SFGH Computing and Network Services (CNS)
Service Level Agreement

Contacting a Technician
Response and Resolution Times
Support Hours
Special Considerations
Problem Severity
Incident Communication Plan

Contacting a Technician

Call the CNS Helpdesk at 206-5126 or contact us via email.

• In most cases, a technician will be available to answer your call during Business Hours.
• If a technician does not answer your call, please leave a voicemail message with a description of the problem and your contact information.
• Urgent calls will be answered as soon as possible based on the severity of the problem. See Response and Resolution Times below.

Response and Resolution Times

Note: Hours stated in terms of business hours, e.g., 48 hours equals 6 business days.

P1 = Priority 1 Incident – Kick off CNS Incident Management Communication Plan*
P2 = Priority 2 Incident
P3 = Priority 3 Incident
P4 = Priority 4 Incident

*Note: This service is only intended for Priority 1 outages. Fixes for lower priority outages will be addressed the next business day.
See a full list of application and server priorities.

Support Hours

Support Outside Business Hours

After hours support is available on a case by case basis by arrangement only. Some service windows and incidents may extend into after hours. Priority 1 incidents will be assessed for after hours support while all other priority levels will be addressed the next business day.

Special Considerations

Customers may contact the CNS Helpdesk with 1-2 week lead-time to make special arrangements for more responsive after hours support for a specific period of time for unique projects or activities. For example, it may be imperative that a certain application has high availability over a specific weekend. In this situation, additional technicians may be assigned over the weekend and put on high alert to respond to problems in a more timely fashion.

Problem Severity

• Impact of the incident – extent of the deviation from the normal service level, in terms of the number of users or business processes affected. Major incidents are those for which the degree of impact on the user community is extreme. Incidents for which the timescale of disruption (to even a relatively small percentage of users) becomes excessive may also be regarded as major. System Tiers are defined and correlate to Impact Rankings.

• Urgency of the incident – the acceptable delay, to the user or business process, in solving the incident.

CNS Incident Management and Communication Plan

• A Priority 1 incident is suspected by SOM CNS Staff and is immediately reported to CNS Management and the CNS Service Desk.
• Incident is identified by CNS Staff as a Priority 1 incident, starting the CNS Incident Management Process.
• The CNS Service Desk / CNS Management identifies the Incident Owner (Usually a member of the CNS Infrastructure Group).
• The Incident Owner owns the Incident and is responsible for working with and informing the CNS Service Desk, the CNS Infrastructure Group, and customers at intervals appropriate to the priority level of the incident.
• After a half hour or a Resolution to the Incident (whichever comes first) the Incident owner is tasked with minimally communicating to CNS Management the following:
  A brief summary of the incident
  The Ticket Number of the Incident in Service Desk Management System
  Estimated time to Resolution
  Estimated impact
  Estimated time of next update or communication
  Pertinent fact that should be communicated to affected customers
• Continued Communications: Incident updates to affected customers are coordinated by the Incident Owner and CNS Service Desk at intervals determined by the priority level of the incident.
• Incident Resolved: The Incident Owner and CNS management determine whether the incident is resolved. Declaring the incident resolved involves verification from affected customers or other clear objective proof of resolution.
• Incident Resolution is to be communicated to all appropriate units and affected customers via email or other means as required.
• The Incident Resolution is to be documented in the Service Desk Management System. Any needed change Control Notices will be sent by Incident owner.
• Post Mortem & Documentation
• Post Mortem Review is to be scheduled and documented as required to ensure that the incident is not needlessly repeated. (CNS Management will make final determination whether post mortem is required.)
• If Required, Post Mortem Review is to be held. All CNS staff shall fully cooperate and participate as directed by CNS management. Others (ENS, DPH, ISU, etc.) shall be included as required. Post mortem meeting notes, findings, and required actions are to be documented in the CNS Service Desk Management Systems. (Remedy, On Time, Etc.)
• Close Incident

Phone: 415-206-5126
Email: support@sfgh.ucsf.edu

Revised: 11-5-2009