1.      First line support policy

1.1.      Definitions

·       BalticGrid Site (cluster): Grid enabled computation cluster, part of BalticGrid computation infrastructure, containing:

     o   at least one CE

     o   at least one WN

     o   at least one SE

·       Site Administrator: person who is responsible for maintenance of BalticGrid Site (SA1 activity )

·       1-st Line Support: person/group of persons (one per partner), designated by SA1 activity leader, who is responsible for the BalticGrid Sites problem solving, ticket handling, supporting site admins and Grid users

·       SA3 Support: person/group of persons (one per country), designated by SA3 activity leader, who is responsible for Grid user support in the BalticGrid-II project

·       Grid User: any grid user with valid Grid certificate

1.2.      Tools

·       BalticGrid-II ticketing system: https://support.balticgrid.org/

·       GGUS ticketing system : https://gus.fzk.de/

·       BalticGrid Support Web page: http://support.balticgrid.org

·       BalticGrid-II sites list http://balticgrid.org/Grid_Operations/Infrastructure_and_Services/

·       1-st Line Supporter / list of 1-st Line Supporters (location not yet available)

·       SA3 supporter / SA3 Supporters list (location not yet available)

·       BalticGrid SAM https://sam.balticgrid.org/sam/sam.py

·       BalticGrid troubleshooting wiki: (location not yet available)

1.3.      Assumptions

·       At least one of Fist Line Support persons should be available via IM during business day

·       At least one of SA3 Support persons should be available via IM during business day

·       At least one of Site Administrators per BalticGrid Site should be available via IM during business day

1.4.      1-st Line Support Procedures

1.4.1.     BalticGrid Site Status Watch: SAM errors for site XYZ

1-st Line Support person should check BalticGrid SAM at least 4 times per business day. In situation when BalticGrid SAM reports "error" or "warn" status at least two times for site XYZ, 1-st Line Support person should:

·       contact XYZ Site Administrator (see BalticGrid Site list ) via IM and ask about problem/issue

·       provide support for Site Administrator to solve the problem. Site Administrator should provide any kind of data/action on 1-st Line Support person request

·       after fixing the problem, 1-st Line Support person should create short description of problem and solution on BalticGrid troubleshooting wiki

·       if Site Administrator is not responding during business day or problem isn't solved, 1-st Line Support person should rise a ticket in the BalticGrid Ticketing System at the end of business day

1.4.2.     Ticket watch: BalticGrid Ticketing System:

1-st Line Support person should check BalticGrid Ticketing System at least 2 times per business day. In situation when ticket is raised or if there is any ticket in "OPEN" state in BalticGrid Ticketing System, 1-st Line support person should:

if ticket in not assigned :

1.     assign ticket to the BalticGrid Site if ticket is related to one of BalticGrid Site

2.     contact Site Administrator via IM and provide support to solve the problem. Site Administrator should provide any kind of data/action on 1-st Line support person request

3.     after fixing the problem, 1-st Line Support person should create short description of the problem and solution on the BalticGrid troubleshooting wiki

4.     close ticket if problem is solved

5.     if Site Administrator is not responding during business day or problem isn't solved, 1-st Line Support person should leave ticket in "OPEN" state

6.     if ticket is in "OPEN" state longer than one week, 1-st Line Support person should contact SA1 activity leader and decide about next step

or

1.     assign ticket to SA3 Support person or support queue if ticket is related to user activities/issues/problems

2.     contact SA3 Support person and/or Site Administrator via IM and provide support to solve the problem, cooperate with SA3 Support person and Site Administrator if needed, SA3 Support and Site Administrator should provide any kind of data/action on 1-st Line Support person request

3.     after fixing the problem, 1-st Line Support person should create short description of the problem and solution on the BalticGrid troubleshooting wiki

4.     close ticket if problem is solved

5.     if SA3 Support person or Site Administrator is not responding during business day or problem isn't solved, 1-st Line Support person should leave ticket in "OPEN" state

6.     if ticket is in "OPEN" state longer than one week, 1-st Line Support person should contact SA1 and SA3 activity leaders and decide about next step.

if ticket is assigned to one of the BalticGrid Sites:

1.     ask via IM person, whom the ticket is assigned to, about ticket/problem status

2.     provide support, if needed, to solve the problem, Site Administrator should provide any kind of data/action on 1-st Line Support person request

3.     after fixing the problem, 1-st Line Support person should create short description of the problem and solution on the BalticGrid troubleshooting wiki

4.     close ticket if problem is solved

5.     if Site Administrator is not responding during business day or problem isn't solved, 1-st Line Support person should leave ticket in "OPEN" state

6.     if ticket is in "OPEN" state longer than 1 week, 1-st Line Support person should contact SA1 activity leader and decide about next step

if ticket is assigned to one of SA3 Support person:

1.     ask via IM person, whom the ticket is assigned to, about ticket/problem status

2.     provide support, if needed, to solve the problem, cooperate with SA3 Support person and Site Administrator if needed. SA3 Support and Site Administrator should provide any kind of data/action on 1-st Line Support person request

3.     after fixing the problem, 1-st Line Support person should create short description of the problem and solution on the BalticGrid troubleshooting wiki

4.     close ticket if problem is solved

5.     if SA3 Support person or Site Administrator is not responding during business day or problem isn't solved, 1-st Line Support person should leave ticket in "OPEN" state

6.     if ticket is in "OPEN" state longer than one week, 1-st Line Support person should contact SA1 and SA3 activity leaders and decide about next step.

1.4.3.     Ticket watch at GGUS ticketing system:

1-st Line Support person should check GGUS at least 1 time per business day. In situation when ticket is raised against one of BalticGrid Sites or if there is any ticket in "OPEN" state in GGUS, 1-st Line support person should:

1.     contact Site Administrator via IM and provide support to solve the problem, Site Administrator should provide any kind of data/action on 1-st Line Support person request

2.     after fixing the problem, 1-st Line Support person should create short description of the problem and solution on the BalticGrid troubleshooting wiki

3.     ask Site Administrator to close the ticket in GGUS if problem is solved

4.     if Site Administrator is not responding during business day or problem isn't solved, 1-st Line Support person should leave ticket in "OPEN" state and rise a ticket in the BalticGrid Ticketing System

5.     if ticket is in "OPEN" state longer than one week, 1-st Line Support person should contact SA1 activity leader and decide about next step.

1.5.      Opening tickets:

·       Grid users, Site administrators and 1-st Line Support persons and SA3 Support Persons open tickets in case problems are noticed or feature or information requests are made.

·       There are two options for opening new tickets:

·       sending an e-mail to support@balticgrid.org

·       logging into the https://support.balticgrid.org/ RT system and creating the ticket there

1.6.      Closing tickets:

Ticket can be closed by:

·       in the BalticGrid Ticketing System : 1-st Line Support person or person who created a ticket

·       in the GGUS ticketing system: Site Admin or person who created a ticket or ROC Staff

1.7.      Regional watch:

Every country participating in the support has to organize the way that responsibility is guaranteed within that country. If no organization is in place to do the support in shifts, then all members shall be on-shift all the time that is foreseen in this policy. It is recommended that a rotating shift be created and that the person on-shift will make sure that no tickets fall through cracks (e.g. not easily definable which site the ticket should be assigned to). 

1.8.      Summary and conclusions:

In any situation that arises during the support tasks which are not covered here, the support personnel shall act in the best interests of the user.

The general policy is that every user problem must get answered, whether with a solution or with the information why a solution is not possible.

If the user is not satisfied 1-st Line Support person should contact the SA1 and/or SA3 activity leader and inform about this.