Support Request Procedure

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Support Request Procedure:

1. Step 5 of personnel (HR) management is the support request procedure using the add support request form.

2. The instant that a support request is added, the Second Level Support (SLS) team are notified and any one team member takes control to respond to the request. The second level support team have access to all ASP department managers to assist with a request under the authority of the Request Fulfilment Manager (RFM). The second level support team may access business data under the direction of the Request Fulfilment Manager to verify a support request - business data shall only be processed where the support request approves such a change. The second level support team will only work from and report to support requests without any direct communication with any other person.

3. An ad-hoc support request by phone or email may be transcribed by the First Level Support team into a normal support request that is then handled by the SLS in the normal way. The First Level Support team do not have access to any business data and so they cannot be intimidated into disclosing private data. If a phone or email caller impersonates an approved person, the only consequence is that a support request will be raised that will not be approved - business data cannot be leaked.

4. An objective is never to disclose andy business data. A method to achieve this objective is never to communicate with anybody using phone or email when encrypted message services are provided.

5. The Second Level Support team are not qualified or insured to provide education to other people, however they will provide links to approved tutorials and guides.

Glossary:

1. Support may also be called Account Management.

2. Account Management may also be called Customer Service.

3. A support request is a customer service request.

4. A support request is a service request.

5. A support request may be an improvement request that is treated as an improvement order.

6. The self-service support facility is the single point of contact account manager.

7. Request Filfilment Manager may also be called Service Fulfilment Manager.

Life Cycle:

1. When a support request is authored it has a status as "Opened". When a support request has a status as "Opened" it is the responsibility of the Request Fulfilment Manager (RFM) to assign it to a member of the Second Level Support (SLS) team for analysis.

2. When SLS have concluded their initial analysis of the request, the request status is changed to "ongoing" and the initial analysis reply is shared with the author and interested parties.

3. A appropriate team will be scheduled by the Change Manager to deploy the improvement. The Test and Verification Manager is scheduled to undertake independent testing of the improvement and impacted components.

4. When the Test and Verification Manager has completed their tests then the support request status is changed to "Closed". The closed support request is shared with the author and all interested parties.

5. Where an improvement request is declined because it may not be compliant with standards or regulations, then that notice is attached and shared when the support request is closed. Where the improvement is not practical for legal, commercial or technical reasons, then that notice is attached and shared when the support request is closed. Where a support request is not complete and correct, additional information may be requested by ay of another support request - the current support request is closed as it cannot progress any further and may be dependent on a future support request.

6. Where a support request has status of "opened" for more than 25 hours, an escalation notice is sent to an officer for emergency action. Where a support request has status of "ongoing" for more than 52 hours, an escalation notice is sent to an officer for emergency action.

7. The Request Fulfilment Manager has a permanent monitor showing the status of all support requests that are not closed and is motivated to cause all support requests to be rapidly closed.

First Level Support:

1. The First Level Support (FLS) team provide a 24*7 service from different continents.

2. First Level Support has a responsibility to record a message from an approved person as a support request.

3. First Level Support may offer advice and guideance by way of links to standard web page information.

4. The First Level Support team are in the front line for being attacked by criminals trying to intimidate a person into disclosing business data or impersonating an approved person.

5. First Level Support has been taught to assume that every telephone call and every email is a phishing attack until it can be proven to be otherwise.

6. Real approved people would use the online support facility or contact-us facility, so the majority of calls and messages are fake.

7. To prevent the disclosure of any business information, the First Level Support team do not have access to any business information. This has a benefit that many First Line Support people may work from any place they choose.

Second Level Support:

1. The Second Level Support (SLS) team provide a 24*7 service from different continents.

2. Second Level Support has a responsibility to record a message from an approved person as a support request.

3. Second Level Support are directed by the Request Fulfilment Manager to process specific support requests without interuptions by telephone or email.

4. The Second Level Support team are protected from being attacked by criminals and by-design cannot disclose business information to people by telephone or email.

5. The outcome of work done is measureable with evidence, even if the deliverable is only a reference to a web page guide.

6. Part of every development project is the requirement to create adequate documentation and guides.

7. When a support request is closed, the Second Level Support person no longer has access to any business data.

8. Continual monitoring of business data is the same for a SLS person as it is for an approved person - identical facilities are used.

9. No person has system administration or a super user role. SLS

Incident Management:

1. An incident is an unplanned event such as a data center failure that should be detected by the Event Support Manager.

2. It is very unlikely that an approved person would ever author a support request that is managed as an unplanned incident, but ITIL procedures cover such a possibility.

3. Incidents should be resolved by the Incident Manager but may be escalated to the Problem Manager when the incident cannot be resolved using documented procedures.

4. The Operations Manager is responsible for the teams of Event Managers, Problem Managers and Incident Managers.

5. The combined strength, knowledge and skill of the operations team with event, incident and problem managers will resolve any event in the minimum time - and will continue to try to prevent such an event from happening again.

6. First Line Support are kept informed so they can notify approved people of any event, but in most cases, approved people will be using different data center and may have no knowledge of what is happening in the failed data center.

7. Unplanned events are the input into an architectural design review chaired by the Architect Director to identify ways to eliminate such an event of mitigate the impact of such an event. It is not good enough to simply resolve an unplanned event - such an event should be eliminated, no matter what it costs.

Test and Production:

1. A large number of date centers are operated in parallel with replicated data.

2. A support request that involves an improvement will be applied to a data center with "test" status so it can be verified before any production data center is changed.

3. When the Change Manager is happy that the improvement has been signed off by the Test and Verification Manager using a "test" data center, then ithe proven improvement is replicated to the production data centers.

4. Second Level Support will do a final test using the production data center before the request is closed.

5. The Knowledge Manager may delay any improvement where the documentation is not complete and correct to the degree where it may impact on the resolution of a future incident. Experience shows that some incidents are caused by undocumented improvements.

Document Control.

1. Document Title: Support Request Procedure.

2. Description: Bespoke Application Service: Support Request Procedure.

3. Keywords: Bespoke Application Service, Support Request Procedure.

4. Privacy: Shared with approved people for the benefit of humanity.

5. Edition: 1.1.

6. Issued: 2 Jan 2018.