Why is there a need to fill in the online form?
To be able to diagnose your issue and provide a quick solution, we need to understand the environment into which you have installed SQL-RD. We need to understand it as well as you do. To do this, we need to ask a number of questions. Because of the varied and complex environments into which SQL-RD is regularly installed, this involves a large number of questions. In order to minimize the number of emails which would go back and forth between us and you whilst we attempt to envisage and recreate their environments, we ask all the questions in one go on the support form. Experience has shown that this method cuts down time to resolution from many days or even weeks to a number of hours.
What do ChristianSteven do with the information?
We use it to set up a test rig to mimic your exact environment and attempt to replicate the problem. Once we are able to see the problem happening, we can usually find a resolution quickly. Again, experience has taught us that "stab in the dark" suggestions do not resolve issues. To effect a resolution, we need to understand he problem first. We use the answers to the questions to help us understand the problem.
Why must I fill it in again every time?
Problems are dealt with by Support staff who are expert in that particular type of problem. For example, an email related problem, and one about logon credentials in sub-reports are dealt with by two different people. That way we utilize the knowledge and experience of our staff in the areas where they best serve you. Your problems are not all dealt with by the same person and we need to give each expert the same opportunity to understand your environment, replicate the problem and effect the right solution quickly.
Why do your questions imply that I should be solving the problems myself?
Our technical support team support SQL-RD - and nothing else. All other aspects of your environment - Crystal Reports, Windows, Network, Database, Security, etc. are pre-requisites as described in the Pre-requisites document and we do not support these. We only support SQL-RD. However, rather than simply abandon you, our form helps you to identify which parts of your environment might be contributing to your issue and suggests how you could repair it.
Some of the questions my seem trivial, For example, "Have you looked in the error log", but in fact are not. In this example, it is important because not only does SQL-RD write errors to the error log, but on a majority of errors, it actually tells you what is causing the problem, and suggests what to do to resolve the issue. It is in effect "built - in help". Looking in the error log can help speed up your problem resolution time especially if you have a deadline to meet. It is for the same reasons that we ask you to look in the online knowledgebase, or to browse through the online users forum.
