Case management process (legacy)

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Important

This content was effective prior March 25, 2021. See Coveo Customer Support and Success Guide for the latest version of the guide.

  • Coveo Support assigns unique case numbers to all customer requests for help. These case numbers allow Support to prioritize and track all cases through resolution, and allows the customer to get a status update of their case via the web based Customer Community.

  • All cases are assigned a severity level, and are placed in a queue to be processed by the next available Product Specialist. Coveo Product Specialists take ownership of your case and see it through to successful resolution. See the following section, Case severity levels and response times for more details.

  • The Product Specialist will contact the customer and gather any additional information needed and will investigate to determine the proper course of action. This may require the Specialist to reproduce the issue, work with our Coveo Development Team, work with the customer on their configuration of the software, etc.

  • If the Product Specialist determines that the issue requires a fix to the software, the Specialist will notify the appropriate development team. When a fix is made available from the Development Team, the Product Specialist will notify the customer of its availability.

Prior to logging a case you may want to review these helpful tips:

  • Use the product help accessed through the Coveo Usage Analytics (Coveo UA) Platform user interface.

  • Check release notes and self-service Knowledge base solutions on the online help.

  • Try to see if the problem is reproducible.

  • Note any recent changes to your system and environment.

  • Coveo no longer accepts cases originating from an email. Support cases must be logged through the online community and by phone for severity 1 cases.

Coveo system status

We strongly recommend you subscribe to our Coveo System Status page here: status.cloud.coveo.com

You will receive real-time alerts for any system downtime, its associated resolution and any planned maintenance.

Also, please know our infrastructure is hosted on Amazon Web Services and we strongly recommend you subscribe to their system status service as well. You can do that here: AWS Service Health Dashboard.

Contacting support

Support region Hours of operation
Local time		 Languages supported Phone numbers for critical (Sev1) issues
North America 6 AM to 9 PM EST Monday to Friday English, French +1.866.266.1583 or
+1.418.266.1583
EMEA -
Europe, Middle East, Africa		 11 AM to 2 AM GMT
Monday to Friday		 English, French 00800 5008 0900


Notes

  • Log your case using the case management on the Coveo Community.

  • Severity Level 1 tickets (see below) are covered by Support 24/7/365, including any holiday.

  • Severity Level 1 tickets must always be submitted by phone to the numbers listed above after opening a ticket. During operation hours, you will reach an agent directly. Outside of operation hours, you will reach a voicemail where you may leave a message so that an agent can get back to you respecting our initial response time (see Case response times).

  • Severity Levels 2 to 4 tickets (see below) are covered during the above hours of operation, except for Christmas, January 1st, and Labor Day.

Case severity levels and response times

All cases logged with Coveo Support are assigned a severity level from 1 to 4 based on the service impact on your business. Severity levels may be changed after initial contact and assessment of the issue by a Coveo Product Specialist, providing the customer is in agreement.

See the following table for severity level definitions and the targeted initial response time for Coveo Support. It’s helpful to clearly explain the business impact of your issue when you contact Coveo Support.

Case severity levels

Severity level Description
1
Critical Service Impact		 A critical service impact occurs when:
  1. There's a Downtime;
  2. You discover an active Security Incident, a high-impact vulnerability or a medium or higher vulnerability (as defined under the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS));
  3. The Usage Analytics services don't record any search-related Event.
2
Major Service Impact		 A major service impact occurs when the Product isn't operating as designed for most users and no reasonable workaround is available. The Product may be operating but is severely restricted. A Severity Level 2 issue could have the following characteristics:
  1. A Severity Level 1 issue is affecting non-production environments;
  2. Indexing service isn't functional;
  3. Discrepancies between the search results and the content of the index;
  4. Coveo administration interface isn't functional;
  5. Usage Analytics records Events but the data is inaccessible or incomplete;
  6. Performance degradation of the Search Response Time.
3
Minor Service Impact		 A minor service impact occurs when Product features are unavailable, but a workaround exists and the majority of software functions are still usable. Minor function or feature failure that you can easily circumvent or avoid. A Severity Level 3 issue could have the following characteristics:
  1. Indexing service slowness;
  2. Index browser not loading;
  3. Changing sort options issues;
  4. Any low impact vulnerability (as defined under the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS))
4
Requests		 Any question or request where no issue is affecting Product function. For example, a request for information on how to use a particular feature, a general question or requests for documentation or enhancements. A Severity Level 4 issue could have the following characteristics:
  1. General requests for advice on product usage;
  2. Clarification on product documentation or release notes;
  3. Request for a change that can't be performed by the customer;
  4. A product enhancement request.

Case response times

Severity level Initial response - Basic Initial response - Plus Initial response - Premium
1 4 hours1 2 hours1 1 hour1
2 8 hours 4 hours 2 hours
3 12 hours 12 hours 6 hours
4 24 hours 24 hours 12 hours

Severity level 1 case process

To ensure Severity Level 1 case response time commitments are met, a customer must follow these steps:

  1. Log a case using the Coveo Community.

  2. Immediately contact Coveo Support by telephone to trigger initial response time commitment:

    • For US and Canada customers, please dial 1.866.266.1583;

    • For International customers, please call 1.418.266.1583.

  3. Coveo Support will immediately assess the issue and proceed to resolve the case based on that assessment and the initial response time commitment.

Closing a case

Support cases remain open until the customer is satisfied that the case can be closed. When a support case requires a new product update before it can be closed, the case will remain open with Coveo, and the customer will be contacted when the update is available.

Coveo will close support cases when customers don’t respond to many follow-up requests for information. Typically, two follow up emails or phone calls will be made over four business days and if no response is received, the support case will be automatically closed.

Re-opening a case

If the case was closed in the last 30 days, the case can be re-opened by clicking Request Reopen through the Coveo Connect Community. The agent who was assigned to the case will act following our usual commitments.

If the case is closed for more than 30 days, the button won’t be available, and it can’t be re-opened. We recommend opening a new case and referring to the old case number.

Case escalation process and guidelines

While we strive to meet all your needs and resolve your issues in a timely manner, we recognize that at times a critical issue may arise that requires special attention. If you’re not satisfied with the progress of your case you can request that the issue be escalated.

This section outlines the steps in requesting additional visibility and managerial awareness for specific support cases. The escalation process goal is to assist customers in providing expedited support for cases that require more attention than the regular case management process.

What’s an escalation?

An escalation is a request from a customer concerning a specific case that’s currently under investigation by Coveo Support. The customer has a case that’s business-critical and requires a faster resolution than what’s provided in the standard resolution process.

Who can request an escalation?

Any person in the following positions can request the escalation of a case with Coveo Support:

  • Primary case owner;

  • Coveo Administrator, Developer, Partner, or other community user entitled to Coveo Support;

  • Customer Success Manager;

  • Customer Manager;

  • Support Manager;

  • Product Specialist.

What kind of issues can be escalated?

All cases are tracked in Coveo’s system by severity. All cases except for Severity 4 issues are eligible for escalation and feature requests (see Case management process). Feature requests and product improvements are reviewed by the Coveo’s Product Management team and don’t fall under the criteria for an escalation.

A request for escalation should only be made after the standard case management process has been given an appropriate amount of time to a resolution or feasible workaround. See the guidelines below for determining the appropriate amount of time prior to requesting an escalation.

Case severity level Allowed time before escalation

1

1 day

2

2 business days

3

5 business days

4

Not eligible for escalation

Requesting an escalation?

There are two ways to request an escalation on a support case:

By phone

Customers needing to request an escalation can call the Coveo Support hotline, depending on their location:

  • US and Canada: 1-866-266-1583;

  • International: +1-418-266-1583.

Note

Regular support office hours are from 6 AM to 9 PM Eastern Time (ET). Escalations will be accepted during standard business hours from 8 AM to 5 PM ET.

Via the Coveo Support Community

Customers wanting to request an escalation via Coveo Connect must:

  1. Log in to Coveo Connect.

  2. Access the My Cases section.

  3. Select the case to be escalated.

  4. Click Request an escalation.

  5. Fill in the justification form.

  6. Submit the escalation.

What happens when a case is escalated?

The following table describes the escalation process path chart:

Step 1: Request Step 2: Identification Step 3: Resolution cycle Step 4: Closure
  1. The client identifies a need to escalate an incident.
  2. The Client contacts Coveo Support to escalate a case either by phone or via the community.
  3. The Product Specialist gathers all necessary information, documents the request, and contacts the Support Manager.
  1. The Support Manager reviews the request and the case.
  2. Within 60 minutes (during standard business hours from 8 AM to 5 PM ET) of receiving the escalation request, the Support Manager follows up with the customer either by phone or case comments.
  3. The Support Manager and the customer discuss the potential diagnostic and resolution paths, and establish expectations.
  1. The Support Manager works with Coveo's teams towards resolution.
  2. The Support Manager regularly communicates progress and status to customer and other stakeholders (if necessary).
  1. The Support Manager and client agree on resolution status.
  2. The Support Manager communicates closure accordingly.
Note

Severity 1 case escalations will be reviewed, and responses will be provided during non-business hours. All other escalations will be handled during regular business hours.

The responsibility of the Support Manager is to understand and document the full scope and business impact that the escalated incident has on the customer company’s daily process. The Support Manager will act as the customer’s advocate within Coveo.

Once the Support Manager clearly understands the context of the escalation request, the manager will establish a potential resolution path with the customer, and expectations will be set as to how the issue will be handled throughout the resolution process.

When an escalation is requested, the customer must agree and commit to providing Coveo necessary internal resources to assist with issue resolution. Failure to provide the requested resources may result in the de-escalation of the case.

If the escalation is accepted, the Support Manager will work closely with the current case owner to communicate any updates and/or resolution to the customer at an agreed-upon frequency. If the escalation is declined, a communication will be sent to the customer with explanations as to why the escalation request was refused.

Once an escalation request is accepted, the Support Manager will work with Coveo’s internal stakeholders to ensure a constant progression of the investigation. When required, the Support Manager will involve various levels of Coveo’s management team whose teams are involved in the case resolution.

How will the case be handled once escalated?

Open escalation

Once it has been agreed to escalate the case, Coveo Support will flag the case as escalated so that the Product Specialists will easily know about the escalation status of the case. Other backend statuses will be used to help track issue progression.

Throughout the resolution process, the Support Manager or case owner will communicate updates accordingly to the following parties:

  • Customer:

    • The primary contact on the case;

    • Other contacts who have been added to the case;

    • (If required) Management or executive level.

  • Coveo:

    • Coveo Support Management;

    • Customer Success Manager;

    • Customer Manager;

    • (If required) Any other Coveo resource involved in the case resolution.

Closed escalation

As Coveo Support works to bring closure to the case, once the resolution has been attained, the escalation will be marked as closed. Closure or resolution of an escalated case is decided in a common agreement between the customer and the Support Manager. A closed escalation may be defined by one of the following:

  • Identification of the root cause;

  • Established timeline for issue resolution;

  • Fully deployed permanent fix.

Once the escalation is declared closed or resolved, the Support Manager or case owner will send a final communication summarizing the issue and its resolution.