Service Level Agreement
Information Technology Systems
The University of Texas at Austin
Effective Date: 9/24/2008
Last Updated 8/23/2008
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Overview
ITS SharePoint Services provides a secure, enterprise-level portal environment for team collaboration. SharePoint allows users to aggregate and organize information in one place, as well as search the information within a site in order to find relevant information quickly and efficiently. The Service is designed to meet the business need for team collaboration, including team members who are external to the university. Users can work together on tasks, projects, documents, announcements, etc. Site administrators can control site organization, content and user permissions.
Review Process
This document defines the practices that Information Technology Services (ITS) will use for the SharePoint service. The details of this document may be reviewed and amended as required, or at least annually, to accurately reflect business and service needs.
Time Conventions
Unless otherwise indicated, business hours are from 8 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays and reduced schedule days.
Scope
The following user communities at the university are the intended recipients for the SharePoint service: faculty and staff.
Service Criticality
This service has been identified as Very Important, based on the ITS Critical Services Assessment Criteria. Please refer to the Critical Services Assessment Criteria for more information on the assessment methodology.
Service Description
- Default SharePoint site with rights for site administrators to create sub-sites
- Parent SharePoint site hosted on ITS SharePoint Services (i.e. "sharepoint.austin.utexas.edu/your dept name")
- Branded sites (i.e. "sharepoint.dept.utexas.edu") available for an additional annual fee
- One GB of storage for content and configuration data (Additional storage available at current Austin Disk pricing)
- Site administrator privileges for one primary and one secondary contact
- No predefined limit to the number of users that can be granted access to a site (users external to the university must claim a university credential (EID))
- Includes 1.5 hours of initial site administration training and consulting
- Includes 1 hour per month of site administration consulting (does not "roll" from one month to the next \- Additional consulting services may be contracted)
- Meets the university's required minimum security requirements for Category-I data, per the Data Classification Standard at: http://www.utexas.edu/its/policies/opsmanual/dataclassification.php
Supported Computing Environment
The service and support levels documented in this SLA assume certain minimum configurations in the user desktop environment. The minimum recommended client browsers for SharePoint services are:
- Internet Explorer 5.0
- Firefox 1.5
- Safari 2.0 (with OSX 4 and above).
For the latest information on tested systems and a complete list of supported procedures, refer to the ITS Web site: http://www.utexas.edu/its/sharepoint.
Technical Support
Technical support, problem report/resolution, and requests for changes to a service will be provided through a combination of the Site Administrator and the Tier 2 support provided by ITS.
There will be up to two departmental Administrators designated for the SharePoint site. An Administrator must have a valid UT EID and be validated for Austin services. The Administrator will be granted control permissions and the ability to create and administer sub-sites. The Administrator will be responsible for implementing access permissions to sub-sites, users, files, etc. within their site.
Administrators will provide Tier 1 support for users of sites and sub-sites under their administration, including individuals designated with sub-site configuration privileges. As such, Administrators are responsible for communicating instructions for receiving support to end users. End-user calls will be referred to the appropriate primary site administrator or escalated to Tier 2 support depending upon the nature of the issue.
End users always start with Tier 1, which is basic support. Tier 2 is the second support level and is reserved for more complex issues. Departmental desktop support staff and the ITS Help Desk may escalate issues to Tier 2.
Tier 1 Support
- Tier 1 support for end-user problems is provided by the Site Administrator. This is the preferred approach and will aid in resolving the issue in the most efficient manner.
- The ITS Help Desk will provide Tier 1 support for end-user problems to the greatest extent possible. The ITS Help Desk can be contacted during business hours at:
- http://www.utexas.edu/its/help
- 512-475-9400
Tier 2 Support
- Tier 2 support is available during normal business hours at support-sharepoint-admins@austin.utexas.edu
- Routine requests are typically addressed within one business day.
Find additional information and technical support at: http://www.utexas.edu/its/sharepoint/.
Service Availability
This section provides information about the normal schedule of times when the service is available, the times specified for scheduled maintenance, and defines expectations for reporting service problems and changes.
Normal Service Availability
SharePoint is designed to be available for customer use 24-hours per day, seven days per week, 365 days per year (24x7x365), excluding scheduled maintenance times.
Scheduled Maintenance
Scheduled maintenance for the SharePoint service is essential for upgrades and to maintain security, and may occur weekly on Sundays from midnight to 6 AM. Services may not be available during the scheduled maintenance periods.
Problem Reporting and Change Notification
ITS will notify customers using the ITS Services Status page of service availability and service delivery issues for the SharePoint. To the maximum extent possible, installation of service, application, and security updates will be performed during scheduled maintenance.
| Type | Business Impact | Subscriber Notification | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moderate | Changes or problems that may affect the service and have a potential for broad business impact. | ITS will: 1) notify TSCs of changes five working days in advance via email, 2)generate an alert on the ITS service status page. | The installation of an operating system or application patch. |
| Major | Changes that may affect the service across multiple departments, with a significant impact to the subscribers' business. | ITS will meet with TSCs ten working days in advance, will notify subscribers five working days in advance via e-mail, and will generate an alert on the ITS service status page. | New version of Windows. |
| Critical (After-Hours) | Changes that must be performed in order to correct issues and having some impact on end-users. Impact to business does not warrant immediate correction. | ITS will notify service users as soon as possible after knowing such a change is required via e-mail, and will generate an alert on the ITS service status page. | Hung process on server needs to be cleared before the server crashes. |
| Emergency (Immediate) | Changes that must be performed in order to correct issues and having a major impact on end-users. Impact to business requires immediate action. | ITS will generate an alert on the ITS service status page, and will notify TSCs and end-users via e-mail after implementing the change. | Replacing critical hardware that has failed. |
The ITS Services Status page: http://www.utexas.edu/its/alerts/
Key Service Indicators
List of Metrics/Measures
The following table describes the key service level objectives defined by this SLA.
| Measurement | Definition | Performance Target |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Availability [1] | The percent of time that the service is available. | 99% |
| Customer Satisfaction Percent | The percent of Satisfied or Very Satisfied responses on annual user satisfaction survey. | 90% |
Notes:
The Overall Availability is calculated as the hours that the service is available in the reporting period divided by the total hours in the reporting period. This availability percentage reflects scheduled and unscheduled downtime.
Dependencies
SharePoint Services is dependent upon Austin Active Directory, Austin Disk Service, Austin SQL Services, and Austin ESX Virtual Services, as well as University Data Center power, the network, and related systems. The availability of those systems will have a direct impact on the availability of this service.
Service Report Card
ITS will publish performance for this service in the public ITS Services Report Card.
Other Party Responsibilities
In addition to the services provided by ITS, subscribers (users) of the service and identified owners/administrators agree to certain important responsibilities. All parties agree to be aware of and adhere to the university's Acceptable Use Policy.
User/Subscriber Responsibilities
In addition to the services provided by ITS, users of the service and identified TSCs agree to certain important responsibilities.
End User Responsibilities
- Read the SharePoint documentation at http://www.utexas.edu/its/sharepoint/.
- Provide contact information for primary and secondary departmental site administrator as requested by ITS for support purposes.
- Patch desktops as recommended by the vendor. See http://www.utexas.edu/its/iso/ for additional information.
- Use supported client software.
- Be aware of and adhere to the Acceptable Use Policy at http://www.utexas.edu/its/policies/responsible.php.
- Provide critical information to ITS in a timely manner when requested for purposes of resolving subscriber issues.
Departmental IT Support Staff
Site Administrator Responsibilities
- Read the SharePoint documentation at http://www.utexas.edu/its/sharepoint/.
- Provide Tier 1 support for users of sites and sub-sites under their administration, including individuals designated with sub-site configuration privileges.
- Communicate support channels and instructions for receiving support to end users.
- Follow prescribed procedures for arranging support assistance.
Cost of Service
SharePoint is available to faculty and staff for $1200 per year for a non-branded URL, and $1600 per year for a branded URL.
