Frequently asked Questions about IMS Map360 Customer Care

Leica Geosystems Incident Mappping Suite Map360 and Evidence Recorder are products proudly supported by a Customer Care program which provides:

• Ongoing updates and free Service Pack downloads while your Customer Care package is current
• Access to knowledgable technical support with a team focused on providing the best support for the current product
• Access to special deals with training and other services

 

This article will help answer most of your questions related to our Customer Care Package (CCP) or Annual Maintenance Subscription (AMS).

Q) How does the CCP benefit my organization?

A) Those of our customers who are on a CCP plan are guaranteed to get bug fixes, new features, new releases and phone and web support from our support department.  In addition, we offer selected discounts for our training products to customers who have a current CCP plan.

Q) Why should I have to pay for bug fixes, why don't you post patches for free.

A) In the past this is what we did. We kept new features for upgrades, and released bug fixes in service packs. Trying to maintain software projects so that bugs and new features were separate was very difficult to manage and sometimes led to even more bugs! The extra maintenance involved took a lot of extra effort on our part and part of this extra cost was passed on to you in the overall cost of an upgrade.

Overall, it is much easier and safer to work with one code stream that includes bug fixes and new features and just release it when it is ready. This method allows us to incur less overall operating cost which allows us to pass this savings on to you.

Another thing to consider is that many bug fixes are dependent on other components or "chunks" of code that might have new features in them. In the past, fixes for these types of bugs could not be released, because new features were always saved for upgrades.

From time to time we will release "free" updates for important bug fixes and this will be done by only incrementing the third number in the product version. There is a description of how this works below.

Q) How is my CCP plan and USB License Key related to one another?

A) When you purchase our software (new license or upgrade), we add a record in our license database. The record contains the serial number of the key, the name of the organization that owns the key, what product and how many licenses the key is allowed to run, and also includes the end date for the CCP plan. Also stored in the same database are the dates of each build we release to the public. For example IMS Map360 (1.1) was released on May 13, 2016.  If your CCP plan was active at the time of release you could install that release, update your key and continue working.  These version numbers and dates are stored in our database.

When you run the license manager on your computer, it contacts our license database. The first thing that happens is based on the USB key's serial number, we look up and find the record that matches your serial number. This record will contain the end date for your CCP plan which we then use to determine what product version you are allowed to run. The last version released before your end date is what you are entitled to run with your key.

Q) How exactly does Leica Geosystems use product version numbers?

A) Product versions are always denoted by three numbers separated by decimals and take on the format of major release.minor release.build; for example 1.0.3 or 1.1.5. The first number will always denote the release version of the product and all service packs will be denoted as the second number. Minor additions to service pack releases will be denoted as the third number.

An important thing to note is that the third number isn't used by our license system, meaning that as far as our licensing system is concerned an 1.1.0, or 1.1.10, or 1.1.99 are all the same service pack version. A key activated for 1.1.0 will run all three versions. For example we released an update (1.1.1) for IMS Map360 in early Mat 2016 which means that anyone who has a key activated for 1.1.0 can also run 1.1.1 because the major and minor number are the same.

Q) How can I confirm what version I'm running?

A) You can confirm what version you have installed by using one of the following methods:

1. With the program running, the product version will be displayed in the program title bar. For example you will see something like: IMS Map360 1.1.0
2. On the Home Ribbon Pick "About Map360."  On this screen you will see the build date and build version.

Q) How can I find my CCP end date?

A) On the Home Ribbon Pick "About Map360."  Towards the bottom you will see how many days you have left in your maintenance plan.

Q) What happens if I let my CCP plan expire?

A) You will still be able to run your software forever as long as you have your USB key. You will be able to run the license manager which will update your key with the last version that was current before your end date. You can access our support staff, and they will do their best to help you with the older product but they may not have all the answers you require as their training focusses on the current product.  You can make use of Leica Geosystems online training but will be charged the full price. 

Also you will not be able to run any new service packs or new releases until you renew your CCP plan.

Q)‚  Do I have to renew my CCP plan immediately?‚  What happens if I wait three months before I renew it?

A)‚  No you are not required to renew your CCP plan right away.‚  Once you're on the CCP plan your expiry date never changes, it will expire on the same date every year.‚  If you decide to renew three months after your expiry date, your new end date will not be one year from the date you renew, it will be one year from the date your CCP expired.‚ 

If you wait 14 months, you will need to purchase 2 years, which will give you all the updates for the previous 14 months, plus all updates and upgrades for the next 10 months.