ORACLENERD: My Oracle Support Fiasco

My Oracle Support Fiasco

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

I haven't had access to metalink for about a year now. I certainly don't envy those who do though.

Last week, Oracle deployed My Oracle Support, a new flash based system.

In the post, Classic MetaLink:Na,na,na,Nah,na,na. Hey hey Goodbye, by Chris Warticki, Sr. Customer Support Manager [ Twitter ], says

Goodbye old friend. Thanks for the memories. As old blue eyes crooned..."And now, the end is near". We did it our way with My Oracle Support.

If you've been off the grid, or totally out of the loop and completely clueless (poor word choice, but this in the context of getting customers to the training), Classic MetaLink retired on November 6th. My Oracle Support training sessions can be found here. Please register. Change is here. Get in front of this one...seriously.

Some of you have been very vocal with your therapists, on OTN, Twitter, Linked-In Groups, OracleMix, UserGroups and other channels, including this very blog.

In case you didn't read in the FAQ - there will be an HTML version for anyone unable to use flash. Hint: If your browser allows flash, there isn't an HTML option. You'll have to figure out the rest.

Visit the Information Page for the Latest Details

Oracle announced that Classic MetaLink will retire and My Oracle Support will be upgraded and become the single support interface. Review the Transition Information Page for significant changes, benefits, training, communications and FAQs

According to all reports, this transition has been an unmitigated disaster.

oracle-l

Metalink Fiasco - so far there are about 30 replies. Let's not forget the off-shoot of this one, Metalink Fiasco -- Home many names can we come up with for MOS?

Issues with My Oracle Support - Only about 20 responses to this one.

There there's one advising patience, helping Oracle help us.

And the funny, Quotes from Oracle Support.

Comments that weren't posted (or I didn't see them): Oracle Support Blog

Blogs

Quite frankly warticki, you should apologize! by Nuno Souto

#Fail: My Oracle Support by rnm1978 [ blog | twitter ]

MetaLink, we barely knew ye from Jared Still.

It's a mess...but it's no a surprise, by Daniel Fink.

My Oracle Support by Doug Burns. Then another from Mr. Burns (eggcellent!).

Fanning the Flames of Support Discontent from ManagingAutomation

Hans Forbrich has come out in support, sort of, with In support of My Oracle Support? - Part 1

Tech Magazines

From COMPUTERWORLD Users call new Oracle support portal a 'fiasco'

PCWorld, Oracle Support Portal Woes Could Erode Users' Trust

CIO, Users: New Oracle Support Portal a 'fiasco'

Mr. Warticki did provide an update yesterday:

This weekend we migrated Oracle & BEA customers over to My Oracle Support from Metalink. Yesterday (Nov 9th), some customers experienced problems expressed in the comments that I wrote about in this blog. The issues were mostly around performance and registration, but to our knowledge, we have resolved these issues. If there are problems that we don't know about, please contact us!

I just want to highlight an important step in the migration -- one that we tried to communicate through repeated postings and email blasts. Customers need to validate their MetaLink email address against Oracle's corporate single sign-on prior to conversion (the migration uses Oracle's corporate single sign-on to improve security). For users who may have missed this notice, there is a link to an FAQ on the landing page that will guide you through the registration process.

My Oracle Support is really a terrific platform and this change is going to bring value to customers. But please, if you experience any issue migrating, don't hesitate to contact us -- we want to hear from you so call your local support phone number - hit this link http://www.oracle.com/support/contact.html

Today he apologized for his perceived misinterpretation:

To all Oracle Customers, I do apologize for any misinterpretation I may have caused in that blog entry.

As you have just read, I do accept responsibility and accountability for my actions.

Please understand that my intent was not to insult anyone. The purpose was to draw attention, call to action for the training and to add some humor to what most view as bland blogging.

I'm happy that everyone is getting their frustrations out, even if I need to wear kevlar. I have thick skin. I can take it. I know that you're upset at the portal not the person, the UI and not the individual, and the portal performance not the personal performance. I know that Oracle's leadership is reading, listening and responding.

I have always been FOR the customer. Many of you know that.

Sincerely, Respectfully and Apologetically,

I certainly don't envy him right now.

I do hope this gets resolved either by rolling back to the Classic Metalink or all the problems solved in the new system. I'm certainly glad that I am not dependent on MOS at this point.

Update
Chris has linked up to a Migration of Classic MetaLink Users to My Oracle Support FAQ.

Update 11/18/2009
Mr. Fink published the results of his survey, you can find them here, My Oracle Support Survey Results!.

Update 11/23/2009
My Oracle Support is starting to perform from Hans Forbrich.

There's not a lot of love for My Oracle Support from Duncan Davies, aka the PeopleSoft Tipster.

Update 12/06/2009
Hans Forbrich has written MOS one week later, things are ???

Labels: oracle, oradb, support

¶ 11/11/2009 02:10:00 PM

Comments:

Makes me glad that my primary challenges this week involve cardboard boxes, and not anything that requires My Oracle Support. :-)

I don't envy Chris either, but that's been true for a while. The MOS cutover has been generating controversy for months, and as one of the more public-facing (or at least Web 2.0-facing) representatives of Oracle Support, he's been a lightning rod for stuff way out of his control.

In this case, it looks like he was trying to relieve stress with humor. Unfortunately, when you're playing to a roomful of stressed out people, that's a hard balance to strike, and humor can have unintended sharp edges. When your room is as big as the Intertubes (or at least the individual tubes that Oracle people use), and you're perceived to be in a position of authority, it's even harder.

My impression of Chris from his blog and tweets is that he is a genuine customer advocate, and based on the body of work I think it's worth giving him a pass on an unfortunately worded blog post.

I think it's unlikely that Oracle will roll back to Classic Metalink, but I hope they manage to improve it beyond what's being reported in some of the links you provided. I haven't been able to check out the new HTML-only interface yet, but I'm not a huge fan of the default Flash interface.

# posted by

jpiwowar : November 11, 2009 at 7:55 PM

Chris is in an unenviable position, to be sure.

Personally, I think he should have been more careful with his choice of words (see, I have learned something), especially given that many in that audience might not know who he is.

I would like to see and open and honest accounting of how it went down. I think there's a lot to learn there.

# posted by

oraclenerd : November 12, 2009 at 12:03 AM