NAME

newcall − create a Harris Software Support call report

SYNOPSIS

newcall [ −r ]

DESCRIPTION

newcall will create or open a new software support call report at the Harris Software Support Center provided all the required information has been given.  It should be used with the Harris Customer Information Services (HCIS) e-mail interface to submit a support request to Harris from any remote system. 

Help may be requested by using program options.  When options are used, only the help information will be returned, and the request will not be submitted.  Valid options are as follows:

−r This option will cause the program to output a list of valid operating system release levels.  The content of the list depends on the value of the release input parameter.  newcall requires a Harris customer site-id, operating system release, product, full problem description, contact name, and phone number as input.  Currently, only the site-id and operating system release level are validated against values in the database. 

The newcall program expects a stream of input after its invocation.  The input that follows the command line is a series of lines containing all of the information required to open a software report.  Each parameter is specified by first entering a keyword, followed by an ’=’ and then the desired value.  The input stream is terminated by an end-of-file (eof).

All keywords on input parameter lines may be abbreviated to their first two characters.  Following is a list of valid keywords:

re[lease]=release(required)
Any operating system release level (up to 7 characters) may be given. Database wild card characters can be used in the release value when requesting help.  Valid database wild card characters are:

% (percent)Matches any number of (any) characters.
_ (underbar)Matches any single character in that position.

si[te-id]=site-id(required)
Any valid Harris customer site-id (up to 10 characters) may be specified. A site-id can be found on your distribution tape from Harris.

co[ntact]=contact-name(required)
The contact specified should be the name of the person (customer) submitting the software support request.  The contact name will be truncated if it’s over 25 characters.

pr[oduct]=product(required)
A 15 character product is required.  This is the name of the product/topic that the question is about.  Because the product is not validated, please be as specific as possible.

de[scription]=(required)
Following this keyword is the (full) description of the software support call request.  The keyword line itself does not have any data on it like the other keyword lines.  Instead, the description is entered on the lines immediately following and is terminated by either an eof or a line with two periods (..) starting in column one.  Entering an eof here will also terminate the program input stream.  The description can be an arbitrary length and should include all information needed to work on the software problem/question reported. 

ph[one]=phone-number(required)
A phone number for the contact must be supplied. Up to 12 characters/digits may be specified for the phone number; however, if the phone number exceeds this length, it will overflow into the extension field.

ex[tension]=extension(optional)
Optionally, a phone extension may be supplied (5 characters).  Note: both the phone number and extension will be used if the phone number exceeds 12 characters.

su[pport]=support-method(optional)
If specified, this is the method that you (the contact) would like an analyst to use for any further communication.  Acceptable values are limited to only 40 characters and should mention whether e-mail or phone support is preferred.  If no preference on the support method is given, then e-mail will be used to service the report. Placing a support request using e-mail does not limit you to only e-mail for future (follow-up) support.

ra[ting]=rating-number(optional)
By using this parameter, the user is able to assign a customer priority to the problem.  The rating is an integer number in the range of 1-10, where a rating of one (1) is the most serious.  If this parameter is omitted, then the problem will be addressed in chronological order by the time/date the report was placed.

The examples in this man page are for use with the HCIS e-mail interface.  Each example lists an input file that should be sent to an electronic mailer on your system.  If we call the input file in each example "call_input", then your request might be submitted to Harris using mailx as follows:

mailx -s"submit an SAR" remotecust@csd.harris.com < call_input

After your request has been processed, you will receive an e-mail response (using your return e-mail address) indicating the status of your request.  Program input will be echoed in your return mail if any errors were detected.  This should allow you to easily resubmit the request.  However, the echoed problem description text is limited to only 5 lines because it can be extremely long—e.g., containing programs, examples, commands, and so on.  For this reason, you may want to keep a copy of the problem description on hand.  Although the problem description is truncated for e-mail, the complete description will be recorded at the Harris Software Support Center. The Harris system address used in the mailx command above should be used only if you are connected to the Internet.  If you are not connected (or cannot get connected) to the Internet, then you may be able to use UUCP to send e-mail to Harris.  If you desire a UUCP connection into Harris, please call the Harris Software Support Center at 1-800-245-6453 and ask to speak with the HCIS administrator to be assigned a unique UUCP address.  You may also call the Harris Software Support Center if you prefer to place your support request over the phone. 

EXAMPLES

>>submit newcall -r
re=5%
co=John Doe
< eof >

∗ This example will generate a list of valid releases that match the pattern specified.  The list of releases will contain all releases that start with the number "5".  The HCIS e-mail processor requires the first input line to start with ’>>submit’ in column one, followed by the program name and any options.  In this example, the specified contact name is ignored.

>>submit newcall
co=Eric Lund
re=6.2
ra=5
si=T146521
ph=305-973-5030
pr=fortran
su=e-mail
description=
This is a test description.  It can be any number
of lines long.  If the description is the last input
parameter, the ’..’ termination line is not really
needed.
..
< eof >

∗
This example (input file) contains all the required input for submitting
a support request.  The returned e-mail response will indicate that the
request was accepted by Harris and has been assigned an official Harris
report number.  Thereafter, you will receive a message with the name and
e-mail address of the software analyst assigned to work on your report.

∗∗∗ NOTES ∗∗∗

∗ Limited to one Software Support request per e-mail request. 

∗ To ensure accurate record keeping, please limit each request to only one problem.  Questions regarding other topics/problems must be submitted by opening additional calls (one request per problem). 

∗ The phone (PH=) and extension (EX=) parameters available allow the user to enter an alternate phone number.  This number will be used by a software analyst to communicate with the contact.  There is also another primary phone number stored in our database to serve as a permanent backup number to reach someone at your (customer) site.  You may not change this number through the program, but if it is incorrect, please report the error to the Harris Software Support Center. 

∗ All program input lines are limited to 79 characters.  Lines greater than 79 characters will be truncated.  However, lines in the problem description can be any length. 

∗ Input lines (not part of the problem description) that begin either with a dollar sign ($) or a space/blank are considered comment lines.