Technical support terms of Fast Reports Inc.
1. General information.
This document describes the processes that ensure the FastReport software life cycle during the annual subscription period, including troubleshooting issues that occurred during the operation of the software, software improvement, technical support procedure, terms, levels of technical support, and the grounds for refusal of technical support.
2. Terms and abbreviations.
Term | Description |
Program (software) | Software developed by Fast Reports Inc. |
Developer |
Fast Reports Inc. |
User | An individual or legal entity using the Program under a license agreement with the Developer |
Technical support programmer | A specialist at Fast Reports Inc. competent enough to provide technical support |
Website | |
Incident Report (Ticket) | A formalized written request about a problem that occurred while using the Developer Program |
3. Types of technical support.
3.1 Standard technical support includes:
1. Assistance in installing the Program;
2. Assistance in troubleshooting the Program;
3. Consultations on the work of the Program;
4. Collection of information about the incorrect operation of the Program for its upgraded release according to the improvement plan;
5. Informing the User about Program updates.
3.2 Extended technical support may include:
1. Assistance in the integration of the Program.
2. Unscheduled addition of the Program functions.
3. Assistance in the development of report templates.
4. Assistance in training Program Users.
3.2.1 Extended technical support services are provided on a contractual basis, depending on the requirements of the User and the capabilities of the Developer.
4. Right to technical support.
4.1 Categories of Users with the right to standard technical support:
1. Users of an active (valid) subscription to the Program license.
2. Users of non-activated subscriptions to the Program license (problems with subscription activation).
3. Users of the trial version of the Program.
4. Users of the demo version of the Program.
4.2 Technical support is not provided to the following categories of Users:
1. Users with an expired Program license subscription.
2. Owners of Programs of another company with a built-in Developer's Program; their requests are handled by the company that developed this Program.
3. The requests of FastReport Open Source users are handled through Issues at https://github.com/FastReports/FastReport/issues.
4. Users with licenses that have been suspended for violating the license agreement.
5. Maintaining the life cycle of the Program.
5.1 The life cycle of the Program includes the following stages:
5.1.1 Design and development of the Program by the Developer;
5.1.2 Testing and troubleshooting of the Program by the Developer;
5.1.3 Installation, use, and update of the Program by the User under the license agreement with the Developer;
5.1.4 Upgrade of the program by the Developer according to its plan of improvements and refinements and by requests of the User;
5.1.5 Technical support of the User by the Developer regarding the installation, integration, and operation of the Program;
5.1.6 Release by the Developer of updated Program setups.
5.2 The Developer regulates all stages of the Program life cycle, except for installation, integration, and use of the Program by the User.
6. Troubleshooting issues that occurred during the operation of the Program.
6.1 Issues that occurred during the operation of the Program can be managed in the following ways:
1. Making corrections to the Program code by the Developer according to its plan of improvements and refinements;
2. Making corrections to the Program code at the request of the User;
3. Changing the ways of using or integrating the Program into the User's solutions to bring the Program in line with the conditions recommended by the Developer.
6.2 The User can generate the following requests:
1. An incident report using graphics, log files, information about the software environment, and version numbers of the used software, including the version and edition of the Program. The request must also specify the information about the expected and ongoing behavior of the Program and any other information that will help the Developer diagnose and troubleshoot the Program;
2. Request for the follow-on revision of the Program to change its behavior to achieve the desired results in the User's solutions;
3. Request information about the work and capabilities of the Program.
6.3 The User may send Requests via email to support@fast-report.com, through the contact form on the site from the client panel https://cpanel.fast-report.com/, through the online chat at https://www.fast-report.com/, or by phone 800-985-8986.
6.3.1 The Developer accepts and records all User requests. Each request is assigned a unique number for tracking the chat history between the User and the Developer.
6.3.2 The Developer informs the User about the changes to the Program code or about adding an upgrade task to the development plan.
6.3.3 The Developer reserves the right to request additional information for troubleshooting.
6.3.4. If the User does not provide or provide insufficient information required by the Developer, the latter has the right to suspend required changes to the Program code.
7. Improvement of the Program.
7.1 We continuously improve and upgrade the Program, release regular setups, publish information on the Program Website, and inform Users about changes to the Program.
7.2 The User can make suggestions for changing or improving the Program by requesting the Developer.
7.3 The User may send Requests via email to support@fast-report.com, through the contact form on the site through the client panel https://cpanel.fast-report.com/.
7.4 The Developer accepts and records all requests from the User. Each request is assigned a unique number for tracking the chat history between the User and the Developer.
7.5 The Developer informs the User about the changes to the Program code or about adding an upgrade task to the development plan.
7.6 The Developer reserves the right to request additional information for improving the operation of the Program.
7.7 If the User does not provide or provides insufficient information required by the Developer, the latter has the right to suspend required changes to the Program code.
8. Technical support procedure and terms.
8.1 Study the available information on this issue in the documentation and manuals before submitting a request to the technical support service. You should provide a link to the original document if the problem is similar to the situation described in the documentation but requires additional explanation.
8.2 When contacting technical support, you must specify:
1. A detailed description of the error and the conditions for its reoccurrence.
2. Version of the operating system, information about the software environment, and version number of the used software, including the version and edition of the Program.
3. IDE version, screenshots, and videos.
4. Other concise descriptions of the User's problem.
8.3 Technical support accepts all calls strictly through helpdesk/email support@fast-report.com and registers them in the system https://cpanel.fast-report.com/.
8.4 We review requests daily from 9 AM to 6 PM Washington time (except Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, and days off for the current year according to the shop calendar).
8.5 The annual support plan depends on the license: Single includes 5 requests, Team includes 10 requests, and Site includes 15 requests.
8.6 FastReport Cloud subscription monthly support plan depends on the license type: Personal includes 2 requests, Team includes 4 requests, and Business includes 8 requests.
8.7 Standard technical support does not include integration, development, or improvement for the User.
8.8 During the first reaction, technical support programmers notify about the acceptance of the request and determine the complexity of the problem at their discretion.
8.9 The scope, procedure, and timing of technical support are established directly by the Technical Support Programmer, who is appointed responsible for this task and notifies the User in advance of the troubleshooting timing and procedure.
8.10 The fixed version is made available for download off the Developer Program release schedule via the user panel web interface (https://cpanel.fast-report.com/).
8.11 If it is impossible to fix and test the error, which was confirmed by the support service, the Technical Support Programmer responsible for this task offers alternative solutions.
9. Levels of technical support.
9.1 Calls to the technical support service are processed in the order they are received. Response time to request is up to 24 hours. The maximum troubleshooting time depends on criticality. Critical requests which require emergency intervention or consultation with technical support programmers can be processed out of turn. Such requests may include restoring the operability of critical projects or individual services of these projects.
9.2 The technical support service notifies about the approximate time for troubleshooting, based on the criticality, because the problem resolution time depends on various factors, for example, the timeliness and completeness of the user's response, the need to prepare and release a software product update, etc.
Severity level | Description of the issue | First reaction time | Troubleshooting time |
Level 1 Critical error |
An error that makes the software product inoperable. Or one (or several) of its functions is not executed. | up to 24 hours |
16 hours |
Level 2 Significant error |
An error when a supported software operates. However, one (or more) of its functions are not fully executed or are executed with restrictions that prevent its intended use. | up to 24 hours | 72 hours |
Level 3 Minor error |
An error when the supported software operates and the payment process is not disrupted. However, one (or several) of its functions is not fully executed or are executed with restrictions, and the same result can be obtained otherwise. | up to 24 hours | 40 hours |
Level 4 Consultations |
A situation in which a supported software product performs its documented functions, but the user has questions about its work. | up to 24 hours | 24 hours |
9.3 Issue resolution time is indicated from the moment the problem was qualified according to levels.
9.4 Issue resolutions may be delayed (or they can be impossible) for the following reasons:
9.4.1 It is not possible to reproduce the described issue;
9.4.2 The user has provided insufficient information to qualify and solve the issue;
9.4.3 Issues were created during off-hours.
10. Grounds for refusal of technical support.
10.1 The request specifies a Program license with an expired and not renewed period of technical support and updates, blocked for violations of the license agreement, piracy, or owned by another User.
10.2 The problem described by the user of the Program is not related to the Developer's software.
10.3 Fast Reports Inc. does not view the user's request to be a problem of the Program. Something the user of the Program thought to be a disadvantage/problem can be a documented functionality element of the Program.
10.4 The problem described by the user of the Program could not be reproduced in laboratory conditions—based on the data provided in the request or otherwise, including because it is not reproducible for the product/version of the software at the stage of the Full lifecycle support.
10.5 The User of the Program refused to provide additional data necessary for the Technical Support Programmer to analyze the problem, which can be requested out of expediency and sufficiency.
11. Final provisions.
11.1 Developer reserves the right to make changes to this Technical Support Terms.
11.2 The Developer is not responsible for Internet access failures, which made it impossible for the User to contact technical support.