HELPMATE Customer Care....
HELPMATE Customer Care provided by PMC Software completes the total solution package! Customers can operate our software products with confidence, knowing that comprehensive support services are simply a phone call away.
 Our Support Group is one of the most competent in the industry with an average of over 10 years experience. Some members of our staff have up to 25 years experience in the glass industry coupled with PMC Software. All of our support personnel also provide installation services so they’re familiar with plant and production operations and know what it’s like from your perspective. We know the pressure of getting a line back up and running as fast as possible and react accordingly. Even though we’re a software company, we’re often called when hardware issues arise and can direct your staff to the appropriate hardware manufacturer’s people and work in sync to solve the problem.
We also use the latest in support and remote access technology to assist in upgrades, installations, fixes and training. Recently PMC has added WebEx  remote conferencing and support to our arsenal of tools to better help our customers. WebEx can be used in areas where VPN or PcAnywhere access is unavailable. In addition, WebEx can provide support, demos or training to groups of people simultaneously at diverse locations. These webcasts, offer the same information, at the same time, to all appropriate glass personnel in a family of companies.
Telephone Support
As a PMC Software customer, you may need to contact us for support when a particular function is not working as expected, or you may need to make changes to the way you had been doing a process in the past. You may also want to ask us to make changes to your software package (to add functionality or a new enhancement).
During normal business hours (8:30 AM through 5:00 PM ET), PMC Software technicians are available to support you by telephone, e-mail, modem or the internet. This support is for software licensed from PMC Software and may consist of answering a question for you, helping to resolve a software issue or aiding with parameter changes. As a subscriber to one of the PMC Software HELPMATE support plans, assistance is just a phone call away! If the call is made outside of normal business hours, a technician is available via cell phone. Because after-hours support is limited to telephone support only (no modem availability), it is limited to critical (plant down) situations and other emergency situations where recovery or instructions aid the plant until normal business hours when both the plant and PMC have access to their full staffs.
Hardware Support
Often when customers come to PMC Software for a manufacturing solution, the package includes hardware items (file servers, workstations, monitors, printers, etc.). PMC Software Installation Technicians install combinations of hardware and software during many implementations. Each hardware component includes the original manufacturer’s warranty covering manufacturing defects. The most efficient way to handle warranty claims is by contacting the manufacturer for instructions.
PMC Software Customer Care technicians will attempt to assist you in determining whether there is a  hardware-related problem when you call for support and if so, direct you to the appropriate manufacturer’s support location or your local hardware/network support group. This service is offered as a means to help you get your system back up and running, but is not intended to be comprehensive support. Support beyond that covered by the manufacturer’s warranty is not covered under any HELPMATE plan.
Software Upgrades
From time to time, software changes are made to any system. These changes can be a universal enhancement to the functionality of the particular module, or to resolve a specific issue that has been reported.
It is always in the user’s best interest to stay current with any changes made to a software package. By staying with the latest version, the user is assured of having the latest in functionality trends. From a support standpoint, there is also a benefit to the customer in having the latest version of an application. Our support technicians will be most familiar with the current version of the software, speeding up the time required to resolve the call. In addition, any previously reported anomalies with the package would have been addressed in the current version. Overall, installing upgrades as they are released will save time, which relates directly to your bottom line!
Software Add-On Service
As the development process matures on a product, we find better ways of utilizing our existing design concepts. Through continued contact with our clients, we continue to stay up-to-date with the current operational methods used at the plant level. Additionally, our customers regularly suggest processes that they want us to automate for them.
These new system add-on functions can supplement the existing packages, usually at a fraction of the original cost. Add-on’s may be in the form of an improvement to material yields; an increase in the speed of the overall system execution; or increased functionality, such as an additional report or menu function. We are able to interface with more machinery control equipment types than ever before!
As a PMC Software HELPMATE customer, you reap the benefits from our 24-plus years experience in the window and flat glass industry, as well as the knowledge we’ve gained during that time as the world’s largest software supplier in this specialized market.
Software Audit Service
As you run a production package for a period of time, some housekeeping functions tend to get neglected. Sooner or later, these functions must be completed to assure optimal operations of your software. In an effort to help prevent these items from becoming a problem, PMC Software offers a Software Audit Service. A Software Integrity Validation program will be run for our HELPMATE 7x24 Plan and HELPMATE 5x8 Plan members. This program allows PMC Software technicians to evaluate the versions of the various program modules that you are currently using at your location. Version updates will be created, as required, by a PMC Software technician and delivered to you via CD.
Additionally, while connected to your system via modem, PMC Software technicians can determine potential problems due to excessively large data files. The technician will advise you of a potential problem and offer to take steps to reduce the file sizes, as appropriate. By maintaining trim and lean file sizes, your system will operate with better speed and efficiency!
Software Backup Service
Catastrophic disasters happen! Without a recent backup of your program and parameter setting files you will not be able to continue working if a disaster occurs.
 At PMC Software, we recognize that there is a need to be assured that each customer has, at the very least, a minimal system backup to give them a starting point for disaster recovery. In addition to that, a customer should be doing system backups on a daily basis. For each of our customers who participate in the 7x24 or 5x8 HELPMATE plans, PMC Software can instruct them on creating a minimal system backup. The customer is responsible for the quality of the contents of the backup disk.
 A CD read/write drive will provide a transferable media between the customer’s system and PMC Software. From that media, the customer can create a backup of their PMC Software programs and system parameter data files. For the HELPMATE 7x24 Plan and HELPMATE 5x8 Plan customers, we will be encouraging them to minimally send a backup set annually. The customer’s latest backup disk will be stored at our Flemington, NJ facility. While we do not maintain copies of your current production data files (including customer and order information), should a catastrophic recovery be required we would have your program disks available to ship to you or transfer critical files via e-mail or modem.
Training
From time to time we recognize that your company personnel will change, either through movement between departments or as a new hire comes aboard. PMC Software offers several types of classes for training new employees or re-training existing ones in our Flemington, NJ classroom facilities. We have training available for each of our software packages, with each geared specifically to that application. The type of training program depends on the software package. See Training for more information.
New Products
Software is always changing. Fabricators have new and differing requirements for their tools on a regular basis. As a major software designer in the window and flat-glass industry, PMC Software is constantly offering new and innovative products!
As a HELPMATE 7x24 Plan or HELPMATE 5x8 Plan subscriber, you will be entitled to ongoing discounts on new products we offer, as well as the opportunity to license them in advance of the general public, getting a big jump on your competition when it comes to new and innovative products
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