IBM PA Primary Contact

How to Change The Primary Contact Name for IBM Cognos?

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6/12/2018
Primary Contact Name for IBM Cognos

Are you an IBM Cognos administrator that inherited the system and need to know how to change the primary contact name for IBM Cognos with IBM so you can download software?  Well, I’ll provide you the steps you need to take.  

But first, I want to clarify what the role of the primary contact is.  The primary contact will get all communications from IBM regarding changes to the Passport Advantage Agreement or other contractual issues. Only your Primary Contact (or designated Secondary Contacts) can update contact information.  Everyone who buys IBM Cognos must provide a contact name, it’s mandatory.  So, when you buy software, don’t make this person a consultant or intern.   Make sure it’s an employee.

Secondary Contact Recommended

We recommend the primary contact designate secondary contacts in IBM Passport Advantage to assist with adding new users and determining access rights.  The secondary contact will have all the same management access rights as the primary contact except for creating new secondary contacts.  Up to four secondary contacts can be designated by the primary contact.  The secondary contact will need to know the Passport Advantage Site Number.  If a customer site has no nominated secondary contacts, the primary contact will be solely responsible for managing access rights.  Not sure I would want only one person to do that, best to have a backup assigned.

If you buy with under the Passport Advantage program, you can also designate an Administrative Contact and a Site Technical Contact when you enroll.  The Administration Contact is your site’s designated contact for all administrative documents including Software Subscription and Support Renewal notices and Proofs of Entitlement. So, if a product is about to go unsupported, IBM will notify the administrative contact.

Administrative and Site Technical Contact

Your administrative contact is responsible for requesting and authorizing account information changes. If authorized by your primary contact, your administrative contact can manage Web and tool access for your organization and will have access to your Proofs of Entitlement online via Passport Advantage Online to confirm your authorized use of IBM software.

The site technical contact is responsible for overall support compliance for your Passport Advantage site. The site technical contact maintains authorizations for entitled support-related Web and tool– including IBM Service Requests, PMRs and fixes.   Because you can have a technical person set by site, you might want to put licenses held in different regions on separate sites within your PA account.  This will allow them to have access to support in their time zones.

Your IBM Cognos Support renewal quote will go to the Renewal Contact that is assigned to the site, and you will receive a separate bill for each site.

How to Change Contact?

Okay, now that you understand the different roles, here are the details about how to change the primary contact name for IBM Cognos.  But, I must warn you it’s a lot easier to change the primary contact for your Cognos system if the old administrator is still there.

Assuming the current primary contact is still with the company, you will need to have that person email IBM.  In North America you will email paonline@us.ibm.com.  Typically, they respond within 24 hours.  You will need to provide the following in the email:

  • The IBM Customer Number of your organization, which can be found on your support renewal invoice or quote.
  • If your organization has more than one IBM Site ID, include the Site ID.  This will also be on your support renewal invoice or quote from IBM.
  • First name and last name of the previous Contact.
  • First name and last name of the individual to be designated as the new Contact.
  • Phone number of the individual to be designated as the new Contact.
  • Email address of the individual to be designated as the new Contact.

If you don’t have your IBM customer number or site number, contact us at Renewals@lodestarsolutions.com and we will assist you. 

Note, if the previous primary contract  is no longer at the company, or you don’t know whose name is on file with IBM, the new primary contact should email dswsoft@us.ibm.com or paonline@us.ibm.com with a request to make the changes.   Or, we can assist you.  Renewals@lodestarsolutions.com.  They will need to know your Passport agreement/site number, new contact’s full name, Email address, Phone number, and reason for update.

For more information on how to change the primary contact name for IBM Cognos click here. 

Have you recently acquired a Cognos Client?  Make sure you are prepared and check out our blog for all the tips on merging your Cognos licenses!

What do you mean, My Cognos licenses expired?

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What do you mean, My Cognos licenses expired?

For those of you who have been taking advantage of price savings by moving your IBM licenses to an IBM Passport Advantage Agreement (PA#), you may run into this situation.  IBM has changed the way they have been emailing notices for your licenses that are due to expire.  Instead of sending the email 75 days prior to the expiration of the license, they are sending out the email 75 days prior to your PA# Anniversary Date.  This could result in IBM licenses that are expiring prior to the Anniversary Date being left in the lurch.  I have not seen IBM put a client in the position they have to have the expired license reinstated and pay a penalty.  However, it could put you in a precarious position when you attempt to log a support ticket by finding out your license is flagged as expired.  During a time when you need their support, the last thing you need is to jump through hoops to get IBM to manually authorize an extension for support.  As we all know, this will only happen at the most inconvenient time possible and will only add more stress to the problem that is requiring you to log a support ticket.

In essence, keep track of IBM licenses that expire mid-term and follow up with your Business Partner to see if you might run into this situation.

As an additional reminder, make sure that your Primary and Secondary contacts authorized with IBM are current.  Only the Primary is allow to download software and updates, authorize the Secondary to be able to log support requests and will be the only one to receive notice of license expirations.  Many clients forget when an employee is moving to a different position or is leaving the company to have this updated before that occurs.

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