Escalation Policy and Timeline

In the event of a Severity 1 Critical issue being reported, there is an independent escalation process that takes place to ensure the right level of management awareness and technical resources are applied to the issue, if not already engaged.

The following is the escalation process for customers with at least a 7x24 Gold contract with a Severity 1 Critical issues and Customer Requested Escalations:

How often can I expect updates on an escalation?

As the escalation is initiated, the assigned technical support engineer will work with you to determine a communication plan that fits your needs. Agreements will be made on communication mode (email, phone call, or conference call), frequency, and required attendees for all updates. If required, the Customer Service Director or other Service leaders will attend any scheduled conference calls to ensure satisfaction with the current progress.

Can Quantum engage other vendors if required?

Quantum StorageCare Technical Support Engineers and Escalation Managers have the ability to engage other vendors via TSANet (Technical Support Alliance Network). For this to be utilized, the customer will be required to open a support ticket with that vendor and provide standard problem details. Once that is done, the call reference can be passed to Quantum support who will engage with that vendor.

How do I close an escalated service request?

Once the support request is back on track and making acceptable progress toward resolution, it can be de-escalated. Before the escalated service request is closed, the Escalation Manager, if assigned, or the Support Engineer will complete the following tasks:

• Confirm that the action plan is acceptable
• Ensure that the troubleshooting or root cause analysis process is on track
• Document in the support request your agreement to de-escalate the service request
• The agreed to communication plan is adjusted as appropriate

Service Request Resources

Knowledge Base

• Search Quantum’s extensive library of information to get the answer to your question fasts
• From Quantum’s support home page http://qsupport.quantum.com/kb/ select Knowledge Base

Online Service Request

• Quantum’s Online Service Request System allows you to log and track service requests on all of your eligible Quantum products.
• In addition, you can add attachments and receive email updates on service request real-time.
• Quantum’s Online Service Request System allows you to easily manage your service requests with Quantum.
• Go to https://onlineservice.quantum.com/OA_HTML/xxibu/jtflogin.jsp to access Quantum’s Online Service Request tool.

Quantum Severity Level Descriptions

Severity Level	Description	Examples
Critical	Production use of the covered Quantum product is stopped or so severely impacted that critical business functions cannot be performed.	Quantum product is 100% down Quantum product problem is preventing the customer from accessing the system or their data (e.g., DXi Blockpool Verify operation, one or more StorNext filesystems not accessible, etc.) Any data loss and/or data corruption
Major	Quantum product is able to perform standard functions, but the product performance or functionality is severely degraded or limited.	Quantum product GUI is not accurately reflecting status on key values that the customer uses to effectively manage their operations A component failure that could result in a Data Unavailable/Data Loss (DUDL) event if the redundant component fails (e.g., disk drive failure, redundant controller failure, redundant robot failure, etc.)
Minor	Quantum product is experiencing a minor loss of service, anomaly, or cosmetic defect that inflicts little or no business impact. Resolution may require a workaround or hardware/software upgrade to mitigate the problem.	Non-critical component failure (e.g., single tape drive in a multi-drive library product) Component expiration alert (e.g., battery) Non-critical GUI value is inaccurate General customer question Product documentation is inaccurate Enhancement request