Preparing to Raise a Support Case

We recommend that you follow the guidelines presented here to prepare to log a support case.

All Problems

The following is good practice for gathering information about your problem so you can pass it on to OpenText Support for Micro Focus Products. This information is required for all support cases:

OpenText product serial number
To locate your product serial number, look in the subject line and body of either your Electronic Delivery Receipt email or OpenText Software Activation Information email that you received from OpenText when you activated or got a license key.
Computer make and model
You should be able to find this information somewhere on your physical computer.
Product and environment information

When dealing with your support case, an OpenText engineer may ask for any of the following information regarding your environment and the products used within it:

  • The amount of memory in your computer
  • Computer storage capacity
  • Details of your operating system
  • Set environment variables
  • Running processes
  • Status of services
  • Details of any networking software you are using
  • The names, release numbers, install dates, and install locations of all OpenText products
  • The names, release numbers, install dates, and install locations of all non-OpenText products
  • OpenText entries in the registry
  • OpenText licensing information
Details about your problem
When you raise a support case, you are asked to provide the following as you log the case:
  • An accurate subject line that briefly and succinctly describes your problem, rather than a more general and less useful description.
  • A full description that provides:
    • Context for the problem
    • Your own observations and knowledge
    • Step-by-step instructions that your OpenText engineer can follow to reproduce the problem
    • For compilation problems, compiler directive options used

Easily reproducible problems

An easily reproducible problem is one that occurs reliably when using the product. For these, in addition to the information outlined in the All Problems section above, be ready to provide a zipped copy of your project and/or source code to enable OpenText to reproduce the problem quickly and easily.

Complex problems

Complex problems are classified as infrequent problems in production systems, or problems based on random timing and factors. Resolution often requires low-level analysis, review of logs and traces, and possible multiple iterations.

In addition to those listed in the All problems section above, use these best practices for more complex problems to significantly improve the likelihood that your OpenText engineer can give you a quick and satisfactory response. Cases that receive the best support responses include the following:

  • The full description provided when you log your case includes details such as:
    • Chronology
    • Symptoms
    • Configuration specifications
    • Workload levels
    • What else was happening in the environment at the time
    • Any third-party software involved
  • A zipped archive of the source code in development when the problem occurs

The Raising and Managing Support Cases section provides detailed information on how to log a support case, and how a Support for Micro Focus Products engineer can help you to resolve your problem.