Support Assistance

Support

Guide to Using Pervasive Support

Before Contacting Technical Support

In many situations, you can find answers to your technical questions without calling Technical Support. Pervasive’s electronic support services can help you isolate a problem, solve it, or determine if you have encountered a known defect. By checking sources like the Pervasive Knowleadge Base, you may also find an answer to your situation.

Determine the Nature of the Problem

Before calling for assistance, try to determine the cause of the problem by answering the following questions:

What behavior are you experiencing? What behavior do you expect?
When was the last time the software worked properly? When was the problem first observed? What was changed in your environment in the interim? (installing software, changing configuration, etc.)
When did the problem occur? When does the problem not occur? What is different between those situations?
How extensive or localized is the problem? What is the difference between the elements that exhibit the problem and those that don’t?
How critical is this problem to your development or deployment? Can you work around it until a fix is found?
Is there a better way to implement the software that would make the problem disappear?

Isolate the Problem
After determining the problem, take steps to isolate it as specifically as possible.

Determine the precise steps required to consistently reproduce the problem.
Remove all the variables, objects, tables, relationships, etc., that are not essential to the existence of the problem.

Self-Help Options

The self Help Support Center offer many self-help support features that are available, 24 hours a day, including our Knowledge Base, Support Forums, product updates and patches, FAQ, online manuals, technical papers and more. We recommend that you visit our Self-Help Support Center for full options.

What Is a Service Ticket?

Pervasive tracks every question or request for assistance that your technical support contact makes to the Technical Support Center as a service ticket. A service ticket is a single technical question or instance of a problem. For example, if you call with questions relating to both the Pervasive PSQL 2000i and another relating to Pervasive V8, we will approach them as two separate service tickets. Each service ticket receives a reference number, called a service ticket number, which allows us to prioritize and track your problem effectively. Be sure to record the number of your question or request for assistance so that you can reference it for future calls. With the service ticket number, you may also check the status of a service ticket online.

Case Prioritization

Case priorities are assigned based on problem urgency and the effect on your business. The priority of the case determines the targeted initial response time. Please explain the impact that the case has on your project, as it will allow your Technical Support contact and the Technical Support engineer to best address the problem for your organization. Properly prioritizing cases also helps balance the workload appropriately within Technical Support, ensuring that our entire customer base enjoys efficient resolution to technical issues.

Who Can Log A Case

Pervasive Software offers three levels of technical support dedicated to resolving your support questions quickly and thoroughly. Pervasive's support options include telephone, Web-based and account management support.

Free Options and Chargeable Services

Basic Support includes 30 days of complimentary support and unlimited access to Pervasive’s Web-based support, where you’ll find answers to frequently asked questions, technical tips and maintenance releases. You’ll also have access to our comprehensive Knowledge Base – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Depending on your support contract, your company may register one or more authorized Technical Support contacts. These contacts are the only people authorized to contact the Technical Support Center with questions. Authorized technical support contacts are established to protect your company and your software, ensuring that only people you authorize can request that we investigate or make modifications to your system. The number of Technical Support contacts you are allowed depends on the support plan your company has chosen. You may add more support contacts, purchase the option of additional support contacts, or upgrade to a higher level of support that offers more contacts.

Logging Your Case

When you need to log a case with Technical Support, please have all pertinent information in hand to expedite case resolution. You can use this Technical Support Checklist to organize your information.

Product number and serial number for us to quickly know your product.

Version number/Service pack level.

Messages displayed around the time this situation occurred.

Has this happened before? Can it be re-created?

How long has this been going on?

Operating system and patch level?

When did this happen?

Were there any possible changes before or around the time this occurred? (such as new or changes to the product or related hardware/software or accessories).

Log your case electronically using our online services. Or phone your case in to your nearest Technical Support Center or the center included with your support information.

Once your case has been logged, it will be assigned a service ticket number and an appropriate Technical Support engineer. Be sure to record your service ticket number on your Technical Support Checklist. This number is your quick-reference number to all information about your question.

Resolving Your Case / Response Times

When calling Technical Support, we will first verify your support ID and record background details on the case, including the priority. Response times vary according to the priority of the case and the terms of your support agreement.

Sometimes resolving a case during the initial call is not possible. Additional information may be needed, or the initial discussion may indicate that different expertise is required to resolve your case or verify a potential product defect. If this different expertise is required, the Technical Support engineer will transfer the case to an engineer with the appropriate knowledge base and will inform you of the change.

If you have additional information about your case, you can update your case at any time by looking at your service ticket Status. If you have additional information about your case, you can update your case here or by calling the Technical Support Center nearest you. Please provide your service ticket number to expedite your phone call and to make sure the additional information is recorded accurately.

Reporting Product Defects

If you are reporting a potential product defect, the Technical Support engineer will check to see if your problem has been reported previously and if a fix is available. If it is not a known bug, the Technical Support engineer will attempt to replicate the problem. This duplication may require the engineer to log on to your system (with your approval), obtain code from you, or use the error message and other information you provide to resolve the problem. Once the problem is duplicated, Technical Support will send the information to the appropriate software business unit for final verification that a product defect exists. Your support engineer will notify you when a product defect has been confirmed and will let you know what the next steps will be toward resolving your case.

If you are on the Service Ticket Plan and are reporting a bug you would like assistance with, this call will count as one of your cases. If you want to only report the bug and do not require assistance on it, no case will be used.

Closing Your Case

A case is closed when you and the support engineer agree that a resolution has been reached. Your case may be closed because:

The information and/or software provided by the Technical Support engineer has answered your question
You tell the Technical Support engineer that the case is no longer an issue
You and the Technical Support engineer agree that your problem is a result of a problem that cannot be isolated

Customer Quotes

“Pervasive exceeded our expectations by providing exceptional customer service...”

--Sanjay Gupta, Director of Outfront Development, Primal Billing