Currently, Northwoods Computer Software does NOT charge extra for updates and does NOT have any type of maintenance agreement. We have found that our clients become very familiar with the SBMS and we have very little support work to do. Most of our calls involve clients putting forth new ideas of things to add to the BUS System.
Our upgrade policy is very simple. We do not charge for upgrades, with the exception of upgrades to major functionality. When a functional or general program upgrade is available, it is sent to you to be installed. We will help you install any upgrades. We have a very good reason for not charging for upgrades. We only want to support one version of the products we sell. By not charging for upgrades, the current version is the supported one and we can bring everyone up to the same level with no extra charges. The only upgrade we charged existing customers for was to upgrade from the DOS version (BUS) to the Windows version (BUS2) of the School Bus Management System. That upgrade took several years and extensive time to create. The charge to existing customers was less than half the cost of the system.
The Graphic Routing package can NOT be handled in this way. When you purchase the Graphic Routing software, you are purchasing an existing, third-party package. We are only agents to that company for the sale, but then we are providing a service to generate mapped routes for you, using the data already existing in the BUS2 system. In this way, the software is licensed to you and you can use the Mapping package in any legal way you choose. You may want to do some studies concerning student population or census information or whatever. I have been amazed at the libraries of digital information that come with the mapping system. In any case, if you want to keep current or take advantage of new additions to the software package, you are able to do so, as the licensed user of the software. We will, of course, be available to advise you about upgrades, etc. At this point, we don’t feel it will be necessary for you to purchase on-going versions.
All our clients know that if they have a problem or question, they should call. We will spend whatever time is necessary with any client to handle any situation regarding our products. It is our goal to carry on without the need for any kind of maintenance or support agreements. It is necessary for you to have a modem, at least 28.8 bps. We will supply the software to allow us to link up with your computer system. Our support is provided at this time at no charge to you. We have been supporting our customers like this for over 10 years with great success. We have no immediate plans to change this policy.
Specific Assistance for Re-training or performing un-contracted work
We are considering some sort of contingency regarding the Graphic Routing System. The situation is that all users will be provided with adequate training and Q & A privileges so each can perform all the graphic routing functions provided. It is expected that there won’t be extensive changes to the mapping on a regular basis. This means that by nature, if you don’t use a skill on a regular basis, you will probably loose that skill or it will be diminished at the very least. It is reasonable to assume that users may require assistance to get ‘back in the saddle’, so to speak. Users may also want certain tasks to be done for them instead of re-learning how to do them. These types of things will require time and effort, on our part, over and above the definition of ‘Maintenance agreement’. We are attempting to put this situation in perspective so that we can be compensated for our time and effort and so the user can receive the assistance and end result desired.
Due to the rising costs of everything, we have had to adjust our SUPPORT policy slightly. Whenever possible we will have our clients call us. Since we don't charge for support calls, we don't feel it is necessary for use to pay for phone calls. It is a rare thing when we need to make a site visit (a "house call" so to speak). If we do, we will charge the client for lodging, gas and expenses we feel necessary.
If, at some time in the future, we would deem it necessary to change the above policy(s), we would first send a letter to every user, apprising them of the situation. We would do everything in our power to keep our relationship with our clients amiable. As stated earlier, we have been using these concepts for over 10 years. It is much easier to interact with people in a more “family” oriented environment than a strictly business environment.
This page last updated 9/16/2005.