Microsoft offers customers a range of service and support options from which they can select the support level that best fits their particular needs. Information on each service is briefly described in this topic, and links to further information are provided in each case.
| Microsoft Advisory Services at the Microsoft
Web site (http://support.microsoft.com/). (http://www.microsoft.com/)
Short-term and proactive assistance provided by phone for specific design, development, or deployment issues. For customers in the United States only: |
Benefits of service
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| Microsoft Consulting Services at the Microsoft
Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/). (http://www.microsoft.com/)
Consultants providing on-site consulting or sustained account-management services with the experience, proven methods, and solutions to turn a vision into a practical and profitable business reality. |
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| Premier Support for Developers (PSfD) at the Microsoft
Web site (http://support.microsoft.com/). (http://www.microsoft.com/)
A 12-month, subscription-based offering focusing on independent software vendors (ISVs) and providing access to a wide range of product and application development expertise. |
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| Microsoft Gold Certified Support Partners at the Microsoft
Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/). (http://www.microsoft.com/)
Microsoft Gold Certified Support Partners for Support Services are industry-leading, multivendor support providers who have a special relationship with Microsoft that helps ensure that they deliver high-quality technical support for Microsoft products. |
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**If you are a Microsoft Premier contract holder, please contact your technical account manager (TAM) or application development consultant (ADC).**
Typical developer, incident-based support is focused on break/fix solutions (such as, "I have this error; how do I fix it?"). An incident is defined as a problem that cannot be broken down into sub-problems. It might be symptomatic of exception errors logged, malfunctioning software programs, result in unexpected data results, and so on. If the incident results in a product bug or defect, the cost of support will be credited back to the customer.
| Incident-based support at the Microsoft
Web site (http://support.microsoft.com/). (http://www.microsoft.com/)
Assisted support from Microsoft for break/fix solutions. |
Benefits of support option
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| Self-support at the Microsoft
Web site (http://support.microsoft.com/). (http://www.microsoft.com/)
Offers a wealth of no-charge, self-help tools and content on its support Web sites; available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. |
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| Newsgroups at the Microsoft
Web site (http://communities.microsoft.com/). (http://www.microsoft.com/)
Interact with Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) and other Microsoft customers in open forums and discussion groups. |
Information provided on:
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