Service Level Agreement
uTexas Identity Manager (TIM)
The University of Texas at Austin
Effective Date: 9/1/2009
Score
Overview
The uTexas Identity Manager (TIM) provides for the creation and management of identities (commonly called EIDs) for the entire university community, including both person and non-person entities, such as departments and services. It coordinates data flows between source and consuming systems at the university. TIM allows EID-holders to manage their own identity information through its web interfaces. TIM also enables identity data source systems to manage identity data while providing essential security and access controls.
For more information, please see http://www.utexas.edu/its/tim/.
This service level agreement formalizes the partnership between ITS and its TIM customers and data source areas by defining service expectations and identifying the roles, responsibilities and service objectives of these partnerships.
Review Process
This document defines the practices that Information Technology Services (ITS) will use for the uTexas Identity Manager 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 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays and reduced schedule days.
Scope
The following user communities at the university are the intended recipients for the uTexas Identity Manager service: Students, Faculty, Staff (including data source system and downstream system developers), and other end users of the UT EID Administrative Tools and UT EID Self-Service Tools.
Service Criticality
This service has been identified as Critical, 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
For the purposes of this SLA, in scope services include:
- The uTexas Identity Manager (TIM) database.
- The uTexas Identity Manager (TIM) Java software (TIM core).
- The UT EID Self-Service Tools (www.utexas.edu/eid) and UT EID Administrative Tools (https://idmanager.its.utexas.edu/eidadmin/) Web applications.
- Data feeds to downstream systems.
- TIM update interfaces available on the university mainframe.
- Recurring data integrity maintenance processes (TIM Natural batch jobs and TIM Java scheduled processes)
The following services are out of scope:
- Customer application code and content of customer systems will not be managed by ITS and are out of scope of this SLA.
- The uTexas Enterprise Directory (TED) is not covered under this SLA. Please see the separate TED SLA.
- TED on the Mainframe (TOM) is not covered under this SLA.
- Non-production environments (TIM TEST and TIM QUAL) are not covered under this SLA.
- Authentication systems using EID data are not covered under this SLA.
Supported Computing Environment
- The UT EID Self-Service Tools (www.utexas.edu/eid) and UT EID Administrative Tools (https://idmanager.its.utexas.edu/eidadmin/) Web applications are supported on the browsers listed at http://www.utexas.edu/web/guidelines/browsers.html.
- Feeds to the following downstream systems are supported:
- ITS Active Directory
- UT Libraries
- Mainframe systems subscribed to UIN merge and EID change notifications
- PNA/VPN
- TED
- TOM
- IQ (Data Warehouse)
- TIM update interfaces are available to Natural programs as restricted Natural secured modules on the university mainframe.
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/tim/.
Technical Support
Tier 1 Support: End users
EID-holders taking action on their own personal EIDs can use the UT EID Self-Service Tools (http://www.utexas.edu/eid). If they need additional assistance they should contact their EID contacts. If they cannot use the UT EID Self-Service Tools to find their contacts, they should open a ticket with the ITS Help Desk (512-475-9400), which can assist them in identifying their contacts. End users requiring assistance in creating an EID and those requiring assistance with non-person EIDs should contact the ITS Help Desk.
Tier 2 Support: End users
When an EID contact is unable to assist a user, the user will open a ticket the ITS Help Desk, who will, if necessary, escalate the ticket to the ITS Identity and Access Management (IAM) Team or EID data source system support group, e.g. the Office of the Registrar, Student Information Systems or Financial Information Systems. For tickets referred to the IAM Team, the team will provide an initial response within one business day .
Tier 2 Support: Business and technical customers
To ensure timely delivery and updating of identity data, TIM support is focused on the following core objectives:
- Rapid restoration of service to the agreed predefined level
- Implementing fixes/workarounds
- Minimizing number of escalations/interactions required to resolve incident
- Reduction of issues that require re-opening
If a developer needs assistance accessing identity data or making identity data updates from a system they support, they should contact the IAM team at eidteam@utlists.utexas.edu. The IAM Team will provide an initial response by e-mail or telephone within one business day .
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
TIM is designed to be available for customer use seven days per week, 365 days per year. Due to the criticality of the TIM service, ITS has a goal of 99% availability of the TIM production environment.
Certain functions and components of TIM are dependent on availability of the university mainframe and cannot be available during planned or unplanned mainframe downtime. Such functions and components include:
- EID data updates through restricted Natural secured modules.
- EID data lookups through public or restricted Natural secured modules.
- Prospective student password resets.
- Person EID merges.
- Person EID creation paired with student record check.
Scheduled Maintenance
Scheduled maintenance for the uTexas Identity Manager service is essential for upgrades and to maintain security, and will occur monthly on the first Tuesday of the month from 6:30 to 7 a.m.
Problem Reporting and Change Notification
ITS will notify customers using the ITS Services Status page of service availability and service delivery issues for the uTexas Identity Manager. To the maximum extent possible, installation of service, application, and security updates will be performed during scheduled maintenance.
Key Service Indicators
List of Metrics/Measures
In order to maintain customer satisfaction, ITS will measure the performance of TIM services against key service indicators. Table 1 lists the key service delivery metrics for the TIM service:
Table 1: Key SLA Metrics
| Category | Definition | Performance Target |
|---|---|---|
| Production Availability | Percent time of year that TIM service is available. | 99% |
Dependencies
TIM is dependent upon the University Data Center power, the network, related systems, and the university mainframe. Should any of these systems be unavailable, the availability of TIM services will be directly impacted. TIM is also dependent upon the source systems of record from which student, employee, and university affiliate identity information is derived.
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
Customers who agree to this SLA must:
- Adhere to all FERPA rules if restricted student data is used.
- Adhere to university information acceptable use policy.
EID Contacts
EID support contacts must:
- Adhere to all FERPA rules if restricted student data is used.
- Adhere to university information acceptable use policy.
- Authenticate users before providing EID password resets.
Cost of Service
There is no direct billable end-user or departmental cost for this service.
