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Requesting Help from ITS Database Administration

Table of Contents

Introduction

To facilitate the best service response from Database Administration we are requesting that you follow certain practices and procedures when requesting services as well as reporting critical problems. The UNC Request for Service Remedy application is the best way to contact Database Administration (DA) in either situation. We also encourage the use of the Project Tracking System for work requests for DA associated with larger projects.

Remedy Request Guidelines

Please follow the guidelines below when requesting work via the Remedy Request for Service application.

Severity

Pay close attention to the severity of the ticket. Here are our guidelines for choosing the severity:

Important - As the default setting, most work requests should come in at this level, and allows up to 4 hours for a response. Please note that this is four business hours, so requests made at 4 pm may not be responded to until 11 the next day.
General - Work requests which have a response and a completion schedule which is the least time sensitive, up to 3 days. We do try to respond to them prior to that time.
Critical - You should be available by phone until a DBA responds. If you are not available, we will downgrade the severity to important. This should be chosen when any of the following apply:
The problem is in a production database and requires immediate attention, or must be completed by close of business the same day.

The problem is not in a production database, but does negatively impact critical customer testing, training, etc.
Advanced notice of this testing or training is strongly preferred, unless the database is a training database. The advanced notice should be made via an email to the DBA responsible for the application with a copy to Chris_Kaman@unc.edu.

Phone Number

Please be sure your phone number is the phone number where you can be contacted. If you are not at your workstation, please be sure to specify a number where you can be reached.

No Emails

All communication should take place via the Remedy ticket. Emails concerning a ticket which are sent outside of Remedy cause communication gaps which may cause further delay or misinterpretation of the request by other DBAs who may assist due to the workload of the DBA or the unavailability of the DBA due to illness, vacation, etc.

Clear Schedules

Please state any scheduling information in the ticket, such as when you would like the work to be done. Please do not set up tickets for work prior to 30 days of the completion date. If you wish to communicate schedules for upcoming work beyond 30 days, please feel free to do so via email with your assigned DBA. Use of the Project Tracking System is another good way to get on our radar prior to this 30 day time period.

Current Status

It would be helpful to us if you would update the ticket status to Pending Analyst when you have made some response which the DBA requested. We will mark the ticket Pending Customer when we are waiting for you to make such a response.

Be Specific

Please be as specific as possible in your requests, specific as to what you want done, in what database. The more general you are, the more time it will take for one of the DBAs to determine what you want.

Problem Description

Please put a very brief statement in the problem description, and a more detailed explanation of the request in the work log. The short description field is not the best place for the work request; it must be set to certain values defined for our group in order to close out a ticket.

Further Assistance

If there is a problem with the Remedy system, and you are unable to use it, please call the Control Center and ask that they contact the on-call DBA. This should be done only for a critical problem.

If you have any questions or concerns about Database Administration, please feel free to contact Chris Kaman by phone at 919.445-9370 or by email at Chris_Kaman@unc.edu. Thanks for working with us to provide the best support we can.

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