Service Level Agreement (SLA) for IT Help Desk Services

Overview

This Service Level Agreement ("SLA") outlines the IT Help Desk services offered to NEOMED technology users and is intended to document procedures for support services and set service level expectations for these services. Service level commitments are specified below and for the purposes of this SLA. “NEOMED technology user” is defined as NEOMED faculty, staff, students, guests, or any other users of NEOMED technology resources.

Service Description

Service Scope

The scope of this service is to provide end-user support services to NEOMED technology users. Support is available to all NEOMED Technology Users through the Help Desk ticketing portal, phone, email, remote access, self-service online documentation, and walk-in.

IT Help Desk features include:

• Single point of contact for incidents and requests via TeamDynamix ticketing system;
• Real-time tracking of service requests;
• Service Points:
  • TeamDynamix ticketing system
  • NEOMED IT Knowledge Base (self-help)
  • Help Desk Email
  • Help Desk Telephone
  • Walk-in support
• Triage, troubleshoot, and resolve incidents;
• Fulfillment or escalation of requests;
• Communication of system outages and changes via email;

NEOMED Technology User Requirements for Service

• Utilize established Service Points for incidents and service requests
• Provide proof of identity for account validation requests
• Provide contact and all required information for the service request
• Be prepared to engage in troubleshooting steps with the goal of resolving an incident faster
• Read IT emails regarding system changes, maintenance, and outages
• Comply with the NEOMED Acceptable Use Policy.

Boundaries of Service Features and Functions

• Walk-in service may be limited by technician availability
• Resolution of incidents and requests may be delayed if all required information is not provided
• After five (5) business days of no response, requests or incidents may be canceled and communication of such will be via a TeamDynamix ticketing email
• Contact made to IT Help Desk outside of established Service Points may not receive a response
• Escalation of service requests and incidents is based on a pre-defined set of criteria and processes
• Approvals, authorizations, and/or contact information may be required for some service requests
• Support of personally owned equipment or software is very limited
• Disparity in some services exists due to disparate historical investments. These disparities will be addressed over time with the funding set by the university

Service Level Performance

• Service Points will utilize trained IT staff and student employees;
• Incidents and Service Requests will be reviewed weekly.

IT Help Desk Responsibilities in Support of Service

• Publish hours of operation
• Publish Service Points information
• Provide friendly, courteous, and efficient service
• Train staff on help desk processes, procedures, and best practices
• Develop business processes in alignment with higher education best practices
• Continuously evaluate and improve services for all end-users
• Use a service management tool in alignment with higher education best practices
• Meet response times associated with the priority assigned to incidents and service requests
• Actively communicate of any situation in which resolution of a request or incident requires an expense, process modification, or User training;
• Adhere to established maintenance windows
• Promptly refer any inquiries/complaints to the appropriate responsible team

Hours of Coverage and Escalation

Hours of Coverage

IT Help Desk hours are posted on the NEOMED IT Help Desk Portal.

Online self-help resources are available 24/7. Requests and incidents may be reported to the online ticket system, TeamDynamix, 24/7 except for periods of planned maintenance.

Service Exceptions to Coverage

Refer to Help Desk hours of coverage.

Escalation and Exceptions

If you are not satisfied with the performance of the service or incident/request process or you need to request exceptions to defined service levels based on exceptional business needs,, please contact the Director of IT Education Services or Chief Information Technology Officer. They will respond to the message within 5 business days and escalate any mutually agreed upon exceptions for review, approval, and funding, if necessary.

Service Requests

A Service Request is defined as a request for information, advice, or for access to a service.

Service Request Submission

Service Requests can be submitted by creating a support ticket in TeamDynamix (select Service Requests) or through the other Service Point options.

Service Request Response

For all requests, IT's objective is to acknowledge and assign requests within 12- 24 business hours of receipt. Our goal is to fulfill requests within seven (7) days in the order in which they were received; however, this may be impacted by factors including:

• Requests requiring new purchases
  • Computer purchases require a minimum of 10 business days for purchase and deployment (cutoff period)
  • Accessory purchases require a minimum of 5 days for purchase and deployment (cutoff period)
• Requests involving academic spaces
• Requests that impact a large number of users

University priorities may require exceptions during certain times of the academic year.

Incidents

An Incident is defined as any interruption in the normal functioning of a service or system.

Incident Report

Incidents can be reported by creating a support ticket in TeamDynamix (select Service Requests) or through the other Service Point options.

Incident Response

It is the goal of IT to respond to incidents as quickly as possible**. Given that complete resolution of an incident may require equipment replacement, repair, or vendor assistance, technicians may prioritize restoring functionality to reduce the impact to end users.

* Response time is dependent on the immediate availability of technicians and business hours.

** Resolution time is dependent on severity of incident, business hours, availability of replacement equipment, need for vendor assistance, etc.

Prioritization

All reported incidents receive a priority number based on the impact and urgency of the service interruption. Impact is determined based on the number of people/departments/buildings that are affected by the interruption or outage. Life/safety issues are taken into consideration for assessing and assigning priorities. Urgency is based on the acceptable delay to restore the service. Urgency can be critical or high and is determined based on the nature of the service outage.

IT may prioritize incoming incident requests as L1 or L2 priority if it meets one or more of the following criteria:

• Significant number of people affected;
• The level to which work is impaired for individuals;
• Academic deadlines;
• Significant impact on the delivery of instruction; or
• Significant risk to safety, law, rule, or policy compliance.