Troubleshooting - Intro#
This section contains a guide to help in the troubleshooting process by providing some guidelines for describing the problem, tracing the problem to its root cause and applying a definitive fix. Before contacting the Critical Manufacturing support team, it is recommended to follow this troubleshooting guide first.
Warning
When contacting Critical Manufacturing support, take note of the exact Critical Manufacturing MES version, including Service Pack and include as much information as possible so that Critical Manufacturing MES is able to reproduce the problem.
Problem Characterization#
The first step in troubleshooting is to characterize the problem symptoms and scope correctly. A guideline is provided in the next table.
| Problem Characterization | Additional Information |
|---|---|
| What is the problem? | Describe the effects (symptom) of the problem, adding error messages information, application logs and screenshots when applicable. |
| When it was first reported? | Capture who and when was the problem first reported. Is that something that occurred all of a sudden, or was it a known situation that degraded over time? |
| What is the scope of the problem? | Is the problem related to a single computer, single user, a class of users, to a single area, to a single transaction, to a particular scenario or is it widespread? |
| What is the impact and severity of the problem? | Based on the scope of the problem and business impact, what is the urgency and severity of the problem? |
Table: Problem Characterization
Root Cause Analysis#
The table below helps in trying to find the root cause of the problem.
| Problem Characterization | Additional Information |
|---|---|
| Are all the software components up and running? | Follow the System Health Check section. In particular look at application log files and system event log entries. Some common error causes are:- Connectivity errors (due to network problems/)- Disks which are full- Lack of database space- Expired or locked system accounts- Hardware failures |
| Were there any recent application or system changes? | A lot of problems are the result of a recent change. This may not be obvious at first, but look for recent changes related with: - Network and Hardware Changes - Application Updates - Changes to Application Configuration Files - Internet Explorer, Operating System and Database - Updates - Application Configuration (Security, Permissions, …) - Application Business Rules - Application Modeling (New Flows, Data Collections, Recipes, …) - New functionality or a new scenario that was never-used before - Other |
| Are all the Critical Manufacturing licenses still valid? | Check the expiration of the Critical Manufacturing application and Critical Manufacturing licensed modules. |
| Have all the common problems been checked? | Check for the Common Problems section to see whether there is a known resolution. |
Table: Root Cause Analysis
Problem Resolution#
Once the root cause has been correctly identified, it is possible to work out a definitive fix for the problem. As much as possible, the problem must be prevented from occurring again. That may involve procedure changes, an improved monitoring process or in the extreme case, some software changes. It is strongly suggested to keep a knowledge base that describes all the problems that were reported and how they were resolved. It will be very helpful for future troubleshooting.