Troubleshooting
Help us troubleshoot better:
| ● | We know you want problems solved fast. So do we. |
| Talking back and forth just to make sure what happened wastes your valuable time, and create frustration on both sides. | |
| ● |
To speed up the process, we need as much information as possible to fully understand the issue. Thus ACTi asks you to kindly spend a little more time up front clarifying things before submitting the issue. This means that our professional support engineers can spend all the time on the issue directly, and resolve them faster. |
Here are a few steps for us to work together productively.1.
Describe the issue clearly and completely.
Oops! What’s wrong? Let us know about what you intended to achieve, and what happened that you did not like. Tell us of your goals and problems, and we’ll try to help you reach them. Please describe in as much detail as you can gather. We’ll need every inch of knowledge to work things out.
2.
Provide complete current status for verification / duplication
When the end user reports something, please gather all relevant background information.
This would preferably include the following:
| a. |
Cameras : model / quantity / serial number /Firmware Version (e.g.: ACM-1231 x 8 / ACM-1231-09E-X-xxxxx / V3.09.14 ) |
| b. |
Software used: Software provider / type / version (e.g.: ACTi NVR 2.2 SP2 Professional / Milestone XProtect Corporate 2.0d with Device pack 4.3) |
| c. |
Network and PC equipments: (e.g.: one Core 2 Duo 2.4G PC with 4 GB RAM and 1TB Hard Drive, PoE Switches use are 8-port Switches from XXX company) |
| d. |
Network Topology / VPN or other arrangements (e.g.: Spread over two buildings, 16 IP cameras in building A and 12 IP cameras + 12 Analog Cameras w/video server in building B. All connected through PoE. There is one NVR Enterprise server in each building. Two remote clients from corporate office connect to servers via 2M/2M DSL line. ) |
| e. |
Configuration files/ current status Server reports/parameter lists (downloadable from camera firmware system info page), NVR Backup files (from backup wizard) |
| f. |
Others: LED indicator status (do they light up properly? What’s the behavior of each color LED?), local lighting / environmental conditions. /past installation history… etc. |
In many cases, duplicating these problems on your side first will give you better insights on the root cause.
We encourage our installation partners to duplicate the issues on your own before requesting help.
We encourage our installation partners to duplicate the issues on your own before requesting help.
3.
Setup a remote login for troubleshooting
Sometimes, some issues are just too complex to duplicate in our own lab. Please be ready to provide a remote console or Teamviewer login ID from the customer side. ACTi support engineers will only access the remote console if and when you choose, so security is not a problem. This can help us find out the root cause and speed up the troubleshooting process greatly.
4.
Resolve the tickets from CHD
Once the support engineer provides a satisfactory reply to the issue and nothing more is needed, the ticket will be closed. If the customer neither replies nor provides any further information for two weeks, we will also close the ticket as part of our housekeeping rule. As a customer, you can still open another new ticket or re-open past tickets at any time whenever you need to ask about anything.
How severe is the problem?
1.
Severity High
A severity High issue is a problem where the client’s system is functioning in a severely reduced capacity. The situation is causing significant impact to parts of the client’s operation and productivity. The system is exposed to potential loss or interruption of service.
2.
Severity Medium
Such situations involve problems with loss of noncritical functionality. It may be one which impairs some operations but allows the client to continue functioning. This includes documentation errors.
3.
Severity Low
This severity is for a general usage question or recommendation for a future product enhancement or modification. There is no impact on the quality, performance or functionality of existing product.
