How t o Tr i age O r acle Supp ort Call s

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1 How t o Tr i age O r acle Supp ort Call s M S S W h i t e P a p e r b y M e l a n i e C a m e r o n Does this exchange sound familiar? User: Support: User: Oracle doesn t work. It s up. What s the problem? 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).

2 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! Here are a few tips for resolving basic issues. Printing Issues Here are some basic steps to resolve a printing issue Ensure the report had output to print. Ensure the report was set to print 1 copy and not 0. Confirm that the User sent the job to the right printer. Read the log file and confirm that printing was not disabled for this report. Print something from the User s computer not Oracle. Don t forget the basics. Is the printer plugged in and on line? What does Support need? Oracle access to view all concurrent requests, output, and Logs. A list of Oracle printer names, network printer names, the relationship if they are not the same, and their physical locations. Training on reading the Log Files in Oracle. Access Issues: User needs more responsibilities Support can be assigned this duty with the proper approvals or they can assist the User through it if they are familiar with the process. What does Support need? Proper Oracle access to users. A list of valid responsibilities and when they should be assigned to whom. A list of Segregation of Duties violations for those responsibilities if you do not have software to do this automatically. Access Issues: User can not access specific responsibilities If you are using Self Service applications (iexpense, iprocurement, etc) and a User can not access these specific responsibilities, the Securing Attributes were not assigned correctly for the responsibility by the system. Normally Oracle assigns these automatically, but if you set up a User, save the record and then assign them iexpenses, ICX_HR_PERSON_ID will not get assigned automatically and need to be manually assigned. What does Support need? A list of the Securing Attributes used in the system and in which cases they are used. Access to Users in Oracle.

3 Access Issues: Sign-on problems A User can not sign-on on their PC, nor can anyone else. However they can sign on using their user name and password on another PC. This is a Cache issue. What should Support do to correct this? Clear the Cache on Internet Explorer. Clear the jcache on the jinitiator. Access Issues: Form-based Applications User can sign into Oracle and get to the first page as well as Web-applications, but can not sign into form-based applications. The culprit is always one of two things: Popup blocker. First time using Oracle on this PC and the jinitiator can not be installed because of the Internet Security settings. What should Support do to correct this? Turn off the Popup Blocker. It may either be IE s standard popup blocker or a toolbar / Popup Blocker downloaded automatically. Change the Internet Security Settings to allow ActiveX Downloads. These can be changed back once the jinitiator is installed. Reminder: This is a software installation so the person logged on will need admin rights to the PC in order for it to install. Train your Support Team to click on Grant Always for the Oracle Certificate so the Users do not have to click on it every time they sign in. If they see your Support Team Grant This Session, they will do the same!

4 Forgotten Passwords Forgotten passwords are a problem for all companies. Support should be able to handle all password issues on the first call. What should Support do to correct this? Make sure support knows what security you have set up for passwords in Oracle. They will need to educate Users from time to time. 4. Users use all instances, not just production. Support should have access to all instances and be able to reset passwords in all instances. Turn on Oracle s Forgotten Password functionality which allows Oracle to reset a User password and it to them (see Metalink Note ). If you have Oracle set to lockout Users after a certain number of attempts, be aware that in later versions of Oracle this invalidates the encryption of the password as opposed to disabling the User Account. This is not visible on the User Record so ensure your Support Team is given to tools to see this (SQL, Discoverer, an alert, or a modification to the form) and knows to try to reset the password first. Cannot Export data from Oracle The user tries to export data and it gives the message EXPORTING, blips, and disappears every time. They call up frustrated asking where they can find their data. What can Support do? Under Internet Options, change the Security Setting for File Download to Enable. The User will get prompted to save the file after the export is complete at which point they can select the name and path of the file. ADI (Application Desktop Integrator) Sign-on Issues There are three common issues here. The User needs to set up a Database or access something other than production. The User is unsure of what User Name and Password to enter. ADI/Oracle can not resolve TNS Names error message. What does Support need to resolve this? Provide the Support Desk with a cheat sheet they can send to Users for setting up databases. Inform the Support Desk that ADI uses Oracle User Names and Passwords. This sounds simple enough but how else would they know? Ensure the Support Desk has a current copy of the TNSNames.ora and SQLnet.ora files and knows where they go on the PC. If your company has remote access setup, Support can quickly resolve the problem by places the files in the proper location. If not, provide dummy proof documentation they can forward to the Users. Oracle is DOWN! This is one of the biggest, most frustrating issues that Support must handle is one that they can not resolve. However, Support can keep the Users calm and informed. How can Support help? Have a scheduled down-time? Let Support know ahead of time. Bringing the system down for an emergency? Provide Support with an anticipated up-time (if known) so they are prepared for the flood of calls and can answer them appropriately. Do you have alerts that inform your Database Analysts of system issues? Copy Support on them so they can truthfully say, Yes we are aware of the problem and are working on it. This will also allow key folks to start resolving the issue immediately without having to contact Support. Provide the Support Desk with access to Oracle so they can confirm if Oracle is down when a User calls. If you have multiple locations, this is especially important in identifying if it is an Oracle or network issue so they can route the call appropriately.

5 The front end always dies first so a User often discovers that the system is down prior to the alerts and IT finding out. Use your Support Center as the barometer and the face of IT to keep it cool when the system does go down. Nobody wants to hear, Nope, I have not heard it is down. Down issues are usually smoothed out by two main communication streams from IT. Regular status reports if it is a long outage (more the 30 minutes for a User). Remember, while the IT department is running around going crazy, Users are sitting idly speculating usually about how the IT Department is doing nothing. Immediate communication when the system is back up. Everyone thinks less of IT when they find out on their own that a system is back up and they were not informed by the people fixing the problem. Querying Data in forms does not return expected results I can t find any invoice batches but John can. All the Purchase Orders disappeared since yesterday! How can Support resolve the problem? There is a folder with a saved query. Train Support to: Identify if a folder is being used to confirm the problem (icon with name next to it). Walk the User though turning the folder off (Folder >Save >uncheck Default) and repeat the process to see if it resolves the problem. Resave the folder without the Query. Errors saving work These problems can vary. Support cannot resolve most of them but they can gather information and occasionally resolve them. How can Support help? Get the ENTIRE error message, including ORA-APP , and a screen shot if possible. Get the Responsibility name, Navigation Path and Form when receiving the error. Asking specific questions will get specific answers. This is important. Do not ask, What are you doing? as the answers will range from My Job to There is a delivery on the dock that will not be unloaded until the back receivables are cleared. Translation? Cutting a Quick Check from the Invoice screen. More specific questions are What are you trying to do in Oracle? or What process are you using? if you have formal documented procedures. Ask the User if they tried signing out, back in, and repeating the process. Yes, shutting down Oracle and starting it up again does work sometimes. Remember, it is just

6 a computer. This serves two purposes. It clears the Cache and it tests if the problem is repeatable. Concurrent Processes error out Often times a concurrent process will error out because it is looking for something to be done prior to it completing. Oracle is getting better in the later versions about making these messages clearer to understand. How can Support help? Give Support access to view All Concurrent Requests, especially the Log Files. Teach them how to read a log file. Do a search on ERR. Read from the end not the beginning. The errors are usually toward the end of the file. Have them read error messages to the User (e.g. Please Roll Back Depreciation). The User will know what to do from there if it is a functional error message. If not, they can contact their supervisor or the call can be passed on to the Support Analyst with the corresponding log file. Interfaces Third party interfaces into and out of Oracle are usually run on a set schedule. Ensure the Support Desk knows about this schedule and any upcoming changes to it. Conclusion So what does it really take to run an efficient Oracle Help Desk? A little training, a lot of listening, and good communication. Remember that it does not stop with your current Support Team but needs to be passed on to each new team member. As in all areas of Oracle and complicated systems, take the time to document your company processes and system specific knowledge. Front Line Support exists to diagnose what the issue is not solve it. Support can only solve an issue if they have the solution for it in their hands. The more solutions you put in their hands, the more they can resolve on the first call. Here is a rule of thumb. If it is a common, easy-to-identify, and easy-to-resolve issue, it should be handled by Front Line Support. Take the time to document issues and train the Support Desk. Your customers, aka co-workers, will respect you for it and actually not dread calling the Help Desk. About the Author Melanie Cameron is a Funco Techno 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. She can be reached at (602) or mcameron@msstech.com. About MSS Technologies, Inc MSS Technologies has over 20 years of ERP software implementation experience across a variety of industries in the western U.S. MSS differs from other consulting organizations because we believe in empowering our clients before, during, and after the implementation process. We educate our clients about ERP in order to reduce their cost, increase their ROI, and facilitate self-sufficiency and ownership independence. We are confident that we can help you make your ERP project a success. More information contact Susan Leonardo at (602) or sleonardo@msstech.com