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You have entrusted your online sales and key guest engagement platforms with us, and that is a responsibility we are honored to support you in and take very seriously. Our team of experts is here to augment and boost our customer’s teams 365 days a year. We have an experienced and talented team of mountain enthusiasts who understand the challenges that resorts face. You’re in good hands with our team of 9 ski e-commerce experts focused on offering top service to our customers with over 100 combined years combined of relevant experience in the areas that matter most, including e-commerce, software implementation, education, marketing, technical writing, SQL, customer service, Ski POS, and years spent working at ski areas.
Consequently, you can rest assured that you have a committed and professional team ready to collaborate and achieve your commerce and guest experience goals. We We deeply understand that the way orders are fulfilled and managed in the resort can make or break the guest and staff experience. We focus on the overall experience from online booking, through to fulfillment, and the in-resort experience and have resources to guide you every step of the way to achieve your goals.
About this guide
The goal of these guidelines to set clear expectations about what great services and benefits you have available to you in your Aspenware Annual Maintenance and Service Agreements. We appreciate your partnership and taking the time to learn more about the many services you have available to you out of the boxas part of your annual agreement, and also the additional professional services offerings that you can leverage periodically to further boost your implementation of Aspenware’s platforms, your overall guest experience, and operational efficiencies.
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Urgent (Level 1) Issue Support 365 days a year.
Top-rate response and resolution times on level 1 - 4 issues. In a recent survey, customers are highly satisfied with Aspenware’s response and resolution times. 100% CSAT rate for 2021.
A dedicated senior service representative who knows your business, products, and team to augment your fantastic team, as well as access to our 8 other experts as relevant.
Monthly call where extra time on these calls can be used for strategy consulting, quick training, and best practice guidance.
In our service, we focus on the overall experience from online booking, through to fulfillment, and the in-resort experience and have resources and support to ensure a fantastic end-to-end experience.
Full access to our top-tier documentation and resources that are continually expanding and improving.
Full access to strategic Webinars and Shared Training Sessions (Past recorded sessions and watch future sessions live)
We release new versions of Aspenware Commerce with exciting features and fixes every 4 weeks. Continual releases mean your issues are addressed quickly and your business is continually gaining access to new features to drive innovation and revenue
Aspenware brings the experience of implementing and strategizing with over 35 resorts to your service. All customers are a part of the community of top-tier resorts around the world, learning from and benefiting from each other.Aspenware can fully manage your Azure and Supported Platforms and proactively monitors the uptime of your site(s).
Test environment for Aspenware Commerce
Full details of included services in Appendices B, D, E, and G.
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Issue classified as a reproducible defect in the Supported Program or Documentation when operated on a Supported Environment which causes the Supported Program not to operate substantially in accordance with the Documentation.
Level 1 (Most Urgent)
Definition:
Used when there is an error that causes the Software to entirely fail to function and/or crash the system on which the Software is installed (I.e. shop is entirely down, log in and create an account does not work, majority of guests can’t checkout.)
Results in restricting the majority of guests from using the site and/or the customer’s ability to collect revenue are significantly impacted. For example, an error that makes a primary product* that was online prior unable to be sold online.
*A primary product refers to a product that drives 50% or more online revenue at the time the ticket is submitted, for example, lift tickets in the middle of winter.
An error that prevents the majority of orders from transferring to the POS and the need to fulfill these orders is imminent due to guest arrival.
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If the issue is an infrastructure or configuration issue and within Aspenware’s control to resolve, we will work to resolve the issue within 24 hrs of the first service response within commercially reasonable efforts.
If the issue is a software defect requiring a team of developers and if the issue is submitted during the After-Hours On-Call Period, Aspenware will first attempt to deploy a release of the software where this issue is not present within 24 hrs.
If deploying another version to resolve the issue is not possible, then the development team will work during business hours to resolve the Level 1 defect and will release a hotfix version as soon as possible. If a hotfix resolution is required, we will work to resolve the issue within two business days within commercially reasonable efforts.
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IMPORTANT: Some issues that meet the Level 1 definition cannot be resolved by Aspenware and must be resolved externally. In the case that a root cause is determined as an outside incident (see Appendix C below) Aspenware cannot guarantee these resolution times when the resolution of the error is not within its control. Examples of outside incident Level 1 issues include Azure outage, Internet outage at the customer ski area, Email provider outage, Payment outage, external header outage, a ransomware attack, etc. |
Examples by Category (each category has a corresponding section below with more details):
Software Defect - Following an upgrade, adding to cart no longer works on mobile. Inventory is significantly being oversold on a primary product* (see definition of a primary product above).
Configuration Issue - Dynamic pricing is not configured properly and lift tickets are selling for $0 on most days of the season in the middle of winter when they should be priced. All or most orders are failing because of a mismatch in setup/rules between the POS and the product in Aspenware Commerce.
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NOTE: Level 2 tickets should not be left open for more than 5 business days, however software defect resolution for Level 2 tickets can take up to 8 weeks (Aspenware releases a new version approximately every 4 weeks and has 2 versions before a resolution is required). Once the defect has been re-created and a development card has been created and slated for a near-term release, a reasonable response for a Level 2 software defect would be for the Aspenware representative to close the ticket after adding the request as a high priority to the customer’s Monday board, which is a list of the customer’s priorities that are evaluated during regular syncs. Release notes on future versions will include details in the resolved issues section when available. |
Examples by Category (each category has a corresponding section below with more details):
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Software Defect - A visual issue that causes a significant hindrance to the guest. Inventory is being oversold on a non-primary* (see primary definition above) product because of a defect in the supported inventory functionality.
Configuration Issue - The wrong product code was booked for a primary product in the Point of Sale.
Infrastructure Issue - A plugin that is used was inadvertently uninstalled during the last upgrade.
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HINT: If a feature request is highly important to a customer and they are interested in funding the development efforts to ensure that the feature is included in the application, email info@aspenware.com to receive a quote and discuss options.
Examples by Category (each category has a corresponding section below with more details):
Software Defect - A cosmetic issue that does not result in reduced performance.
Configuration Issue - Request to change a language string/content in an HTML widget.
Infrastructure Issue - Configuring new functions and plugins needed for taking advantage of a new feature for a down-the-road product launch.
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IMPORTANT: If your ticket is Urgent, only meaning it meets Level 1 criteria as described above, add URGENT to the subject line or body and our automation rules will pick it up as a Level 1 ticket. If your ticket is not a Level 1 as described below please DO NOT add Urgent to the subject line, Aspenware has sole discretion to determine the priority of submitted issues and will de-escalate any ticket marked Urgent that is not a Level 1. |
Appendix B:
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B1: Azure and Unity Management
Included Services - These infrastructure-related services are available at no extra cost and are considered part of a standard Aspenware Service Agreement.
Environment set up and configuration within Azure. Typically performed during the implementation phase of the customer life cycle.
Alert configuration and monitoring for Level 1 outages (see Monitoring section below)
Auto-scaling configuration and maintenance (see Auto-scaling section below)
Tracking SSL expirations and working with customers to retrieve new SSLs. Often this task requires customer participation.
Keeping Azure SKUs and infrastructure up to date with the latest Aspenware recommendations for optimized configuration.
Available Add-on Services - Unless otherwise specified in your package, these infrastructure-related services are available but will require professional service fees and require planning/communication with Aspenware.
Manual scaling and Azure intervention for traffic surge events. If auto-scaling, which is included for all customers is insufficient to handle upcoming traffic surges, please notify and work with your Aspenware representative to manually scale up and down your Azure resources to accommodate traffic surges. Details on when to notify your Aspenware representative of upcoming surges are defined here https://hub.aspenware.net/main/Flash-Sale-or-Product-Launch-Scaling-Preparation.1298334147.html. In the event of a manual scale, professional service fees will apply for planning, scaling activities, and monitoring time. Scaling up and down activities are limited to business hours, so if a sale is running over a weekend, we’d scale you up on a Friday and down on a Monday. Note there are additional fees for Azure associated with manual scaling.
Queue-It is a 3rd party service Aspenware optionally provides its customers as an add-on. Queue-It is a virtual waiting room for high traffic events and requires a separate license and implementation. Queue-It provides digital queueing capabilities for planned, high-traffic events and a “SafetyNet” feature for unexpected spikes in traffic. Queue-It is the queuing system used by high-volume providers such as Ticketmaster, StubHub, Vail Resorts, and AXS.
It is recommended for customers that plan to utilize “flash sales”, which are characterized as an announced, scheduled release of limited inventory on a specific date and time.
If interested, contact your Aspenware account executive. Queue-It implementation times vary between 6-15 hrs and are charged at a professional services rate.
Aspenware can offer dedicated monitoring services leading up to and throughout the course of important launches and sales. These In-depth monitoring activities are only available as a professional service package. With this package, Aspenware will look at historical traffic trends and recommend scaling activities leading up to the event. If you have the Queue-It add on they will help guide you on using Queue-It for this event. During the event, they can monitor and tweak system levels alongside your team to ensure optimal performance during the event. Following the event, they can return systems to normal operating levels and report out on system performance, which can be used to guide future similar traffic events. Typically these services include 1-2 hrs to plan and consult on strategy, 1 hr before the event, the duration of the event when marketing communication is sent (varies), and 1 hr after the event to return systems to normal and report out on activities. These monitoring services require 10 days' notice to Aspenware and may not be available if the launch event is outside of standard business hours (8 am - 5 pm Mon - Friday, Holidays excluded).
B2: Customer Expectations around Azure Management
The following customer expectations must be upheld by the customer in order for Aspenware to achieve and maintain its Service Level Guidelines and provide the best service possible.
Responsible for maintaining servers where Unity is hosted and keeping specs up to on these servers if Unity is hosted on-premise and not in Azure.
Minimum server requirements for Unity application server
Windows Server 2016 or 2019
Processor - 2.60GHz 64-bit
Installed memory (RAM) – 16 GB
Disk space – 158 GB
Unless otherwise specified, the customer responsible for paying monthly Azure hosting costs.
Provide business hours and after-hours access to IT and networking personnel. After-hours contact will only be made for emergencies.
Quick response/completion of tasks on SSL renewals when necessary
Notify Aspenware of all high traffic sales events - defined here https://hub.aspenware.net/main/Flash-Sale-or-Product-Launch-Scaling-Preparation.1298334147.html
To uphold our Service Level Guidelines, Aspenware designated staff needs adequate and continuous access at all times to a minimum number of services (All access to Azure, RTP|One, and the DB where unity is hosted, what else? what specific RTP permissions do we need? ) This cannot require a person approving access each day. If approval is required to access any of the on-premise or hosted applications, services, or servers, Service Levels cannot be guaranteed for these customers.
Provide Aspenware with an updated list of contacts and contact information for monitoring alerting.
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Name
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Title
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B3: Monitoring
Aspenware will monitor production Commerce, Identity, Arrival, and Unity URLs proactively within support hours and will contact the customer, notifying them of an outage if not reported by the customer, within the service level guidelines outlined above.
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IMPORTANT: Outages can occur for many reasons. Most outages, particularly with Unity, are caused by an incident/outside factor. (i.e. internet outage, a firewall issue on the customer side). If an outage is caused by an outside issue, see guidelines below on how incidents are handled and note that Aspenware cannot be held to service level resolution times where the issue resolution is out of its control. |
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NOTE: One potentially avoidable outage if proper planning and communication with Aspenware are done ahead of time are crashes caused by volume surges that are higher than what the configured Azure levels can handle. This can cause a slow-performing site at best, and an outage at worst. As part of our hosting agreement, we offer services to help your site handle most loads, but this requires customer participation and planning alongside your Aspenware representative. Aspenware cannot guarantee an immediate resolution to any incidents caused by volume surges if proper planning and communication with Aspenware were not completed. See our published guidelines on scaling and manual scaling intervention for details on when auto-scaling may not be sufficient. |
B4: Auto-scaling
To secure the platform against sudden outages due to unexpected volume, and to ensure optimal performance of all Commerce stores, Aspenware will set all production Commerce stores to auto-scale. This means stores will be able to handle unexpected gradual* heavy loads of traffic.
Autoscaling protects sites against heavy traffic but does not protect against sudden extreme surges in volume. For these surges, manual pre-scaling is required to be coordinated with your Aspenware representative. Read more here for details about when auto-scaling won't suffice.
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IMPORTANT: When a store is scaled out, any Aspenware Commerce administration changes will take about 1.5 hours to take effect for all shoppers on the site. To keep you informed about exactly when an auto-scale occurs, Aspenware will set your team members up with notifications. |
B5: Scheduled/Unscheduled Aspenware Related Infrastructure Configuration Changes
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Scheduled/Unscheduled Aspenware Related Infrastructure Configuration Changes
Aspenware must be informed of all impactful Aspenware Related Infrastructure changes completed by the customer 5 days in advance or as soon as possible if unscheduled.
Requests for changes within business hours - Aspenware can participate to help update its platforms for scheduled and routine infrastructure changes that occur within standard business hours (8 am - 5 pm Monday - Friday, Holidays excluded) at no extra professional service charge but must be scheduled 5 business days in advance with Aspenware.
Requests for changes within the after-hours on-call period - Customers can request professional services to have Aspenware’s participation in networking/infrastructure changes that occur outside of business hours but within our on-call period (8 am - 8 pm Mountain Time). These requests must be scheduled 10 business days in advance and professional service fees will be charged for all activities completed outside of standard business hours.
Requests for changes outside of business hours and after-hours on-call period - Networking/infrastructure changes made outside of after-hours on-call windows and business hours will not be considered. For example, if the customer is making changes at 2 am, the Aspenware portion could be completed starting at 8 am the next morning.
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Assistance in identifying and verifying the causes of suspected errors, and advice on bypassing errors in the system -Aspenware’s service team will work with customers to reproduce errors with supported features in the Aspenware platform, understand the root cause and whether there is a workaround so that we can prioritize and pass on issues to our development team, and help you bypass errors if possible according to our Service Level resolution times. (Refer to Service Level Guidelines for details around when to expect resolutions to reported software defects).
Access to all Upgrades - As releases become available, the Aspenware service team equips customers to be prepared for and informed about what’s coming in an upcoming release. This includes support in testing, installing, and troubleshooting these releasescustomers to be prepared for and informed about what’s coming in an upcoming release. This includes support in testing, installing, and troubleshooting these releases.
Copy Live to Test of Aspenware Commerce- Aspenware offers regular opportunities for resorts to copy their environments from live to test. These times are available for resorts to sign up at pre-determined times when Aspenware resources for these activities are available. Copies that are requested outside of these offered times may be considered but will incur professional service fees and are at Aspenware’s sole discretion to accept.
Webinars and Shared Training Calls - Aspenware regularly holds strategic webinars and training calls to help customers get the most out of Aspenware platforms. These sessions are recorded and sent out to all customers. During webinars, we demonstrate creative implementations of Aspenware platforms that real customers have used with success so that all 35 of Aspenware’s customers can learn and grow from each other. There is ample time for Q&A and a variety of expert presenters from across the company leading these webinars. Shared training calls, like webinars, are scheduled sessions available for any customer to hop on, where Aspenware hosts in-depth training calls on various product configuration topics. On these calls, we record them, make them available in our documentation, and leave ample Q&A time for topical questions.
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Aspenware offers releases approximately every 4 weeks. For more details on our release processes and methodology, see https://hub.aspenware.net/main/Aspenware-Release-and-Update-Process.1385824260.html.
E1: Upgrade Guidelines
Customers should not fall further than 4 releases behind in their production code at any timeCustomers should not fall further than 4 releases behind in their production code at any time.
If a reported Software Defect is fixed in a future release and a customer declines to take a release, ticket resolution within the stated resolution times is not guaranteed and is subject to professional service fees.
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IMPORTANT: If a customer falls more than 4 versions behind, Aspenware will charge professional service fees for all development, dev-ops, and services time to upgrade the customer until they are within compliance. |
Production environments will not be updated/changed without first notifying the customer. In the case of a Level 1 issue, Aspenware may begin upgrade/infrastructure change activities without the consent of the customer, but to swap and make material changes to versions, and significant infrastructure changes, the customer must be informed, and in the case of upgrading software versions, provide consent. This raises the importance of customer contact availability - see customer availability expectations section.If a reported Software Defect is fixed in a future release and a customer declines to take a release, ticket resolution within the stated resolution times is not guaranteed.
Before scheduling a release to production, customers are expected to smoke test and approve the code version for their production environment. All functionality that is unique to the customer and not widely adopted should be tested by the customer with each upgrade. For example, if you use subscriptions these should be specially tested with each upgrade.
We offer scheduled release timelines within business hours and do not offer routine releases outside of Business Hours.
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Training - As customers hire new employees, need refresher training, or are hoping to take advantage of new features and functions, Aspenware offers training on its supported products and features.
Configuration - Aspenware can help with configuration requests by providing relevant documentation links and occasionally may help with infrastructure configuration like installing required functions in Azure, etc. however configuration requests that take >30 minutes are at Aspenware’s discretion to transition the request to a Professional Services request. If you would like Aspenware to assist with setting up products, prototyping options, etc. That is always considered Professional Services.
Best Practices Consultation - Aspenware has worked with many ski areas on various product configurations, shop setups, and more. The professional service team will consult around best practices for product setup and getting more out of your store, helping you think through a new and different way to sell rentals, lift, lessons, and more.
Consulting - As experts in commerce as well as ski POS systems, we're equipped to help you think through any new product being offered from both the commerce shopping experience and the fulfillment experience.
Project Management - There are a lot of moving parts and parties involved in getting a store ready for the winter or summer season, with Aspenware’s knowledge of customer’s personnel, business, and products gained through past relationships position Aspenware to support in project management on the implementation of new or additional features of the Supported Program.
Copy live to test requests that fall outside of Aspenware’s offered copies. (More details in Appendix G)
Configuration issues that are out of compliance with reasonable planning and communication guidelines outlined in Appendix D.Available Azure Management Add-on Services detailed in Appendix B1.
Scheduled/Unscheduled Aspenware Related Infrastructure Configuration Changes within After-Hours On-Call Period. Detailed in Appendix B5B.
Implementation of new products, services, features, etc, services, features, etc. Typically require a separate change request and coordination with an Account Executive.
Support, testing, and training on new development projects that are customer-funded. Typically require a separate change request and coordination with an Account Executive.
Support, testing, and training on new development projects that are customer-funded. Typically require a separate change request and coordination with an Account Executive.
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Executive.
Appendix G: Test Environments
Test environment issues are not held to the same resolution times as production-related issues.
Aspenware has full autonomy to make changes/updates/infrastructure changes to test environments without the consent of the customer. Aspenware will attempt to notify and receive consent from the customer on major changes to test environments, such as upgrades, adaptations to major products, etc, however, if consent is not received, Aspenware can proceed without being in violation for troubleshooting efforts as it is a test environment and is purposed to help evaluate which efforts will positively impact production.
G1: Copy Live to Test Details
Aspenware offers regular opportunities to copy production commerce configuration so that test configuration mirrors production configuration. Aspenware currently sends out available dates and customers can sign up for one a copy every monthregularly.
If a customer requests a copy outside of these published time-frames, Aspenware can coordinate, but these outside requests will require professional service fees for the copy. Typically 1 hr for dev ops and 1 hr for service, so typically these unscheduled copies require a minimum of 2 professional service hours.
Aspenware requires that customers complete a copy live to test for both their commerce and POS environments every 3 months at a minimum. If a copy has not been completed within a 3-month window, Aspenware reserves the right to run a copy and will charge professional service fees for all development, dev-ops, and services time to upgrade the customer until they are within compliance.Test environment issues are not held to the same resolution times as production-related issuescompliance.
Aspenware has sole discretion to run a copy live to test in the case of L1 or L2 troubleshooting, or if a customer is out of compliance without the consent of the customer. Aspenware will always seek to notify and obtain customer approval before completing copy live to test, however, if approval cannot be obtained promptly, a copy can be run without such approval.Aspenware has full autonomy to make changes/updates/infrastructure changes to test environments without the consent of the customer. Aspenware will attempt to notify and receive consent from the customer on major changes to test environments, such as upgrades, adaptations to major products, etc, however, if consent is not received, Aspenware can proceed without being in violation for troubleshooting efforts as it is a test environment and is purposed to help evaluate which efforts will positively impact production.