Vendor Escalation Process

Introduction

Vendor Escalation is utilized when a SoftwareOne engineer needs additional support from a vendor, such as Microsoft, AWS, or GCP on a customer’s behalf. The following scenarios might incur Vendor Escalation:

During an Incident, a SoftwareOne support engineer needs to escalate the level of troubleshooting to vendor support.
When a vendor solution is not responding as expected or documented.
When the vendor has an outage that affects customers.

SoftwareOne has contractual support relationships with a range of vendors. Each contract is different and beyond the scope of this document, which provides a view of how SoftwareOne provides Vendor Escalation for any vendor.

Not all Vendors have the same Service Level Agreements or the same level of Service, but SoftwareOne endeavors to manage this relationship with a standardized approach as defined by this document.

Scope

The Vendor Escalation Management Process will manage all tickets that cannot be resolved by SoftwareOne and are initiated from the following SoftwareOne ITSM sub-processes:

Incident Management > Identification and Recording > MultiVendor Service?
Incident Management > Investigation and Diagnosis > Does a next level of SoftwareOne support exist?
Major Incident Management > Investigation and Diagnosis > Can the Major Incident team resolve the ticket?
Problem Management > Resolution and Recovery > Is Vendor support needed to implement the solution?
Request Management > Assessment and Authorization > Does a next level of SoftwareOne support exist?
Change Management > Normal Change Implementation > Is Vendor support needed to execute the change?
Change Management > Emergency Change Implementation > Is Vendor support needed to execute the change?

Objective

The objective of the Vendor Escalation Management process includes:

Restoring normal service operations as quickly as possible when technical expertise is required from the Vendor.
Ensure that standardized methods and procedures are used for efficient and prompt handling of tickets, including identification, recording, documentation, communication, and resolution.
Ensure that the best possible service quality and availability levels are maintained according to SoftwareOne and Vendor Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
Increase visibility and communication of the status and progress of vendor-escalated tickets.
Maintain user satisfaction through efficient and professional handling of vendor-escalated tickets.

Who can raise a Vendor Escalation?

SoftwareOne Support Agents
SoftwareOne Service Team Leads

Vendor Escalation Management Policy Statement

SoftwareOne support will be responsible for resolution as much as possible before escalating to a vendor.
All vendor-escalated tickets shall be raised by following the standard operating procedure for the specific vendor.
SoftwareOne support shall provide as much relevant information as possible regarding the vendor escalation based on internal actions.
All vendor ticket communication and information shall be recorded in SoftwareOne's systems/tools.
SoftwareOne will endeavor to capture a timeline for an update from the Vendor and hold the vendor accountable for that timeline.
SoftwareOne support will be responsible for tracking progress with the vendor and providing communication updates to the Requestor, as defined by the respective Service Level Agreement or agreed timeline provided by the Vendor.
An escalation to the next level in vendor management shall only be initiated by SoftwareOne support if the first-level vendor support team cannot provide a complete resolution.
Upon resolution from the vendor, SoftwareOne shall notify the Requestor that the ticket has been resolved and service restored to normal business function.
The resolution of the vendor escalation shall be agreed upon by the Requestor or match with the Requestor's requirements.
SoftwareOne will be bound to the SLAs of the vendor.

Process

RACI Matrix: Vendor Escalation

Key:

R=Responsible
A=Accountable
C=Consulted
I=Informed

Stages	Requestor (Customer)	SoftwareOne Support	Vendor Support	Vendor Manager
Raise Escalation with vendor	C/I	A/R	I
Provide all necessary input to vendor	I	A/R	I
Review & acknowledge escalation	I	I	A/R
Communications with Requestor	I	A/R	C/I
Update SoftwareONE ticket details	I/R	A/R
Facilitate and co-ordinate meetings / troubleshooting	I	A/R	C/I
Conduct investigation or root cause analysis	I	C	A/R
Follow up with Requestor and Vendor based on agreed timelines between all parties	C/I	A/R	C/I
Request escalation to the next Vendor level	I	A/R	I	C/I
Increase priority or severity from Vendor	I	C/I	I	C/I
Provide resolution or justification of escalated ticket	C/I	C/I	A/R
Gather resolution details from Vendor	I	A/R	C
Confirm resolution details with Requestor	I	A/R	I
Provide resolution confirmation to Vendor		A/R	C/I