INSIGHTS FROM AMPHORA

ETRM Support and Maintenance

In January’s newsletter, we discussed what an ETRM implementation involves. This follow up article focuses on the next stage- what happens after go-live?

Most ETRM software packages consist of a user license fee which includes the delivery of the defined support, maintenance and the right to upgrades. But what exactly does this mean? In fact, good support procedures and processes are an essential component in your use of ETRM software from a vendor.

“At Amphora, we pride ourselves on the support we provide to our existing clients, with client satisfaction and retention being the absolute core of our business philosophy. We view it as a key differentiator,” says Purushotham Reddy, Head of Global Support.

From the start of the implementation the client has access to the software and is always properly supported with a dedicated business analyst and support team, covering all time zones. The standard support times at Amphora are 24/5 (Monday-Friday) for regular issues and 24/7 for urgent issues.

Once the client goes live with our software, all upgrades and patches are provided at no additional cost. These come with a set of comprehensive release and technical notes provided; ensuring the client is always aware of exactly what the upgrade consists of and how it might impact their business. Test cases may need to be produced to sample the new functionality and perform additional testing. Each client has a test environment to test new features offered in a new release with their own production database.

When users require training, want clarity on any output (e.g. trade price, P&L, costs…) or have identified a potential issue, they log this in an issue tracking software product, JIRA. Screenshots and video clips are added along with client’s initial assessment of the priority of the issue. The logic outlined below is used as a starting point to assess the priority of the issue. Items may be moved based on their frequency and the overall impact of the issue. For instance, an issue impacting a business-critical number such as PnL may be moved from urgent to a lower priority if it only occurs once a year and the impact is only a few dollars.

Depending on the assigned priority, the initial response and target resolution time varies. If an urgent issue has been identified, for a client specific incident, an emergency patch may be required and applied promptly depending upon the fix and impact to the business.

For “Normal” issues a response will be provided within 72 hours with a proposed solution within 30 days.

Once a ticket is raised, Amphora’s Head of Support will assign it to a respective client contact or a member of Amphora's support team will pick it up based on the priority and follow up with the client on a timely basis until resolved. Support will continue to liaise with the client to agree issues for their next patch release and provide a roadmap for issues that will be addressed in upcoming releases.

A service pack can be issued to address multiple issues, (identified by any client), which will be released before the normal software upgrade release schedule. A client contact support person is available on call for any of these issues.

The Support Team consists of highly experienced people who are well versed in both the business and technical areas of the system. This makes the support process go smoothly for all concerned and provides timely responses.

Amphora has an enhanced support package, usually consisting of on-site business analysts to help with specific client projects.

We recognise that many of our clients today want to concentrate on their business and not concern themselves too much with IT infrastructure and application management. We offer our software as a Service (SaaS) that will take the burden of day-to-day managing the infrastructure, application management, user and access management, security, availability, monitoring as well as handling infrastructure changes when application architecture change.

Ensuring that users are properly supported and that issues are properly recorded, prioritized, and dealt with is a critical activity when working with vendor-provided software. It should be a part of the procurement and negotiation process to examine and agree in detail how this will be performed and to agree processes and prioritization procedures with the vendor. For Amphora, it is a priority item and we work together with our clients to ensure they are properly supported and able to extract maximum value for our software at all times.

Amphora is a unique provider in today's commodities marketplace. We offer CTRM and Shipping services under one roof, allowing clients to go to market quicker and for a significantly lower cost.

Real time commodity trading and risk management software