Thanks for Your Input!
Have an idea that would make the CIMcloud product better and your job easier? See things that are missing or just don’t work the way you want them to? We’d love to get your feedback! In fact, the foundation for everything the CIMcloud platform does today came from customer input.
Overview
The purpose of this article is to provide more details on how:
- You can get your ideas, suggestions, and changes installed on your CIMcloud application
- Changes get made in the CIMcloud product (a little about our processes and timing)
- You can know what’s coming and when new stuff gets released
Quick Reference Info
If you want to skip the details below, and take action, here are some quick links for you.
- To request a product change, post a support ticket and it will be routed to our product team
How To Make Your Ideas a Reality
There are four (4) general paths that you can take to make your ideas for enhancements, changes, new features, etc a reality on your CIMcloud application.
All Paths
All paths start with these steps:
- Step #1: You post a support ticket detailing your request
- Step #2: Our support team will do their best to classify the request into one of the below paths
- Note: You can optionally specify (in the support request ticket) that you only want to consider a “standard product” path, and path #4 will be ruled out.
Path #1 (You Have It) – You Already Have The Feature/Capability
This is obviously great news for you. Many times we get requests and are delighted to let our customers know that they already have that capability (or something similar) in the base CIMcloud platform or the add-on bundles they are already paying for. If this happens, our team will let you know and give you some guidance on how you can use it. If you need expert help, they can route you to a professional services partner (our in-house custom rapid development group may be an option).
Path #2 (We Have It) – We Have an Add-On Bundle That Does It
Not as great as already having the capabilities, but a close second. In this case, you can purchase the add-on bundle and quickly get access to it.
A high-level listing of the product features and add-on bundles can be found on the “Pricing” section of the cimcloud.com website.
The Typical Steps Are:
- Step #3: An Account Manager will reach out to you to provide more information / a demo
- Step #4 (if you choose to): You can purchase the add-on bundle
- Step #5: Our deployment team will install the bundle
- Step #6: You can go through self-service implementation and live rollout, or
- You can pay to get expert consulting / help from a pro services partner
Path #3 (Future?) – We Will Consider It for a Future Release
If we don’t already have it, we may actually be working on it. If not, we will always consider it for a future release. In this path, our product teams will exclusively decide if and when we do work. We do not make commitments on timeframe or where it will fit into the product (as part of the base, part of an existing bundle, or as a new add-on bundle). We can, however, at least give you an idea of which one of the below buckets it is likely to fall into.
The Typical Steps Are:
- Step #3: A Support Representative will send it to a Product Manager for review and feedback
- Step #4: The Product Manager will provide input on which bucket it is likely to fall into, and will add it to our “backlog” (which is a list of ideas / potential work to do).
- Step #5: The Support Representative will send you the feedback and offer up Path #4 if you want it
- Step #6: You can tune into our major product release webinars and minor revision help center articles to see if your feature (or any other new features you may want) made the release.
- We send emails to notify you of webinars + we keep them posted on cimcloud.com
- Our minor revisions are posted in the help center (search for “release” and look for the latest version)
The Buckets It Could Fall Into Are:
We do not make hard commitments on which bucket it will end up in, but we will let you know which one it is likely to fall into. Note: We do not create long-term feature roadmaps, because it is not the best practice for software companies. Instead, we focus on product outcomes for users and leave our teams the flexibility to learn, iterate, and improve the product (and any features that come out of that) to drive better outcomes for you users (that’s you and your customers).
- Bucket A: Part of a Minor Revision on the Current Major Release
- We release minor revisions approximately 2 to 4 times per major release
- This equates to once every 4 to 8 weeks
- Depending on where you stand in that cycle, you can expect that if your request falls into this bucket, it will be 5 to 10 weeks to actually see that change on your CIMcloud site.
- Bucket B: Part of the Next Major Release
- We do two major releases per year.
- One in late spring (around May) and one in late fall (around October)
- Bucket C: Part of a Major Release in the Next Two Years (But Not the Immediate Next One)
- Bucket D: Not Likely to Be Released in the Next Two Years
- Critical Bug Fixes (“Hot Fixes”)
- This is not a “bucket” that new features, changes, or enhancements fall into.
- It is listed here just for reference.
- This is related to critical bugs that are causing hard errors / breaking the application.
- We complete critical bug fixes and push them to a daily / bugfix version
- These versions have a temporary life (until the next minor revision) and can be used to quickly address issues.
Path #4 (Custom) – You Can Pay a Professional Services Partner to Do It Now
If you have to have it, want control over time, and are willing to pay someone to do it, this is the option you may need to take.
The Typical Steps Are:
- Step #3: An Account Manager contact will reach out to you for more discovery and next steps. They can also connect you with a 3rd party professional services partner if needed.