Preparing to contact TS

Existing Cases

New Issues

Understanding Case Severities

Existing Cases

For follow-up on a previously logged case, give the assigned case number, for example, C1234567, to the Technical Support Operator.  Refer to that number on any correspondence to the Technical Support department about the case.  You can also track the status of a case or contact a Technical Support Engineer by adding a comment to a case using Case Tracker.

New Issues

For new technical issues, before reaching out for technical assistance, you should gather some critical information.  Preparing this information before you reach out for technical assistance will ensure a quicker and more efficient resolution.  It will be helpful to have the following information at hand, before reaching out for technical assistance:

• PTC Service Contract Number (SCN) to verify your entitlement to receive Technical Support
  • Customers with online Licensing permissions may request a Detailed License Report to obtain a list of your SCNs
  • If you need additional assistance locating your SCN please contact our Global Support team
• PTC Product Name, Technical Area, Release and Datecode
• A description of your issue and any relevant details
• An understanding of the type of issue:
  • General Question: The question is of general nature
  • How-To: Necessity to know how to achieve a desired outcome in the application
  • Break/Fix: Something is not working as it presumably should
• Severity of the issue (see Understanding Case Severities below)

Understanding Case Severities

The severity of a case represents the importance or urgency of resolving the issue. A severity is assigned upon case initiation.  This value can be updated at any point to reflect a change in the urgency of a resolution.  The following outlines the definition of each severity and highlights the steps taken by the Technical Support engineer:

Severity 0 – Enterprise System Down—A production enterprise system is down. This is the most serious severity for a Case and generally requires 24x7 availability of a customer contact. PTC Technical Support and R&D will work the issue 24x7 until the issue is resolved or the severity is lowered.

• Technical Support management is notified when case is initiated or severity is increased.
• Technical Support works continuously with customer until resolution is reached or alternate technique is found.
• Development resources are contacted to assist with the troubleshooting process and, if necessary, provide a software update
• Evaluation is completed to determine if 24-hour support is required. Support is in English only.
• Formal management review is completed every 24 hours.
• If necessary, a Software Performance Report is filed to report a software defect.

Severity 1 - Business Critical - Business is being severely impacted. Key functions are not working, business schedules are being severely impacted, or a limited number of users cannot use the software at all. There is no feasible workaround available.

• Issue is prioritized appropriately with the Technical Support contact.
• Technical Support works with customer to reach a resolution or alternate technique to eliminate the work stoppage as quickly as possible.
• Status updates are provided to customer on a regular basis.
• If necessary, a Software Performance Report is filed to report a software defect.

Severity 2 - Business Moderately Impacted - Business is being impacted and a solution to the problem must be found quickly. Business schedules are at increased risk.  Technical Support works with customer to reach a resolution or alternate technique.

• Status updates are provided to customer on a regular basis.
• If necessary, a Software Performance Report is filed to report a software defect.

Severity 3 - General Question/Low Impact - Business is being slightly impacted or the customer has a general question about a PTC product or service. Usually a workaround is available or the customer is able to work beyond the issue.

• Technical Support works with customer to reach a resolution or alternate technique.
• Technical Support works with customer to set appropriate status update timeframes.
• If necessary, a Software Performance Report is filed to report a software defect.