Submit an IBM service request through the Web

You can contact IBM Support through the website. This allows you to write directly to the appropriate support team in your own words, without having to go through another team. You can also be as detailed as you like in your initial request, which can save some time.

To contact IBM Support via the website, you will need two things:

• Your IBM Customer Number. If you do not have this, you should locate your ICN.
• An active My IBM Web Account. If you do not have this, you should set up a My IBM Web Account.

If you do not have either of these, you will need to use an alternate means to contact Support.

Contacting Support via Web

If you do have both of these, you can contact support via Web:

• Start at the IBM Service Request Tool, and open a new service request
• Select the Product and Component
• IBM ILOG products can be found under "WebSphere" dropdowns.
• Complete your contact information.
• The values here are populated from your My IBM Web Account
• Changes here will be saved for this Service Request only.
• If you are submitting a Severity 1 problem because your production environment is unavailable, provide an Alternate and/or Mobile phone number. This allows our support teams to reach you quickly.
• Complete the rest of the Service Request as completely as possible.
• It is important to choose the appropriate severity and business impact for your case.
• If you have your own system to track product issues, you can use this for the optional "Customer Tracking Number" field. This would allow you to more easily link the Service Requests back to your tracking system.
• Be descriptive in the Title field. This field will be displayed in your list of service requests; the title should be something clear and indicative of the actual problem.
• Be as complete as possible in the Problem Description field.
• If you need to go beyond the 12KB limit, consider writing a summary in the Problem Description and include the full description as a file attachment.

After everything is complete, the IBM Service Request tool will provide you with your Service Request reference number; you should get further acknowledgements and contact from IBM support.

Other help on the IBM Service Request Tool

• IBM Support has an online tour to show to how create new Service Requests, and to track existing ones.
• If there are problems with the IBM Service Request Tool, there is a form to contact the IBM SR Help Desk
• For other information on IBM Support, there is the IBM Software Support Handbook.

Details on Severity

It is important to choose a severity that is appropriate to your request. IBM Support uses four severities:

• Severity 1 - Critical impact/system down: :business critical software component is inoperable or critical interface has failed. This is generally reserved for active production environments, where any downtime leads to a critical impact on an entire division or an entire company. If a problem is designated as a Severity 1, IBM will work on it 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, providing the client is also available to work during those hours.
• Severity 2 - Significant business impact: A software component is severely restricted in its use or you are in jeopardy of missing business deadlines because of problems with a new application rollout. This is generally reserved for situations where an entire development team is unable to make any progress without IBM Support.
• Severity 3 - Some business impact: indicates the program is usable with less significant features (not critical to operations) unavailable. This is common for situations where a single developer working on a feature is unable to make progress without IBM Support
• Severity 4 - Minimal business impact: A non-critical software component is malfunctioning, causing minimal impact, or a non-technical request is made.

The "System is down" box is only for situations where a production system is completely unavailable due to the problem that you are reporting. It implies a Severity 1 situation.

Further Information

If you have any questions with the transition to IBM Support, you can open a new service request.

IBM ILOG optimization and supply chain customers with transition questions can also contact us at opticare@us.ibm.com