Bitdefender will provide 2nd and 3rd-level support, and Deliverables to Partner, who is responsible for training and maintaining trained personnel for Tier 1 support for proper problem resolution practices before escalating trouble tickets to Bitdefender.
Training and documentation:
Bitdefender will provide in the induction phase training in English through an online webinar for the partner’s Customer Care Trainer/ Lead. At the end of the induction phase, Bitdefender will provide written documentation and a library that contains solutions for commonly reported issues, in English.
When new product versions are released for the Partner, a complementary Training session may be organized, and Bitdefender will provide the updated documentation. Bitdefender may organize the follow-ups of the incidents with the Partner Technical Support Correspondent through online webinars. The frequency will be agreed upon by the Parties in accordance with the business needs.
Support shall be initiated by the Partner communicating a problem regarding the Bitdefender Technology (a “Problem”). Such a Problem report shall be submitted to Bitdefender by sending an email to a Bitdefender-supplied Partner support email, in English ([email protected]) address which is connected to a ticket reporting system. Translation is possible through dedicated programs for both parties involved.
A Problem report shall include at least the following information:
- Product: In which Partner Product did you find the Problem?
- Version: In which Bitdefender Technology version did you find the Problem?
- Settings and configurations being used for Partner Product.
- Appropriate error logs, reports, and possible debugging dumps.
- Platform: On which hardware platform did you find this Problem (e.g. x86, x86_64, PowerPC).
- OS: On which Operating System (OS) did you find this Problem (e.g. Windows 10, Mac OS X 10.11, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1)?
- Steps to Reproduce and Reproduction material: The minimal set of steps and materials (problematic files, susceptible updates, test case reproduction software, etc.) necessary to trigger the bug. Include any special setup steps. Steps to reproduce will be provided whenever possible, and the Partner understands the bug may not be fixable without steps to reproduce.
- Actual Results: What the application did after performing the above steps.
- Expected Results: What the application should have done, were the bug not present (unless obvious).
- Additional Information: Any other information that is essentially required to reproduce and investigate the Problem, or that may be reasonably requested by Bitdefender.
- Partner’s Suggested Severity Level: – as designated by the definitions below.
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- “Severity 1” means an error in Bitdefender Technology that: (1) renders End Users copy of the Partner’s Product inoperative, or (2) causes the Partner Product to fail catastrophically (system down condition) in the End User’s environment and for both situations stated affects minimum two percent (2%) of Partner’s user base or more than 5,000 of Partner end-users.
- “Severity 2” means 1) a high-impact error in the Bitdefender Technology that materially restricts the use or performance of the Partner Product by End Users or 2) a problem that significantly impacts End Users’ ability to perform tasks, the severity of which is significant and may be repetitive in nature and has an impact on the timely performance of tasks and for both situations stated affects minimum one percent (1%) of Partner’s user base or more than 5,000 of OEM end-users.
- “Severity 3” means an error in the Bitdefender Technology that causes a minor impact on the use of the Partner Product.
- “Severity 4” means a question about the Bitdefender Technology use or implementation or a feature request.
Bitdefender shall give the Partner at least six (6) months’ notice that it is discontinuing support for any version of the Bitdefender Technology. Notwithstanding the foregoing, support is provided for the then-current release of the Bitdefender Technology and the immediately prior sequential release for a period of at least twelve (12) months from the date of the current release.
The following are excluded from Bitdefender’s Support:
(a) where the Bitdefender Technology is used on or in conjunction with hardware or software other than as specified in the Bitdefender documentation;
(b) any problems arising from non-Bitdefender code (such as Partner’s code);
(c) defects in the Bitdefender Technology due to accident, hardware malfunction, abuse or improper use;
(d) any version of the Bitdefender Technology for which Support has been discontinued by Bitdefender;
(e) evaluation software or other software provided at no charge; and
(f) any software provided separately by Bitdefender, including, without limitation, code delivered to Partner as a result of any professional services rendered to Partner.
Upon evaluation of a Problem report by Bitdefender and after determining that a defect exists in the Bitdefender Technology, the appropriate Severity Level will be assigned by Bitdefender. Bitdefender shall then provide Tier 3 support to Partner solely for the Bitdefender Technology during the hours and substantially in accordance with the procedures described below. Bitdefender shall respond to Partner’s requests for Tier 3 support by email, facsimile, and/or online service (if available). In connection with such service, Bitdefender shall use reasonable efforts to acknowledge/respond to Partner requests for support service within the following response times:
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- Severity 1 — 6 business hours
- Severity 2 — 12 business hours
- Severity 3 — 3 business days
- Severity 4 — 5 business days
Business days exclude all public holidays in Romania and Partner’s country.
Support Tiers:
- “Tier 1 Support” means entering data into the case log describing the problem, assigning a severity to the case, providing a resolution, and, based on feedback, “closing” the case. A resolution consists generally of one of the following: an answer to a question, a suggestion of how to accomplish a particular task, or a workaround to a program issue. For those Problems not solved by Tier 1 Support, the Problem then progresses to Tier 2 Support.
- “Tier 2 Support” means following up by answering questions, reporting the status of a pending issue, updating expectations, or obtaining more information about a pending issue; attempting to provide workarounds to address the Problem within the time limits set forth above; in situations where a program is not operating as documented, reporting the Problem to the applicable party’s quality assurance organization and escalating unresolved support requests to Tier 3 and working closely with Tier 3 personnel to analyze, understand and resolve difficult issues; verifying that a pending issue can be “closed” when a satisfactory resolution has been provided to customer. For those Problems not solved by Tier 2 Support, the Problem then progresses to Tier 3 Support.
- “Tier 3 Support” means efforts exerted in an extreme case where no workaround is available, the Partner support request is based on a mission-critical issue and the Problem results from a defect in the program. Tier 3 Support may include providing a program patch to resolve a Problem.
Support Services shall at no time include any provision of support services to any End User by Bitdefender unless specifically agreed in writing between the Bitdefender and Partner.