Supporting our clients is our first priority. There are two types of support: Pre-Implementation Support and Post-Implementation Support. The purpose of this page is to demonstrate how we support our software and to give you an idea of what you can expect during the course of an implementation. Pre-Implemenation Support Software implementation begins with the Setup phase. This phase includes acquiring equipment if necessary, installing the software on your dedicated server, and identifying your focus group. Your focus group will include your internal project manager and representatives from each department. These individuals will be responsible for approving the Training, Data Migration, and Customization phases.   The Training phase begins the moment Setup is complete. Every member of your focus group attends basic training sessions and reviews basic training materials. The basic training course covers general system conventions in the context of contact management. Subsequent training sessions are role-specific and limited to the relevant users. These include sales, product/service setup, time and expense entry, payables, receivables, system administration, and advanced accounting topics. After covering these subjects, your focus group will be well equipped for productive dialogue regarding your company’s processes.   The Customization phase begins by training your users on the red and orange sections of aACE, which includes projects, estimates, orders, jobs, shipments, and more. These modules form the core of your company’s day-to-day workflow and financial management. They are also the most flexible in their application and the most likely to be customized with existing preferences, additional fields, and management controls. Users are trained on the features as they already exist but these discussions naturally evolve in the deeper workflow analysis. From these discussions we turn “our system” into “your system.”   The Data Migration phase occurs concurrently with the Training and Customization phases. We use our existing data migration tools and/or build new ones in order to develop a process for exporting, cleaning, and importing your data out of your previous system and into the new one. This is an iterative process requiring substantial participation from your focus group. Upon go live, however, everyone can rest assured that all of your data will be ported in an approved fashion.     Post-Implemenation Support The Rollout phase begins the moment aACE becomes your primary business management system. Your users will perform most activities for the first time in the first two months. During this time they will continue to work with the same support specialist they did during the pre-implementation phase. Support during this phase is characterized by personal, human interaction.   The Rollout phase naturally evolves into the Ongoing Support phase. The number of questions decreases, and the questions we do get tend to become more granular and related to aspects of the system outside of day-to-day workflows (e.g. How do I turn timesheets off for a particular person for certain days? How do I close the fiscal year?). During this phase users are typically assisted by our entire support staff and software support resources.     Training Guides & Videos   Best Practice Guides   System Documentation   Report Updates   Data Migration Tools   IT Support   Our library of training and video guides continues to expand. Each guide is focused on training a user how to operate a particular portion of the system. Guides are segmented by user level: beginner, intermediate, and advanced.   These guides describe best practices installing and maintaining the software. Subjects include recommended backup schedules, file replacement and maintenance how-to guides, and disaster recovery procedures.   This documentation is for advanced users. Each chapter describes a module or group of modules, record types, status levels, views, and task options.   Reporting updates are released monthly. Each update includes new or enhanced reports and exports. Most reporting requests are accommodated free-of-charge.   We have a handful of aDMT modules that help us import and validate your existing data before porting it to aACE. Each aDMT includes validation warnings for finding problem records and tools for fixing them.   We are not an IT support firm and do not offer hardware or network support. We will assist your IT department/consultant with installation and maintenance and are available to supervise such activities. We do have qualified IT specialists on staff, however, and will provide emergency assistance if your primary support channel is unavailable or unable to restore access.