The NWA Software Assurance & Support Program is the foundation of a customer’s service and support relationship with Northwest Analytics. It provides convenient access to highly skilled resources to remedy any technical issue that you experience as you adjust, fine-tune, and upgrade your NWA Software. Additionally, an NWA Software Assurance & Support agreement provides a variety of service entitlements designed to maintain and optimize the performance of your NWA software through its entire lifecycle.

NWA Software Assurance & Support offers exceptional customer-focused services and support components and is specifically structured to help you:

• Improve Operational Performance- Helps accelerate implementation and maximize return on investment while minimizing risk
• Protect Critical Investments- Provides access to product enhancements and the newest technologies to keep your software and applications current and "state-of-the-art"
• Reduce Total Cost of Ownership- Reduce TCO by minimizing downtime and process interruption and improving user productivity.

This document provides information on maximizing your investment in Northwest Analytics Software Solutions with the NWA Software Assurance & Support Program. Please read the following information carefully and retain this copy for future reference.

NWA Software Assurance & Support entitles you to NWA technical support as established in your NWA Software Assurance & Support agreement.  The following provides an outline of the entitlements of this service agreement and instructions on how to use it:

1.     NWA Software Support: Entitles you to software maintenance, as well as minor and major releases of NWA software via the web or as shipped media.

2.     Technical Support Center: Worldwide, direct-phone and web access to highly-skilled NWA software engineers. Our support center features specially-trained technical engineers who average more than 15 years of NWA software experience.

3.     Support Upgrade Option: If you want to upgrade to the 3-year option before your current 12-month agreement expires, contact your local Northwest Analytics sales representative.

4.     Software Update and Enhancement Protection: Software enhancements and updates are all included under the NWA Software Assurance & Support Program. This is the most reliable and cost-effective way to stay up-to-date with product releases by receiving upgrades to new versions of the same product during your coverage period.

Note that Northwest Analytics is not responsible for problems caused by:

• Hardware or infrastructure malfunction;
• Security settings; or
• Actions by software other than NWA's

Additionally, NWA Technical Support provided with this agreement does not cover:

• System installation or implementation (other than answering questions);
• Integration assistance not related to an issue;
• Statistical consulting; or
• Training

NWA does provide some of these services as part of paid engagements.  Please contact your NWA Account Manager for details.

Service Levels

Telephone Technical Support

• Available 8:00 AM-5:00 PM Pacific Time, Monday through Friday (Check Social Channels for Holiday hours)
• Response from a Qualified NWA Technical Support Professional within the service level defined time frame.

Online Access to NWA Support Center

• Software downloads & patches
• Release notes
• Technical notes
• Product release numbers

Products Covered

Products Covered^* by NWA Software Assurance & Support

• NWA Focus EMI^®
• NWA Quality Information System^™
• NWA Quality Analyst^®
• NWA Quality Monitor
• NWA Quality Workstation
• NWA Stability Analytics
• NWA Multivariate SPC
• NWA Web Server
• NWA SPCx
• NWA QAx

*With purchase of annual NWA Software Assurance & Support Agreement

What to Expect When You Use NWA Software Assurance & Support

NWA Software Assurance & Support is designed to make getting the help you need simple and easy. To begin the process of getting help, you will always need to contact the NWA Online & Telephone Support team via the phone number. For full contact options visit www.nwasoft.com/services/support. This assures that you are connected to a support professional who can help you in the fastest possible way.

Your users should be familiar with best practices before requesting support.  This can be found in the User's Manual of the NWA software and is discussed below.  A technical support engineer will respond within 1 (one) business day of your phone, email, or web-submitted support request.  Keep in mind that email is the best way to provide additional information when requesting technical support.

Standard support hours are from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific Time, Monday through Friday.

If during the process of working with a NWA technical support engineer, it is determined that replacement software is required to resolve a flaw in the software, you will not be invoiced for this action; it is covered by your NWA Software Assurance & Support agreement.

Always be sure to contact the NWA Online Support team first, so you can get the help you need, we can meet our service level commitments, and ultimately help you resolve your issue the fastest way possible.

Maximize the Value of Your Contact

The NWA Online Support Center is your resource for technical information, support and assistance. Increase your productivity by finding solutions to technical questions more quickly – saving both time and money.

Requesting Technical Support

When you request support, we ask you for the following information which you will want to have available:

• NWA Software Serial Number found by clicking on "Help, About…". If you cannot locate this number, NWA will ask you for your name, your company name, and site location.
• Product name(s), description and version number(s)
• System configuration and components (e.g., operating system, etc.)
• A concise description of your problem, issue, or request
• Sequence of events prompting your call
• Complete error message if applicable

In addition, you should communicate the urgency of your situation so that we can respond appropriately.   Letting us know more about how the problem is affecting your work, your company's operations, or relationship with a customer can help.

Use the designated telephone support number or email address listed here. You can use this number only to request support on product included in the NWA Software Assurance & Support program. 

The Online Support Center houses product technical notes, product release information, upcoming training sessions and more. Additionally, you can submit questions to our Technical Support engineers.

Software Updates

NWA Software Assurance & Support ensures that the designated person in your organization will automatically receive notification of all significant updates and will be provided with download links. 

To request to update/change registration information, contact Northwest Analytics Support Contract Services at 503-224-7727, extension 107.

Agreement Policies

Term

NWA Software Assurance & Support agreements are based on 12-month increments and will be effective from the date NWA accepts the contract. The NWA Software Assurance & Support agreement will continue for the initial term proposed and accepted by the customer and Northwest Analytics. At the end of the initial term, the NWA Software Assurance & Support agreement will automatically renew for another 12-month term unless the customer notifies NWA, in writing, at least 60 days prior to the end of the initial term. Upon the termination of this agreement for any reason, subject as otherwise provided in this agreement and subject to any rights or obligations which have accrued prior to termination, neither party shall have any further obligation to the other under this agreement.

Customer Obligations

The Customer must:

• have a current, paid-in-full NWA Software Assurance and Support Agreement;
• maintain the Designated Operating Environment;
• for NWA Focus EMI® and NWA Quality Information System^™ maintain designated system administrators within the company with detailed knowledge of those solutions;
• respond promptly and accurately to all reasonable requests by Northwest Analytics to provide information required for the performance of services;
• allocate appropriately skilled personnel to perform its obligations;
• make qualified IT personnel available for IT-related issues; and
• coordinate goods and services provided by third parties.

Changes to the Agreement Scope

Any change to the NWA Software Assurance & Support agreement scope resulting from any of the following circumstances is subject to equitable adjustments to price, scheduling, and other affected terms and conditions:

• Customer requested changes, including those affecting the identity, installed base scope, and delivery of the Assurance Support contract;
• An emergency endangering persons or property; in such emergency circumstances, the customer and Northwest Analytics may act at its discretion to prevent damage, injury, or loss.

Reasonable Use

• It is agreed that if Northwest Analytics is required to make replacements necessitated by reason of the customer’s negligence or misuse of software, or by reason of any other cause beyond the control of Northwest Analytics, Northwest Analytics reserves the right to invoice the customer for reasonable labor, and travel and living expenses as required, in accordance with the current published prices in effect when the work was performed;
• Be aware that events due to acts of God, foreign matter contamination, software or equipment misuse or abuse, power deviations/spikes, viruses or malware, and/or unauthorized servicing by any party other than Northwest Analytics or its authorized representatives will be excluded from coverage. 

This is the current version of this agreement. 

 

Current as of September 28, 2021