Getting help and support

If you experience an issue or have questions when you are using IBM watsonx Orchestrate, you can use the following resources before you open a support case.

If your watsonx Orchestrate instance is provisioned on IBM Cloud:

  • Check the status of the watsonx Orchestrate platform and resources by going to the Status page.
  • Review Stack Overflow to see whether other users experienced the same problem. When you ask a question, tag the question with ibm-cloud and watsonx-orchestrate so that the IBM Cloud® development teams can see it.

If you still can't resolve the problem, you can open a support case. And, if you're looking to provide feedback, see Submitting feedback.

Creating support cases for watsonx Orchestrate on AWS

You can also create a support case through the watsonx Orchestrate user interface as follows:

  1. On the watsonx Orchestrate home page, click the Help icon.
  2. Select the Docs and support tab, expand Resources, and click Tech support. You are directed to the IBM Support page.
  3. You are prompted with the IBM Privacy Statement.
    1. Read the statement carefully and click I consent if you agree with the statement. If you don't agree with the IBM Privacy Statement, click cancel to quit logging.
    2. If you want to be contacted by IBM about other products and services, select Yes. Otherwise, select No.
    3. Click Submit.
  4. In the Open a case page, enter the detailed information in the following fields:
    1. The Type of support field is pre-filled as Product support.
    2. In the Case title field, enter your problem title.
    3. The Product Manufacturer field is pre-filled as IBM.
    4. The Product field is pre-filled as watsonx Orchestrate.
    5. In the Severity and account information section, you must:
      1. Choose the case severity based on the business impact of the problem.
      2. Explain how the case is impacting your business.
    6. In the Description field, enter the problem that you met. A detailed description can help the support understand your problem more accurately and thus provide solutions or answers more quickly. See Providing support case details for more details.
    7. Select your preferred language.
      Note: If you select a language other than English, you must choose whether you are willing to communicate in English when an agent who speaks your language is not available.
    8. Choose if you prefer Enhancement emails or Basic emails.
    9. The sections Attachments and team members and Case Template each have optional fields that you can choose to complete.
  5. Click Submit case to submit the case.

IBM support contacts you by email or call after your case is submitted. You can quickly receive expert assistance.

Creating support cases for watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud

Support cases on IBM Cloud typically fall into one of the following categories:

  • watsonx Orchestrate specific issues

If a technical problem occurs in watsonx Orchestrate, you can create a support case. The examples include error messages, unexpected behavior, or feature-related questions. To create a watsonx Orchestrate support case, follow the instructions on Creating support cases for watsonx Orchestrate on AWS.

  • IBM Cloud environment issues

If a technical problem occurs in IBM Cloud environment, you must create an IBM Cloud support ticket. The examples include configuration errors, system messages, or resource limitations. To create an IBM Cloud support ticket, log in to your IBM Cloud account and click Create case +.

Note: Confirm that you are logged in to the correct IBM Cloud account before you submit the ticket.

  • Issues with other IBM Cloud services

If a technical problem occurs with a different service on IBM Cloud, you must create an IBM Cloud support ticket. The examples include problems with services like watsonx.ai, IBM® watsonx.data, and other services. To create an IBM Cloud support ticket, log in to your IBM Cloud account and click Create case +.

Note: Confirm that you are logged in to the correct IBM Cloud account before you submit the ticket.

Collect diagnostic data for agent performance issues

If your agents are slow or not performing as expected, and you are unable to identify the root cause, contact IBM Support. To help ensure faster troubleshooting and resolution, you must provide complete and accurate diagnostic data.

Gather details such as tenant information, AI model, agent configuration, knowledge sources, tools, channels, and trace data. See Collecting diagnostic data for performance issues for more details.

Providing support case details

To ensure that the support team can start investigating your case to provide a timely resolution, you must include detailed information with steps to re-create the issue, if applicable. Review the following types of information to include in your support case for issues with watsonx Orchestrate.

Recording the symptoms of the problem

Depending on the problem, whether with your tenant or your ID, you might receive a message that indicates something is wrong. Always record the error message that you see. As simple as this advice sounds, error messages often contain codes that make more sense as you investigate your problem further. You might also receive multiple error messages that look similar but have subtle differences. By recording the details of each message, you can learn more about the problem.

Sources of error messages:

  • Error dialog boxes
  • Failure messages
  • Issues that you see on the tenant

Re-creating and capturing the problem

Try to retrace your steps and see whether the issue can be reproduced. When submitting your support case, include:

  • What triggered the issue? Describe the action or workflow that led to the problem.
  • Tenant details: Include the CRN of your tenant. You can find this by clicking on your profile > About. Attach a screenshot of the About page.
  • Is it user-specific or global? Indicate whether the issue affects one user or multiple users. Include the email address of the affected users.
  • User history: Is the user newly registered, or did the issue start after a period of successful use?
  • Recent changes: Mention any recent updates or changes to the tenant (for example, new skills, modified skill sets, admin-level changes).
  • Timeline: Provide the approximate date and time when the issue first occurred and whether it’s still happening.
  • Frequency: Is the issue consistent, random, or triggered under specific conditions?
  • Capture any error messages that you see on the screen and upload them to the support ticket.

Uploading diagnostics information

Upload the diagnostic information available in your browser’s developer tools to help the support team in quickly identifying and resolving your issues. This information includes JavaScript errors, failed network requests, and performance issues. It also enables inspection of UI components, storage data, and security alerts, making it easier to replicate and understand the problem.

The WO_Meta command available in the browser developer tool returns diagnostic information. You can capture that information by using the following steps:

  1. Open your browser, right click and select Inspect.
  2. Click the Console tab.
  3. At the console prompt, type WO_Meta.
  4. Expand the resulting output to display its full contents.
  5. Copy and paste the full content to a text file.
  6. Upload the file to your support case.

Find the following example log screenshot from WO_Meta. It helps developers or support teams to trace issues that are related to the user's environment, feature availability, and session context, which is essential for troubleshooting or replicating issues.

Example WO_meta log

Submitting feedback

You can also submit feedback through the watsonx Orchestrate user interface as follows:

  1. Click your profile icon.
  2. Select the Provide feedback option.
  3. On the new page, click the + ADD IDEA button.
  4. Fill the form fields. The required fields are the following:
    • Your idea: Enter a summary of your idea.
    • Details: Enter more details about your idea, such as usability, benefits, and how it should work.
    • Contact Email: Enter an email to be contacted.
    • Idea priority: Select the priority level of your idea.
    Note: You can fill the other fields if you find it necessary.
  5. Click ADD IDEA to submit your feedback.