Overview

Issue Tracking System

The most efficient way for us to provide support services is through an issue tracking system. For this we use the open source issue tracking software, Redmine.

https://support.realtimedespatch.co.uk/

The support portal is used for support, implementation and development tickets. Every piece of work that we do is tracked on the ticketing system.

We describe the details of how the ticketing system is setup in the Redmine Portal chapter.

The time that we book against projects is done on the same system.

The implementation process for a new OrderFlow environment will identify the key individuals within the customer team who will be responsible for raising support requests. These key contacts will be provided with a username and password to access the support portal. These users should have the necessary authority to approve chargeable work undertaken by the support team.

Accessing the Ticketing System

Our customers can use the ticketing system by logging in using credentials we provide. This will normally receive a one time password which can be used to log in on a single occasion. We will set the permissions to allow appropriate access to the required projects.

We also support reply to individual tickets by email. These replies will be forwarded to the support portal and logged in the same was as other comments to the system.

Support Activities

We mentioned in the Introduction chapter that there are a wide range of activities included in the scope of the document:

Reactive Technical Support

This covers the work required in responding to problems reported or detected in customer environments. It is reactive in nature, in the sense that it is not anticipated and scheduled.

Reactive support will also involve the triage of new change requests. The outcome here will be simply be the identification that changes are required, and the next steps for specifying and delivering a solution. The necessary changes themselves will typically not be identifed at this point.

Proactive Technical Support

This covers proactive work to address or detect potential problems in customer environments.

Software Upgrades

This covers the work to schedule, coordinate and perform software upgrades to customer environments.

Project Management

Realtime Despatch support staff regularly perform project management activities. This involves coordinating the work of others - sometimes third parties - towards some system change.

Solution Design

Solution design is the work that follows once a change request has been raised. It typically involves several different types of activity:

requirements gathering: the starting point of any solution is a proper understanding of the nature of the problem the customer needs to solve.
solution identification: this involves the identification at a high level of a suitable approach to solving the problem, which will need to be agreed with the customer.
task identification: this involves identification of the specific tasks that need to be covered to effect the solution.
task estimation: this involves associating time estimates against the work that needs to be done, and producing a quote where appropriate.

Solution design may be either an implementation or development task, or not, depending on whether the solution requires development work or not.

Solution Preparation

For most non-trivial work, some up front work will be required outside of the customer environment to prepare for the delivery of the solution. This work is known as Solution Preparation.

For example, consider a solution involving the configuration of a custom process that involves non-standard state changes to orders going through the system. In this case, we would want to deploy, test and document the solution in a local Realtime Despatch environment prior to deploying it on a customer environment. Similarly, new despatch notes would typically be created and tested in a Realtime Despatch development environment prior to being placed on customer systems.

Solution Delivery

This is the final stage of implementing a solution, as it involves the application of the solution in the customer environment, together with all of the communication, coordination and testing required.

This part of implementation will be highly visible to the customer, and will typically require the direct involvement of the customer to verify parts of the solution as they are delivered.

Development

By definition, development work is not a support-related activity. However, we mention it here for the sake of completeness, as in many cases it will not be possible to implement a solution until necessary development work has been completed.

Our Commitment to Responsiveness

Probably the most important feature of any support system is responsiveness. However quickly we are able to deliver a solution to a particular problem, it is important for us to be able to provide customers with the assurance that it is being acknowledged and addressed.

Our commitment is to provide the following:

any new ticket raised will always be acknowledged on the same business day as it is raised. This usually takes place within minutes of the ticket being raised.
no ticket will ever go unanswered. If a customer comments on a ticket, we will always respond it it.
no ticket will get forgotten about.

In order to meet this commitment, we have developed a well defined process for managing tickets, as well as support software to assist with this task.

These are discussed in the Support Role chapter.

A note on telephone support

Some customers like to call Realtime Despatch in order to be satisfied that their problem is being addressed promptly. We like talking to our customers to help them solve problems, but find that the process works much more effectively if the call occurs after a ticket has been raised.

Support calls can be made using the dedicated support number, 01249 704585. Calls will be answered by the support team during office hours. For more details on how out of hours support calls are handled, please see Out of Hours Support.

When customers call with a problem but no ticket has been raised, we politely ask them to raise a ticket with as much relevant information as possible. This is because the information that we generally need to resolve a problem is much more easily captured using the ticketing system than over the phone. If necessary, we will call back for further clarification.

Note also that the person who initially receives a phone call will not necessarily be in a position to resolve or even triage the issue, or to deal with it as a priority. However, customers raised via the ticketing system will be addressed promptly and directed to the person in the best position to help resolve the problem.