Cisco Systems, Inc



[pic]

Cisco Systems, inc

Channel partner certification program

GOLD partner

audit requirements

1. PURPOSE

1. This document defines the requirements for the Cisco Systems Gold Partner Certification, and provides guidelines for the audit of Cisco Gold Partner organizations.

2. SCOPE

1. This document reflects the Gold Partner version of the Cisco Partner Certification audit process. A top-level document "Cisco Systems Channel Partner Certification Program and Audit Process" provides a top-level overview of the Cisco Partner Certification Program audit process, and should be used for reference in conjunction with this document.

3. REFERENCE DOCUMENTS

1. Cisco Systems Channel Partner Certification Program and Audit Process (top level document describing the overall Cisco Partner audit process).

2. Cisco Systems Gold Partner Instructions and Required Documents List (this document set is to be used by the Global Support Partner prior to the audit to provide per-audit detail information).

3. Cisco Channel Certification Tool (this tool is on the Cisco web, and is being implemented to automate the pre-audit detail collection process; may be used in place of the Instructions and Required Documents List (section 3.2 above). Go to:

4. Gold Partner Audit Forms (see separate files for copies of these forms)

1. Section 6.2 - General Company Profile

2. Section 6.3 - Personnel Requirements

3. Section 6.4 - Sales and Marketing Support

4. Section 6.5 - Partner Services

5. Section 6.6 - Support Capability

6. Section 6.7 - Support Operations

4. DEFINITIONS

1. Ranking numbers - Numbers appear in parenthesis in the Requirements section within this document after each applicable paragraph to describe to the auditors during an audit the relative level of verification required of the paragraph line item in relationship to the prescribed requirements. A higher number means more verification is required. The ranking numbers are defined below:

1. (1) - Low level of verification required. Verification of implementation of requirements generally only requires a "Yes" or "No" response, or a simple description of the system or process involved. Documentation of the audit item occurs during the pre-audit process or by using the audit checklist during the onsite audit. The time spent auditing the item should be small compared to other areas.

2. (2) - Medium level of verification required. Verification of implementation generally requires the response to include a discussion and demonstration of the items being observed. The auditor should collect enough information to provide a sample of the level of implementation of the item, and should provide a short documented summary of the audited item.

3. (3) High level of verification required. Generally a functional system is involved and the system must be demonstrated to be in place and in use consistently per specified requirements at all required applications. The auditor should document all pertinent information collected during the audit of the item, and provide this information back to Cisco on the audit results forms as part of the audit records.

2. Partner - The word Partner, as used in this document, means a Cisco Systems, Inc. Channel Gold Partner organization, or a person within the Gold Partner organization.

5. GENERAL INFORMATION

1. {TBD}

6. REQUIREMENTS

1. Pre-Audit Information and Registration (1)

1. Prior to the onsite audit, the Partner should complete the "Gold Partner Certification Program - Instructions and Required Documents List" documentation package and return it to the appropriate Cisco location shown below.

1. For Europe, Middle East and Africa the Partner should complete the registration documents, and submit them to Dominique Weyers (emea-application-form@) at:

Cisco Systems

71 Avenue des Pleiades

1200 Brussels

Belgium

2. For the all other regions, the Partner should complete the registration documents, and submit them to Mark Poniatoski (mponiato@) or Geoffrey Miller (gmiller@) at:

Cisco Systems, Inc

170 West Tasman Drive

Building.PH-3

San Jose, CA 95134-1706

2. General Company Profile (1)

1. Company details

2. Partner Main Contact for Cisco Certification

1. Partner representative details

1. Communications Tools (1)

1. What means are available for the Partners customers and Cisco to communicate with?

2. Internet Access (1)

1. Internet connection speed

2. Internet connection availability

3. Sales staff access to the Internet

3. Working Environment (1)

1. Types of computer platforms in use

4. Training (2)

1. Training for sales and support engineers on new products, protocols, features.

5. Equipment Install Base (1)

1. Mix of customer size

1. Large Enterprise Accounts

2. Medium Business Accounts

3. Small Business/Branch Office

4. Home Office

2. Mix of installed equipment base.

1. WAN Switches BPX/IGX

2. High end routers 7500/7000

3. Medium routers 4x00/3600

4. Low end routers 2500/700

5. Switches Cat5000/Cat3000

6. Internet Appliances

7. Network Management

8. Other

3. Personnel Requirements (2)

Note that all human resource requirements below must be unique individuals, except for the design skill requirements.

1. Post Sales Requirements

1. CCIE – (Cisco Certified Internetworking Professional)

1. Minimum 4 required up to $20M in net Cisco purchases.

2. Add one additional CCIE for each $10M in purchases between

$21M—$150M

3. Add one additional CCIE for each $20M in purchases above $150M

2. CCNP - (Cisco Certified Networking Professional)

1. One for each $2M of net Cisco purchases up to $6M

2. Add one additional CCNP for each $10M in purchase between

$7M-$100M

3. Add one additional CCNP for each $20M in purchases above $100M.

3. Additional information can be found on CCO at:



2. Pre Sales Requirements

1. Sales Experts: 1 for each $2M in net Cisco purchases up to $6M

1. add one additional Sales Expert for each $10M in purchase between $7M-$100M

2. add one additional Sales Expert for each $20M in purchases above $100M

Sales Expert definition: An individual who has passed one of the self-administered Cisco Sales Expert exams. The Partner may choose the Sales Expert exam according to their business needs (Enterprise, Small/Medium business or WAN). Additional information can be found on CCO at:



2. CCDP - (Cisco Certified Design Professional) 2 required

1. Additional information can be found on CCO at:

4. Sales and Marketing Support (2)

1. Demonstration and Evaluation Procedures (2)

1. Cisco solution demonstration and evaluation program

5. Partner Services (1)

1. Pre- Installation Site Preparation and Configuration Services (1)

1. Partner can provide end users with pre-installation preparation and support consisting of site preparation, analysis of cable requirements, LAN/WAN connectivity equipment, and product configuration services.

2. Standard Installation (1)

1. Partner is capable of providing hardware installation, router and LAN switch operation verification, and network access capabilities.

3. Installation with configuration (1)

1. Installation services may include configuration services that will vary from minimum configurations used to validate router and LAN switch operations, to full configuration services.

4. Onsite Upgrades (1)

1. Partner is capable of providing users with upgrades, onsite upgrade installation services, and upgrade operation validation.

5. Onsite Hardware Replacement (1)

1. Partner is capable of providing trained engineers capable of replacing hardware at the field-replaceable unit level. This service can be contracted out.

6. Software Upgrades and Software Maintenance Releases (1)

1. Partner is capable of delivering software maintenance releases and new production releases of software in either EPROM form or network-bootable binary images from a server.

7. Documentation Updates (1)

1. Partner will provide CD-ROM documentation to customers as part of a software maintenance contract, if so requested by their customers.

8. Hardware/Software Warranty (1)

1. Partner is able to pass the Cisco standard warranty or value-added warranty on to their end users. This includes being able to deploy software fixes and provides advance replacement of hardware on a next-business-day basis.

6. Support Capability (2)

1. Phone support (7 days x 24 hours) (2)

1. Partner must provide customer hot line services (via phone, fax, or e-mail) with response times for questions based upon problem severity. Problem severity and priority are established by the end-user using Cisco guidelines. This service must be available 24 hours a day (local customs apply for workdays and workweeks).

2. Local Language Support (1)

1. Partner will provide English as well as regional language support

3. Level 1 Support Services (2)

1. Partner routinely provides and, or possesses:

1. Broad internetworking and multiple vendor troubleshooting expertise

2. Router and LAN Switch configuration and upgrade support

3. General product information provision

4. Pre- and post-sales information

5. Collection of relevant technical problem identification information including detailed history of the symptoms, hardware revision information, and configurations.

6. Regular progress feedback to customer

7. Ability to filter dummy problems from real technical problems

8. Ability to capture network traces

9. Onsite visits to customers to gather information if situation requires

4. Level 2 Support Services (2)

1. Basis of this support level is the higher number of required CCIEs for Gold Partners having the proper tools and lab environment to troubleshoot complex configuration, design, environmental and software problems. The lab must be a platform for interoperability and compatibility testing for new software and hardware releases, prior to deployment into an end-user's production network.

1. All Level 1 services

2. Analyze large, complex networks with heterogeneous media, third party vendor products, multi-protocol, and escalate problems when required.

3. Technical support for problem isolation and defect determination

4. Utilize lab to build, test, and design internetwork simulations and interoperability testing.

5. Action plan definition

6. Ability to analyze traces (across LAN/WAN – Network Analyzer)

7. Onsite troubleshooting capability

5. Escalation Procedures (3)

1. Escalation of outages is the basis of end-user success. Cisco has established a minimum set of escalation and prioritization standards by country to ensure that appropriate service is provided to customers, as part of the certification process. The Partner must provide a documented and robust escalation process that escalates problems through the Partners management structure and to Cisco when necessary.

2. The following minimum areas must be addressed by the Partner’s escalation procedures:

1. Definition of customer calls by priority level.

2. Time frame for each management level escalation, by priority level.

3. Time frame for escalation to Cisco, by priority level.

6. 51% of cases escalated to Cisco TAC will be from the partners CCIE’s

7. Automated call-tracking system (2)

1. Partner tracks customer support calls via automated system which generates trouble-ticket number, and tracks management escalation time frames

8. Connectivity Capabilities (1)

1. Partners must be able to communicate with Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) from all support locations that interface with Cisco either by an Internet connection, an X.25 connection, or a dial-up modem connection. Partners must also be able to exchange files with Cisco TAC via Kermit, Xmodem, or FTP.

9. Post-sales Support Lab Facility (2)

1. This facility will include the following:

1. Minimum Three Cisco routers and one Cisco Ethernet switch

1. 2 Access routers, Cisco 2500, Cisco 3600 or Cisco 4000

2. 1 Core router min. Cisco7x00 family

3. 1 Catalyst Switch C5x00 recommended or Catalyst 3000

4. Campus ATM switch if > 100 unit installed base of any platform

2. Ability to configure all combinations of Token Ring, Ethernet, and serial (FDDI is optional by theater and country):

1. Token Ring to Token Ring via serial lines (point-to-point)

2. Ethernet to Ethernet via serial lines (point-to-point)

3. Token Ring to Ethernet via serial lines (point-to-point)

4. Ethernet to Ethernet local

5. Token Ring to Token Ring local

6. Triangulation of serial lines

3. LAN analyzer with at least Token Ring and Ethernet interfaces

4. WAN analyzer

5. Protocol analyzer capabilities with support for at least the following protocol stacks (as required by region):

1. TCP/IP

2. Novell IPX

3. ISO/OSI

4. HDLC/SDLC

5. X.25 as required by region

6. One modem eliminator operating at multiple speeds (9600 bps -64 kbps)

7. One FTP server

8. X.25 switch (as required by region)

10. Core Dump Capabilities (1)

1. Partner must be able to provide the end user with a TFTP server with sufficient disk space to take a full manual or automatic core dump. This entails writing the crashed equipment's memory to a file, to enable Cisco TAC to troubleshoot at the code level.

7. Support Operations (3)

1. Cisco Connection Online (CCO) (2)

1. Cisco will provide Partners with access to CCO. Partners should make CCO access available to their contracted customers. Partners should also use CCO as a first-line technical screening tool for Pre and Post sales questions.

1. Partner organizations that use CCO.

2. Number of registered CCO users.

3. Number of monthly CCO logins

4. Process for SE’s (Sales Engineers) to get technical questions answered

5. Use of CCO (general information, product information, support information, help with case closure, etc.), and how it fits in with Partners escalation policy.

6. Difficulties in getting technical questions answered via CCO.

2. Local Spares Supply (3)

1. Partners should stock spares according to installed base requirements, or use the Cisco Smart Spares program.

1. Partner sparing strategy, and locations from which Partner deploys spares and the regions they serve.

2. Strategy to support new products for which Partner does not have any spares yet.

3. Comprehensive 4-hour Turnaround (7 days x 24 hours) - in major cities (3)

1. Partners must be able to offer 4-hour onsite response with spares if required, from the time of receiving a call, on an around-the-clock basis.

4. Other Support Services (1)

1. Other services, Advanced replacement, Repair and Return, Software only services etc.

5. Remote Diagnostic Capabilities (2)

1. Partner will provide all of the tools necessary for remote access and dial-in to remote sites for preliminary troubleshooting. Partner must posses at least two high speed modems to allow for remote diagnostics from both end users to Partner, and end user to Cisco.

6. 1 Hour Call Back (2)

1. Partner must make contact with customer within 1 hour of receiving an E-mail, voice mail or fax notification of a problem.

7. Support Group (1)

1. Is Technical Support provided from one or many locations? If multiple locations, how many and where are they located?

2. Cisco encourages a centralized approach to technical support.

3. How many employees does the Partner dedicate to Technical Support at each location, and what is the typical breakdown of personnel:

1. Operators

2. Jr. Engineers

3. Sr. Engineers/CCIE's)

4. Partner should describe their technical support structure. What is their staffing strategy, and is it divided between level 1 and level 2 support?

5. How often is the Partner using Cisco technical phone support, and for what types of calls?

6. Is the Partner using the PICA (Partner-initiated customer access) administration interface for CCO? If so, how. If not, why.

7. How is the Partner getting your Software upgrades from Cisco (CCO or ASD-Auto? Software distributor.)?

8. How does the Partner duplicate and distribute new software to customers (EPROMS, downloaded to customer)?

9. How does the Partner distribute documentation updates to customers (CD-ROM)?

10. Does the Partner offer support to your customers without service contracts, if so, how?

11. What are the Partners software and hardware service offerings (SMARTnet)?

1. Are advance replacement services offered?

2. Are repair return services offered?

3. Are software-only services offered?

4. Is Managed Network Service offered?

8. Customer Satisfaction

1. If requested, the Partner must participate in a Cisco funded customer satisfaction survey.

2. Does the Partner currently measure customer satisfaction?

1. An example should be provided, if applicable.

Revision History

|Rev |Description |Date |

|A |Initial release |5/14/99 |

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download