Re: cisco TAC

[Michel Ghys mghys@localhost]

Hi Hank,

As being with Richard Chapman the second person responsible for the 
certification program you talk about, I'd like to bring you some basic
answers to your questions.

Cisco's support model is internally divided into 2 'levels' of technical
support.  THe first level of support will help you correcting your config
problems, will give you a quick answer in case your problem is a known 
problem, will help diagnose new problems and collect the right info,....

The second level will be involved in complex misbehaviours, will analyse
traces, and finish diagnising the new problems to present a well defined
problem to the development engineering, that will then fix it.

The difference between the USA and Europe that you talk about is due 
to the fact that Cisco sells direct in the USA, and uses distributors 
in Europe.  In Europe, the first level of support is given by the distributors
and the local cisco field offices.  The second level of support is done
by a support team located in Brussels.

The US TAC is also split internally into these 2 levels. The US customer
sends e-mail to TAC@localhost. The transfer
between level one and 2 is transparent for the customer and done following
specific and efficient rules.

In Europe, the customer calls his distributor, that accesses the second level
team in Brussels when needed also following specific and defined rules.

The world wide certification program will in the future allow some customers
under specific conditions to contact the second level of support directly.

Hope that basic description helps,

Michel.

> I assume most of you know of this:
> 
> >In  an  effort   to  improve  our  responsiveness to service  requests
> >forwarded    via electronic mail,   we will    be  making  a series of
> >improvements  over  the coming  months.  We   ask your cooperation and
> >assistance in implementing  these changes and enhancements.  With  few
> >exceptions they  will  not require action  on  your part.   They will,
> >however, make  available  to  you options that  improve the  speed and
> >accuracy of our response.
> >
> >EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY  Cisco  Maintenance customers wishing to  open a
> >case  with the Technical Assistance Center  (TAC) should forward their
> >requests to TAC@localhost.
> >
> >Beginning January 1st, 1993,  we cannot guarantee responsiveness to
> >other channels, i.e. cs@localhost.
> >
> >Electronic mail requests received by TAC@localhost between 8am and 5pm
> >Pacific USA will be handled  with the same responsiveness as telephone
> >requests.  Please note that Priority 1  - Network Down requests should
> >be telephoned into the TAC for immediate action.
> >
> >FORMATTING  your email with  your service contract number,  your name,
> >telephone number, a brief one line problem/question description, and a
> >case  priority as  the  first 5   lines in your  electronic mail  will
> >improve our responsiveness. For example:
> >
> >Cisco service contract number       92snt1234a
> >First and last name                 Jane Doe
> >Best number to contact you          415-555-1234
> >Problem/question description        Cannot see Appletalk zones
> >Case Priority                       3
> >
> >CASE PRIORITIES are defined as one of the following:
> >
> >Pri 1           Production network down, critical business impact
> >Pri 2           Production net seriously degraded, serious impact
> >Pri 3           Network degraded, noticeable impact to business
> >Pri 4           General information, non production problems
> 
> So we contacted our cisco distributor to get the official TAC number.
> They then spoke to a person named Chapman in cisco who informed them
> that we can't get one.  Overseas customers have to first contact
> their distributor/dealer and only through them can the TAC be approached.
> This is because in order to speak to the TAC you not only need a
> service contract number but also to be something they call
> "TAC certified" - which means you know how to report problems to cisco
> properly.  In order to become TAC certified you have to undertake a cisco
> course.  My questions are:
> 
> - do all USA companies go thru this TAC certification process or is this
>   just a European requirement?
> - Has any European cisco user encountered this problem and what have
>   you done to be able to speak to the TAC directly?
> 
> Thanks,
> Hank Nussbacher
> Israel
> 


-- 
------------------------
Michel Ghys                                 Telephone     : +32 2 643 26 26
Customer Engineering Analyst		    Direct number : +32 2 643 26 32 
                                            Fax           : +32 2 643 26 27
Cisco Systems International                 e-mail : mghys@localhost
250 Avenue Louise
BE - 1050    Brussels