The role of a Support Contact is to assist with any Observant related queries. In most cases this will be Observant Support, but a customer may alternatively choose to nominate one of our approved partners.
When a Channel Partner is chosen as a customer's Support Contact, they will act as the customer's main point of contact for all the sales and service requirements of their Observant solutions. This means that:
- When customers have queries regarding either their existing equipment or new systems, all such communication should be addressed to their Support Contact. This holds true regardless of where (or from whom) the equipment in question was purchased.
- A Support Contact is also a customer's Warranty Contact. All warranty queries and claims should be addressed to a Support Contact, regardless of where the equipment was originally purchased from.
As a Support Contact, you will have access to all the Observant Global portfolios of your customers. This will equip you with the tools necessary to provide comprehensive service. The services can be divided into three categories:
- Observant Global Portfolio Management
- Troubleshooting
Observant Global Portfolio Management
A Support Contact is responsible for assisting customers with the following:
- Commissioning sites for customers
- Adding new equipment
- Configuring equipment on Observant Global
- Renaming sites and sensors
- Managing Monitor Cards
- Managing alerts
Troubleshooting
When we are diagnosing a customer's problem, we are often looking for a failure in a device or a link in the network map below:
Figure 1: Network Map
If a field unit is offline, it is because a link in the Network Map is broken. The article What to Do When a Field Unit is Offline describes the most likely causes of a field unit being offline.
When there is an issue with an Observant system, the first step you should take is to go to the portfolio on Observant Global. From Manage Equipment, identify if the issue is with the Field Unit or the device. See this Help desk article for more details.
The following sections describe issues that a Support Contact should be able to identify and resolve.
Browser Issues
For more details on resolving browser issues, see the articles Supported Internet Browsers and How to Refresh a Browser's Cache
Field Unit Issues
Battery Power Issues
To understand how to identify battery power issues, see the article: How to Check Battery Status
For resolving issues related to battery power, see the article: How to Diagnose a Low Battery on a C3 Field Unit
Radio Connectivity Issues
Cellular Connection
To understand how to identify and try to resolve cellular connectivity issues, see the article: How to Check Cellular Connectivity
Radio Connection
If a node is powered on but offline, and its gateway is online, make sure:
- The antenna is undamaged.
- The antenna is properly connected to the C3 and there is no damage to the antenna cable.
- The antenna is installed according to the guidelines.
Device Issues
"Communications timed out" Error
A common cause for a device being offline is the "Communications timed out waiting for device response" error. To understand how you can identify and troubleshoot this issue, see the article: Device Error -Communications Timed Out
Installation Issues
Some issues can be caused due to incorrect installation. These are device specific and more information can be found from the Installation Guides and Technical Notes.
Configuration Issues
Incorrect configuration can lead to errors in readings. For example, water level readings can be consistently inaccurate if the initial tank height and head clearance measurements were incorrectly entered in Observant Global.
See this article to find out more about how you can change device configuration.
If the above has been completed and the issue with the system has not been resolved, please submit a support ticket in Helpdesk.