Notably are explanations of what to do for SSO and Login issues. Also, this is good too: We are planning to run a weekly script to move Bookmarks to Favorites each week for approximately six weeks after the migration date. Customers who have registered or validated their SSO account after November 7 will see their old Bookmarks reappear as Favorites as we pick up the newly validated customers each week.

This will continue to be updated as necessary.

-Chris Warticki

There should be a post-migration FAQ soon with answers to common issues that have been raised.

Continue to use the channels available such as the Contact Us link within My Oracle Support or call Global Customer Support for assistance.  I’m internally reporting those experiences, of a technical nature, that are posted in my comments.

There is still one more week of transition training available. It highlights the Data Migration details such as new SR status codes and more.  Training sessions can be found here along with PDF downloads of the content.  Please register. (This was the purpose of my original post – Again, no offense intended)

Also, Daniel Fink has started a survey that we'll be paying close attention too.

-Chris Warticki
twittering @cwarticki
Join one of the Twibes - http://twibes.com/OracleSupport or http://twibes.com/MyOracleSupport

As you have just read, I do accept responsibility and accountability for my actions.

Please understand that my intent was not to insult anyone.  The purpose was to draw attention, call to action for the training and to add some humor to what most view as bland blogging.

I'm happy that everyone is getting their frustrations out, even if I need to wear kevlar.  I have thick skin. I can take it.  I know that you're upset at the portal not the person, the UI and not the individual, and the portal performance not the personal performance.  I know that Oracle's leadership is reading, listening and responding. 

I have always been FOR the customer. Many of you know that.

Sincerely, Respectfully and Apologetically,
-Chris Warticki (yes, it's really me)

If you've been off the grid, or totally out of the loop and completely clueless (poor word choice, but this in the context of getting customers to the training), Classic MetaLink retired on November 6th.  My Oracle Support training sessions can be found here.  Please register. Change is here. Get in front of this one...seriously.

Some of you have been very vocal with your therapists, on OTN, Twitter, Linked-In Groups, OracleMix, UserGroups and other channels, including this very blog.

In case you didn't read in the FAQ - there will be an HTML version for anyone unable to use flash.  Hint: If your browser allows flash, there isn't an HTML option.  You'll have to figure out the rest.

Visit the Information Page for the Latest Details

Oracle  announced that Classic MetaLink will retire and My Oracle Support will be upgraded and become the single support interface. Review the Transition Information Page for significant changes, benefits, training, communications and FAQs

Chris Warticki is twittering @cwarticki

Join one of my Twibes - http://twibes.com/OracleSupport or http://twibes.com/MyOracleSupport

Feedback on My Oracle Support here

Chris Warticki is twittering @cwarticki

Join one of my Twibes – http://twibes.com/OracleSupport or http://twibes.com/MyOracleSupport

This is by far thee most misunderstood process. Do you have a Support delivery concern? Are your expectations not being met or understood? Use the Escalation Process. The shortest path to least resistance to the resolution of any technical service request is escalation – first and always. Until you’ve spoken to a Manager from Oracle Support, an escalation has not occurred. Does that surprise you? Read on.

Here’s out it works;

Step 1 – Call the Global Support 800#. Choose the option for existing Service Request and Global Customer Support will answer your call.

Step 2 – Request: Here is my existing Service Request#, I would like to speak to and receive a callback from the Escalation Manager. This used to be called the Duty Manager 5+ years ago.

Step 3 – Your contact information will be verified and the Escalation Manager will be identified and notified for callback. It’s not a hot-transfer. Oracle strives that the Escalation Manager will contact you back in 30 minutes or less.

Here’s what NOT to do:

• Don’t call the 800# and request a Severity 1 or Severity increase. Severity 1 and Escalations are totally different.
• Don’t update your Service Request to initiate escalation. This is not recommended. Oracle doesn’t have a batch job running to look for key words in SRs. Call us! Then, update your Service Request for your own documentation purposes.
• Don’t call your sales team, account team, or anyone else in your Rolodex of Oracle business cards. They can’t solve your technical problem. You might as well try calling your parents. There’s no backdoor to this process.
• Don’t request your support engineer to jump on some bridge call. Bridge calls are for managers to keep busy. Keep the technical team troubleshooting. The motto for bridge calls is; “When all is done and said, a whole lot more is said than done!”

Here’s how it plays out:

• The manager will call you back to discuss the technical details and review the Service Request with you.
• At this time, discuss any concerns you have. (time to respond, time to resolve, technical direction, key milestones at risk, etc.) Nobody is getting in trouble here. Let us know how we can serve you better.
• Work up an agreed upon action plan
• As customer, document the action plan in the Service Request. Write, “I just spoke to so-n-so and we agreed to the following” The manager should be doing the same.
• Know when the next follow-up will be. Is follow up necessary? Discuss it.

Managers have control of the resources and time of the support engineers. They may reassign it to someone else on the team. They may free up the time of the current engineer to devote more time to your problem. They will review what can and can’t be accommodated. That’s why you shouldn’t call anyone else.

DON’T HANG UP with any manager until you know these 3 things:

1-The Manager’s name

2-A piece of contact information from that manager (office phone, cell phone, or email address) Go direct to the source for updates

3-The details of the action plan.

If your boss asks you about that Service Request and you tell them that you escalated it, remember that they can reply with;

Oh, you escalated it, then who did you speak too? What’s their name?

Better yet, let’s contact them and find out the status of what we need to know.

Or, come into my office and let’s crack open the Service Request and see the details of what you spoke about.

What if the Service Request has a Bug Associated with it?

Good question. Still use the Escalation Manager to get in touch with Development Management. Remove the engineers and developers from the mix and go direct to the managers who control both of these resources. Let Development know how this bug is affecting your business and that Development Manager will give it to you straight if a fix is feasible or not.

What if I’ve done what you’ve prescribed and it didn’t work?

Nobody is perfect. Oracle strives to achieve 100% satisfaction.

Simply call the 800# again, state either the escalation manager you’ve spoken too isn’t able to help you, or the escalation call wasn’t returned, then request to RE-escalate the issue to the next level of management (Sr. Manager, Director and then VP level if necessary)

It should be that simple. Really, it is. As a former manager from Database support, we take a lot of pride in, and hold ourselves accountable, to this valuable process.

There are two other articles I’ve written on this subject.

1- Escalation vs. Severity Increases

2 - Hey Oracle Support – Escalate THIS!

Chris Warticki is twittering @cwarticki

Join one of my Twibes – http://twibes.com/OracleSupport or http://twibes.com/MyOracleSupport

MetaLink 3 Upgrade to My Oracle Support (Doc ID 789174.1)  Customer Training starts Monday the 17th and runs until 9/4.   Twice per day. Each day.

Register online now - www.oracle.com/support /training-schedule.html

Chris Warticki is twittering @cwarticki

Just started a Twibe. Visit http://twibes.com/MyOracleSupport to join.

All customers have to do is simply and automatically attach their configuration data to their service requests. This enhancement is included with your Premier Support contract and available through My Oracle Support.  By linking detailed information about a customer’s environment to a service request, Oracle can leverage its knowledge base to solve your problems more quickly and effectively.

http://www.oracle.com/support/priority-handling.html

-Chris Warticki
twittering tips @cwarticki

Oracle has acquired 50+ companies in the past 5 years. In order to provide a common, consistent support experience we are in the process of moving all of our customers onto a single, integrated support platform, My Oracle Support. As we integrate our support portals, we are also investing in a support solution that provides many more value-added capabilities than are available in the current version of Classic MetaLink.  My Oracle Support provides you with personalized, proactive, and collaborative support capabilities that help reduce the time you spend maintaining Oracle solutions.

My Oracle Support is tightly coupled with the Configuration Manager to help users achieve problem avoidance and faster problem resolution. When activated, the Configuration Manager provides Oracle with system configuration details that help accelerate problem resolution time and improve system stability.  With My Oracle Support users get features unavailable on Classic MetaLink such as Healthchecks, Patch Advice, and proactive security and product alerts.

We are in the process of upgrading My Oracle Support and are making significant investment in the platform to continue to improve the capabilities and the user experience. Thank you to all current and future users for providing the guiding insight that helps us shape and prioritize our improvement planning. My Oracle Support product management values and seeks out customer feedback. Please let us know how My Oracle Support is working for you.  
For more details about the transition to My Oracle Support, please visit our Information Page and FAQ (login required).

---------------------
https://metalink2.oracle.com/metalink/plsql/showdoc?db=NOT&id=841061.1     Info Page
https://metalink2.oracle.com/metalink/plsql/showdoc?db=NOT&id=841055.1     FAQ

-Anthony Cavotta
My Oracle Support Product Management
twittering @cavaj

I love our customers.  Thanks for your business.  Your comments are noteworthy.  I hope they make an immediate difference.

We have awesome products like ADF and APEX, just to name a few.  Oh, and let’s not leave out SOA.

* I guess an exception was made for FLASH.

~Chris Warticki
Twittering @cwarticki

Ever since the announcement came out, customers have been really vocal.  Has your voice been heard?  Leave a comment here.  OTN has a thread going.  Or, just VOTE here.

Chris Warticki is twittering @cwarticki

Users accessing metalink.oracle.com will no longer have a login option to choose between Classic MetaLink and My Oracle Support, but will be automatically directed to My Oracle Support.
My Oracle Support enhances the customer experience by delivering personalized, proactive, and collaborative support via a simplified support interface, making interactions with Oracle Support faster and more efficient.
This upgrade is part of Oracle's ongoing commitment to improving your support experience and providing a single integrated support platform across all products. The retirement of Classic MetaLink will mark the completion of the upgrade of all of our support interfaces to My Oracle Support.

CALLS TO ACTION

Verify that you have the latest Adobe Flash Player
Flash Player (version 9.0.115 or higher) is required to use My Oracle Support. Please take the following steps to ensure you are prepared for this transition:

1. Check your browser for the correct version of Flash Player by going to the Adobe Flash Player checker page, and installing the latest version of Adobe Flash.
2. Download the latest version of the Flash Player from the Adobe website if you currently do not have Flash installed.
3. Visit the Flash FAQ for My Oracle Support for answers to common questions about Flash and links to important information from Adobe about supported platforms, versions and browsers. It includes Flash Player security and privacy information that you may want to provide to your network administrator.

View the My Oracle Support Demo
Click here to view the 4 minute demo now

Update Your Contact Information
Please ensure your e-mail address is up to date in your My Oracle Support profile.

Chris Warticki is Twittering Support Tips @cwarticki

Advisor Webcasts offer a convenient and cost-effective way for PeopleSoft Enterprise, JD Edwards World, JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, and Oracle EBS customers to interact with professional, technical, and application experts regarding topics to help them get the most from their support services. Our support experts will provide information such as tips and techniques, best practices, or how to effectively work with your support team to maintain your applications. Each webcast is delivered straight to your desktop and includes a live Q&A session with subject matter experts, enabling customers to receive answers to their specific questions. Advisor Webcasts are offered on a consistent basis and recorded for on-demand viewing—anytime, anywhere.

View the entire EBS, ST and FMW Advisor Webcast schedule and registration information. View the entire PeopleSoft Enterprise schedule and registration information
View the entire JD Edwards EnterpriseOne schedule and registration information
View the entire JD Edwards World schedule and registration information

View Support Tools and Process Seminars

Coming up for R12.1

I am your customer. Satisfy my wants with personal attention and a friendly touch and I will become a walking advertisement of your products and services. Ignore my wants, show carelessness, inattention and poor manners, and I will simply cease to exist, as far as you are concerned.

I am sophisticated, much more so than I was a few years ago. I have grown accustomed to better things. I have money to spend. I am an egoist. I am sensitive. I am proud. My ego needs the nourishment of a friendly, personal greeting from you. It is important to me that you appreciate my business. After all, when I buy your products and services, my money is feeding you.

I am a perfectionist. I want the best I can get for the money I spend. When I criticize your products or services, and I will to anyone who will listen when I am dissatisfied, take heed. The source of my discontent lies in something you or the products you sell have failed to do. Find the source and eliminate it or you will lose my business and that of my friends as well.

I am fickle. Other businesses continually beckon me with offers of more for my money. To keep my business, you must offer something better than they. I am your customer now, but you must prove to me again and again that I have made a wise choice in selecting you, your products and services above all others.

In the spirit of customer service, print this out and hang it on your wall (in your workspace or home office) I didn't author this, just passing it along.
-Chris
Twittering @cwarticki