B1 Usability Package - Anatomy of an Support Ticket

So you have an issue with the B1 Usability Package?
This article is an overview of the process of identifying the issue and why Boyum Support reacts the way we do and why we ask what we ask.

Why do you ask all these questions instead of just fixing my issue / why do you try and "blame" the issue on others?

We are the first to admit when the issue is our bad and will help you as much as possible, but if you are asked further questions there is a good deal of history and experience behind that (it is not just to delay you, but to truly help you).

Here are some statistics on 1 year of B1UP Support Tickets (recorded May 2020 - May 2021)

As you can see, 3% of all tickets are actually bugs in our code, but there can be many other reasons for you having an issue that no matter how much we change on our end will not fix:

• 13% of all issues we see are due to SAP bugs. In such a case we help you log an SAP ticket once you have tested and confirmed you have reproduced the issue on the latest SAP version (aka the reason we sometimes ask for that)
• 13% of all issues we see are due to 3rd party infrastructure (Wrongly setup windows, DI-API, SMTP Servers, Internet Issues, etc.). These are the reason we often ask you to take a copy of a database and test in a test-environment
• 24% of all issues we see are due to misconfigurations. B1UP is a complex product and can be tricky to configure due to its open-ended nature. It is based on that, that we often ask to turn everything but the issue feature off or ask you to do a simple example case.
• the last 34% of tickets we get are due to something else (feature requests, not determined, sales/license questions, etc.)

The point being is that it is only in 3% of cases we actually change any code, so when an issue comes in there is a high chance that issue is something only resolved by involving others than Boyum Support, and based on our experience we try and point in the most likely direction to get the issue fixed as fast as possible.

The importance of Machine specific vs Database Specific issues
So as we see above not every issue is in the code... So when an unknown issue arises the Machine vs Database Specific reproduce method is the best way to narrow down the issue as based on the result the "remedy" can be very different. 

So when we ask this, it is to not chase down a wrong solution path and waste the customer's time.

The importance of testing on the latest SAP/B1UP version

Another important test we might ask you to perform is running on the latest SAP and B1UP version, again to narrow down what the issue could be and if it is already fixed. Having tried on the latest version also reduces the future test-time should we need a copy of the database.

How to get the best support?

Here are a few tips to getting the best support:

1. Do the Database Specific vs System Specific test before you log the ticket and tell us that you did it. It will greatly help us narrow down the issue.
2. Do the Latest SAP / B1UP Version test making it easier to try and reproduce the issue.
3. Write in English/Take Screenshot in English (if you write in another language you will be asked to ask it in English instead as we do not do non-English support)
4. Always include the steps to reproduce the issue / include a video on how to reproduce the video allowing us to fully understand the issue.
5. Always test if the issue only happened once/with a certain type of data or it happens in all cases
6. Always test if it happens to all users or just a single user (and if only single users if it happens on multiple machines)
7. Always include screenshots of involved configurations you made
8. Always ensure issues are not reproducible without B1UP running