1 – General Overview
This is a Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the campus community and Information Technology (IIT) to document:
- The technology services IIT provides to the campus.
- The general response levels, availability, and maintenance associated with these services.
- The responsibilities of IIT as a provider of these services and of customers receiving services.
- Processes for requesting services.
This Agreement is valid from May 2023. Review is every two years or as otherwise needed.
2 – Service Description
2.1 – Service Scope
The IIT Campus SLA
- Defines a general level of predictability for IIT communication and services.
- Reflects how IIT does business today and the direction IIT is heading.
- References the IIT Service Catalog for clear service level descriptions.
- Describes how work will be prioritized and predicts response times, including a single outage notification process.
- Includes reporting on service levels.
2.2 – Assumptions
- Services, access to services, and accountability measures provided by IIT are documented in the IIT Service Catalog. The IIT Service Catalog is continually updated with additional service information regarding what services are offered, how to get services, how to get help for services.
- Outages to services are considered incidents and are communicated and documented to all stakeholders via the IIT Unplanned Outage and Incident Reporting process.
- Services are provided in adherence to any related policies, processes and procedures. See the IIT Service Catalog for policies related to a service.
3. Roles and Responsibilities
3.1 – IIT Responsibilities
Responsibilities and/or requirements of IIT in support of this Agreement include:
- Meeting service delivery commitments outlined in the IIT Service Catalog.
- Meeting response times associated with the priority assigned to incidents and service requests.
- IIT implements defined processes to meet service level commitments.
- Generating quarterly reports on service level performance.
- Appropriately notifying customers of all scheduled maintenance via the IIT Maintenance Calendar, IIT Service Catalog and/or a communication to campus via email.
3.2 – Customer Responsibilities
Customer responsibilities and/or requirements in support of this Agreement include:
- Using the defined processes for requesting help and services.
- Monitoring the IIT Maintenance Calendar and notifying IIT of forthcoming local events with IIT dependencies. Customers should review Requesting Service for contacting IIT with IT related dependencies for local events.
- Responding to inquiries from IIT staff who are resolving incidents and handling service requests.
- Complying with campus security policies, available at IIT Policies and Procedures. Additional security requirements may be included on individual Service Catalog pages.
4 – Requesting Service
A service request means a request is made by a customer to IIT for a service as published in the IIT Service Catalog. There are four methods of contacting IIT for all requests.
4.1 – Phone (518-629-7364)
Phone service is available during regular hours of operation.
4.2 – Ticket System (https://helpdesk.hvcc.edu)
Ticket requests will be processed during regular Help Desk business hours, Monday through Friday, 7:30 AM to 8 PM. (Summer hours are 7:30 AM to 4 PM)
4.3 – In-Person
In-person Help Desk support is available during regular business hours of operation in Higbee Hall room 110, Monday through Friday, 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM. (Summer hours are 7:30 AM to 4 PM).
5 – Hours of Coverage, Response Times and Escalation
For all requests, the IIT goal is to have a staff member assigned and acknowledge requests he same or next business day following receipt. Campus priorities may require exceptions to this goal during certain times of the Academic year.
5.1 – Hours of Coverage
- The IIT Main Office hours of operation are 8 AM to 4:30 PM, Monday - Friday except holidays, and announced closures. (Summer hours are 8AM to 4PM) Customers may use any of the methods of contact as stated in Section 4.
- Tickets via the web interface can be sent 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and are reviewed on the next business day. Requesting service via the web interface is the most efficient method to log and process service requests.
- IIT responds to off-hours unplanned outages as incidents as outlined in IIT Unplanned Outage and Incident Reporting. Each incident is assigned an Incident Coordinator to bring the incident to resolution.
5.2 – Response
- For response to technical support (including the ticket system), the IIT goal is to assign and acknowledge requests the same or next business day and is subject to prioritization.
- For response to unplanned outages and incidents, the IIT goal is to assign and acknowledge requests within 2 hours of receipt.
5.3 – Prioritization
If you consider your incident request urgent, contact the IIT Help Desk at (518)-629-7364. This will ensure your ticket is routed as quickly as possible. Examples of urgent incidents include reporting a service outage or reporting an impact to instruction.
For reference, IIT has a set of criteria to prioritize a request as urgent based on a global campus view of IT needs. IIT prioritizes incoming incident requests as “urgent” priority if it meets any one of the following criteria:
- Significant risk to life and safety.
- Significant impact on the delivery of instruction.
- Significant or lasting impact on student academic performance.
- Significant risk to law, rule, or policy compliance.
- Academic and Administrative Calendar deadlines.
- Significant number of people affected.
- Organizational structure is a multiplier for number of people affected.
- Percentage of total tasks that can no longer be performed by individuals.
5.4 – Escalation
If you are not satisfied with the level of service on a request, you may contact Bill Jojo at (518)-629-7540. He will categorize and process your input as appropriate and respond to you with the action taken.
5.5 – More Information
If you have a question, contact IIT via phone (518-629-7364). The person responding will route your question to the appropriate area.
6 – Maintenance and Service Changes
The IIT Change Management process minimizes unintended service disruptions or other impacts to the campus as a result of changes in the production environment. IIT does this by monitoring, managing, and evaluating changes to maximize the service benefits to the customer, while minimizing the risks involved in making those changes.
6.1 – IIT Maintenance Calendar
All IT-related service outages are published in the IIT Maintenance Calendar. The IIT Maintenance Calendar currently serves as the official outage and maintenance schedule for IIT. Scheduled maintenance is not included in the calculation of availability metrics.
Campus departments are responsible for monitoring the IIT Maintenance Calendar and to notify IIT of forthcoming local events with IIT dependencies. In most cases, the IIT CIO is responsible for communicating service outages and changes to service groups and to the campus as necessary. Off-hours service failures are communicated the following business day.
There are two categories of service outages:
- Planned Outages: A planned service outage is work that is planned and scheduled at least two weeks prior to the scheduled date. The IIT CIO communicates (as needed) to the appropriate audience a minimum of one week prior to the scheduled outage.
- Unplanned Outages: An unplanned service outage is work that is unplanned due to an unforeseen event or urgent repair to prevent failure. Unplanned service outages are given priority (and communicated immediately) on a case-by-case basis depending on the type and urgency of the service failure.
6.2 – Guidelines for IIT Maintenance Windows
A maintenance window is a defined period of time during which planned outages and changes to production (see definition below) services and systems may occur. The purpose of defining standard maintenance windows is to allow clients of the service to prepare for possible disruption or changes.
IIT encourages all services and systems to negotiate a maintenance window with their clients via a Service Level Agreement (SLA). If a service does not have a negotiated maintenance window (via an SLA or equivalent) the following guidelines apply:
- Planned outages should be performed between 7PM and 7AM on any day of the week. Work scheduled outside of this window should have explicit sign-off from the stake holders.
- Planned outages and changes should not be scheduled during the first or last week of instruction, finals or grading week of the academic quarters, student orientation week, fiscal year end close, during Commencements, or other significant campus events.
- Production means institutional staff, faculty and users depend on the service to complete business and academic tasks and objectives.
Major upgrades to a service are treated as projects outside the scope of this service level agreement.
7. Reviewing and Reporting
7.1 – System Performance and Availability Reporting
Performance and availability reports are summarized in the Annual Assessment Plan based on the criteria for success as identified by each intended outcome as it relates to college goal, objective and/or strategic priority number.
The Annual Assessment Plans are available online (https://www.hvcc.edu/assessment/plans/index.html).
7.2 – SLA Reviews
Designated Review Owners:
Kathy Petley, VP of Institutional Effectiveness, and Technology
Bill Jojo, CIO
Previous Review Date: May 2023
Next Review Date: May 2025