Software Support and Maintenance Programme

Introduction

Welcome to Axient’s Software Support and Maintenance Programme for your Open Text RightFax, StreamServe and Alchemy product.

About Axient

Axient is the only Value-Added Reseller authorised by Open Text in Australia and New Zealand to directly provide level 1 to 3 Support. Axient has achieved the highest level of technical, pre-sales and sales certification and have gained a wealth of experience over the past 17 years. We operate the only Australian based support team for your Open Text product.

Axient Support Programme Options

Axient provides the following options to customers:

  • Axient Software Support and Maintenance Programme
    • Unlimited number of Support Request submissions
    • Australian based Support team o Software updates are made available to you as part of your plan to ensure your product is current version
    • Support Services are available Monday through Friday 8:30am until 5:00pm within your time zone excluding National Australian and New Zealand public holiday
  • Axient 24 x 7 Support Programme 
    • 24 Hour x 7 Day support for critical issues related to the Covered Software in your production environment

When a customer initiates a critical Support Request, an Axient Solutions Specialist will respond within one (1) hour

    • They will troubleshoot the issue, providing a solution or recommended workaround to be implemented by the customer team.
    • Axient’s Solution Specialists will be on call and available until the production service is restored or a Workaround agreed upon.
  • Axient Managed Services (quoted separately)

Axient will tailor this to your requirements

All support programmes are for a minimum 12 month period

Point(s) of Contact

Support Services are provided to your Point of Contacts (POC). The POCs must have knowledge of, and the administrator permissions for, the Covered Software sufficient to provide Axient Support with the information, and undertake actions required to achieve a resolution of the SR (Support Request). POCs are generally the administrators and other members of your technical staff.

Supported Versions

You are encouraged to run the most recent version of the Covered Software. Axient will support each major/minor version of the Covered Software for a period of, in most instances*, sixty (60) months after the major/minor version release is generally made available to customers (Current Maintenance). After the expiration of the Current Maintenance term, the Product enters the Sustaining Maintenance phase of the product lifecycle. When a product is considered to be in Sustaining Maintenance, no new Services Packs and Patches are released for general use. Errors and enhancement requests may still be reported. Migration to a Current Maintenance version may be required in order to address an issue. If you are unable to upgrade to a version under Current Maintenance, Axient may offer extended support options at an additional cost.

* The length of term of the Product Support Lifecycle may vary depending on the product and version.

Initiation of a Support Request

Support Services provided under the Axient Support and Maintenance Programme are to address incidents reported by customers associated with performance or usage issues. Performance and usage issues are situations where the Covered Software is not performing substantially in accordance with the Product Documentation.

Generally speaking, performance and usage issues may be caused by:

  1. Software Error or defect (related to the design, coding or architecture of the Covered Software),
  2. Usage or configuration Error (related to usage of the Covered Software or the installation, configuration or setup of the Covered Software), or
  3. Environmental Error (related to the customer’s network, hardware and operating systems)

Service Requests for Support Services to address any issues should be initiated by a POC. Axient Technical Support is contactable by either email or phone.

Email: Support@axient.com.au or Support@axient.co.nz

Phone: 1300 850 945 (within Australia) 0800 898 881 (within New Zealand) +61 2 8338 3440 (International)

Your obligations are to provide the Axient Support team with the information it reasonably needs to classify and log the Service Request (see Support Request Classification section).

Support Request Classification

Each Service Request will be classified by Axient Support as follows:

(a) Critical – a Service Request will be classified as critical if the performance issue reported causes the Covered Software to be functionally inoperable and prevents the Covered Software from being used in Production Mode.

(b) Serious – a Service Request will be classified as serious if the performance issue reported significantly degrades the performance of the Covered Software or materially restricts your use of the Covered Software in a Production Mode. The Serious classification does not include questions on end use and configuration of the Covered Software.

(c) Normal – a Service Request will be classified as normal if the performance issue reported is a question regarding end use, configuration of the Covered software or a minor defect in the Covered Software which does not materially restrict your use of the Covered Software in Production mode.

As a rule, a Service Request for a non-production system is classified at one level below that of an identical Service Request for a production system.

Response Times

Axient will acknowledge receipt of the Service Request, allocate a Support ticket and commence working on resolution of the incident with the following timeframes:

  • Service Request classified as Critical – 1 hour
  • Service Request classified as Serious – 2 hours
  • Service Request classified as Normal – 4 hours

Response times are targets and cannot be guaranteed in all circumstances by Axient.

Resolution of Support Request

Axient Support shall attempt to address each Service Request, regardless of classification, through the offering of technical advice, by locating an existing workaround or by creating a new workaround using the process described below. In the event of an outage, and depending on the cause and duration of the outage, Axient may require the customer to restore from backup in order to return the system to a production state.

Once production service is restored, the Service Request classification is downgraded and root cause analysis may continue, as requested, during regular regional support hours of operation.

Any software and/or hardware provided by and installed by Axient and as agreed to by the customer to assist with the delivery of the Support Services and not purchased by the customer must be removed and returned to Axient upon termination of the program or related delivery component.

Resolution of Critical Service Requests For Service Requests classified by Axient as critical which have been caused by defects in the Covered Software, if the technical advice provided by Axient Support has not resolved the Service Request, and if no workaround can be found or created to resolve the Service Request, Axient will escalate this to Open Text Support who will use commercially reasonable efforts to develop a Product Patch to address the Service Request. If the Product Patch is to be distributed to all customers, distribution of this Product Patch will be carried out through the next scheduled Product Patch release or Service Pack version release.

Conditions of a Support Request Resolution

Axient will have no obligation to provide a resolution for your Service Request as described above unless:

  • You have installed and implemented all of the most recently available relevant updates, including the Product Patches, Service Packs, or any other Updates or you do so at the request of Axient Support. Axient Support will make that request if it reasonably believes that the installation and implementation is necessary to achieve resolution of your Service Request; AND
  • You are using the Covered Software on hardware and with third party software as specified in the product documentation; AND
  • The Service Request has, as determined by Axient, not been caused by:

(a) you, including, but not limited to your use of development tools;

(b) a third party; or

(c) the operating environment

in which the Covered Software is implemented, including, among other things, the operating system, database, other applications or programs, communication networks, or hardware;

AND, Your POC is available to actively participate with Axient on diagnosis, testing, and resolution. Axient reserves the right to suspend its obligations under this Programme during any time(s) in which a competent POC is unavailable for such participation;

AND, Your POC has received Axient required training within a reasonable amount of time of installation date (fees for such training are not covered by the Axient Support and Maintenance Program);

AND, You have provided Axient with all of the information necessary to allow Axient to reproduce the Service Request; AND, If required, you provide remote access to Axient for the system for which the SR has been requested. Such remote access will only be used within the context of troubleshooting.

Limitations

  • The Axient Support and Maintenance Programme only applies to the Covered Software and does not apply to any modifications, deliverables, or services provided by Axient’s Professional Services staff or by third party resources which results in the alteration or extension of the Covered Software. Customers may engage Axient’s Professional Services for fee-based assistance under separate agreement.
  • The Axient Support and Software Maintenance Programme does not provide for assistance with issues encountered as a result of implementing major changes to the technical architecture of the Covered Software (for example, upgrades to the application, underlying database, addition of new hardware, etc.). Customers may engage Axient’s Professional Services for fee-based assistance under separate agreement.

Software Updates

Software Updates will be made available to you at no additional charge. Software Updates include new versions of the Covered Software and Product Patches. You acknowledge that to receive such Updates, you must be subscribed to the Axient Support and Maintenance Programme at the time of release and request.

Term and Renewal

Initial Term and Renewal

The initial term for the Software Support and Maintenance Program is twelve months beginning on the date the Covered Software is delivered by Axient to you which may be accomplished by making the Covered Software available to you by electronic download.

Unless either party provides 90 days written notice prior to the expiration of the current term, the Support and Maintenance Programme will automatically renew for a further 12 month term, commencing on the anniversary of the start date and thereafter will continue to renew for successive annual terms beginning on each anniversary of the start Date unless either party provides 90 days’ written notice prior to the expiration of the then-current Term. Before the commencement of a new 12 month term, you will be obligated to pay the applicable entire annual Axient Support and Maintenance Programme fee with respect to the Covered Software which you have licensed. Failing to make payment prior to the covered period may result in Axient suspending the Support and Maintenance Program services until payment has been received. A late renewal fee may be applied if it is passed on from the software Vendor.

Axient may increase the annual fee for subsequent terms of software maintenance by no more than 10% of the price of the previous term. All fees paid for the Axient Support and Maintenance Programme are non-refundable.

Reductions

All requests to renew the Axient Support and Maintenance Program on a fewer number of licenses or modules for software than is currently covered under maintenance and support must be submitted in writing to Axient no less than 90 days prior to the expiration of the then current term. Acceptance of any requests to align fees for the remaining software is at the software vendor’s sole discretion.

Lapse and Reinstatement

If you do not renew a Term of the Axient Support and Maintenance Programme for the Covered Software, you may, upon agreement by the Vendor, subsequently purchase the Axient Support and Maintenance Program services for said Covered Software for a fee to be determined at the time of request. However, in addition to the fee for the new Term, which shall be a minimum of 12 months, you will need to pay the fees that would have been payable had you continued the Support and Maintenance Program uninterrupted.

The fees charged to re-instate the Axient Support and Maintenance Programme are subject to a surcharge for each lapsed month, including the month of reinstatement. Future reinstatement of software removed as a part of a reduction is subject to payment of back-maintenance fees and lapsed month surcharges. Axient will confirm fees for reinstatement at the time the request is made for reinstatement.

Expiration

Upon expiration of the term of the Axient Support and Maintenance Programme, you acknowledge and agree that any and all agreements between you and Axient related to the Axient Support and Maintenance Programme shall automatically terminate. Should you at any point in time after Expiration choose to subscribe again to an Axient Support and Maintenance Programme, you will do so under the then current Axient Support and Maintenance Programme commercial and support services delivery terms.

Discrepancy

In the event of a discrepancy between the terms in this Programme and the terms of either a negotiated and signed license agreement or a separate maintenance and support agreement between you and Axient, the terms of such negotiated, the signed agreement shall govern.

Privacy

Any personal information which is disclosed to Axient in the course of providing the services shall be handled in accordance with the Axient Privacy Policy.

You acknowledge that you have read, understood and agree to the terms of Axient’s Privacy Policy, as amended from time to time.

Current as at 30th May 2018 2018