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
  • 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
  • Info about the Problem/Environment
  • Related SW product and version: Specify IBM product involved, its version & edition, fix pack level,
  • Related Operating system information: OS details, Hardware type, any other s/w involved in the issue etc.
  • 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 Level / Further Definitions / Examples
Severity 1 /
  • Critical situation/system down
  • Business critical software component is inoperable
  • as a rule applies to production environment
  • Critical interface has failed
/
  • All users of Tivoli Problem Mgmt are unable to register a call.
  • The Lotus Notes mail server is down and affecting all users.

Severity 2 / Severe impact: A software component is severely restricted in its use, causing significant business impact /
  • All users of Tivoli Problem Management receive a database manager error while attempting to view open problems

Severity 3 / Moderate impact: A non-critical software component is malfunctioning, causing moderate business impact. /
  • A client cannot connect to a server

Severity 4 / Minimal impact: A non-critical software component is malfunctioning, causing minimal impact, or a non-technical request is made. /
  • Documentation is incorrect.
  • Additional documentation requested

Step – 2: Post that info into the PMR

Method 1: Through ESR Website:

Follow this link & post the data. You’d 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).

Method 2: Through e-mail:

Post the above information (see step 1) to nd (you need to copy only on first mail till you get the PMR number. On sunsequent technical discussions, you don’t need copy to them).

Please see mail template at the end of this document.

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

Call 1800 425 6666or 080 26788970and 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, you’d need to re-open the PMR. And its simple, just send a mail to:

citing your closed PMR number. Make sure you execute this option before it is permanently archived. If so, you’d need to open a fresh PMR all over again.

Additional Information

That’s 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 :

Online tour of the ESR System/Website:

How to use ESR? :

ESR FAQs :

ESR tool:

Please download the PDF file from the below weblink which provides detailed information on ESR Tool:

Before contacting IBM:

Tech Support contact numbers in Asia Pacific:

For India, it is 1800-425-6666 toll-free (or) +91 080-26788970

Webcast replay: ESR problem submission tool:

Webcast replay: IBM Support Assistant V2.0:

Overview of IBM support offerings:

IBM Software Support Lifecycle:

(Use this to verify the support discontinuance dates for YOUR products & YOUR version)

(Or)

Software Support website URL:

Rational support URL:

WebSphere App Server Support URL:

WebSphere MQ Support URL:

DB2 Support URL:

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 isn’t 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 bereached if requested is voice
Related SW product and version
Related Operating systeminformation
Brief description of the problem
Severity of the issue inrelationship to the impact of itaffecting your business needs.