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SUMO needs some internal guidelines for when a project gets support (and what level).. and also what it looks like when we drop support.

Questions to think about before talking to the SUMO team and adding your product/app to SUMO

1. What languages do I need for user documentation?
   • If all you need is English, then you don't need SUMO KB articles (you could use github pages or a static site if you are English only). Once you start requiring more than one language e.g. English plus German, the SUMO platform is the only platform inside Mozilla capable of doing long form content in multiple languages on a consistent basis. For example, SUMO creates Firefox Desktop and Firefox for Android SUMO KB articles in English which are localized to multiple languages every 6-8 weeks. Nobody else in Mozilla can do this constant iterative multi-lingual consumer oriented longer form content creation (other Mozilla teams do short form snippets or strings but their process is slower).
2. Does my new product or app or experiment interact with existing Firefox products?
   • If it does then we probably need a SUMO canned response(s) for twitter and possibly SUMO KB articles or changes for those Firefox products. For example if Hopscotch had "graduated" to a full fledged product on SUMO then we probably would have needed a canned response for twitter explaining why it was only for iOS initially and wasn't on Android initially!
3. Do I need a SUMO forum for my product or app?
   • If you are on mobile, maybe, but probably not? Our experience shows that mobile folks don't use SUMO forums from their mobile devices. Instead they leave app store reviews that are really support requests. Why? Because it's easy! No extra step or login required. This could be fixed by funding developers to support social signin via app store logins i.e. Google Play id and apple id login and Amazon app store login in the SUMO platform. We currently don't have the software development resources to develop social signin.
4. Will my product or app be bundled with hardware that an OEM sells?
   • Then we can re-use the SUMO Firefox OS support model perhaps

Adding Support

Level 1 Full Support, KB + AAQ + Social

• Criteria for this level of support: TBD
• Full Support is for "tier 1" Mozilla products. It consists of the SUMO Knowledge Articles, localization by the voluneer SUMO contributors and full support for Forums in English via the Ask A Question flow (AAQ) and answering twitter questions in English. Currently the only tier 1 Mozilla products are Fennec (Firefox for Android) and Desktop (Firefox for Mac, Windows and Linux). Curerntly only English is really supported for Social and Forums.
• Reports for this level of support: TBD

Level 2 KB only support

• This includes i) Writing KB articles in English and ii) getting the community to localize them but doesn't include Forum support (Level 2 could have a forum but SUMO team doesn't really have time to report on that forum or help out in that forum) or anything else (like Android Play Store Review replying)
• The SUMO team currently only has the resources to do Level 1 for Firefox Desktop and Firefox for Android. All other products are Level 2, i.e. Firefox Focus, Firefox Klar, Firefox Rocket, Firefox for Fire TV, Firefox for Enterprise. Thunderbird is supported by the Thunderbird team of volunteers not SUMO staff.

Other Support Models: Paid Product Release e.g. Firefox OS model for pre-installs

• SUMO used to provide KB articles and act as 2nd tier support for Firefox OS phone manufacturers. This model could be reused for Firefox Reality bundled with VR/MR/XR headsets.

What about App Store Review Replying Support for Mobile Apps?

1. The SUMO team doesn't have any people to coordinate anything other than replying to Fennec Google Play Store reviews (i.e. no resources for the iOS App Store and the Amazon App store and any other Android apps on the Google Play Store). If App Store Review Replying is needed from the SUMO team, then please contact Patrick McClard to help hire SUMO staff and/or contractors for this purpose.
2. The SUMO team is working with Open Innovation to see if we can crowdsource this in a massive way to alleviate #1, i.e. the need to hire SUMO staff or contractors for non Fennec App Store review replying. The initial experiment will take place in 1H2018.
3. In addition to #2, the SUMO team is trying to determine other solutions for existing and future new Android apps, iOS Apps and Amazon apps. This may involve dropping some of the current SUMO activities.

Dropping Support

• If a Mozilla product is no longer supported, then we archive the product's SUMO KB articles as soon as Mozilla product management says it's ok. This may occur later than one would expect because of contractual obligations to keep SUMO KB articles and other content up. We currently don't have a formal data retention policy on deleting SUMO forum threads for unsupported products.