SmartStar® Software, LLC.

Problem Processing

Problem Resolution

Escalation Procedure

Enhancement Requests

Problem Processing

B2Systems, Inc. customers are provided with a variety of telephone support services as part of a new product warranty or annual maintenance contract. The designated customer representative may call B2Systems, Inc. for the following purposes:

• To obtain answers on a B2Systems Products ability to perform a specific task.
• To report an apparent documentation inadequacy or product problem.
• To access our 24 hour on-line Internet web site.

Telephone support is available Monday - Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PST. On each call, you will be asked to provide your customer identification number (LIFNO). Only one support contact is authorized for each maintenance contract. If you are not listed as the authorized contact, you will be referred to the contact at your location who is authorized. Requests to change the authorized contact must be made in writing. If your support contract has expired, you will immediately be referred to your sales representative for resolution. Support contracts not reinstated within 60 days of expiration will not be renewed and a new license will need to be purchased.

When a call is placed to B2Systems Technical Support and Support Representatives are not available, you may leave a message with the operator or in the B2Systems support voice mail box. Once connected to the Support Representative, every effort will be made to resolve your incident as quickly as possible. If not solved immediately, a Problem IDentification number (PID) will be assigned for future reference.

Optionally, requests for support may be forwarded electronically via e-mail to support@b2systems.com. Email requests should include your customer number and a phone number.

When a problem is reported and a PID number is assigned, it is still under investigation by technical support and not yet recognized as a product malfunction. If a customer believes a situation may be a malfunction with either the software or the documentation, they will need to specify the exact circumstances in which the problem occurs. When a problem cannot be reproduced by B2Systems, customers must provide a reproducible test case. Test cases can be transmitted to support by Internet, magnetic media, or via fax for easy to recreate problems.

Once a product malfunction is reproduced, the issue will be entered into the TEARS (Technical Evaluation and Analysis Reporting System) database which serves to turn the problem over to development for resolution. Customers may obtain the TEAR number from the Support Representative. This number will be required in order to obtain further information as to the status or resolution of each product malfunction. At this point the PID is closed in the Support database.

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Resolution

A variety of resolutions may occur when working with your Support Representative:

• The question is immediately resolved. No further action is taken and no PID is given.
• You propose a future product enhancement or report a documentation discrepancy. The item will be logged into the on-line tracking system, and a TEAR number will be provided.
• The problem has to be researched. A PID number is assigned and the problem is logged into the tracking system as OPEN. After the problem has been resolved and you've been called back, the item is CLOSED (but retained in the system).

If the reported problem is a product malfunction, it is assigned one of four priority levels in the TEARS database.

1. Critical level problems cause a production system to abort or corrupt data. If no reasonable work-around exists, a patch may be produced. This situation is rare. When a reasonable work-around is provided the TEAR will be down-graded to a lower priority. If a patch is not necessary, the Critical priority problem will normally be fixed in the next maintenance release. Patches will also be placed in the next maintenance release.
2. High level problems render a feature inoperable without a work-around. They do not cause the production system to be inoperative. High priority problems will normally be fixed in the next maintenance release.
3. Medium level problems have work-arounds. These problems may be fixed in a future release. Medium level problems are normally fixed in the next feature release.
4. Low level problems are either:
   • problems with little impact on the application program
   • suggestions or
   • documentation errors

   Low level problems may be addressed in a future release.

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Escalation Procedure

If you wish a higher priority to be assigned to a Technical Support problem or a TEAR, ask your Support Representative to have the problem escalated. Your Support Representative will alert the Technical Support Manager, who will then become involved. Concurrently, your original Support Representative will devote attention to the situation until it is resolved. Whatever additional resources are required will be assigned to the investigation, including Product Development. The problem will remain at the escalated level until you are satisfied.

Enhancement Requests

B2Systems, Inc. has ongoing development programs to enhance the B2 product lines in response to customer requests and changing market requirements, while continually improving performance and reliability. Please send suggestions to the Director of Support (support@b2systems.com). Customer suggestions are compiled and summarized, with priorities set by a customer survey. The results are made available to all customers.

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