How is defect analysis done on customizations? 

Environment

Customization Investigation
Oracle B2C Service, All versions

Resolution

How we research for defects when a customization is present:

Our first step is to remove as much customization as possible to ensure that the core functions of item in question are working in an “out of the box” (OOTB) configuration. We check all of the dependencies for configuration such as profile, permissions and Configuration Settings required to access the underlying core functionality.

Our next step is to use a “Hello World” version of the customization on top of core functionality. If the “Hello World” customization does not work at this point we will review all of the documentation on the intended functionality and try iterations of settings, and syntax to get the customization to operate as documented. If we encounter a resolvable error in the file submitted we will be sure to communicate that back to you as quickly as possible. If the behavior is not resolvable, we continue our research of known defects in the particular area of the product affecting your customization.

If we can not validate the root cause of the reported behavior, we prepare a test case for the developer to use for their research, and it is from this step we are most likely to test conclusively for a product defect. Most of the time, our developers do not have access to your production site to reproduce the behavior. It is vital that the information you supply with your question be “transportable” to other interfaces.

Your simple test case saves hours or days in getting you an answer to your question.