Help us help you: on creating good Support Requests, reporting even better on Bugs, and suggesting awesome New Features

Explaining what we are going through or expect as a user is almost an art. Determining what is the relevant information to share, and what is not, can be a daunting task.

To avoid the frustration of being asked for information on your problem when you are not in front of it anymore, we have created this article which draws out the major items we hope to find in your requests.

Creating a Support Request

To start with: a support request is about asking for help about behavior you don’t understand, a feature that feels off, something you wish you had, but you don’t know where to start.

First, you need to set the context:

• mention the applications you are using

• add their version if you have that information.

Then describe:

• the situation you are facing and

• the question you have with regard to that.

In some cases, you may additionally:

• check the Debugging errors using the browser developer tools, and either:

  • review any outstanding message in the console as well as anything particular in the network view and share screenshots of those if possible, or

  • provide us with the HAR file of the interaction if this is something you can share

• provide logs of the behavior: the articles Debugging errors using Jira logs, Debugging errors using Jazz / CLM / ELM log files , and Debugging errors using Polarion log files are full of useful information in that regard.

Now that you know what you need, head off to create a Support Request.

Creating a Bug

A bug is meant to describe a behavior that you expected to be different. You would typically share:

• the applications you are using

• it’s version if you have that information.

Then describe:

• the behavior you observed

• the behavior you expected

You should additionally:

• check the Debugging errors using the browser developer tools, and either:

  • review any outstanding message in the console as well as anything particular in the network view and share screenshots of those if possible, or

  • provide us with the HAR file of the interaction if this is something you can share

• provide logs of the behavior: the articles Debugging errors using Jira logs, Debugging errors using Jazz / CLM / ELM log files , and Debugging errors using Polarion log files are full of useful information in that regard.

Now that you know what you require, head off to create a Bug.

Creating a New Feature

A new feature should detail a new behavior, or the evolution of existing behavior. To clarify your intention, you should always:

• detail the existing behavior: this will help us confirm that the behavior is understood as we meant it in the first place

• explain why you consider this should be changed,

• detail the update you suggest.

Now that you know what you require, head off to create a New Feature.