Alation Support Portal

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

Customer Managed Applies to customer-managed instances of Alation

What is the Alation Help Center?

The Alation Help Center (AHC) is a single entry point to Alation resources for:

  • Community

  • Developer APIs

  • Documentation

  • Knowledge Base Articles

  • Alation University

  • Alation Ideation Portal

  • Alation Support Portal (for Customer Support Admins)

The AHC also connects content from many resources into a single search experience.

For more information, visit these blogs on Alation Community:

The Alation Help Center

The Alation Help Center - FAQ

What is the Alation Support Portal?

The Alation Support Portal allows designated Alation Support Admin users to create new Support cases or review their organization’s Support cases.

Users and Permissions

Who Can Access the Alation Support Portal?

  • Not everyone registered to the Alation Help Center can access the Support Portal.

  • The Alation Support Portal access is provided to an Alation Support Administrator of a customer account.

  • A Support Administrator is identified as part of Alation onboarding and provisioned with an account on the Alation Help Center site.

  • By default, four admin users are suggested per account. A maximum of eight admin users are recommended.

Requirements

  • All new users must self-register in the Alation Help Center.

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  • Alation Partners must self-register in AHC using a customer-provisioned email domain.

Alation Support Administrator

  • New Support Administrators must be vetted by an active Alation Support Administrator and processed after self-registering in AHC.

  • The Alation Support Portal is accessible to authorized Support Admins from the Alation Help Center.

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Managing your Alation Support Admin Users

  • As a Support Admin, Log Into the Alation Help Center and Access the Alation Support Portal.

  • Go to Support Home Page >> Manage Users.

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Manage Users Tab

Important

You must have the email address of the registered AHC user to proceed with these steps. Each option will require you to enter a valid user email address. If found, the following actions will be applied and confirmed as completed.

  • Activate as Admin (for Internal and Partner Users) - This promotes the user as a new Support Admin. The Support tile will be available to the new admin upon logging into the Alation Help Center.

    From October, 2024:

    Support Admins can add their partner users as admins. Partner users can see or open support cases for the accounts to which they are assigned. See the Add Partner User as Admin section for more information.

  • Remove as Admin - This will remove the users’ Support Admin rights. The Support tile will no longer be available when logging into the Alation Help Center.

  • Deactivate User - This will deactivate the user’s access to AHC customer-specific portals and will be limited to general access only.

  • Remove Partner - This will remove the partner users’ Support Admin rights. The Support tile will no longer be available when logging into the Alation Help Center.

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Add Partner User as Admin

Available from October 2024

The Support Admin of your organization can let your partner users raise support requests. Perform the following steps to add a partner user:

  1. Select Activate as Admin (for Internal and Partner User) radio button.

  2. Specify the email address of the partner user and click Next.

    Important

    Before you add the partner user as an admin, ensure the user has an account with the Alation Help Center.

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  3. A success message appears. Click Finish.

Current Admin Users Tab

  • Your organization’s active Support Administrators will be listed, along with the last login date to the Alation Support Portal.

  • From October, 2024:

    Your organization’s active partner users will be listed, and the last login date to the Alation Support Portal will also be displayed.

  • Use the Email address listed to Remove as Admin, Deactivate a User, or Remove a Partner from the Manager Users tab.

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Previous Admin Users Tab

  • All Support Admins removed and are no longer active will show here.

    Note

    The list will only pull data from Nov 2023 onwards where this user management tool was used.

  • From October, 2024: The Partner Admins removed and are no longer active will show here.

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Deactivated Users Tab

  • All deactivated Support Admins who are no longer active in AHC will be displayed here.

  • Deactivation Date and Deactivated By will be displayed here.

    Note

    The list will only pull data from November 2023 onwards, where this user management tool was used.

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Managing your Alation Support Case

  • The Alation Support Portal is accessible to authorized Support Admins from the Alation Help Center.

  • As a Support Admin, log into the Alation Help Center and click Support tile to access the Alation Support Portal.

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  • As a Support Admin, log into the Alation Help Center and access the Alation Support Portal.

  • The Support Home Page defaults to Case List:

    • All open cases

    • Other shared case listing views are available from the dropdown

    • Shared Case Lists are locked and cannot be edited

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  • New Case Listings can be created using the CLONE feature on existing case listings for personal customization.

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  • The Cloned List view can be shared with the entire organization or for personal use.

  • The Cloned List view can be edited on search filters and columns.

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  • Viewing your cases: Case lists can be displayed using Kanban or Tabular views.

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  • Sort your cases: Cases can be sorted by any fields displayed in your case list view. To sort, click on a column header.

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  • Searching: To find a case, use the search field on the case list home page using key terms or case numbers.

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  • Reviewing Cases: Click Case Number link to view the case detail page.

    • The buttons to Close or Edit the Case are available in this view.

    • The Related tab displays basic information on the files attached and email threads.

    • The Feed tab will show communication threads between support admins of the case and support agent

    • Case communications are generally through emails and displayed in the Feed section.

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Creating a new Alation Support Case

  • To Open a new support case, click New Case button on the top right corner of the home page.

  • Select Product Issue as Case Type.

    Note

    Other Case Record Type may be displayed depending on your organization’s subscription.

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  • Provide the details in the New Case form. The information collected is grouped into four categories.

    • Case Information

      • Primary Contact - Defaults to the case creator, but you can select another support admin as the primary contact.

      • Preferred Support Region - Review the four regions and select the one that supports your needs. Support Regions.

      • Provide information on the Subject, Description, Steps to Reproduce, Error message, and when the issue was first seen.

    • Product Issue Detail

      • These are mandatory fields here are all required.

    • Case Collaborators

      • Select other support admins whom you want to be copied on all email collaborations.

    • Upload Files

      • Upload relevant logs files or screenshots of error messages that can help the TSE agent to troubleshoot

    • Once submitted, you will be presented with the case detail page and will receive an email confirmation with the case number.

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Alation Support Cases

  • One of our global Support Team member will respond to all cases as soon as possible following our Support Services Guidelines

  • Case Status:

    • New - Waiting for a Technical Support Engineer (TSE) assignment or case transfer reassignment stage

    • In Progress - TSE is actively troubleshooting

    • Waiting on Customer - TSE is waiting for a response or activity from Customer

    • Solution Provided - TSE has provided a solution and is waiting for confirmation for case closure. Unresponsive engagement from the client will prompt the case to case auto-closure, with at least three follow-up reminders before the case closes.

    • Closed - Case is Closed

    • Reopened - The case can be reopened for limited days since case closure. System Admin has to go to the case detail view of the closed case; a Reopen button is available.

    • Other - During the In Progress case status, if the case needs to be transferred to another TSE, an email notification will be sent to the case primary contact.

      • In Progress - Warm Case Transfer: Needs to be transferred ASAP to another available TSE.

      • In Progress - Cold Case Transfer: Needs to be re-zoned to another support region.