Autodesk Product Support Severity Levels and Response Times

I found these changes that will start soon and I think it will be a good thing for both customers and Autodesk.

To better address customer issues, Autodesk will begin classifying product support requests according to severity level (standard, urgent, or critical) and will provide customers with new estimated response times based on severity level and Subscription tier (Subscription, Gold, or Platinum).  Beginning December 5, 2010, customers will need to assign severity levels to each support request they submit.

In addition, Autodesk has made improvements to self-help support to ensure that customers receive predictable, and in some cases faster, responses to all support issues.  These resources include Autodesk forums and on-line Support Knowledge Centers.

* "Business hours" are defined as the local weekly hours of operation for the assigned Autodesk product support call center, in the customer's region, excluding Autodesk holidays, weekends and other non-work days applicable to the region.

** "Extended hours" are defines as 24 hours per day, seven days per week (Monday through Sunday), 365 days per year, including after-hours periods and Autodesk holidays worldwide.

How is Severity Level Determined?

1/Critical
A catastrophic defect, such as total software failure resulting in unrecoverable data loss or interruption of crucial project.  No immediate workaround is available.

• Product defect that completely stops all progress on a mission critical project
• An operation crashes the software while performing an established workflow
• An operation has corrupted project files
• After software upgrade, a previously working feature is no longer working and is seriously impeding workflow
• After software installation or upgrade, files can no longer be opened

2/Urgent
A problem or issue that severely impairs a major product function.  Operations can continue in a restricted fashion, but with effects on long-term productivity.

• A specific file will not open
• A feature will not work in one file, but works in other files
• Certain machines crash or otherwise fail to open or run a product, but other machines function normally
• An expected workflow cannot be used; an alternate method is available but not optimum

3/Standard
A problem or issue with limited effects on operation and productivity.  Workarounds may be available.

• How-to questions
• Documentation questions
• Customer suggestions
• Request for new product features or enhancements

---

Via Autodesk’s KB TS16014725