Waste Call Metrics

We have been monitoring waste calls for some time, we class any contact with Sage Support which is deemed as unnecessary as a waste call.

We are able to see by Business Partner and at an individual level, the percentage of waste calls made.

Call Target

In FY19 we will be setting targets for the percentage of waste calls against the total number of contact made to support the targets are as follows:

Q2 FY19 = 20%

Q3 FY19 = 15%

Q4 FY19 = 10%

From FY20 the waste call percentage target will be 5%.

Rationale

The ratio of waste calls differs greatly between our partners and across individuals within each organisation. This new stance will bring in line the quality of the work performed through our existing partner community and as a result should translate to an increase in end user satisfaction as their case is more likely to be resolved at the first point of contact.

We anticipate that as a result of time saved on the Sage Support team that we will see improved service levels, this will mean:

We will be more likely to be available when needed for genuine second line support tickets.
We will able to dedicate more time to more complicated queries, in theory speeding up the turnaround time.
We will be able to dedicate more resources to further improve our digital content.

Enforcement

From the 1st January 2019, if a Sage 200 Support representative identifies that the caller has not met our expectations prior to contacting Sage they will be referred to the Business Partner checklist, a housekeeping comment will be logged against the incident and the incident will be closed.

Performance will be measured against the targets set, as a business if you fail to meet these targets you will be given 90 days’ notice to align to the target. Failure to do so may result in support sanctions or enforced training or accreditation.

Housekeeping Comments

What do the housekeeping comments mean?

Not a Valid Support Query

Version No Longer Supported

Ringing for support on an End of Life version or a product which is no longer supported - See more information here.

Perpetual Customer Support

The customer opted to purchase a perpetual licence rather than subscribe to Sage 200 Service and is not entitled to support.

Seeking Unauthorised Support

Ringing a customer who is linked to a different business partner.

Report Design Query

All report design queries should be logged via Incident Management.

Outside of Support Boundaries

The partner was seeking assistance for something beyond our support boundaries.

Request for Change

The partner wants to log a wish or ask why the program works in a particular way.

Wrong Department

The call was for a different department and the call had to be transferred.

Documentation Query

The partner wanted to feedback on the help files.

Developer Query

This would include installing on their own system, functionality and developer support queries. Tickets should be raised through Incident Management.

First Line Support Query

Answer in Documentation

The answer to the partner's question or issue can be found in our self-service offerings. This is split into two categories as follows:

No Search

The partner had not used self-service prior to calling (this would be in all cases where the Partner had not self-served regardless if an article exists or not).

Not Found

The partner was unable to find the answer in our self-service offering but the answer exists and was easily obtainable.

Not Followed

The partner was able to find an article but didn't fully follow the suggested resolution steps.

Insufficient Knowledge

Accredited Knowledge Gap

The partnership and individual are accredited but there is a clear gap in the individual’s knowledge.

Unaccredited Individual Gave Assistance

The partnership is accredited, the individual isn’t but they have demonstrated a good level of knowledge, troubleshooting, and self-service.

Unaccredited Individual Sent Away

The partnership is accredited, the individual isn’t – the individual has a clear knowledge gap and has not performed an acceptable amount of self-service.

Unaccredited Partner Sent Away

The partnership is not accredited.

Insufficient Troubleshooting

The partner has not completed a sufficient level of troubleshooting prior to making contact.

Insufficient Details Supplied

Unable to provide a full error message, version details, business impact or other expected information about the query or problem.

Process

Failed DPA

Unable to validated Data Protected to obtain access to the account.

Chasing Update Within SLA

Chasing for an update to a case within the time scales outlined in the Business Partner Handbook.

Wrong Option

Resolved Query

The partner came through on the wrong line (for example Manufacturing line with a BOM Query or Standard Line for Sage 200 Professional) but you resolved their query.

Transferred to Colleague

The partner came through on the wrong line and had to be transferred.

Repeat Enquiry

Same Caller

The partner has already raised a call or a ticket through Incident Management but doesn’t mention the ticket and hasn’t followed any of the previous advice given.

Unaware of ticket raised by a colleague

A call or ticket has already been raised by somebody else at the same company.

Didn’t Mitigate Risks.

Cases where the partner had not carried out due diligence and put the customer data or system at risk or risked avoidable downtime/problems. Examples would be running scripts or correcting data on live site or upgrading a site without testing first.

Pre sales Query

The query was for a prospective customer.

Behaviour

Unacceptable Behaviour.

The partner’s behaviour was unprofessional, this could include abusive, aggressive, bigotry, lambasting colleagues, swearing. or purposefully disconnecting a call.

Sage Terminated Call

We use this when the partner's behaviour warranted the termination of the call.

FAQ's

Why has Sage changed its approach to the level of support they offer their partners, you have always helped me with similar queries in the past?

We have always been a second line support team, historically we may not always have consistently enforced our expectations on our partners. We have clearly defined our expectations and have made a lot of investment in our digital content, we feel that we have given partner the tools they need to self-serve effectively.

We have identified that a large portion of the calls made to our support team are avoidable and are therefore a waste of our time and resources. This time and resource could be spent further improving our digital content and delivering improved service levels against genuine support tickets and improving availability to answer the phone when a partner really needs us.

I am on site and I don’t have access to the internet, is ok just to ring Sage Support?

Our website and knowledgebase are mobile friendly.

We are a second line support team, if you have no access to the internet by any means then your first point of contact for help should be your own support team.

What do I do if I have a really urgent query and the customer wants an answer immediately?

It is essential that you control interactions with your customer and manage their expectation based the information provided in the Business Partner Handbook

We have defined these processes as we feel that it is the most efficient way of getting to the bottom of the customers query\problem and bypassing them is likely to simply lead to delays and duplication of effort.

I have tried to search Right Answers and the Known Issues in the past, I didn’t find anything why should I waste my time searching now?

A lot of work has gone into trying to make our digital offer as concise and accessible as possible, but we will always strive to improve, and we welcome constructive feedback.

This article gives some tips on using the known Issues database.

As general guidance search using salient points rather than a long string of text.

We also strive to provide of the moment digital content and if appropriate we will write articles immediately on the back of calls. There will still be circumstances where a query or problem has not been previously logged, however, a lot of time can be saved in testing and troubleshooting where collateral does exist.

Does Sage Support have access to more information than I can get?

Sage support primarily use information from the same sources that are available to our partners.

I am not trained on Sage 200, I am new to the business can I contact Sage for assistance with Sage 200 queries?

If you have exhausted the help files and our digital content, then you should approach your accredited\experienced colleagues if the need assistance with first line support queries.

My customer is Chasing me for an update on an outstanding incident, am I able to contact Sage to see if there has been any progress?

Our service levels are outlined in the Business Partner Handbook, tickets should be updated within these time scales. If an update existed, it would be visible on Case Management. Only add to existing incidents if you have additional information to share or if situation changes.

What I am supposed to do prior to contacting Sage?

Establish the facts.

If the software is working correctly then consider if there are any alternative settings or processing routes; if not guide the customer to the Ideas Portal to log a request to change the functionality.

If the software isn’t working correctly then check the Known Issues Database and Right Answers, if the problem hasn’t been reported before then you will need to troubleshoot to establish root cause and investigate further from there.

This Right Answer article outlines our suggested approach, Business Partner Checklist is a one page guide to how to approach a support query and the Business Partner Handbook gives further information.