General Beta Program

Overview

The General Beta Program provides participants with remote support from the Beta Management Team and Customer Support for the duration of the beta period. Customers are granted access to the software via download and are encouraged to carry on with testing at their convenience, although it is recommended to begin testing early on in the program, to allow more time for Development to fix issues reported. The Beta Management Team will contact participants once or twice weekly to verify testing status.

 

Benefits

Support - Customer Support personnel will be assigned to work with the customer to resolve issues and get bugs reproduced and fixed. Resources from our Beta Management Team in Ottawa will be committed to assisting Customer Support in order to ensure all customers' outstanding issues are resolved.

Ensure the product will meet user's needs - Participation in the program provides customers with the opportunity to have an early look at our upcoming products, moreover being offered a chance to impact subsequent revisions and find issues specific to their environment. This enables Cognos to ensure that the product will meet the customer's needs when released, which should have a direct impact on the success of our customers organizations.

 

General Beta Program Process

Qualification Questionnaire - Once the beta dates are confirmed, candidates will be sent instructions on how to complete the Qualifying Questionnaire. The questionnaire will provide Beta Management information which will determine if the proposed test environment meets conformance levels for the beta product.

Test Environment Conformance - Once verification of conformance is completed by the Beta Management Team, the customer will be notified of conformance status. In the event of a non-conformance, participants will be asked to perform upgrades as necessary, prior the beta start date.

Beta License Agreement - Once conformance level is met, a Beta License Agreement will be sent out for completion. This legal document must be reviewed, completed and returned before the beta is launched. Because participants are granted access to pre-release software, this step is mandatory.

Product Documentation - As it becomes available, confirmed participants will be sent beta documentation, such as installation guides, user guides and new features lists. If a new features list is released, customers are requested to select their features of interest. Doing so will provide the Beta Management Team with a more precise overview of the potential testing coverage for each feature, and therefore allow to prepare for internal testing as necessary (if a feature is not broadly tested externally).

Product Testing - On the beta start date, a download URL will be sent via email to all qualified customers, as well as any updates to documentation, which may include readme files. Participants will be expected to test throughout the beta period, at convenience, and provide feedback to the Beta Management Team on a weekly basis, until testing completion. If issues or questions arise, participants are expected to log beta calls with the Customer Support Team, as they would normally do for production related issues.

 

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