# Incident reports, service requests, and billing questions in AMS Accelerate
With AMS Accelerate, you can request help with operational issues and requests at any time through the AWS Support Center in the AWS Management Console. AMS Accelerate operations engineers are available to respond to your incidents and service requests round-the-clock, with response time Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for the [service](https://s3.amazonaws.com/ams.contract.docs/AWSManagedServicesSLA.pdf). AMS Accelerate operations engineers proactively notify you of important alerts and questions using the same mechanisms.
AMS Accelerate provides a range of operational services to help you achieve operational excellence on AWS. To gain a quick understanding of how AMS helps your teams achieve overall operational excellence in the AWS Cloud with some of our key operational capabilities including round-the-clock helpdesk, proactive monitoring, security, patching, logging and backup, see [ AMS Reference Architecture Diagrams](https://d1.awsstatic.com/architecture-diagrams/ArchitectureDiagrams/AWS-managed-services-for-operational-excellence-ra.pdf).
**Topics**
+ [Incident management in AMS Accelerate](acc-manage-incidents.md)
+ [Service request management in Accelerate](service-request-management.md)
+ [Incident report and service request testing in Accelerate](acc-request-testing.md)
+ [Billing questions for AMS Accelerate](acc-billing-questions.md)
# Incident management in AMS Accelerate
In AMS Accelerate, you use the **AWS Support Center Console** to file incident reports. Incidents are AWS service performance issues that impact your managed environment, as determined by AMS Accelerate or you. Incidents identified by the AMS Accelerate team are first received as *events* (a change in system state captured by monitoring). If a configured threshold is breached, the event triggers an alarm, also called an alert. The AMS Accelerate operations team determines if the event is non-impacting, or an incident (a service interruption or degradation), or a problem (the underlying root cause of one or more incidents).
**Note**
The AMS Accelerate team also receives incidents created by you programmatically using the [AWS Support API](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awssupport/latest/user/Welcome.html) with service code `service-ams-operations-report-incident`.
For information about using Support, see [ Getting started with Support](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awssupport/latest/user/getting-started.html).
# What is incident management?
Incident management is the process AMS uses to record, act on, communicate progress of, and provide notification of, active incidents.
The goal of the incident management process is to ensure that normal operation of your managed service is restored as quickly as possible, the business impact is minimized, and all concerned parties are kept informed.
Examples of incidents include (but are not restricted to) loss of or degradation of network connectivity, a non-responsive process or API, or a scheduled task not being performed (for example, a failed backup).
The following graphic depicts the workflow of an incident reported by you to AMS.
![\[Incident management workflow between AMS operations and the customer with a customer-reported incident.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/managedservices/latest/accelerate-guide/images/incident-mgmt-workflow-customer.png)
This graphic depicts the workflow of an incident reported by AMS to you.
![\[Incident management workflow between AMS operations and the customer with a CloudWatch-detected incident.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/managedservices/latest/accelerate-guide/images/incident-mgmt-workflow-ams.png)
## Incident priority
Incidents created in AWS Support center, console or Support API (SAPI), have different classifications than incidents created in the AMS console.
+ Low: Non-critical functions of your business service, or application, related to AWS or AMS resources are impacted.
+ Medium: A business service or application related to AWS and/or AMS resources is moderately impacted and is functioning in a degraded state.
+ High: Your business is significantly impacted. Critical functions of your application related to AWS and/or AMS resources are unavailable. Reserved for the most critical outages affecting production systems.
**Note**
The AWS Support Console offers five levels of incident priority that we translate to the three AMS levels.
## How incident response and resolution work
AMS Accelerate uses IT service management (ITSM) incident management best practices to restore service, when needed, as quickly as possible.
We provide 24/7/365 follow-the-sun support through operations centers around the world with dedicated operators actively watching monitoring dashboards and incident queues.
Our operations engineers use internal incident tracking tools to identify, log, categorize, prioritize, diagnose, resolve, and close incidents; we provide you with updates on all of these activities through AWS Support Center and through the AWS Support API. Our operators leverage a variety of internal AWS support tools to help with all of those activities. These operators are deeply familiar with AMS Accelerate-supported infrastructure and have expert-level technical skills to address identified support issues. In the event our operators need assistance, the Premium Support and AWS service teams are available.
After your incident is received by the AMS Accelerate operations team, we validate the priority and classification working with you if there are any clarifications required. For example, if the incident report is better classified as a service request, it's reclassified and the AMS Accelerate service request team takes over and you're notified. If the incident can be resolved by the receiving operator, steps are taken to quickly resolve the incident. AMS Accelerate operators consult internal documentation for a resolution and, if needed, escalate the incident to other support resources until the incident is resolved. After it's resolved, the AMS Accelerate operations team documents the incident and resolution for future use.
In cases where critical severity incidents are impacting your critical workloads, AMS Accelerate may recommend an infrastructure restore. There is often a trade-off between troubleshooting an issue and simply restoring from a known functional backup, and your risks and impacts from service downtime are the deciding factors. If you have time to devote to troubleshooting issues, AMS Accelerate will assist you, and your cloud service delivery manager (CSDM) may get involved, but if the urgency to restore is high, AMS Accelerate can initiate a restore right away.
# Working with incidents in AMS Accelerate
From AWS Support Center, you can perform the following tasks:
+ Report and update an incident. To report an AMS Accelerate incident, choose **AMS Operations -- Report Incident** from the **Services** menu.
+ Get a list of, and detailed information about, all of your submitted incidents.
+ Narrow your search for incidents by status and other filters.
+ Add communications and file attachments to your incidents, and add email recipients for case correspondence.
+ Initiate a live chat or request a call back on your incident.
**Note**
The live chat feature is not for security events; for security issues, create a high-priority (P1 or P2) support case.
+ Resolve incidents.
+ Rate incident communications.
The following examples describe using Support Center to submit an incident. After it's submitted, the AMS Accelerate team works with you to resolve the incident per the standard AMS Accelerate SLA.
# Submitting an incident for Accelerate
To report an incident using Support Center, refer to the support documentation: [ Creating a support case](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awssupport/latest/user/case-management.html#creating-a-support-case)
To report an incident using Support center:
1. Click **Create case**. The create incident case page opens.
1. Open the **Technical support issue type** menu and choose **AMS Operations -- Report Incident**. Supply information about your incident and choose **Create**.
1. To be kept informed by email at each step of the incident resolution process, be sure to fill in the **CC Emails** option; if you connect by federation, log in before following the link in the email that AMS Accelerate sends you about the incident.
**Note**
Make your description as detailed as possible. Include relevant resource information, along with anything else that might help us understand your issue. For example, to troubleshoot performance, include timestamps and logs. For feature requests or general guidance questions, include a description of your environment and purpose. In all cases, follow the Description Guidance that appears on your case submission form.
When you provide as much detail as possible, you increase the chances that your case can be resolved quickly.
You can also use the [AWS Support API](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awssupport/latest/user/Welcome.html) with service code `service-ams-operations-report-incident` to report an incident.
# Monitoring and updating an Accelerate incident
You can update, monitor, and review incident reports and service requests, both called *cases*, by using Support Center, or programmatically using the Support API, [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awssupport/latest/APIReference/API_DescribeCases.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awssupport/latest/APIReference/API_DescribeCases.html) operation.
To monitor a case, incident or service request, using Support Center, follow these steps.
1. In the AWS Management console, browse to **Support**.
1. From the left navigation, select **Your support cases**, browse to a case and choose the **Subject** link to open a details page with current status and correspondences.
If you want to use phone or chat at this point, click **Open case in Support Center** to open the case **Create** page in the Support Center, auto-populated with the AMS service type.
When a reported incident or service request case is updated by the Accelerate operations team, you receive an email and a link to the incident in the Support Center so you can respond.
**Note**
You can't respond to case correspondence by replying to the email.
If there are many cases in the dashboard, you can use the **Filter** option:
+ **Subject**: Use this filter to search on keywords in the subject of the case.
+ **Severity**: Use this to filter cases by severity by selecting a severity from the list.
+ **Case type**: Use this to see all cases of a particular case type. Accelerate incidents and service requests appear under the Technical Support Case Type along with any service-specific cases.
+ **Status**: Use this to filter cases by status by selecting a specific status from the list.
1. To check the latest status, refresh the page.
1. If there are so many correspondences that they do not all appear on the page, choose **Load More**.
1. To provide an update to the case status, choose **Reply**, enter the new correspondence, and then choose **Submit**.
1. To close out the case after it has been resolved to your satisfaction, choose **Close case**.
Be sure to rate the service through the 1-5 star rating to let AMS know how we're doing.
# Managing Accelerate incidents with the support API
You can use the [Support API](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awssupport/latest/user/Welcome.html) to create incidents and add correspondence with Support staff during investigations into your issues. The Support API models much of the behavior of the [AWS Support Center](https://console.aws.amazon.com/support/home#/).
For information about you can use this AWS support service, see [ Programming the Life of an AWS Support Case](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awssupport/latest/user/Case_Life_Cycle.html#crebopbatecase).
**Note**
The AMS Accelerate team receives incidents created by you programmatically using the with service code `service-ams-operations-report-incident`.
# Responding to an AMS Accelerate-generated incident
AMS Accelerate proactively monitors your resources. For more information, see [Monitoring and event management in AMS Accelerate](acc-mon-event-mgmt.md). Sometimes AMS Accelerate identifies and creates an incident, most often to notify you of an event. If action on your part is required to resolve an incident, notification is sent by the AMS Accelerate team to the contact information you have provided for the account. You respond to this notification in the same way as for any other incident—usually through Support Center, though in some cases contact through email or phone is required.
**Important**
To receive state change notifications for an incident case or service request, enter an email address in the addresses field.
[](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=https://www.youtube.com/embed/5ROuEwNSzSM)
# Service request management in Accelerate
**Topics**
+ [When to use a service request for Accelerate](when-to-use-sr.md)
+ [How service request management works in Accelerate](how-sr-management-work.md)
+ [Creating a service request in Accelerate](creating-a-sr.md)
+ [Monitoring and updating a service request for Accelerate](mon-and-update-a-sr.md)
+ [Managing service requests with the support API for Accelerate](managing-service-requests-with-the-support-api.md)
+ [Responding to an AMS Accelerate-generated service request](respond-ams-gen-sr.md)
AMS Accelerate uses service request management to record, act on, communicate progress of, and provide notification of active service requests.
The goal of the service request management process is to ensure that your managed service is delivering what you need.
For billing-related queries, create a service request.
**Note**
The AMS Accelerate team receives service requests created by you programmatically using the [AWS Support API](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awssupport/latest/user/Welcome.html) with service code `service-ams-operations-service-request`.
Using the AWS Support Center, you can perform the following tasks:
+ Report and update a service request. To an AMS Accelerate service request, choose **AMS Operation -- Service Request** from the **Services** menu.
+ Get a list of, and detailed information about, all of your submitted service requests.
+ Narrow your search for service requests by status and other filters.
+ Add communications and file attachments to your requests, and add email recipients for case correspondence.
+ Resolve service requests.
+ Rate service request communications.
# When to use a service request for Accelerate
The following examples describe a service request. After you submit a service request, the AMS Accelerate team works with you to resolve the request per your AMS SLA.
+ AMS or AWS general guidance
+ Patch MW related questions
+ Backup schedule related questions
+ Questions about the functionality of AWS services
The following are examples of what shouldn't be raised in a service request:
+ Access issues
+ Patch failure
+ Backup failure
# How service request management works in Accelerate
Service requests are handled by the on-call AMS Accelerate operations team.
After your service request is received by the AMS Accelerate operations team, it's reviewed to make sure that it's properly classified as a service request or an incident. If it's reclassified as an incident, the AMS Accelerate incident management process begins and you're sent a notification.
If the AMS Accelerate operator can resolve the service request, steps to do so are taken immediately. For example, if the service request is for architecture advice or other information, then the operator refers you to the appropriate resources or answers the question directly.
If the analysis of your service request identifies a bug or a feature request, then AMS sends you a notification through the service request. Since there is no ETA for feature requests or bug fixes, the original service request is closed. Contact your CSDM for follow up questions related to the original service request.
If the service request is out of scope for AMS Accelerate operations, the operator either sends the request to your cloud service delivery manager, so they can communicate with you, or to the appropriate AWS support team, along with an email to you as to what steps are being taken.
The service request is not resolved until you have indicated that you are satisfied with the outcome.
**Note**
We recommend you provide a contact email, name, and phone number in all cases to facilitate communications.
# Creating a service request in Accelerate
To create a service request, follow these steps:
1. From the AMS Accelerate console, browse to [Dashboard](https://console.aws.amazon.com/managedservices/dashboard).
1. Choose **Open a service request**, the **AMS – Service Request** is pre-selected.
1. Choose a **Category**.
1. Choose **Severity** (Plus or Premium tiers only).
1. Enter information for:
+ **Subject**: A descriptive title for the service request.
+ **Description**: A comprehensive description of the service request, the systems impacted, and the expected outcome of a resolution.
1. To add an attachment, choose **Attach files**, browse to the attachment you want, and choose **Open**. To delete the attachment, choose the delete icon![\[Blue circular icon with a white X symbol in the center.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/managedservices/latest/accelerate-guide/images/icon-delete-attachment.png)
1. **Contact us**: The default contact AMS through the web. To select other options:
+ **Preferred contact language**: English is the supported language for AMS Accelerate service requests.
+ **Web**: Your service request is submitted through the web and handled by the AMS operations team.
+ **Chat**: Chat online with an AMS Accelerate operations representative. This option adds you to the chat queue.
+ **Phone**: An AMS operations representative calls you back. Enter your AWS Region, phone number, and extension if applicable.
+ **Additional contacts**: Enter any additional email addresses you want copied on your service request.
1. Choose **Submit**.
A case details page opens with information on the service request, such as **Type**, **Subject**, **Created**, **ID**, and **Status**. Plus, a **Correspondence** area that includes the description of the request you create.
To open a correspondence area and provide additional details or updates in status, choose **Reply**.
After the service request has been resolved, choose **Resolve Case**.
If there are so many correspondences that they don't all appear on the page, choose **Load More**.
Be sure to rate the service through the 1-5 star rating to let AMS know how we're doing.
**Note**
If you're going to test service request functionality, we recommend you add a no-action flag to your service request's subject, such as `AMSTestNoOpsActionRequired`. Then you can test without starting the service request resolution process.
The AMS Accelerate team receives service requests created by you programmatically using the [AWS Support API](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awssupport/latest/user/Welcome.html) with service code `service-ams-operations-service-request`.
# Monitoring and updating a service request for Accelerate
To monitor a case, incident or service request, using Support Center, follow these steps.
1. In the AWS Management console, browse to **Support**.
1. From the left navigation, select **Your support cases**, browse to a case and choose the **Subject** link to open a details page with current status and correspondences.
If you want to use phone or chat at this point, click **Open case in Support Center** to open the case **Create** page in the Support Center, auto-populated with the AMS service type.
When a reported incident or service request case is updated by the Accelerate operations team, you receive an email and a link to the incident in the Support Center so you can respond.
**Note**
You can't respond to case correspondence by replying to the email.
If there are many cases in the dashboard, you can use the **Filter** option:
+ **Subject**: Use this filter to search on keywords in the subject of the case.
+ **Severity**: Use this to filter cases by severity by selecting a severity from the list.
+ **Case type**: Use this to see all cases of a particular case type. Accelerate incidents and service requests appear under the Technical Support Case Type along with any service-specific cases.
+ **Status**: Use this to filter cases by status by selecting a specific status from the list.
1. To check the latest status, refresh the page.
1. If there are so many correspondences that they do not all appear on the page, choose **Load More**.
1. To provide an update to the case status, choose **Reply**, enter the new correspondence, and then choose **Submit**.
1. To close out the case after it has been resolved to your satisfaction, choose **Close case**.
Be sure to rate the service through the 1-5 star rating to let AMS know how we're doing.
# Managing service requests with the support API for Accelerate
You can use the [AWS Support API](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awssupport/latest/user/Welcome.html) to create service requests and add correspondence to them throughout investigations of your issues and interactions with AWS support staff. The AWS support API models much of the behavior of the [AWS Support Center](https://console.aws.amazon.com/support/home#/).
The AMS team also receives service requests created by you programmatically using the AWS Support API with the service code **service-ams-operations-service-request**.
For more information about how you can use this AWS support service, see [ Programming the Life of an AWS Support Case](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awssupport/latest/user/Case_Life_Cycle.html#crebopbatecase).
# Responding to an AMS Accelerate-generated service request
AMS Accelerate proactively monitors your resources; for more information, see [Monitoring and event management in AMS Accelerate](acc-mon-event-mgmt.md). Sometimes AMS Accelerate creates a service request, or service notification for you, typically if action on your part is required to resolve a service request. In that case, the AMS Accelerate team sends a notification to the contact you have provided for the account. You respond to this service request in the same way as any other case—usually through the Support Center, though in some cases, email or phone correspondence is required.
**Important**
To receive state change notifications for a service request or incident case, you must have entered an email address in the addresses field. Notifications go only to the email address added to the case when it's created.
The link in the notification email works only if you're using an email server on your AMS Accelerate federated network. Otherwise, you can respond to the correspondence by going to your AMS Accelerate console and using the case details page.
**Note**
AMS Accelerate sends communications to your primary email address on your AWS account; we recommend adding an alternate operations contact email alias to facilitate the service request/notification management process. This is covered during the AMS Accelerate onboarding process and within the related onboarding documentation.
# Incident report and service request testing in Accelerate
When testing incident reports or service requests, we ask that you include **AMSTestNoOpsActionRequired** in the subject text. This lets AMS know that the incident or request is only for testing. When AMS operations engineers see it, they will not respond in any way.
# Billing questions for AMS Accelerate
To submit a billing-related question, complete the following steps:
1. Open the [AWS Support Center](https://console.aws.amazon.com/support/home#/) at https://console.aws.amazon.com/support/home\$1/.
1. Choose **Account & billing**.
![\[The Support console showing the Account & billing option.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/managedservices/latest/accelerate-guide/images/billingqueries1.png)
1. Choose **Create case**.
![\[The Create case button.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/managedservices/latest/accelerate-guide/images/billingqueries2.png)
1. Choose **Account and billing**, and then follow the prompts to submit your case.
![\[The Support console showing the Account and billing option.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/managedservices/latest/accelerate-guide/images/billingqueries2.png)