PTC Technical Support provides customers with multiple mechanisms for escalating technical issues. The increased Severity of a case or the Escalation of a case reflects the urgency of a particular issue. Technical Support uses this following information to understand the impact of a particular issue for each customer:
The severity of a case is set initially when you open the case. The engineer will set the severity on live calls. Customers can set the severity when they log a new case via the Case Logger. As your business needs change, you can modify the severity or escalate the case using Case Tracker or using the phone:
Use the Enterprise Down (E-Down) Severity level with care so that valid situations get the necessary resources. The Enterprise Down case severity is reserved for PTC Active Support Enterprise customers with PTC software in a production environment. When all production work has stopped and cannot reasonably continue, the situation qualifies as a business emergency. E-Down categories for this severity level follow:
In a business emergency, PTC encourages you to immediately call the Support Line and speak with a Technical Support representative. Request Enterprise Down (E-Down) attention. PTC Technical Support will work 24x7 until they can start a working system or as long as they continue making useful progress.
During this emergency period, you must provide a contact, either on site or by pager, to assist with data gathering, testing, and applying fixes. This technical contact must speak English and must be knowledgeable with PTC software and the production environment to help resolve system issues.
Whether you speak immediately with a Technical Support representative or use Case Tracker, you are asked the following questions for Enterprise Down (E-Down) severity level:
Calling Technical Support immediately is the preferred approach to an E-Down condition. You can use Case Tracker to set the E-Down severity level after you open the case via the Case Logger but not while you initially log the case.
A case can be escalated to Technical Support Management if necessary. See the next section for details on how to escalate a case. You are encouraged to escalate your issue to ensure the proper level of attention and resources. There are two levels of escalation within Technical Support.
Escalation Level 1 (M1)
Escalation Level 2 (M2)
A case can be escalated to a Technical Support Manager if necessary. A manager will become directly involved in ensuring that the appropriate resources are working towards issue resolution. This may include the escalation of a Software Performance Report. A case can be escalated by phone or Web through one of the following methods:
In each case, reference your Technical Support case number and you will be directed to the appropriate Technical Support Manager.
If calling the Technical Support toll-free phone numbers, use the following procedure: