Support and Installation Guidelines

Last updated: 23 November 2010

Contents

• Contents
• Overview
• Technical Support Issues
  • Before calling P Squared Checklist
  • If you need to contact P Squared
  • Support Costs
    • In Office Hours
    • Out of Office Hours
  • Contacting P Squared
  • Email addresses
  • Out Of Hours Support
• Site Visits and Installations
  • How much does it cost?
  • When will the engineers arrive, and how long will they stay?
  • What do you need to do when the engineers arrive?
  • What will you need to provide?
  • Anything Else?

Overview

This document explains the procedures you should follow when you need to resolve a Technical Support Issue with a P Squared product, and also outlines what you can expect from a P Squared Engineer during a visit to your premises.

Technical Support Issues

If you have a problem or query using any P Squared product, you should follow these steps in the following order to help you quickly resolve the issue. We have worked hard to ensure that you will often find the answers to most of the common questions on our website or in the relevant documentation.

Important: Please be aware that there is a difference between "Training" and "Support" - Support is provided to help you resolve problems and carry out essential preventative maintenance on your systems, whilst Training is "How do I..." type questions. You should contact your Account Manager to discuss any Training needs you may have.

Support Steps Checklist (before contacting P-Squared)

1. If the product comes with help files, check these first as they contain the ‘quick’ answers to most questions.
2. If the product comes with manuals (either printed or on disk), check these as they contain the most detailed information.
3. Contact your designated internal support person. All P Squared customers must nominate either a single person or a group of technical users on their own staff as their first port of call. This is usually an IT professional or Station Engineer.
4. The internal support person should check the website at www.psquared.net/support/ to see if the issue is covered in on-line technical support or Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) section of the Support Forums.
5. Consider posting the issue on the P Squared Discussion forum (http://forum.psquared.net/) and asking other users if they have experienced a similar issue and how they resolved it. We often find that other users are the best source for advice on “How To” matters as they may have faced the same questions and found novel solutions. 
6. If the problem remains unresolved, the internal support person should then contact P Squared themselves.

If you need to contact P Squared:

If you (as the internal support person) need to contact P Squared, make sure you have the following information ready:

1. Description - A concise description of the question, and in the case of a problem what you were doing before it happened: i.e. "I moved 3 carts from carts 1001,1002 and 1003 to 2001, 2003 and 2005 and now they won’t play in my Myriad Log”
2. Software Version - Name and exact version of the software – this can be found from the product's 'About' screen, often on a ‘Help’ menu. For instance the product may be ‘Myriad’ and the exact version number may be “v2.6.26”. If you don’t give us all three parts of the version number, (“2”, “6” and “26”) we may be unable to help you.
3. Environment - Which operating system you are running on – i.e. Windows 2000 Professional. You can usually click the ‘Start’ button and read the operating system name from the blue bar at the right hand side of the ‘Start Menu’. You can find full details of supported operating systems in the P Squared software Support Policy on the support website.
4. Hardware - What other hardware you have installed (i.e. Soundcard, Display or Video card, logic card etc.) For instance a typical machine may include an Echo Gina24, a Matrox G500 dual head card and a PCI1750 logic card. We may also ask you for the driver versions that you are running for each of these devices, though this is not always necessary.
5. Network Configuration - Whether your information is stored locally (on the computers hard disks) or on a network location (such as a file server or another computer)
6. License - The name that the software is licensed to (i.e. “My Station FM, Studio 1”). We will only provide support for registered users. You must also have completed, signed and returned the Contract that was sent to with your original license certificates. We will not provide support until this has been received by us.
7. Remote Access - In some cases it is often quicker if we can “dial in” to your system using a standard computer modem and resolve the issue remotely. If you have a modem or other permanent internet connection please ensure that is fully installed and configured, your modem is connected to a phone line and you have the correct telephone number. In some cases we are able to talk you through setting this up over the telephone prior to dialling in. We will pay for this call, but we are unable to dial “Premium” or “Special” rate telephone numbers.

It may sound obvious, but before contacting us you should check that the problem is definitely with either the P Squared product, or with other hardware or software supplied by us. Although we endeavour to be as helpful as possible, we cannot guarantee to provide support for other products installed on the computer, or for hardware that was not directly supplied by us. In the case of some non-P Squared software (such as Cool Edit, or WinDAC), if we are unable to resolve the issue, we may ask you to contact the appropriate company directly. Again, we will try to resolve the issue ourselves, but sometimes we simply have to bow to their greater product knowledge.

Technical Support Costs

In Office Hours Support

When you purchase a P Squared Product, it usually comes with a period of Bronze Technical Support as standard. This entitles you to unlimited Technical Support during our Published Office Hours via email or telephone for that period. Once this period expires you can either renew the Bronze contract for a small fee, or you will be automatically switched to "Per-Incident" support fees.

Per incident Support Fees are based on a customers business type - i.e. Commercial, Non-Profit, Educational etc. and you can find more details by emailing sales@psquared.net. They are also able to provide quotes for Bronze renewal as well.

Out of Hours Technical Support

Unless previously arranged with P Squared, we will invoice you for “Out of Hours Technical Support” to the amount of £125 (+ VAT where applicable). This covers you until midday for the same issue. I.e. if you call us at 8pm, you will receive up to 16 hours of technical support for that issue for one charge. Further non-related issues usually incur another support charge. Please ensure that you are authorised by your company to incur this charge before calling the Out Of Hours Support number as unfortunately we cannot be held responsible for costs incurred by un-authorised staff.

PLEASE NOTE: It is the job of the on call engineer to work with you to create a fix or work around for critical issues that are impacting directly on your broadcast service. The engineer will not be able to provide training on the software or hardware during these calls.

Contacting P Squared

If you have been unable to resolve the issue after following the above procedure, you can do so in several ways:

• If the question is not urgent, email it to support@psquared.net with the information above and it will be routed to several support engineers to allow for the fastest possible response. If you need to provide any follow up information, or to reply to an engineers email, make sure you include the previous email completely as it may be dealt with by a different engineer. Email support is only provided during normal office hours.
• During Office hours, call us on +(44)(0)1482 350700 and ask to speak to Technical Support.
• If you have a non urgent question out of hours and cannot email it, either fax all of the above information to +(44)(0)1482 350701 along with a description of the problem, or leave a message on the office answer phone +(44)(0)1482 350700 and we will call you back during the next working day.
• If you have a broadcast emergency out of hours, we do provide an emergency technical support number. Details of this are on the office answer phone – please see below for more information about this service.
• If you would like to visit us in person, please contact us in advance as we only provide a “by appointment” system. 

Important: The Contract or Purchase Order you signed when you originally purchased the software includes details of how long your 'Support Period' is. During this period all support calls and emails during office hours are free of charge. If your Support Period has elapsed, then you should contact your Account Manager for pricing information for extending your Support Period, or for information about the costs for "Per Incident" Support.

Our support engineers are directly employed by P Squared to help you. We do not use outsourced Support Centres, temporary contract staff or other third party agencies so you can always be assured that you are dealing with the people that know the product best. We have also selected several key users from within our customer base that we may also recommend speaking to as they often have experience of using our products in more novel ways than we originally envisaged. Remember though that although we recommend them, we do not endorse their advice, or offer any guarantees on any solutions that they may provide.

We operate a two-tier system of support. A fully trained Engineer who is able to answer most queries immediately will handle your initial call. If the Engineer is unable to resolve the issue, they will move the query on to the second level of in depth support, which also includes the developers of the product. We are almost unique in providing this ability to talk directly to the software authors – who have the best knowledge of our products in the world. These engineers are often extremely busy, so we may ask for a number to call you back on as soon as possible.

We expect our engineers to be courteous and polite at all times, and if you feel an engineer has let us down, please let us know. Likewise, we ask that you also be polite in dealing with us - we understand that it can be very stressful dealing with unexpected issues at inconvenient times, but our engineers are under strict instructions to terminate any calls that are abusive or threatening. They are never reprimanded for doing so.

Our engineers are also unable to authorise any refund or other remuneration. If you feel that this is something you wish to discuss, please contact your Sales Account Manager who will be happy to go over this with you once they have been made aware of the situation.

Email Addresses:

• If you have a sales query and cannot contact your Account Manager, please email sales@psquared.net
• If you want to report a problem, or ask a technical question email support@psquared.net. You should always use this email address which is routed to the whole support team rather than individual engineers.
• If you need a new license code email licenses@psquared.net giving your current Licensee Name and a contact number
• For all other questions, email info@psquared.net and your email will be routed to the correct person.

Out of hours support

If you have a broadcast emergency, you can page the on-call engineer and they will return your call as soon as possible. Contact details are on the office answer phone. Do not leave a message if you do not want to have your call returned. Non-emergency messages should be left on the normal answer phone, or emailed to us as above.
 
The following terms and conditions apply:

• All of the information above must have been collected together when you make the call.
• You must be able to be in front of the system when we return the call.

• You must be authorised by your organisation to incur the Out Of Hours charges shown above.

• You must leave a contact telephone number that you can be reached on. We will not return calls otherwise. This number must be either a ‘landline’ or a mobile number. We will not return calls to “Premium” or “Special” rate telephone numbers.
• Our engineers will not give out any other numbers for you to reach them on. This includes home, personal mobile or business mobile numbers. You must make each call through the supplied number. You will only be charged once per issue until midday as explained above regardless of how many messages you leave.
• This service is not guaranteed. Although we make every effort to provide this service 365 days a year, if the engineer is already dealing with an issue and cannot arrange another engineer to call you back, or other unforeseen circumstances arise we may be unable to return your call promptly. If we are unable to return your call at all, or cannot reach you then we will not charge you for your call, but also we will not provide any form of remuneration to yourselves unless by separate arrangement with P Squared.
• We will make every effort to resolve the problem, and will usually try several solutions, but in some cases it is not possible to fully rectify the issue. In this case we may still charge you for the call.
• For some problems the engineer may only be able to rectify the issue by dialling in or otherwise remote controlling your system – please see the notes above about remote access.

Site Visits and Installations

Unless separately agreed, if you would like a site visit either for installation, support or additional training please be aware of the following:

How much does it cost?

• We will mutually agree in advance how many engineers should be se sent to your site as each engineer is charged for separately. There is a surcharge for out of hours visits and you can get pricing information from your Sales Account Manager or by emailing sales@psquared.net
• We will invoice you for all charges incurred travelling to your site from our registered office, and whilst on or around your site. Our mileage charge is £0.50 per mile +VAT. This also applies to any other costs such as train tickets etc. We will normally notify you of the estimated cost beforehand based on expected mileage. In the event of any extra-ordinary charges, these will be charged in a follow up invoice. If we have sent two or more engineers, they will wherever possible share transport to reduce costs.
• We will also charge you for any hotel room charges incurred in the course of the visit. Engineers usually stay at a Premier Lodge or similar as a company policy. If we have sent two or more engineers to you, they will be booked into separate hotel rooms, which you will be charged for.
• We will not expect you to cover the cost of any food or drink consumed by the Engineers during the visit.

When will the engineers arrive and how long will they stay?

• The time taken to travel to/from your site is split equally between your time and ours. Therefore, we may travel to your site during your time, but then return in our time or vice-versa. If you want to discuss this further, please ask your Account Manager.
• Once on-site, if you would like to book the Engineers for another period either immediately after the current one, or in the future, you must discuss this with your Account Manager who will make the appropriate arrangements.
• We define a 'Day' as being 8 hours including a 30 minute break, but the engineer may work an additional 2 hours at their discretion, but on no more than 2 consecutive days.
• P Squared do not expect Engineers to work outside of the agreed hours, but the Engineers may personally agree to stay longer, which is a private matter between yourself and the Engineers. They are never reprimanded for leaving a site “on-time”.
• If the Engineers are unable to keep an appointment with you, we will let you know as soon as possible, and will arrange another mutually convenient time. Unfortunately we cannot offer any remuneration for delaying visits.

What do you need to do when the Engineers arrive?

• When arriving on site, please inform the Engineers of any special Health and Safety requirements and Fire Regulations and procedures. 
• If you have any special requirements, please contact us in advance. You are responsible for providing any special footwear or clothing required for access to your site.
• The Engineers are expected to arrive well presented in suitable clean smart clothing and footwear. This does include smart jeans, “combat trousers” or similar as the job may include kneeling or crawling.
• During the visit, please ensure that normal ‘amenities’ are available such as drinking water and toilet facilities.
• If you are in a secure building, please provide any access cards or devices necessary, or a means to contact a person who has these.

What will you need to provide?

• The Engineers will arrive with tools suitable for the job, however you may have some equipment that requires tools that we do not carry. If this may be the case, please let us know in advance or arrange to have such tools on site that we can use.
• Due to Insurance and Health and Safety reasons we are unable to drill, cut holes or otherwise alter walls, ceilings, floors and any other parts of the structure of your buildings. Therefore you must ensure that any holes needed to pass cables through are already in place prior to the visit, or can be cut by yourselves or other agents once the Engineers are on site. If the site is not ready when we arrive and later find that we cannot finish the job and have to return another day, this will incur further charges.

• You should also ensure that the area the engineers will be working in and the access to those areas is as clean and dust free as possible. Dirt and dust cause significant damage to computer components and will dramatically reduce the time until the components fail. In such cases we are unable to provide warranty repairs or replacements and the visiting engineer will warn of this accordingly on arrival giving you the opportunity to reschedule for another time. This rescheduled visit may incur further charges.

Anything else?

• Other than parts swapped out under warranty, any parts used during the site visit will be invoiced to you afterwards. Before using these parts, we will discuss this with you to ensure you are happy to go ahead. We may have to consult with your Account Manager and we will then give you a firm cost for the items. Please ensure that you have permission to authorise these parts before agreeing to their purchase.
• Most of the Engineers vehicles are their personal vehicles and are not covered by a company car policy, therefore if you need one engineer to visit another site, you may need to arrange alternate transportation at your cost.