The Exchange Network Help Desk is a resource designed to help support the success of states, tribes, and territories participating on the Exchange Network. Help Desk staff are available between the hours of 8:00AM and 6:00PM Eastern by phone at 1-(888)-890-1995 or by email at nodehelpdesk@csc.com.

Help Desk personnel are available to provide technical support to Exchange Network partners seeking assistance with:

1. Establishing nodes;
2. Implementing data flows;
3. Integrating with EPA’s Central Data Exchange (CDX); and
4. Troubleshooting data flow maintenance issues.

The following tasks are examples of the types of support activities that fall within the Help Desk’s current scope of work:

1. Establishing nodes
   • General support and consultation in getting a Node up and running;
   • Interpretation and explanation of:
     • Node Functional Specification and Protocol Documents
     • Network Security Policies
     • DNC configuration, installation and development support
   • General guidance and pointers on how to find documents and resources needed for developing Network Nodes;
   • Testing Node functionality once it is up and running.
     
     
2. Implementation of data flows
   • Provide general guidance on how to find documents and resources needed for implementing Exchange Network data flows;
   • Work through flow specific issues with programmatic data managers at EPA.
     
     
3. Integration with EPA’s CDX
   • Provide Network Authentication and Authorization usage support;
   • Provide support for UDDI usage;
   • Provide support for Validation service.
     
     
4. Troubleshooting data flow maintenance issues
   1. Log reports of trouble with data exchanges and initiate an investigation to find the cause;
   2. Escalate flow specific questions and issues to the proper points of contact for resolution.

The Help Desk also provides a number of general support services including:

• Assisting with troubleshooting connectivity issues with network administrators, firewall administrators, or system administrators;
• Providing support on current and future CDX developed tools (user management, NAAS interface);
• Exchange Network Client, Java, .NET and COM support;
• Setting up administrator accounts for Exchange Network Nodes;
• Integration testing support (Includes Integration test tool/debugging for multiple platforms).

While the Help Desk will make every effort to assist Network partners with these activities, it is unable to serve as a substitute for a Node support contractor. Limited resources prevent the Help Desk from being able to provide support in the following areas:

• Extensive manipulation of submitted files to diagnose submission errors;
• Resolving problems related to a partner’s internal architecture or configuration;
• Replicating the deployment environment of a Network partner to replicate and diagnose errors;
• Providing ongoing support to any Node or Node configuration not developed by EPA/CDX; and
• Providing ongoing support for any tools not developed by EPA/CDX.

Network partners requiring any of the above services or needing extensive implementation assistance should utilize Exchange Network grant monies or other internal resources to secure the services of a qualified vendor. For more information on obtaining an Exchange Network grant, please visit U.S. EPA’s website at http://www.epa.gov/exchangenetwork/grants.