Application and Technical Support: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Read answers to some of the questions our Support team frequently receives.
Q. What is the difference between Spinnaker and other third-party support providers?
A. Spinnaker focuses its support structure on “mission critical” applications, which dictates that we concentrate on providing the most experienced support and consulting professionals in the industry. Our support team averages over 13 years of expert-level experience with the JD Edwards applications. We are in the business of providing immediate support. Our service encompasses 24 x 7 support, 365 days a year via three major support centers around the globe. When a customer reports a critical issue through the Spinnaker website, our support team begins working on it within 30 minutes. This combination of experience, quick response, and around-the-clock support coverage has proven to be the most effective means of supporting our customers, thus having a direct impact in reducing the increasing costs of application downtime.
Each Spinnaker support member is specialized in their application suite, ensuring the customer receives the highest level of skill in quickly resolving their issues. Most competitors do not use a dedicated staffing model, but rather contractors, off-hours consultants or a 3-level tiered method. When your mission-critical applications are failing, you need immediate expert-level response. JD Edwards applications are very complex by design, providing you the intricate functionality you depend on to run your business. Spinnaker Support has deep-level understanding of these applications, related designs, and database relationships to resolve your issues.
Q. What services is Spinnaker providing as part of the JD Edwards consulting and application support practice?
A. The Spinnaker JD Edwards team provides our customers with a broad array of support services that include:
Premier Support Services – Level 3 Support
When critical issues arise, we can help you get started resolving them immediately with 30-minute initial response time. Learn more about our Premier Support Services and the extraordinary coverage we provide.
Extended Support Services – Level 2 Support
Spinnaker’s Extended Support Services allow you to peel away another level of your internal support structure and reallocate those valuable resources to other projects in your business.
Consulting Services
Because of the experience and expertise of Spinnaker’s JD Edwards team, we can provide Consulting Services that allow you to get the most out of your JD Edwards solutions
Q. What is Spinnaker’s pricing structure?
A. Spinnaker’s pricing structure is typically 50% or less of your vendor pricing. We do not derive revenue with the purpose of developing new products and features, which is what the vendor does. Also, Spinnaker only charges you for the products you choose for its support, which may or may not encompass all of the products originally provided to you by the vendor.
Q. Does Spinnaker offer US and Canadian tax and regulatory updates for year-end processing and reporting?
A. Yes, tax and regulatory updates for the US and Canada are a standard offering with Spinnaker Support. Our support team has extensive experience in delivering superior quality tax and regulatory updates to keep its customers compliant in their legislative requirements; in fact, we have a flawless track record in this regard. Additionally, our customers only receive the regulatory changes they require –this allows our support team to make these changes quickly and with little impact to your environment, even when customizations are involved.
Q. The software vendor will not help me when I have a problem that might be caused by custom code. Is this support any different with Spinnaker?
A. Spinnaker will assist in resolving problems that may be caused by custom code. We understand that most customers have created custom functionality to support unique business needs that the software was not designed to handle. If there are problems related to existing customizations, Spinnaker will work with our customer resources to analyze the issues. If the root cause is the core JDE code, Spinnaker will develop a fix for it. If the root cause is with the custom code, we will provide guidance to the changes needed within the custom code.
Q. What happens if I want to upgrade and/or change hardware after going on Spinnaker Support? Will I have access to the necessary license codes?
A. SPCs (Software Protection Codes) are part of your perpetual application license agreement with the software vendor and are not tied to annual maintenance support contracts. These codes are always available from the vendor and are currently published on the following public website: licensecodes.oracle.com
Q. What J.D. Edwards releases and updates does Spinnaker support?
A. Spinnaker will support the following J.D Edwards releases:
- World – A7.3, A8.1, A9.1, A9.2; All Cumulative Updates
- OneWorld – B7331, B7332, B7333 (Xe), and ERP8; all Service Packs and Updates
- Enterprise One – E1 8.9, E1 8.10, E1 8.11, E1 8.11SP1, 8.12, and 9.0; all Tools Releases and Updates
Q. How do you minimize the impact of fixes effecting or “breaking” other parts of the software?
A. Spinnaker has a major advantage over other delivery methods to address fixes. The most common method to deliver fixes is to remotely connect to your environment and begin analyzing, troubleshooting, and debugging your issues. You may think of the Spinnaker support team as an extended component of your internal support team. Once the issue is isolated, a fix is prepared and tested within your environment, effecting only the required changes. This minimizes the impact to other programs and objects.
The Spinnaker method differs from the typical vendor method, which requires the installation of a packaged update that, in turn, may contain changes that are undesired in other parts of the application, including your customizations. The latter method increases the risk of “breaking” other parts of the application, which can result in lost time, frustration and greater expense to the customer. Undesired changes within the application may also require time spent relearning and/or retraining users.
Q. We have divisions in other countries that require support. Can Spinnaker support these divisions also?
A. Yes, Spinnaker currently supports customers in over 50 countries worldwide, covering many spoken languages. As the global economy has become a reality across our industry, Spinnaker realizes the necessity to provide extensive global support coverage. With major support centers in Denver, London, and Singapore, our support team crosses time, language, and national boundaries.