Functional escalation. Horizontal, functional escalation involves referring unresolved queries to a team with greater expertise or more extensive rights or access levels. If the ITS Service Desk cannot resolve a query as part of first level support, the functional escalation process will be initiated. Incidents shall be referred to the next level in the escalation process, i.e. either the Corporate Communications web team or ITS User Services. Any query that cannot be resolved by either of these shall be referred to ITS Software Services. If it is not possible to find a solution within ETH, ITS User Services shall open a ticket with Adobe. Hierarchical escalation Hierarchical, or vertical escalation means that a higher level of management is consulted or notified. This may be necessary for incidents involving high levels of damage where the service is significantly restricted or there is disagreement as to the level of service provision. Under the hierarchical escalation procedure, incidents shall be escalated as follows: • Staff on the Corporate Communications web team • Head of Corporate Communications • Executive Board
Functional escalation. If the Assigned Support Agent determines that resolution of the case will require services not covered by a Support Services Agreement, then he/she will escalate the case to the appropriate functional group within ESC. A case may be escalated to: a) ESC’s Projects Group if the case involves project work covered under a separate agreement; or b) ESC’s sales group if resolution requires services that are not covered under an existing agreement. To escalate a case, the Assigned Support Agent will discuss the case with the appropriate functional group, contact the User to inform him/her that the case is being escalated, send the User a confirming email, and close the case record. The functional group assuming responsibility for the case will contact the User and proceed to work with him/her to resolve the issue under the terms of an appropriate agreement.
Functional escalation. Functional escalation is the normal transfer of an incident to individuals or teams with a higher level of technical knowledge to reach a resolution. Many incidents will be escalated internally in this manner. Standard process is to escalate through 1st, 2nd and 3rd line teams until the fault is rectified, but the nature of the problem may allow for the bypass some of these stages. As the incident moves through this process, the support ticket will be updated at appropriate stages.
