Differences

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--- contact [2022/08/17 14:16] – +[Don't send us screenshots of commandline output] Thommen, Frank
+++ contact [2023/11/23 18:36] (current) – removed section regarding support requests Thommen, Frank
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ====== Contact ======
-===== Contact Addresses =====
+{{page>:pub:contact:addresses}}
-<WRAP center centeralign round box 70%>
-**<fs x-large>How to Contact the ODCF</fs>**
-<fs large>**IT related requests (cluster access, software installations, cluster issues, workstation problems, technical issues ecc.)**: \\ <WRAP center hi 60% round><fs large>**mail: [[odcf-itsupport@dkfz-heidelberg.de]]\\ phone: <del>06221 42 3568</del> (currently not operated due to home office)**</fs></WRAP></fs>
-\\
-<fs large>**Requests regarding group management (group changes, new groups), project management (new projects, project changes), project data, sample swaps, DTAs, data access, Aspera, bioinformatics and OTP operation**: \\ <WRAP center hi 60% round><fs large>**mail: [[odcf-service@dkfz-heidelberg.de]]**</fs></WRAP></fs>
-</WRAP>
-===== How to write useful support requests =====
-To avoid time and resource consuming call backs and back-and-forth mails please be complete and informative when writing your support tickets:
-==== Never ever reply to old and unrelated tickets when posting a new issue ====
-<WRAP indent>
-<wrap hi>Always write a fresh-from-scratch mail when reporting a new issue</wrap>.  Replying to old issues will reopen these tickets and a) break the organization and thematical coherency of an issue report and b) might lead to the mail to go unnoticed, as it will be placed in an already solved ticket.  Such postings require time-consuming manual work on our side to disentangle them.
-<wrap hi>Replying by changing the subject doesn't help</wrap>, as the ticketing system recognizes old threads from hidden mail headers, which are preserved when replying. The only situation where you should reply is, when your current issue is clearly still the old one.  <wrap hi>If you are in doubt rather open a new ticket</wrap> and mention the old one.  Merging tickets is much easier then disentangling unrelated ones :-).
-</WRAP>
-==== Use an informative and summarizing email subject ====
-<WRAP indent>
-The email subject is the first thing we see and we use it to quickly classify and prioritize a support ticket.  <wrap hi>Please keep it as concise and complete as possible</wrap>.  We don't mind long subject lines as long as they contain relevant information.
-  * Good: "Running software xyz fails with library dependency error", "Logging in to tbi-worker fails with error 'Connection closed'", "Please install xyz package for R 3.6 on PBS cluster"
-  * Bad: "Software xyz doesn't work", "Can't log in to cluster", "Please install xyz package for R"
-  * Extremely bad: "help, urgent!", "problem", "software installation"
-</WRAP>
-==== Don't mix unrelated topics in a single request ====
-<WRAP indent>
-<wrap hi>Please create an individual ticket for each (unrelated) question</wrap>.  Mixing unrelated topics in a single ticket makes ticket management hard and ineffective for the supporters.
-</WRAP>
-==== Mention base software and platform when asking for software add-ons ====
-<WRAP indent>
-When asking for software add-ons like R or Python packages and Perl modules always let us know <wrap hi>for which version of the base package</wrap> you require the add-on <wrap hi>and on which platform</wrap> (SuSE or CentOS) it is required.
-If you mention it in the subject (which is good!) still repeat the complete request in the mail body.  Email subjects are sometimes changed within the ticketing system to canonicalize them or the make them better searchable.  All relevant content should be contained in the mail body.
-</WRAP>
-==== Help us reproduce your issue ====
-<WRAP indent>
-Help us reproduce your issue (that helps us to test our solution) <wrap hi>by telling us exactly //what// you did</wrap> (commands, scripts, loaded modules) <wrap hi>and //where// you did it</wrap> (hostname, which cluster, which cluster node).
-</WRAP>
-==== Be complete regarding error messages ====
-<WRAP indent>
-Help us to understand your problem by <wrap hi>sending commands //and// resulting error messages or error logs</wrap>.  Unless you are an expert and already know for sure the cause of a problem, then don't try to be smart by trimming error messages or error logs.  Not so rarely the helpful statements are exactly in the cut-out part :-).
-Short (up to 20 to 30 lines) error message can be sent directly in the email.  For output which exceeds around 30 lines please send it in an attached text file.  Please do **not** send us such information as screenshot, image or office document!
-</WRAP>
-==== Don't send us screenshots of commandline output ====
-<WRAP indent>
-If your problem is related to commandline output (Linux terminal, RStudio Workbench sessions ecc.), then please <wrap hi>don't send us screenshots, but the copied text</wrap> in your request.  Screenshots are often not helpful, as we cannot copy-paste commands and error messages from them to reproduce the issue.
-</WRAP>
-==== Don't attach datafiles to your tickets ====
-<WRAP indent>
-Attaching scripts to the ticket is ok, but please don't attach datafiles.  <wrap hi>If you need to send us **data**files then please provide them in some place in the filesystem</wrap> (e.g. in analysis).  As administrators we can access them almost not matter where they are stored.  If you refer to these files in the ticket we will understand this as an approval to access them or to make copies of them for testing purposes. If that isn't the case then please let us know.
-</WRAP>
-===== How update your tickets =====
-As soon as you have received an answer from us, you can simply reply to it.  Please try to keep answers short and readable.  As all communication is stored in the ticketing system, <wrap hi>there is no need to cite the complete previous thread in the answer.  Cut out the non-relevant parts and just keep the parts you are currently answering to</wrap>.
-In cases where you need to update a ticket before you got an answer from us, <wrap hi>you can reply to your own(!) stored sent mail or the Bcc you had sent to yourself</wrap> (don't forget to change the addressee in the latter case).  The ticketing system will recognize the hidden headers and email identifiers (see above) and add your mail to the correct ticket.