From Siebel Support Web to Oracle Metalink

One of the latest changes implied in the passage from Siebel to Oracle is the offered support.

Till few months ago, consultants and IT professionals working on Siebel relied on the famous Siebel Support Web to find information about tricky or hairy problems. It was an easy to access and easy to move around portal with helpful information, based on the Siebel eService module itself. It was possible to find almost everything around Siebel (with some patience), from bookshelf material to Siebel support staff practical advices and technical notes.

Service requests posted by other clients were presented in such a way that everybody could take advantage of the knowledge and procedures relevant for their specific cases. This information as completed the standard available material for years.

The knowledge repository was powered by a search engine that, although limited in its search capabilities, retrieved documents that were very close to the object you were looking for (at least inserting the right search keys…).

After some months of advice, Oracle has finally transited to a new support web site. In this sense, the whole access elements have changed as well as the need for different user names and passwords (if you had a Siebel support web account you have been probably invited to change them). Guess what? Also the address has changed…

In order to easily reach the new Support Web you have to find the Oracle Support page, so you might arrive here:

https://metalink3.oracle.com/od/faces/index.jspx

Be careful on going to the metalink number 3 and not simply the metalink.

You can notice the Support Web Transition link on the left side, if you click it you can access various information about the changes.

You will have than to click on:

Login to MetaLink 3

In order to reach the screen where you can insert the user name and password and enter the portal.

You have now various options on the Top Tabs, such as knowledge, service request or patches and downloads.

A nice new feature is the organization of downloadable information that you can find using the links presented on the Knowledge Browse tab for Siebel (and also for OBIEE).

Provided that you are logged in, you can use this link: http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/siebel.html

The documents are not only organized but packed and ready to be downloaded.

Still on the Knowledge tab, you can notice there are some Advanced/Basic search options. The Advanced link will bring you to a similar search option as on the old Support Web. Otherwise, use the unique search function available throughout the portal, followed by a refinement filtering.

There are quite several fields that can limit your research: Sources, Knowledge Category, Product, Document Type, and/or Release selections.

Do you remember how you limited your research to the service request category on Support Web? Well, now there is no Service Request category, but there are still a lot of other options. Explore the Document Type menu and try to see how the new categories work for you; maybe you will find helpful the HOWTO or TROUBLESHOOT categories. (you have to click on the arrow before Document Type in order to have the possibility of choosing the category).

Still lost in the new portal?

Maybe you should enroll in one webcasts and get a clearer view:

https://metalink3.oracle.com/od/faces/secure/km/DocumentDisplay.jspx?id=548764.1

Oracle reassures that all the functionalities that were available on the Support Web will still be a click away for its clients. Moreover, they promise to improve some as faster problem resolution, extended automated support capabilities, and increased personalization.

For all the former Support Web users, of course, this can be an annoying change that, willing or not, have to be taken into account. In any case, we will all have to get used to it!