Silver Level Service Details

Note: NSP Silver will not longer be offered after FY16

General EITS NSP Policies

1. The unit is asked to select one member of their staff to serve as their Customer Liaison with EITS NSP. The Customer Liaison:
   1. Serves as the technical point of contact between the unit and EITS NSP.
   2. Provides feedback, as needed, on the services provided by EITS NSP.
   3. Has other responsibilities defined later in this document.
2. EITS is committed to providing excellent service. In this rapidly changing technical environment it is impossible to maintain a high level of technical excellence without employing a sound technical training strategy. EITS recognizes this need, therefore we encourage EITS NSP personnel to maintain industry certifications and regularly attend relevant training courses.
3. EITS NSP maintains a robust set of documentation on our customers’ equipment and logs detailing changes. This allows all EITS NSP staff members to provide the same high level of service to all units without the need to dedicate a single staff member to a single unit.

Services Provided

This section defines the services to be provided. This list includes a description of what a Silver Level customer can expect relative to the service being provided.

Since network support is a collaboration between EITS NSP staff and the people in a client's organization, this section also outlines the responsibilities of all persons involved in the support effort, including the EITS NSP support staff and the Customer Liaison.

1. Service Environment

   1. A complete inventory of the unit’s switching equipment will be provided.
   2. In a reasonable time period after the execution of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), EITS NSP staff will provide the Customer Liaison with a document which includes:
      1. Any potential issues with the unit’s switching equipment such as age, condition, adherence to standards, end of life date, end of support date, out of date firmware/software, etc.
      2. An assessment of the unit’s data closet(s) addressing environmental conditions (power, HVAC), UPS status, general organization, physical security, etc., along with a recommended remediation plan for any issues found.
      3. A five-year plan with a recommended timeline and estimated costs for the replacement of the unit’s switching infrastructure.
      4. The results of a security assessment of the switching equipment and a remediation plan if necessary.

2. Equipment Maintenance

   1. Unit-owned switches to be included in the Silver support level not under warranty must be kept under a vendor hardware maintenance contract funded by the unit.
   2. EITS NSP will provide the Customer Liaison with pricing for a vendor hardware maintenance contract for all unit-owned equipment covered under this agreement not currently under an active warranty or maintenance contract.
   3. EITS NSP will, upon the request of the unit, initiate the procurement process for a maintenance contract for the uncovered equipment using the unit's funds.
   4. EITS NSP will be responsible for any efforts required to replace malfunctioning hardware under the maintenance contract with the equipment vendor.
   5. EITS NSP maintains a stock of spare parts and equipment that may be utilized for immediate replacement and restoration of service in case of unit-owned hardware failure. This is done on a best-effort basis as it is not financially feasible to maintain a completely redundant inventory of spare equipment. The terms and conditions of this service are detailed in a separate agreement.

3. Unit Use of EITS Equipment

   If units are provided switch ports on the EITS building router or other EITS-owned switching equipment and need additional capacity on these devices, it will be the responsibility of the unit to provide funding for any additional equipment or components required. The terms and conditions for this are covered in a separate agreement.

4. Priority

   Issues will be classified as follows:

   1. Severe – Loss of service or severely degraded network performance that affects the entire unit, an entire building, or a critical application.
   2. Moderate – Loss of service or severely degraded network performance that affects a building floor or an important application.
   3. Routine – Issues not significantly impacting production services.

5. Support Hours

   1. Onsite support is available between 7:30 AM and 5:00 PM Monday through Friday on normal working days.
   2. Limited helpdesk support is available until 10:00 PM Monday through Thursday and from 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM on weekends.
   3. Helpdesk support is not available on the day of home football games. Onsite support may be severely restricted on those days.
   4. Response time during normal business hours is:
      1. Severe – Upon receipt of call.
      2. Moderate – Within one hour of receipt of call.
      3. Routine – Within one business day of receipt of call or as scheduled with the unit.
   5. On call support after hours is available for all severe and moderate problems.
   6. After hours support is available by calling (706) 542-3106.

   7. EITS NSP Access to Equipment

      EITS NSP support personnel must have access to the covered switching equipment in the unit’s facilities for non-working hours maintenance windows and after hours support. This will require that EITS NSP either have keys to the building and data closet(s) or that personnel with access will meet EITS NSP on site as needed. If EITS NSP cannot gain access to the equipment, the issue will be addressed the next business day.

   8. Prioritization of Support

      1. In case of multiple network issues on campus, units subscribing to the Gold and Silver support levels will be assisted before units subscribing to the Bronze support level.
      2. If multiple units subscribing to the Silver and Gold support levels are experiencing network problems and all technical resources within EITS have been exhausted, support will be prioritized based upon the number of users impacted.

   9. Resolution of Problems Involving Unsupported Network Equipment

      1. If network problems exist involving unsupported network equipment (e.g. unit-owned firewalls), EITS NSP will assume ownership of the problem until it can be shown conclusively that the problem is due to the unsupported equipment.
      2. Once this determination has been made, EITS NSP staff will be available to the unit’s IT staff to ensure that any changes to the EITS NSP-supported network equipment can be made as necessary to resolve the issue.

   10. Routine Maintenance

       Unit Data Closet (IDF) Restrictions

       1. Routine maintenance is performed outside of normal working hours.
       2. The unit's Customer Liaison will be notified of any planned routine maintenance at least 48 hours in advance. If this routine maintenance will cause disruptions to any planned activities, the maintenance will be rescheduled.

       3. Security and Best Practices

          1. All switch configurations will be evaluated for adherence to EITS best practices and UGA Information Security policies. Any issues will be corrected after consultation with the Customer Liaison.
          2. Firmware/software updates will be applied to the unit's switches as released by the vendor as required for adherence to security policies and best practices. This is contingent on the unit-owned equipment having active vendor software maintenance contracts funded by the unit.

       4. Main Data Closet (MDF) Restrictions

          1. For security, support, and network integrity reasons access to the MDF must be strictly managed by EITS NSP.
          2. EITS NSP will work with units having equipment in the MDF to address these issues and develop solutions that will ensure the integrity and security of EITS equipment. If EITS NSP and the unit determines that moving non-EITS equipment is not practical, the unit will be responsible for funding security devices for the EITS equipment.
          1. In order to maintain network integrity and provide support for the unit’s network equipment covered under this agreement, access to the IDF(s) must be strictly managed by EITS NSP.
          2. EITS NSP will work with units having non-network equipment in the IDF to address these issues and develop solutions that will ensure the integrity and security of the equipment covered under this agreement. If EITS NSP and the unit determine that moving non-covered equipment is not practical, the unit will be responsible for funding security devices for the covered network equipment.
          3. Unit IT staff will not be allowed to login other than with read-only access, configure, or modify in any manner the switches or other network equipment covered under this agreement.
          4. Unit IT staff will not be allowed to add, move, or remove patch cables in the IDF.

       5. Change Management

          1. Change management will follow the standard EITS NSP change management process (available upon request).
          2. The Customer Liaison has access to all change management logs that pertain to this contract upon request.
          3. The Customer Liaison will be included in change management discussions that are not part of the standard EITS change management policy and will be informed prior to the change.

       6. Metrics and Reporting

          EITS NSP will report the following metrics to the unit’s Customer Liaison on a monthly basis if requested:

          1. Uptime
          2. Trouble tickets received and resolution time
          3. Performance of the network

          Other metrics are available at the request of the Customer Liaison.

       7. Device Information

          1. Active devices are defined as MAC addresses seen by the building router as having initiated or received network traffic during the six months prior to March 2015.
          2. Units utilizing NAT (network address translation) must report the number of devices that have been NATTED in the six months prior to March 2015.
          3. The number of devices used in the monthly fee calculation may be reevaluated if a significant number of devices are added to or subtracted from the network in a building; for example due to renovation or repurposing of rooms. Any fee changes will be discussed between EITS NSP and the unit.

       Responsibilities and Roles in the Support Partnership

       1. The Customer Liaison

          The Customer Liaison is typically (but not necessarily) a member of the unit’s IT support staff and understands the customer organization, its work processes, and its people. As a member of the customer organization, the Customer Liaison is able not only to report network problems, but assist EITS NSP support staff in how to best help both the organization as a whole (e.g. by knowing its priorities) and the people who work in it. The Customer Liaison:

          1. Ensures that all requests assigned to EITS NSP are properly defined, and that the relative priorities of multiple tasks are clearly established.
             1. The Customer Liaison and the EITS NSP support staff work as a team.
             2. As an expert on the customer organization and its people, the Customer Liaison contributes an analysis of the organizational and human context of the support environment to the decision making process.
             3. EITS NSP support staff, as experts on the needs of the network, contribute an analysis of the technical content of the support environment to the decision making process.
             4. Both are necessary for making sound decisions about assigning tasks and customer priorities.
             5. As task assignments and priorities are planned, EITS NSP normal and required basic networking maintenance tasks must be included and assigned priority consistent with maintaining a secure and repeatable standard of performance for all customers.
          2. Maintains regularly scheduled contact with the EITS NSP Program Manager and:
             1. Provides immediate feedback to the EITS NSP Program Manager and EITS Associate Director when problems with the delivery of EITS NSP services arise.
             2. Understands that a minimum communication standard requires a brief conversation between the Customer Liaison and the EITS NSP Program Manager on a monthly schedule. Either the Customer Liaison or the Program Manager can initiate the communication.
             3. Developing thorough regular conversations establishes a rapport that is crucial in problem situations, including unplanned outages and emergencies.
          3. Represents the customer organization, and is expected to understand the responsibilities of the customer organization as the owner of data transmitted over the network. Although EITS NSP, as the custodian of the customer’s network, plays an important role in helping the customer organization meet its obligations under the University’s policies, the customer organization’s delegation of operational support does not abrogate its overall responsibilities under University policies.

       2. The EITS NSP Technical Support Staff

          The EITS NSP technical support staff is responsible for supporting the unit's network.

          1. In terms of the networking equipment, the EITS NSP support staff is expert on the equipment’s needs, and has knowledge about both the routine tasks that need to be accomplished and how to address problems that arise.
          2. Maintenance task priorities are assigned by the Customer Liaison, who not only takes into account the organization’s priorities and the needs of individual users, but also the routine technical tasks necessary for proper network operation and maintenance required by EITS NSP. It is the responsibility of the EITS NSP support staff to communicate these essential tasks and their importance to the Customer Liaison.
          3. Ensures that all tasks assigned by the Customer Liaison are clearly understood, and that the relative priorities of multiple tasks have been clearly established.
          4. When appropriate, EITS NSP support staff will provide a written status report to the NSP Program Manager, EITS Associate Director, and the Customer Liaison. These reports will be required if significant work has been performed, if significant support activities for the near future are planned, or if there are any concerns with the unit’s network and/or network equipment.
          5. If the EITS NSP support staff feels, at an time, that proper maintenance of the network cannot be accomplished, regardless of the reason, it is the EITS NSP support staff’s responsibility to contact the Program Manager immediately so that a quick resolution of the problem can be achieved.
          6. Keeps Remedy tickets, logs, and documentation up to date.

       3. The EITS NSP Program Manager

          The EITS NSP Program Manager manages the activities of the EITS NSP support staff. The Program Manager ensures that the network equipment is serviced correctly and punctually and that customers are satisfied that they are receiving high quality service delivery from EITS NSP support staff. The Program Manager:

          1. Maintains regularly scheduled contact with the Customer Liaison.
             1. "Regularly scheduled contact" means at least a brief conversation with the Customer Liaison on a monthly basis. The regularity of this conversation is an important part of the quality assurance process.
             2. If the Program Manager feels, at any time, that there is a problem with any aspect of the delivery of EITS NSP services, it is the Program Manager’s responsibility to contact both the Customer Liaison and the EITS NSP support staff immediately so that a quick resolution of the problem can be achieved.
          2. Ensures that a survey of the unit’s users is performed at least once a year in order to determine their level of satisfaction with EITS NSP services.

       NSP Service Contact Information

       Tier 1: Call EITS Help Desk – (706)542-3106

       Or submit a Remedy request ticket online at /support/request

       Tier 2: Steven Duffee, IT Director –

       Office (706)542-3459; Mobile (706)201-2101; sduffee@uga.edu

       Tier 3: David Stewart, Associate Director–

       Office (706)542-0363; Mobile (706)255-9114(24/7); stewart@uga.edu

       Tier 4: Steven Duffee, IT Director –

       Office (706)542-3459; Mobile (706)201-2101; sduffee@uga.edu 

       The client will provide an after-hours contact for issues requiring their involvement.

       Updated: 11/30/2015