A support case is a request for technical assistance or help with a Google Cloudaccount, project, or billing issue. For more information, see theTechnical Support Services Guidelines.

This document explains how to complete the following tasks:

• Create support cases
• Manage support cases
• Enable case sharing
• View known issues
• Contact Customer Care
• Access additional services

To learn about the availability of Customer Care, seeLanguage support and working hours.

Required roles

To get the permissions that you need to manage support cases, including viewing, creating, updating,escalating, and closing cases, ask your administrator to grant you the following IAM roles on the project, folder, or organization where the support case is managed:

• To view support cases:Tech Support Viewer (roles/cloudsupport.techSupportViewer)
• To manage support cases:Tech Support Editor (roles/cloudsupport.techSupportEditor)

For more information about granting roles, seeManage access to projects, folders, and organizations.

You might also be able to get the required permissions throughcustom roles or otherpredefined roles.

For more information, seeAccess control with IAM.

Create a support case

Writing a detailed support case makes it easier for the Customer Careteam to respond to you quickly and efficiently. The best support cases are bothdetailed and specific. For more information, seeBest practices for working with Customer Care.

Before creating a support case, review known issues, and make sure that a casehas not already been filed. In this document, seeView known issues.

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to theSupport>Cases page.

   Go to Cases

2. Using the resource selector on the console toolbar, select the resourcefor which you'd like to create a support case.

3. Clickadd_boxGet help.

4. In theSelect a product list, select a product.

5. In theDescribe your issue field, enter a description of your issue.You can edit this description and provide more details in a subsequent step.

6. In theObserved error message field, enter any error message details.

7. Select a priority and clickNext.

   For more information, in this document, seeSupport case priority.

8. Explore the resources that are listed and that might help you resolve yourissue. If you still need to proceed, clickNext.

9. In theSelect a category list, select a sub-category that bestdescribes your issue.

   This ensures that your case is forwarded to the correct team.

10. Choose a support channel:Live chat orEmail.

    Live chat is available only in English. The transcript of your chat will be made available to you through email and can be viewed in the console by those who have the appropriate permission.

    If you select email, you can also specify a supported language.

11. Answer the remaining questions and provide as many details as possible,such as timestamps, locations, and logs. You can optionally providebrowser trace information.

    Note: We recommend uploading file attachments in formats that are widely supported and non-proprietary, such as PNG, TXT, or PDF.

12. ClickSubmit.

    The Customer Care team responds to the case based on its priority and the support service that applies. After you submit the form, you're redirected to theCases page.

13. To comment on the case, upload file attachments, or modify other caseattributes, clickView case.

Support case status

After a support case is created, you can view its status inthe Google Cloud console. The following table provides a description ofthe different statuses:

Status	Description
New	The case is not assigned yet.
Assigned	The case is assigned to one of our specialists. You'll see a responsewithin the target response time mentioned in the priorities table.
In progress Cloud Customer Care	Customer Care specialists are working on the case.
In progress Google engineering	Google product engineers are investigating the case. Turnaround timesvary, depending on the issue complexity and product component in question.
In progress Google other	Another Google team is investigating the case. Turnaround times can vary,depending on the issue complexity and product component in question.
Waiting on customer response	We need more information from you before we can proceed.
Waiting on customer action	We need you to do something before we can proceed.
Solution offered	A solution for the issue or request in the case has been offered. The customer canreopen the case if the offered solution is insufficient.
Closed	The case is resolved and closed by the Customer Care specialist. If the issue is still ongoing, you canreopen it within 15 days by replying to the last communication. After 15 days, you need tocreate a new case.

Support case priority

When creating a support case, it's important to assign it the correct priority.Per the Google CloudTechnical Support Services Guidelines,response times vary by issue priority and which support service applies.

The following table defines support case priorities. For more information, inthis document, seeChange case priority.

Priority definition	Example situations
P1: Critical Impact—Service Unusable in Production	The application or infrastructure is unusable in production, having asignificant rate of user-facing errors. Business impact is critical (for example, revenue loss or potential data integrity issue). No workaround is available that can be quickly implemented (less than 30 minutes). Affected Google Cloud component or feature is marked asGeneral Availability. Immediate attention from Google is required to resolve the problem.
P2: High Impact—Service Use Severely Impaired	The infrastructure is degraded in production, having a noticeable rate ofuser-facing errors or difficulties in spinning up a new production system. Business impact is moderate (for example, danger of revenue loss or productivity decrease). A workaround to mitigate critical business impact is available and can be quickly implemented. Affected Google Cloud component or feature is marked asGeneral Availability. Fast response from Google is required.
P3: Medium Impact—Service Use Partially Impaired	The issue is limited in scope and/or severity. The issue has nouser-visible impact. Business impact is low (for example, inconvenience or minor business processes affected). Case requires more in-depth investigation and troubleshooting and less frequentinteractions.
P4: Low Impact—Service Fully Usable	Little to no business or technical impact. Recommended for consultative tickets where in-depth analysis, troubleshooting orconsultancy are preferred to more frequent communications.

Manage support cases

If you have therequired roles, you can update, reopen, andclose a support case for an associated resource (organization, project, folder),even if you didn't create the case.

Update a support case

You can only update an open support case.

To update a support case, do the following:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to theSupport>Cases page.

   Go to Cases

2. Using the resource selector on the console toolbar, select the resourcefor which you'd like to list support cases. For example, if you select anorganization, all cases for the organization are displayed. If you select aproject, only the cases associated with that project are listed.

3. Optional. In thefilter_listFilterlist, select a property to filter support cases by.

4. Click the name of the support case that you want to update.

You can add comments, upload file attachments, edit attributes, or escalatethe case.

Reopen a support case

You can reopen the case if the offered solution is insufficient.

You can only reopen a case that has been closed in the last 15 days. For a casethat has been closed for more than 15 days, you can't reopen it and mustcreate a new support case.

By default, a reopened case is assigned to the last working Customer Carespecialist who had closed the case earlier to make sure that the context ofthe case is preserved.

Important: Theinitial response timesare not applicable to the reopened cases. If your support case requires urgentattention, set thecase priority toP1. This assignsthe case to the next available Customer Care specialist.

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to theSupport>Cases page.

   Go to Cases

2. Using the resource selector on the console toolbar, select the resourcefor which you'd like to list support cases. For example, if you select anorganization, all cases for the organization are displayed. If you select aproject, only the cases associated with that project are listed.

3. Optional. In thefilter_listFilterlist, select a property to filter support cases by.

4. Click the name of the support case that you want to reopen.

5. ClickReopen case.

6. Enter a reason for reopening the case.

7. ClickReopen to confirm.

Close a support case

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to theSupport>Cases page.

   Go to Cases

2. Using the resource selector on the console toolbar, select the resourcefor which you'd like to list support cases. For example, if you select anorganization, all cases for the organization are displayed. If you select aproject, only the cases associated with that project are listed.

3. Optional. In thefilter_listFilterlist, select a property to filter support cases by.

4. Click the name of the support case that you want to close.

5. In theGeneral Information section, clickClose case.

6. ClickYes to confirm.

Create a linked support case

To automatically receive updates for a known issue, you can link a support caseto it.

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to theSupport>Cases page.

   Go to Cases

2. Using the resource selector on the console toolbar, select the resourcefor which you'd like to list known issues.

3. Click theKnown issues tab.

4. Click an issue to expand it.

5. To create a linked support case, clickCreate linked case.

Enable case sharing

Case sharing lets users in your organization, and outside of it, track supportcases through email. They are able to comment by replying to messages withoutneeding to access the Google Cloud console.

Caution: When case sharing is enabled, users can share cases with externalemail addresses outside of your Google Cloud organization.

Note the following:

• Case sharing is disabled by default and the setting doesn't retroactivelyapply to existing cases. It only affects cases that are opened after modifyingthe setting.
• Case sharing must be enabled by aSupport Account Administrator.
• When case sharing is enabled, any user with thecloudsupport.techCases.updatepermission (available through theTech Support Editor role)can add recipients by their email addresses.

Required roles

To get the permissions that you need to enable case sharing, ask your administrator to grant you the following IAM roles on the organization where the support account is managed:

• To manage a support account and enable case sharing:Support Account Administrator (roles/cloudsupport.admin)

For more information about granting roles, seeManage access to projects, folders, and organizations.

You might also be able to get the required permissions throughcustom roles or otherpredefined roles.

Allow email addresses to track a case

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to theSupport>Overview page.

   Go to Overview

2. Using the resource selector on the console toolbar, select the organizationfor which you'd like to enable case sharing.

3. In the navigation menu, clickSettings.

4. To turn on the setting, click theEnable case sharing toggle.

5. To turn off the setting, click theEnable case sharing toggle again.

View known issues

The Google Cloud Support team publishes information about known issuesaffecting Google Cloud services as they arise. You can view these issuesby visiting the public status dashboard,Google Cloud Service Health,or by using the Google Cloud console.

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to theSupport>Cases page.

   Go to Cases

2. Using the resource selector on the console toolbar, select the resourcefor which you'd like to list known issues.

3. Click theKnown issues tab. You can link a support case to a knownissue. In this document, seeCreate a linked support case.

If there are any open known issues that might be affecting yourGoogle Cloud services, you will also see a notification on the casecreation page. For more information, see the FAQ inMonitor Google Cloud Service Health incidents.

Contact Customer Care

All users can contact Customer Care with questions about Cloud Billing. You can also request support for technical questions about projects within your organization.

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to theSupport>Overview page.

   Go to Overview

2. Using the resource selector on the console toolbar, select the project for which you'd like support.
3. In the navigation menu, select your preferred communication channel:
   • Billing support: gives you access to a live chat for billing support
   • Phone support: provides a phone number that you can call to receive assistance in supported languages
   • Community support: provides links to community discussion groups and mailing lists that can help you find answers or troubleshoot problems

Access additional services

If your support service is Enhanced or Premium, you have access to the followingadditional services:

• Change case priority
• Escalate a case
• Request follow-the-sun service

Depending on your support service and language, you might also be eligible toreceive 24/7 support. For information on availability, seeLanguage support and working hours.

Change case priority

If the service impact of a support case changes, you can change the priority ofyour case based on the urgency and the business impact. When you change thepriority, Customer Care is notified and attends to your case based onthe new priority. For more information, in this document, seeSupport case priority.

You can change the case priority in the Google Cloud console. In thisdocument, seeManage existing support cases.

You can also change the case priority through theGoogle Cloud Support Portal.

When changing the case priority, be sure to provide information about the reasonfor the change, and specifically, how the business impact has changed.

Escalate a case

You can escalate your case when the support process is not working as youexpected or if you're not getting the help you need.

Note: Escalation is meant for flagging process breaks. When you are experiencinghigh-impact issues, escalation doesn't generally make the case proceed faster.The best solution is to ensure that the case is set to the appropriate priorityfor an adequate amount of time. Escalating shortly after a priority change mighteven cause the case resolution to beslower.

When a support case is escalated, it is immediately assigned to an EscalationManager and you are notified within an hour. The Escalation Manager owns theescalation until its closure. They identify and address the escalation rootcause, and report preventative actions to avoid similar escalations in thefuture.

When you're experiencing a high-impact issue, the best solution might be to setthe case to the appropriate priority for an adequate amount of time, rather thanescalating. For example, if the issue is severely impacting your productionenvironment, you can increase the priority of your case to P1. For a detailedexplanation, see theWhen should you escalate video.

Your Technical Account Manager (TAM) can advise you on whether to change yourcase priority or escalate the case. Regardless, aftercreating a support case,you should update it with any relevant information. This ensures that whoeverworks on your case has a holistic understanding, and doesn't have to piecetogether information from a variety of sources and communication channels.

Reasons for escalating

An escalation is meant to flag issues that have resulted in increased businessimpact, or a breakdown of the resolution process. The following are possiblereasons for escalating a case:

• To request a timezone change to align working hours (specify the exact timezone)
• To request an update (within an hour)
• To request a Google Meet video call (specify your availability)
• The recommended fix doesn't resolve your issue
• The response time is too slow
• The issue is not being handled according to your expectations in alignmentwith the business impact
• Other (specify the details)

Request an escalation

When requesting an escalation, quote the case number, and provide a reason forthe escalation. You can make the request in the following ways:

• In the Google Cloud console, open your support case, and clickEscalate. In this document, seeManage existing support cases.
• Go to theGoogle Cloud Support Portal,open your support case, and click theEscalate case button, which appears30 minutes after a case is created.
• Contact Customer Care. In this document, seeContact Customer Care.
• If you have Premium Support, you can also request an escalation by contactingyour TAM duringlocal business hours.

Request follow-the-sun service

Normally, a case is handled within one time zone by a singleCustomer Care specialist. Doing so allows Customer Care tooffer personalized service in the time zone closest to you.

Due to the high impact of Priority 1 (P1) cases, they are defaulted tofollow the sun, which means that the case is handed off between global teamsto provide 24-hour support coverage. If you have Premium Support, you can alsorequest this service for Priority 2 (P2) cases.

Note: Since follow-the-sun cases have continuous support attention, you mightneed to provide information at all hours of the day. Ensure that you havecolleagues that are available after-hours or in a different location to continueengaging with Customer Care specialists.

To request follow-the-sun service for a P2 support case, contact the specialistworking on your case duringlocal business hours.

What's next

Understand how toconfigure user access to manage supportcases.