If the self-help resources do not provide a resolution to your problem, you can contact
IBM® Software Support. IBM Software Support assists in resolving product issues.
To submit your problem to IBM Software Support, you
must have an active Passport Advantage® software
maintenance agreement. Passport Advantage is
the IBM comprehensive software licensing and software
maintenance (product upgrades and technical support) offering. You can enroll online on the
Passport
Advantage website.
- To learn more about Passport Advantage, see
the Passport
Advantage FAQs.
- For further assistance, contact your IBM
representative.
To submit your problem online (from the IBM website)
to IBM Software Support:
- Be a registered user on the IBM Support website. For
details about registering, see Registering on the IBM Software
Support website.
- Be listed as an authorized caller in the service request tool.
For more details about IBM Support and best practices
for contacting IBM Support, see Software Support Handbook.
-
Determine the business impact of your problem.
When you report a problem to IBM, you are asked to
supply a severity level. Therefore, you must understand and assess the business impact of the
problem that you are reporting.
Option | Description |
---|
Severity 1 |
The problem has a critical business impact: You are unable to use the program,
resulting in a critical impact on operations. This condition requires an immediate
solution. |
Severity 2 |
This problem has a significant business impact: The program is usable, but it
is severely limited. |
Severity 3 |
The problem has some business impact: The program is usable, but less
significant features (not critical to operations) are unavailable. |
Severity 4 |
The problem has minimal business impact: The problem causes little impact on
operations or a reasonable circumvention to the problem was implemented. |
-
Describe your problem and gather background information,
When you describe a problem to IBM, be as specific as
possible. Include all relevant background information so that IBM Software Support specialists can help you solve the problem efficiently. To save time,
know the answers to these questions:
-
Submit your problem to IBM Software Support.
You can submit your problem to IBM Software Support in
the following ways:
- Online: You can report the problem by either:
Note:
- Opening the IBM Support Portal website. Click
Open a case to open a service request and describe the problem in
detail.
- Opening an online service request by using the IBM Support
Assistant. For more information, see IBM Support Assistant.
- By phone: For the phone number to call in your country or region, see the IBM Directory of worldwide contacts and click the name of your country
or geographic region.
- Through your IBM Representative: If you cannot access
IBM Software Support online or by phone, contact your IBM Representative. If necessary, your IBM Representative can open a service request for you. You can find complete
contact information for each country at IBM Directory of worldwide
contacts.
If the problem you submit is for a software defect or for missing or inaccurate
documentation, IBM Software Support creates an Authorized
Program Analysis Report (APAR). The APAR describes the problem in detail. Whenever possible, IBM Software Support provides a workaround that you can implement
until the APAR is resolved and a fix is delivered. IBM
publishes resolved APARs on the Software Support website daily so that other users who experience
the same problem can benefit from the same resolution.