Contacting IBM Software Support
IBM Software Support provides assistance with product defects. Contact IBM if you require assistance with a WebSphere Commerce problem.
Before you submit your problem to IBM Software Support, ensure that your company has an active IBM software maintenance contract, and that you are authorized to submit problems to IBM. The type of software maintenance contract that you need depends on the type of product you have:
- For IBM distributed software products (including, but not limited to, Tivoli, Lotus , and Rational products, as well as DB2 and WebSphere products that run on Windows or UNIX operating systems), enroll in Passport Advantage in one of the following ways:
- Online: Go to the Passport Advantage Web site at http://www.lotus.com/services/passport.nsf/WebDocs/Passport_Advantage_Home, and click How to Enroll.
- By phone: For the phone number to call in your country, go to the "Contracts" page of the IBM Software Support Handbook at http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/guides/contacts.html, and click the name of your geographic region.
To contact IBM Software support, follow these steps:
- Determine the business impact of your problem.
- Describe your problem and gather background information.
- Submit your problem to IBM Software Support.
IBM Support Assistant
Use the IBM Support Assistant (ISA) software tool to help you solve problems. The IBM Support Assistant is a tool that helps you investigate and resolve problems by making it much easier to find and access many different resources. If you do need to contact IBM support for additional assistance, the Support Assistant helps you submit your problem to IBM Software Support, allows you to open Problem Management Records (PMRs) electronically, and collects logging and configuration information to make the overall process run smoother. WebSphere Commerce 6.0 uses the IBM Support Assistant 3.0. Refer to Installing the IBM Support Assistant.
Determine the business impact of your problem
When you report a problem to IBM, you are asked to supply a severity level. Therefore, understand and assess the business impact of the problem that you are reporting. Use the following criteria:
Severity 1 The problem has a critical business impact: You are unable to use the program, resulting in a critical impact on operations. This condition requires an immediate solution. Severity 2 This problem has a significant business impact: The program is usable, but it is severely limited. Severity 3 The problem has some business impact: The program is usable, but less significant features (not critical to operations) are unavailable. Severity 4 The problem has minimal business impact: The problem causes little impact on operations, or a reasonable circumvention to the problem was implemented.
Describe your problem and gather background information
When describing a problem to IBM, be as specific as possible. Include all relevant background information so that IBM Software Support specialists can help you solve the problem efficiently. To save time, know the answers to these questions: