View Working with Veson Nautical documentation in the Help Center.
The below documents provides guidelines and details on the Veson Nautical Support Process by which Veson Support resources will perform their responsibilities to service our clients.
Accessing Help
It is preferred that a client follows these steps before sending an issue to Technical Solutions:
Search help articles and tutorials provided in the Veson Nautical Help Center. You can access the Help Center from the Veson IMOS Platform (VIP), IMOS, and Veslink Voyage Reporting.
Release Notes are published regularly to detail improvements being made to the product. You can review by a specific date range or product area to see what's being improved.
Verify the issue with your local Project Owner, System Admin, Business Process Owner (BPO), or Super User.
Reporting Issues
The Technical Solutions team will respond to support issues submitted through the Help Center. If a case requires escalation, Veson Nautical uses Atlassian Jira Service Desk as an issue tracking platform. During your implementation, our Project and Support Team personnel will provide introductory training on how to best interact through this issue tracking platform.
Using the Help Center
Veson Nautical offers a centralized Help Center, through which clients can self-service with help articles and tutorials or contact support. For more information, see Self-Service Help Center.
Using the Client Center
IMOS enterprise clients can log in to the Veson Nautical Client Center to access IMOS release, Distances release, and license file downloads. A reminder that all support issues and Knowledge Base materials are managed through the Help Center and not the Client Center.
Calling Veson Nautical Offices
As a full-service support team, our doors are always open. If necessary, a phone call may be required. Please note that this is a secondary method of contact due to the absence of a tracking number. If this method is used, the customer still needs to submit a ticket via the Help Center. It is preferred that the customer sends this notification to ensure we have all the issue details necessary from the business. This ensures accountability and a documented communication path.
Issue Details
It is essential that Software Support Analysts gather the proper information necessary to resolve a customer inquiry. Below outlines the suggested criteria that all customers should provide to reduce resolution time for a given issue:
Category: Support Inquiry, Defect
Priority: Select one of the following:
1-Critical: Application down or major defect affecting business and high number of users
2-High: Serious degradation of application performance or functionality with financial impact
3-Medium: Application defect with moderate impact to the business and workaround
4-Low: Minor defect, cosmetic or with limited business impact
Prod/Test: Production issues typically are higher impact than test
Version/Product: IMOS version where the issue exists or VIP
Frequency: How often does the issue occur? Does it occur across multiple scenarios? How many users does it affect?
Current Result: Briefly describe the issue and what the current result is.
Steps to Reproduce: Include the vessel/voyage, if possible, and a step-by-step list of how to reproduce the problem from your perspective.
Expected Result: In addition to steps to reproduce, how do you expect the product to behave?
Screenshots: The preferred method for sharing screenshots is to attach or copy/pasting images into the Help Center. Another method is to send a Microsoft Word or Excel document explaining the steps to reproduce the issue.
Special Instructions: Add any extra detail regarding the reported issue. Also, include any previous correspondence or discussions with another Veson Nautical employee (such as a consultant).
Processing & Resolving
Defects
Resource time for defects is not billable and falls under the maintenance agreement.
Priority 1: A Critical defect is an error that renders the software inoperative or causes such software to interrupt business processes. Such errors require immediate attention.
Priority 2: A High defect is an error that substantially degrades the software or restricts a customer's use of the software. Emergency fixes for such issues are released to the customer as soon as possible depending on the severity expressed by the customer. There is typically no reasonable workaround.
Priority 3: A Medium defect is an error that causes a minor impact on the customer's use of the software. A temporary workaround typically exists for a minor defect. Items are assigned for fixing in the next scheduled release and the client is notified.
Priority 4: A Low defect is something simple such as a spelling error or a field name change. These, like minor defects, do not need immediate fixes. Items are assigned for fixing in a future release and the client is notified.
A defect is assigned to Development only after being evaluated by Software Support Analysts. Priority is set initially by the client in the Help Center and further discussed between Technical Solutions and the client. Once a defect is fixed, the case is assigned to Quality Assurance for testing.
Release
Clients are notified of the fix when it is available through the corresponding support ticket.
IMOS: Clients can use the Client Center to download their maintenance release.
VIP: Clients using VIP will see the changes directly within the platform per our Continuous Release process. See more here regarding Veson Nautical Policies.
Support Inquiries
Resource time to examine Support Inquiries are typically not billable. If issues indicate material time to research and respond or the need for additional training or consulting, Technical Solutions will connect the Client with Professional Services and Account Management to discuss options for a Project Request or billable services engagement.
Support from a customer is regarding the general use of IMOS, Veslink, or other products. If an inquiry transforms into a defect or feature request then they are processed as such. If an inquiry is identified as an opportunity for larger training investment, then Veson will request permission to discuss it as a Project Request.
Suggestions
We greatly value and appreciate feedback from our community. Please add your suggestion to our Feature Board where your idea will be visible to the public community for voting and comments. Click here to access the Feature Board
While submission to the Feature Board does not guarantee or represent a delivery commitment, the Veson Product team reviews the most popular items on a regular basis. New features are selected and scheduled based on a number of factors, not just popularity. As we plan our investment in new functionality our Product Team evaluates requests against the following criteria - general applicability, size and complexity, and alignment with our existing strategy and roadmap.
Project Requests
A Project Request would include a scenario where a client has a desire to collaborate with Veson Nautical resources extensively. Or in the situation where Veson Support sees that the Client has a clear need for training or other services based in the content of tickets reported through the Help Center. This more robust collaboration requires additional requirements gathering and SME discussion. To discuss further reach out to your Account Manager.
Redesign of major workflow
New module or major functionality idea
Interest to start a collaborative project with Services (Project Management, Consulting) and Product (Design, Engineering)
Priority Setting
When the customer provides a suggested priority, the item is reviewed by Technical Solutions and priority set appropriately. Direct communication with the client ensures the expectations are correct. The below table provides common examples.
For more detailed information please review the Veson IMOS Platform Subscription and Services.
| Priority 1 (Critical)
| Priority 2 (High)
| Priority 3 (Medium)
| Priority 4 (Low)
|
Veson Targeted Resolution Time | 12 Hours | 30 Days | 120 Days | Future Release |
Priority 1 & 2 Defect Guidelines
To better assist priority setting through the Help Center please see the below examples. The importance of accurate priority setting is integral to efficient resolution of defects and Veson Nautical Support strongly asks that our clients exercise caution when generating Priority 1 or 2 tickets.
Priority | Priority 1 - Critical | Priority 2 - High |
Examples | Many, all users are not able to login and the platform has been slow throughout the work day. Messaging Service is failing for 24 hours impacting critical financial integration processes. End of month procedures are blocked with no workaround due to system crash in accrual generation and business is blocked across all departments until resolved. All users are receiving database errors when saving voyages and cannot proceed with updating operational data across Veslink or the Voyage Manager. | Performance of accrual generation or core financial reporting is degraded and is delaying our standard procedures across departments. The interfacing of important business data is failing and needs to be rectified within a few days or it will impact financial reporting. A database error occurs when attempting to generate an a substantial payment to counterparties. Bunker calculations are incorrect for more than one voyage leading to substantial profit and loss errors. Error in voyage estimation functionality that impacts integrity of calculations across all users. Platform performance is degraded intermittently for all users across core functions (lists, views, forms). |
Escalation Protocol
For Priority 1 issues we recommend the normal issue submission process is followed including additional priority information to help us better handle your escalation. During non-business hours, after you submit your issue we recommend calling our 24 Hr Support Line and noting that you have submitted a critical issue. Our 24 Hour Support Line will escalate your issue according to priority and provide direct phone access if necessary. If you call our regional offices, you will be routed through our automated escalation system.
24 Hour Support Line: +1.617.723.2727
Software Support Analysts are ready to assist. Please submit your issue via our Help Center and select the applicable priority.