contracts nice but it doesn't say what they are for

[keithsauer507]

Seeing contracts and when they expire is a real nice addition to the iPhone app. However I would just like to suggest an enhancement where you could click on the contract and if would move over to a new screen listing the associated hardware with that contract.

I have a few different SmartNets, some expiring soon (one even tomorrow) but I have no idea what equipment it covers.

Thanks for considering this enhancement request.

Sent from Cisco Technical Support iPhone App

[David Dube]

Hi Keith,

Thanks for the feedback! We do plan on continuing to flesh out this capability... We actually had to separate out some functionality we wanted to deliver with the latest release. Coming in about a month will provide the user the ability to look up contract details by serial number - so you can see if a device has a support contract associated with it. As part of that release, we'll be incorporating an optical bar code scanner to aid in the lookup process.

With that said, we wanted to at least get something out there to guage further interest, and provide at least some information along the way. We're hoping it sparks discussion for us (feature requests such as yours) as well as conversations with your Partner(s) and/or Account Manager(s) about support contracts nearing expiration.

In terms of what you are asking... typically, having the ability to see what devices are under contract is associated with a SmartNet Total Care contract (incorporates inventory management).

Some questions...

Do you have SmartNet or SmartNet Total Care contracts?

Any idea how many devices you typically have on a given contract?

It's not all that uncommon to see 1000s of devices on a given contract... In all honesty, providing that level of visibility for that many products on a mobile device will be challenging from a user experience. We're noodling on a happy medium so to speak.

Would you mind if I reach out to you directly to flesh out a few ideas about this topic?

More than happy to talk with others about contract related topics.

Regards,

Dave Dubé

Sr. Product Mgr, Cisco Services

[keithsauer507]

Hi Dave,

Your point is well made that its not uncommon for 1000's of devices on a given contract.  We are a small facility of 140 employees across 4 locations.  Our Cisco networking gear is spread across a few different SmartNet contracts (yes we have SmartNet) due to when we purchased or renewed.  Being that we are small, its more common for us to have a branch office on one smartnet which would only consist of maybe a few switches, router and access points; so not much. 

The challenge is finding out which devices belong to smartnet.  If I log in via the web I see right now 4 contract numbers and one is expired.  Well I want to know which devices just expired but if I click on it I get  CSCC Error Page "Having Trouble Logging in?".  So since the web page never really worked for me I was hoping to have it availabe on the mobile, which is a far more user friendly interface than Cisco's website -- not to mention portable.

I have two vendors I deal with so I will have to ask them for the contract information and hope I get the right vendor.  So theres a bit of research on my part to go back and look at past invoices to see which vendor we purchased smartnet from so we can go back to them for renewal.  I wouldn't want to ask Vendor B to renew smartnet we purchased from Vendor A for example.  We'd rather they not know about eachother for competitivie quoting bids on other projects.

I love where your going with the app.  The ability to do barcoding and inventory management is a huge undertaking and I look forward to that direction.  I think all the things you can do on the mobile device is just really convienent, especially if at another branch office or walking around in the datacenter carrying a mobile is a lot easier than a laptop.

[David Dube]

Hi Keith,

Out of curiosity... what other identifying characteristics (aside from products) about the contract would make this piece of the app more usefull? In the event you have a long list... what would be the top 1-3 things that would make this significantly better?

It sounds like you ultimately want to know what products either lost, or soon to be losing coverage. Once you had that information... can you walk me through your next set of steps that you would go through? What considerations would you be factoring in?

FWIW... in the mean time while we flesh this idea out... you could always take a screen shot and email your Partner Reseller and/or Account Manager (trying to be general for all parties reading this) and have them research the details. 

Not ideal... but hopefully one step closer.

Regards,

Dave