APTIFY TECHNICAL SUPPORT GUIDE
(last updated March 2021)
Contents:
Eligibility
Support for all Aptify Products is available under the valid Master License Agreement, Master Software Term Agreement, or Terms and Conditions, collectively known as the Agreement (“Agreement”) to Aptify Customer who have paid their annual maintenance and who are entitled to receive first level support directly from Aptify rather than through an Aptify-designated local partner. Aptify customers who receive first level support from an Aptify-designated local partner must work directly with their approved partner. Product Maintenance is renewable annually in accordance with your Agreement. Please refer to the Agreement for information related to lapses and reinstatement.
Per Incident Support
Aptify does not offer Per Incident Support. Instead, Product Maintenance is offered on an annual subscription basis only and must be up to date in order to receive product updates and support and to initiate Support Tickets.
Benefits of Active Product Maintenance
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Membership in Aptify User Community
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Access to User Community Web Site, Aptify Connect
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Access to Aptify Knowledge Base
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New Version Upgrades and Service Packs
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BETA Program Participation
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Access to Technical Support for product knowledge assistance, how-to’s, etc.
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Provision of Hot Fixes for critical bugs
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Service Level Guarantees
Project Implementation Stages
Technical Support inquiries resulting from issues encountered before and during the implementation process must be directed to the Aptify Consultant(s) assigned to the implementation. Items that require the assistance of Aptify Technical Support will be forwarded by the assigned Consultant(s) as necessary. In the event that Aptify Consulting is not directly involved in an implementation, registration of client Support Representatives must be completed, prior to opening Support Tickets. Application installation and related issues should be handled through the assigned Consultant(s) team where possible.
This policy is in place to ensure rapid and efficient turn-around for issues encountered during the implementation phase that may or may not be related to the Aptify Products. Aptify Technical Support is provided to qualified administrators of the product, based on the limitations defined in the Agreement. Aptify is not able to provide assistance beyond these constraints. Aptify Consultant(s) understand the nature of the client implementation and are best equipped to provide the appropriate level of context necessary for resolving issues.
Registration for Customer Support
In order to receive support from Aptify, customers are required to register with Aptify Customer Support. The registration process is very easy and requires each customer to supply the name and contact information of its Primary Support Contact and additional Support Contacts. All Support Contacts must have completed Aptify’s Administrator training or must receive a waiver as designated by Aptify Technical Support. Aptify Customer Support does not support end users and expects that the trained administrator(s) will support and troubleshoot all end user problems.
Waivers are issued on a Ticket-per-Ticket basis. The waiver is for a limited amount of time up to 90 days. After 90 days have elapsed and Administrator training has not been taken, the support contact’s permission to submit support Tickets will be revoked. The support contact can submit a request for an extension. Extensions will be granted provided the intent is to attend Administrator’s training within the next 90 days.
This information should be supplied at the end of the initial implementation, as you begin to transition from Aptify Consulting to Aptify Customer Support. A transition meeting is generally held at this point, where the Customer is formally introduced to Aptify Customer Support.
Primary Customer Support Contact
This individual is responsible for maintaining the active list of all Customer Support Contacts who have been registered with Aptify Technical Support for purposes of reporting Tickets. Changes to the list may be made by contacting the Support team at support@aptifysupport.zendesk.com. In addition, the Primary Support Contact will be notified in the event of changes to support services or processes as well as other support related items.
Registered Customer Support Contacts or Trained Administrators
Registered Support Contacts are those designated individuals authorized to create Aptify Support Tickets and who have been registered with Aptify Customer Support and have attended an Aptify Administrator training course.
Limitations
Support covered under the Agreement is limited to core Product issues and usage questions and does not apply to Customer-specific configurations. Aptify Consulting assistance will be required for resolution of configuration-related issues on a billable basis once acceptance testing has occurred, unless a configuration warranty has been purchased for the configuration at issue.
Aptify Customer Support does not provide support to configurations the client has contracted through Aptify Consulting. The client should submit a Ticket and Customer Support will determine if the problem is core-product or configuration-related. If it is configuration-related Aptify Customer Support will provide the client with the option of resolving the problem on their own or engaging Aptify Consulting on a billable basis. Aptify Customer Support will only escalate a Ticket to Aptify Consulting with prior approval from the client.
Unauthorized Customer Alterations
Unauthorized Customer Alterations are any change to the Licensed Product by the Customer or a third party acting on behalf of the customer that is not created using methods defined in the reference materials, or uses one of the processes listed below.
Regarding Backend Updates
Backend updates are defined as updates made using tools which directly update data and/or metadata which is contained within the Aptify database schema. Updates of this nature are not permissible within the Product warranty. Under the Product warranty, updates of data through any means other than the Aptify object layer are considered a violation. Corrective measures performed by Aptify which are required to restore system/data integrity will be billed to the customer.
The following exceptions should be noted which allow for backend updates to occur. These activities are considered appropriate:
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Data is imported using SQL Server tools during the data conversion/pre-live process, provided Aptify’s best practices for data conversion are followed.
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Aptify Technical Support provides an update script, which is designed to correct specific issues encountered within the system.
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The customer seeks prior approval for backend updates by following the GE Bypass Approval Process. More information regarding this process is available upon request.
Regarding Modifications to Framework Entities
Modifying the structure of framework entities could affect the core performance of Aptify and will void the Software Licensing Agreement warranty.
A Framework entity will have label on the Entities form, when opened that displays:
Warning - Do not modify this Entity unless you have been authorized in writing by Aptify. Unauthorized modification of this Entity will violate the terms of your software license and eliminate all software warranties. Written authorization, on behalf of the customer, needs to be registered with Support. (Support will make available a document for this purpose, upon request.)
It is very important that the fidelity to this policy be maintained by you as the customer in a number of areas:
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Product Supportability. By themselves, simple changes to framework entities like adding fields to the Addresses entity appear innocuous. They may not impact the day-to-day use of the software or the core processes (i.e. address flow-down) that are in place. However, the support process will be impacted when a support call is made to discuss core product functionality that *should* work and is not working. It would be very difficult to assess the nature of a problem when these unadvised configurations are also in play. Getting to the bottom of the related problem would be very difficult because the problem may not be reproducible using standard techniques, resulting in costly interchanges between the customer and Customer Support in terms of the time spent. One the configuration was identified the problem would then need to be escalated to Consulting Services on a billable basis to resolve the problem.
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Minor Upgrades. The Product Development team creates service packs based on the static nature of Framework entities. Assumptions are made to ensure the installations of service packs are successful. Changes to framework entities may impact the successfulness of SP installers resulting in a cost to the company if Aptify Consulting is engaged on a billable basis to resolve the problem.
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Major Version Upgrades. Similar to service pack installation, upgrades are also impacted. The upgrade tools are developed to understand changes in anticipated areas of the product and to migrate those changes. Data conversion, then, follows the same track. So, changes to framework entities will be ignored, both in the configuration migration phase and the data conversion phase.
Changes may be made to framework entities with prior approval in writing from Aptify Customer Support. These changes will be considered a configuration and will not be supported by Aptify Customer Support. If the configuration adversely affects the installation of a service pack, hot fix, or upgrade, the client needs to engage Aptify Consulting in order to troubleshoot the problem.
Note: The warning label does not display in Aptify Web. Please check the desktop client prior to making changes to entities. The warning label applies to changes that would change the underlying table structurally. It does not apply to security changes or default base views.
Regarding the Database Tuning Advisor in SQL Server
Use of the Database Engine Tuning Advisor can be used to discover recommended indexes, indexed views, and to analyze the database to recommend statics and portioning.
Warning – It is important that when using the Database Engine Tuning Advisor that it not be allowed to make changes. All changes to the structure of the database must occur in Aptify. Allowing the Database Engine Tuning Advisor to make changes can impact the installation of service packs.
Note: When working with the database it is important to not make changes to the Database structure or permissions that does not also create the metadata within Aptify. Any item that Aptify would normally create should be created in Aptify to include indexes, users, fields, and permissions.
POLICIES
Definition of a Ticket
A ticket identifies a single reproducible issue, inquiry of product capabilities, development advice or feature request. All of the activities associated with each Ticket instance will be tracked and made available to the customer through the Aptify Support Portal. Tickets are numbered sequentially and should be referred to by Ticket ID when inquiries are made.
Configurations
Configurations (Configs, Configuration Programs) means computer software, and/or modifications to existing software prepared by Aptify, including technical documentation related thereto. Configs do not include Licensed Products and all modules that are separately licensed under the Agreement. Configs are not covered under the Agreement for warranty support. Warranty support covers core product and is limited to the Aptify Framework usage. Any object created by Aptify Consulting Services or a third party is not supported through the Agreement and is considered billable. The customer signs for all configs indicating that the config(s) work as desired. If Consulting must be engaged for further services on a config that time is considered billable.
Any item that has been developed and stable on a particular version must be tested in a version update functionality. If it is not working as desired the existing config on a new platform will require consulting involvement, on a billable basis, to update the config as needed to work in the new version.
Opening a New Ticket
Tickets may be opened by a Registered Customer Support Contact (primary or otherwise) using any of the following methods: Aptify Support Portal, email to support@aptifysupport.zendesk.com or telephone. In order to properly diagnose the ticket, it must contain (1) a description of the problem, (2) detailed steps to reproduce the problem in the sample DB, and (3) exceptions if they exist.
PRIMARY METHOD OF SUBMITTING A TICKET
The recommended procedure for submitting a Ticket is to sign in to the Aptify Support portal. From within the portal, customers may assign the ticket a priority level on the submission form. Customer Support may not answer the phones if actively engaged with a customer or a Ticket.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS FOR LOGGING TICKETS VIA TELEPHONE
When reporting a Ticket via the telephone, the customer must be a registered Customer Support Contact for your organization. Aptify Customer Support does not support end users of the Aptify product. If you are unsure as to this status, please contact the organization’s Primary Support Contact. If you are unable to determine who this person is, please feel free to contact Aptify Customer Support to assist in identifying your registered Customer Support Contact. Once the Ticket is registered the next available support representative will contact the client at the earliest convenience.
LOGGING TICKETS VIA EMAIL
The customer may also submit a Ticket via email to support@aptifysupport.zendesk.com, but Aptify Customer Support discourages the use of email when reporting Tickets. We believe we deliver the best possible experience when organizations are able to utilize all of the tools available to them online using the Support Portal, which allows customers to submit and monitor all of their organization’s Tickets.
Note that the email should contain details about the problem to include distinct steps to reproduce, exceptions, and summary information. Also, tickets created from an email are automatically assigned a Priority of Low.
Note: Tickets are owned by the client and therefore require the client to be actively involved in determining the problem and deploying the resolution. Aptify Customer Support will actively attempt to provide resolution provided the client is engaged. If the Ticket becomes stale and non-active due to unresponsiveness, the Ticket will be closed within 30 business days after weekly reminder emails has been sent to the creator of the ticket. Stale or non-active statuses are “Awaiting your Reply”. Once the Ticket is closed, it will not be reopened, however the customer is welcome to create a new Ticket with reference to the first Ticket and begin activity again.
Ticket Closure
Aptify will close outstanding Tickets under the following circumstances:
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The Customer requests that the Ticket be closed.
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The Customer and Aptify Support agree that a solution has been met.
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The Customer can no longer reproduce the issue.
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Steps to reproduce the issue cannot be obtained.
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At least 2 inquiries are made by Aptify Technical Support without response from the Customer Support Representative and/or customer primary support contact within 10 business days from the last inquiry.
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Aptify has issued a Hot Fix with resolution to a particular issue and the customer has agreed to close the Ticket OR 10 business days has passed from the release of the Hot Fix with notice to the Customer. (Please see the section entitled “Hot Fixes” for more information.)
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Aptify has issued minor version upgrade or New major version release of the product in which a resolution has been provided.
Escalation and Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
Aptify Technical Support attempts to manage each submitted Ticket in a timely manner. From time to time, it will be necessary to treat individual Tickets with more emphasis.
If your organization is facing system wide down time related to a specific Ticket, the Ticket should be assigned a priority of Urgent. This allows our team to understand the full impact of a given Ticket and to respond accordingly. In Tickets that are not related to system-wide down time, please refrain from specifying the Urgent priority.
The following table illustrates the intended meaning of each Ticket priority.
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Priority |
System Outage |
Configuration/Defect |
Feature Request |
Response Time |
|
Low |
No |
Requests related to minor annoyances to be dealt with at a future time, but without any immediate impact. Examples are Tickets related to user interface defects or related with easy work around methodology. |
Features that are “nice-to-haves.” Ideas that your organization would like to see included at some point. |
16 Business Hours |
|
Medium |
No |
Average priority requests, to be addressed as soon as resources become available. Items without major productivity/financial impacts should be classified in this way. |
Average priority feature requests to be addressed in future releases. |
16 Business Hours |
|
High |
No |
Request is high importance, requiring rapid response, but not representing system outage. Examples are Tickets with financial impact. |
Features that your organization deems extremely important for inclusion in the Aptify product. |
16 Business Hours |
|
Urgent |
Yes |
Request requires immediate attention. Represents a system outage that is preventing user access. |
n/a |
4 Business Hours |
Response times vary based on the overall set of open Tickets at any given time. For Low, Medium and High Tickets, we strive for initial response times within two business days after submission. For Tickets that are flagged as Urgent and associated with system outages, we strive to respond within four (4) business hours of an issue being reported and to work with your organization to resolve issues as quickly as possible.
Note: The Response Times in the table above apply to Product Support only. If your system is hosted by Aptify Cloud, please refer to your contract, which identifies the SLAs for tickets related to uptime and maintenance of your hosted environment.
If you are not satisfied with the progress of your open Ticket, you may request that the Ticket be escalated in priority by contacting the agent, Customer Support Manager or Customer Support Director and requesting that the Ticket requires immediate attention. Aptify Support publishes an escalation list in the Support portal. By escalating a given Ticket, you will notify us as to the relative importance of this item and allow us to place added emphasis appropriately.
Product Updates, Minor Version Upgrades and New Major Versions
There are three primary types of product releases in which bug/issue resolutions may be addressed.
NEW MAJOR VERSIONS
New major versions are denoted by the first number in the version sequence of Aptify increasing (for example, 6.0 or 7.0). These are major releases of the software that include significant changes. The normal motivation for releasing a major version is to introduce significant new functionality, improvements, or underlying technical changes for the Aptify Platform or our various business application products. Aptify also routinely includes bug fixes in major product releases.
MINOR VERSION / SERVICE PACK
New minor versions are denoted by the second or subsequent number in the version sequence of Aptify increasing (for example, 7.1 or 7.2). Aptify routinely releases minor version upgrades for the current major version of the product, on a summer and a winter schedule. Unlike the major product version release, the primary objective of a minor version upgrade is to resolve product defects and add modest or minor features and improvements to the software.
HOT FIXES – CLIENT SPECIFIC DISTRIBUTION
In situations where a software defect is detected that has a major impact on the productivity of users, to the data or financial integrity of the system, or is otherwise judged to be of an extremely serious nature, Aptify will release a “Hot Fix” for the problem. A hot fix is always a last resort and will almost always be a bug fix for small problem(s) in the software. All hot fixes are included in the next applicable service pack for the affected product version.
Aptify does not provide a hot fix for issues that have been resolved in the current service pack. An example would be if a fix was issued in Aptify 6.0 but the client was on Aptify 5.5 where the problem still exits. The client will not be issued a hot fix. They will be required to install the service pack for which the fix was issued.
Note: Customers who have not installed the most recent service pack and/or minor version are not eligible for hot fixes. Installation of the current service pack within their major release is required.
HOT FIXES – GENERAL DISTRIBUTION
In situations where a software defect is detected, having broad impact throughout the user community, Aptify may issue a hot fix for one or more versions of the software. Affected customers will be notified of the release of the hot fix as it becomes available.
SUPPORT FOR PRIOR VERSIONS
Aptify supports the current major version (e.g. 7.x) as well as one major version prior. For example, the current version is 7.x making both the 6.x and the 7.x versions supported.
Service packs and minor versions may not be deployed a la carte by selecting pieces and parts. Installations where this type of activity are found to have occurred without the express written consent of Aptify are not eligible for Technical Support until corrective actions have been taken, including restoration of the environment to its pre-installation state. Such corrective action may require Consulting Services from Aptify.
In the same way, fixes supplied with service packs and/or minor versions will not be back-ported to earlier service packs within the same major version. As stated above, full installation of the current service pack will be required.
Aptify’s testing methodology is designed in full support of the software release policy. Aptify tests all service pack fixes with regression testing against the current major version for which they apply. Aptify tests minor version upgrades in the same fashion. In each Ticket, we test the version as a wholly unique product. Full and complete installation is required to ensure the validity of this testing process is extended to each customer’s installation. Partial installation is not supported.
Development Assistance
Many Customers utilize the development features of the Aptify Platform to build and/or extend Aptify’s business applications and to create new business applications. Aptify is committed to providing customers with assistance related to development of configurations within the Aptify Platform. Assistance will be provided only to developers who have completed Aptify’s Developer Training coursework in the version of the software designated for the current development project and who have significant experience with the appropriate development technologies. The following types of assistance are included:
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Assistance with Form Templates and Layouts
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Assistance with Process Flows
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Assistance with Dashboards
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Assistance with implementation of standard Aptify Plug-in Architecture and/or Aptify Interfaces
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Assistance with questions regarding Aptify SDK (and feedback related to its improvement)
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Assistance with development of Wizards
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Deployment assistance utilizing supported Aptify deployment methodologies
Aptify Customer Support does not provide assistance for the following areas. Instead, customers are encouraged to seek Aptify Consulting Services for assistance.
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General assistance with development technologies including .NET, JavaScript or other third party development platforms
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Solution design
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Code development services
As you begin projects that will likely include any of these types of services, it is most beneficial to establish a working relationship with Aptify Consulting Services. Their involvement/oversight will be invaluable to providing the best solution possible.
Installations, Deployments and Best Practices
Aptify requires that organizations first apply and test any configuration, integration, add-on, or marketplace item on a test environment, to ensure that no issues arise prior to deployment to a production environment. Nothing should ever be deployed to production directly without testing first.
Deployment documents should always be created to track deployments and ensure that change management processes are followed, and changes to the system are appropriately tracked and able to rolled back if necessary. For an example, please see: Sample Deployment Document. Aptify Cloud customers can submit a ticket to request that our team handle deployments to your test or production environments.
You can also find more information on best practices here: Best Practices for Deploying Configurations.
Aptify Support Normal Hours of Operation / Business Hours and Holiday Schedule
Aptify Customer Support is available during the following business hours, with the exception of Aptify-designated holidays. Note that for systems is hosted by Aptify Cloud, please see refer to your contract, which identifies the hours of operation for the Cloud team who maintains the hosted environment.
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North America: Monday – Friday, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Eastern Time
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Australia: Monday – Friday, 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM Australian Eastern Time
Please refer to the Aptify Support Portal for a list of company holidays that identify when the office is closed.
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