Support

What we support, and how we support it.

Support is critical to our customer's success, and our customer's success is critical to achieving our vision as a company. This guide outlines what is included in support, the different types of support we offer, and our process for helping customers on their journey with us.

The very nature of our product (a framework for building purpose-built applications) introduces some gray areas that this document attempts to provide clarity on.

Definition and scope of the Kinetic Platform

The Kinetic Platform itself is a collection of frameworks or building blocks on which the Kinetic Delivery Team, Partners, and Customer create applications on top of. This framework consists of APIs and tools developed by the Kinetic Data Engineering Team that support the creation and evolution of applications.

The following is a list of frameworks and tools that the Kinetic Platform provides (not comprehensive):

• A framework for defining and managing data within the Platform (i.e., Forms)

• A framework for defining and executing, and troubleshooting workflows (i.e., Trees & Routines)

• A framework for creating and managing Users and Teams (Groups of Users)

• A framework for integrating with IDPs for authentication of Users (i.e., SAML, LDAP & x509)

• A framework for building integration adapters (i.e., Bridge Adapters & Handlers & Test Harness)

• A framework for defining and managing data models for integrations (i.e., Bridge Models)

• A framework for building multi-lingual applications (i.e., Translations)

• A framework for creating end-user experiences via SPA's (Single Page Applications) (i.e., Bundles)

• An admin interface for managing the above frameworks (i.e., System & Space Consoles)

• SDKs for developers to interact with the Kinetic APIs (i.e., @kineticdata/react Kinetic Ruby SDK)

Because the Kinetic Platform itself is a framework, there are no full-blown "out of the box" applications that are part of the Platform. Every Kinetic implementation is intended to be modified for the customer's specific use before going to production. Instead, Kinetic Data and it's partners produce Starters that are pre-configured when the environment is created to provide a starting point for creating new applications.

For clarity, the following items are not part of the platform but are starting points for accomplishing various use cases that are common in typical Kinetic projects:

• Starters (Service Portal, Techbar, Talent Lifecycle Management, Queue)

• Modules (Datastore UI, Notification Templates, Robots, and Calendar)

• Pre-built Handlers, Routines & Bridge Adapters

• Bundles

• Pre-configured Teams, Bridge Models, Kapps, and Forms

Kinetic Platform support

Every customer's subscription includes Kinetic Platform Support as part of our base license. This support covers the ability for customers to reach in the following scenarios:

How-Tos

From time to time, customers will get stuck building something or when they don't understand how something works. When this happens, it's our responsibility to help guide them in the right direction. It is not our responsibility (from a support perspective) to build what they're asking for.

Process: When customers are requesting How-to support, the Support Organization should point the customer to relevant documentation and how-to guides on our support website. If none are found, the Support engineer should survey the Delivery Team via their respective Google Chat space to see if any advice can be provided. If documentation doesn't exist, the case should be flagged for review by the Product Team.

Bugs

When customers identify a bug and report it, Kinetic Data needs to determine if it is a platform bug or an application bug.

Platform bug

Platform bugs are bugs related to the Kinetic Platform itself (for instance, an API or our System/Space Consoles aren't working as expected). See Definition and scope of the Kinetic Platform for more information on what is included in the Kinetic Platform scope.

Process: If indeed the issue is a platform bug, the bug should be raised with the Kinetic Data Product team for review and escalation. It is the responsibility of the Support organization to communicate updates to the customer, coordinate meetings for further investigation, and manage the case through closure.

It's important to note that not all bugs will be fixed. Instead, workarounds may be provided to the customer.

Application bug

Application bugs are defects related to the configuration of an application on top of the Kinetic Platform. These bugs may be misconfigurations, broken code, outdated integrations, customer browser issues, etc.

Process: When it is determined that the issue is not a platform bug, it is the responsibility of the Support organization to provide troubleshooting instructions, assist the customer in narrowing down the root cause of the issue, and provide options on how to resolve the issue.

If the customer doesn't have the skillset or time to fix the issue, the Support Agent should inform them that our professional services organization can help them resolve the issue and introduce them to the Head of Delivery for evaluation.

Environmental issues

From time to time, customers may call because they notice the system has stopped working or is not online.

Hosted customers (kinops)

For hosted customers (i.e., kinops customers), Kinetic Data is responsible for maintaining the infrastructure that runs the Kinetic Platform. We have tools and processes in place to catch these types of issues and prevent them, so they are very rare.

Process: If a hosted customer does contact support about an environmental issue, the issue should be passed to the Platform Operations team for immediate attention. It is the responsibility of the Support organization to communicate updates to the customer and manage the case until closure.

Customer-managed (not kinops)

All customers who run their platform in a customer-managed environment (i.e., not in kinops) have a support subscription. If a customer calls because the system went offline, it is our responsibility to work with the customer to identify the underlying problem and rule out that it isn't an issue with the platform itself.

FAQs

What is considered out-of-the-box?

The Kinetic Platform provides a framework for building business applications. No configurations, plugins, or bundles are considered "out of the box." Kinetic Data does provide Starters and pre-built integrations; however, they are not considered to be part of the platform and are maintained with the best efforts. See Definition and scope of the Kinetic Platformfor more information.

If a customer contacts support related to an issue with the application we built for them, what is the process?

Once the support case is triaged and it's determined that the bug is not a Platform bug the Support Organization should make the best effort to help the customer determine the cause of the issue and provide guidance on how to remediate it. See Application bug for more details on how to process these cases.

Vendor Support

Instaclustr / Netapp

Netapp (once known as Instaclustr) is our Cassandra Database support vendor. We currently have an agreement with their consulting team for 36 hours, which can be used to provide support for our customers, host training webinars, and troubleshoot errors.

Onboarding new customers to Instaclustr

1. Go to https://support.instaclustr.com/hc/en-us and request a new account.
2. A new account should follow this pattern:

   Email Address: Support + <customer name or abbreviations>@kineticdata.com (this routes to [e-mail]

   Username: kineticdata-<customer name or abbreviation>. Do not use email addresses.

   Full Name: Kinetic Data - <customer name or abbreviation>

   Company Name: Kinetic Data - <customer name or abbreviation>

   Password: Use 1Password to generate the password.

3. Once the new account has been created in Instaclustr, ensure the account is saved within the Instaclustr Support vault in 1Password.

   Title of Login within Instaclustr: Instaclustr Support - <customer name or abbreviation>

4. Sometimes, 1Password overrides the Username with the Email Address. Please double-check that the Username is the same as the one entered with Instaclustr.

5. Once the email address has been verified, log in to the portal and create a new ticket.

Scheduling a Call with Instaclustr

Currently, Kinetic Data has time blocked off where we can engage with Instaclustr with guaranteed openings:

Mondays: 10AM - 12PM

Tuesdays: 1:30PM - 3:30PM

Thursdays: 10AM - 12PM

You can also view these openings in the Kinetic Calendar: Instaclustr Consulting Availability.

1. Login into your Instaclustr portal. If doing so on behalf of a customer, log into the customer's portal.

2. Raise a ticket and include a Zoom link for them to join.

3. For assistance with installations, they require a one week lead time, so please remember to send your request early.

4. Before the meeting with the customer, Instaclustr would like to have a 10-15 minute prep call with Kinetic engineers. This call will clarify expectations, check that prerequisites have been completed, and share any other important information about this customer.

5. Set a reasonable time limit. If all prerequisites are completed, 1 to 1.5 hours should be more than enough to complete the installation of Cassandra.

NOTE: It would be helpful if a Kinetic Data member had walked through the installation guide with the customer. Ideally, Instaclustr would like to commence from the "Configuring Cassandra" stage in the Installation Document provided to Kinetic Data by Instaclustr.