Questions and Recommendations re Contacting Support

Common questions and recommendations regarding contacting Springer-Miller Systems (SMS) support center:

Can I find answers on my own?

SMS online help provides answers to many common (and uncommon) questions and is available to you 24x7. Many questions regarding the use and configuration of our SMS|Host, SMS|Touch, and SpaSoft software applications can be answered by searching or browsing the online help topics in our product specific HelpSites.

See SMS Online Help for more information and links to the HelpSites.

Who should contact SMS support?

Anyone from a SMS customer site with a valid support agreement may place a call to our support center. In order for us to provide the most effective service, we do request each property designate one or two SMS product experts to act as primary contacts in communicating issues to our Support Center whenever possible. Primary contacts are typically more senior staff members that are knowledgeable about the installed software and/or hardware and how it is used in the customer’s specific environment.

What information should I provide when opening a support case?

Providing specific information will assist our Support Center Staff in understanding your issue and when provided can significantly reduce time to resolution.

  • Please provide the specific product or integrated module name to which the issue pertains to. For example; SMS|Host, SpaSoft, SMS|POS, SMS|Touch, SMS|Spa, SMS|Golf, SMS|Enterprise, Gift Certificates, etc.

  • Please provide detailed contact information. If calling on behalf of another staff member, please provide the contact name of the individual we should contact with questions related to the case and the method and time to reach the individual.

  • If there is a specific, application generated, error message related to the issue you are experiencing, please provide the complete text of the error message and as much detail as possible regarding the steps leading up to the error. It can be helpful to capture the error message in an image (screen-shot) and attach / email it when opening a case.

  • If your issue involves a report, please provide the full name of the report, the menu path, and the parameters used when attempting to generate the report. It can be helpful to capture the results of the report in an image (screen-shot) and attach / email it when opening a case.

  • Please indicate which user(s) are experiencing the issue. Is the problem limited to only a single person in your organization or is it affecting everyone? Does the problem affect a single workstation or all?

  • Please provide any additional background information, including prior occurrences and frequency of the issue you are experiencing.

Additional support information and recommendations...

  • It may be necessary or helpful for a SMS support specialist to remotely connect to your system to properly diagnose and correct an issue. Please ensure your remote connectivity software, as outlined in your SMS support contract, is launched and is “waiting for connection”. Please ensure that screen savers are not configured on any PC’s or Servers that are used for remote support connectivity.
  • Any changes to login procedures, usernames or passwords for servers, workstations or gateways that SMS resources used to connect to your systems should be provided to SMS support immediately.
  • Any intentions to change IP addresses for machines that SMS resources use to connect to your systems should be scheduled with support ahead of time.
  • SMS support will often receive calls on issues that involve customer-supplied hardware, operating system and/or networking issues. It will be necessary for support to turn these issues back over to the property for resolution. It is advisable that the property staff has an internal (MIS/IT) or knowledgeable 3rd party hardware/networking resource available to them 24 hours / day.
  • For security purposes, SMS support staff are not allowed to provide passwords or change user configuration. It is advisable that the property has an internal resource available to them 24 hours / day to accommodate such requests.
  • Any changes to customer supplied hardware, operating systems, 3rd party software or networking related to the SMS software must be scheduled in advance. Any changes not scheduled may delay the operation of the customer-supplied product or the SMS software or cause unnecessary down-time. This includes but is not limited to: printing, servers, 3rd party vendor updates or changes to SMS|Touch workstations/printers, guest documents (customized forms), domain names etc.
  • A verified backup of all SMS software and related databases is required on a daily basis. Open Files backups are not advisable as databases in use may not be copied or copied in their entirety (causing potential data loss should a restore be necessary). SMS recommends that backups be verified each day and be performed to a rotating set of external media which can be kept off site in case of natural disasters such as fires, floods, etc.