Smart Hands

Smart Hands 2023.5 is available October 2023. This release includes the following changes.

Smart Hands Charges and Labor Report

The Charges and Labor Report for Smart Hands now includes three new columns:

• Flexible Smart Hands Price – If you select the Flexible scheduling option when placing an order, you typically receive a discount off the standard pricing. This column shows the discounted price applied to your order.

• Expedite Charges – When you choose Expedited scheduling for your orders, you incur a flat fee in addition to the standard pricing. This column displays the flat expedite charges.

• Smart Hands Support Plan Debit (Hours) – If you have an existing Smart Hands Support Plan, this column shows the labor hours deducted from your plan.

  Note: It takes 24 hours for Smart Hands Support Plan Debit information to sync from the billing system to the Charges and Labor Report.

Tip: Don’t forget to give us feedback on your completed Smart Hands orders. To open the survey, click on the Orders and Tickets History screen, or click Feedback from the Activity Timeline of the completed order.

Videos

Spotlight on Equinix Smart Hands 2023.2

 

Equinix Smart Hands Overview

 

Equinix Smart Hands Video Service

Smart Hands 2023.2 is available April 2023. This release includes the following changes.

Recurring Orders

The following enhancements were made to Recurring orders.

Estimated Completion

Prior Version: On the Recurring tab of the Orders and Tickets History screen, the Estimated Completion column was blank.

New Version: The Estimated Completion column is now populated with the end date of the parent order.

Bundled Orders

Prior Version: For a bundled order containing recurring AND non-recurring activities, the Activity Timeline only showed the recurring activities.

New Version: All recurring and non-recurring activities for a bundled order are now shown in the Activity Timeline for the order.

Parent Order Status

Prior Version: A parent order appeared in Completed status, even if its child orders were not dispatched yet.

New Version: The parent order appears with a status of In Progress until all child orders have been completed.

View Past Orders

Prior Version: The Recurring tab of the Orders and Tickets History screen showed orders for the last 12 months only.

New Version: You can now view orders older than 12 months. To easily locate these orders, use the Creation Date filter, then select Custom Date Range.

Inbound Shipments

The following changes were made to Inbound shipments.

New 'Pending Smart Hands' Message

Prior Version: When your Inbound shipment arrives at the loading dock, a Shipment Received message is added to the Activity Timeline. The Timeline instructs you to move your shipment from the loading dock within 5 days. Or, to have the shipment delivered to your cage, you can submit a Move Equipment order in Smart Hands.

New Version: If you submit a Move Equipment order to have the shipment delivered from the shipping/receiving area to your cage, a Pending Smart Hands message is added to the Activity Timeline.

Policy Change: Aging Shipments and Abandoned Equipment

See Inbound Shipments to an IBX for our latest policies on aging shipments and abandoned equipment.

Re-open a Resolved Trouble Ticket

Prior Version: Smart Hands allowed you to re-open a closed Smart Hands order, but not to re-open a closed trouble ticket.

New Version: Now if you need additional assistance with a completed trouble ticket, you can re-open it. For details, see Re-open a Completed Request.

Tip: Don’t forget to give us feedback on your completed Smart Hands orders. To open the survey, click on the Orders and Tickets History screen, or click Feedback from the Activity Timeline of the completed order.

Videos

Spotlight on Equinix Smart Hands 2023.2

 

Equinix Smart Hands Overview

 

Equinix Smart Hands Video Service

Smart Hands 2023.1 is available February 2023.

This release offers new features and a more efficient user experience.

Saving a Draft of Your Order

While creating a new order, if you’re not ready to submit it yet, you can click Save to keep a draft. Then when you’re ready to finish it, you can click the shopping cart icon (in the upper-right corner of the portal window) to access all your saved drafts. With the 2023.1 release, you can also access these draft orders via a new Saved tab on the Orders and Tickets History screen. From the Saved tab, you can view, edit, submit, or delete your draft orders.

Inbound Shipments Received at the Loading Dock

For an Inbound Shipment order:

• When your shipment arrives at the loading dock, a Shipment Received message will now be added to the Activity Timeline of the order.

• Your order will remain open with a status of In Progress until the shipment is moved.

If you specified that you’ll pick up your packages from the shipping/receiving area, the Activity Timeline will instruct you to move your shipment from the loading dock within 5 days. (Or, to have the shipment delivered to your cage, you can submit a Move Equipment order in Smart Hands.)

Once the shipment has been moved, the status of your order changes to Completed. For more on shipment processing, see Inbound Shipments to an IBX.

Change to Video Conferencing Feature (Limited Availability)

Smart Hands Video is a limited-release feature that allows you to collaborate with the technician when they're working on your order. Previously, Equinix charged a fee for the video conference feature. With the 2023.1 release, this fee has been removed. To see if the video feature is available at your IBX, refer to Video Conferencing Feature in the Smart Hands documentation.

Tip: Don’t forget to give us feedback on your completed Smart Hands orders. To open the survey, click on the Orders and Tickets History screen, or click Feedback from the Activity Timeline of the completed order.

Videos

Equinix Smart Hands Overview

 

Equinix Smart Hands Video Service

Smart Hands 2022.6 is available December 12, 2022.

This release offers new features and a more efficient user experience.

Order a Support Plan Online

For direct users, Smart Hands Support Plans can now be ordered online. When ordering, you can choose Prepaid Smart Hands Hours or a Monthly Smart Hands Support Plan With Rollover. For more details and instructions, see Support Plans.

Note: Online ordering of support plans is not yet available for reseller accounts, or for users in Bulgaria, Italy, Poland, Turkey, India, Korea, China, Belgium, Indonesia, South Africa, Chile, or Peru.

Enhanced ‘Activity Timeline’ Details

The Activity Timeline now provides additional updates about your Smart Hands orders:

1. For scheduled requests – Once the scheduling of the work is accepted by Equinix, the scheduled start date and time are now shown in the timeline.

2. For orders with the video conference option enabled – Once the scheduling of the Zoom meeting has been accepted by Equinix, the meeting date and time are now shown in the timeline.

3. For inbound shipments containing multiple packages – As your packages arrive at the IBX, the timeline is updated to show the number of packages received so far (green=received, red=not received). Once all parts of the shipment have been received, the colored indicator is solid green.

Time Zone Indicator on ‘Orders and Tickets History’

On the Orders and Tickets History screen, a new globe icon () in the Estimated Completion column indicates that the estimated completion dates/times are displayed in your preferred time zone (not the IBX local time zone).

Note: If you want to change your preferred time zone in ECP, select My Profile (under your username in the top right corner). Select an option from the Time Zone drop-down list and click Submit.

New Tooltip for Install/Move/Replace Equipment

On the order forms for Install Equipment and Move/Replace Equipment, there’s a new tooltip beside the option for I have an inbound shipment ticket. It explains that if you’ve just finished submitting the Inbound Shipment ticket, it might take up to 30 minutes to be available for selection.

New Option on ‘Cable Connectivity Check’ Form

On the Cable Connectivity Check form, when selecting an asset, there’s a new option for Proceed with the cable removal if live traffic is detected. If you select it, you acknowledge that Equinix is not responsible for any service outages resulting from the cable removal.

Optional ‘Scope of Work’

For Smart Hands order forms that allow you to upload a template or use a Guided Form (such as the order forms for Install Equipment and Install Cables), the Scope of Work details field is now marked as “Optional”. As long as you’ve included all the necessary details in the guided form or the uploaded template, you don't need to include them again in the Scope of Work section.

Date Field Clarification for Inbound Shipments

For clarification of the Inbound Shipment form, the Date field has been renamed Approximate Arrival Date. Enter the date you expect the shipment to be delivered to the IBX (not the date it was shipped).

Tip: Don’t forget to give us feedback on your completed Smart Hands orders. To open the survey, click on the Orders and Tickets History screen, or click Feedback from the Activity Timeline of the completed order.

Videos

Smart Hands 2022.6 Spotlight

 

Equinix Smart Hands Overview

 

Equinix Smart Hands Video Service

Smart Hands 2022.5 is available October 10, 2022.

This release offers a new report and various enhancements related to the ordering process, flexible orders, recurring orders, and inbound shipments/RMAs.

Discounted Hourly Rate for Flexible Orders

When you create a Smart Hands request, you can choose from several scheduling options (Flexible, Standard, Expedited, etc.). With this release, the Flexible option is now offered to you at a discounted hourly rate – making this your most economical option.

Flexible scheduling allows the work to be completed any time before a specified date. For example, if you submit the Flexible order on the 1st of the month, and you specify a completion date of the 10th, the work may be completed anytime between the 1st and the 10th.

Flexible scheduling is recommended for low- or medium-priority requests.

Note: If you have questions about how the discount will work with your Smart Hands Support Plan, please contact your CSM or sales representative.

Inbound Shipments: Shipping Manifest/Bill of Materials

When you create an Inbound Shipment request, a new option is available for Equinix to Scan and Send Shipment Manifest/Bill of Materials. With this option enabled, the manifest/BOM is scanned and sent to you electronically when the shipment is received.

Important: By choosing this option, if the manifest/BOM is not on the outside of the package, you authorize Equinix to open the shipment to access it.

Enhancements for Recurring Orders

For easy access, you can now view all your recurring orders in one place. A recurring order consists of:

• A parent order, which defines the scope of work and the recurrence settings.

  and

• Multiple child orders, which carry out the work.

Example: If you submit a parent order to run the Power Consumption report every week for 4 weeks, there will be 4 child orders associated with that parent order (one for each week). The Power Consumption report will be generated once for each child order.

With this release of Smart Hands, it’s easier to find your recurring orders, and easier to see the relationships between the parent orders and the child orders.

Enhancements to the Orders and Tickets History Screen

• Recurring orders are now more easily identifiable, using the following indicator:

• A new Recurring tab allows you to see all your open parent orders. You can also use the filtering options to refine the list by status, location, and/or creation date.

• Clicking a parent order takes you to the Activity Timeline of the parent.

Enhancements to the Activity Timeline/Service Details Tabs

• The Activity Timeline of the parent order shows the 5 most recent child orders associated with it, with a link to each of those orders.

• The Service Details tab shows the Recurrence Details for the parent order.

• A new All Recurring Orders tab shows all child orders associated with the parent order (for the last 12 months). It shows whether each child order is open or closed. You can filter this list by date and/or status.

• The Activity Timeline for each child order provides a link to its parent order, and another link to view all its sibling orders.

For more information, see Recurring Orders.

New Report: Smart Hands Charges and Labor

A new self-service report is available in the Reports Center – Smart Hands Charges and Labor. It shows details about all your billed Smart Hands charges for a selected time period.

You can view up to 12 months of charges in this report. You can configure the report to run once, or on a recurring basis. For more details, see ECP Reports.

Note: To run the report, you need the Ordering – Smart Hands permission.

Easier Process for Return Material Authorizations (RMA)

Handling of an RMA (as part of an equipment replacement) is now a simpler, more straightforward process. Your inbound equipment and associated packaging will be held in the IBX’s intake area until the time of installation. After installation, the packaging will be re-used to return the old equipment. An RMA request will generally consist of 3 parts:

1. An Inbound Shipment order

2. A Move/Replace Equipment/RMA order

3. An Outbound Shipment order

You can submit all 3 orders together via the Move/Replace Equipment/RMA order form. For instructions, see Return Material Authorizations (RMA).

Note: In most cases, an IBX will only hold a shipment for 5 business days. Therefore, we recommend that you schedule your installation to occur no more than 5 days after your inbound shipment arrival date, and that you schedule your outbound shipment no more than 5 days after the installation.

The new process allows for better tracking of RMA requests. It also ensures compliance with our Flammable Material Removal Policy, by preventing cardboard from entering the colocation floor. (For policy details, see section D.2 of our Global IBX Policies.)

Save Your Order Contact Preferences

When you create a Smart Hands order, you must select a Technical Contact, and you must specify when Equinix is permitted to call them (such as only during the IBX's business hours, or only during the Technical Contact’s business hours). With the 2022.5 release, each user can now save their contact preferences in their user profile. We recommend that all users who serve as Technical Contacts perform the following steps in ECP:

1. Click your username (upper-right corner of screen) and select My Profile.

2. Verify that the Time Zone field is set to your local time zone.

3. Under Contact Information, specify:

   • Your primary phone number, and when Equinix is permitted to call this number.

   • (Optional) Your mobile phone number, and when Equinix is permitted to call this number.

4. Click Submit.

Now when you’re selected as a Technical Contact for a new order, your time zone and calling preferences are automatically populated in the order.

Expanded Availability of Smart Hands Video Feature

Smart Hands Video is a limited-release feature. Via Zoom video conferencing, this feature allows you to collaborate with the technician when they're working on your order in your private cage or non-colo area. With the 2022.5 release, Smart Hands Video is available in these additional IBXs: CH1, MI1, ML2, ML3, ML5, NY2, SH6, SK1, SY4, SY5, SY6, TR2.

For more information, see Video Conferencing Feature.

Tip: Don’t forget to give us feedback on your completed Smart Hands orders. To open the survey, click on the Orders and Tickets History screen, or click Feedback from the Activity Timeline of the completed order.

Videos

Smart Hands 2022.5 Spotlight

 

Equinix Smart Hands Overview

 

Equinix Smart Hands Video Service

Smart Hands 2022.4 is available August 8, 2022.

This release provides a new option in the Smart Hands catalog, more efficient order entry and order processing, and easier access to direct communication with your Smart Hands technician.

New 'Cable Connectivity Check' Option

On the Cable Testing and Diagnostics tile in the Smart Hands catalog, there’s a new option for Cable Connectivity Check. Use this new option to check the connectivity between assets:

• Visually verify that LED link lights are green.

• Ensure that fiber connections are properly cleaned.

• Verify that cable connections are securely seated.

• Perform light level readings.

• Verify transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) after a cross connect is completed.

Note: The Light-Link Verification option has been removed from the Smart Hands Catalog. The new Cable Connectivity Check option can be used instead.

Auto-scroll to Error Fields

When submitting a Smart Hands request, it is now easier to locate errors in your order. If you attempt to submit a Smart Hands order without completing all the required fields, the screen now automatically scrolls to the missing required field.

If multiple required fields are blank, the screen scrolls to the first required field. If you complete the field and attempt to submit again, the screen scrolls to the next required field (and so on, until all required fields are completed).

Equinix-initiated Messaging

For orders with the Text (SMS) technical contact option enabled, you can initiate messaging with the Equinix technician when work is in progress on your order. For more efficient communications and order processing, this feature is enhanced in the 2022.4 release. With the enhancement, Equinix can now initiate messaging with you (if needed). If the technician sends you a message when your order is In Progress, you’ll see an orange message icon in the Status column. Hover over it and click View New Message to read the message in the Activity Timeline (and send a reply, if required).

Add Quick Notes to Your Order

It is now easier to add notes to a Smart Hands order that has already been submitted. On the Orders and Tickets History screen, hover over the blue note () beside the order number and click Add Note. (If the is not visible for your order, the order cannot currently be modified. For example, you cannot add notes to recurring orders, or orders with a status of Pending Approval, Cancelled, Action Required, or Completed.)

Modified Screens for Energize/De-Energize Circuit

Based on customer feedback, we modified the Power Services order forms:

• The Energize Circuit form now includes the message: If the circuit/asset is not visible in the table below, it may already be energized. Energized circuits are visible in the De-Energize Circuit form.

• The De-Energize Circuit form now includes the message: De-energizing a circuit does not cancel or terminate your circuit. To terminate the circuit, please contact the Global Service Desk to order a deinstallation.

Invitation to Complete a Survey

When your Smart Hands order is completed, you might receive an email invitation to submit feedback about your order. Your feedback helps us continue to improve the Smart Hands user experience. (You can also give us feedback on your completed Smart Hands orders by clicking on the Orders and Tickets History screen, or by using the Feedback option from the Activity Timeline of the completed order.)

Videos

Smart Hands 2022.4 Spotlight

 

Equinix Smart Hands Overview

 

Equinix Smart Hands Video Service

Smart Hands 2022.3 is available June 13, 2022.

This release provides enhanced scheduling options, a longer timeframe for re-opening completed orders, and easier access to commonly used features in Smart Hands.

New ‘Loopback Test’ Option

In the Smart Hands catalog, there’s a new category for Cable Testing and Diagnostics, with a new option for Loopback Test. Use it to confirm that a transceiver or port is functioning properly. (To test more than 24 cables, open a Large Order instead.)

Extended Timeframe to Re-open Orders

In prior versions, completed orders could be re-opened only within 24 hours of the completion time. Now, if you need additional assistance with a completed order, it can still be re-opened after the 24-hour window.

For more details, see Re-open a Completed Request in the product documentation.

Note: This feature is not available for trouble tickets, inbound/outbound shipments, power services (energize/de-energize a circuit), recurring orders, or orders that have already been reopened and completed again.

Easier Order Scheduling

In prior versions of Smart Hands, when opening an order, the scheduled work time was shown only in the IBX’s local time zone. Now when you open an order, you can click the time zone icon () to see the scheduled work time in your local time zone.

Tip: To change your local time zone in ECP, go to My Profile and select an option from the Time Zone drop-down list.

Simplified Scheduling of Cage/Roof Access

In prior versions, when requesting a Cage/Roof Access Supervision Escort, the scheduling options were: Standard, Scheduled, and Expedited. To shorten the processing time on these requests, all cage/roof access requests will now be Scheduled (the Standard/Expedited options no longer appear). If your requested start time is within 24 hours (for 24/7 IBXs) or within 3 business days (for non-24/7 IBXs) from when you submit the order, it will be considered an expedited order, and you will incur an expedite fee.

‘Earliest Available’ Scheduling for Impacted IBXs

When you schedule an order for an IBX that is experiencing a high demand for orders or a disruption of services, you may see the message: “IBX resource availability is impacted due to unforeseen circumstances.” In prior versions, the Standard and Expedited options were disabled in this case, and only the Scheduled option was available. In the new version of Smart Hands, we’ve made it easier for you to schedule your work at impacted IBXs. Under Scheduling, you’ll see an option for Earliest Available. If you select this option, your request will be reviewed within 2-6 hours, and your order will be assigned the first available time slot.

‘Recurring Tape Rotation’ Option Moved

In the Smart Hands catalog, the Recurring Tape Rotation service is now on the More Services tile.

Tip: Don’t forget to give us feedback on your completed Smart Hands orders. To open the survey, click on the Orders and Tickets History screen, or click Feedback from the Activity Timeline of the completed order.

Videos

Smart Hands 2022.3 Spotlight

 

Equinix Smart Hands Overview

 

Equinix Smart Hands Video Service

Smart Hands 2022.2 is available April 11, 2022.

This release provides an enhanced user interface, with easier access to commonly used features in Smart Hands.

New ‘Equipment Maintenance’ Option

In the Smart Hands catalog, an Equipment Maintenance option has been added to the Equipment card. You can use this option to request technical assistance on installed equipment (such as equipment health checks or hardware resets).

Easier Access to ‘Power Cycle Equipment’

Power Cycle Equipment has been moved to the Equipment card. With this change, all equipment-related services are now accessed from a single card.

Sorting Orders and Tickets

On the Orders and Tickets History screen, orders can now be sorted by Estimated Completion Date.

Easier Access to IBX Certifications

IBX certifications are now easier to find in ECP. From the Smart Hands catalog, click IBX Certifications in the upper-right corner.

Enhanced Activity Timeline for Shipments

For inbound and outbound shipments, the Activity Timeline now shows additional status updates when:

• an outbound shipment is awaiting carrier pickup

• an inbound shipment is awaiting customer pickup

Tracking Number for Outbound Shipments

For outbound shipment orders, a tracking number is no longer required if the Do you have shipping label? option is set to Other.

Tip: Don’t forget to give us feedback on your completed Smart Hands orders. Use the icon on the Orders and Tickets History screen, or use the Feedback option from the Activity Timeline of the completed order.

Videos

Smart Hands 2022.2 Spotlight

 

Equinix Smart Hands Overview

 

Equinix Smart Hands Video Service

Smart Hands 2022.1 is available as of February 14, 2022.

This release introduces a visual interface for the Order & Ticket History Dashboard that offers graphical updates to order status, order modifications, user messaging, and video interaction capabilities.

Order Status

In this release, Order Status brings a graphic visualization of your order status and progress. Bundled orders and order details are displayed on the dashboard to easily track all the information for a placed order.

Order Modifications

You can now add additional notes to your order requests at any time, asking for any modifications.

User Messaging

With this release, Smart Hands Messaging is available to all users on request, to communicate with Equinix technicians in real-time, while they are working on your requests.

Smart Hands Video Limited Release

The new Smart Hands Video limited release allows you to interact with Equinix technicians through video conferencing in real-time, as they work on your order request. This feature can be enabled in the Order Entry form by enabling Request a video conference.

Videos

Smart Hands 2022.1 Spotlight

 

Enhanced Order and Ticket History

 

Equinix Smart Hands Overview

 

Equinix Smart Hands Video Service