After fully completing the Terra Dotta implementation, a client is considered to have gone "live" with the software. As live clients continue forward with their use of Terra Dotta, they may ask questions or report unexpected behavior in the software by submitting a request in the Terra Dotta Support Portal.
This article covers the following information related to submitting and managing a Terra Dotta Support request:
- Support User Designation: A quick review of who can submit a request.
- How to Submit a Support Request: Steps to take to submit a request.
- Best Practice Request Tips: Suggestions for submitting an effective request.
Support User Designation
Anyone who has been designated as a Support user for your Terra Dotta client account may submit a request via the Terra Dotta Support Portal. In order to make changes to your account's Support users, the Primary Admin must submit an update to Terra Dotta Support. See the How to Update a Support User Knowledgebase article for details.
How to Submit a Support Request
Follow these steps to submit a request in the Terra Dotta Support Portal:
1) Navigate to the Terra Dotta Support Portal and enter your login credentials.
- If you have not been issued login credentials and feel you need them, talk to your office's Primary Admin about being added as a Support user.
2) Once logged into the Support Portal, click on the "Submit a Request" tab located in the middle of the main Support Portal page.
4) Complete the request form that appears, noting that items with an asterisk are required. The provided fields are as follows:
CC: Add email addresses for anyone who should be included on communication about this specific Support request.
Subject*: This is a short phrase providing the main context of the issue. Example: “Questionnaire not deploying to student” or “How can I make a questionnaire conditional?”
Description*: Use this field to give more details about the issue you are experiencing or the question you have. It is important to include all pertinent information here so that the Support Team member assisting you can address your issue quickly and efficiently. See the section below on best practice tips for submitting an effective Support request.
Affected User/ID: If you are experiencing an issue that is only affecting some users, use this field to communicate who is affected, or provide examples.
Type of Request/Issue: Use this drop-down menu to specify the type of request or issue that you are reporting. Choose from Question, Incident, Problem, or Task.
Call Back Number*: Provide the best telephone number that can be used to reach you.
Priority: Choose from Low, Normal, High, or Urgent. Marking a request as "Urgent" means the request should be escalated differently given the circumstances. This selection should only be used in situations where your normal business process is being impeded due to widespread or time-sensitive issues occurring with your site. Examples of an urgent request include a site outage, applicants/users not being able to log in, or an issue affecting programs with approaching deadlines. See below for more information about urgent issues.
Site/Solution Affected: Use this drop-down menu to specify the Terra Dotta product or feature to which your issue relates.
Attachments: Add a file (via search or drag and drop), such as a screenshot or video, that will help provide additional details to the Support team.
Submit: Click "Submit" when you are ready to send the request to the Support team for review.
Best Practice Request Tips
The Terra Dotta Support Team strives to address each request quickly and efficiently. A request is most effective in communicating the information that the Support Team needs to reach a prompt resolution when the following best practice tips are considered:
Details
Having specific information about what is being experienced by a client is crucial for effective request resolution. For example, you may have an applicant/user who can’t log in to your site. We suggest providing responses to the following questions in your request description:
- Which user(s) is(are) affected? Is it site-wide or only affecting certain users?
- How far do they get in their attempt before they experience a problem? (Are they able to enter their login credentials?)
- What happens as a result of their attempt? (Do they receive an error message? Are they taken to a blank page?)
- Can we see what happens as a result of their attempt? (Did the user provide a screenshot?)
Behavior/Observing
If you encounter unexpected behavior or an error message, be sure to let the Support Team know.
- If you receive an error message, provide information on the error itself. Include the text of the error message along with the time the message was received and what action was being performed prior to the message being received.
- For ISSS clients: If you experience a batch error when using the SEVIS Admin, let us know which batch error you received. Do not remove the batch, as it may be necessary for the Support Team to see what was in the affected batch.
Examples/Screenshots
Provide multiple examples if possible.
- If the issue is being experienced by multiple users, two to three examples are useful. Sometimes determining what the users have in common can lead to a resolution.
- If the issue is being experienced by all users, it can still be helpful to have two to three examples of users or applications/records where the behavior has been confirmed.
- Screenshots are always helpful when reporting unexpected behavior in the software. It is not necessary to crop these screenshots; sometimes this removes useful information.
- When providing screenshots, please include the URL at the top of the page.
When you are reporting error messages you have received on your site, it is helpful to include the error details in the request (either as an attachment, in the request description, or in the "Add to Conversation" section if your request has already been submitted). These can be found by looking up the error number in Maintenance > System Errors and copying the error log associated with the error number. This will provide our engineers with important details that can help expedite a resolution of the problem.
If the error output is too long to fit into the description field, you can copy the error output and paste it in a txt file (such as Notepad) and save this to your computer. Then as you are submitting a request, click on "Add File" in the Attachments section. Click on "Browse", and locate the document on your computer. Once you have selected the document, click "Attach File" followed by "Done". Your file should now show as attached in the request.
Non-urgent requests submitted outside of our normal business hours may not be reviewed until the following business day. Requests that are marked as "urgent" will be reviewed by our after-hours support team and responded to as soon as possible.
Support Hours: Sunday 6pm EST - Friday 6pm EST