Software Support Lifecycle Policy

Overview

Phoenix Software supports product releases in various ways. We have a support team available to help active customers with how-to questions and to help analyze and diagnose customer-reported problems using remote screen sharing as well as analysis of system-captured diagnostic information such as dumps, traces, etc. Our support portal provides a library of downloadable fixes to already-solved code defects, access to current documentation for all products and back-release documentation for many products.

When does my release reach End of Life (EOL)/End of Support (EOS)?

At Phoenix Software, we avoid the terms “End of Life” and “End of Support” because our focus is on supporting our customers not just our products. If you are an active customer with Phoenix Software we offer all the support options mentioned above and you can contact our support team for help no matter what release you are currently running.

What if I encounter a bug?

Please report any perceived software code defect or anomaly (a “bug”) to our technical support team using our secure support portal. The handling of that report and which release(s) are eligible to receive the correction depends upon which support tier the product release is currently assigned. See the table at the end of this page for a complete description of our three product support tiers.

How can I contact technical support?

Support is available via:

Support status definitions

Every official (non-beta) release of a product is assigned to one of the three support tiers described in the table below. The current release is always assigned to the Full support tier. Prior releases may be assigned to the Full, Limited, or End of Service tier. The policy governing support tier assignments for back releases will vary by product.

Support Type

Description

Full
  • PSI provides patches, hot fixes, or workarounds to enable the product to operate in substantial conformity with its then-current operating documentation.
  • Customers might need to apply small programming enhancements (SPEs) and patches to maintain full support.
Limited
  • New enhancements will not be made to the version or release.
  • Customer Support will direct customers to existing fixes, patches, or workarounds applicable to the reported case.
  • PSI will develop new hot fixes for problems of high technical impact or business exposure for customers. With customer input, PSI will determine the degree of impact and exposure and the consequent activities.
  • Customer Support will direct customers to upgrade to a more current version or release of the product.
  • Research and Development will be engaged on critical cases only and on a limited basis for problem identification.
End of Service
  • Five years of access to technical resources such as online documentation, knowledge base / problem text search, fixes and patches, known resolutions or workarounds, support communities, etc. as applicable.
  • No new sustaining maintenance releases, enhancements, patches, or hot fixes will be made.
  • Customer Support will direct customers to upgrade to a more current version or release of the product.
  • Product upgrade advice is available from Customer Support during normal business hours Monday through Friday.