KBC Product Support and Maintenance Policy

Many software companies have defined policies around how long individual product versions are maintained and supported for customers who are actively paying for Maintenance Support and Upgrades. This document defines KBC policy covering all officially released software products. The policy may be varied for individual product versions, with any exceptions noted in updates to this document.

Definitions

• KBC Product – An official KBC software product issued to the general marketplace
• Version – An update to a KBC Product primarily aimed at delivering new features. Versions are typically issued on an annual cycle.
• Service Pack – A periodic update to a KBC product consisting of bug fixes
• Hot Fix – An as-needed bug-fix update to a KBC product to correct a critical issue for a client
• Maintenance Period – The length of time after first release of a Version in which that Version is actively maintained with service packs and hot fixes.
• Support Period – The length of time after first release of a Version over which KBC provides software support services to clients. The Support Period can be greater than or equal to the Maintenance Period.

General Policy

The Maintenance Period for any specific version of a KBC Product Version shall be a minimum of three years after the first commercial launch of that Version. KBC will provide Service Packs and Hot Fixes over this period in accordance with our standard policy on these – typically this means the service pack frequency will slow down over the period.

The Support Period of a KBC Product Version shall be seven years after the first commercial launch of that Version, with extended support running for a further three years in special cases. KBC will provide technical support and assistance to paying customers and internal users during this period. Where the Maintenance Period has expired, KBC may at its discretion also provide Hot Fixes to critical issues reported by users. Some aspects of support and maintenance are dependent on the underlying software systems provided by Microsoft Corporation and others. KBC may at its discretion choose not to provide service on systems that have themselves passed their end of life date. There may also be situations where a Version has been designed to run on or against a specific version of a third party system (for example the Windows operating system) and then will not run on a future version: in these situations KBC may not be able to provide service and can instead recommend the client upgrade to a more recent Version.

Supported Products

The following tables give details on our primary products. Where no Maintenance Period End date is shown for a specific version then that version is no longer being actively maintained. Please contact us if you do not see a specific program listed.

Petro-SIM and SIM Suite

Multiflash

Maximus

FloWax

Flaretot

Energy-SIM

ProSteam

SuperTarget