Methodics Customer Handbook

Methodics Support Plans

• Standard support during normal business hours
  • Direct phone and email access with support offices in North America, Europe and Australia
• Critical Care support for application outages
• Community Management Resource (CMR)

Methodics Support accepts requests through the Community Portal, Web Form, Email ([email protected]), and by telephone.

We recommend using the Community Portal. This method provides us with the most background information that we will use to quickly handle your case and allows you to track the case progress.

Perforce Community Portal

The Community Portal is the best method to use for opening and tracking your support tickets. Please review the Community Portal FAQ for details.

Web Form

The Web Form is the main channel to use when opening support tickets if you do not have a Community Portal account. Select Methodics as the 'Product Brand' and fill in the relevant information in the fields provided and submit your case. You will immediately receive an email letting you know your request has reached our systems. You will hear back from Methodics Support as soon as they have reviewed your case. In most cases, you will hear back from someone in thirty minutes.

Telephone

Methodics support engineers are available during normal business hours.

Video session support can be requested by email ([email protected]), or telephone.

Please Note:      

• A single video session may be scheduled for up to 60 minutes. If more time is required, an additional video session may be set up for a later time based on the Technical Support Engineer’s availability.
• The Technical Support Engineer cannot take over control of your system at any time

The Technical Support Engineer will request the following information for preliminary research prior to scheduling the video session:

1. Summary of the problem
2. Preferred date and time for the video session (including time zone)
3. Severity (Low, Med, High, Critical)
4. Product version and configurations
5. Additional data may be requested such as error messages, logs, and journals

Our Critical Care offering provides support for critical issues and production-down emergencies outside of our standard business hours. https://www.perforce.com/support/consulting/helix-core-consulting

If you are concerned about how your case is being handled or need to expedite a critical issue, please ask your Support Engineer to escalate the case, or contact your Account Executive.

On top of our Standard Support plan, you may optionally add our Critical Care Support. This plan gives you access to the help you need – outside of normal business hours – for emergency or critical situations.

A “Critical Care Situation” is defined as a condition preventing an entire group from performing critical tasks using Methodics.

Examples of Critical Care situations include:

• Methodics fails following a server upgrade.
• Unable to access the Methodics server.
• Assistance recovering Methodics server data after a hardware failure or crash.

For enterprises that have our Standard Support plan, and need help upgrading their servers, we offer prearranged Weekend Upgrade Support. This just-in-case option is available for existing support customers.

You can contact Professional Services ([email protected]) or discuss with your Account Executive to set up specific weekend coverage.

Note: We will require two weeks' notice to complete the statement of work (SOW) and schedule coverage.

The Community Portal is the best method to use for opening, viewing and tracking your support tickets. Please see the Community Portal FAQ for details.

Methodics Support aims to correct an Issue in accordance with Target Resolution Times set forth below and shall provide the Authorized Technical Contact with updates on the progress of the resolution (“Updates”) in accordance with the times set forth in the Updates column in the table below.

In each case, appropriate bug reports will be logged where necessary.

Severity Definitions

Blocker - Complete System Outage.

• Methodics server is not operational and end users cannot access the Methodics server, or the functionality is significantly decreased, or back up or other security of data can no longer be performed.

• • Methodics server is down or a major performance issue resulting in the Methodics being unresponsive with no workaround immediately available.
  • All or a clear majority of users are not able to access the system, to reasonably perform their normal functions.
  • Denial of access to where the Methodics server resides.
  • Hardware failure or crash on the server where Methodics server resides.

Examples

• Methodics server is down.
• Methodics is not accessible to all users.
• Severe data loss/data corruption.
• Upgrade failure.

Critical - Significant Impact/Severe Downgrade Of Common Usage

• While the Methodics server is operational, (i) functional limitations or restrictions have materially impacted Methodics server operations, (ii) non-essential functions were disabled in production, or (iii) essential non-production functions were disabled
  • Critical loss of application functionality or performance, resulting in most users being unable to perform their normal functions. 
  • The Methodics server is usable but severely limited

Examples:

• Methodics server is not working system-wide and impacting an entire team
• Methodics is ​available, but performance is hindering the usability of the Methodics server for required business processes
• A significant number of users are not able to use the Methodics server for their normal operations or functions

Major - Major Non-Critical Impact/Most Of The System Is Functioning Properly

• Methodics server is operational with functional limitations or restrictions that are not critical to the overall operation of the Methodics server
  • Moderate loss of functionality or performance, resulting in multiple users impacted for their normal functions. 
  • Component/feature failure.

Examples:

• The system is accessible, but there are some functional limitations that are not critical in the daily operation.
• Some components are not functioning as expected.
• Some processes are working as expected but others are timing out or not completing within the expected timeframe
• A specific user configuration is not working, but alternative solutions work.
• A workaround exists, but it is only temporary

Minor - Minor Impact/Informational

• Methodics server is operational with problems or errors that have little impact on operation of the Methodics server
  • Problems or questions that do not affect product functionality include how-to's, documentation, and general questions regarding application commands and usage.

Examples

• Issues with Methodics components
• How-To questions.
• General questions about Methodics products
• Feature requests
• Documentation requests
• Issues isolated to one or only a few users

The Methodics software is available for download as package installation as described in our documentation (requires login):

https://help.perforce.com/methodics/current/Content/MethodicsIPLM/Methodics_IPLM_deployment_and_installation_guide.htm

Methodics licenses are issued by our licensing team. Contact your Account Manager for new licenses; the support team can help direct your request to the relevant people.

To purchase new licenses, please read: https://www.perforce.com/how-buy

The Methodics support team will assist with questions on any released version. (revisit)

We provide monthly sessions with Methodics IPLM experts.  For more information, please see:

https://www.perforce.com/products/methodics-iplm/user-group

https://help.perforce.com/methodics/current/Content/MethodicsIPLM/Methodics_IPLM_Training.htm

The Methodics support team can put you in contact with your account manager to discuss your training needs, and the possibility of a private course tailored to your requirements.

Our Self-Service Resources include official documentation, video tutorials, Knowledge Base, and product release notes.

These resources are updated regularly and should be your first stop for problem solving and how-to questions. Checking these resources before opening a new case may result in a faster resolution of your issue.

Feel free to ask a support engineer about anything you find in these self-help materials.

Sometimes your problem will be traced to issues with software that is not under the control of Methodics (e.g., third-party software and networking.) The support team will guide you as far as they can and can put you in contact with the Account Executive or Sales Team to discuss further options, including engaging our Professional Services team.

https://www.perforce.com/support/consulting/methodics-iplm-consulting