Service Level Agreement
This document is usually paired with our application hosting agreement and describes our commitments to support your application when we’re hosting the software.
Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Introduction
This service level agreement (SLA) describes the levels of service that YOUR ORGANIZATION (‘the Client’) will receive from Capital Technology Services (Registered as Chapin Technology Service LLC) (‘the Company’).
This SLA should be read alongside the IT support contract between the Client and the Company. Although the SLA covers key areas of the Client’s IT systems and support, the support contract may include areas not covered by this SLA.
Purpose
The Client depends on IT equipment, software and services (together: ‘the IT system’) that are provided, maintained and supported by the Company. Some of these items are of critical importance to the business.
This service level agreement sets out what levels of availability and support the Client is guaranteed to receive for specific parts of the IT system. It also explains what penalties will be applied to the Company should it fail to meet these levels.
This SLA forms an important part of the contract between the Client and the Company. It aims to enable the two parties to work together effectively.
Scope
Parties
This SLA is between:
Dates and Reviews
This agreement begins on July 11th, 2016 and will run for a period of 12 months.
It may be reviewed at any point, by mutual agreement. It may also be reviewed if there are any changes to the Client’s IT system.
Equipment, Software and Services Covered
This SLA covers only the equipment, software and services in the table below. This list may be updated at any time, with agreement from both the Client and Company.
Please note:
The Company guarantees response times for all items listed in this section.
The Company guarantees uptime only for items with a tick in the Covered for uptime? column.
These items have been assigned a priority level, from 1 (most important) to 3 (least important). The priority levels help determine the guaranteed uptime and response time.
[Edit this table to reflect your own business. Sometimes this information is contained in a separate database or document. Often, the Company will include extra details, like hardware serial numbers or software licence keys.]
| Service | Hostname, IP Address, or Serial Number | Priority | Covered for Uptime |
|---|---|---|---|
Exclusions
This SLA is written in a spirit of partnership. The Company will always do everything possible to rectify every issue in a timely manner.
However, there are a few exclusions. This SLA does not apply to:
- Any equipment, software, services or other parts of the IT system not listed above
- Software, equipment or services not purchased via and managed by the Company
Additionally, this SLA does not apply when:
- The problem has been caused by using equipment, software or service(s) in a way that is not recommended.
- The Client has made unauthorised changes to the configuration or set up of affected equipment, software or services.
- The Client has prevented the Company from performing required maintenance and update tasks.
- The issue has been caused by unsupported equipment, software or other services.
- This SLA does not apply in circumstances that could be reasonably said to be beyond the Company’s control. For instance: floods, war, acts of god and so on.
- This SLA also does not apply if the Client is in breach of its contract with the Company for any reason (e.g. late payment of fees).
Having said all that, [Company] aims to be helpful and accommodating at all times, and will do its absolute best to assist [Client] wherever possible.
Responsibilities
Company responsibilities
The Company will provide and maintain the IT system used by the Client.
The IT support contract between the Company and the Client includes full details of these responsibilities.
Additionally, the Company will:
Ensure relevant software, services and equipment are available to the Client in line with the uptime levels listed below.
Respond to support requests within the timescales listed below.
Take steps to escalate and resolve issues in an appropriate, timely manner.
Maintain good communication with the Client at all times.
Client responsibilities
The Client will use the Company-provided IT system as intended.
The IT support contract between the Company and the Client includes full details of the IT system and its intended uses.
Additionally, the Client will:
Notify the Client of issues or problems in a timely manner.
Provide the Company with access to equipment, software and services for the purposes of maintenance, updates and fault prevention.
Maintain good communication with the Company at all times.
Guaranteed uptime
Uptime levels
In order to enable the Client to do business effectively, the Company guarantees that certain items will be available for a certain percentage of time.
These uptime levels apply to items in the Equipment, software and services covered table that show a tick in the Covered for uptime? column.
The level of guaranteed uptime depends on the priority level of each item:
| Priority Level | Guaranteed uptime |
|---|---|
| 1 | 99.9% |
| 2 | 99.5% |
| 3 | 99% |
Measurement and Penalties
Uptime is measured the using Company’s automated systems, over each calendar month. It is calculated to the nearest minute, based on the number of minutes in the given month (for instance, a 31-day month contains 44,640 minutes).
If uptime for any item drops below the relevant threshold, a penalty will be applied in the form of a credit for the Client.
This means the following month’s fee payable by the Client will be reduced on a sliding scale.
The level of penalty will be calculated depending on the number of hours for which the service was unavailable, minus the downtime permitted by the SLA:
| Priority Level | Penalty per hour (Pro-rated to nearest minute) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 5% of total monthly fee |
| 2 | 2% of total monthly fee |
| 3 | 1% of total monthly fee |
Important notes:
Uptime penalties in any month are capped at 50% of the total monthly fee
Uptime measurements exclude periods of routine maintenance. These must be agreed between the Company and Client in advance.
Guaranteed response times
When the Client raises a support issue with the Company, the Company promises to respond in a timely fashion.
Response times
The response time measures how long it takes the Company to respond to a support request raised via the Company’s online support system.
The Company is deemed to have responded when it has replied to the Client’s initial request. This may be in the form of an email or telephone call, to either provide a solution or request further information.
Guaranteed response times depend on the priority of the item(s) affected and the severity of the issue. They are shown in this table:
| Priority Level | Fatal | Severe | Medium | Minor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15min | 15min | 30min | 60min |
| 2 | 30min | 30min | 45min | 60min |
| 3 | 60min | 60min | 75min | 90min |
Response times are measured from the moment the Client submits a support request via the Company’s online support system.
Response times apply during standard working hours (9am — 5.30pm) only, unless the contract between the Client and Company specifically includes provisions for out of hours support.
Severity levels
The severity levels shown in the tables above are defined as follows:
Fatal: Complete degradation — all users and critical functions affected. Item or service completely unavailable.
Severe: Significant degradation — large number of users or critical functions affected.
Medium: Limited degradation — limited number of users or functions affected. Business processes can continue.
Minor: Small degradation — few users or one user affected. Business processes can continue.
Measurement and penalties
Response times are measured using the Company’s support ticketing system, which tracks all issues from initial reporting to resolution.
It is vital the Client raises every issue via this system. If an issue is not raised in this way, the guaranteed response time does not apply to that issue.
If the Company fails to meet a guaranteed response, a penalty will be applied in the form of a credit for the Client.
This means the following month’s fee payable by the Client will be reduced on a sliding scale.
The level of penalty will be calculated depending on the number of hours by which the Company missed the response time, minus the downtime permitted by the SLA:
| Priority Level | Penalty per hour (Pro-rated to nearest minute) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 5% of total monthly fee |
| 2 | 2% of total monthly fee |
| 3 | 1% of total monthly fee |
Important notes:
Response time penalties in any month are capped at 50% of the total monthly fee
Response times are measured during working hours (9am — 5.30pm).
For instance, if an issue is reported at 5.00pm with a response time of 60 minutes, the Company has until 9.30am the following day to respond.
Resolution times
The Company will always endeavour to resolve problems as swiftly as possible. It recognises that the Client’s computer systems are key to its business and that any downtime can cost money.
However, the Company is unable to provide guaranteed resolution times. This is because the nature and causes of problems can vary enormously.
For instance, it may be possible to resolve a fatal server issue in minutes, simply by restarting the server. But if a server fails due to disk error or a hardware fault (also classed as a fatal issue) it may take much longer to get back up and running.
In all cases, the Company will make its best efforts to resolve problems as quickly as possible. It will also provide frequent progress reports to the Client.
Right of Termination
The Company recognises that it provides services that are critical to the Client’s business.
If the Company consistently fails to meet the service levels described in this document, the Client may terminate its entire contract with the Company, with no penalty.
This right is available to the Client if the Company fails to meet these service levels more than five times in any single calendar month.
Approval
This agreement has been signed by the parties.
Capital Technology Services (Registered as Chapin Technology Service LLC)
Signed : ________________________
Name :
Title :
Date :
YOUR ORGANIZATION
Signed : ________________________
Name :
Title :
Date :
- Both parties must sign above and keep a copy for their own records.