The Water Cooler

  • 1.  What is a TAC Engagement?

    Community Manager
    Posted May 05, 2016 08:58 AM

    When you see the below image in a reply from a moderator or community manager it means that we have engaged our TAC support team to help assist with your question. 

     

    tac_engagement_v2b.png  

     

     

    Example:

     

     tac1.png

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    What is TAC Engaged?

     

    TAC is Brocade’s Technical Support Group supporting Brocade products via paid support contracts. TAC and the Brocade Community are currently working together to support a percentage of questions that the Community is unable to answer. The Brocade Community is another tool our customers can utilize to find answers to their questions quickly and effectively.

     

    • TAC Support within the Brocade Community is not a replacement for a valid support contract with Brocade.
    • TAC is an additional channel for our community to receive best-in-class support for Brocade products.

     

     What to Expect?

     

    We will notify you with a response to your post that TAC will be engaging you to help answer your question (example shown above). TAC may need additional information about your hardware/software, and to ensure your privacy, will reach out via email to collection this information. The TAC engineers will then work with you until your case is resolved. Please note that you DO NOT have to have an active support contract in place to receive help from TAC through the community. However, there are some instances where contractual obligations will affect how TAC assists you.

     

    What TAC Engagement cannot assist with?

    • Assets that are End of Life/End of Support (EOL/EOS)
    • Assets that are currently contracted under an OEM provider (IBM, HDS, EMC, DELL, etc.)
    • Replacing assets without a support contract in place

     

     

    FAQs

     

    Do I need a support contract for TAC to assist with my forum question?

     

    You do not need an active support contract in place to receive help from TAC in the community. In this situation TAC will be providing "best effort" support in helping you resolve the issue. However, there are some instances where contractual obligations will affect how TAC assists you. For example, TAC will not be able to replace any hardware without a support contract in place.

     

    What happens after my issue is resolved?

     

    After your case is resolved, we will post the solution back to the community, where you will then be able to accept the solution and help other customers that have the same question.

     

    What if I need hardware replaced?

     

    If you have an active support contract, TAC will be able to replace the hardware for you. If you do not have an active support contract, you will be referred to Maintenance Contracts (MC) for a quote. If you choose to purchase a support contract, you can then contact your TAC engineer to setup the hardware replacement.

     

    Why is TAC support handled through email instead of in the community?

     

    This is a pilot program for us, and because TAC needs confidential information from you to open a case, it is better to collect that information via email, rather than post it on a public forum (the emails will also be linked to your case). As TAC and the Brocade Community continue to streamline this process, we hope to make the collection of information seamless, so we can better assist our members in the community. 

     

    What if I have a support contract through an OEM?

     

    Since you have an OEM support contract, you are contractually obligated to contact that OEM manufacturer first for support. If needed, they will contact Brocade Support to assist; that being said, we still encourage you to post on the community, as other members may be able to answer question.


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