SMS Team Playbook & Resource Hub

Your complete guide to people, processes, tools, and team culture — all in one place

👋

Welcome to the SMS Team Site

We're glad you're here. You've joined a team that sits at the heart of Connected Manufacturing — where what we do every day directly impacts plant operations, production continuity, and the success of our manufacturing partners.

The SMS (Service Management & Support) Team is responsible for providing frontline technical support, managing escalations, and ensuring our clients experience consistent, high-quality service across every shift.

✨ You're not just joining a support team — you're joining a team of problem-solvers, communicators, and advocates for manufacturing excellence. Welcome aboard!

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What We Do

The SMS Team provides multi-client technical support for Siemens OpCenter and related MES platforms, triaging and resolving support requests for global manufacturing partners across all shift types.

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Who We Support

Manufacturing facilities across North America, South America, Europe, the Philippines, and India — spanning discrete, process, and hybrid environments on MES platforms.

SMS Operations Team

Elena Vásquez

Lead Support Engineer

🌎 Americas (Chicago)

15+ years MES & OpCenter. Escalation champion, SLA guardian.

James O'Brien

Senior Support Analyst

🇪🇺 EMEA (Dublin)

Siemens Xcelerator expert, GTAC coordination.

Carolina Mendoza

Support Specialist

🇨🇴 LATAM (Bogotá)

Frontline support, bilingual (EN/ES).

David Chen

Shift Lead (APAC hours)

🌏 US West Coast / APAC

Night shift coverage, MES integration, shift handoff.

Sarah Whitfield

Escalation Manager

🇺🇸 Americas (NY)

Critical incident management, continuous improvement.

Miguel Rojas

Support Engineer

🇦🇷 Argentina (BA)

OpCenter Intelligence, proactive support.

🤝

The SMS Team Commitment

We commit to delivering responsive, knowledgeable, and professional support on every interaction. We acknowledge, triage, and resolve client issues with urgency and care — treating every ticket as an opportunity to build trust. We hold ourselves accountable to our SLAs, our clients, and to each other. We show up — every shift, every day — with integrity and a service-first mindset.

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Culture & Mission — ExCITE Values

Our Mission: The SMS Team exists to ensure the uninterrupted operational success of our manufacturing clients. We serve as the critical bridge between technology and production — providing expert guidance, rapid resolution, and proactive support that enables our partners to focus on what they do best. Every ticket we close is a plant floor that keeps running.

ExCITE in Action: Excellence · Customer Focus · Integrity · Teamwork · Evolve.

SLAs & Escalation Protocols

15 min

Priority 1 · Critical

Production down · Full outage · No workaround

🔴 Immediate response required

1 hr

Priority 2 · High

Significant impact · Partial outage · Limited workaround

🟠 High business impact

4 hrs

Priority 3 · Medium

Moderate impact · Degraded function · Workaround available

🔵 Standard response

1 day

Priority 4 · Low

Minimal impact · General inquiry · Enhancement request

🟢 Normal queue

🔴 Tier 1 — Immediate (P1)

Notify Team Lead within 30 min. Initiate GTAC bridge if unresolved after 60 min. Document all steps in real-time in HubSpot.

🟠 Tier 2 — Lead Notification (P2)

Notify Team Lead within 120 min if not progressing. Engage a second engineer in parallel. Client updates every 120 min.

🔵 Tier 3 — Peer Review (P3)

If unresolved after 2 SLA windows, request peer review. Consult KB before GTAC. Notify client of revised ETA.

🟢 Tier 4 — Standard Queue (P4)

Handle through normal queue. If P4 ages beyond 5 business days, flag for Team Lead review.

Scope of Responsibility · What We Own

✅ In Scope

Siemens OpCenter (APS, Execution, Intelligence)
Siemens Xcelerator platform
MES integration & workflow support
Production reporting & scheduling
Escalation coordination with GTAC

❌ Out of Scope

Physical hardware repair
ERP systems not integrated with OpCenter
Network or IT security configuration
Custom development (unless contracted)

📌 Boundary clarification: Requests falling out of scope will be redirected to the appropriate team.

Onboarding · 30-60-90 Day Plan

📘 First 30 Days
Learn

Complete all system access setup
Review all playbook sections
Shadow senior engineers on tickets
Attend all team standups
Complete OpCenter training modules
Learn ticket workflow in Wrike

📈 Days 31–60
Apply

Handle P3 & P4 tickets independently
Complete shift handoff forms solo
Join client calls with support
Document resolution steps in KB
Review SLA performance weekly
Meet with team lead for feedback

🏆 Days 61–90
Contribute

Own P1/P2 escalations with guidance
Contribute to KB article library
Identify process improvement areas
Lead shift handoff independently
Complete all compliance training
Set goals with manager in 15Five

Processes & Workflows

📊 Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)

Post-resolution surveys via HubSpot; scores <4/5 trigger RCA.

🔄 End of Shift Report - Handover

Standardized form capturing open tickets, escalations, pending actions.

🎫 Ticket/Issue Intake & Change Management

Wrike ECO logs all requests; triage (P1-P4), CAB approval.

📢 Deployment & Communication Checklist

Impact assessment, rollback plan, client updates, KB update.

💡 Improvement Opportunities

Monthly retrospectives + Improvement Log in Confluence.

📦 Software License Procurement

Perpetual, HSaaS, Rental, P2O, CPQ via Siemens portal.

📈 LogicMonitor Integration

Real-time alerts for OpCenter/MES, on-call escalation.

⚖️ Prioritization Framework

P1 (<2h), P2 (<4h), P3 (next biz day), P4 (within 5 days).

📚 Release Notes & Training

Siemens RSS feed, Learning Center tracking, sandbox validation.

🔐 User Access (IAM)

ISO 27001: Wrike requests, deprovision within 2h, quarterly reviews.

🧠 Knowledge Capture

Novel resolutions → KB within 24h, peer-reviewed.

📝 Forms & Templates

End of Shift Report, MIR, Change Request Form.

Glossary · Key Terminology

SLA

Service Level Agreement — response/resolution times per priority (P1-P4).

SMS

GTAC

Global Technical Assistance Center (Siemens escalation).

Escalation

OpCenter

Siemens MES suite (APS, Execution, Intelligence).

MES

MIR

Major Incident Report — post-mortem for P1/P2 incidents.

Template

Shift Handoff

Formal transfer of open tickets using handoff form.

Handover

LogicMonitor

Infrastructure & application monitoring tool.

Monitoring

ECO

Engineering Change Order — change management in Wrike.

Change

CSAT

Customer Satisfaction Score — measured post-resolution.

Quality

P1/P2/P3/P4

Priority levels from critical (P1) to low (P4).

Prioritization

Xcelerator

Siemens integrated software portfolio.

Platform

RCA

Root Cause Analysis — for incidents & CSAT failures.

Problem Mgmt

Knowledge Capture

Documenting novel resolutions in KB within 24h.