support process

Support process

IBM Food Trust™ help is available through subscription support and self-service help. Subscription support is an IBM service provided to an organization, requires registered IBMid login, and provides online case management and chat with a live IBM representative (8-5 EST). Self-service help provides access to the IBM Food Trust self-service help resources described below.

Note: Before accessing IBM Food Trust support, you may choose to review your organization's IBM Food Trust membership plan.

Quickstart

Subscription support subscribers can log in directly to the IBM Food Trust support page to open a chat session or support case.

Getting started

To get started using IBM Food Trust subscription support, log in to your organization's IBM support page. Then click Products at the top, and search for Food Trust (or scroll to products under F) to load the product support page. The IBM support portal provides enhanced transparency into ticket resolution workflows for support subscribers.

Subscription support features include:

Open, update and view cases
Attach supporting documents
Search case history
Live chat with subject matter experts (Mon - Fri 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM EST)

Self-service help

The following IBM Food Trust self-service help resources are available at no additional cost. Use the links below to navigate directly to your self-service help preference, or review the usage details section below for details:

Subscription support

The following IBM Food Trust subscription support resources are available to subscribing organizations (subscribe to IBM subscription support and add registered users). Once subscribed, use the following links to navigate directly to your paid support preference, or review the usage details section below for details on any topic:

Open a support case (Please reserve Sev 1 designation for critical impact cases only.)
Track and view status of your support cases
Chat with a live support representative
Virtually-guided onboarding

Usage details

The usage details below provide detailed information for each subscription support and self-service help option.

Subscription support usage details

The following usage details describe the subscription support options.

Subscribing to support

If your organization has not yet subscribed to IBM support, you can choose to register your organization for subscription support. Your access will show as pending until it is approved. After subscribing, make note of your ICN (IBM Customer Number). Once approved, select Food Trust as the product and the Problem Area that best matches your issue.

You may choose to watch the video on using IBM support.

Customer support portal

Log in to the IBM Support Portal at https://www.ibm.com/mysupport with your IBMid to open and manage support cases and chat with support agents. If necessary, sign up for an IBMid.

You can also watch the IBM support video Introducing a New Customer Portal.

To request help using the support portal, send a detailed email to mysphelp@us.ibm.com.

Opening a case

Users registered to an organization with a support subscription can open a case. Collaborative real-time support with IBM is available 24x7 for critical (sev 1) problems—client availability is required. Use the process described below to open a support case.

You can also watch the IBM support video on how to Open and manage cases.

The following prerequisites are required to open a case:

Once you have met the prerequisites above, use the following steps to open a support case:

Sign in to the IBM Food Trust support page with your registered IBMid, by clicking the identity icon in the upper right:
Click Open a case:
Complete the open a case form:
Select the severity for your case as follows; reserve Severity 1 for high or critical impact cases only:
Severity 1 - 24 x 7 coverage U.S. Eastern Time. Reserve for system down events with a critical business impact only.
Severity 2-4 - 24 x 5 coverage U.S. Eastern Time, Monday - Friday (excluding holidays).
Provide a detailed case description, using the key words on the right: Component of Product, Problem, Steps to Reproduce, Suggestions/Answers you seek, and Expected Outcome. Product version is optional.
At the bottom of the page, attach any supporting files that will help IBM Support.
Add any team members to the case.
Click Submit case

Live agent chat

The IBM Food Trust support team is available for live chat Monday - Friday 8-5 EST. On the IBM Food Trust support page, sign in, and then click Chat with Support on the lower right. Submit an initial question, and then enter "Talk to an Agent". You will be connected to an agent during support hours.

If a resolution to your question or issue cannot be reached in chat, the chat session can be converted into a support case and saved by clicking Open a Case.

Support chat

Self-service help usage details

The self-service help options, described below, are community forum, Watson chatbot, online documentation, developer zone wiki, My Notifications, IBM support portal and product page.

Community forum

The IBM Food Trust community forum is a public forum for general questions and assistance from IBM support and the IBM Food Trust user community. Sign in with your IBMid to ask a question, provide an answer, and follow topics.

ATTENTION!! The IBM Food Trust community forum is a public forum! Do not discuss or respond to any proprietary, private, personal, or sensitive information.

Note: The following videos are available for additional support community guidance:

Video: IBM Support Community: Forums
Video: IBM Support Community: Search

Watson chatbot

Watson chatbot is an AI agent that returns IBM Cognitive Support knowledge based on submitted questions. Launch Watson chatbot by clicking the Chat with Support link on the IBM Food Trust support page. After submitting an initial question via chatbot, registered users with subscription support plans can live chat with an IBM representative.

Online documentation

IBM Food Trust online documentation provides complete solution information, including onboarding, trace, documents, and API usage details.

Developer zone wiki

The IBM Food Trust developer zone wiki contains information for developers to get started onboarding and uploading data to IBM Food Trust.

My Notifications

My Notifications delivers IBM Food Trust notices to subscribers, including security updates, outage notifications and other urgent notices, technotes, new features and functions, and product announcements. Users must register and opt in for all categories of notifications.