Support & Services

An experienced team of support agents, consultants and trainers are ready to facilitate active partnerships with our customers, so they can profit from our comprehensive service.

From product introduction over specific industry packages to engineering of pilot plants, WinCC OA specialists are available every step of the way with valuable product know-how. In addition, we provide extensive training services: Starting with introductory courses for WinCC OA beginners, to project-specific workshops for project engineers and decision-makers and special training for driver programming and API integration.

Regarding the support around the WinCC OA product itself, we distinguish between Mainline-versions (maintained by Basic Support) and mature versions (maintained by Extended Services).

Figure 1. WinCC OA Mainline* Support model

*Hard- and Software requirements for each WinCC OA Version have to be fulfilled

Basic Support

If you are using one of the mainline versions and facing a product problem, you will receive basic support, as long as the following conditions are fulfilled.

Figure 2. Needed Licenses & Software Services during project timeline

1 Up to 2h per case, which must have been officially reported via SIOS (Siemens Industry Online Support)

When reporting an issue within the engineering phase, using your valid inhouse development license, basic support is granted.

As soon as the commissioning-phase has started (in combination with switching to the dedicated plant licenses), you will need at least a SUS (Software update service) level Software Service Contract to receive basic support.

What is the characteristic of a product problem?

Examples:

  1. Program or process crashes during runtime
  2. Product malfunctions during configuration tasks
  3. Serious performance issues despite a well configured WinCC OA project running on hardware that fulfills our requirements
  4. Usability or online documentation issues
  5. Regressions after update to a mainline version

You must be able to provide a detailed description or step-by-step instructions of how to reproduce the problem based on a newly created or a provided reduced project.

You can not be using modified product parts (panels/scripts/libs etc) within your customer specific project/subproject paths.

Stay up to date!

Before reporting product problems, we recommend an upgrade/update to the newest WinCC OA version/update level on one of the officially supported operating systems, as possible fixes will always be based on the version's newest update level.

Note: Updates for plant licenses are only allowed in combination with one of our Software Services.

Software Services

  1. Patch-Only Service (POS) Download of WinCC OA updates for the purchased WinCC OA major version (f.e. 3.19) is allowed (valid for 12 months, renewed automatically).
  2. Software Update Service (SUS) Download of WinCC OA updates and WinCC OA major versions (f.e. 3.18, 3.19, 3.20) is allowed (valid for 12 months, renewed automatically). Basic Support is granted on a fair usage principle (up to 2 hours per case on average).
  3. Software Maintenance Service (SMS) Download of WinCC OA updates and WinCC OA major versions is allowed (see SUS). Basic Support is granted on a fair usage principle (up to 6 hours per case on average*).

    *4h per case for <50k Power Tags, 6h per case for >50k Power Tags

  4. Warranty period Valid for the first year after purchasing a plant license.
Figure 3. WinCC OA Software Services for plant licenses

1 Only for experienced staff with WinCC OA Training

2 4h for <50k PowerTags, 6h for >50k PowerTags

Useful links:

Basic Support is not Training!

As Basic Support is not intended to be misused as product training or a kind of designing/coding/projecting support for your personal tasks, we reserve our right to refer to other specialized services in the following cases, as they are not in focus of the WinCC OA Basic Support:

Request Intended Service
Simple or general technical questions Online Documentation/Chatbot, Portal/Whitepapers/Guidelines
Assistance in error reproduction Extended Services
Project specific issues/coding/dimensioning/optimization Extended Services
Tender processing/project dimensioning Extended Services/pre-sales
General licensing questions WinCC OA regional sales/pre-sales staff
IT and infrastructure topics Extended Services
3rd-party issues Extended services or 3rd-party product support
General Knowledge development Training department/courses

Extended Services

A highly specialized team of WinCC OA experts is ready to assist you with a variety of specific support tasks on a time and material basis.

How to order extended services

Check out the following list of the mostly used extended services:

  1. All kind of analysis/troubleshooting for older WinCC OA versions than our current mainline​
  2. Project startup workshop
  3. Architecture definition​
  4. Project engineering assistance with dedicated contact person
  5. Special project developments (special requirements, web widgets, gateways, etc.)
  6. WinCC OA library development assistance
  7. Project or architecture reviews with report
  8. Project-specific problem or performance analysis​
  9. Project upgrade (analysis with report, assistance during upgrade, etc.)
  10. Assistance for complex error reproduction scenarios​
  11. On-site assistance for any tasks related to WinCC OA and their components​
  12. 24/7 on-duty assistance or priority callback for certain time range
  13. Database support Oracle®, InfluxDB®, PostgreSQL® and MS SQL®
  14. Raima/HDB to SQLite/NGA migration​
  15. Setup and consulting for WinCC OA Add-ons e.g., APM, AMS, DRS, …
  16. WinCC OA Security services (as per the WinCC OA Security Guideline, NIS2)
  17. Tests on unsupported platforms (e.g., unsupported OS)​
  18. Individual Workshops (driver workshop, UI workshop, business logic, etc.)​
  19. Factory Acceptance Test (FAT)/Site Acceptance Test (SAT) assistance
  20. Creating of prototypes, proof of concepts, demos, etc.
  21. Project tender analysis and evaluation of projects​

...and other ways to assist you directly, focusing on your specific issues.

How to create a Support Request

You can submit your enquiries easily online by means of a Support Request at any time. Access to the online Support Request form here. A registration is necessary first.

Figure 4. Steps to filling out a Support Request

After selecting our product and clicking on the Next Button, you will have to answer some additional questions about the case you are reporting.

To ensure the fastest possible (parallel) progress, please don't mix multiple different topics in one request, but instead submit a separate Support Requests for each issue!

The description of your issue must be submitted in either English or German!

After creating your Support Request, your request will be initially checked by Siemens Industry Support. Further detailed processing of your enquiry will be carried out by the WinCC OA specialists during Austrian business hours, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm (CET/CEST).

Communication/Pro-activity

After a support request has been created and successfully passed the Siemens Industry Support pre-checks, you'll be actively contacted via email by the WinCC OA product support, as soon as it has been dispatched to the dedicated ETM specialists.

Important: As you expect to interact with a technical expert on our side, we also expect to get a well-founded technical counterpart of your company (with trainings/certifications), who can assist our analysis tasks as effectively as possible by delivering clarifying answers, logs or other requested data in time.

You can check the status of your support requests at any time in the Siemens Industry online portal. It is also possible to send us information related to your request directly via this portal.

Which information is necessary to open a Support Request?

To speed up the analysis process and avoid time-consuming back-and-forths to gather all necessary information, please always include the following:

  • WinCC OA version and patch level
  • Operating system (incl. kernel/build version)
  • System configuration: single-system, redundant system, distributed system, …
  • Detailed problem description and/or step-by-step instructions on how to reproduce the reported issue.
  • Relevant logfiles, error outputs, progs, config, …
  • The license container ID of your WinCC OA development license
  • The license container ID of your WinCC OA plant license, in combination with a software service (SUS/SMS).

Example:

WinCC OA version and patch level: 3.19.13

Operating system: Windows10 64bit Version 22H2 (Build 190345.4046)

System configuration: redundant system

< ... Detailed problem description ... >

What tools/reports does WinCC OA offer for additional Support Request input?

We offer our own WinCC OA Diagnostic Tool to provide you with a version/project report. This will significantly speed up your Support Request's completion time.

Classification of Support requests

The following priorities are designated:

Priority Issue indication Analysis time
A Crash of a WinCC OA process, system inoperable or similar 3 business days
B Restricted operation possible, only time-/cost-intensive workaround is possible 8 business days
C Minor bugs or usability issues 14 business days
Note: All the times listed are average processing times. They are applied as a default if no other time-frame has been agreed to within any specific contract.

Glossary

Plant License Provides the license options for a specific end customer project/plant. No expiry date.
Inhouse development license (IDL) Annually renewed development license. Used by engineers for project engineering.
Factory/Site Acceptance Test (FAT/SAT) The end customer project is installed on the dedicated hardware or a digital twin thereof, using the dedicated plant licenses. Can be carried out the factory of the integrator (FAT) or at the site of the end customer (SAT).
Engineering Represents the initial project creation by the integrator, using an IDL-license.
Commissioning Represents every further necessary step until live operation at the end customer site is reached: Design reviews, installation/verification, functional performance testing, operator training/documentation, handover/acceptance testing, reliability testing, monitoring etc.