Questions Outside of IBM Sterling B2B Integrator On-Premise Technical Support

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Occasionally, a customer opens a PMR with technical support that is "outside the scope" of support. Some examples are as simple as a problem with Passport Advantage where you forgot your Site ID or are unable to download a software package.The Passport Advantage site has links for assistance and they are the quickest way to resolve issues with that site. We can help you identify a download package name for example "CRGX4ML" as shown below, but we cannot provide a URL link to you because the way you access Passport Advantage is not the same method we use to access to the software downloads.

Similarly if you have a licensing question, this is not a question technical support can answer. Your IBM Sales Representative is the best source for licensing questions.

Another example are issues with the IBM Sterling Collaborative Network (SCN) or Sterling Value Added Network (VAN) Support. If you're having issues with a "mail slot" or with the an IBM Sterling Integrator hosted environment, then the IBM Sterling B2B Integrator (SI)  "on-premise" team (a PMR) cannot resolve this for you -  both of these are supported by other teams within IBM. An "on-premise" implementation means you have SI installed on a server in your company's environment; a PMR is used to resolve on-premise issues.

The quickest way to resolve your issue is to open the ticket with the correct team as I noted in a much earlier blog posting. Involving SI "on premise" technical support in issues outside our scope of control simply adds a middle person between you and the team that can actually resolve your problem - resulting in a slower time to resolution. If you would like for the PMR to still be worked by our team, please understand that we're doing our best to locate the correct IBM resource to resolve your issue.

There are other questions such as how to design a business process or provide specific values for tuning queues that we cannot resolve. It's best that you review the IBM Software Support Handbook as it is periodically updated. Pay special attention to the your responsibilities section as it is never pleasant for us to explain that if you do not have the required skill or are unwilling to do the work, you can engage a services provider such as IBM Global Services (IGS) or a business partner to assist you, for an additional fee. 

Another type of question technical support cannot answer is when the product will support a particular feature or standard version. The request for enhancement

Lastly, you are occasionally contacted to participate in a survey of our efforts on your PMR. If you're redirected to Passport Advantage, the VAN, your sales rep or the software support handbook that isn't a reflection of our reluctance to work with you but there are things beyond our ability to resolve. They're outside the scope of support.