The Feature

How to Triage Your Oracle Support Calls

February 4, 2008 on 1:21 pm | by Melanie Cameron | In How To Guides | 1 Comment |  Print |  Email

Let me introduce Melanie Cameron as a guest author to this blog. Melanie is a consultant for MSS Technologies, specializing in Oracle Financials related to SOX, Process Improvements, Upgrades, Implementations, and Workflow. Based in Phoenix, Melanie serves on the Board of Directors of the AzOAUG and can be found at most Oracle events in the Valley of the Sun.

Does this exchange sound familiar? User: “Oracle doesn’t work!” Support: “It’s up. What’s the problem?” User: “I told you! It’s not working!!!”

I hear this all the time at client sites. Running a Help Desk is one of the toughest jobs in the company due to disparate systems, Users who are unfamiliar with what information Support Technicians need to know, and Support Technicians who are unfamiliar with the systems.

Underlying this is a constant level of tension because nobody calls support when everything is working great. There is ALWAYS a problem when Users call in and those problems prevent them from doing their jobs. Every User feels that their problem should be the Support Technician’s top priority.

So how does the Help Desk quickly identify level-one priorities, resolve basic issues, provide great customer service, and keep things running smoothly with minimal training? On top of that, how can they support an extremely complicated system and keep their customers (aka co-workers) happy?

There are a few keys elements to a successful Help Desk:

• Communication
• Empathy
• Training and Tools

Communication

Let’s get the obvious out of the way. If the Support Technician speaks Armenian and the User speaks English, they will not communicate effectively. But the communication issue goes deeper then this.

A User may call up and say, “ADI is not running on the new PC. It says TNS Names could not be resolved.”

If the Support Technician does not know what “ADI” means or what “TNS Names” is, how can they resolve the issue, or even route it to the correct team to resolve? The User may as well be speaking a foreign language!

Support must understand acronyms, the tools installed related to Oracle, and whether they are Server or Client-based. This way they can route calls properly, which will reduce confusion, frustration, and the time required to resolve them. Don’t make this list once and forget about! Rolling out a new product? Upgrading? Inform the Support Center of changes before they occur so Technicians can stay current.

To more efficiently pass off support calls, especially in larger support organizations, Support Technicians should have a reference guide of the basic tools, modules, and acronyms used with Oracle and the Support Analyst or Technical Person who will handle the call if it can not be resolved (ex. Frances gets Financials and John gets Purchasing).

Empathy

Users call Support because something they need to do their job is broken. They are frustrated. They are upset. They do NOT want to hear, “Log a ticket and someone will get back to you.” Users want to know that the Support Technician is listening to their problem, understands the issue, and is treating it with the importance it deserves. A better response is, “What is the problem? How is it affecting your job? What is your deadline? Is there another tool you can use while I route this to the person who can help you?”

Asking the aforementioned questions will enable both the Support Technician AND the User to understand what the required level of support really is and what urgency should be.

Training and Tools

Oracle E-Business Suite is HUGE and nobody knows it all. We all specialize in different areas and set boundaries. I have been doing this for 13 years and probably have another 15 more years before I retire. I will learn something new about Oracle every day until I walk out the door to retirement land.

But there are some basics in the system that Support Technicians can be trained on so that they can resolve these issues on the first call without added time and resources. Imagine what that will do for your department’s reputation outside IT!

Keep reading for Few Helpdesk Tips in part II of this article.