September 16, 2013

Troubleshooting 101: Knowing When to Make the Call

We hear you. When your site isn'€™t working properly you want it fixed immediately as the interrupted service may potentially harm your business. As your site likely contains numerous modules that are interwoven together to make your functionality unique, it'€™s important to drill down to the cause of the issue as efficiently as possible.

Today I'd like to review some of the troubleshooting steps you can take before contacting us (or your developer), and the information we'€™d love to see to help resolve the issue fast.

Website Down

Is it a local issue on your computer, your internet connection or your host?

  • Locally, first try clearing the cache on your website browser a couple of times to see if the site will reload properly. Also try viewing the site on a different browser.
  • Is it your internet connection or just the site? Check to see if you can view other sites online.
  • If you'€™re not able to view other sites then then the issue may be stemming from your internet connection. Check your local connection as well as with your internet service provider.
  • If it's only your site that'€™s not loading then it may be due to your site's host.
  • Next up, check to see if its just your site or other sites on your host's server: visit http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com to see how far reaching the issue is. You may need to contact your host at this point for further assistance.

"€˜My Site'€™s Not Working"€™

As "€˜my site'€™s not working"€™ doesn'€™t quite hit the spot, it'€™s important to collect as much information as possible when reporting the issue to help deliver a speedy resolution.

Here'€™s some of the information we'€™d love to see in your support ticket:

  • Is this a new bug, one you've experienced a couple of times or have you been using a workaround for a while now?
  • The URLs involved.
  • The steps taken which resulted in the error. This includes whether or not you'€™re logged in, the dimensions of the data/ document you're trying to upload, etc. Don'€™t worry about making this seem too simple as sometimes the process can be a part of the problem/solution.
  • Screenshots are awesome! These can sometimes provide more light to situation.
  • Which browser you’re using, version and device(s). As we know, each version of Internet Explorer packs its own bag of tricks so this is important to know the goods.

Third Party Apps No Longer Functioning

Has your password or account info recently changed? Have you recently received an email asking for some code to be updated within the site? Anytime there are changes made to a third party app we will need to know to update your CMS accordingly.

Examples of third party apps include: Beanstream, PayPal, MailChimp, and Hubspot.

If you’re unsure of how to create a support ticket here at Fuse please feel free to contact us directly. Whether it’s by our project management system, phone, email or even snail mail we’re here to help!

 

Photo credit: Chris Eastwood