Customer Support

Technical Hotline:
303-754-4701
1-800-569-1122

Email Issues to:
cs@synaro.com

Self-HelpTools:
Online Forums
Insider Newsletters
Online-Help

Software Support Services:
Our Software Support Agreement builds upon the Synaro software license by extending the warranty as described in our Software License and Support Agreement. It ensures access to support personnel and services to help our Customers diagnose and resolve software problems, keep their system running smoothly, and optimize the software for their business operations. It also entitles Customers to receive updated core software as it is released.
This document is the guide to our software support services- what they are, how they work, and what they can do for you.

I. SUPPORT COVERAGE
This section outlines the scope and limitations of our software support services.
WHAT IS SOFTWARE SUPPORT?
Software Support means support services provided by our Synaro Customer Care Experts to authorized users, via the Points of Contact (as outlined in Section III, “Support Procedures”), under the terms of a paid Software Support Agreement. An authorized user is a licensed user of any of Synaro software products and Synaro -supplied third party software, including:
• Synaro Advantage
• Synaro DataStore
• Synaro WebStore
• Synaro Integrator
• Synaro Marketing Campaign Manager
• Synaro Payment Processing Engine
• Synaro Real-time Credit Card Processing
• Synaro Database (formerly known as Metropolis)
Customer Care Experts assist our Customers by answering questions and investigating problems they may encounter while using these software products.

WHEN IS IT AVAILABLE?
Normal business hours are 7:00AM to 5:30PM Mountain Time, Monday through Thursday, and Friday from 7:00AM to 5:00PM Mountain Time.
Customers may enroll in an After Hours Support Program allowing them to access emergency support services on a 24 x 7 basis, including holidays. Customers who have Gold level Software Support are automatically enrolled in the After Hours Support Program. Please see Section IV, “Other Support Services”, for more information about the After Hours Support Program.

WHEN IS IT NOT AVAILABLE?
Unless Customers are enrolled in the After Hours Support Program, they will not have direct access to support services between the hours of 6:00PM to 7:00AM Mountain Time and after 5:00PM Fridays. After-hours support provided without enrollment in the After Hours Support Program may be subject to additional charges.
Typical Island Pacific company holidays include, but may not be limited to:
• New Year’s Day;
• Martin Luther King Day
• President’s Day
• Memorial Day;
• Independence Day;
• Labor Day;
• Thanksgiving (two days); and
• Christmas Day
• Day After Christmas

WHEN IS IT COVERED?
Any support service provided to remedy a warranted software defect is provided free of charge when the remedy is applied in a standard service patch or update release.
Any support service provided to remedy a warranted software defect is provided free of charge, even when the remedy is applied prior to a standard service patch/update release, if the defect has a critical business impact and no reasonable work-around is available. See Section III, “Support Procedures”, for details.
Any support services listed as benefits of either the Bronze or Gold level Software Support Agreements are also provided at no additional cost unless as otherwise noted. See section II, “Software Support Levels” for more information on Bronze and Gold level benefits.

WHEN IS IT NOT COVERED?
Support services may cost extra when they do not meet any of the provisions outlined above. Examples of such fee-incurring services include, but are not limited to:
• Services performed by Synaro employees if those services are not related to warranted software defect resolution, nor included in a Software Support Agreement, as outlined above
• Services performed to set, change, or correct software or system configuration
• Services performed to convert, repair or correct data, including writing programs that perform data conversion, selection, repair or correction, unless the data problems result from warranted software defects
• Services performed to modify software, including coding, testing, installing, trouble shooting, and repairing modified software, unless otherwise specified in writing
• Services performed via Non-Standard Access pathways, or to train the Customer on software usage, or to administer the system (See Section IV for more information on these services)

II. SUPPORT SERVICE LEVELS
Support services are provided at two levels: “Bronze” and “Gold”. This section outlines the benefits of each level.
Both support levels include those services necessary for software defect resolution, as defined in your license agreement(s). Each use the same standard procedures for reporting and resolving issues, as outlined in Section III, “Support Procedures”. They differ in terms of included benefits and cost.
Whether the Bronze or Gold Software Support Agreement is the right one choice of services depends on a number of factors, including…
• The size and complexity of your implementation;
• The amount of software customization, if any;
• The number of users and their level of expertise; and
• The role the Customer’s organization chooses to play in the future development of the software.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF BRONZE LEVEL SUPPORT?
Bronze support services include, but are not limited to, the following benefits:
• Unlimited, toll-free access to all support services during normal business hours
• Extension of the warranty period to coincide with the terms of the Software License and Support Agreement
• Logging, management, tracking and reporting of software issues
• Assistance with planning and preparation for software updates and version upgrades
• Release notes with each major software release
• Coordination of custom and core software modification requests, from quoting to deployment
• Prioritization of the Customer’s issues, throughout the support process, over customers without support agreements
• Access to our Customer Connection web site
• A Business Analysis, normally three days, to evaluate your system environment and make appropriate written recommendations that can help you better utilize and optimize your Synaro® Advantage software.
• Credit, to a maximum of $200.00, for admittance to a Synaro® Advantage User Conference.

What are the Benefits of Gold Level Support?
Customers with Gold support receive all the same benefits listed above for Bronze level support plus the following additional benefits:
• Automatic enrollment in the After Hours Support Program, for emergency support on a 24 x 7 basis
• Escalation of any Severity I issue to a Synaro® Denver team manager if unresolved within two hours. The issue will continue to be managed at the Denver team manager level until resolved.
• Coordination of direct access to programmers, analysts, and/or consultants when appropriate
• Prioritization of issues/projects throughout the support process
• Assistance with installation of software updates to the test system
• Coordination of version upgrades
• 700 credits, non-cumulative, non-refundable valued at Eleven ($11.00) dollars per credit available to be used for training, consulting, or Business Analysis engagements at the Customer’s discretion.
• The option for mid-release software modifications to the core application software modules, whether or not they are developed jointly with other Synaro® Advantage customers.

III. SUPPORT PROCEDURES
This section outlines our standard policies and procedures for the reporting and resolution of issues.

HOW DOES SOFTWARE SUPPORT WORK?
The intent of this section is to outline how the Customer Care Experts work with our Customers on support issues. We have structured the team to provide:
• Easy access to personnel who have specialized skills in various functional areas of the Synaro® Advantage software product , as well as the rest of the Synaro® product line
• Controlled management of issues by individuals who will provide answers or solutions to support questions
• Timely and accurate response to Customer issues or questions

How to Use Support:
The procedure that we recommend is with the first call on an issue, please try to use 303-754-4701 as the phone number to call, or call 800-569-1122 and ask to be connected to extension 4701. It will ring at all of our support desks.
Additionally, issues may be reported by email to cs@islandpacific.com,; by emailing the issue directly to anyone of the Customer Care professionals; or by calling direct to any of those individuals.

How Do You Know The Status Of Your Issue:
Once an issue has been reported, we will try to answer it while the Customer is still on the telephone. We will let them know whether the issue is assigned to their first contact or whether it requires more in depth research. If more research is required, the issue will be assigned to our development team and the Customer is advised of which member of that team will be working on their issue.
Bi-weekly, we fax a complete listing of all the Customer’s issues that remain open at that time, including those which are still awaiting Customer verification.

Point(s) of Contact:
To maximize the effectiveness of support services delivery, we ask our Customers to nominate one primary person to serve as a point of contact with our Customer Care team. That point of contact person should be familiar with the system and fully trained on the supported software.
We strongly recommend choosing as ther primary contact the person who has principle day-to-day responsibility for the administration of the Customer’s system, and that they identify someone to function as their backup during absences.

Accurate Information about Your System and its Environment
We expect the Customer contact to notify us when material changes are made to their system or its operating environment. Having accurate information about the hardware and software that has been purchased and installed helps us resolve problems more efficiently. We maintain a Customer Profile Database that contains data about each system, the company and its business, as well as their personnel and getting these updates allows us to keep this information current.

WHEN PROBLEMS OCCUR
Researching Problems
Before a problem is reported to our Customer Care team, we ask our Customers to:
• Take a ‘screen shot’ of the problem, including any error message(s) and/or any options given.
• Determine what program/module is running when the problem occurs, including the edit number of the program and the software version for which it was written.
• Determine exactly what was being done when the problem occurred, and be able to tell us what the user was trying to do.
• Attempt to replicate the problem

Reporting Problems
If the problem persists, Customers will contact our Customer Care team immediately either by phone, fax, or e-mail.

Logging and Tracking Issues
Whenever an issue is logged into our Projects Database, the Customer is given a project reference number to be used for all future communication regarding the issue. At the time the issue is logged, it is assigned a severity level and a rank.
Severity Levels are determined by the Customer in conjunction with the Customer Care representative assigned to the issue. Severity Levels are normally defined as follows:

A Severity I (One) problem means:
• The Customer is unable to take, process, settle, and/or ship a majority of their orders; or
• Data corruption is occurring that will lead to the inability to take, process, settle, and/or ship a majority of orders; and
• No reasonable work-around exists.

A Severity II (Two) problem may have a significant impact on business processes, but does not entirely prevent the Customer from doing business. For example:
• There are a very small group of orders that cannot be processed at all; or
• There are a large group of orders that can be processed, but only with manual intervention or another reasonable workaround; or
• The impact would be felt in the future (month-end, year-end, etc.); or
• It affects the Custome’sr business decisions, but not business processes.

A Severity III (Three) problem is a nuisance or inconvenience; one which, for example:
• Affects a display screen or report; or
• Has little or no impact on day-to-day business processes; or
• Affects very few orders/customers/users; or
• Has a ready, easy work-around.

Rank is determined entirely by the Customer. When the issue is logged, the Customer will tell us where the problem ranks in relation to any other of their open issues of that same severity level.

Receiving New/Updated Code
If it is determined that a reported issue is caused by a software defect, resolution of the issue will result from delivery of new or updated software code. The three ways that new or revised code is delivered are described below. Which delivery method is appropriate depends on a number of factors, including the severity of the issue, the extent of the change to the program, the database limitations of the current release, and the availability of resources to develop, test, and deliver the code.

Back-Patch Release
A back-patch release is a program or set of programs developed for the specific purpose of resolving an issue, caused by a software defect, having a significant business impact and for which no reasonable workaround is available. It is developed for the next planned minor or major release and then recompiled and tested with the most current release version.
If the Customer is not running the most current release version, the code may be recompiled and tested with either the version they are running or the oldest version for which the fix can be made to work.
Once compiled with the appropriate version, the code is delivered to and installed on the Customer’s test system.

Service Patch Release
A service patch release (sometimes referred to as an update, a minor release, or a mid-version release) is usually a full set of core Synaro Advantage programs developed and released for the specific purposes. Service patch releases are issued on CD-ROM periodically, and are distributed at no cost to all Customers with a current Software Support Agreement who are running the most recent major version. Upon release, it becomes the most current release version.
Upon receipt, Customers may install the service patch release on their test system themselves or ask our Customer Care professionals for assistance.

Version Release
A version release (also known as a major release or upgrade) is a full set of core Synaro® Advantage programs developed and released for the specific purpose of improving the software either through design changes or added features. Version releases often include database changes.
These releases are issued on CD-ROM approximately every eighteen months. Upon release, it becomes the most current version.

Testing a ‘Fix’
We thoroughly test new and updated code before it is released, Customer’s control record settings, network architecture, modems and printers, etc. may differ significantly from those on our system. The same is true for other suggested solutions. Only thorough testing by our Customer in their environment can truly confirm whether or not a suggested solution or new/updated software actually resolved the problem and did not introduce any new problems.
As a result, most Customers have a separate Test system that duplicates their Production system. The code will be delivered and installed to the Test system, otherwise we require written authorization to deliver and install the new code directly to the Customer’s Production system.
When we deliver a back-patch release, we expect our Customer to test every program directly affected by the new/updated code, and every process that takes place ‘downstream’ from that program. With a service patch or version release, they should test every operation performed in the course of normal business processes. Once testing has been successfully completed, the back-patch release can be moved to the Production system.

Closing the Issue
We will close an issue when the Customer provides confirmation of resolution. If for any reason a problem does reappear after an issue has been closed, that issue can be reopened and resubmitted to the resolution process.

IV. OTHER SUPPORT SERVICES
STANDARD ACCESS PROGRAM
Some Customers prefer to limit access to their system to a dial-up connection. While we can accommodate this type of access, it is slower and less reliable, and will result in additional costs to the Customer. For those Customers, we provide a “Non-Standard Access” service for a flat monthly fee. Standard access connections will be any of the following: direct telnet, direct SSH, or Microsoft VPN. All other types of connections are considered non-standard connections.

AFTER HOURS SUPPORT PROGRAM
We provide access for emergency support services after regular business hours, on weekends, and on company holidays. Gold customers are automatically enrolled in this program; Bronze customers may opt to purchase this additional support.

After Hours Support is in effect Monday through Thursday, from 5:30PM to 7:00AM, Mountain Time; and Fridays, weekends, and holidays from 5:00PM on the business day prior to the office closing to 7:00AM on the following business day.

After Hours Support is designed to handle emergency issues, which are defined as Severity 1. Non-emergency issues should be reported to Customer Care on the next business day.

The program is available on an annual, monthly, or ‘as-needed’ basis. Annual and monthly enrollments renew automatically at the end of their term unless cancelled with thirty (30) days prior written notice.

Interested customers should ask their support contact for more information or an enrollment form.

Customer Links

Online Documentation: help.synaro.com
Customer Forums: talk.synaro.com
Customer Downloads: members.synaro.com
Training Schedule
Webinars
Users' Conference