representative.  Your Client represen-
tative will contact make the necessary
request on your behalf.
IBM only makes the current version of its
software available for download. Because
of the differences in product lifecycle
management between FileNet’s legacy
approach and IBM’s processes, existing
FileNet customers may have a legitimate
need to obtain older versions of FileNet
software. By policy, these versions are not
available via the IBM software download
site. The following describes the condi-
tions under which an old version of
software can be obtained and the process
to follow in order to obtain it.
Versions of software that are not the cur-
rent version but that are still supported by
IBM FileNet’s development organization
regarding the Emptoris Support, including
Support phone numbers, access to open on-
line cases and important updates, please see
the Emptoris Transition Resources page at
http://www.ibm.com/software/commerce/
emptoris/support/
IBM SUPPORT FOR FILENET
PRODUCTS
IBM® software support for Enter-
prise Content Management (ECM) is
represented by a network of people,
systems and services provides you with
a single point of contact for 24/7 remote
technical assistance. Software support
also includes a subscription to code
corrections and fixes, plus updates and
enhancements to stay current with your
investment. Whether your ECM soft-
ware is installed at a single location or
in multiple sites around the world, our
technical specialists will work closely
with your support staff to:
•	 Maintain bottom-line productivity
•	 Maximize system availability
•	 Save you time
•	 Reduce your risk
Effective, October 1, 2007, FileNet
products and support were integrated
into IBM, under Information Manage-
ment | Enterprise Content Management
(ECM).   There are few specific changes
to the FileNet Support offerings
or deliverables provided to our
FileNet customers.  The Custom-
er Support team is focused on
continuing to deliver world-class
support to the FileNet customer
base.
The following are the processes
specific to the IBM ECM FileNet
software download access.
Accessing older FileNet
software fix packs
To request access for older fix
packs of IBM FileNet software
please contact your local IBM
•	 WebSphere DataPower SOA Appli-
ances Support page
•	 Firmware and documentation
downloads including a download
wizard
•	 My Notifications weekly custom
e-mail with important news about
the IBM products you select
•	 IBM WebSphere DataPower SOA
Appliance forum on developer-
Works
IBM SUPPORT FOR DE-
MANDTEC PRODUCTS
On February 15, 2012 IBM acquired
DemandTec. DemandTec delivers
cloud-based analytics software to help
organizations improve their price,
promotion, and product mix within the
broad context of enterprise commerce:
retail, business-to-consumer, and con-
sumer goods. More information can be
found at www.demandtec.com.  For the
latest Support updates, please refer to
http://www.ibm.com/software/market-
ing-solutions/demandtec/support/.
IBM SUPPORT FOR EMPTO-
RIS
On January 31, 2012 IBM acquired Emp-
toris the world leader in strategic supply,
category spend and contract management
solutions that enable companies to maxi-
mize financial performance and optimize
commercial risk. The company’s suite of
award-winning and industry-recognized
sourcing, contract management, spend
analysis, supplier lifecycle management,
services procurement and telecom expense
management solutions are successfully used
by Global 2000 companies.   
Emptoris technical support will transition
to IBM Support process and tools in the
second quarter of 2013. In the meantime,
customers using any of Emptoris products
will be supported by the current Emptoris
Technical Support team, using existing
systems and Practices. For information
39 						November, 2014
on the applicable IBM support terms,
see Support Portfolio and Support
Foundation sections of this handbook.
IBM SUPPORT FOR GREEN HAT
On January 11, 2012, IBM announced it
had completed the acquisition of Green
Hat, a privately held company jointly
headquartered in London, England and
Wilmington, Delaware.  Green Hat helps
customers improve the quality of software
applications by enabling developers to use
cloud computing technologies to conduct
testing of a software application prior to its
delivery.
As we move forward with the acquisition
of Green Hat products, we have created
the Green Hat Support Overview page at
http://www.ibm.com/software/rational/
support/greenhat/ To ensure a positive
transition experience for your organization,
this simple webpage will be your one-stop
resource for support tools, processes and
critical transition dates. We encourage
you to bookmark and visit this webpage
regularly.
IBM SUPPORT FOR GUARDIUM
IBM InfoSphere Guardium appliances
are virtual appliances purpose-built for
real time database activity monitoring by
deploying centralized and standardized
controls for real-time database security
and monitoring, fine-grained database
auditing, automated compliance reporting,
data-level access control, database vulner-
ability management and auto-discovery of
sensitive data.
Support for InfoSphere Guardium appli-
ances will be provided by IBM Support
initiated through Software IBM Support
for both firmware and hardware.   
SAdditional information regarding InfoS-
phere Guardium support offerings and
self-help is available at: http://www.ibm.
com/software/data/guardium/
IBM SUPPORT FOR INTELLI-
DEN
Intelliden is a leading provider of Intelli-
gent Network Automation Solutions that
enable organizations to control, manage
and scale their networks. With Intelliden
products, network-driven organizations
can enforce granular access control
and security, automate configuration
changes, help ensure network compli-
ance, provision devices with enhanced
levels of accuracy, and provide a normal-
ized view of network resources, for virtu-
ally any vendor, type, model or operating
system. Intelliden’s innovative platform
acts as the Trusted Source of Network
Truth™ by providing the real-time state
of the network – the key to helping
ensure accuracy across increasingly
dynamic networks. It offers unmatched
scalability, is an open solution, and has
been proven in service providers, finan-
cial services organizations, government
agencies and other businesses dependent
on their networks.
IBM acquired Intelliden February 16,
2010.
Effective August 24, 2010, Intelliden
product support was integrated into
IBM. The IBM Software Support organi-
zation will provide support for Intelliden
products under the end users’ existing
As a general policy; this software is
available without restrictions. In order
to obtain a specific software version,
contact your local Client representa-
tive, who will make the necessary
request on your behalf. The following
information is required:
Customer contact name:
Customer company name:
Customer contact phone:
Customer contact e-mail:
Customer address:
Customer ICN:
Product required (include version and
OS):
IBM will make the requested product
available for download to the customer
and will contact the customer to com-
municate the URL and process for
download. This request may take 7 to
10 business days to complete.
IBM SUPPORT FOR FILEX
FilesX specializes in continuous
data protection and nearly instant
data and application recovery
software for enterprises and remote/
branch offices. On April 21, 2008,
IBM announced this acquisition
and its integration into the IBM
product family.
Effective October 2008, FilesX
products and support were inte-
grated into IBM
As part of the transition of FilesX
Software products, IBM will be
your primary support provider.
The Terms & Conditions (T&C’s)
documented in existing FilesX con-
tracts will be honored through the
remaining length of the agreement,
at which point, a mutually benefi-
cial IBM service agreement may be
negotiated.  For more information
40 						November, 2014
agreements for the remainder of their
contract terms. For more details on IBM
Support, please see Support Foundation,
sections on “Assistance Provided” and
“Maintenance acquired through Pass-
port Advantage or Passport Advantage
Express”.
IBM SUPPORT FOR INTER-
NET SECURITY SYSTEMS
PRODUCTS
Internet Security Systems (ISS), now
IBM Security Solutions, is recognized
as a market leader in adaptive security
management, intrusion detection and
prevention, and vulnerability manage-
ment providing innovative solutions that
help enable maximum protection from
enterprise security risks. An estab-
lished leader in security since 1994,
the IBM Security Solutions integrated
security platform is designed to auto-
matically protect against both known
and unknown threats and protects
customers from online attacks before
they impact critical business assets.
These solutions are based on the proac-
tive security intelligence of the IBM X-
Force® research and development team
-- a world authority in vulnerability and
threat research.
On August 23, 2006, IBM acquired
ISS to bring its unique “ahead-of-the-
threat” security approach to a broad
range of customers worldwide.  ISS
provides security solutions to thousands
of the world’s leading companies and
governments, helping to proactively
protect against Internet threats across
networks, desktops and servers. ISS
software, appliances and services moni-
tor and manage network vulnerabilities
and rapidly respond in advance of
potential threats.  ISS threat protection
systems complement IBM’s Tivoli iden-
tity and access management software,
addressing and managing customer
security and privacy needs.
The IBM X-Force® research and
development team has also played a key
role in this acquisition. IBM has linked
the expertise of the X-Force with its
own world-class research organization
and grown this capability by continu-
ing to recruit and train leading security
specialists.
On November 1st, 2010 the Support
and Maintenance organization for IBM
Security Solutions joined forces with
IBM Software Support.  IBM Software
Support will provide support for IBM
Security Products under the exist-
ing agreements with ISS Support and
Maintenance for the remainder of the
contract term.
To access resources such as the knowl-
edge base, documentation, white pa-
pers, and XPU information, please visit
the IBM Security Solutions Migration
Page:  http://www.ibm.com/support/
docview.wss?uid=swg21447087
IBM SUPPORT FOR KENEXA
In December of 2012, IBM formally
acquired Kenexa. Kenexa will be transi-
tioning to selected IBM support systems
and value added offerings over the next
6-12 months. In the meantime, custom-
ers using any Kenexa heritage branded
offerings will be supported by the cur-
rent IBM Kenexa support teams, using
heritage Kenexa systems and prac-
tices, under the terms of their current
maintenance agreements. During this
time, new IBM Kenexa customers will
also be supported by heritage Kenexa
support teams which use different tools
and phone numbers from other IBM
Support teams.
More information and resource links
will be made available here as we
evolve the support experience for your
IBM Kenexa offerings. Any new choices
or modifications to existing support
processes will be communicated to
customers in a variety of channels, prior
to any change taking effect.
Information on how to secure support
for any Kenexa offerings can be found
at: http://www.ibm.com/software/sup-
port/kenexa/supportbasics.html
More detail on Kenexa support can be
found in the Internet version of this
handbook:
http://www14.software.ibm.com/
webapp/set2/sas/f/handbook/acquisi-
tions.html#kenexa
IBM SUPPORT FOR Netezza
On November 11, 2010 IBM acquired
Netezza. Netezza appliances combine
storage, processing, database and
analytics into high-performance data
warehouse appliances that are purpose-
built to make advanced analytics on big
data simpler, faster and more acces-
sible. More information can be found
at http://www.netezza.com/data-ware-
house-appliance-products/index.aspx
Netezza will be transitioning to IBM
systems and business practices over
the next 3-6 months. In the meantime,
customers using Netezza Appliance
products will be supported by the cur-
rent Netezza Technical Support team,
using existing systems and practices
and under the terms of their current
maintenance agreement. Modifica-
tions to the existing processes will be
communicated to customers prior to
41 						November, 2014
changes taking effect as well as being
outlined here: http://www.ibm.com/
software/data/support/netezza_sup-
port_comm.html.
Web access to Netezza technical sup-
port may be found through the Netezza
Customer Support page (http://www.
netezza.com/support/). The following
link will provide you with the US toll and
toll free telephone number for escalated
incidences: http://www.ibm.com/plan-
etwide/ or select Contact Us from the
bottom left corner of the Customer Center
home page.
For ongoing transition information related
to the acquisition of Netezza Appliance
product maintenance and support are
documented at: http://www.ibm.com/
software/data/support/netezza_sup-
port_comm.html.
IBM SUPPORT FOR OpenPages
On October 21, 2010, IBM completed
the acquisition of OpenPages, a leading
provider of integrated risk management
solutions for global companies. The Open-
Pages Governance, Risk and Compliance
(GRC) Platform empowers a risk based
approach to identify and manage key
business risks across the enterprise.
Effective May 1, 2011, OpenPages will
have completed the Transfer of Business
into IBM and existing customer data will
begin migration into the IBM systems.
OpenPages will be transitioning to IBM
Support systems and business practices
over the next few months with a target
completion date of August 31, 2011. In
the mean time, customers using Open-
Pages products will be supported by the
current OpenPages Technical Support
team, using existing Openpages Sup-
port systems and practices, and under
the terms of the current maintenance
agreement. Modifications to the existing
processes will be communicated prior to
changes taking effect.
As an OpenPages customer, you have
received a Welcome letter from IBM
detailing the new method for contact-
ing and obtaining support for your
OpenPages products after August 31,
2011.  For all new customers post May 1
2011, you will receive an IBM Cus-
tomer Number at the time of purchase
along with details on how to contact
IBM Support for your IBM OpenPages
Products.
The OpenPages Support Team will con-
tinue to focus on delivering customer
satisfaction without compromise. As we
work to integrate OpenPages and IBM
Support, we will offer OpenPages cus-
tomers expanded capabilities through
the existing IBM Support infrastruc-
ture.
For the most up-to-date information re-
garding the Openpages Support transi-
tion, visit the IBM Openpages Customer
Center.  Please visit the OpenPages
Customer Support webpage for addi-
tional information about the OpenPages
Customer Support program.   
IBM SUPPORT FOR PSS SYS-
TEMS
On October 21, 2010 IBM acquired PSS
Systems. (now PSS, an IBM Company),
a Mountain View, California-based pro-
vider of advanced capture technology.
PSS Systems helps companies eliminate
unnecessary legal risk, and discovery
and data management costs. Its Atlas
Suite provides integrated software solu-
tions for legal holds, discovery workflow,
regulatory compliance and data gover-
nance for customers. PSS entered the
legal holds market in 2004 and claims
the largest concentration of customers
and domain experts anywhere.
Attention: All PSS customers: Sup-
port for all PSS products will transi-
tion to the IBM Support infrastruc-
ture as of September 1, 2011.
Effective September 1, there are
changes you will need to prepare for,
including:
To open a new case:
•	 Use your unique IBM Customer
Number (ICN) when calling in
for support or when requesting
support online through the IBM
Service Request system.
•	 Open a Service Request using the
IBM Support Service Request (SR)
system instead of opening a Sup-
port Case on PSS Support Portal.
•	 Replace PSS Support phone
numbers with IBM Support
phone numbers. For the U.S. it is
1-800-IBM-SERV or 1-800-426-
7378.
Visit our Planetwide ( http://www.ibm.
com/planetwide ) site for the appropri-
ate in-country technical support phone
number.
•	 You cannot open a Service Request
(case) via e-mail
To download patches and updates
for current versions of IBM Atlas
Suite software:
•	 Use IBM’s Fix Central
Support for Cases opened prior to
September 1, 2011:
•	 Support Cases that were opened
prior to September 1, will continue
to be supported on the legacy PSS
case management system until
closure or management determina-
tion to migrate to IBM tools. You
will be notified of any changes in
advance.
42 						November, 2014
Accessing Support documentation:
•	 FAQs and other PSS Support
content will remain on the PSS
Customer Portal until further
notice.
What you need to do:
•	 Make sure you are familiar with
your ICN (IBM Customer Number).
•	 Perform required actions to add
your approved authorized callers
under your organization’s ICN via
the Support Portal user adminis-
tration tools.
•	 Review the tutorial contents on
PSS support portal https://support.
pss-systems.com/node/1494 to
ensure you have proper access to
IBM support infrastructure.
•	 Review this IBM Support Hand-
book  and the notification letters
for further instructions on how to
utilize Assisted Support at IBM.
We anticipate you and your organiza-
tion will experience a smooth transition
to IBM Support. During this process
we are available to answer any ques-
tions you may have, and to handle your
ongoing products and service needs.
Should you have any questions regard-
ing getting set-up to engage through
IBM Support, please contact our Client
Care team at ISCare@us.ibm.com .
The Client Care team can assist you
with non-technical questions regarding
how to use support, Passport Advantage
Online, the SR (Service Request) Tool,
or entitlements.
IBM SUPPORT FOR SOFTEK
Softek (Data Mobility Services) were
acquired by IBM in 2007.  Softek is part
of Global Technology Services, offering
data migration services and tools that
can enable nondisruptive, online migra-
tions to reduce costs, optimize infra-
structures and increase productivity.
Ongoing support for Softek products
will be provided under the current
terms and methods within the existing
contracts; to access support for these
Softek products please visit http://
www-950.ibm.com/services/dms/en/
support/
For customers seeking Softek Annual
Maintenance Renewals via the 1-877-
426-6006, select option 2 is for Invoic-
ing/Renewals/Maintenance.
SPSS
IBM SPSS predictive analytics helps
your organization anticipate change so
that you can plan and carry out strate-
gies that improve outcomes. By applying
predictive analytics solutions to data
you already have, your organization can
uncover unexpected patterns and as-
sociations and develop models to guide
front-line interactions. This means
you can prevent high-value customers
from leaving, sell additional services to
current customers, develop successful
products more efficiently, or identify
and minimize fraud and risk. Predic-
tive analytics gives you the knowledge
to predict…and the power to act.
Dates to note
•	 October 1, 2009 : Acquisition of
SPSS by IBM completed.
•	 October 1, 2010: Transfer of busi-
ness from SPSS into IBM oc-
curred.
•	 April 1, 2011: IBM Support systems
and processes adopted by SPSS
Support.
SPSS is part of the IBM Business
Analytics brand at IBM. Please see our
Business Analytics home page in the
IBM web site, and the support section
in that page for additional help with get-
ting support at IBM.
IBM SUPPORT FOR STERLING
COMMERCE
On August 27, 2010 IBM acquired Ster-
ling Commerce, an AT&T Company;
now Sterling Commerce is part of the
IBM Corporation. . Sterling Commerce
helps organizations worldwide increase
business agility in their dynamic
business network through innovative
solutions for selling and fulfillment and
for seamless and secure integration with
customers, partners and suppliers.
On 1 February 2012, legacy Sterling
Commerce customers have moved
to the IBM support system for case
management. The in country local tele-
phone numbers have also changed and
can be found at http://www.ibm.com/
planetwide . All open support cases
have been moved to the IBM Service
Request tool and can be accessed by
using the IBM Support Portal. This
includes all customers of the following
applications:
•	 IBM Sterling Connect products
•	 IBM Sterling Gentran products
•	 IBM Sterling Control Center
•	 IBM Sterling Secure Proxy
•	 IBM Sterling B2B Integrator
•	 IBM Sterling Total Payments
•	 IBM Sterling Selling & Fulfillment
Suite  (including MCF and MCS)
•	 IBM Sterling File Gateway
•	 IBM Sterling Certificate Wizard
•	 Mobile Applications
•	 Mapping
Note for all other products or services
not included in the above list, it is busi-
ness as usual using heritage Sterling
43 						November, 2014
Commerce processes for submitting
cases to support. Continue to go to
http://customer.sterlingcommerce.com
for all your support inquiries.
IBM Support will provide support for
the Sterling Commerce products listed
above under end users’ existing agree-
ments with Sterling Commerce for the
remainder of their current terms. For
more details on IBM Support, please
see Support Foundation, sections on
Assistance provided and Maintenance
Acquired through Passport Advantage.
For information regarding the Ster-
ling Commerce acquisition, including
Support FAQs, important links, and
Education opportunities, please see the
Sterling Commerce Transition Re-
sources page at http://www.ibm.com/
software/commerce/support/
Review the Sterling to IBM Support
Transition webinar for detailed informa-
tion on using IBM’s Service Request
option on the Support Portal.
IBM SUPPORT FOR
STOREDIQ
On December 19, 2012 IBM announced
a definitive agreement to acquire
StoredIQ. Industry-leading companies
rely on StoredIQ’s Active Information
Management solutions to solve Big Data
problems and manage their information
more efficiently to reduce cost and risk.
Quickly deployed within the enterprise,
StoredIQ discovers, analyzes and acts
on what’s important across petabytes of
data where it lives, without moving it to
a repository or specialty application to
deliver immediate ROI. More informa-
tion can be found at http://www.ibm.
com/software/info/storediq. Technical
support for StoredIQ products, IBM
Unstructured Data Identification and
Management, IBM eDiscovery Iden-
tification and Collection, IBM Policy
Assessment and Compliance, and IBM
Desktop Data Collector can be obtained
through the support portal at http://
http://support.ibm.com or by calling
1-800-IBM-SERV.
IBM SUPPORT FOR TELELOGIC
PRODUCTS
Telelogic solutions automate and sup-
port best practices across the enterprise
- from powerful modeling of business
processes and enterprise architectures
to requirements-driven development
of advanced systems and software.
Telelogic’s solutions enable organiza-
tions to align product, systems, and
software development lifecycles with
business objectives and customer needs
to dramatically improve quality and
predictability, while significantly reduc-
ing time-to-market and overall costs..
Effective February 1, 2009, Telelogic
product support was integrated into
IBM. The IBM Software Support
organization will provide support for
Telelogic products under the end users’
existing agreements for the remainder
of their contract terms. For more details
on IBM Support, please see Support
Foundation, sections on Assistance
Provided and Maintenance Acquired
through Passport Advantage.
For information regarding support
delivery for Telelogic products, please
see Rational Support - Telelogic Support
Overview.
IBM SUPPORT FOR TRIRIGA
On March 22, IBM announced that it
has completed the acquisition of TRI-
RIGA Inc., a leading provider of facility
and real estate management software
solutions.
TRIRIGA provides the industry’s most
extensive functionality in an Integrated
Workplace Management solution. TRIRI-
GA’s  technology provides customers with
unmatched business agility to rapidly
configure and reconfigure the applica-
tion as customers’ needs change. With
an outstanding network of consultants,
partners, industry experts, and market-
leading customers, TRIRIGA delivers
unparalleled experience and expertise.  
As a leader in workplace management
solutions, TRIRIGA will strengthen IBM
smarter buildings solutions.
The Transfer of Business occurred on
November 1, 2011.  TRIRIGA support
will transition to the IBM support sys-
tems starting November 14 and clients
will be notified when they should begin
to use IBM support programs, and we
intend to complete this transition by
year-end 2011.
For information regarding the TRIRIGA
support transition, including links and
education about IBM Support program,
please see the TRIRIGA Support FAQs.
Support for the TRIRIGA products will
be handled by both IBM’s TRIRIGA
technical support teams and IBM Part-
ners.
IBM SUPPORT FOR U2 PROD-
UCTS
Rocket Software, Inc. acquired the IBM
UniVerse and UniData (U2) product line
on October 1, 2009. All future informa-
tion regarding the U2 products will be
available from Rocket. Please refer to the
Rocket website www.rocketsoftware.com/
u2/. When you access non-IBM Web
sites, even though they may contain the
IBM logo and content regarding IBM’s
products and services, such Web sites are
independent of IBM and IBM makes no
representations or warranties regarding
44 						November, 2014
the content and has no control over the
operation of such non-IBM Web sites. In
addition, a link to a non-IBM Web site
does not mean that IBM endorses that
Web site or has any responsibility for the
use of such Web site.
IBM SUPPORT FOR URBAN CODE
On 22-Apr-2013, IBM announced the
acquisition of UrbanCode adding to the
DevOps portfolio.  Based in Cleveland,
Ohio, UrbanCode automates the delivery
of software, helping businesses quickly
release and update mobile, social, big
data, cloud applications. Visit IBM’s
news room for the full press release.
As we move forward with the acquisi-
tion of UrbanCode products, we have
created the UrbanCode Support Transi-
tion Overview page at (http://www.ibm.
com/software/rational/support/urban-
code/).  To ensure a positive transition
experience for your organization, this
simple webpage will be your one-stop
resource for support tools, processes and
critical transition dates. We encourage
you to bookmark and visit this webpage
regularly.
IBM SUPPORT FOR VARICENT
On May 23 2012, IBM compleed the ac-
quisition of the software portfolio of Vari-
cent Software, Inc., a leading provider of
analytics software for compensation and
sales performance management head-
quartered in Toronto, Canada.  Varicent’s
software automates and analyzes data
across sales, finance, human resources
and IT departments to uncover trends
and improve sales performance and op-
erations. The acquisition enhances IBM’s
Smarter Analytics capabilities across line
of business operations in all industries.
IBM Varicent customers will be tran-
sitioning to IBM systems and business
practices over the next 6 months.  In
the meantime, IBM Varicent customers
using any of Varicent’s products will be
supported by the current support team,
using existing systems and practices.
Modifications to existing processes will
be communicated to customers prior to
changes taking effect. For the latest in-
formation regarding the Technical Sup-
port transition, refer to the IBM Varicent
Customer Center . Should you have any
questions regarding support processes or
the support integration into IBM, please
e-mail clientcare@ca.ibm.com
IBM SUPPORT FOR XTIFY
On October 3, 2013 IBM announced
the acquisition of Xtify Inc., a leading
provider of cloud-based mobile messag-
ing tools that help organizations improve
mobile sales, drive in-store traffic and
engage customers with personalized of-
fers.  Xtify was launched in 2009 to help
brands and marketers stay connected to
their mobile customers who increasingly
want their information and entertain-
ment on the go. The premise was simple:
content and promotional offers are far
more useful when delivered directly
to consumers at the time and place in
which they can act on them immediately.
In other words, relevancy is key. More
information can be found at http://www.
xtify.com.  Xtify will be transitioning to
IBM systems and business practices over
the next 4 - 8 months. In the meantime,
customers using any Xtify products will
be supported by the current Xtify Tech-
nical Support team, using existing sys-
tems and practices and under the terms
of their current maintenance agreement.
Modifications to existing processes will
be communicated to customers prior to
changes taking effect.
45 						November, 2014
Appendix E: IBM Canada’s Remote Technical Support Offering
Base or Program
Services Tasks
•	 Individual reported
errors during a product
install
•	 How to diagnose re-
ported problems
•	 Problem determination,
problem source iden-
tification, dump trace
analysis
•	 Assist with diagnosing
interfaces between IBM
Code and application
•	 Assist with diagnosing
the interfaces between
IBM Code and User
Exit programs
•	 Assist with incorrect
publications via a
reporting error
•	 Questions / recommen-
dation on maintenance
level, PTFs, APARs
•	 No trouble found, prob-
lems, or errors (error
not re-producible)
•	 Provide guidance on
collection of docu-
mentation to resolve
problems
•	 (Customer documents
may be required by
Defect Support Group)
Base or Foundation 	
Offerings Tasks
•	 Installation assistance
(i.e. clarification of a
single step in a process)
•	 General guidance for
product installation.
Assist with general
questions on product
usage and operation
•	 Interpret manuals re-
garding IBM Code and
application interface
•	 Interpret publications
on the use or purpose
of a User Exit. Provide a
sample if one exists.
•	 Provide available con-
figuration samples
•	 Interpret and clarify
publications
•	 General questions on
maintenance philosophy
•	 Short duration, general
usage assistance ques-
tions
•	 Provide instructions on
how to collect necessary
documentation  (Cus-
tomer documents or
data may be required)
Premium Offerings Task
(perform)
•	 Outline exact steps to add a
new device
•	 Analyze system reports (e.g.
Traces) and provide recommen-
dations
•	 Interface with third party to
assist in resolving network con-
nectivity problems (may be via
dial-in or voice)
•	 More complex or detailed ques-
tions than those covered by a
foundation offering
•	 Provide instructions on how to
collect necessary documenta-
tion (for non-IBM problems)
•	 Review configuration and rec-
ommend corrective actions
•	 Basic review, recommendations
or configuration of parameters
•	 In-depth review, recommenda-
tions or configuration of param-
eters in a complex environment
•	 Review performance data sent
in for analysis. In-depth per-
formance analysis/tuning.
•	 Upgrade planning, capacity
planning or review of customer
plan
•	 Diagnose or review the user
application code without a
specific reported IBM error
•	 Diagnose or review user exit
code or write it (excluding the
interfaces within the scope of
defect support)
•	 Write samples (e.g. Application
programming)
•	 Perform or provide step-by-step
•	 Assistance (e.g. Recover a
database, catalogue, data, or
network  configuration)
•	 Guide through or analyze
requirement for application of
system maintenance (beyond
short duration how-to) (Cus-
tomer documents or data may
be required)
Custom Offerings
(perform)
•	 In addition to selected
tasks premium offerings:
•	 Customized service plans
•	 Purpose built tools and
reports
•	 Service Level Objectives
•	 Service Level Agreements
•	 Account advocacy with
structured problem man-
agement reviews
46 						November, 2014
SUG
The APAR does not describe a program-
ming error but suggests a change to the
code.
UR1
Unable to Reproduce - The problem
could not be reproduced on the next
release to be available. The APAR was
opened for a release which was support-
ed at the time the problem was received.
UR2
Unable to Reproduce - The problem
could not be reproduced on the next
release to be available. The APAR was
opened for a release which was NOT
supported at the time the problem was
received.
UR3
Unable to Reproduce - The problem
could not be reproduced on a cur-
rently supported release. The APAR was
opened for a release which was support-
ed at the time the problem was received.
UR4
Unable to Reproduce - The problem
could not be reproduced on a cur-
rently supported release. The APAR was
opened for a release which was NOT
supported at the time the problem was
received.
UR5
Unable to Reproduce - The problem
could not be reproduced on the release
on which the problem was originally
occurred.
USE
The problem was caused by a user error.
The following are the official
closing codes for APARs
CAN
An APAR should never have been
created or the customer has requested
that the record be cancelled. An APAR
can also be closed CAN when develop-
ment determines that the problem is
not with their code.
DOC
The problem was caused by an error in
the documentation.
DUx
The problem reported is a duplicate,
already addressed by an existing
APAR. Includes DUA, DUB, DUU
FIN
Fix If Next. The problem will be fixed
in the next level (if there is a next
release).
MCH
The problem was caused by a micro-
code or hardware failure.
PER
A programming error was found and
will be corrected.
PRS
A programming error was found but
will not be corrected. The error will be
a permanent restriction in the product.
RET
The record was returned to the APAR
submitter because more information
was needed.
APPENDIX F: 			 APAR Closing Codes and Acronyms
47 						November, 2014
CSD
Corrective Service Delivery. Means
by which some products deliver their
service.
CUSTOMER CRITICAL PROBLEM
Means a problem for which you have
no known work around resulting in a
critical disruption in your business
operations.
EMEA
IBM Geographic unit consisting of Eu-
rope, Middle East, and Africa
END OF SERVICE DATE
The date when IBM will no longer
support, update, patch or maintain a
product.
ESO
Expanded Service Options. OS/390 ser-
vice deliverable used by many Customers
for preventive service
ESP
Early Support Program. A program
where customers get a pre release level of
a product in order to help IBM evaluate
the fitness of the product and the readi-
ness of IBM support
FIN
Fixed-If-Next. An APAR whose fix will
be deferred until a future release of the
product (by mutual agreement between
the Customer and IBM)
FIX PACK
A cumulative collection of all fixes avail-
able to registered customers since the
last release of the product. It can include
fixes that have not been previously
released and can span multiple products
The following terms and
acronyms are used frequently
in the course of solving
your problems.
APAR
Authorized Program Analysis Report.
A formal report to IBM development,
of a problem caused by a suspected
defect in a current unaltered release
of an IBM program. An APAR may be
used by development to document new
function delivered in the maintenance
stream
ALC
Annual License Charge. A method of
paying for some IBM software prod-
ucts, usually as a part of a PLC/ALC
agreement.
CALL
A single telephone call from the Cus-
tomer Authorized Caller to the Sup-
port Center. An incident may involve
one or many telephone calls
CBPDO
Custom Built Product Delivery Option.
OS/390 deliverable which can include
product and service, but is used by
many Customers as a vehicle for pre-
ventive service
CCC
Call Center Coordinator. CCC is a
term within Lotus for people who
will dispatch or triage all customer
incidents
CONSOLE
A Lotus Support function which routes
phone messages, handles expired Sup-
port ID’s and answers support entitle-
ment questions
or components.  A fix pack can be ap-
plied on top of any previously shipped
maintenance to bring the system up
to the current fix pack level.
FSS
Field Support Services provided by
a Lotus Support Field representative
who engage in short term technical
projects for customers
FSU
Fast Service Upgrade. A process for
upgrading an installed VSE release
level with a newer one.
FTP
File Transfer Protocol. Method for
transferring files to or from IBM and
Lotus and their Web sites
FULLSHIFT
Means 24 hours a day, seven days a
week, including national holidays.
GTS
Global Technical Service.  Organi-
zation within IBM specializing in
delivering the highest quality services
to our Customers.
HIPER
Literally, “High Impact Pervasive”.
An APAR that describes a serious
problem and may be one that has
a wide spread impact. The APAR
should be reviewed and if applicable,
the PTF should be installed as soon
as possible.
					Acronyms & other terms
48 						November, 2014
MR
Maintenance Release -  Each time
a new feature release for a Lotus
product is introduced to the market,
a subsequent trail of regularly sched-
uled bug fix releases are typically
provided. At Lotus this is called a
maintenance release. A maintenance
release is denoted by the use of a
third digit in the release number
MU
Maintenance Update.  An MU is a
Lotus term for a small release, with
only a few fixes, or perhaps just one
fix.  An MU is represented by an ad-
ditional letter.  For example, the MU
for R5.0.4 was R5.0.4a
OFF-SHIFT
Means all hours outside of Prime
Shift  
( please see Prime Shift definition)
OS/390
Mainframe server platform built on
the MVS family of products
OTC
One Time Charge. Pricing methodol-
ogy for most software products which
are purchased by a single payment at
the time the product is acquired.
PD
Problem Determination. The process
of isolating the source of a suspected
problem to hardware or software.
Pervasive
Designation of an APAR which has
the potential to affect many Custom-
ers
IBM
International Business Machines.
Undisputedly the largest software
developer, anywhere in the world.
ICA
IBM Customer Agreement. An
agreement under which IBM
software products are licensed. The
ICA is signed by the Customer and
by IBM.
INTERIM FIX
A tested and verified fix available to
registered customers. It can contain
fixes for one or more product defects
(APARs).  The associated APARs are
closed
IPLA
International Program License
Agreement. An agreement under
which IBM software products are
licensed. The IPLA is shipped with
the product and does not require
signatures.
System i
Integrated Series from IBM,  based
on the AS400 technology
Lotus Knowledge Base
An interactive, web-based support
tool allowing a Customer to search
for specific support information
MLC
Monthly License Charge. Pricing
methodology for some software
products, primarily mainframe,
which uses monthly payments
PLC
Primary License Charge. A method
of paying for some IBM software
products, usually as a part of a PLC/
ALC agreement.
PMP
Preventive Management Planning.
PMR
Problem Management Record. A
record of the activities performed
during the course of resolving a cus-
tomer reported problem. Customers
with access to IBMLink can view
their PMRs.
PRIME SHIFT
Means standard IBM business hours
in the local time zone where you
receive the Service (for example,
8 a.m. To 5 p.m. Monday through
Friday), excluding national holidays.
System p
Performance Series from IBM,
based on the RS6000 technology  
PSI
Problem Source Identification. The
process of isolating the source of a
suspected software problem to the
failing software product or compo-
nent.
PSLC
Parallel Sysplex License Charge.
A special software pricing meth-
odology for mainframe Customers
receiving the benefits of the parallel
Sysplex technology.
Acronyms & other terms
49 						November, 2014
PSP
Preventive Service Planning. A facility
that contains information concerning a
product’s installation or service. A PSP
entry consists of upgrades and subsets.
PSP
Personal Software Products. The
software platform including the OS/2
family of products
PTF
Programming Temporary Fix. A fix to
a reported defect that can consist of
documentation and/or code. A PTF
is temporary only in the sense that it
disappears with the next release of the
product, when the patch is integrated
into the base product code
REFRESH PACK
A cumulative collection of all of the
function and fixes that are available
to registered customers since the last
release of the product. The function
and fixes may not  have been previ-
ously released, and can span multiple
products or components. A refresh
pack can be applied on top of any
previously-shipped maintenance to
bring the system up to the current
refresh pack level.
RETAIN
Remote Technical Assistance Infor-
mation Network. IBM’s problem and
defect management tool
RLC
Recurring License Charge. A method
of paying for some IBM software
products.
RMP
Recommended Maintenance Package.
Service deliverable for RS/6000 which
allows the preventive installation of a
set of IBM recommended fixes between
maintenance levels
RSU
Recommended Service Upgrade. Service
deliverable for OS/390 and VM which
allows the preventive installation of a set
of IBM recommended fixes
SID
Support ID. A unique number that
identifies a Designated Caller or set of
callers. This ID is used by the Lotus
telephone system to automatically verify
entitlement.
SMP/E
Systems Maintenance Program Extend-
ed.  Program to manage function and
maintenance in a z/OS system.  With
the new Internet Delivery Service, it will
even download the latest maintenance
for your z/OS platform products on the
schedule you determine.
SPECIAL ATTENTION
Special Attention APARs, while not as
critical as HIPER APARs, do require
special Customer consideration as they
can represent pervasive problems, cross-
system (sysplex) problems, new function,
installability or serviceability improve-
ments, or other, key product specific
considerations.
SPOC
Single Point of Contact
SPR
Software Problem Report. A record in
the Lotus software problem reporting
system that is used to track an identi-
fied software problem — similar to IBM’s
APAR, however an SPR may also be
used within the incident tracking data-
base to classify an incident’s status.
SSA
System Support Agreement. An
expanded maintenance agreement
which includes some level of enhanced
software support services, normally
replaced with Service Suite  
STATUS
The most recent assessment of an
incident’s/PMR’s current place in the
resolution process
SUF
Service Upgrade Facility. An OS/390,
VM, and VSE tool announced in
1997 which uses the Internet to help
automate preventive and corrective
service application. It was replaced by
the SMP/E Internet Service Retrieval
function in 2006
SVP
Suggested Volume Price. A letter
between C and H which gives the Cus-
tomer’s discount level in the Passport
Advantage program
UR1
Unable to be reproduced on the next
product release. Like “FIN”, this APAR
closing code is also used for an APAR
whose fix will be deferred until a fu-
ture release of the product (by mutual
agreement between the Customer and
IBM)
TEST FIX
A temporary or uncertified fix with
limited IBM testing that is provided
to one or more customers for testing
purposes. It is not available to all
registered customers. The associated
APAR is not closed.
					 Acronyms & other terms
50 						November, 2014
©	International Business Machines Corporation 2002-
2012
IBM Corporation
DepartmentW4BA M/D P301
522 South Road
Poughkeepsie,NY12601
USA
Printed in the United States of America
6-02
All Rights Reserved
IBM SystemView,RISC System/6000,
RS/6000,AIX,OS/2,AS/400,CICS,VTAM,System/390,
S/390,RACF,IBMLink,NCP,IMS,Communications
Manager/2,DB2,VisualGen,VisualAge,DFSMS,
DFSPRT.BookManager,MQSeries are trademarks of
International Business Machines Corporation.
	 Other company,product,and service names may be
trademarks or service marks of others.

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Ibm software support

  • 2. 2 November, 2014 Cover design by Rick Nelson, IBM Raleigh What’s New . . . Phone Contacts Version 5.0.1 dated August 2014 updated many of the web links to align with IBM’s constantly changing internet landscape. The November 2014 update changes the ownership of this handbook, after 18 years. I would appreciate your feedback on what you like and what you think should be improved about this document. e-mail me at markiem@ us.ibm.com
  • 3. 3 November, 2014 Contents What’s New ................................................................................... 2 Overview of IBM Support .............................................................. 4 IBM Commitment......................................................................... 4 Software Support Organization ...................................................... 4 Software Support Portfolio ................................................................. 5 IBM Software Support ...................................................... 5 Support Foundation .......................................................................... 5 Passport Advantage & IBM Software Maintenance ................................ 6 System z (S/390) ......................................................................... 7 Support Line and SoftwareXcel ..................................................... 7 IBM Selected Support Offering ....................................................... 8 Premium Support ............................................................................ 8 Enhanced Technical Support ........................................................ 8 IBM Software Accelerated Value Service.................................................. 9 Advanced Support for System i & System p ............................................. 10 Custom Requirements ........................................................ 10 Client Electronic Support ............................................................................. 12 Contacting Software Support ................................................................. 14 Getting IBM Software Support ................................................................ 14 Electronic Access ......................................................................... 15 Voice Access ......................................................................... 16 Response Objectives ................................................................ 16 How your call is handled by IBM Software Support ................................... 17 How a Code Defect is Handled by Support .... ................................... 17 How Technical Questions (How-to/Install) are handled by Support ........................................................... 18 Your Responsibilities ................................................................... 19 Escalation Procedures ................................................................ 19 Reopening A PMR/Incident/Support Case ............................................ 19 Submitting Software Requirements ..................................................... 19 Preventing Problems ......................................................................... 21 Practices .......................................................................... 23 Lifecycle and Support Extensions ......................................................... 23 Running on Unsupported Operating Systems ............................................. 23 Third party and open source software .............................................. 23 Additional Detail on Services ......................................................... 26 Passport Advantage How To .................................................................... 28 Appendix A: Problem Identification Worksheet ......................................... 30 Appendix B: Passport Advantage Site Technical Contact....................................... 31 Appendix C: Contact Information ........................................................... 33 Appendix D: Acquisitions (Ascental, Consul, Datapower, Filenet, Micromuse, etc. )...... 34 Appendix E: Canadian Technical Support Offering............................................ 45 Appendix F: Acronyms & other terms ...................................................... 46 Disclaimer: IBM reserves the right to make changes to the Software Support Guide and the policies within it at any time to improve or enhance the support provided to our customers. All changes will be posted to ourWeb version of this guide at http://www.ibm.com/support/customercare/sas/f/handbook/home.html and will be included in future printed editions of this guide. QUESTIONS: If you have any questions concerning this guide or the policies and procedures included within,please contact the author Matt Markie at email: markiem@us.ibm.com © Copyright IBM Corp.1996,2014.US Government Users Restricted Rights - Use,duplication or disclosure restricted by GSAADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp.
  • 4. 4 November, 2014 Overview of Support also recognize that in order to enable you to concentrate on your core busi- ness issues, it is crucial that we provide world class information technology services that complement our informa- tion system solutions. The intent of software support is to provide you with the quality software support and services you need. Our vision is to achieve a level of support excellence that exceeds your expecta- tions and differentiates IBM in the marketplace by providing: • Rapid response to your requests • Fast relief to high impact problems • Timely problem resolution • High quality fixes and information • Up-to-date service and installation information. We are committed to achieving the highest level of customer satisfaction in the industry, with quality focused programs designed to provide services that enhance and maximize the use of IBM products. As your solutions partner, we are dedicated to enabling your success. Software Support Organization IBM’s software support organization is a global network of centers with exper- tise across our broad product portfolio. The organization is made up of teams of individuals that work together to provide you with the responsive software support that you require. Our worldwide centers are structured to provide you with local language access in most major countries and with the skills to help you identify the source of your problem amongst the products for which you have purchased support. For complex problems, we have special- ized, skilled product teams with access to the experts in our Development Laboratories, as required. Therefore, you have access to the right level of IBM expertise when you need it — no matter where they are located. The people of our software support organizations are highly skilled, motivated, energetic, and are eager to solve your software problems or answer your questions. Our goal is to ensure your satisfaction each time you need to contact us for support by: • responding to your requests within targeted guidelines • providing ongoing communication re- garding your problem status through problem resolution • taking ownership of your request for support • providing a defined escalation process when management assistance is needed • maintaining our commitment to con- tinuous improvement of our service processes Welcome To IBM Software Support The purpose of this document is to provide guidelines and reference materials that you may need when you require IBM service and support. Actual terms and conditions are found in the license materials for your soft- ware. We’ve produced this guide with the following objectives in mind: • To introduce you to IBM Software Support, including our operating systems applications and middleware such as Information Management, Lotus, Rational, Tivoli, and Web- Sphere • Provide information on the support and services currently available from IBM, including definitions of programs, policies, and procedures • Help you to effectively utilize IBM Software Support • Explain how you can enhance your IBM Software Support with addi- tional services to meet your needs • Introduce you to the people of IBM Software Support Please review this guide carefully as it contains important information regarding the service and support of your IBM products. Thank you for choosing IBM solutions! The IBM Commitment We believe that having your business is both a privilege and a responsibility. We hope to maintain that business by providing you with solutions to your information technology problems. We
  • 5. 5 November, 2014 Software Support Portfolio General Self-help Capabilities include features like: • Basic search capability for the follow- ing: • IBM software defects, that is, closed APARs (Authorized Program Analysis Report) • Software fixes • Technotes for resolved issues. • Information on how to purchase soft- ware support • Marketing Information, such as product overviews, newsletters, RedBooks, White Papers, and Announcement Letters • Technical information, such as Red- Books and White Papers • Links to education and training infor- mation • Links to this Software Support Hand- book Currently there are several types of support available for the family of IBM Software Products. The pyramid below outlines the progression of support available. Support Foundation Support Foundation offerings provide comprehensive, high quality remote technical sup- port to your IT organization. Remote technical support allows you to obtain assistance from IBM for suspected defects and product-specific, task- oriented questions regarding the installation and operation of currently supported IBM software products. These offerings do not extend the an- nounced end of service date (program services) and the remote technical support included in this offering will be provided until the end of service date for a product. Support Foundation offerings are not intended for end-user help desk support. Electronic Support: All IBM customers are entitled to take advan- tage of the Electronic Support services available at http:// support.ibm.com . We offer a vast range of on-line service offerings designed to augment and enhance the value of your IT operation. With these resources and tools, our self-help software support Internet site will meet many of your support needs. Electronic Support will be available for at least one year from when you acquire your product from IBM.
  • 6. 6 November, 2014 IBM Software Support Support Foundation offerings supple- ment your support staff skills by providing telephone or electronic access to IBM’s technical support knowledgebase(s) and technical product specialists. Assistance provided by Support Foun- dation offerings Support Foundation offerings pro- vide: • Remote problem analysis and assistance during normal country business hours in your time zone. For example, in North America, those hours would be Monday through Friday, 8:00A.M. to 5:00P.M., excluding national or statutory holidays. • Assistance with identify- ing the failing product/ component. (Performed for products covered by a support contract.) • Assistance with remote problem determination and resolution. • Provided in local language for most major countries. • Voice and electronic access support for code-related problems. • Support for routine, short du- ration installation and usage questions • 7 day, 24 hour support for mission critical emergencies (Severity 1) during off-shift hours. • Provided by voice in most countries. • Provided in English, with the local language accom- modated when possible. • Telephone (voice) or electronic access via the Web, in coun- tries where it is available. • Response time objective of two hours during prime shift for voice and electronic problem submissions. • Response objective for critical/ emergency problems during off-shift hours is two hours. • Unlimited number of technical sup- port incidents. Support Foundation Offerings Offerings include: • Subscription and Support acquired through Passport Advantage and Passport Advantage Express • Software Maintenance for System p and System i software (SWMA) • Support Line • SoftwareXcel for U.S. System z customers • Selected Support for designated no- charge IBM and non-IBM products Maintenance acquired through Passport Advantage or Passport Advantage Express Passport Advantage and Passport Advantage Express are comprehensive IBM offerings that cover software license acquisition, prod- uct upgrades and technical support under a single, common set of agreements, processes and tools. To ensure our customers always have access to the latest version of their software and to remote technical support, Subscription and Support is included in the license acquisition for all distributed software products and is renewable on an annual basis. Technical support offers customers an integrated technical support solution for IBM distributed software. In addition to the Support Foundation features, the following are also included: • Access to registered Web site for enhanced electronic support features (except the operating system software): • Download interim fixes and fix packs. • Search for technotes, authorized program analysis reports (APARs) and other product and technical informa- tion to help answer technical ques- tions. • Receive weekly e-mail updates for flashes and fixes that can be enabled through the My Notifications function. • Submit and track Problem Manage- ment Records (PMRs) electronically by using the Service Request (SR) tool. • Ability to assign a Site Technical Contact (STC) who maintains the list of technical IS staff whom you authorize to submit/view problem records to IBM. • There is no limit to the number of technical IS staff who can be authorized to submit problems to the IBM Support specialists. Refer to the “Additional Detail on Services” chapter of this book and the Passport Ad- vantage website for more information about Passport Advantage and Passport Advantage Express: http://www.ibm.com/software/ howtobuy/passportadvantage/ IBM’s Software Maintenance for System i and System p software IBM Software Maintenance offerings for System i and System p provide com- prehensive coverage for software license acquisition, product upgrades and techni- cal support under a single, common set of agreements, processes and tools. To ensure our customers always have access to the latest version of their software and to remote technical support, Software Maintenance is included in the license acquisition for all System i and System p operating systems and associated software products, and is renewable on an annual basis. IBM’s Software Maintenance for Storage Products Software maintenance is a must-have for all IBM storage licensed software products. Software Maintenance (SWMA) provides Support & Subscription for all IBM storage
  • 7. 7 November, 2014 licensed software running on IBM stor- age hardware products. By default, it is bundled with the software license with the initial product sale. The following list are just a few of the examples of IBM storage products that require SWMA in addition to HW warranty and/or HW MA : include XIV, Storwize V7000, Storwize V5000, the new FlashSystem V840, Protec- TIER editions, SONAS, SAN Volume Controller, etc. HW MA cannot be used to solution SW issues with your storage products. IBM Software Secure Support via U.S. Citizens IBM Software Support via U.S. Citizens complements the prerequisite IBM Software Maintenance for AIX, IBM Software Maintenance for select AIX LPPs, Support Line for Storage, Support Line for Linux and System z Defect support, by providing standard IBM software support exclusively by U.S. citizens who are located in the United States. • IBM provides U.S. Citizen sup- port via telephone, only to your information systems (IS) technical support personnel during prime shift hours of 8AM - 5PM in your time zone, Monday through Friday, excluding national holidays • A Service Request will be created and placed in an incoming queue which is managed and handled by a U.S. citizen. IBM provides assistance for your 1) routine, short duration installation and usage (how-to) questions; and 2) code- related questions (“Support”). Information systems (IS) technical support personnel can open an unlimited number of technical support incidents. • Response time objective is within two hours during prime shift hours of coverage for voice prob- lem submissions ing, self help from the Internet is still available. A third type of product on the System z platform are those which are intended to be installed and run on any platform. Those products carry the support characteristics of the distributed platforms (described below) Discontinuance of Program Services IBM provides program service for most of its software products, as assurance that failures to conform to specifications will be addressed. Thus, discontinuance of program service for the last release in a version of a software product is an indication of IBM’s expectation that cus- tomers will not experience disruptions due to program defects. When service is discontinued, corrections to known problems remain available, but the develop- ment team is redirected to other work, and no new, tested corrections will be generated for general use. Known problems may be reviewed and ordered via electronic vehicles such as the internet (e.g., http://support.ibm.com) However support provided by the IBM Support Center will be discontinued. At discontinuance of pro- gram service, associated services terminate as well, e.g. IBM Support Line and SoftwareXcel. The IBM Customer Agreement (for monthly license charge products) provides information on notification requirements for discontinuance of program services. IBM’s Support Line (or equivalent services by country) The Support Line offering provides sup- port for those operating systems and associ- ated products that are not available with the Passport Advantage Subscription and Support and Software Maintenance offerings. Having Subscription Support, Software Maintenance and Support Line will ensure total support coverage for your enterprise needs, including IBM and selected non-IBM products. Refer to the Supported Products List for the Support Groups and products supported There is a similar IBM offering for middleware described in the details of Passport Advantage on page 24. Program Services Program Services is a support element baked into some IBM products which allows you to report IBM defects to IBM. While Program Services is primarily the purview of System z, some non-System z products purchased before 2003 included some form of Pro- gram Services, such as the ability to re- port defects by fax or mail. Check your program license for details. Program Services do not supply all the elements of Foundation Support but provides a base for the services above. IBM System z Software: Program Services support for most System z (S/390, zSeries) products includes problem support for defects in IBM code and publications via telephone (voice), and electronic access. This sup- port is available until such time as it is withdrawn with at least 6 months notice via an IBM announcement letter. IBM will provide remote technical special- ists necessary to resolve defects in the majority of our mainframe products at no additional cost to you. Support for criti- cal IBM defect problems is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. IBM Subscription & Support Offer- ing (S&S) for selected mainframe products Some System z products are only sold as one time charge (unlike the recurring charge products that predominate the platform). These products have a separate subscription and support offering which, if acquired, provides for the same level of support as Program Services. It also includes future releases and versions. Without the subscription & support offer-
  • 8. 8 November, 2014 in your geography, at http://www.ibm. com/services/supline/products/ . More information is available at http://www. ibm.com/services/us/index.wss/so/its/ a1000030. Please check with your local country representative to make sure Support is announced in your country. Changes are made periodically to re- flect new products added and products that are no longer supported. IBM’s SoftwareXcel for System z customers in the United States SoftwareXcel (enterprise edition) provides: • Resolve for System z, which is the ability to report problems and routine installation and “how to” questions electronically. • Alert for System z, which is the ability to be notified of high impact fixes. • Electronic access to Frequently Asked Questions • Ability to electronically submit routine installation and “how to” questions and receive responses during prime shift. (Voice and 24 x 7 options are available) • 24x7 fullshift voice uplift is required for an offshift re- sponse to “how to” questions • Electronic download of fixes by linking to IBM’s support database • Premium response, which provides the ability during prime shift hours to receive assistance with defect problems within one hour of electronic or phone receipt by IBM. While premium response can happen with each exchange on a problem, it must be requested each time. • Remote Screen Viewing capability Please refer to http://www.ibm.com/ services/us/index.wss/so/its/a1000185 for more information. IBM Selected Support Offering (Support-only offering for desig- nated IBM no-charge and non-IBM products) The Selected Support offering is available for designated no-charge IBM and non-IBM products. Often support-only offerings are made available for products or offering code that is developed and delivered through the open source community. The open source business model is built on the concept of free and frictionless access to technology with optional paid support. In the open source business model, the product is available at no charge to download and use so customers can begin development, testing and deployment at no cost. The offering code could be available from an IBM website, or from the applicable third party provider. The Selected Support offerings are purchased via an annual sub- scription and are available for pur- chase through Passport Advantage or Passport Advantage Express. Refer to the ‘Additional Detail on Services’ section for more informa- tion about IBM Selected Support Offering. Designated Programs eligible for Selected Support are listed at: http:// www.ibm.com/software/lotus/pass- portadvantage/paselectedsupportpro- grams.html. These Pro- grams currently include things like: • Apache Software Founda- tion [ASF] Geronimo open source application server software • IBM WebSphere Application Server Community Edition • Eclipse Foundation Eclipse open source development platform • IBM Informix Innovator-C and Ultimate-C Editions Premium Support Premium Support offerings are services that provide both additional and special- ized support on Operating Systems or middleware products. Premium Support offerings focus on the vertical depth of support, and feature a personalized relationship with our technical experts, on-site assistance and knowledge transfers as well as horizontal breadth for multi-product and multi-vendor IT environments to maximize IT infra- structure availability. With Premium Support, you receive the following: • Proactive problem prevention and knowledge transfer • Situation management and reporting • Escalations • Account management • Assigned technical analyst • Optional or planned on-site days • Emergency on-site days • Remote technical advice hours • Event-specific after-hours support for all severities Premium Support offerings include offer- ings such as: • IBM Account Advocate (for U.S. cus- tomers)
  • 9. 9 November, 2014 • IBM Enhanced Technical Support (ETS) (for customers in the U.S., Canada and Europe) • IBM Software Accelerated Value Program for applications and middleware products • IBM Advanced Support for System i and System p software (for custom- ers in the U.S. and Europe) • Further IBM Premium Support Services (for customers in Japan and the Asia Pacific region) IBM Account Advocate, for U.S. customers This optional fee feature provides you with remote telephone or electronic ac- cess to an account advocate team which will assist you with coordination and es- calation of reported problems for prod- ucts you have covered by Support Line. Account Advocate support extends to distributed middleware products sup- ported on the operating systems cov- ered by Account Advocate and covered by IBM Subscription and Support. This feature is available during prime shift only. Contact your IBM representative for additional information. For more information on Account Advocate services and the products to which it applies, visit: http:// www.ibm.com/services/us/index. wss/offering/its/a1000147 IBM Enhanced Technical Sup- port (ETS) for U.S., Canadian and European customers Enhanced Technical Support (ETS) offers an integrated approach for proactive, coordinated support for multi-product and multi-vendor IT environments, including Hardware, Software, Middleware, Server and Storage platforms, on top of standard annuity support offerings, to meet the increasing needs for higher IT infrastructure availability at an effec- tive cost. ETS provides proactive recommenda- tions and guidance to preempt prob- lems, and enhanced problem manage- ment to improve availability across the whole hardware & software IT infra- structure. ETS services are built around three value propositions: • Personalized enhanced support: An assigned priority support team, known as an “Account Advocate Team” in some areas, learns the key strengths and weaknesses of your IT infrastructure to help you to increase the up-time & produc- tivity of your Business Solution. • Proactive approach: Your priority support team provides guidance and advice to help preempt prob- lems and assuring highest avail- ability of your IT infrastructure. • Integrated services: Reduces the complexities of multi-product and multi-vendor environment with a fast and direct access to the Global IBM knowledge pool. ETS covers common IT infrastructure support, including IBM Server and Storage platforms, IBM Middleware and strategic OEM products, like Linux and Microsoft. ETS offers several enhanced prior- ity support capabilities on top of the standard basic support offerings such as hardware & software Maintenance, Support Line, and Passport Advantage. For more information on ETS and addi- tional support services visit EMEA : http://www.ibm.com/services/ europe/maintenance/tech_support. html US & Canada: http://www.ibm.com/ services/us/index.wss/offering/its/ a1009019 IBM Software Accelerated Value Program The perfect complement to the IBM software behind your mission-critical applications and high-availability solutions are IBM’s Guidance and Optimization Services. Our capabili- ties expand from advisory services known as the Software Accelerated Value Program and managed busi- ness solutions, to enhanced support and extended support services and skill transfer. Depending on the level of services selected, you decide when and where our software experts take over and provide assistance for a successful deployment or implemen- tation or manage the full lifecycle of your projects. Our tiered offering levels provide flexibility in building a partnership with IBM. In turn, that partnership assists you with pre- ventative actions, delivering smooth interoperability management, and overcoming implementation barriers for new technology. The key to building this partner- ship is through our Accelerated Value Leader and Accelerated Value Specialist. • Assistance from an Ac- celerated Value Leader. The AVL is your single point of contact who facilitates com- munications between your team and the IBM engineers and
  • 10. 10 November, 2014 development, helps with proactive change and configuration manage- ment, provides strategic advice, helps remove barriers for software adoption, assists with production preparation and stability as well as analyzes and improves processes related to the supported environ- ment. • Assistance from an Accel- erated Value Specialist. T The AVS provides experienced and proven technical skills to help ex- pedite problem resolution through advanced troubleshooting, along with risk mitigation planning, critical fix advice, and diagnostic coaching. Additionally, the AVS assists with product deployment and configuration and shares best practices for key tactical initiatives. Additional services available depending on level of services purchased: • On-site activities. These activities are customized to your specific needs and may include assistance with installation, configuration or implementation of product features or solutions, ad- vanced troubleshooting, assistance with backup and recovery services, identifying skill gaps, risks and dependencies for your software solutions. • Emergency on-site assis- tance. In the event of a business critical (severity 1) situation, we’re ready to help IBM makes every effort to dispatch an engineer to your site within an expedited time period. • Knowledge Sharing. Exclu- sive webinars, customized enable- ment and skills transfer, one to one or small group discussion on the features and implementation of a specific product, work sessions to discuss needs, challenges and devise solutions. • Delivery Plan: A shared document between the client and the Accelerated Value team that articulates the client’€™s priorities and business needs for the com- ing year. • Quarterly Report. A report, prepared by the AVL, that clearly articulates the value and benefits the client derived from Accelerated Value during the previous quarter. You can purchase the IBM Software Accelerated Value Program for many IBM products. A list of the products covered can be found at: http://www. ibm.com/software/support/accelerat- edvalue/productfamily.html, the For more information on IBM Software Accelerated Value Program, see http//www.ibm.com/software/ support/acceleratedvalue/contactus. html.  or email: software_acceler- ated_value@us.ibm.com Visit our website IBM Custom Technical Sup- port for System i and System p operating system software Custom Technical Support for Sys- tem i and System p software provides customers with an additional special- ized proactive support, enhanced problem management and perfor- mance reports, and an assigned Technical Solutions Manager on AIX and i5/OS Operation Systems. This service: • Creates a technical support profile • Performs an initial on-site re- view of customer environment • Provides an escalated level of response • Assists with upgrade and migra- tion planning Further IBM Premium Support Services for customers in Japan and the Asia Pacific region Further Premium Support Services are available in Asia Pacific and Japan at an additional fee. Most of these offerings provide you with an integrated problem management approach, on-site assistance, faster response times and/or extended preventive/proactive services. For more information on availabil- ity and additional support services contact the IBM representative for your region. Custom Requirements Custom Requirements services are optional services that are available to you for an additional fee. They can be customized to fit your individual needs. Designed to provide addition- al value, these offerings are aimed at clients who run business critical systems, need high availability and need to minimize system downtime. The offerings are focused on the cli- ent’s environment, are often proactive so as to focus on problem avoidance and are tailored to meet the needs of each client and their environment. Complete information about IBM’s Support Family of Services for most countries can be found on the Internet at: http://www.ibm.com/services Support without a Contract
  • 11. 11 November, 2014 Electronic Support The most basic form of support is to use IBM’s Client Self-Assist tools provided via the Internet. We offer a vast range of on-line options and services designed to augment and enhance the value of your IT opera- tion. With these resources and tools, our support sites are likely to meet most of your needs. For self help on middleware, pro- gramming languages, and most ap- plication software the IBM Software Support homepage is available at http://support.ibm.com. For self help on IBM operating systems, virtualization and clustering software, the IBM Systems Support home page is available at http://sup- port.ibm.com. Product Warranty and Program Services Support For most IBM Mainframe platform software products, you are en- titled to report IBM defects during normal business hours (and offshift for critical problems) by voice or electronic and will receive assistance in identifying the problem source, as long as the product release is current. Should the problem turn out to be a defect in IBM code, we will issue defect correction informa- tion, a restriction, or a bypass per the IBM Customer Agreement (the document that defines support for IBM mainframe software). Beyond the self-help support provided via the Internet, Installation support, problem source identification as- sistance (beyond IBM defects) and support for Q&As is delivered as part of fee services. As long as the product is current, you are entitled to receive fixes for defects and release upgrades. Most IBM Distributed (non-S/390) platform software is provided with the first year of Subscription and Support include, giving you the ability to report suspected defects by phone or electronically (where avail- able), get installation and Q&A support, fixes for IBM defects, and product release and version upgrades. If you elect to not renew the Subscription and Support when it expires, your support is limited to self help from the internet. IBM Electronic Support offers a portfolio of online support tools and resources that provides comprehensive technical
  • 12. 12 November, 2014 information to diagnose and resolve problems and maintain your IBM prod- ucts. IBM has developed many smart online tools and proactive features that can help you prevent problems from oc- curring in the first place, or quickly and easily troubleshoot problems when they occur. With improved personalization of support resources, you can focus on and be alerted to exactly the information you need for efficient and effective problem prevention and resolution. IBM Electronic Support addresses five critical areas to ensure you have the best possible support experience: 1. Simplifying support and creating more consistency across all IBM prod- ucts. 2. Delivering intelligent resources and tools that display information fo- cused on the products you use. 3. Providing proactive capabilities that solve problems before operations are affected. 4. Thriving collaborative communi- ties that connect to worldwide support networks and knowledge. 5. Enabling seamless and smooth transition between online and live sup- port teams for quick problem resolution. IBM Support Portal The IBM Support Portal is your gateway to technical support tools and informa- tion for all IBM systems, software, and services. It brings all the support re- sources available for IBM hardware and software offerings together in one place. The IBM Support Portal provides power- ful features that make it fast and easy to find the exact information or tool you need. • Select your IBM products for direct access to all pertinent resources. • Browse featured support links that guide you to the most critical and useful information and tools. • Filter the results of a simple text search with one click to pinpoint the most appropriate documents. How does the IBM Support Por- tal help you? You get a unified, centralized view for all: • Technical support tools and information • Technical support contract infor- mation • Hardware, software, and services IBM Support Portal provides an expe- rience that: • Exploits IBM’s solutions and integration • Provides more efficient access to a wealth of technical information • Simplifies your experience, with a single place for support • Is part of your current support contracts, so there’s no extra charge That’s complete, customized support And what does it mean to you and your business? It can lower your total cost of owner- ship for IBM technology by giving you flexibility and choice and making you more efficient in keeping that technology – and your business – running. Where to start? Getting started on the IBM Support Portal is easy: 1. Go to the IBM Support Portal 2. Select the products of inter- est. 3. View your page! To access tools requiring registration and contract-related information, follow the Sign in link and login using your IBM ID. If you don’t have an IBM ID choose ‘Register now’ in the sign in box.. IBM Service Request You can use the Service Request Application to open, update, monitor your service requests (also known Electronic Support
  • 13. 13 November, 2014 as Problem Management Records - PMRs) on-line and to report problems on nearly all IBM supported software products. Customers who have support contracts, like Passport Advantage, Ac- celerated Value, SoftwareXcel, Support- Line, Software Maintenance Agreement (SWMA) and Monthly License Charges (MLC), can open service requests via the web 24x7. With Service Request you can; • Describe software issue and environment in problem submis- sion form (eliminates call center contact) • Monitor/update existing requests – view a list of all service requests associated with customer numbers for support contracts • Attach multiple files to service requests • Receive notification when your service request has been updated by IBM Support IBM Service Request (SR) is available on both the IBM Support Portal and the IBMLink ServiceLink main menus and follows IBM’s Technical Support Transformation strategy of moving to one electronic problem reporting portal. The Electronic Technical Response (ETR) application, that SR is replacing, will continue to be available on IBM- Link ServiceLink until an evaluation of the transition is completed. For additional help and information on how to use the application, please visit Service Request Assistance.
  • 14. 14 November, 2014 Define the Problem: If you can describe the problem and symptoms before contacting software support, you can expedite the problem solving process. It is very important to be as specific as possible when explaining a problem or question to our software support specialists. Our specialists want to give you the right solution, so, the better they under- stand your specific problem, the bet- ter they are able to resolve it. Gather Background Informa- tion: To solve problems effectively, the soft- ware support specialist needs to have all of the relevant information about the problem. Your ability to answer the following questions will help us to solve your software problem. • What levels of software were you running when the problem occurred? Please include all relevant products, i.e. operating system as well as related prod- ucts. • Has the problem happened before, or is this an isolated problem? • What steps led to the failure? • Can the problem be recreated? If so, what steps are required? • Have any changes been made to the system (hardware, NetWare or software)? • Were any messages or other diagnostic information produced? If so, what were they? • It is often helpful to have a print- out of the message number(s) of any messages received when you contact support. • Define your problem or question in specific terms and provide the version and release level of the product(s) involved. Recommendation for mid and large-range Customers IBM prides itself on delivering world class software support with highly skilled, Customer-focused people. However, IBM support can never take the place of your company’s internal help desk. Many successful companies have found the best way to interact with IBM software support is through a cadre of highly skilled and trained employees who under- stand their company’s environment and act in conjunction with their internal help desk. These senior staff members are able to filter, sort, and prioritize their company’s problems and direct them toward the best resource (IBM and non-IBM) for resolution. These are the people who become authorized contacts to col- laborate with IBM software support for fast resolution of IBM problems as well as assuming a similar role with other vendors. We encourage you to adopt such a structure, if you haven’t already, as it will help us secure the success of your IBM solutions. Before contacting IBM Software Support To resolve your software support service request in the most expedi- ent way possible, it is important that you take the following steps before you contact a software support center. You will need to gather information about the problem and have it on hand when discussing the situation with the software support specialist. The following steps are an example of what is required: Gather Relevant Diagnostic Information (if possible): It is often necessary that our software support specialists analyze spe- cific diagnostic information, such as relevant logs, storage dumps, traces, etc., in order to resolve your problem. Gathering this information is often the most critical step in resolving your problem. Product specific diagnostic documentation can be very helpful in identifying what information is typi- cally required to resolve problems. If you are unsure about what documen- tation is required, you can check out IBM Support Assistant (ISA) (http:// www.ibm.com/software/support/isa/), try searching on MustGather and the product with which you are having trouble. Not all products will have an ISA plug-in available but you may find additional information on the individual product support page under troubleshooting. You can always contact software support for assistance in gathering the needed diagnostic information. Determine the Severity Level You need to initially assign a severity level to the problem when you report it. After that, Severity Levels are de- termined during a mutual discussion by you and the support analyst, based on the business impact of the issue. If you designated a problem as a Severity 1, IBM will work on it 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, providing you are also Getting IBM Support
  • 15. 15 November, 2014 Severity Level Severity Definitions Examples Severity 1 - Critical situation/System Down - All users ofTivoli Problem Management - Business critical software component is are unable to register a call inoperable - The Lotus Notes mail server is down and - usually applies to production environment affecting all users. - Critical interface has failed Note:We will work with you 7x24 to resolve critical problems providing you have a technical resource available to work during those hours. Severity 2 Severe Impact: A software component is - All users ofTivoli Problem Management severely restricted in its use,causing receive a database manager error while significant business impact attempting to view open problems Severity 3 Moderate impact: A non-critical software - A client cannot connect to a server component is malfunctioning, causing moderate business impact Severity 4 Minimal impact: A non-critical software - Documentation is incorrect. component is malfunctioning,causing minimal - Additional documentation requested impact,or a non-technical request is made. available to work during those hours. You can change the severity level of a problem if circumstances change from when it was first entered to match cur- rent business impact conditions. A description of the severity levels is in the table above. When speaking with a software sup- port specialist, you should also men- tion the following items if they apply to your situation: • you are under business deadline pressure • your availability (i.e. when you will be able to work with IBM Software Support) • Alternate ways to reach you, more than one phone number, pager, email address • you can designate a knowledge- able alternate contact with whom we can speak • you have other open problems (PMRs/Incidents) with IBM re- garding this service request • you are participating in an early support program • you have researched this situa- tion prior to calling IBM and have detailed information or documenta- tion to provide for the problem. Accessing Software Support When submitting a problem to IBM Software Support about a particular service request, please have the follow- ing information ready: • IBM Customer Number1 • Product serial number or support ac- cess number, if available • Machine type/model/serial number (SW Maintenance) • Company name 1. you should be able to get your IBM Cus- tomer number from your client rep, from product invoices, or the call center may be able to help from your machine type / serial or even your Customer name. • Contact name • Preferred means of contact (voice or e-mail) • Telephone number where you can be reached • Related product and version information • Related operating system and database information • Detailed description of the issue • Severity of the issue in relationship to the impact of it affecting your business needs (per the above table). Submitting problems electroni- cally Through services offerings or the IBM Support Portal, you may post support questions and problems electronically to the IBM support specialists. Prior to submitting a problem via the Internet you will need the same information as if you were placing a problem by telephone. This capability allows you to put all of the pertinent information about your problem into the problem record via the Internet
  • 16. 16 November, 2014 without having to wait for someone to call you back. This should save you time and help with problem resolution time. If you are submitting a severity one problem or updating a severity one problem or raising the severity of an existing problem to severity one and it is outside of normal business hours in your country you should open your problem by voice or follow-up your web submission with a call to your local support center referencing the problem number you receive on the web. We want to ensure that your emergency call will be handled in the appropriate time frame. Voice Access IBM Voice Support is available for most System z platform software products and for distributed platform products to all current support con- tract holders through a Single Point of Contact (SPOC) telephone number in your country (where available). You will be required to provide your IBM Customer Number for validation of the support service to which you are entitled to as well as the product about which you are calling. Please refer to IBM’s Planetwide Site for specific country phone numbers. In most cases, we provide native language support. Severity Impact Response Goal 1 Critical business impact Within two hours 2 Significant business impact Within two business hours 3 Some business impact Within two business hours 4 Minimal business impact Within two business hours Distributed Platform Response Objectives for Clients with appropriate services offerings RESPONSE OBJECTIVES Please note: IBM will use commer- cially reasonable efforts to respond to service calls from your authorized callers within the response goal out- lined below. Our initial response may result in resolution of your request, or it will form the basis for deter- mining what additional actions be required to achieve technical resolu- tion of your request. Depending on the complexity of your request, the next response may take days. Be sure you and your support rep agree on what the next action is and when the next checkpoint will be. Support Center Hours IBM Support Center hours cover the prevailing business hours for the country where your product or contract is registered. You should keep this in mind if you are consid- ering outsourcing your operation or help desk to a firm that is overseas or working in another time zone. (There could be a few exception for countries where M - F is not their normal work week or business working time is not the same as for your Country due to different time zones. In those cases contact your Business Partner/ Reseller or IBM Sales Rep to get your hours of coverage.) Distributed systems (with subscription and support or software maintenance) and Support Line: When you contact software support to report a problem, or update/gain status on a problem, your request will be routed to a technical specialist. IBM’s goal is to respond to your service request within 2 business hours during prime shift, and within 2 hours during off-shift hours for critical problems. Note that non-severity 1 problems reported offshift will be queued for the next business day. System z response objectives: For problems reported against Monthly License Charge (MLC) (i.e., System/390 or System z) software products, and the One Time Charge System z products for which you’ve acquired the S&S offering, IBM’s response objectives continue to be based upon the severity of the request. The table on this page describes these objectives: Offshift support During Off shift hours we will use commercially reasonable efforts to respond, by telephone, within two hours to service calls which you specify Severity Impact Response Goal 1 Critical business impact Within two hours 2 Significant business impact Within four business hours 3 Some business impact By the end of next business day 4 Minimal business impact By the end of next business day System z Platform Response Objectives Improved responsiveness is available through services offerings
  • 17. 17 November, 2014 to be Customer Critical problems (severity 1). Normal country business hours are defined by your time zone and the prevailing business hours within your country, e.g.: 8:00am to 5:00pm in North America or 9:00am to 6:00pm in some parts of Asia and Europe, Monday through Friday, except national holidays. Off- shift hours are defined as all other hours outside of normal country business hours. Offshift support will be provided in English however, we will try to accommodate local language where possible. An ap- propriately skilled technical person from your site must be available to work with IBM’s technical support staff during the entire time we are performing support services outside of normal country business hours. IBM recommends that you use voice or place a follow-up call to the local support center with the electronic PMR/Incident/Support Case num- ber. This action helps to ensure a prompt response. Severity 2,3, and 4 problems reported offshift will be queued for the next business day. How your service request is handled by IBM Software Sup- port You may submit your request for assistance by using Services Portal, a Services Interface or by telephone (where available). These requests are logged into the IBM problem management system. Once logged, a unique Service Request (also known as problem management record (PMR)) or Incident/Support Case is created. Please make note of this SR num- ber, Incident number, or Support Case number and use it in any future communication on this issue with the support center. Your SR, Incident, or Support Case is routed to a resolution team for handling. A resolution team is simply a group of software support specialists. You may be transferred directly to the resolu- tion team or your issue will be placed in a queue for response. In either case, the next person to contact you will be a specialist in the appropriate resolution team. At the resolution team level your Ser- vice Request is researched, resolved, or escalated as appropriate. Due to the level of specialization required to maintain superior technical exper- tise at the team level, it is sometimes necessary to involve more than one support team in resolving a particu- lar software problem. This is easily handled, as our support teams are all networked together and work as one to resolve whatever problems or issues arise. In order to investigate the issue, IBM may need to access information on your system relative to the failure, or may need to recreate the failure to get additional information. Should the problem be configuration related, it is possible you may need to recre- ate the problem to get that required information. Our software support specialists may request that you send IBM the problem information, systems data or test cases, etc., or that our support specialists be able to view it with you electronically. To accomplish this, IBM has two ap- proved tools; Assist On-site (AOS) and SmartCloud. While other tools may exist, IBM discourages their use since our support people are not trained on them nor can IBM take responsibility for the security of your data with these other vendor tools. By the terms and conditions of the applicable support agreements: (i) this information will be non-confidential (for example, not labeled “your company confidential”); and (ii) you should not supply IBM with any personally-identifiable informa- tion (whether in data or other form). You will be responsible for reasonable costs and other amounts that IBM may incur relating to any such information mistakenly provided to IBM or the loss or disclosure of such information by IBM, including those arising out of any third party claims. Once your documentation is completely received by IBM approved means, IBM will use it only for the purposes for which it was provided - that is, to fix defects or to support IBM products or services. We will not disclose it to other parties, except to contractors of IBM who we may use to help us fix defects or provide support; and we will delete, destroy or return it when it is no longer required. If you elect to have us return physical media, you will be responsible for arranging for return transport of the media. IBM will provide the tapes to your designated carrier at the IBM location, but otherwise will have no responsibility/liability for return of the media.” For more information on exchanging diagnostic data with IBM, please refer to the Service Users License Agreement at http://www.ibm.com/de/support/ ecurep/service.html. If you and the IBM support special- ist agree, you may decide to send your problem information or test cases to
  • 18. 18 November, 2014 Note: Fixes are created and tested at the latest maintenance levels so it is in your best interest to keep your software current on maintenance. • The defect is determined to be of lower impact which does not require an immediate, permanent fix, we may defer the fix for a future release. APARs will reflect deferred fixes with a closing code of “FIN” (Fixed If there is a Next release) to designate plans for inclusion in a future release. Because of the complexities of the environments supported, APARs and SPRs will often take several weeks, pos- sibly months, to debug and to write, test, package and distribute a fix. For high impact problems, we will make every effort to develop a bypass or workaround that you can use until the APAR has been resolved and a Program Temporary Fix (PTF) has been created. Code fixes for IBM products may be distributed via software subscriptions, service packages or in a future release of the product. Note: If the Resolution Team determines that the issue is not a software defect in supported IBM code, we will continue to work the problem to resolution only at your request and with your concurrence, under a separate services agreement. After you have received a program fix, we will follow up with you to confirm resolution of your problem. If you have verified the fix, please contact the support center so that the PMR/Inci- dent/Support Case may be placed in a resolved status. If for some reason the problem is not resolved, or you are dis- satisfied with the solution, your problem record will remain open while IBM sup- port personnel continue to work on the problem. The PMR/Incident/Support Case will not be closed until the problem has been resolved to your satisfaction. mines that the issue is the result of a software defect that has previously been reported, the following actions may be taken: • A fix or workaround is provided to circumvent or correct the issue • If no workaround is available and it is determined that one is required, the Resolution Team will work with you to find the best feasible workaround • The Resolution Team will advise you when the defect (APAR) is closed, assists in fix implementation and updates the customers problem record A new defect: If the Resolution Team determines that the issue is the result of an IBM software defect that has not been reported before, we will work with you to create an Authorized Program Analysis Report (APAR) or Software Problem Re- port (SPR) to track the resolution of the defect. These APAR’s and SPRs, along with any necessary documentation that you may be asked to provide are routed to the appropriate development teams. The development teams analyze the APAR or SPR to determine how the de- fect will be addressed. One of a number of fix actions may result: • The defect is determined to be of high impact, a code fix is created and delivered to you IBM. There are several approved meth- ods and tools that can be used. Please refer to the document “Exchanging Information with IBM Technical Sup- port” for more information. The IBM support specialist working with you can help you set up the transfer. The following site discusses different ways to send and receive files to and from IBM: http://www.ibm.com/ software/support/exchangeinfo.html, and the following discusses how to use ECURep to send files to IBM: http:// www.ibm.com/de/support/ecurep/. You need to understand and acknowl- edge that IBM may use its global resources, including but not limited to, IBM Affiliates and personnel located in various countries, for the delivery of service and services. By sending us problem information, you warrant that none of your data exported to, or oth- erwise accessible by IBM is controlled as a defense article under the U.S. In- ternational Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) or under any other country’s laws or regulations. How a Code Defect is Handled During this investigation process, the Resolution Team determines if your de- fect issue falls into one of three catego- ries as described below. A known defect-related issue in an IBM Product: If the Resolution Team deter-
  • 19. 19 November, 2014 How technical questions (how-to/install) are handled (For Clients with the appropriate services or support offerings) Technical question support allows you to obtain assistance from IBM for product specific, task-oriented questions regard- ing the installation and operation of currently supported IBM software. In the course of providing answers to your technical questions, we may refer you to product documentation or publications, or we may be able to provide a direct answer to assist you with short duration problems involving: • Installation • Usage (how-to) • Specific usage/installation questions for documented functions • Product compatibility and interoper- ability questions • Technical references to publications, such as redbooks or manuals • Assistance with interpretation of publications • Providing available configuration samples • Planning information for software fixes • IBM database searches Subscription and Support and Sup- port Line are not structured to address everything -- the following are examples of areas that are beyond their scope: • Performance analysis • Writing, troubleshooting or custom- izing client’s code • Extensive configuration questions • Recovering a database, or data recovery • Consulting • Interpretation or triage of customer or third party generated defect scanning reports Most of these types of situations require some form of Advanced Support Offer- ing. For further information about these services please contact your IBM Repre- sentative who can help direct you to resources who can discuss your needs. Your Responsibilities IBM does not warrant that our products are defect free, however we do endeavor to fix them to work as designed. You may be surprised to learn you play a key role in this effort. Our remote soft- ware support is available to provide you assistance and guidance, however we assume that you will provide informa- tion about your system and the failing component, information that is key to resolving the problem. This information includes capturing documentation at the time of a failure, applying a trap or trace code to your system, possibly formatting the output from the trap or trace, and sending documentation or trace information, in hardcopy or soft copy, to the remote support center. You are also responsi- ble for obtaining fixes, by downloading or by receiving ones that have been shipped to you on media, applying the fixes to your systems and testing the fixes to ensure they meet your needs. Occasionally, removal of installed fixes may be necessary in the process of iso- lating problems. And sometimes fixing a problem will mean the installation of a later release of the software as some fixes cannot be retrofitted into earlier code. You need to be aware of your respon- sibilities when working with an IBM support center. If you do not have the required skill or are not positioned to do the work, you can engage a services provider such as IBM Global Technical Services (GTS) or a business partner to assist you, for an additional fee. If you are already involved in a services en- gagement in which GTS or a Business Partner is designing and implement- ing an application for you, you should ensure the statement of work is very clear as to whose responsibility it is to work suspected code defect issues with IBM, to ensure proper entitlement for remote support. Problem handling Best Prac- tices We have found that the following practices, help us to ensure we can provide the most timely resolution to your question or problem: • Submitting problems electroni- cally, enables the resolution team to better understand the issue and be more prepared with the right skill and guidance to respond to your concern. It also allows you to make the best use of your time. • Keeping the questions/issues separate (one problem per PMR/ Incident/Support Case) we can provide better service to our clients. • Selecting the appropriate Severity and letting us know the business impact will help to get the right focus on your problem • Keeping IBM support informed of Major Upgrades/Implementations. • Staying current on Product Re- lease levels • Providing timely feedback on recommendations and close the Service Request when you feel the problem has been resolved. If the problem reoccurs you may reopen the original Service Request by resubmitting it electronically.
  • 20. 20 November, 2014 Escalation Procedures We believe IBM Support is “Best of Breed.” If at any point in our service process, you feel we are not meeting our commitments to you (as outlined in this handbook), you may call our attention to this problem by doing one or all of the following: 1. Be certain to explain the busi- ness impact of your problem to the service representative 2. Raise the Severity Level of the problem 3. Ask to speak to the person’s manager - Escalations to an IBM manager will receive prompt attention and manage- ment focus. You can find con- tact numbers for your geograph- ic area in the IBM Directory of worldwide contacts. 4. Ask for a “Duty Manager” - The Duty Manager or field manager will work with our technical staff to ensure your request is being handled appropriately. 5. After allowing the Duty Man- ager time to make an impact, if further escalation is required then open a Complaint or nominate as a Critical Situa- tion (“CritSit”), if warranted, by asking any member of your IBM Client team to do so on your behalf. Reopening A PMR/Incident/ Support Case If the recommendations that we pro- vide you to resolve your problem fail to satisfy your requirements you may reopen the PMR/Incident/Support Case by calling your local support center and referencing the original PMR/Incident or Support Case number. (Note: For IBM PMRs/In- cidents this must be done within 28 days of original closing date). Submitting Software Require- ments Sometimes what appeared to be a defect turns out to be “working as designed” (or “broken as designed” as some Customers phrase it). If that’s the case, the most effective vehicle available to provide IBM software development your software requirements is to attend one of IBM’s technical conferences. One of the primary objectives of user groups such as GUIDE, SHARE, COMMON, or the TECHNICAL INTERCHANGE is to collect user requirements for future releases of our software products. Technical conferences provide an excellent op- portunity for you to discuss require- ments directly with our development teams. If you do not have the opportunity to attend user group meetings or would simply prefer not to wait until the next meeting, you can search for similar requirements or open a requirement through IBM’s Request for Enhancement (RFE) Community. Survey After your problem has been closed, you may be randomly selected to participate in a web survey to determine your satisfaction with the way your problem was handled. The survey focuses on three elements; ease of opening the problem, remote support, and overall. As I said earlier in this book, I think IBM has the best software support in the industry, and our support teams are judged on the overall scores. Quite frankly, anything less than “very satisfied” says they haven’t delivered to my promise to you. Be honest with your rating, but try to focus on the service you were given and the competence and helpful- ness of the individual or individuals involved in the problem.
  • 21. 21 November, 2014 Preventing Problems Regardless of what type of system you are running, from the largest main- frame to the smallest laptop, you want your system to be available when you need it to get your work done. The data should also be secure from loss or contamination, ensuring confidence in the accuracy of the results. IBM recommends the installation of Pre- ventive Service Packages to proactively avoid impacting problems caused by software defects already known and corrected by IBM. Preventive Service Packages The delivery mechanism and media varies by operating system platform (see the table on the next page) and in some case by the software product, but the idea is the same: to install fixes for bugs (APARs) that may affect the stability of your system or the security of your data BEFORE you experience a problem. Preventive Service Packages are updated frequently. If you have a stable environment where you never encounter problems, you do not need to install every package. However, we recommend periodic installation, since fixes are nearly always built at the latest maintenance level. Keeping fairly current with service will reduce the volume of change required should you need a fix for a problem you are experiencing. The frequency of these installations will be based on your operating environment. Before mak- ing major changes, such as adding new hardware, software or even major applications, you should consider in- stalling maintenance. There is a chart on the next page with a summary of maintenance recommendations by software platform. There are several types of mainte- nance. Typically, a fix is a resolution for a specific product defect. A fix is also called a patch, program temporary fix (PTF) or update. A fix pack is a cumula- tive fix that resolves multiple product defects. It is also referred to as a patch, update or preventive service package. An upgrade is a new version of software with new functions added.” Fix Central Fix Central makes it simpler to find the fixes from IBM, you can search by product, operating system, release, or even by APAR ID or fix ID. IBM product teams are in the process of adopting this delivery option, so if the fix you want is not available through Fix Central, it will be available on the product support page. Fix Central can be found at http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/ High Impact APARs IBM also maintains a list of fixes for High Impact APARs that should be conscientiously installed between fix pack installations, depending on the applicability to your environment. These APARs are categorized as “HIPER” which means the problems they describe and fix are in one or more of the follow- ing categories: • Problems that cause the destruction and/or contamination of customer data. • Problems that cause the customer to re-IPL, reboot, recycle, or restart one or more systems or subsys- tems. • Problems that cause a major loss of function. • Problems that cause severe impact to system perfor- mance or throughput. To locate more information, navigate to the support page for a product and search on “fix list.” Stay Informed We know it’s hard to stay informed. That’s why we have a system that will e- mail you when new fixes or alerts come out. You create a profile indicating what kinds of information you’re interested in, so you only receive the information you’re looking for. There are different types of automated information: Support Subscriptions can be set up via http://www.ibm.com/support/mynotifi- cations Allows you to receive security adviso- ries and alerts that maintenance fixes are available. See the website for the complete list of what you can sign up for. The basic free service is extremely helpful, but you can also choose to expand the capabilities of this service. For System z, information about Secu- rity / Integrity APARs and the ability to receive notifications can be found at http://www.vm.ibm.com/security/ aparinfo.html System z Platform -- PSP and EnhancedHolddata Lists of fixes for these HIPER APARs are available from IBM Software Support
  • 22. 22 November, 2014 Operating System Preventive Service Package Method Packaging Frequency /Platform System p / AIX Technology Levels (TL) and Intermediate Fix Central TLs are accumulations of fixes, Technical Levels Service Packs (SP) See the IBM AIX OS new device support and are currently Service Strategy Details and Best Practices programming enhancements available annually TLs will receive maintenance and SPs are via SPs for 2 years available three An AIX SP is an accumulation times a yea of fixes on top of itsTL System i5OS & OS/400 CUM CD-ROM Fix Central CD-ROM of recommended 3 - 8 per year Group PTFs,Service Packs, service Depending on HIPER PTFs age of the release z/OS Recommended Service Upgrade Customers use All uninstalled PTFs HIPERs reviewed RSU SMP/E Internet applicable to the recommended delivery system, customer’s selected SMP weekly zone with IBM RSU Quarterly recommendations (RSU) and service information (Enhanced HOLDDATA). Delivered electronically or (if too large for electronic delivery) via tape. Installed using SMP/E. VM Recommended Service Upgrade Customer orders Cumulative IBM Recom- 2-4 times a year RSU via ShopzSeries mended service,preapp.ied and prebuilt. Installed using VMSES/E VSE Recommended Service Level (RSL) Customer orders List of Recommended PTFs every 2-3 months by phone or fromVSE Home Page Fast Service Upgrade Customer orders complete system with all PTFs every 6-12 months via ShopzSeries PTFs applied Not all options are available in all geographies in Preventive Service Planning (PSP) information “buckets”. (http://www.ibm. com/support/customercare/psearch/ search?domain=psp ) In addition, this information is available via Enhanced HOLDDATA. See http://service.boulder.ibm. com/390holddata.html for details. IBM also offers services to notify you of these High Impact APARs as soon as a bypass or fix is available, or Local support ser- vices may also be available to help you select preventive service or a preventive service strategy to meet your specific Check the IBM Software Product Lifecycle link from http://www.ibm.com/software/ info/supportlifecycle at least once every quarter for 12-month advance notification of End of Service dates or links to IBM an- nouncement letters. With that information, you can be more proactive and efficient in planning product upgrades. needs. There is education on IBM Education Assistant. For the z/OS parallel sysplex environ- ment, IBM has maintenance recom- mendations at http://www.ibm.com/ servers/eserver/zseries/library/white- papers/psos390maint.html. Preventive service takes a little time to do well, but the returns to, system stability and data integrity, make it worthwhile. Plan upgrades more effi- ciently
  • 23. 23 November, 2014 Practices IBM Software Support Lifecycle policy The IBM Software Support Lifecycle policy specifies the length of time support will be available for IBM software from when the product is available for purchase to the time the product is no longer supported. IBM software customers can track how long their version and release of a particular IBM software product will be supported and will be able to effectively plan their software invest- ment, without any breaks in support. Most system z software products have a three year support period and provide advance notice of withdrawal from support via an announcement letter. Discontinuance of program service for the last release in a version of a software product is an indication of IBM’s expectation that customers will not experience a high level of trouble due to program defects. When service is discontinued, corrections to known problems remain avail- able, but the development team is redirected to other work, and no new, tested corrections will be generated for general use. Known problems may be reviewed and ordered via electron- ic vehicles such as the internet (e.g, http://www.ibm.com/software/sup- port) however support provided by the IBM Client Support representatives, will be discontinued. At discontinu- ance of program service, associated services terminate as well, e.g. IBM Support Line and SoftwareXcel. The IBM Customer Agreement (ICA) for monthly license charge products (mainframe) provides information on notification requirements for discon- tinuance of program services. For distributed software products (IBM software that is licensed under the International Program License Agreement, IPLA): Starting in February 2008 the major- ity of Lotus, Information Management, Rational, Tivoli and WebSphere branded IPLA products have been announced with an Enhanced Support Lifecycle which provides support for a minimum of five years, beginning at the date the product is available for purchase (gen- eral availability date). • Display information for bundled software, showing that all compo- nents of a product bundle are sup- ported for the same period of time. • Provide notice of End of Support (EOS) at least twelve months before product support is withdrawn, giv- ing you a reasonable period of time to use the software before migrating to a new version or release. Estab- lish effective dates for withdrawal of product support in either April or September. • Display all information on lifecycle dates in one location, enabling you to effectively plan your migration. Products with a Standard Support Lifecycle policy provide support for all products for a minimum of three years, beginning at the date the product is available for purchase (general availabil- ity date). When service is discontinued, corrections to known problems remain available, but the development team is redirected to other work, and no new, tested corrections will be generated for general use. Known problems may be reviewed and ordered via electronic vehicles such as the internet (e.g, http:// support.ibm.com) however support provided by the IBM Client Support representatives, will be discontinued. Note: Some IBM products may not adhere to these enhanced or standard policies. Products not adhering to these policies include but are not limited to IBM Software that is sold “as is”, prod- ucts recently acquired by IBM, which may still adhere to legacy lifecycle agreements, and some operating system software (example AIX VXX on pSeries servers) which have their own policy. The AIX Best Practices for system maintenance have been consolidated into a single PDF document for your convenience. You can reference this document at http://www14.software. ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/best/ aix_service_strategy_v3.pdf To obtain the most accurate lifecycle information for your product, subscribe to RSS updates and view the lifecycle dates under the product lifecycle A-Z list visit: http://www.ibm.com/software/support/ lifecycle/ IBM may modify this policy at any time, and will communicate the modification and any exceptions via a product an- nouncement letter, or in a general policy announcement. Support Extensions Support Extensions are accommoda- tions for Customers who are unable to migrate to a supported software product release within the time provided. IBM will offer Support Extensions for the dis- tributed platform middleware products with an Enhanced Support Lifecycle policy for a minimum period of 3 years following the product’s end of support date. Support Extensions for the distrib- uted platform middleware products and zSeries platform IPLA products with Standard Support Lifecycle policy for a minimum period of 2 years following the product’s end of support date. Sup- port Extensions for the operating system (Systems i, p, and z) products will continue to be handled on an individual product basis. To request support extension please con- tact your IBM Sales Representative. IBM Middleware support on unsupported operating sys- tems IBM Software Support will provide support for IBM middleware, assuming that middleware is still within its sup- port period. That support will con- tinue normally until such time that the
  • 24. 24 November, 2014 back-level operating system is identified as a probable cause of the problem or a contributing factor, at which time you may be asked to recreate the problem on a supported level of the operating system. Third party software and Open Source software Third party software or code is included or bundled with some of our IBM of- ferings. This code is included for your convenience, but is not considered part of the IBM program. These non-IBM programs are licensed directly by their providers. You agree to use the non-IBM programs under the provider's terms and conditions. These are provided in the IBM licensing agreement which accompanies the IBM offering at time of purchase. Because this software is included or bundled with our IBM offerings, IBM does testing to ensure the Third Party products will work with IBM programs and function appropriately. Based on this, IBM Software support will diag- nose problems concerning customer problems utilizing the knowledge of how our IBM offerings work with the Third Party software. Once we have concluded that the IBM program is working correctly, but the issue still ex- ists, IBM must refer you, the customer, to the Third Party vendor for further diagnosis. IBM provides these non-IBM programs without any warranties or representa- tion, including, but not limited to, the warranty of non-infringement and the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Under no circumstances will IBM be liable for any direct or indirect damages, includ- ing without limitation, lost profits, lost savings, or any incidental, special, or other economic consequential damages, even if IBM is informed of their pos- sibility. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above exclusion or limitation may not apply to you. IBM does not possess the in-depth technical skills to diagnose Third Party software problems. We must refer our customers to those Third Party software vendors for technical support when we diagnose the problem is not with IBM Software. A special case of the above is open source software which may be included as part of the solutions IBM provides. Because this code is owned by the open source community and not by IBM, it will be identified in the license materi- als or in an attachment to the license materials as "unwarranted". Because the code is not IBM's, there are no expressed or implied warranties or indemnification. However, like the third party software described above, IBM does testing so that we are comfort- able our programs will work with the Open Source software and function as they were intended. Like the case of the Third Party software, IBM soft- ware support will attempt to diagnose suspected defects using our knowledge of the interaction of IBM code and the open source software. In some cases we may even have the source code and may be able to provide workarounds for reported problems, however the final arbiter over whether a supported fix can be provided may belong to the open source community (hence, the "unwar- ranted" designation). IBM Secure Engineering Practices Secure Engineering is an important element of the overall IBM security strategy. It is reflected in our internal initiative that works to address the dynamic nature of security in our development process. IBM uses various methods to communicate security vul- nerability information to customers. We use Security Bulletins when publicly disclosing security vulnerabilities dis- covered in IBM offerings and leverages alternative tools and processes, where appropriate (i.e., for System z, managed and cloud-based services), for more targeted and discrete communications with entitled customers. Please visit IBM Secure Engineering for further information about these practices. IBM maintains information about se- curity problems which may arise on the Resource Link Security Portal.
  • 25. 25 November, 2014 Exchanging data with IBM Our software support specialists may request that you send in the problem information or test cases or that they be able to view it with you electronically. To accomplish this, you may be offered several options by the IBM support spe- cialist. By the terms and conditions of the applicable support agreements, this information will be non-confidential (for example, not labeled “your com- pany confidential”) Once your documentation is completely received by IBM approved means, IBM will use it only for the purposes for which it was provided - that is, to fix defects or to provide support for IBM products or services. We will not disclose it to other parties, except to contractors of IBM who we may use to help us fix defects or provide support; and we will delete, destroy or return it when it is no longer required. If you elect to have us return physical media, you will be responsible for arranging for return transport of the media. IBM will provide the tapes to your designated carrier at the IBM location, but other- wise will have no responsibility/liability for return of the media. For more information on exchanging diagnostic data with IBM, please refer to the Service Users License Agreement at http://www.ibm.com/de/support/ ecurep/service.html. If you and the IBM support special- ist agree, you may decide to send your problem information or test cases to IBM. There are several approved meth- ods and tools that can be used. Please refer to the document “Exchanging Information with IBM Technical Sup- port” for more information. The IBM support specialist working with you can help you set up the transfer. The following site discusses different ways to send and receive files to and from IBM: http://www.ibm.com/ software/support/exchangeinfo.html, and the following discusses how to use ECURep to send files to IBM: http:// www.ibm.com/de/support/ecurep/. You need to understand and acknowl- edge that IBM may use its global resources, including but not limited to, IBM Affiliates and personnel located in various countries, for the delivery of service and services. By sending us problem information, you warrant that none of your data exported to, or oth- erwise accessible by IBM is controlled as a defense article under the U.S. In- ternational Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) or under any other country’s laws or regulations.
  • 26. 26 November, 2014 Passport Advantage and Passport Advantage Express Software Subscription & Support Cover- age • When you renew Software Sub- scription & Support for a product at a site, you should renew Software Subscription & Support for all cop- ies/licenses of that program at that site, no matter how you acquired those copies, and you must renew Software Subscription & Support for all copies/licenses of that program for which you want technical sup- port. (Note: To be authorized to upgrade you licenses or contact Technical Support with questions or issues, the license must be covered with current Software Subscrip- tion & Support.) Where applicable, Software Subscription & Support for both the host and the workstation licenses should be renewed. • You are entitled to Software Sub- scription & Support only on the licenses covered. • If you need technical support cov- erage or want to install a new ver- sion/release on one of the licenses with lapsed Software Subscription & Support coverage, you will need to acquire “Software Subscription & Support Reinstatement”. This is the only way you will be able to reinstate your licenses in Software Subscription & Support. • Support may be accessed by your technical support personnel who may or may not reside at your site depending on the authorization your Site Technical Contact defined for them. IBM Software Secure Support via U.S. Citizens IBM Software Secure Support via U.S. Citizens complements the prerequisite IBM Passport Advantage Subscription and Support by providing standard IBM software support exclusively by U.S. citizens who are located in the United States. Data analysis and call data will be contained in an isolated network within a facility that meets U.S. Govern- ment security specifications. In this offering: • IBM provides U.S. Citizen sup- port via telephone, only to your information systems (IS) technical support personnel during the hours of 8 AM Eastern to 8 PM Eastern, Monday through Friday, excluding national or statutory holidays. • A Service Request will be created and placed in an incoming queue which is managed and handled by a U.S. citizen. • IBM provides assistance for your 1) routine, short duration installation and usage (how-to) questions; and 2) code-related questions (“Sup- port”). • Information systems (IS) techni- cal support personnel can open an unlimited number of technical support incidents. • Response time objective of two hours during prime shift for voice problem submissions. For information on ordering the secure support, see http://www.ibm.com/soft- ware/support/premium/contactus.html There is a similar offering for AIX and Storage described on page 7 of this publication. IBM Selected Support Offer- ing (support-only offering for designated IBM no-charge and non-IBM products) Remote Technical Support IBM has implemented a tiered approach for the Selected Support offering. On a product by product basis, up to 3 tiers may be made available: IBM Entry Support, IBM Enhanced Support and IBM Elite Support. Support is delivered remotely via IBM’s support teams, and includes: • General usage and installation questions • Product compatibility and interop- erability questions • Interpretation of product documen- tation • Review of diagnostic information to help isolate the cause of a problem • Basic configuration assistance and samples understanding • IBM will make available to you Se- lected Program defect corrections, if any, that it develops. (non-IBM product fixes, if any, are provided by the third party provider) For all tiers of support, there is no limit to the number of technical support incidents that can be reported through remote assistance. Remote technical support problems are reported to IBM by phone (not available for IBM Entry Support) or by using the IBM Service Request (SR) tool, located at www.ibm.com/support Refer to the Contacting IBM section of this Hand- book for more information. The Selected Support offerings are purchased via an annual subscription and are available for purchase through Passport Advantage or Passport Advan- tage Express. Developer Assistance IBM Selected Support offerings may also include remote Developer Assis- tance Incidents. This assistance goes beyond the support provided through traditional remote technical support. Under this feature, developers may receive assistance with finding answers to specific programming questions, best practice usage of the product (i.e., the Application Programming Interface), etc. Developer Assistance Incidents are intended to cover specific and short duration questions. Professional services offerings should be used for questions that are best resolved with an extended program design review. Developer Assistance Incident coverage includes: • Expert Development Assistance • Application Design and Architec- ture Assistance • Configuration Assistance • Performance & Tuning Assistance Unlike traditional remote technical support where the number of requests is unlimited, the number of Developer As- sistance incidents that can be reported to IBM is fixed, determined by the Se- lected Support offering purchased and varies by supported product. Developer Assistance Incidents are reported to IBM in the same way as general product usage questions or problems: by phone Additional Detail on Services
  • 27. 27 November, 2014 Support Only Offering IBM IBM IBM Entry Enhanced Elite Support Support Support Electronic Problem Submission Yes Yes Yes Voice Problem Submission No Yes Yes Number of electronic an/or voice problems Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Support Hours* 8am-5PM 8am-5PM 8am-5PM Mon-Fri Mon-Fri Mon-Fri (24x7 for Sev1) ResponseTarget ** 8 bus hrs 4 bus.hrs 2 bus.hrs Technical Contacts*** 1 2 Unlimited Developer Assistance Incidents **** Not Avail Variable Variable Availability Worldwide Worldwide Worldwide *Times listed are for the customer’s time zone. Support is not available on public holidays for IBM Entry Support and IBM Enhanced Support. Severity 1 support is available on public holidays for IBM Elite Support **Response target is IBM’s objective to respond to your high severity support request. In some cases the initial response could result in a resolution of your request, or it will form the basis for determining what additional actions are required to achieve technical resolution of your request. ***The Technical Contact is the individual designated by the client as the person to contact IBM for support. All communication with IBM related to the IBM Support-only offering must be performed by Assistant Incidents included. (on a product-by-product basis, IBM Enhanced Support will offer 0, 1, 2, 3 or 5 Developer Assistance Incidents and IBM Elite Support will offer 0, 1, 2, 3, 5 or 10 incidents) **** The number of Developer Assistance Incidents will vary by supported product. Refer to the announcement letter for the number of Developer Assistant Incidents included. (on a product-by- product basis, IBM Enhanced Support will offer 0, 1, 2, 3 or 5 Developer Assistance Incidents and IBM or using the IBM Service Request (SR) tool, located at http://support.ibm.com. Each time you use one of your Devel- oper Assistance Incidents, your available incident count will be decremented. To gain maximum benefit from your Developer Assistance Incidents: • Developer Assistance Incidents must be specifically requested during the initial call or electronic submission for support assistance • If you access IBM Support via the phone, advise the IBM Representa- tive that Developer Assistance is being requested • If you access IBM support via SR, ensure that the Developer As- sistance Incident component is selected • Your technical contact should understand that available Developer Assistance Incidents will be decre- mented by one incident Designated Programs eligible for Se- lected Support are listed at: http://www. ibm.com/software/lotus/passportadvan- tage/paselectedsupportprograms.html The table at the top of the next page de- scribes the features of Selected Support in more detail. Additional information: In addition to traditional remote sup- port and Developer assistance, the following online support may also be available:  Online documentation  Access to technical articles on IBM Soft- ware Support web sites  Access to technical forums on IBM developerWorks ( http://www-128.ibm.com/ developerworks/ )  Access to relevant IBM DeveloperWorks Newsletters and Articles  Access to technical webcasts and events  Professional services offerings (additional charge) IBM Selected Support Offering Terms: Consistent with the Selected Support tier pur- chased, IBM will provide support only for the copies of software covered under your agree- ment. Independent Software Vendor (ISV), Systems Integrator (SI) or Solution Providers: consistent with the Selected Support tier purchased, IBM will provide support only for the copies of soft- ware covered under you agreement during the internal development and maintenance phases of your solutions. You are restricted from con- tacting IBM with support issues that may arise from your end customers’ usage of the product unless you have an OEM contract with IBM. •
  • 28. 28 November, 2014 Passport Advantage -- How To Site Technical Contact (STC) for Passport Ad- vantage: For products where Software Maintenance is acquired through Passport Advantage or other IBM sales channels (this is mostly the middleware on the distributed platforms), Site Technical Contacts (STCs) need to be identified. Each site, including the originating and all additional sites, enroll- ing in the Passport Advantage (PA) program must designate a Site Technical Contact (STC) responsible for the Software Maintenance offering at that site. More information about the PA Site Enrollment Form can be found on the PA Web site at: http://www.ibm.com/ software/passportadvantage. This person will be responsible for: • allocating and/registering Authorized Callers to en- able them to have access to electronic technical sup- port. • keeping all access and caller overall compliance for the software products within their site If you did not purchase your IBM middleware through Passport Advantage and do not have a Site Technical Contact or you do not know who your Site Technical Contact is, fill out and send an SR contact form at www.ibm.com/soft- ware/support/help-contactus. html. The SR help desk will then assist you with your request. Site Technical Contact Process for Adding Au- thorized Callers: The Site Technical Contact (STC) is responsible for ensuring that your company’s IS support personnel understand how to work with IBM remote technical support. To take full advantage of the fea- tures and benefits of IBM’s sup- port services on IBM’s Software Support Web site that includes web-based access to personalized features such as My Notifica- tions, entitled content, and IBM’s Service Request (SR)tool, you must first register with IBM by going to http://support.ibm.com and selecting “Register” that is located in the top right-hand corner. If you already have an IBM ID and password from an- other participating ibm.com web site such as Passport Advantage Online, you can use that same ID and password to log in to the IBM Software Support Web site. IBM’s Service Request (SR) is IBM’s electronic problem sub- mission tool that you can use to create service requests to report and manage issues you are hav- ing while installing or using IBM software. To access SR, all users must 1) be registered with IBM and 2) be on your company’s SR Authorized Caller list. Please note that not all methods of accessing remote technical support are included in all sup- port offerings. The information below applies to SR. The STC will be added as an Authorized Caller by IBM. The STC will then add Authorized Callers to SR. After the STC is added, they will receive an e-mail Welcome Letter that is specifical- ly designed for their access to SR. The STC is to follow the instruc- tions in the e-mail Welcome Let- ter. It is important that the STC use the link embedded in the e-mail and follows the instruc- tions contained in the e-mail to ensure that their Authorized Caller record is set up correctly. After the STC has used the URL in the e-mail Welcome Letter to access SR the first time, they can then access SR directly from the IBM Software Support Web site at http://support.ibm.com, by clicking on the “Open service request” tab, then click on “SR” and use their IBM ID and pass- word to log in. The STC is responsible for creat- ing and managing a list of Sec- ondary Site Technical Contacts (SSTCs) and Authorized Callers who can access SR. SSTCs can add Authorized Callers and sub- mit and create service requests.
  • 29. 29 November, 2014 Authorized Callers can submit and create service requests. To add Authorized Callers, users must have first registered with IBM and give the STC or SSTC their IBM ID. The STC then logs into SR, selects “Relationship administration” from the left side of the page and then selects “Add caller”, which is also located on the left side of the page. After a user has been added as an SSTC or Authorized Caller in SR, a welcome e-mail will be sent to the new user with instructions on how to access SR. The new user can then electronically submit and track service requests using SR. Keep in mind the support hours are the prevailing business hours where the software is li- censed, not where the authorized callers are (if they are remotely located). Users can also electronically request access to SR by using the SR Caller Self-Nomination form, which can be accessed by logging into SR. If you are not a caller on a contract, the form will be displayed. Complete and submit it. If you are already a caller on a contract, and want to be added to another contract, log into SR, select “Relationship administration” from the left side of the page, and then select “Add relationship” and complete and submit the form. Each time a user requests access to SR using the SR Caller Self- Nomination form, the STC will receive an e-mail notifying them of the request. The STC or SSTC can approve or deny the request by logging into SR, selecting “Rela- tionship management” from the left side of the page and selecting “Manage nominations”, which is also located on the left side of the page. If the user is approved, an e-mail will be sent to the new user containing instructions on how to access SR. To access additional information on SR: • go to our Support Web site at http://support.ibm.com, click the “Assistance” tab and then click “SR Help” • log into SR then click “Help” or “SR Help” located on the left side of the page You can also access SR Help directly at https://www-946.ibm. com/sr/help/. Note: Adding and updating the Authorized Caller information in SR applies only to SR. You must update Passport Advantage Online (www.ibm.com/software/ passportadvantage and choose the Passport Advantage Online tab and then “Customer sign in”) for any changes to your Passport Advan- tage program contacts, including the Site Technical Contact, to apply there. Enhanced Electronic Ca- pabilities The enhanced electronic support features allows IBM to provide customers with “around-the-clock self-service” capabilities. The chart at the bottom of this page outlines the electronic support capabilities and their features. Electronic support capabilities are found at url: www.ibm.com/ software/support and provide the following: For more information on the Software Maintenance Offering - a valuable option in our Passport Advantage program - please visit the http://www.ibm.com/software/ passportadvantage web site and review the tutorial. Advanced Search Searching across multiple technical repositories to resolve a problem or answer a question you may have had Fix Download Download fixes to problems Electronic Prob Submission Submit problems on line if you didn’t find what you needed in your search. Establish real-time collaboration between you and our technicians, when appropriate Personalization Customizable web views of support content based on user preferences Automatic Lang Translation Dynamic web translation of technical content into one of several languages Note: above services not available in all countries or for all products at this time
  • 30. 30 November, 2014 APPENDIX A: PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION WORKSHEET Complete this form before calling Technical Support This form helps you identify problems and assists IBM Technical Support in finding solutions. System Information What is the failing product? What is the version and release number? What machine model, operating system, and version are running? Problem Description What are the expected results? What statement or command is being used? What are the exact symptoms and syntax? What is or isn’t happening, including exact error number and message text? Is anyone else experiencing the problem? Is this the first time this operation has been attempted? Is this the first time this problem has occurred? Environment When did this activity work last? What has changed since the activity last worked? __ Hardware type/model __ Application __ Operating system/version __ Level of usage __ New product version/release __ Maintenance applied If the problem does not occur every time, under what conditions does the problem not occur? Is there any other software running on the system which may be conflicting with this product? Problem Isolation Identify the specific feature of the software causing the problem. Can the problem be reproduced? If so, please provide a reproducible test case or instructions on how to reproduce the error condition
  • 31. 31 November, 2014 Appendix B: Passport Advantage Site Technical Contact Information Once registered and authorized on this site, a caller is able to: • submit service requests through the EIS Web site. • access registered electronic support provided in the support web site at: www.ibm.com/software/support The following information will be pro- vided in the support welcome letter that will be sent to the STC along with their Passport Advantage customer number which is your unique identifier when working with either voice or electronic problem submission. Site Technical Contact Registration Activity: In order to access our technical support Web site, you will be required to regis- ter with a current email address, IBM customer number, and name. You will be prompted to select your user name and password which will entitle you to access the site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Once registered, you will be able to enter any number of IS personnel to your authorized contact list. To simplify the management of your contact list, you will be able to set each authorized person to a status of “Active”, “Inactive”, or “Terminated”. Please take the time to ensure that all of the authorized IS personnel within your site are added to this list. This will enable them to contact IBM on your behalf. Once you have added your IS personnel to your authorized contact list, each authorized contact must go to the website and register prior to using the electronic problem submission. Please ensure that all authorized contacts have the information contained within the Support Welcome letter, links to this IBM Software Support Guide and URLs, and any other support notices you may receive during the period of your Software Maintenance coverage. STC Process for Adding Authorized Callers: The Primary Site Technical Contact (PSTC) is responsible for ensuring that your company’s IS support personnel understand how to work with IBM remote technical support. To take full advantage of the fea- tures and benefits of IBM’s support services on IBM’s Software Support Web site that includes web-based access to personalized features such as My Notifications, entitled content, and IBM Service Request (SR), you must first register with IBM by going to www.ibm.com/ software/support and selecting “Register” that is located in the top right-hand corner. If you already have an IBM ID and password from another participating ibm.com web site such as Passport Advantage Online, you can use that same ID and password to log in to the IBM Software Support Web site. Service Request (SR) is IBM’s elec- tronic problem submission tool that you can use to create service re- quests to report and manage issues you are having while installing or using IBM software. To access SR, all users must 1) be registered with IBM and 2) be on your company’s SR Authorized Caller list. Please note that not all methods of accessing remote technical support are included in all support offer- ings. The following information applies to the SR tool only. Each site, including the originating and all additional sites, enrolling in the Passport Advantage (PA) program must designate a Site Technical Contact (STC) responsible for the Software Maintenance offering at that site. More information about the PA Site Enroll- ment Form can be found on the PA Web site at: http://www.ibm.com/software/ passportadvantage. This person will be responsible for: • allocating and/registering Authorized Callers to enable them to have access to electronic technical support. • keeping all access and caller informa- tion current • overall compliance for the software products within their site The STC will be authorized to: • add/maintain the Caller List on the Electronic Incident Submission (EIS) Web site • The STC is the only authorized caller to edit the Caller List for a site; Please note that the callers you enable for support should be technically capable of working problems with the products associated on their contract • change the status of the technical caller, which will limit the caller’s ac- cess to remote support. There are 3 levels of technical caller status: • Active - user can submit new Inci- dents/PMR’s, as well as view/update existing problems • Inactive - user is in view-only mode - and cannot create or update problem records/incidents • Terminated - user is not authorized to access support at all
  • 32. 32 November, 2014 Users can also electronically request access to SR by using the SR Caller Self-Nomination form, which can be accessed by logging into SR. If you are not a caller on a contract, the form will be displayed. Complete and submit it. If you are already a caller on a contract, and want to be added to another contract, log into SR, select “Relationship administration” from the left side of the page, and then select “Add relationship”. Complete and submit the form. Each time a user requests access to SR using the SR Caller Self-Nomination form, the STC will receive an e-mail notifying them of the request. The STC or SSTC can approve or deny the request by logging into SR, selecting “Relationship administration” from the left side of the page and selecting “Manage relationships”, which is also located on the left side of the page. If the user is approved, an e-mail will be sent to the new user containing instructions on how to access SR. To access additional information on SR: - go directly to our SR assistance site at https://www-946.ibm.com/sr/ help/, and select your country - log into SR then click “Help” or “Help” located on the left side of the page Note: Adding and updating the Authorized Caller information in SR applies only to SR. You must update Passport Advantage Online (www. ibm.com/software/passportadvantage and choose the Passport Advantage Online tab and then “Customer sign in”) for any changes to your Pass- port Advantage program contacts, including the Site Technical Contact, to apply there. The STC will be added as an Authorized Caller by IBM when the contract is processed. The STC will then add Authorized Callers to SR. After the STC is added, they will receive an e-mail Welcome Letter that is specifically designed for their access to SR. The STC is to follow the instructions in the e-mail Wel- come Letter. It is important that the STC use the link embedded in the e-mail and follows the instructions contained in the e-mail to ensure that their Authorized Caller record is set up correctly. After the STC has used the URL in the e-mail Welcome Letter to access SR the first time, they can then ac- cess SR directly from the IBM Soft- ware Support Web site at www.ibm. com/software/support, by clicking on the “Open service request” tab, then click on “SR” and use their IBM ID and password to log in. The STC is responsible for creating and managing a list of Secondary Site Technical Contacts (SSTCs) and Authorized Callers who can access SR. SSTCs can add Authorized Call- ers and submit and create service requests. Authorized Callers can submit and create service requests. To add Authorized Callers, users must have first registered with IBM and give the STC or SSTC their IBM ID. The STC then logs into SR, selects “Relationship administration” from the left side of the page and then selects “Manage relationhips”,. After a user has been added as an SSTC or Authorized Caller in SR, a welcome e-mail will be sent to the new user with instructions on how to access SR. The new user can then electronically submit and track service requests using SR.
  • 33. 33 November, 2014 Appendix C: Contacts Contact via Web Open Service Request is a tool to help clients find the right place to open any problem, hardware or software, in any country where IBM does business. This is the starting place when it is not evident where to go to open a service request. Service Request (SR) offers clients online problem management to open, edit and track open and closed PMRs by customer number for all IBM software. Timesaving options: create new PMRs with prefilled demographic fields; describe problems yourself and choose severity; submit PMRs directly to correct support queue; attach troubleshooting files directly to PMR; receive alerts when IBM updates PMR; view reports on open and closed PMRs. You can find information about getting help for SR at http://www.ibm.com/soft- ware/support/help-contactus.html IBMLink - SoftwareXcel support con- tracts offer clients on the System z platform the IBMLink online problem management tool to open problem records and ask usage questions on System z software products. You can open, track, update, and close a defect or problem record; order corrective/preventive/tol- eration maintenance; search for known problems or technical support informa- tion: track applicable problem reports: receive alerts on high impact problems and fixes in error; and view planning information for new releases and preven- tive maintenance. Contact via phone f you have an active service contract maintenance agreement with IBM , or are covered by Program Services, you may contact customer support teams via telephone. For individual countries, please visit the Technical Support sec- tion of the IBM Directory of worldwide contacts at http://www.ibm.com/planet- wide/ . To contact your local IBM Sales team, please also visit the IBM Directory of worldwide contacts at http://www.ibm. com/planetwide/ . Note: the geography phone numbers have been removed from this document. Planet- wide (pointers above) will be IBM’s sole source for contact information.
  • 34. 34 November, 2014 Appendix D: IBM Acquisitions Welcome, clients and customers of acquired software companies. We will be working over the coming months to integrate the support for acquired product support organizations into IBM. With most IBM Software acquisitions, IBM strives to deliver a consistent integration of the acquired company’s technology within an IBM product portfolio. However, there is a transition period during which existing client contracts and support delivery may be available to you based on current legacy support contracts, or using exist- ing support infrastructure and contact methods. The information on these pages is intended to give you a starting point on what to expect for support through this transition from your legacy support to the IBM Support Of- ferings described earlier in this book. To lend continuity to customers of ac- quired companies, IBM uses a system called Flexible Contract Terms (FCT). FCT allows customers to temporarily continue most support terms negotiat- ed while product was under the Legacy Company’s branding. Customers will be provided information on how to move from FCT to the enterprise- hardened IBM support offerings. These IBM offerings carry many benefits our customers have come to expect from IBM branded products. The annual, renewable subscription support offering is priced per Server. Fully Integrated Acquisitions The following past acquired companies and their support programs have been fully integrated into IBM Products and support offerings, please refer to support portfolio for definitions of offeringss: Aspera Support Communication page at http://www-01.ibm.com/software/ info/aspera/support/ . IBM SUPPORT FOR BIGFIX IBM’s acquisition of BigFix, brings capabilities that enable customers an intelligent way to secure the enterprise by managing and automating security and compliance updates on thousands of computers around the globe. Effective 1 February 2011, BigFix product support was integrated into IBM. The IBM Software Support organization will provide support for BigFix products under the end users’ existing agreements for the remainder of their contract terms. As a BigFix customer, you will receive a Welcome letter from IBM detailing the new process for contacting and obtaining support for your BigFix products. For all new customers after January, 2011, you will receive an IBM Customer Number at the time of purchase along with details on how to contact IBM Support for your IBM Tivoli Endpoint Manager Product. For more details on IBM Support, please see Support portfolio section of the IBM Support Handbook, sections on “Assistance Provided” and “Main- • Algorithmics • Ascential • Coremetrics • Curam • Datacap • Encentuate • Exeros • I2 • ILOG • Iniate • Lombardi • Micromuse • MRO Maximo • Ounce • Star Analytics • Tealeaf • Unica • Vallent • Watchfire IBM SUPPORT FOR ASPERA En December 19, 2013 IBM acquired Aspera. Aspera’s technology helps companies securely speed the move- ment of massive data files around the world. Licensed to clients and partners either in the cloud or on premise, Aspera’s high-speed transfer technology reduces transmission times for large files or data sets by up to 99.9 percent – potentially cutting a 26 hour transfer of a 24 gigabyte file, sent halfway around the world, down to just 30 seconds. Aspera’s patented fasp™ technology overcomes inherent bottlenecks in broadband wide area networks that slow the transfer of extremely large files, such as high- definition video or scientific research files, over distance. At http://www.ibm.com/software/ info/aspera/support/ you will find contact centers to reach out to, should you have any questions re- garding this transition. For the latest information regarding the Technical Support transition, refer to the IBM
  • 35. 35 November, 2014 IBM SUPPORT FOR CLOUDANT On February 24, 2014 IBM an- nounced the acquisition of Cloud- ant, a leading NoSQL database as a service provider founded in 2008. Cloudant provides a highly flexible, scalable rapid deployment offering for developers of web and mobile applica- tions without the need to manage the Database infrastructure. Cloudant will be transitioning to IBM systems and business practices over the next 9-12 months. In the meantime, cus- tomers using a Cloudant product will be supported by the current Cloudant Customer Support team, using exist- ing systems and practices and under the terms of their current mainte- nance agreement. Modifications to existing processes will be communi- cated to customers prior to changes taking effect. More information can be found at https://cloudant.com/. IBM SUPPORT FOR COGNOS PRODUCTS IBM Cognos business intelligence (BI) and financial performance manage- ment solutions deliver world-leading enterprise planning, consolidation and BI software, support and services to help companies plan, understand and manage financial and operational performance. IBM Cognos solutions bring together technology, analyti- cal applications, best practices, and a broad network of partners to give customers an open, adaptive and complete performance solution. Over 23,000 customers in more than 135 countries around the world choose IBM Cognos solutions. Dates to note: • January 31, 2008: Acquisition of Cognos by IBM completed. • January 1, 2009: Transfer of business from Cognos into IBM occurred. • June 1, 2009: IBM Support systems and processes adopted. For all resources associated with the tran- sition to IBM Support, visit http://www. ibm.com/software/data/cognos/customer- center/dbwi/index.html Cognos Support offerings Cognos Support offers Support Plans specific to Cognos software customers and Appliance customers. Cognos software customers purchase software from IBM Cognos and install and maintain such software on their own hardware, whereas Appliance customers purchase hardware from IBM Cognos on which software solu- tions are pre-installed and configured. All Support Plans are founded on: 1. Product (Appliance) Continuation: access to various new and upgrade releases of software and/or hardware. 2. Online Support: 24x7, self-serve tenance acquired through Passport Advantage or Passport Advantage Express”. IBM SUPPORT FOR CLARITY On October 21 2010, IBM complet- ed the acquisition of the software portfolio of Clarity Systems, Inc., a privately held business analytics company headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Clarity Systems delivers financial governance software that enables organizations to automate the process of collecting, preparing, certifying and controlling financial statements for electronic filing, in support of mandates by the SEC and other financial regulatory agencies. To significantly reduce the risks of potential error and the lengthy times required to create and file financial documents, Clar- ity Systems software allows finance professionals to seamlessly inte- grate information for more efficient planning, consolidation and finan- cial reporting.  In January 2012, legacy Clarity Systems customers moved to the IBM support systems for case management. A Welcome to Support letter was sent and Cli- ent Experience webinars conducted prior to this move. The in country local telephone numbers have also changed and can be found at http://www.ibm.com/planetwide. All open support cases have been moved to the IBM Service Request tool and can be accessed by using the IBM Support Portal. Should you have any questions regarding support processes or the support integration into IBM, please e-mail clientcare@ca.ibm.com
  • 36. 36 November, 2014 Technical and business resourc- es The IBM Cognos Software Support web site is located at www.ibm.com/cognos/ support. This site provides access to a wide range of self service support for your IBM Cognos software. Some of the key support features allow you to: • Downloading IBM Cognos software. • Search IBM technical support knowledge base, including Cognos Reources. • Find troubleshooting, planning and installation documents • Open a service request (electronic problem submission tools). • Access the IBM Support Handbook and IBM Cognos Support Guides, which contain detailed informa- tion about IBM’s software support services. • Connect with others via the Forums and Communities link. The web site also includes valuable administration information and help features, such as: • Online Authorized Caller registra- tion and list maintenance. • Site tours, including one for elec- tronic problem submission, at the Software Support Assistance loca- tion. The Cognos Customer Center provides a good starting point for finding informa- tion about Cognos Support, Professional and closed PMRs by customer number. Timesaving options include: create new PMRs with pre filled demographic fields; describe problems yourself and choose severity; submit PMRs di- rectly to correct support queue; attach troubleshooting files directly to PMR; receive alerts when IBM updates PMR; view reports on open and closed PMRs. Please refer to the Cognos Service Request page or information on service request topics such as: • When to submit a service request • What steps to take before you submit a service request • How to submit a service request • How to escalate a service request You can find information about assis- tance for SR at the Contact the SR help desk site. What is the Cognos Product Lifecycle? Products released after January 1 2009 plus IBM Cognos 8 BI Version 8.4, fall under the Standard IBM Software Support Lifecycle Policy. Please refer to the following site for full details of this policy: • IBM Software Support Lifecycle Policy Products released before January 1, 2009, excluding IBM Cognos 8 BI Version 8.4, fall under the previous Cognos Lifecycle policy, as described in the Cognos Support Plans Guide. Refer to the Cognos supported products web page for the support status of your product. access to Web resources such as Technotes, Proven Practices (White Papers) and Product Downloads (if applicable) The difference between the plans is in the Assisted Support focus. 3. Assisted Support: the support services available to you when you require live, interactive support from IBM. The Cognos Support offerings available to customers include: Standard; Software Development Kit Code Level; Advantage; and, Premier. For any Cognos Support offering purchased outside of IBM Passport Advantage, Express or Premium, please see the Support Plans Guide for additional information. The Cog- nos Support Plans Guide provides an overview of the plans offered before the acquisition of Cognos by IBM, including information on: SDK code- level support; on-line support pro- grams; and, information on getting the most from your Support Plan. A Support Plan is a purchasable sup- port service offering with defined de- liverables, rights, joint commitments and service levels. A Support Plan encapsulates the shared working arrangement between you and IBM Cognos Support. Support Plans are also referred to as Support Offerings. • The Cognos Support Plans Guide • FAQs for Cognos Customers and Partners Problem reporting for Cognos customers The Service Request (SR) tool offers Cognos clients online problem man- agement to open, edit and track open
  • 37. 37 November, 2014 Services and Education. Cognos Customer Center At Cognos we appreciate your busi- ness and look forward to working with you. IBM SUPPORT FOR CONSUL PRODUCTS Consul’s enterprise security audit- ing and compliance solutions col- lect and analyze vast quantities of user and system activity to monitor, report and investigate both mali- cious and accidental violations of information use. Effective July 2007, Consul prod- ucts and support were integrated into IBM. As part of the transition of Consul Legacy Software products into IBM Support, the Terms & Condition’s (T&C’s) documented in existing Consul contracts will be honored through the remaining length of the agreement, at which point, a mutually beneficial IBM service agreement may be negotiated. For more details on IBM Support, . For more details see IBM Software Maintenance under Enhanced Support. For information regarding the Consul acquisition, including Sup- port FAQs, Important links, and Education opportunities, please see the Consul support resources. IBM SUPPORT FOR DAEJA On September 19, 2013, IBM an- nounced the acquisition of Daeja Image Systems Ltd. (“Daeja”), leading provider of document and image viewing solutions for enter- For information regarding the Dat- amirror acquisition, including Support, Downloads, and FAQs, please see the following link. IBM SUPPORT FOR DATAPOW- ER PRODUCTS IBM WebSphere DataPower SOA Appliances are purpose-built, easy-to- deploy network devices that simplify, help secure, and accelerate your XML and Web services deployments while extending your SOA infrastructure. These new appliances offer an innova- tive, pragmatic approach to harness the power of SOA while simultaneously enabling you to leverage the value of your existing application, security, and networking infrastructure investments. Effective November 1, 2005, Data- Power appliances and support were integrated into IBM. Support for WebSphere DataPower appliances will be provided by IBM Support initiated through Software IBM Support for both firmware and hardware. Customers with 7x24 contracts will continue to get the off-shift support to which they are entitled. Additional information regarding DataPower support offerings and self-help is available at: http:// www.ibm.com/support/docview. wss?rs=2362&uid=swg21260903. This information covers a range of support topics including: • WebSphere DataPower extended maintenance and support services • Specifics for customers with valid support contracts on how to con- tact IBM WebSphere DataPower Technical Support prise content management is now part of IBM. Support for the Daeja product will be provided by IBM and the exist- ing acquired support team. Effective April 1, 2014 the terms and conditions of support for the Daeja product will fall under the IBM Passport Advantage sup- port terms. For additional information regarding Daeja support please refer- ence http://www.ibm.com/software/ ecm/daeja/support/. IBM SUPPORT FOR DATAMIR- ROR PRODUCTS On September 4, 2007, IBM acquired DataMirror a public company based in Markham, Ontario. DataMirror is a leading provider of real-time changed data capture software for dynamic changed-data integration, replication and high availability. Datamirror provides Change Data Capture (CDC) software with high performance, real-time data integration solution that addresses data integra- tion challenges across heterogeneous environments. Native log-based CDC technology detects mission-critical data events in real time without impact- ing system performance. Bidirectional real-time CDC synchronizes informa- tion between data sources to provide a single version of the truth throughout an enterprise. IBM Information Server Change Data Capture is fully integrated into IBM Information Server and pro- vides real-time data feeds to DataStage and Quality Stage. As of April 28th 2008 Datamirror support has been integrated into IBM Software Support. The IBM Software Support organization will provide sup- port for Datamirror products under the end users’ existing agreements with Datamirror for the remainder of their contract terms.
  • 38. 38 November, 2014 Client rep. Your Client representative will make the necessary request on your behalf. Accessing older FileNet software versions To request code for older versions of IBM FileNet software please contact your Cli- ent representative. Your Client represen- tative will contact make the necessary request on your behalf. IBM only makes the current version of its software available for download. Because of the differences in product lifecycle management between FileNet’s legacy approach and IBM’s processes, existing FileNet customers may have a legitimate need to obtain older versions of FileNet software. By policy, these versions are not available via the IBM software download site. The following describes the condi- tions under which an old version of software can be obtained and the process to follow in order to obtain it. Versions of software that are not the cur- rent version but that are still supported by IBM FileNet’s development organization regarding the Emptoris Support, including Support phone numbers, access to open on- line cases and important updates, please see the Emptoris Transition Resources page at http://www.ibm.com/software/commerce/ emptoris/support/ IBM SUPPORT FOR FILENET PRODUCTS IBM® software support for Enter- prise Content Management (ECM) is represented by a network of people, systems and services provides you with a single point of contact for 24/7 remote technical assistance. Software support also includes a subscription to code corrections and fixes, plus updates and enhancements to stay current with your investment. Whether your ECM soft- ware is installed at a single location or in multiple sites around the world, our technical specialists will work closely with your support staff to: • Maintain bottom-line productivity • Maximize system availability • Save you time • Reduce your risk Effective, October 1, 2007, FileNet products and support were integrated into IBM, under Information Manage- ment | Enterprise Content Management (ECM). There are few specific changes to the FileNet Support offerings or deliverables provided to our FileNet customers. The Custom- er Support team is focused on continuing to deliver world-class support to the FileNet customer base. The following are the processes specific to the IBM ECM FileNet software download access. Accessing older FileNet software fix packs To request access for older fix packs of IBM FileNet software please contact your local IBM • WebSphere DataPower SOA Appli- ances Support page • Firmware and documentation downloads including a download wizard • My Notifications weekly custom e-mail with important news about the IBM products you select • IBM WebSphere DataPower SOA Appliance forum on developer- Works IBM SUPPORT FOR DE- MANDTEC PRODUCTS On February 15, 2012 IBM acquired DemandTec. DemandTec delivers cloud-based analytics software to help organizations improve their price, promotion, and product mix within the broad context of enterprise commerce: retail, business-to-consumer, and con- sumer goods. More information can be found at www.demandtec.com.  For the latest Support updates, please refer to http://www.ibm.com/software/market- ing-solutions/demandtec/support/. IBM SUPPORT FOR EMPTO- RIS On January 31, 2012 IBM acquired Emp- toris the world leader in strategic supply, category spend and contract management solutions that enable companies to maxi- mize financial performance and optimize commercial risk. The company’s suite of award-winning and industry-recognized sourcing, contract management, spend analysis, supplier lifecycle management, services procurement and telecom expense management solutions are successfully used by Global 2000 companies. Emptoris technical support will transition to IBM Support process and tools in the second quarter of 2013. In the meantime, customers using any of Emptoris products will be supported by the current Emptoris Technical Support team, using existing systems and Practices. For information
  • 39. 39 November, 2014 on the applicable IBM support terms, see Support Portfolio and Support Foundation sections of this handbook. IBM SUPPORT FOR GREEN HAT On January 11, 2012, IBM announced it had completed the acquisition of Green Hat, a privately held company jointly headquartered in London, England and Wilmington, Delaware. Green Hat helps customers improve the quality of software applications by enabling developers to use cloud computing technologies to conduct testing of a software application prior to its delivery. As we move forward with the acquisition of Green Hat products, we have created the Green Hat Support Overview page at http://www.ibm.com/software/rational/ support/greenhat/ To ensure a positive transition experience for your organization, this simple webpage will be your one-stop resource for support tools, processes and critical transition dates. We encourage you to bookmark and visit this webpage regularly. IBM SUPPORT FOR GUARDIUM IBM InfoSphere Guardium appliances are virtual appliances purpose-built for real time database activity monitoring by deploying centralized and standardized controls for real-time database security and monitoring, fine-grained database auditing, automated compliance reporting, data-level access control, database vulner- ability management and auto-discovery of sensitive data. Support for InfoSphere Guardium appli- ances will be provided by IBM Support initiated through Software IBM Support for both firmware and hardware. SAdditional information regarding InfoS- phere Guardium support offerings and self-help is available at: http://www.ibm. com/software/data/guardium/ IBM SUPPORT FOR INTELLI- DEN Intelliden is a leading provider of Intelli- gent Network Automation Solutions that enable organizations to control, manage and scale their networks. With Intelliden products, network-driven organizations can enforce granular access control and security, automate configuration changes, help ensure network compli- ance, provision devices with enhanced levels of accuracy, and provide a normal- ized view of network resources, for virtu- ally any vendor, type, model or operating system. Intelliden’s innovative platform acts as the Trusted Source of Network Truth™ by providing the real-time state of the network – the key to helping ensure accuracy across increasingly dynamic networks. It offers unmatched scalability, is an open solution, and has been proven in service providers, finan- cial services organizations, government agencies and other businesses dependent on their networks. IBM acquired Intelliden February 16, 2010. Effective August 24, 2010, Intelliden product support was integrated into IBM. The IBM Software Support organi- zation will provide support for Intelliden products under the end users’ existing As a general policy; this software is available without restrictions. In order to obtain a specific software version, contact your local Client representa- tive, who will make the necessary request on your behalf. The following information is required: Customer contact name: Customer company name: Customer contact phone: Customer contact e-mail: Customer address: Customer ICN: Product required (include version and OS): IBM will make the requested product available for download to the customer and will contact the customer to com- municate the URL and process for download. This request may take 7 to 10 business days to complete. IBM SUPPORT FOR FILEX FilesX specializes in continuous data protection and nearly instant data and application recovery software for enterprises and remote/ branch offices. On April 21, 2008, IBM announced this acquisition and its integration into the IBM product family. Effective October 2008, FilesX products and support were inte- grated into IBM As part of the transition of FilesX Software products, IBM will be your primary support provider. The Terms & Conditions (T&C’s) documented in existing FilesX con- tracts will be honored through the remaining length of the agreement, at which point, a mutually benefi- cial IBM service agreement may be negotiated. For more information
  • 40. 40 November, 2014 agreements for the remainder of their contract terms. For more details on IBM Support, please see Support Foundation, sections on “Assistance Provided” and “Maintenance acquired through Pass- port Advantage or Passport Advantage Express”. IBM SUPPORT FOR INTER- NET SECURITY SYSTEMS PRODUCTS Internet Security Systems (ISS), now IBM Security Solutions, is recognized as a market leader in adaptive security management, intrusion detection and prevention, and vulnerability manage- ment providing innovative solutions that help enable maximum protection from enterprise security risks. An estab- lished leader in security since 1994, the IBM Security Solutions integrated security platform is designed to auto- matically protect against both known and unknown threats and protects customers from online attacks before they impact critical business assets. These solutions are based on the proac- tive security intelligence of the IBM X- Force® research and development team -- a world authority in vulnerability and threat research. On August 23, 2006, IBM acquired ISS to bring its unique “ahead-of-the- threat” security approach to a broad range of customers worldwide. ISS provides security solutions to thousands of the world’s leading companies and governments, helping to proactively protect against Internet threats across networks, desktops and servers. ISS software, appliances and services moni- tor and manage network vulnerabilities and rapidly respond in advance of potential threats. ISS threat protection systems complement IBM’s Tivoli iden- tity and access management software, addressing and managing customer security and privacy needs. The IBM X-Force® research and development team has also played a key role in this acquisition. IBM has linked the expertise of the X-Force with its own world-class research organization and grown this capability by continu- ing to recruit and train leading security specialists. On November 1st, 2010 the Support and Maintenance organization for IBM Security Solutions joined forces with IBM Software Support. IBM Software Support will provide support for IBM Security Products under the exist- ing agreements with ISS Support and Maintenance for the remainder of the contract term. To access resources such as the knowl- edge base, documentation, white pa- pers, and XPU information, please visit the IBM Security Solutions Migration Page: http://www.ibm.com/support/ docview.wss?uid=swg21447087 IBM SUPPORT FOR KENEXA In December of 2012, IBM formally acquired Kenexa. Kenexa will be transi- tioning to selected IBM support systems and value added offerings over the next 6-12 months. In the meantime, custom- ers using any Kenexa heritage branded offerings will be supported by the cur- rent IBM Kenexa support teams, using heritage Kenexa systems and prac- tices, under the terms of their current maintenance agreements. During this time, new IBM Kenexa customers will also be supported by heritage Kenexa support teams which use different tools and phone numbers from other IBM Support teams. More information and resource links will be made available here as we evolve the support experience for your IBM Kenexa offerings. Any new choices or modifications to existing support processes will be communicated to customers in a variety of channels, prior to any change taking effect. Information on how to secure support for any Kenexa offerings can be found at: http://www.ibm.com/software/sup- port/kenexa/supportbasics.html More detail on Kenexa support can be found in the Internet version of this handbook: http://www14.software.ibm.com/ webapp/set2/sas/f/handbook/acquisi- tions.html#kenexa IBM SUPPORT FOR Netezza On November 11, 2010 IBM acquired Netezza. Netezza appliances combine storage, processing, database and analytics into high-performance data warehouse appliances that are purpose- built to make advanced analytics on big data simpler, faster and more acces- sible. More information can be found at http://www.netezza.com/data-ware- house-appliance-products/index.aspx Netezza will be transitioning to IBM systems and business practices over the next 3-6 months. In the meantime, customers using Netezza Appliance products will be supported by the cur- rent Netezza Technical Support team, using existing systems and practices and under the terms of their current maintenance agreement. Modifica- tions to the existing processes will be communicated to customers prior to
  • 41. 41 November, 2014 changes taking effect as well as being outlined here: http://www.ibm.com/ software/data/support/netezza_sup- port_comm.html. Web access to Netezza technical sup- port may be found through the Netezza Customer Support page (http://www. netezza.com/support/). The following link will provide you with the US toll and toll free telephone number for escalated incidences: http://www.ibm.com/plan- etwide/ or select Contact Us from the bottom left corner of the Customer Center home page. For ongoing transition information related to the acquisition of Netezza Appliance product maintenance and support are documented at: http://www.ibm.com/ software/data/support/netezza_sup- port_comm.html. IBM SUPPORT FOR OpenPages On October 21, 2010, IBM completed the acquisition of OpenPages, a leading provider of integrated risk management solutions for global companies. The Open- Pages Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Platform empowers a risk based approach to identify and manage key business risks across the enterprise. Effective May 1, 2011, OpenPages will have completed the Transfer of Business into IBM and existing customer data will begin migration into the IBM systems. OpenPages will be transitioning to IBM Support systems and business practices over the next few months with a target completion date of August 31, 2011. In the mean time, customers using Open- Pages products will be supported by the current OpenPages Technical Support team, using existing Openpages Sup- port systems and practices, and under the terms of the current maintenance agreement. Modifications to the existing processes will be communicated prior to changes taking effect. As an OpenPages customer, you have received a Welcome letter from IBM detailing the new method for contact- ing and obtaining support for your OpenPages products after August 31, 2011. For all new customers post May 1 2011, you will receive an IBM Cus- tomer Number at the time of purchase along with details on how to contact IBM Support for your IBM OpenPages Products. The OpenPages Support Team will con- tinue to focus on delivering customer satisfaction without compromise. As we work to integrate OpenPages and IBM Support, we will offer OpenPages cus- tomers expanded capabilities through the existing IBM Support infrastruc- ture. For the most up-to-date information re- garding the Openpages Support transi- tion, visit the IBM Openpages Customer Center. Please visit the OpenPages Customer Support webpage for addi- tional information about the OpenPages Customer Support program. IBM SUPPORT FOR PSS SYS- TEMS On October 21, 2010 IBM acquired PSS Systems. (now PSS, an IBM Company), a Mountain View, California-based pro- vider of advanced capture technology. PSS Systems helps companies eliminate unnecessary legal risk, and discovery and data management costs. Its Atlas Suite provides integrated software solu- tions for legal holds, discovery workflow, regulatory compliance and data gover- nance for customers. PSS entered the legal holds market in 2004 and claims the largest concentration of customers and domain experts anywhere. Attention: All PSS customers: Sup- port for all PSS products will transi- tion to the IBM Support infrastruc- ture as of September 1, 2011. Effective September 1, there are changes you will need to prepare for, including: To open a new case: • Use your unique IBM Customer Number (ICN) when calling in for support or when requesting support online through the IBM Service Request system. • Open a Service Request using the IBM Support Service Request (SR) system instead of opening a Sup- port Case on PSS Support Portal. • Replace PSS Support phone numbers with IBM Support phone numbers. For the U.S. it is 1-800-IBM-SERV or 1-800-426- 7378. Visit our Planetwide ( http://www.ibm. com/planetwide ) site for the appropri- ate in-country technical support phone number. • You cannot open a Service Request (case) via e-mail To download patches and updates for current versions of IBM Atlas Suite software: • Use IBM’s Fix Central Support for Cases opened prior to September 1, 2011: • Support Cases that were opened prior to September 1, will continue to be supported on the legacy PSS case management system until closure or management determina- tion to migrate to IBM tools. You will be notified of any changes in advance.
  • 42. 42 November, 2014 Accessing Support documentation: • FAQs and other PSS Support content will remain on the PSS Customer Portal until further notice. What you need to do: • Make sure you are familiar with your ICN (IBM Customer Number). • Perform required actions to add your approved authorized callers under your organization’s ICN via the Support Portal user adminis- tration tools. • Review the tutorial contents on PSS support portal https://support. pss-systems.com/node/1494 to ensure you have proper access to IBM support infrastructure. • Review this IBM Support Hand- book and the notification letters for further instructions on how to utilize Assisted Support at IBM. We anticipate you and your organiza- tion will experience a smooth transition to IBM Support. During this process we are available to answer any ques- tions you may have, and to handle your ongoing products and service needs. Should you have any questions regard- ing getting set-up to engage through IBM Support, please contact our Client Care team at ISCare@us.ibm.com . The Client Care team can assist you with non-technical questions regarding how to use support, Passport Advantage Online, the SR (Service Request) Tool, or entitlements. IBM SUPPORT FOR SOFTEK Softek (Data Mobility Services) were acquired by IBM in 2007. Softek is part of Global Technology Services, offering data migration services and tools that can enable nondisruptive, online migra- tions to reduce costs, optimize infra- structures and increase productivity. Ongoing support for Softek products will be provided under the current terms and methods within the existing contracts; to access support for these Softek products please visit http:// www-950.ibm.com/services/dms/en/ support/ For customers seeking Softek Annual Maintenance Renewals via the 1-877- 426-6006, select option 2 is for Invoic- ing/Renewals/Maintenance. SPSS IBM SPSS predictive analytics helps your organization anticipate change so that you can plan and carry out strate- gies that improve outcomes. By applying predictive analytics solutions to data you already have, your organization can uncover unexpected patterns and as- sociations and develop models to guide front-line interactions. This means you can prevent high-value customers from leaving, sell additional services to current customers, develop successful products more efficiently, or identify and minimize fraud and risk. Predic- tive analytics gives you the knowledge to predict…and the power to act. Dates to note • October 1, 2009 : Acquisition of SPSS by IBM completed. • October 1, 2010: Transfer of busi- ness from SPSS into IBM oc- curred. • April 1, 2011: IBM Support systems and processes adopted by SPSS Support. SPSS is part of the IBM Business Analytics brand at IBM. Please see our Business Analytics home page in the IBM web site, and the support section in that page for additional help with get- ting support at IBM. IBM SUPPORT FOR STERLING COMMERCE On August 27, 2010 IBM acquired Ster- ling Commerce, an AT&T Company; now Sterling Commerce is part of the IBM Corporation. . Sterling Commerce helps organizations worldwide increase business agility in their dynamic business network through innovative solutions for selling and fulfillment and for seamless and secure integration with customers, partners and suppliers. On 1 February 2012, legacy Sterling Commerce customers have moved to the IBM support system for case management. The in country local tele- phone numbers have also changed and can be found at http://www.ibm.com/ planetwide . All open support cases have been moved to the IBM Service Request tool and can be accessed by using the IBM Support Portal. This includes all customers of the following applications: • IBM Sterling Connect products • IBM Sterling Gentran products • IBM Sterling Control Center • IBM Sterling Secure Proxy • IBM Sterling B2B Integrator • IBM Sterling Total Payments • IBM Sterling Selling & Fulfillment Suite (including MCF and MCS) • IBM Sterling File Gateway • IBM Sterling Certificate Wizard • Mobile Applications • Mapping Note for all other products or services not included in the above list, it is busi- ness as usual using heritage Sterling
  • 43. 43 November, 2014 Commerce processes for submitting cases to support. Continue to go to http://customer.sterlingcommerce.com for all your support inquiries. IBM Support will provide support for the Sterling Commerce products listed above under end users’ existing agree- ments with Sterling Commerce for the remainder of their current terms. For more details on IBM Support, please see Support Foundation, sections on Assistance provided and Maintenance Acquired through Passport Advantage. For information regarding the Ster- ling Commerce acquisition, including Support FAQs, important links, and Education opportunities, please see the Sterling Commerce Transition Re- sources page at http://www.ibm.com/ software/commerce/support/ Review the Sterling to IBM Support Transition webinar for detailed informa- tion on using IBM’s Service Request option on the Support Portal. IBM SUPPORT FOR STOREDIQ On December 19, 2012 IBM announced a definitive agreement to acquire StoredIQ. Industry-leading companies rely on StoredIQ’s Active Information Management solutions to solve Big Data problems and manage their information more efficiently to reduce cost and risk. Quickly deployed within the enterprise, StoredIQ discovers, analyzes and acts on what’s important across petabytes of data where it lives, without moving it to a repository or specialty application to deliver immediate ROI. More informa- tion can be found at http://www.ibm. com/software/info/storediq. Technical support for StoredIQ products, IBM Unstructured Data Identification and Management, IBM eDiscovery Iden- tification and Collection, IBM Policy Assessment and Compliance, and IBM Desktop Data Collector can be obtained through the support portal at http:// http://support.ibm.com or by calling 1-800-IBM-SERV. IBM SUPPORT FOR TELELOGIC PRODUCTS Telelogic solutions automate and sup- port best practices across the enterprise - from powerful modeling of business processes and enterprise architectures to requirements-driven development of advanced systems and software. Telelogic’s solutions enable organiza- tions to align product, systems, and software development lifecycles with business objectives and customer needs to dramatically improve quality and predictability, while significantly reduc- ing time-to-market and overall costs.. Effective February 1, 2009, Telelogic product support was integrated into IBM. The IBM Software Support organization will provide support for Telelogic products under the end users’ existing agreements for the remainder of their contract terms. For more details on IBM Support, please see Support Foundation, sections on Assistance Provided and Maintenance Acquired through Passport Advantage. For information regarding support delivery for Telelogic products, please see Rational Support - Telelogic Support Overview. IBM SUPPORT FOR TRIRIGA On March 22, IBM announced that it has completed the acquisition of TRI- RIGA Inc., a leading provider of facility and real estate management software solutions. TRIRIGA provides the industry’s most extensive functionality in an Integrated Workplace Management solution. TRIRI- GA’s technology provides customers with unmatched business agility to rapidly configure and reconfigure the applica- tion as customers’ needs change. With an outstanding network of consultants, partners, industry experts, and market- leading customers, TRIRIGA delivers unparalleled experience and expertise. As a leader in workplace management solutions, TRIRIGA will strengthen IBM smarter buildings solutions. The Transfer of Business occurred on November 1, 2011. TRIRIGA support will transition to the IBM support sys- tems starting November 14 and clients will be notified when they should begin to use IBM support programs, and we intend to complete this transition by year-end 2011. For information regarding the TRIRIGA support transition, including links and education about IBM Support program, please see the TRIRIGA Support FAQs. Support for the TRIRIGA products will be handled by both IBM’s TRIRIGA technical support teams and IBM Part- ners. IBM SUPPORT FOR U2 PROD- UCTS Rocket Software, Inc. acquired the IBM UniVerse and UniData (U2) product line on October 1, 2009. All future informa- tion regarding the U2 products will be available from Rocket. Please refer to the Rocket website www.rocketsoftware.com/ u2/. When you access non-IBM Web sites, even though they may contain the IBM logo and content regarding IBM’s products and services, such Web sites are independent of IBM and IBM makes no representations or warranties regarding
  • 44. 44 November, 2014 the content and has no control over the operation of such non-IBM Web sites. In addition, a link to a non-IBM Web site does not mean that IBM endorses that Web site or has any responsibility for the use of such Web site. IBM SUPPORT FOR URBAN CODE On 22-Apr-2013, IBM announced the acquisition of UrbanCode adding to the DevOps portfolio. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, UrbanCode automates the delivery of software, helping businesses quickly release and update mobile, social, big data, cloud applications. Visit IBM’s news room for the full press release. As we move forward with the acquisi- tion of UrbanCode products, we have created the UrbanCode Support Transi- tion Overview page at (http://www.ibm. com/software/rational/support/urban- code/). To ensure a positive transition experience for your organization, this simple webpage will be your one-stop resource for support tools, processes and critical transition dates. We encourage you to bookmark and visit this webpage regularly. IBM SUPPORT FOR VARICENT On May 23 2012, IBM compleed the ac- quisition of the software portfolio of Vari- cent Software, Inc., a leading provider of analytics software for compensation and sales performance management head- quartered in Toronto, Canada.  Varicent’s software automates and analyzes data across sales, finance, human resources and IT departments to uncover trends and improve sales performance and op- erations. The acquisition enhances IBM’s Smarter Analytics capabilities across line of business operations in all industries. IBM Varicent customers will be tran- sitioning to IBM systems and business practices over the next 6 months.  In the meantime, IBM Varicent customers using any of Varicent’s products will be supported by the current support team, using existing systems and practices. Modifications to existing processes will be communicated to customers prior to changes taking effect. For the latest in- formation regarding the Technical Sup- port transition, refer to the IBM Varicent Customer Center . Should you have any questions regarding support processes or the support integration into IBM, please e-mail clientcare@ca.ibm.com IBM SUPPORT FOR XTIFY On October 3, 2013 IBM announced the acquisition of Xtify Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based mobile messag- ing tools that help organizations improve mobile sales, drive in-store traffic and engage customers with personalized of- fers.  Xtify was launched in 2009 to help brands and marketers stay connected to their mobile customers who increasingly want their information and entertain- ment on the go. The premise was simple: content and promotional offers are far more useful when delivered directly to consumers at the time and place in which they can act on them immediately. In other words, relevancy is key. More information can be found at http://www. xtify.com. Xtify will be transitioning to IBM systems and business practices over the next 4 - 8 months. In the meantime, customers using any Xtify products will be supported by the current Xtify Tech- nical Support team, using existing sys- tems and practices and under the terms of their current maintenance agreement. Modifications to existing processes will be communicated to customers prior to changes taking effect.
  • 45. 45 November, 2014 Appendix E: IBM Canada’s Remote Technical Support Offering Base or Program Services Tasks • Individual reported errors during a product install • How to diagnose re- ported problems • Problem determination, problem source iden- tification, dump trace analysis • Assist with diagnosing interfaces between IBM Code and application • Assist with diagnosing the interfaces between IBM Code and User Exit programs • Assist with incorrect publications via a reporting error • Questions / recommen- dation on maintenance level, PTFs, APARs • No trouble found, prob- lems, or errors (error not re-producible) • Provide guidance on collection of docu- mentation to resolve problems • (Customer documents may be required by Defect Support Group) Base or Foundation Offerings Tasks • Installation assistance (i.e. clarification of a single step in a process) • General guidance for product installation. Assist with general questions on product usage and operation • Interpret manuals re- garding IBM Code and application interface • Interpret publications on the use or purpose of a User Exit. Provide a sample if one exists. • Provide available con- figuration samples • Interpret and clarify publications • General questions on maintenance philosophy • Short duration, general usage assistance ques- tions • Provide instructions on how to collect necessary documentation (Cus- tomer documents or data may be required) Premium Offerings Task (perform) • Outline exact steps to add a new device • Analyze system reports (e.g. Traces) and provide recommen- dations • Interface with third party to assist in resolving network con- nectivity problems (may be via dial-in or voice) • More complex or detailed ques- tions than those covered by a foundation offering • Provide instructions on how to collect necessary documenta- tion (for non-IBM problems) • Review configuration and rec- ommend corrective actions • Basic review, recommendations or configuration of parameters • In-depth review, recommenda- tions or configuration of param- eters in a complex environment • Review performance data sent in for analysis. In-depth per- formance analysis/tuning. • Upgrade planning, capacity planning or review of customer plan • Diagnose or review the user application code without a specific reported IBM error • Diagnose or review user exit code or write it (excluding the interfaces within the scope of defect support) • Write samples (e.g. Application programming) • Perform or provide step-by-step • Assistance (e.g. Recover a database, catalogue, data, or network configuration) • Guide through or analyze requirement for application of system maintenance (beyond short duration how-to) (Cus- tomer documents or data may be required) Custom Offerings (perform) • In addition to selected tasks premium offerings: • Customized service plans • Purpose built tools and reports • Service Level Objectives • Service Level Agreements • Account advocacy with structured problem man- agement reviews
  • 46. 46 November, 2014 SUG The APAR does not describe a program- ming error but suggests a change to the code. UR1 Unable to Reproduce - The problem could not be reproduced on the next release to be available. The APAR was opened for a release which was support- ed at the time the problem was received. UR2 Unable to Reproduce - The problem could not be reproduced on the next release to be available. The APAR was opened for a release which was NOT supported at the time the problem was received. UR3 Unable to Reproduce - The problem could not be reproduced on a cur- rently supported release. The APAR was opened for a release which was support- ed at the time the problem was received. UR4 Unable to Reproduce - The problem could not be reproduced on a cur- rently supported release. The APAR was opened for a release which was NOT supported at the time the problem was received. UR5 Unable to Reproduce - The problem could not be reproduced on the release on which the problem was originally occurred. USE The problem was caused by a user error. The following are the official closing codes for APARs CAN An APAR should never have been created or the customer has requested that the record be cancelled. An APAR can also be closed CAN when develop- ment determines that the problem is not with their code. DOC The problem was caused by an error in the documentation. DUx The problem reported is a duplicate, already addressed by an existing APAR. Includes DUA, DUB, DUU FIN Fix If Next. The problem will be fixed in the next level (if there is a next release). MCH The problem was caused by a micro- code or hardware failure. PER A programming error was found and will be corrected. PRS A programming error was found but will not be corrected. The error will be a permanent restriction in the product. RET The record was returned to the APAR submitter because more information was needed. APPENDIX F: APAR Closing Codes and Acronyms
  • 47. 47 November, 2014 CSD Corrective Service Delivery. Means by which some products deliver their service. CUSTOMER CRITICAL PROBLEM Means a problem for which you have no known work around resulting in a critical disruption in your business operations. EMEA IBM Geographic unit consisting of Eu- rope, Middle East, and Africa END OF SERVICE DATE The date when IBM will no longer support, update, patch or maintain a product. ESO Expanded Service Options. OS/390 ser- vice deliverable used by many Customers for preventive service ESP Early Support Program. A program where customers get a pre release level of a product in order to help IBM evaluate the fitness of the product and the readi- ness of IBM support FIN Fixed-If-Next. An APAR whose fix will be deferred until a future release of the product (by mutual agreement between the Customer and IBM) FIX PACK A cumulative collection of all fixes avail- able to registered customers since the last release of the product. It can include fixes that have not been previously released and can span multiple products The following terms and acronyms are used frequently in the course of solving your problems. APAR Authorized Program Analysis Report. A formal report to IBM development, of a problem caused by a suspected defect in a current unaltered release of an IBM program. An APAR may be used by development to document new function delivered in the maintenance stream ALC Annual License Charge. A method of paying for some IBM software prod- ucts, usually as a part of a PLC/ALC agreement. CALL A single telephone call from the Cus- tomer Authorized Caller to the Sup- port Center. An incident may involve one or many telephone calls CBPDO Custom Built Product Delivery Option. OS/390 deliverable which can include product and service, but is used by many Customers as a vehicle for pre- ventive service CCC Call Center Coordinator. CCC is a term within Lotus for people who will dispatch or triage all customer incidents CONSOLE A Lotus Support function which routes phone messages, handles expired Sup- port ID’s and answers support entitle- ment questions or components. A fix pack can be ap- plied on top of any previously shipped maintenance to bring the system up to the current fix pack level. FSS Field Support Services provided by a Lotus Support Field representative who engage in short term technical projects for customers FSU Fast Service Upgrade. A process for upgrading an installed VSE release level with a newer one. FTP File Transfer Protocol. Method for transferring files to or from IBM and Lotus and their Web sites FULLSHIFT Means 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including national holidays. GTS Global Technical Service. Organi- zation within IBM specializing in delivering the highest quality services to our Customers. HIPER Literally, “High Impact Pervasive”. An APAR that describes a serious problem and may be one that has a wide spread impact. The APAR should be reviewed and if applicable, the PTF should be installed as soon as possible. Acronyms & other terms
  • 48. 48 November, 2014 MR Maintenance Release - Each time a new feature release for a Lotus product is introduced to the market, a subsequent trail of regularly sched- uled bug fix releases are typically provided. At Lotus this is called a maintenance release. A maintenance release is denoted by the use of a third digit in the release number MU Maintenance Update. An MU is a Lotus term for a small release, with only a few fixes, or perhaps just one fix. An MU is represented by an ad- ditional letter. For example, the MU for R5.0.4 was R5.0.4a OFF-SHIFT Means all hours outside of Prime Shift ( please see Prime Shift definition) OS/390 Mainframe server platform built on the MVS family of products OTC One Time Charge. Pricing methodol- ogy for most software products which are purchased by a single payment at the time the product is acquired. PD Problem Determination. The process of isolating the source of a suspected problem to hardware or software. Pervasive Designation of an APAR which has the potential to affect many Custom- ers IBM International Business Machines. Undisputedly the largest software developer, anywhere in the world. ICA IBM Customer Agreement. An agreement under which IBM software products are licensed. The ICA is signed by the Customer and by IBM. INTERIM FIX A tested and verified fix available to registered customers. It can contain fixes for one or more product defects (APARs). The associated APARs are closed IPLA International Program License Agreement. An agreement under which IBM software products are licensed. The IPLA is shipped with the product and does not require signatures. System i Integrated Series from IBM, based on the AS400 technology Lotus Knowledge Base An interactive, web-based support tool allowing a Customer to search for specific support information MLC Monthly License Charge. Pricing methodology for some software products, primarily mainframe, which uses monthly payments PLC Primary License Charge. A method of paying for some IBM software products, usually as a part of a PLC/ ALC agreement. PMP Preventive Management Planning. PMR Problem Management Record. A record of the activities performed during the course of resolving a cus- tomer reported problem. Customers with access to IBMLink can view their PMRs. PRIME SHIFT Means standard IBM business hours in the local time zone where you receive the Service (for example, 8 a.m. To 5 p.m. Monday through Friday), excluding national holidays. System p Performance Series from IBM, based on the RS6000 technology PSI Problem Source Identification. The process of isolating the source of a suspected software problem to the failing software product or compo- nent. PSLC Parallel Sysplex License Charge. A special software pricing meth- odology for mainframe Customers receiving the benefits of the parallel Sysplex technology. Acronyms & other terms
  • 49. 49 November, 2014 PSP Preventive Service Planning. A facility that contains information concerning a product’s installation or service. A PSP entry consists of upgrades and subsets. PSP Personal Software Products. The software platform including the OS/2 family of products PTF Programming Temporary Fix. A fix to a reported defect that can consist of documentation and/or code. A PTF is temporary only in the sense that it disappears with the next release of the product, when the patch is integrated into the base product code REFRESH PACK A cumulative collection of all of the function and fixes that are available to registered customers since the last release of the product. The function and fixes may not have been previ- ously released, and can span multiple products or components. A refresh pack can be applied on top of any previously-shipped maintenance to bring the system up to the current refresh pack level. RETAIN Remote Technical Assistance Infor- mation Network. IBM’s problem and defect management tool RLC Recurring License Charge. A method of paying for some IBM software products. RMP Recommended Maintenance Package. Service deliverable for RS/6000 which allows the preventive installation of a set of IBM recommended fixes between maintenance levels RSU Recommended Service Upgrade. Service deliverable for OS/390 and VM which allows the preventive installation of a set of IBM recommended fixes SID Support ID. A unique number that identifies a Designated Caller or set of callers. This ID is used by the Lotus telephone system to automatically verify entitlement. SMP/E Systems Maintenance Program Extend- ed. Program to manage function and maintenance in a z/OS system. With the new Internet Delivery Service, it will even download the latest maintenance for your z/OS platform products on the schedule you determine. SPECIAL ATTENTION Special Attention APARs, while not as critical as HIPER APARs, do require special Customer consideration as they can represent pervasive problems, cross- system (sysplex) problems, new function, installability or serviceability improve- ments, or other, key product specific considerations. SPOC Single Point of Contact SPR Software Problem Report. A record in the Lotus software problem reporting system that is used to track an identi- fied software problem — similar to IBM’s APAR, however an SPR may also be used within the incident tracking data- base to classify an incident’s status. SSA System Support Agreement. An expanded maintenance agreement which includes some level of enhanced software support services, normally replaced with Service Suite STATUS The most recent assessment of an incident’s/PMR’s current place in the resolution process SUF Service Upgrade Facility. An OS/390, VM, and VSE tool announced in 1997 which uses the Internet to help automate preventive and corrective service application. It was replaced by the SMP/E Internet Service Retrieval function in 2006 SVP Suggested Volume Price. A letter between C and H which gives the Cus- tomer’s discount level in the Passport Advantage program UR1 Unable to be reproduced on the next product release. Like “FIN”, this APAR closing code is also used for an APAR whose fix will be deferred until a fu- ture release of the product (by mutual agreement between the Customer and IBM) TEST FIX A temporary or uncertified fix with limited IBM testing that is provided to one or more customers for testing purposes. It is not available to all registered customers. The associated APAR is not closed. Acronyms & other terms
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