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Service level agreement

1 Components of the Service Level Agreement

1.1 In the signed offer one subscription plan is selected per service instance: Team, Business or Enterprise.

1.2 The Service Level Agreement (SLA) per service instance comprises three components of quality aspects: SLA Goals, Backup Plan and Business Continuity Plan.

1.3 Firstly, the SLA Goals component regulates the availability and responsiveness of IT services and support. The selected subscription plan typically determines the SLA goals applied to the subscription. The available predefined SLA Goals are described in section 4. Customer-specific SLA arrangements can be agreed on in the offer. If nothing specifically is agreed, SLA Team will be assumed.

1.4 Secondly, the SLA component Backup Plan regulates the creation of backups of the system and data and their retention. The available predefined backup plans are described in section 6. Customer-specific plans can be agreed on in the offer. If nothing specifically is agreed, Backup Plan Week will apply.

1.5 Thirdly, the SLA component Business Continuity Plan defines the targets regarding the handling of extensive system failures. The available predefined business continuity plans are described in section 7. If nothing specifically is agreed, Business Continuity Plan Standard will apply.

2 Definitions

2.1 The operating time is the period of time during which the productive systems are available to the customer.

2.2 The standby time is the period of time during which provider staff can ensure support of the service and receive and process messages. The time measurement for the response and resolution time is interrupted for the time outside the standby time.

2.3 The time to first response is understood to be the period of time within the standby time from the time the message is received in the linkyard customer portal(https://servicedesk.linkyard.ch/) until it is put to work by an employee of the Provider.

2.4 The resolution time is understood to be the period of time within the standby time from the beginning of the processing of a message by an employee of the Provider until its resolution (fault elimination or answering the request) minus the waiting time for solution contributions by the Customer or third parties commissioned by the Customer.

2.5 Downtime defines a period during operating time within which the service was entirely unavailable to the users.

2.6 The system availability is evaluated on an annual basis and is calculated from the operating time minus the system downtime in relation to the operating time, whereby announced interruptions during the agreed maintenance windows are not counted as system downtime.

2.7 A maintenance window is the period of time during which the provider is allowed to carry out planned maintenance work on the system.

3 Error classes

3.1 Software errors and operational faults are divided into the following error classes:

Class
Definition
Criteria
Blocker
Prevents operation
The error does not permit use in the sense of the essential purpose of use.
Complete interruption of operation. Central functions of the system cannot be used. All users of the client are affected. No workarounds are available.
Example: Login is not possible.
Critical
Partially prevents operation
Use in the sense of the essential purpose of use is ensured. However, there is a significant error in an important sub-function or the work is only ensured with the use of elaborate workarounds.
Partial interruption of operation. Central functions of the system cannot be used. A majority of the client's users are affected. The client can use an organizational or technical workaround for a limited time.
Example: An interface to an important third-party system (e.g. SAP) does not work.
Average
Obstructing operations
The use of the software in the sense of the essential purpose of use is guaranteed. However, there are errors in partial functions which make the work more difficult.
No interruption of operation. Central functions of the system can be used. Obstruction of a few users of the client. Workarounds are not necessary or very simple.
Example: Master data cannot be adjusted via the GUI.
Minor
Disrupting operations
Errors that affect the use of the solution only insignificantly.
No interruption of operation. Minor impairment due to avoidable additional work, lack of comfort. Bypass solutions are not necessary.
Example: spelling mistakes, errors in the documentation.

3.2 The defect classes Blocker and Critical are considered significant defects, the defect classes Average and Minor are considered insignificant defects.

4 SLA package


SLA Goals:
Team
Business
Enterprise
Service times, system availability
Operating time production
7 x 24
7 x 24
7 x 24
Operating time test system
on demand
on demand
on demand
System availability
>99.6%
>99.9%
>99.9%
Standby time
Office hours
Office hours
7x24, 365 Days/year
Response time during office hours
Blocker
Best effort
(usually next working day)
4 eds.
1 Hrs.
Critical
Best effort
(usually next working day)
4 eds.
1 Hrs.
Average
Best effort
(usually next working day)
next working day
4 eds.
Minor
Best effort
(usually next working day)
next working day
next working day
Other requests
Best effort
(usually next working day)
next working day
next working day
Response time outside office hours
Blocker
Best effort
(usually next working day)
next working day
2 eds.
Critical
Best effort
(usually next working day)
next working day
4 eds.
Average
Best effort
(usually next working day)
next working day
next working day
Minor
Best effort
(usually next working day)
next working day
next working day
Other requests
Best effort
(usually next working day)
next working day
next working day

4.1 Office Hours are: Monday to Friday 07:00-18:00, excluding federal and cantonal holidays of the Canton of Bern

5 Maintenance windows

5.1 The provider may apply changes to the test and production systems without prior notice at any time. Any downtime caused by such changes is taken into account for the calculation of system availability.

5.2 The provider applies changes to the system on the basis of a risk analysis. For changes with considerable risks, the provider may request the customer to conduct tests prior to the application to the production system.

5.3 Major planned maintenance work (e.g. elaborate software updates, migrations, etc.) takes place at a time explicitly agreed with the customer in advance. The corresponding system downtime is not taken into account in the calculation of system availability.

6 Backup plan

Backup plan:
Week
Month
Year
Backup retention period
Last 7 days readings
corresponds to Week plus: last 4 weeks readings
corresponds to Month plus last 12 month readings
Recovery Point
Objective (RPO)
24 eds.
24 eds.
24 eds.
Recovery Time
Objective (RTO)*
Reaction time (cf. section 2) plus 4 hrs.
Reaction time (cf. section 2) plus 4 hrs.
Reaction time (cf. section 2) plus 4 hrs.

*With cluster/data center location still functioning, up to 100 GB of data

7 Business continuity plans

Business Continuity Plan:
Standard
Extended
System Site Redundancy
No, one location (cluster/data center)
Yes, an additional disaster recovery site at a second infrastructure provider is available at all times, which could be put into operation in the event of a complete failure of the main site.
Server Redundancy
Yes, the system is operated on a cluster with several nodes. In the event of a failure, an automatic failover takes place.
Yes, the system is operated on a cluster with several nodes. In the event of a failure, an automatic failover takes place.
Backup Site Redundancy
Yes, backups are additionally stored geo-redundantly and encrypted at a second location.
Yes, backups are additionally stored geo-redundantly and encrypted at a second location.

8 Reporting & Penalties

8.1 The Provider reports on the status of its clusters and planned mainte-nance windows via http://status.linkyard.ch/. The customer may sub-scribe to announcements.

8.2 SLA reports on system availability are evaluated yearly by the Provider. In case of a contractual breach, a penalty calculated based on the percentage in the table below of the total invoiced subscription price of the SLA period considered is reimbursed to the customer in the form of a discount on future subscription fees invoiced.

System availability
Penalty SLA Team
Penalty SLA Business
Penalty SLA Enterprise
>= 99.9%
0%
0%
individual
< 99.9%
0%
5%
individual
< 99.6%
5%
5%
individual
< 99.0%
5%
10%
individual

8.3 If other targets are breached, no penalties are owed by the Provider. In return, the Provider must analyze and report the causes that lead to the breach and propose measures to discuss with the customer.

8.4 Notwithstanding the preceding provisions on the contractual penalty, any liability of the Provider for any damages on the part of the Customer or third parties is excluded to the extent permitted by law. If the exclusion of liability does not apply in individual cases, the contractual penalty shall be offset against the liability for damages.

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