How to raise a PMR to IBM

The PMR (Problem Maintenance Report) is a tracking mechanism common to all IBM
software related issues. PMR is common to all kinds of issues like queries, doubts,
problems, product bugs etc.

Step 1: Keep this info handy

IBM Customer Number (7-digit). This will be in the license document.

Info about you & your company
o Customer/Company name
o Customer Contact name
o Preferred means of contact (voice or email)
o Email address :
o Telephone number where you can be reached if requested is voice
Info about the Problem/Environment
o Related SW product and version: Specify IBM product involved, its
version & edition, fix pack level,
o Related Operating system information: OS details, Hardware type, any
other s/w involved in the issue etc.
o Brief description of the problem (You may be elaborate to avoid
clarification cycles). Make sure to describe the steps you did (in a problem
reproducible fashion) or the alternatives/workarounds you tried.
Severity of the issue in relationship to the impact of it affecting your business
needs.
For a summary of this essential pieces of information to raise a proper PMR, and to
use a table template to be readily usable in e-mail requests, please refer to the last
page.

Refer to below guideline to map the severity of your problem to our 1-4 scale.

Severity
Further Definitions Examples
Level
 Severity 1 Critical All users of Tivoli
situation/system Problem Mgmt are
down unable to register a call.
Business critical
software component The Lotus Notes mail
is inoperable server is down and
as a rule applies to affecting all users.
production
environment

Critical interface has

failed

Severity 2 Severe impact: A software All users of Tivoli

component is severely Problem Management
restricted in its use, causing receive a database
significant business impact manager error while
attempting to view open
problems

Severity 3 Moderate impact: A non- A client cannot connect

critical software component to a server
is malfunctioning, causing
moderate business impact.

Severity 4 Minimal impact: A non- Documentation is

critical software component incorrect.
is malfunctioning, causing
minimal impact, or a non- Additional
technical request is made. documentation
requested

Step 2: Post that info into the PMR

Method 1: Through ESR Website:
Follow this link & post the data. Youd need the IBM.com user ID to login here. IBM
user ID is an e-mail ID and password you can create for yourself. You can post the PMR
on behalf of the company to whom you affiliate yourself with. The company primary
contact can self-nominate him/her and then add/nominate any number of secondary
contacts (ibm.com account ids).

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/support/pa.html

Method 2: Through e-mail:

Post the above information (see step 1) to iproduct@in.ibm.com
rccindia@in.ibm.comandcopysmcindia@in.ibm.com(youneed
tocopyonlyonfirstmailtillyougetthePMRnumber.On
sunsequenttechnicaldiscussions,youdontneedcopyto
them).

Pleaseseemailtemplateattheendofthisdocument.

Method 3: Through Telephone (for sev 1 issues only):

Call 18004256666 or 08026788970 and provide above information (see step 1).
Its use is reserved for Severity 1 & Priority 1 issues that crop up during off-shift hours.

How to Re-Open a Closed PMR

There could be times where you dint respond to the PMR team to revert back on your
part may be sending some log files or must gather docs, or doing core file FTP. To limit
the number of active PMRs to the ones that really need constant focus from the finite
support specialists, your PMR will be moved to a Closed state. All data in it and all the
history will be retailed for about next 20 days or so, after which only it will be finally
archived/deleted.

In that mean time, if you think your issue cropped up again, or you have the files and
want to send it to IBM, youd need to re-open the PMR. And its simple, just send a mail
to:
reopen_pmr@mainz.ibm.com
citing your closed PMR number. Make sure you execute this option before it is
permanently archived. If so, youd need to open a fresh PMR all over again.

Additional Information

Thats all. Once the PMR is logged, it is tracked by PMR number and multiple experts
will be working on it. You may need to co-operate by providing additional information as
requested on need basis, and to implement the self-help instructions to be provided time
to time and update the remote team on progress.

ESR Overview :
http://www-306.ibm.com/software/support/help.html

Online tour of the ESR System/Website:

http://www.ibm.com/software/support/sitetours.html

How to use ESR? :

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/support/help-esr.html

ESR FAQs :
http://www-306.ibm.com/software/support/help-faq.html
ESR tool:
http://www-306.ibm.com/software/support/pa.html

Please download the PDF file from the below weblink which provides detailed
information on ESR Tool:
http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?
rs=177&context=SSEQTJ&q1=apache+http+server+version&uid=swg27006656&loc=e
n_US&cs=utf-8&lang=en

Before contacting IBM:

http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/guides/beforecontacting.html

Tech Support contact numbers in Asia Pacific:

http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/guides/cnts_asiapacific.html
For India, it is 1800-425-6666 toll-free (or) +91 080-26788970

Webcast replay: ESR problem submission tool:

http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27006656

Webcast replay: IBM Support Assistant V2.0:

http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27007200

Overview of IBM support offerings:

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/support/offerings.html

IBM Software Support Lifecycle:

(Use this to verify the support discontinuance dates for YOUR products & YOUR
version)
http://www-306.ibm.com/software/support/lifecycle/
(Or)
http://www-306.ibm.com/software/support/lifecycle/index_a_z.html

Software Support website URL:

http://www.ibm.com/software/support

Rational support URL:

http://www.ibm.com/software/awdtools/developer/application/support/index.html

WebSphere App Server Support URL:

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/webservers/appserv/was/support/

WebSphere MQ Support URL:

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/integration/wmq/support/

DB2 Support URL:

 http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/db2/udb/support/

Problem Identification Worksheet

Giving the Problem Identification Worksheet to the concerned administrator or technical

contact person, and getting it filled BEFORE filling out the ESR form, saves lot of time
in clarifications and helps IBM support to start with good amount of understanding.
 PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION WORKSHEET
Complete this form before calling Technical Support

This form helps you identify problems and assists IBM Technical Support in finding solutions.

System Information

What is the failing product? _______________________________________________________

What is the version and release number?_____________________________________________

What machine model, operating system, and version are running?_________________________

Problem Description

What are the expected results?_____________________________________________________

What statement or command is being used? __________________________________________

What are the exact symptoms and syntax? ___________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

What is or isnt happening, including exact error number and message text? _________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Is anyone else experiencing the problem? ____________________________________________

Is this the first time this operation has been attempted? _________________________________

Is this the first time this problem has occurred?________________________________________

Environment

When did this activity work last? ___________________________________________________

What has changed since the activity last worked? ______________________________________

__ Hardware type/model __ Application

__ Operating system/version __ Level of usage

__ New product version/release __ Maintenance applied

If the problem does not occur every time, under what conditions does the problem not occur?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Is there any other software running on the system which may be conflicting with this product?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Problem Isolation

Identify the specific feature of the software causing the problem.__________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Can the problem be reproduced? If so, please provide a reproducible test case or instructions on
how to reproduce the error condition________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________
Email template & Summary of necessary Information
Summary of this essential pieces of information to raise a proper PMR, and table
template to be readily usable in e-mail requests.

IBM Customer Number (7-digit)

Customer/Company name

Customer Contact name

Preferred means of contact (voice

or email)

Email address
Telephone number where you can
be reached if requested is voice

Related SW product and version

Related Operating system
information
Brief description of the problem
Severity of the issue in
relationship to the impact of it
affecting your business needs.