Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide deFacto Global customers with information on the standard support coverage for deFacto Power Planning (deFacto). This document will serve as a guideline for the deFacto Global Support group, but may be superseded by an existing, signed software support contract where applicable. deFacto Global reserves the right to make modifications to this document as required.

Standard Support and Maintenance Services

The services listed below are services that are included as part of your software support contract.

• deFacto Global’s Direct Connect 24 x 7 access with the following on-line benefits:

• Portal for deFacto Global’s customers, allowing them to log, update, review, and close support tickets and check for status updates on their open support tickets.
• Ability to assign a priority based on the level of urgency for a particular circumstance.
• Link to published deFacto documentation and Knowledge Base.
• Support issues may be logged 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

• Technical troubleshooting - This includes assessment, diagnosis, documentation, and resolution of issues that pertain specifically to the customer’s deFacto software. This does not include any consulting services relating to the customer's specific use of the software. Troubleshooting does not extend to any hardware or operating system components.
• Limited training questions (15 minutes) – Questions pertaining to a customer’s use of deFacto software deemed as training-related i.e., information that has already been covered and/or reviewed with the customer will be considered training related in scope and are usually limited to a span of 5-15 minutes. Anything falling outside the aforementioned time frame may be classified as a billable service. This does not represent a substitute for user training.

All issues or questions reported to deFacto Global’s Support group are tracked via Direct Connect; our Support Analysts cannot provide assistance unless a support ticket is logged. Customers can access Direct Connect at deFacto Global Inc. | Support Site. Instructions

Issue Assessment and Resolution Process

Direct Connect On-Line Customer Support

All deFacto support tickets are first submitted to deFacto Global via our Direct Connect website. Submissions will be distributed to the appropriate deFacto Support Analyst or third-party services partner.

Once a customer properly submits a support ticket via Direct Connect, the customer will receive an acknowledgment of receipt from deFacto Global.

• Within 24 hours of receiving the support ticket, and during normal business hours, a deFacto Global representative will contact the customer to do the following:

• For known issues, provide an assessment of the issue and resolution.
• Or, work to replicate and troubleshoot the issue. This may require additional information from the customer.

• Once the issue has been replicated and identified, a deFacto Global representative will provide an assessment of the issue, the resolution and resolution timeframe.

Issues May or May Not Be Subject to Consulting Fees

Issues reported though Direct Connect, and identified as deFacto product malfunctions, will not incur consulting charges to the customer provided that the customer is current with deFacto Maintenance and Support payments.

Issues reported directly to a deFacto Global or third party services partner personnel, not using Direct Connect, will be subject to consulting charges regardless of the nature of the issue.

Issues related to all other causes, including customer’s use, implementation or environment, will be subject to consulting charges.

Issue Resolution Priorities

Issue Resolution times will vary and are dependent on the priority of the issue.

To assign our resources to address and resolve customer issues as effectively as possible, deFacto Global has identified three types of issue priorities as deemed by our Support staff:

• Priority 1 - Urgent or High Priority
• Priority 2 - Medium Priority
• Priority 3 - Low Priority

This is the criteria used to establish guidelines for these issues.

Priority 1 – Urgent or High

• deFacto application down
• Inability to process deFacto application
• Security issues
• Program errors without workarounds
• Incorrect calculation errors impacting a majority of records
• Aborted postings or error messages preventing data integration and update
• Performance issues of severe nature impacting critical processes

Priority 2 - Medium

• System errors that have workarounds
• Calculation errors impacting a minority of records
• Report calculation issues
• Performance issues not impacting critical processes
• Usability issues

Priority 3 - Low

• Report formatting issues
• Training questions, how to, or implementing new processes
• Aesthetic issues
• Issues with workarounds for large majority of records
• Recommendations or requests for enhancements on system changes
• Questions on documentation

Response Times

The deFacto Global Support group will adhere to these response times during normal business hours:

• Low – 24 hours
• Medium – 6 to 8 hours
• High – 2 to 4 hours

Resolution of the problem is dependent on the ability to replicate, diagnose, and implement the solution. Response time for implementing a solution will be assessed once the diagnosis is completed.