The Perl Clinic - Commercial Support for Perl and Oraperl
Date: 1997/04/17
Message-ID: <E8srw9.Ax4_at_ig.co.uk>
The Perl Clinic - Supporting People Using Perl
- Do you need professional support for Perl and/or Oraperl?
- Do you need a support contract with defined levels of service?
- Do you want to pay only for what you need?
WHO WE ARE The Perl Clinic has been established to provide a home for Perl commercial support services.
The Perl Clinic is a service of the Paul Ingram Group and provides professional support for companies and individuals who use Perl. The Paul Ingram Group has provided quality software development and support to some of the worlds largest corporations for ten years. We are now offering the same quality support services for Perl.
This service is led by Tim Bunce, an active perl5-porter since 1994 and well known as the author and maintainer of the DBI, DBD::Oracle and Oraperl modules and author/co-maintainer of The Perl5 Module List.
We are committed to supporting The Perl Institute in its mission to "help people help Perl help people". To that end, we will be donating 20% of the profit from The Perl Clinic to the The Perl Institute.
WHAT WE OFFER A strong professional technical support service, working with clients to:
- identify and resolve problems
- provide fast answers to technical questions
- work effectively with the Perl development team on your behalf if required - saving time and effort for everyone
- offer consultancy and development on a time and materials basis if required
We cannot guarantee to solve every problem, however we will guarantee to give you our best efforts and stake our reputation on your ultimate satisfaction.
HOW IT WORKS Support is purchased and delivered in Units to Support Contacts. We offer two types of units: time-based (15 minutes each) and incident-based, priced separately and offering different levels of support to best fit your needs. Units are purchased in advance and unused units will lapse after twelve months. Additional units can be bought at any time. The Perl Clinic provides you with support via email, phone and fax, although email is preferred.
Incident-based Support
An `incident' is defined as a single problem or question on a single supported topic (listed below). An incident covers the complete resolution of a problem from initial receipt to closure. No matter how long it takes only one incident unit will be charged.
Incident-based support is a premium service which we limit to specific problem areas for which we can provide total in-depth coverage. We do reserve the right to close incidents that remain intractable after at least 5 hours work. However, we will not charge for any incident which we feel we have not been able to offer useful assistance and an effective workaround for your problem.
Time-based Support
The clock starts when one of our technical staff acknowledge receipt of your email, fax or telephone message. The clock is only running when our technical staff are actively working on your problem and we won't use more than one initial 15 minute unit without your agreement. After 15 minutes we will send you our fixes/suggestions/advice etc. and the clock stops.
If we have not resolved the problem we will include an estimate of the number of further units required. It is then your choice whether or not we continue with the resolution of the problem for you or you pursue it yourself using the information we have provided. If you want us to continue we will send you progress reports and won't use more units than the estimate without your agreement.
If you have any incident-based units you can `upgrade' the problem to an incident if appropriate and reclaim your initial 15 minute time unit. (Time-based support is the default for customers with both.)
Tailored Support
In addition to our Incident-based Support and Time-based Support services we can custom-tailor a support package to your needs. Please contact us to discuss how we can best meet your requirements.
Registered Support Contacts
Each support agreement names one or more Registered Support Contacts in your organization who act as your interface to The Perl Clinic. Using named contacts ensure effective management and monitoring of the agreement and helps ensure a smooth working relationship, both corporate and personal. Each contact is assumed to have the authority to `spend' support units. Contacts should ideally be among the most perl-proficient people in your organization and must have a reliable electronic mail address. Contacts may delegate to others if they will be unavailable.
WHAT WE SUPPORT Incident-based support is available for any problems or questions relating to:
- Use of the Perl script language and the standard Perl library modules (Perl5.003 or later full release versions. Not including installation.)
- Use of the DBI module and the DBD::Oracle/Oraperl modules (Not including installation.)
Time-based support is available for:
- Any perl related issue on any platform (including installation problems, any modules, CGI, XS etc).
It's worth saying that again just so it's clear: Time-based support is available for any perl related issue on any platform.
VALUE ADDED SERVICES If we are aware of additional information or other resources that you may find useful, we will supply you with applicable reference material (manuals, FAQs etc.) or point you to where it can be found.
We offer hourly consulting on the Perl language and software design and development in Perl to help you find problems before they occur. Our Module Design Check service is a particularly cost effective way to improve your design process (details on request).
Our core business is bespoke software systems development (specializing in bulk data acquisition/reporting and data-driven WWW systems for large corporates). We would be happy to discuss any requirements you may have and offer you a fixed price quotation.
CHARGES, PAYMENT AND DISCOUNTS There are no hidden charges or complex requirements. We aim to offer clear and quantifiable value for money.
When taking out or renewing a support contract, you purchase a Starter Pack and any additional units or support contacts you require. Additional items, as listed below, can be purchased at any time.
Support Package Services US Dollars UK Pounds ------------------------ ---------- --------- Starter Pack A 1,361 851(1 contact + 20 time units (5 hours) + 1 incident unit)
Starter Pack B 6,845 4,278(2 contacts + 48 time units (12 hours) + 5 incident units)
Starter Pack C 10,911 6,819(2 contacts + 72 time units (18 hours) + 10 incident units)
Additional Support Contact 2,000 1,250 Additional 10 time units 350 219 Additional 50 time units (saving 5%) 1,667 1,042 Additional 1 incident unit 770 481 Additional 5 incident units (saving 5%) 3,667 2,292
Module Design Check and other software services (per hour) Discounts and fixed prices quotations available. Details on request.
126 80
Discounts
All starter packs include 1 free Registered Support Contact and include a further discount over the basic prices (8%, 10% and 12% respectively).
Beyond the discounts included in the Starter Packs and Additional Units above we also offer an additional 10% discount off the overall cost if all the Registered Support Contacts are paid-up members of The Perl Institute (at Annual level or higher).
Payment
Payment should be made in US Dollars for US residents and UK Pounds Sterling for all other countries. No support can be offered until the support agreement has been signed and payment has been received.
WHAT NOW If you are interested in using the services of The Perl Clinic or you would like to know more, please contact us by e-mail at TPC_at_perl.co.uk or by phone on +44 1483 424424 (ask for Sue Tolson or Tim Bunce).
WHAT NEXT The Perl Clinic has been established to provide a home for Perl commercial support services. The services described above are simply a starting point for the clinic. We plan to expand and offer more packaged services in the months and years to come. If you need a commercial support agreement for Perl which goes beyond the terms described above, we are keen to work with you to create a custom support and service package for you.
We are also keen to talk to anyone who eithers wants a commercial perl service of any description or is offering a commercial perl service of any description.
One of our key plans is to develop a global support 'brokering' mechanism which will bring together people needing support and those offering it around the world (such as perl5-porter members and the authors and users of major perl modules such as Tk). Digital cash would go to those who provide the support.
As new services become available existing clients will be able to upgrade to those services at preferential rates and thus protect their investment.
Received on Thu Apr 17 1997 - 00:00:00 CEST