1. Introduction

Customer Service is an integral part of Hancock Software and its success in the Energy Efficiency Software business. There are several key components that make up Hancock Software’s Customer Service Strategy. Customer relationships, communication and a well-trained staff are what make up Hancock Software’s Customer Support Team.

Hancock Software prides itself on the ability to quickly respond to customer requirements while striving to exceed customers’ expectations ensuring a high level of customer satisfaction.

1.1 Commitment to our Customers

Working with our customers to resolve any issues, Hancock Software endeavors to do the following:

Provide a timely response to issues reported and details of response times and service levels (where applicable).
Provide regular updates to customers on open issues until resolved. Where third parties are involved, Hancock Software will endeavor to provide updates from this third-party although they may not be party to a service level agreement.
Advocate the importance of a customer’s particular issues to all Hancock Software personnel as deemed necessary to ensure that they are dealt with in an appropriate and timely fashion.

1.2 Improvements

Hancock Software continuously searches for better ways to support our customers and enhance our policies and procedures to achieve higher levels of customer satisfaction. Therefore, these policies and procedures may change from time-to-time to allow improvements to be implemented. In such circumstances and where there is an impact to customer procedures, customers will be advised prior to the implementation of the change.

Any questions regarding this policy should be submitted to Hancock Software through the normal support channels.

Eligibility and Support Options

To be eligible for Hancock Software customer support, the individual contacting Hancock Software must be:

A customer who has paid all annual maintenance and other fees, and is using supported versions of the relevant application(s) covered by these maintenance and other fees.

A Hancock Software approved business partner.

Customers who are unclear as to their eligibility should seek guidance from the Hancock Software Support organization.

2.1 What is included in Customer Support?

Hancock Software customer support includes the provision of information and assistance on technical or application issues. Primarily these will relate to why the application may not be performing in accordance with the expectations of the customer or according to published documentation.

In the event that the application is deemed to be working as designed and/or in accordance with published documentation, the customer will be informed as such and, where appropriate, directed to the correct published documentation for further information. Should a customer deem that the application still does not meet their expectations, the customer can submit a feature enhancement request for consideration by Hancock Software for future development to the application, or for consideration as a custom professional service.

In the event that the application is deemed not to be functioning as designed and/or in accordance with published documentation, Hancock Software will verify and fix the reported defect and apply the defect fix to the customer system in accordance with procedures detailed later in this document. There will be no charge to customers for the deployment of this defect fix.

Hancock Software Customer Support can provide a number of setup and configuration services. Customers should contact Hancock Software Support for further details, costs based upon contractual commitments, documentation and file formats.

Hancock Software Customer Support also includes the provision of updates via written release notes prior to deployment as well as the provision of customer advisories, which may be released from time to time. Where such documentation is produced and published to customers, Hancock Software Support will assist customers with any queries that arise from that documentation. However, assistance is limited to the application impacts of the documentation.

2.2 What is not included in Customer Support?

The following items are NOT included in Hancock Software’s Customer Support offering:

Training

Hancock Software Customer Support does not include end-user application training or training of internal trainers. Should additional application training be required, customers should log a request with Hancock Software Support to initiate scoping and costing for this work.

Training materials

Hancock Software Customer Support does not include support for the creation of training materials or support for customers creating materials to train other users. In addition, customers will not create training classes or materials that will be used for paid training sessions without a prior agreement with Hancock Software, Inc.

Assistance with System Integration

Hancock Software Customer Support does not include assistance with system integration. Hancock Software has a variety of standard interfaces both inbound and outbound. Should assistance in planning and implementing system integration be required, consultation is available as an additional Professional Service for which there may be a charge. Customers should log a request with Hancock Software Support to initiate scoping and costing for this work.

Migration and Process Re-engineering

Hancock Software Customer Support does not include assistance with migration of data that is held outside of the Hancock Software systems during or post implementation of an upgrade, or process re-engineering when new features are introduced. Should specific assistance be required to assist in the migration of customer data not held in systems operated and supported by Hancock Software, consultation is available as an additional professional service for which there may be a charge. Customers should log a request with Hancock Software Customer Support to initiate scoping and costing for this work.

3. Customer Service & Communication

Hancock Software's focus is to support every customer with a team that is dedicated to ensure a positive experience exceeding all expectations. All support requests will be responded to within 60 minutes of the request being received. Hancock Software Support hours of operation during the working day are:

Monday - Friday 09:00 am to 7:00 EST

3.1 Communication Methods

With the exception of Priority 1 issues, the primary communication method is via the Hancock Software Self Service Helpdesk system. Support is on a named-user basis, generally for two persons in an internal corporate Helpdesk or System Administrator role for each customer system. All communication with the Hancock Software Customer Support center must be routed through one of these two individuals. Customers are requested to keep the list of named personnel current by notifying Hancock Software Customer Support of any changes to avoid requests for assistance being delayed.

Telephone for Priority 1 Issues:
United States: 1-866-358-5217

Hancock Software also offers out of hours support for Priority 1 issues (described elsewhere in this document). For Priority 1 issues outside of core working hours described above, please utilize the toll free telephone number referenced above.

3.2 Support Request Logging Process

All requests will be logged into the Hancock Software Self Service Helpdesk System, which is used to track all requests for assistance and ensures that problem escalation procedures are enforced to provide prompt customer service.

Users may enter their own tickets by using helpdesk.hancocksoftware.com or by emailing support@hancocksoftware.com. For Priority 1 issues, contacting the Hancock Software Support Team via telephone is strongly encouraged in addition to logging the issue in the Self Service Helpdesk System.

Details of how to access and use the Hancock Software Self Service Helpdesk System are available in the document “Hancock Software Self Service Help Desk User Guide” available from Customer Support.

Example of Information Requested:

Name of person reporting the issue
Contact Telephone Number and email
Organization / Company
Site issue occurred (Test or Production)
Server issue occurred on (where applicable and known)
Circumstances, scenarios that resulted in producing the issue
Screenshots
Additional information the customer feels may assist in the resolution
Call Priority (P1 Critical, P2 Major, P3 Moderate, P4 Limited and P5 Feature Request)

The Customer Support Team member will do their best to resolve the request without involvement from other support or Hancock Software personnel, however should a request require involvement from other designated support or Hancock Software personnel, the call will be updated. The Helpdesk System will generate email to the assigned representative for review and resolution.

Whenever a new request is entered, the customer will be emailed a Ticket number with a link to the ticket. This should be quoted in all subsequent communication to assist Customer Support in locating and updating the relevant call. Failure to provide this ticket number may result in delays.

The Hancock Software support team work with relevant Hancock Software personnel to ensure the call details and resolution are updated and accurately reflect the underlying problem and resolution. The Hancock Software support team will review Help Desk call records for consistency and with a view to finding recurring problems to ensure the root causes are identified and fixed. At any time, a customer can access the relevant ticket for an update on call progress or to request any further updates.

Where appropriate, calls are escalated internally by Hancock Software Management (see section on Call Escalation). Where requested, weekly calls can be held with the customer’s designated personnel for discussion.

3.3 Call Logging Process Flow

When a call is logged, a priority is assigned to the call. Prioritization is important as it determines the queue by which the call is responded to. The priority levels in the Self Service Helpdesk System are detailed below:

Priority 1 – Service Unavailable

Priority 2 – Service not working as documented, no workaround available

Priority 3 – Service not working as documented, but workaround available

Priority 4 – Support Request or Question about application functionality

Priority 5 – Feature Request

3.4 System Outages

In order to ensure that Hancock Software Customer Support will respond promptly to any reported System Outages, customers are advised to follow the process detailed below when reporting outages to Support. In the event that there is a total loss of system access, customers should first verify that their Internet connection is active (e.g. by accessing several popular Internet sites such as www.google.com) before calling Hancock Software Customer Support.

Primary Method of Communication - Telephone

Customers who have a verified system outage should call Hancock Software Customer Support using the telephone numbers listed in this document to report a suspected System Outage. If a member of Support is not available to answer the call, a detailed voicemail message should be left containing the following information:

Organization Name
Contact Name
Contact Number
Site(s) affected: PRODUCTION and/or TEST
Details of the issue i.e. symptoms, error messages, etc.

Secondary Method of Communication – Self Service Helpdesk Request

In the case of an outage, a Helpdesk request should also be logged with a subject of "System Outage - PRODUCTION/TEST" being sure to include the information described above and a screenshot of any error messages.

Customers should note that System Outages should not be reported via a Helpdesk request alone. A Helpdesk request should only be used as a follow up where a voicemail has been left and should use the subject detailed above to ensure prompt attention. Hancock Software Customer Support cannot guarantee to respond promptly if these procedures are not followed correctly.

If Hancock Software Customer Support has not responded to a voicemail and/or Helpdesk request within 30 minutes during core business hours or 12 hours outside of core business hours, customers should proceed to the escalation procedures detailed below.

4. Service Levels & Escalation

In order to ensure the highest levels of customer satisfaction, Hancock Software Support has established Helpdesk request service levels, against which the entire Hancock Software organization is held accountable. Service level commitments are tied to request priorities and if any service levels are not being met, an escalation path is available for our customers.

4.1 Service Levels by Priority

Below outlines the Hancock Software Support response and resolution times by request priority, as well as the strategy for deployment of fixes where applicable.

Support Desk Request Priority	Response Times	Resolution Times	Resolution Definition	Deployment of Fixes (where applicable)
Priority 1	Within 30 minutes of the call being received during Core hours Summary progress bulletins will be issued every hour during Core Hours until resolution or until the call is downgraded (for example if the outage is determined to be caused by something outside of Hancock’s control, such as Internet connectivity).	Within 6 hours of being reported. Should an outage continue beyond 6 hours, customers will be advised of the progress and potential process changes required until systems are operational.	System operational.
Priority 2	Within one hour of the request being received during Core Hours Core	Within one week.	The defect issue without a workaround being replicated in QA and passed to Development to be fixed.	Patch deployment will occur as follows unless otherwise negotiated. Fixes for P2 defects will be evaluated for an emergency patch deployment.
Priority 3	Within one day of the request being received during Core hours	Within one month.	An answer or workaround to the customer issue and in the event of a software defect, the defect issue being replicated in QA and passed to Development to be fixed.	Fixes for P3 defects will be evaluated for the following release deployment.
Priority 4	Within one day of the request being received during Core hours and within the first day of Core hours if the request is received outside Core hours	Within one month.	An answer or in the case of a misdirected inquiry/question appropriate re-direction of the customer inquiry.
Priority 5	Within one day of the request being received during Core hours and within the first day of Core hours if the request is received outside Core hours. Hancock Support will provide in the response an indication that the request should be submitted as a feature request or billable service. In the event that a Priority 5 request results in the production of a Work Order, the timescales applicable will be as per the Work Order. Where a Work Order results in chargeable work, this will be agreed upon with the customer.	Based on a Work Order	Review and re-direction of the customer inquiry to the primary customer contact.

4.2 Summary

The following summarizes the priorities, target response and resolution times and escalation triggers.

Call Priority	Target Response	Resolution	Escalation
1	30 Minutes	6 Hours	Call not closed or downgraded within 4 hours of response
2	1 Working Hour	1 Week	Call not resolved as defined above within one week.
3, 4 & 5	1 Working Day	1 Month	Call not resolved as defined above within one month.
5	1 Working Day	Based on a Work Order	Call not resolved after date published on Work Order

5. Reports

The Hancock Software Customer Support Team runs a daily review of all open calls to ensure that progress is made and the customer is updated. This report is reviewed by Hancock Software Management to determine whether escalation is required on behalf of the customer. Hancock Software Management also regularly meets with IT Services, Quality Assurance and Development to review the open issues and to resolve them as quickly as possible.

As a customer’s request progresses through to resolution, the Customer Support Team will notify the customer of any updates. At any time a customer can access the Helpdesk and review the status of their calls and or request updates on particular calls.