What benefits do CCSM's get?

Simon_Smith · ‎2018-07-19

Hi, I was just wondering is there any kind of offers on continual training or software for CCSM's?

_Val_ · ‎2018-07-19

Simon, I have moved your post to a more appropriate location.

Now, could you please clarify your question? Are you asking about what incentives you get for being a CCSM or the question is about something else?

Don_Paterson · ‎2018-10-08

Simon,

See below for the How You Will Benefint list in the Training and Certs page.

Apart from being recognised by your colleagues and the industry (ask the boss if they'll increase your salary too 🙂 ) as a serious and knowledgeable Check Point and Security professional the CCSM is the same as the CCSA and CCSE in that you have the certification for a limited time (although I always consider it a lifetime of being certified in that version).

The CCSE obviously is a requirement for some partners (who need numerous CCSE certified staff) but to my knowledge the CCSM does not benefit the individual or the partner. Meaning that I think that the certified individual does not get free training or special product discount. If I find out any different I'll update here.

That said. Please contact your local CP office and ask them what their free to the public training program looks like (if any) and their free partner training program looks like (if they offer any) or if they can assist you in any way with your requirements.

In the UK the CP SE (Security Engineer/Sales Engineer) team is bigger than most other EU countries and they offer both of the above on a regular basis (Note: Those are not in competition with the ATC training courses/certification courses and will not help with certification exam preparation in the way that the ATC courses do).

For offers/discounts for Training and Certification exams it's best to subscribe to and/or keep an eye on Check Mates, PearsonVUE and the CP Training and Certs page. They do discounts on the exams from time to time and do promote them.

Please also stay in touch with your local ATC (of follow them on social media) or contact them directly to understand what promotions they are offering and how they can help you.

Training & Certification | Check Point Software

How You Will Benefit

Bypass wait times and fast track to a support engineer
Compare your policy to rules that degrade performance
Tune your systems to improve acceleration of traffic
Improve load capacity through optimization
Improve logging efficiency
Examine how rules and objects affect optimization
Optimize network performance

Some of my post here is stating the obvious but that is because this is a public forum.

Hope that helps.

Don

Don_Paterson · ‎2022-11-23

@Jason_Tugwell
Hi Tug,

The link I have in this thread does not seem to work anymore (Training & Certification | Check Point Software )

Can you please advise on the current CCSM and CCSM Elite 'benefits' in general and also for the TAC ticket prioritization (possible option)?

Regards,

Don

Jason_Tugwell · ‎2022-11-23

Hi @Don_Paterson

Since we no longer have a course/exam for the CCSM, that page was removed.

Nevertheless, the CCSM Elite has the same benefits as mentioned previously for the CCSM.

Some of the general benefits include:

TAC Fast track support to T3
CCSM mailing list and CheckMates community section access
Engage points
Partner level elevation
Validation of knowledge

Thanks,

Tug

Don_Paterson · ‎2022-11-23

Thanks Tug,

Can you share an relevant links in here please?

I don't think I am in the CCSM community and will need to search check it out.

Regards,

Don

@Jason_Tugwell

Martin_Raska · ‎2022-11-24

Hi Jason,

"TAC Fast track support to T3" this is really not true.

Don_Paterson · ‎2022-11-24

Hi Martin,

Can you add more to that please? If we build a case then it can be taken to TAC and addressed.

I don't think that you are alone with that feedback..

Regards,

Don

Martin_Raska · ‎2022-11-24

"TAC Fast track support to T3" This is very old information that might have been working in the past but nowadays with the new Certification model, when you don't have CCSM certification this is not applicable. Every ticket I create gets and T2 CCSA engineer, where I have to explain the basics, even though I uploaded a couple of screenshots with marking, logs, debugs, kernel drops etc. and his first question is like "what is not working?"

Martin_Raska · ‎2022-11-24

and what I hear from our Partners they have the same and heavily complaining about the quality of TAC support.

skandshus · ‎2022-11-25

as a partner i agree.. Tac quality when "entering the doom" is like the mandatory "are you a robot question" this particular step just takes a long time before the first TAC person escalates..

Jason_Tugwell · ‎2022-11-29

@Martin_Raska and @skandshus

I posed the Fast track support to TAC and this was the response:

We have an automatic alert in every SR opened by a CCSM certified user (and also 5 star partner) instructing to move the SR to a T3. (skip T2)

If you have an example where that did not happen, please take it up with a TAC Manager.

Martin_Raska · ‎2022-11-30

This is very interesting because I never got T3. Thanks for information.

Don_Paterson · ‎2022-11-30

Did you try to escalate through your management path and through the channel with Check Point?

I have heard this same experience from at least two other partner engineers.

These are for reference only, and we know the deal here but maybe someone in Check Point can provide some documentation and a word from Limor or Eitan on this.

https://www.checkpoint.com/support-services/check-point-tac-support-escalation-path/

https://www.checkpoint.com/support-services/professional-services-escalation-matrix/

Martin_Raska · ‎2022-11-30

yes, I was escalating but not because of T2 support, because of lack of progress, missing updates, meaningful steps, etc.

Don_Paterson · ‎2022-11-30

Sounds like it is time to escalate this as an issue up the management chain so that procedures can be checked and partner and CP are all aware and can look into it, and resolve it.

I do wonder how the CCSM certified individuals information is passed over to and recorded in TAC..

G_W_Albrecht · ‎2022-11-30

Since CCSM 9 days ago the first and only CP ticket went to T3 from start - previous i always had T2 first...

CCSP - CCSE / CCTE / CTPS / CCME / CCSM Elite / SMB Specialist

Martin_Raska · ‎2022-11-30

I review my 8 last tickets and all of them are T2.

Martin_Raska · ‎2022-12-02

There was something wrong in TAC system. Our local SE guys took care of it with TAC director. My next ticket should go to T3, I hope.

If you have a similar problem, this is the way.

Don_Paterson · ‎2022-12-02

Well that's disappointing.

Hopefully they fix it across the board/world, and no other CCSM engineers have the same experience anymore.

thanks for the update 8)

Don_Paterson · ‎2022-11-30

Any chance we can get an updated CCSM benefits PDF or site to reference?

Jason_Tugwell · ‎2022-11-30

Yes, good idea.

skandshus · ‎2023-03-07

@Jason_Tugwell
i got several cases where it didnt happen

im stuch on 2nd day with Https inspection not working

no automatic adjustment to T3-.

SR#6-0003559335
6-0003560054

Don_Paterson · ‎2023-03-07

Did you escalate the SR (Escalate to manager)?

I would recommend to contact your Sales or Security Engineer to make them aware.
If we don't tell them then they won't get the feedback then they can't improve it.

skandshus · ‎2023-03-07

i tried that yesterday.

contacting sales/security engineer has also been done multiple time before.. that's doesnt seem to actually do any persistent changes for the future.. i still get stuck.. as we speak with a T2 guy, who has never debugged https inspection before..
why would you ever assign a guy who doesnt know how to drive a truck and case where you for whatever reason need the skills to drive a truck.. that seems plain stupid

Don_Paterson · ‎2023-03-07

@PhoneBoy @_Val_ Chaps, are you able to offer some assistance here?

Is this a common issue for CCSM certified engineers? (edit) <-- Are you able to find the answer?
Are TAC procedures for CCSM certified engineers in place and functioning?
Are all CCSM certified engineers guaranteed the TAC experience advertised/promised?
What can be done to guarantee better quality support experience?
Are all Sales and Security Engineers aware of the benefits and enabled to assist in the interim?

Chris_Atkinson · ‎2023-03-07

My suggestion would be an Account Services ticket to review / correct the entitlements for specific user ids.

TAC may have a part in this process but I'd deffinately start with account services here.

CCSM R77/R80/ELITE

Don_Paterson · ‎2023-03-07

How about you guys also make an internal effort to review processes?
Appreciate that sometimes we have to make the call (the feedback is important) but putting the burden on the busy engineer isn't always going to be welcome when an internal review and quality checks can go a long way.

Chris_Atkinson · ‎2023-03-07

Sure not suggesting one as a replacement for the other, but in terms of addressing the issue for your own user ID you may not wish to wait for a wider fix if that's even what's needed and for others beyond myself to comment on.

@shay_solomon

@Jason_Tugwell

CCSM R77/R80/ELITE