Summary

We are dedicated to providing our customers with the best possible support experience. We ask that our customers take the time to provide us important information when creating service desk tickets. Without detailed information of the issues, screenshots, or screencasts we cannot offer the best possible support and achieve quick resolution.

Self Help First

We encourage customers to try and answer questions on their own first. IQVIA expects sites to work with their ClinSpark subject matter experts to deliver first line support to end users. Customers are encouraged to try and solve issues that arise on their own first, seeking the answers in our documentation available directly from within ClinSpark. This documentation is frequently updated.

If issues cannot be resolved through self help methods, then the service desk portal is the best way to reach out to the IQVIA team.

Prioritization

Prioritization helps to determine who is responsible for resolving and how the our team is made aware of the issue. This is especially important for ‘Incident’ level tickets.

Whenever raising a ticket, it’s important we know how critical it is, especially if the issue is related to any study or business specific timelines. Be sure to mention those details in the request description.

In addition to knowing a “due date”, it’s also helpful for our team to know when you would like an initial response by if the ticket is a more general inquiry.

Proper Subject Line

Subject line & summaries help us gain a quick understanding of the issue at glance. It should set expectations, and if possible, summarize the issue without being too wordy.

• Poor subject line: Cohort activation issue

• Better subject line: Cohort activation issue in Study XYZ987, subject number 123, cohort ABC

Concise, Relevant, and Detailed Description

Issues get resolved quickly by providing as much detail as possible. Lack of detail will require additional follow up questions during ticket triage and increase the amount of time needed to address the issue.

We encourage and often times require that customers submit screenshots and/or screencasts fully demonstrating the issue from the customer’s perspective. Some support tickets can only be solved with this level of detail, so it’s important they’re always considered right from the start.

Basic details we require:

• Full context of the issue, summarizing any steps that may have been taken or need to be taken to reproduce

• Environment details, including the URL of the environment the issue is related to

• Study, epoch, cohort, study event, and subject details wherever applicable

• Component of the application the issue relates to. We often reference components via the left menu item such as Study > Data or Samples > Processing.

• A specific date/time the issue started happening or reoccurring

Some additional details that are always helpful are:

• The usernames of any ClinSpark users experiencing or impacted by the issue

• Device details such as the type of device being used (laptop, iPhone) and browser type and version (Chrome 70.1.2883.9, etc.)

• Attachments that are related to the request, such as example reports or related documents that are directly applicable to the request.

Screencasts

IQVIA will frequently request customers to provide a screencast describing and demonstrating the issue being raised in the service request.

We’ve taken a liking to screencast products such as Loom. It works both as a Google Chrome extension right from within the browser, and as a stand-alone application available for both Windows and Mac users. We use this product extensively ourselves and have found it invaluable in our support efforts.

It may be necessary to consult with your own organization's IT department for assistance with selection and installation of a screencast product.

Screenshots

Good screenshots help us understand the issues being presented and drawing a connection between the issue description.

Great screenshots

• Full context of the entire browser window

• Contain the customer environment URL with study name and user clearly visible

• Contain the ClinSpark component selected as seen from the application menu

• Annotations that callout specific elements of the screenshot to further explain context

Bad screenshots

• Do not show the full context of the browser

• Do not show the current environment URL, study, or user

• Do not clearly focus on the issue described in the ticket

Windows and MacOS have built in screenshot functionality that are sufficient for most users.

• Windows Snipping Tool

• MacOS Screenshot Utility

There are many additional free or paid screenshot tools available as well with more advanced functionality. Check with your organization IT department to see if any tools are available.