If you submit technical service requests (SRs) through the My Oracle Support portal, you may often see the term "ODM" used in updates from our Support team. ODM is an acronym for "Oracle Diagnostic Methodology", which defines a standard problem solving approach that all of Oracle Support uses for every technical SR. ODM provides a number of benefits to the SRs - both for the Support organization and for the customer - including a consistent approach, higher quality, justified solutions, and ultimately faster resolution.

Screenshot: Example of an ODM "Issue Clarification" activity in a service request

The Oracle Diagnostic Methodology applies to both categories of technical SRs: Consultative (question-answer topics) and Problem-Solution. There are a few KM Notes that describe the steps of ODM, however to keep things simple (and since those KM Notes appear to be a bit outdated), I'll summarize the ODM stages here as follows:

Consultative ODM - Three mandatory stages:

1. ODM Question: Clarification of the customer's exact question.


2. ODM Answer: Thorough answer to the customer's question.


3. ODM Knowledge Content: Reference to new or existing knowledge base content, or explanation why the particular SR does not necessarily require knowledge content.

Problem-Solution ODM - Eight mandatory stages:

1. ODM Issue Clarification: Clarification of the reported issue, including the symptoms, the steps to reproduce, and an outline of the business impact


2. ODM Issue Verification: Confirmation of the issue being verified based on proof provided by the customer, such as screenshots, log files, or reproducing the issue during an Oracle Web Conference.


3. ODM Cause Determination: Succinct outline of the root cause of the issue.


4. ODM Cause Justification: Explanation as to why the root cause applies to this particular situation.


5. ODM Proposed Solution(s): Succinct outline of the potential solution(s) to resolve the issue.


6. ODM Proposed Solution(s) Justification: Explanation of why the proposed solution(s) will in fact resolve the issue.


7. ODM Solution Action Plan: Detailed numbered instructions on how to execute the proposed solutions.


8. ODM Knowledge Content: Reference to new or existing knowledge base content, or explanation why the particular SR does not necessarily require knowledge content.

During these stages, you may see other optional ODM-related activities such as "ODM Data Collection", "ODM Action Plan", "ODM Research", and "ODM Test Case". Again, these structured tags help ensure a uniform methodology across your SRs.

With this knowledge you should be able to develop better predictability of what's coming next in your SRs, as well as what you can do to help expedite the resolution process.