Getting Help
While all systems strive for a design that is intuitive to the user and possess no defects, situations arise which require additional information or assistance.
The VAMS support model is a classic Pyramid model as depicted in the diagram below:
IF problems progress up the pyramid, the initial point of contact with the user remains involved in the resolution.
Response Times
The VAMS Support team strives to provide timely turnaround on all user requests for assistance. Since a person needing assistance perceives "timeliness" differently than one providing it, here we provide our definition of timeliness as a baseline for user expectations.
We prioritize based on the severity of the problem, including such factors as - how many people are affected, the impact on the user, etc.
Nature of Problem |
Response Time Goal |
Major outage of the VAMS application, impacting multiple clients |
Immediately including after business hours |
Outages of VAMS application, impacting a single client |
Immediately – during business hours |
Functional component unavailable |
Next day |
Individual user outage |
Next day - 2 days |
Individual user problem |
Less than 1 week |
Note that these goals are the LONGEST we hope that it takes to get issues resolved; in many cases if the problem or outage is already familiar to us it can be resolved sooner.
We strive to acknowledge items within 24 hours, and often are able to do so much quicker. |
