ClickSoftware
Copyright Notice Copyright 2008 ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Publication Notice The information contained herein does not constitute a warranty of any kind. ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd. Reserves the right to revise this publication and make changes without notification. ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd. Assumes no liability for losses incurred as a result of information contained herein. No part of this publication may be copied without the express written permission of ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd. Trademark ClickSoftware is a trademark of ClickSoftware, Inc. Contact Information Contact information is available from the ClickSoftware website - http://www.clicksoftware.com For support services, email to - Support@ClickSoftware.com or visit the support page on the ClickSoftware website. For general information, email to - Sales@ClickSoftware.com Version ClickSoftware Services Date: October 2013 Version: 5.3
Contents 1. Introduction...1 2. Overview...2 General... 2 Our Expertise... 3 Support Term... 4 Product Life Cycle Policy... 4 Normal Business Hours... 5 Response Time and Resolution Time... 5 Problem Severity Scale... 6 Problem Urgency Scale... 7 How to use Severity and Urgency Scales?... 7 Support Level Plans... 8 3. Customer Side...9 General... 9 What does it take to be a Service Optimization System Administrator?... 9 Certified Contacts... 10 4. Encountered a problem?... 11 General... 11 Determine the Nature of Your Problem... 11 Isolate the Problem... 12 Use On-Line Resources... 12 Summarize Your Findings... 12
5. Working with... 13 How to Engage Support?... 13 How to log and manage support calls... 13 Support Hotline... 14 Support Calls Life Cycle... 15 How a Support Call is Resolved?... 16 Customer Satisfaction Survey... 16 Escalation Procedures... 17 6. Support Procedures... 18 Transition to Support... 18 License Generation... 18 Upgrades, Updates & Fixes... 18 7. Additional Services Provided by Support... 19 Consulting Services... 19 On-site Visits... 20 Education and Training... 20
1. Introduction ClickSoftware! The goal of this document is to give you, the Customer, a clear description of the services you will enjoy by having an active Support Agreement with ClickSoftware. It contains a description of both internal and external support procedures for you to easily understand the way we work, and thereby improve our collaboration. I invite you to work closely with us, as from past experience such collaboration can significantly reward the users of our products. Among other issues it will contribute in the areas of: Preventive maintenance Fast problem resolution Enhancement requests Configuration issues Overall product satisfaction Please feel free to contact me regarding any issue, including suggestions for improvement. My colleagues and I look forward to working with you as a new member of our growing group of ClickSoftware Customers. Sincerely, Ran Erman Director of 1
2. Overview General The department is part of the ClickSoftware Professional Services group. We manage six technical centers in different countries, spread over four continents. Our support teams employ a follow the sun model, to provide continuous services around the clock and around the globe. This way, we support you anytime and anywhere! Our headquarters proximity to the ClickSoftware R&D center in Tel Aviv, Israel (GMT +2) assures that ClickSoftware is able to provide the best solutions in a timely manner. In addition, we closely collaborate with a Customer Oriented R&D (CORD) team acting as another tier of support. Our contact portal for all services we provide is called the Customer Zone, accessed by visiting https://support.clicksoftware.com//csweb/czone.nsf Go to our customer zone and click on "Get your Access here". Direct link: https://support.clicksoftware.com/csweb/supporthome.nsf/requestaccess In this portal you can download software products, search our extensive knowledge base for solutions, obtain technical documents, product fixes, data updates, manage support calls online, and more. 2
We support different groups of Customers, each with their own unique combination of needs and demands: Direct Customers: Companies that have completed their implementation projects and are operational with ClickSoftware products. These Customers have an active Support Agreement. Customers via Professional Services: Companies that are in the process of implementation and are supported from day one via their Professional Services project team. Implementation Partners: Alliance companies that are implementing or reselling ClickSoftware products, or otherwise engaged with ClickSoftware and have an active Support Agreement. From an operational Customer s point of view, ClickSoftware is the natural next step in its new IT project life cycle. Once sales, implementation and deployment phases are over, becomes the main contact point for all technical and usage concerns regarding any implemented ClickSoftware products. ClickSoftware will coordinate all the ClickSoftware resources required to promptly solve reported problems and assist with product usage challenges. Our Expertise ClickSoftware provides assistance for implemented ClickSoftware products in the following fields: End user experience Installation and upgrades Minor configuration changes Preventive maintenance Product malfunction Change request identification 3
Support Term Support services are provided for 12 months starting from the date specified in the signed Support Agreement. The Customer and the ClickSoftware Account Manager will be notified by Support 60 days prior to the end of the term. Subsequent Support Agreement renewals should be coordinated with the Account Manager. Product Life Cycle Policy ClickSoftware supports a released product version for a period of 2 years after the general availability (official release) date of the next version. A minimum of 3 calendar years is guaranteed. In addition, ClickSoftware offers 2 more years of extended support to cover the product phase-out period. During the phase-out period some of the support services (e.g. HotFixes, back-porting fixes from newer versions) will no longer be provided. The following table details the services provided during the support lifecycle: Service Standard support Phase-out 1 st year Phase-out 2 nd year Single point of contact for reporting problems SLA governed support services Telephone hotline for problem reporting and guidance Three-level trouble ticket investigation New product releases and versions Scheduled hot-fixes Product bug fixes Back-porting of selected issues from newer versions Remote access assistance GIS data updates Web based call tracking system Online access to product and support resources and downloads 4
Normal Business Hours The term Normal Business Hours always refers to the Customer's local time, usually 8 AM to 5 PM during normal business days, excluding weekends and holidays, unless otherwise stated in the signed Support Agreement. Response Time and Resolution Time The terms Response Time and Resolution Time as used in this document are defined as follows: Response time: The period of time that elapses from receipt of a support call by your representative, either by email or Hotline, until the representative acknowledges the receipt of it either by email or phone call. Resolution time: The period of time that elapses between receipts of a support call until Support provides an acceptable solution for it (Possible resolution types are described on page #16 - How a support call is resolved ). Although ClickSoftware is not required to provide resolution in a specific time frame, we exercise continuous effort until relief is provided for Severity 1 support calls. 5
Problem Severity Scale There are five severity levels that classify problems according to the implications of the reported issue, both in business and in technical terms. The following table describes the Severity Scale, along with typical examples. The examples are provided as an illustrative tool only, and should not be treated as an exact definition of a severity category. Severity Problem Description Example 1 2 3 4 5 Fatal No useful work can be done. Severe Impact Functionality disabled, errors that result in a lack of application functionality or cause intermittent system failure. Degraded Operations Errors causing malfunction of non-critical functions. Minimal Impact Attributes and/or options to utility programs do not operate as stated. Enhancement Request Additional functionally requested that was not part of the initial project. Production server crash. No task is being scheduled. Some tasks are not being scheduled. Severe performance degradation. Occasional server hang-up. Some objects remain locked for user operations. Inability to edit Engineers. Inability to add N/A Assignments. Inaccurate Travel Time display on Gantt. Inability to delete optimization profiles. Excessive error logging to the Event Viewer. Slow performance of the Zip Code Import Wizard. Add validation of data to existing forms. Add an event or agent to perform custom operation on the server 6
Problem Priority Scale There are four Priority levels that classify problems. Priority defines the Customer s expected priority for handling the calls. The following table describes the Priority Scale, together with examples. The examples are provided as an illustrative tool only, and should not be treated as an exact definition of a Priority category. Priority Problem Description Example 1 2 3 4 Immediate No useful work can be done. High A relatively quick resolution is required. Medium Resolution is not required within days. Low Full resolution can be supplied in the following month. Production server crash. Usually goes together with Severity 1 calls. No task is being scheduled. A manual workaround exists for a problem in crucial automatic process. Intermittent failures of a crucial module, with a workaround/recovery. Usage/performance consultation. Report of a deviation that slightly hinders the usability of the system. Enquiry about future versions. Report of a minor deviation. How to use Severity and Priority Scales? Severity and Priority Scales are used to help us better prioritize incoming calls. Severity is automatically set based on the business implication as described by the customer when opening a call. Calls are first prioritized according to the Priority field. Once the implications of the problem are well defined, the Severity field status tends to stay unchanged, while the Priority status may change to reflect the approaching due date. 7
Support Level Plans Customers can select a Gold or Silver support plan. These plans differ mainly in response times and time availability. Gold Plan entitles the Customer 24/7 support, including holidays, together with significantly faster guaranteed response times. Silver Plan entitles the Customer to 8 AM to 5 PM support, 5 days a week, excluding holidays and weekends. Silver Customers may obtain off-hour support solely for critical issues and this support will entail additional charges. These charges are detailed in the Support Agreement. Off-hour support is defined as support given outside of the time window described above. Please ensure prior to contacting that you are aware of which plan your company has purchased. The following table describes the relevant Response times for each Support plan: Severity Gold Plan Silver Plan 1 Fatal 2 hours 4 hours 2 Severe Impact 4 hours 8 hours 3 Degraded Operations 8 hours 1 business day 4 Minimal Impact 1 business day 3 business days 5 Enhancement Request 1 business day 5 business days 8
3. Customer Side General In order to deliver the best service possible, we require a certain level of knowhow from our customer s contact people. When our customer s contact people are technically familiar with the Service Optimization system and its IT infrastructures (e.g. operating system, networking architecture and DB environment), collaboration is very effective and fruitful. The cooperation between our customers and is the key to expediting the resolution of issues and delivering world class service. What does it take to be a Service Optimization System Administrator? We require support contact people to participate in either the ClickSchedule for Administrators Course or the ClickSchedule Technical Product Training. We highly recommend attending the course Supporting Service Optimization implementation. For more details - http://www.clicksoftware.com/services-education.htm Upon the completion of this training, the participants will be able to: Explain the usage and importance of key components, objects, and functional areas of the system. Define and modify users in the ClickSchedule implementation. Use ClickSchedule administrative tools to enable full functionality of ClickSchedule server. Maintain the ClickSchedule implementation. Provide 1st line support for Service Optimization implementations. Troubleshoot and gain skills for in depth troubleshooting of Service Optimization implementations. 9
The Service Optimization administrator is required to be familiar with the following topics, not included in the training program, when installing the software, troubleshooting a problem and working with worldwide support: Windows Task Manger usage Event Viewer logs reading IIS administration Windows Services administration Registry administration Active Directory and users administration Basic DB related operations (Backup & Restore, Run SQL queries) Certified Contacts Certified Contacts are people who have permissions for logging to the customer zone. In order to be a certified contact one should take the required courses mentioned above and approved by. Each certified contact has a unique username and password. Different certified contacts may have specific options available, based on their user profile. How to register yourself as a certified contact? Go to our customer zone and click on "Get your Access here". Direct link: https://support.clicksoftware.com/csweb/supporthome.nsf/requestaccess 10
4. Encountered a problem? General A support issue is defined as any technical question or problem related to ClickSoftware s Products and included in support expertise (as described in chapter 2). Determine the Nature of Your Problem The first and most important step is doing a self-analysis. This will expedite the troubleshooting process towards a resolution, as you might find you can fix it yourself and better understand what to do. In case involvement is required, handling the problem will be more efficient when the context is clear. The following questions can be used as guidelines for first analysis and troubleshooting (see support call guidelines in customer zone for the full list): What Environment is it? (e.g. Production/test/development/training) What Product & Version (e.g. Service Optimization server, ClickSchedule, ClickMobile, ClickPlan, ClickForecast) What is the unexpected behavior of your Service Optimization system? (e.g. Error messages, performance issues, optimization issues) What actions/changes were you doing at the time of the issue, or just prior to it? Is it failing on ALL of the machines (Servers/Clients) or just on some? How critical is this problem to your production? Can you work around it until a fix is found? Are there any error messages? Capture screenshots, investigate the system logs 11
Isolate the Problem Following the guidelines above, try to define the steps required to isolate the problem as specifically as possible: Determine the steps required to consistently reproduce the problem. Identify the modules, processes, configuration, Database objects and external systems involved. If possible, reconstruct on a test environment. Otherwise, report your findings to. Use On-Line Resources ClickSoftware maintains an online library of resources as part of the Customer Zone. Search the following libraries for problem resolution: Product Documentation Including: Sys Admin, Configuration and Installation guides Wiki Pages Previous support calls of your account Implementers Forum Summarize Your Findings After performing the steps above you should have a better picture of the issue - what is happening, is it a deviation or system planned behaviour which could be changed following different usage or configuration? At what times and circumstances? Are automatic processes involved? (Could be Service Optimization or operating system related), etc. If you need further assistance to evaluate your findings and/or perform a deeper investigation you should contact. 12
5. Working with How to Engage Support? The best way to engage with us is by logging a support call. Each support call includes a single question or a technical issue. By logging a call, the relevant information is logged in our database and is visible to all relevant parties involved (e.g. support engineers, customer certified contacts, project managers) Other communication channels are the hotline, and the support inbox - Support@ClickSoftware.com The hotline is normally used for urgent updates and fatal issues (severity 1). How to log and manage support calls Use ClickSoftware Customer Zone to log and manage support calls: https://support.clicksoftware.com/csweb/czone.nsf Certified contacts are able to login the customer zone and log, view and update calls, according to his/her role and permissions. Common operations are: Opening a new support call Updating a support call with information, including file uploads (DB dumps, various logs and traces, error screenshots, etc.) Reviewing updates and call history Escalating Calls Approving when resolution was found Each call is automatically assigned a call number for reference. This number allows prioritization and tracking your problem effectively. 13
Support Hotline Type Location Details Free toll Hotline Australia 1-800-148-763 ext. 1 Austria 0-800-295-134 ext. 1 Belgium 0-800-796-70 ext. 1 Brazil 0-800-888-1176 Canada 1-877-342-6743 China, North 1-080-0972-0089 ext. 1 China, South 1-080-0172-0089 ext. 1 Denmark 0-808-85575 ext. 1 France 0-800-904-826 ext. 1 Germany 0-800-0826-408 ext. 1 India 0-008-0010-08498 ext. 1 Netherlands 0-800-0223-063 ext. 1 Norway 0-800-18452 ext. 1 South Africa 0-800-997-490 ext. 1 Switzerland 0-800-561-375 ext. 1 Thailand 0-018-009-722912 ext. 1 United Kingdom 0-800-169-0153 United States 1-877-229-9436 Any other +972-3-765-9400 ext. 433 country Other contact details for ClickSoftware are listed below. Type Location Details Email Web Address Support@ClickSoftware.com http://www.clicksoftware.com/customer-zone/ Azorim Park, Oren Building 94 Em Hamoshavot Road Petach Tikva 49527 Israel 14
Support Calls Life Cycle Each support call has a status property. Possible statuses are: New: automatically assigned to each call created. Open: support call requires additional actions Approved: when customer and support engineer agree that a resolution has been reached Closed: Internal status, assigned by. Relevant for internal knowledge sharing and documentations procedures. Below is a diagram demonstrating the support calls life cycle: 15
How a Support Call is Resolved? A support call is resolved and its status changes to Approved, when you and the support engineer agree that a resolution has been reached. Your case may be resolved following: Information supplied Explanation of correct usage Finding a workaround Data was corrected New Hotfix/Patch item was deployed Custom development Configuration change The problem is no longer an issue Customer Satisfaction Survey In order to educate us on your needs and help us improve our service, we use an electronic customer satisfaction survey. We invite you to provide valuable feedback on how your support call was handled. This short survey is sent to our management team for review and from this we can derive actions. 16
Escalation Procedures In cases where the Customer feels the need to discuss an outstanding call, because of excessive handling time, unacceptable resolution of a problem, severe implication, personal issues with any of the support staff or any other reason, the Priority field can be changed to reflect the new priority for the call. Alternatively, a request to change the Severity of the call can be sent to the ClickSoftware Support inbox. These changes will alert the relevant Support Team Leader to be involved. Such calls will be discussed with the customer in order to develop an action plan, agreed with customer's contacts. Calls which are defined as fatal (Severity 1, Priority 1) are automatically addressed as escalation calls and the relevant Support Team Leader is alerted to take action. Customers may also request escalation to a higher level whenever deemed necessary. In such cases, please do not hesitate to discuss it with Ran Erman, Director of World Wide Support. Cases can also be escalated to Yoni Tsrouya, SVP Professional Services. Ran Erman Director of Tel: +972-3-7659400 Ext. 565 Mobile: +972-54-6722565 Email: Ran.Erman@ClickSoftware.com Yoni Tsrouya SVP Professional Services Tel: +972-3-7659400 Ext. 589 Mobile: +972-54-6722589 Email: Yoni.Tsrouya@clicksoftware.com 17
6. Support Procedures Transition to Support When a solution implementation stage is completed, the customer is transferred from Professional Services project team to. We learn the design of the project and create a similar environment that will help us reconstruct customer specific scenarios. Benefits of working with : Availability Better and easier reporting and tracking of issues Central knowledge management Clear support procedures Clear escalation procedures Access to support tools License Generation ClickSoftware products function with a valid purchased license. Your license is usually provided by the Professional Services project team. In some cases, such as the addition of new engineers and/or servers to the system, new licenses are required. License requests are managed via the online Customer Zone. Upgrades, Updates & Fixes Mission critical systems need to be on latest product version, to keep with up to date technology, to get new features and to enable easier support. Once a new major version becomes available, ClickSoftware will offer upgrading options to you, and our Professional Services teams will work closely with you to ensure a smooth upgrade. In general, we will provide fixes to products when required. Fixes may be in the format of a patch, a temporary fix, or a service pack. We will coordinate with the customer the type of fix to be provided, based on the Severity and Priority of the problem. 18
7. Additional Services Consulting Services Deploying a service optimization solution is a step in the right direction toward bringing efficiencies to your service organization. This step, along with the guidance of trained experts and a keen understanding of industry best practices, will maximize the efficiency goals of your organization. ClickSoftware's Consulting Services offers a portfolio of services designed to address these issues that arise in conjunction with optimization technology purchases. As a whole, the portfolio enables ClickSoftware to take a more holistic view of a service organization - before, during and after implementation. Individually, each service is targeted to address audiences of various levels, from managers to executives, to bring value to all levels of an organization. When it comes to field service software and optimization, ClickSoftware is uniquely positioned to bring the highest value in consulting. With more than 150 customers in a cross-section of industries worldwide, ClickSoftware's experience in mobile workforce management cannot be rivaled. ClickSoftware's Consulting Services Include: Service Operation Review Service Performance Benchmark Schedule Optimization Tuning Application Data Layer Tuning Geographical Coverage Analysis System Health Check Building a Business Case Service Change Management Service Excellence: The Executive View Achieving Operational Excellence Proactive Management in a Reactive Industry 19
On-site Visits On-site visits may be proactive, e.g. for health checks, training, etc., or reactive, in order to expedite problem resolution. Our engineers are up to any challenge, and will be available promptly, upon an agreement between ClickSoftware and the customer. Education and Training Once your ClickSoftware system is up and running, the next step is to ensure that the users and administrators working with the solution know how to operate it to its fullest extent. As time goes by, there may also be the need for refresher training, or training of newly-hired employees. At ClickSoftware, we view training as an integral part of gaining efficiencies through workforce management and service optimization. ClickSoftware's professional trainers will ensure you and your team are fully equipped to get the most out of your technology investment. We offer numerous training courses and work to make many more topics available. Courses can be delivered via elearning, on-site at your own premises, ondemand or in one of our dedicated training centers. If there is a specific course of interest that we do not currently offer, please email the ClickSoftware Education team at: training@clicksoftware.com with your suggestions. We highly welcome and appreciate your input towards developing future courses. ClickSoftware s elearning courses are built using a state of the art online learning system which offers participants a comfortable and seamless training experience. This features a self-learning website which can be used for study purposes. The practice environments combine cutting edge amazon cloud virtualization technology with installations of ClickSoftware s solutions, allowing the trainees to benefit from a hands-on experience of the products as part of the elearning course. To learn more about our training opportunities visit: http://www.clicksoftware.com/services-education.htm 20
Solution Anytime. Anywhere. 21 will be there!