Service Level Agreement

The Service Level Agreement (SLA) below is a sample agreement that may be used by Tribes and negotiators to further define the responsibilities of participants as they relate to the functions and services provided by IHS-OIT and to Tribal expectations. The SLA does not supersede or replace the Annual Funding Agreement (AFA); instead, it is meant to enhance the support agreements that have been established by the Tribes and negotiators. Tribes and negotiators are free to modify the SLA to fit their unique situations.

Note: The sample Service Level Agreement may be updated in the near future.

Click here for a printer-friendly version of the sample Service Level Agreement.

Download an editable Word version of the Service Level Agreement.[WORD -58kb]

SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT
For IHS-OIT Technical Support Services
BETWEEN ABC TRIBE
And
INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE

IHS-OIT has identified a standard business approach to providing technical services to the IHS IT market and customers. IHS-OIT will provide support to and augment our customers' technical teams to achieve maximum proficiency in their computing environments. Intel-based PCs running Microsoft Windows XP Pro or NT are the standard hardware and operating system platforms that will be encouraged and supported. Microsoft Office Pro, which includes word processing, spreadsheet, scheduling and presentation software, is the standard productivity package for IHS-OIT, along with the Exchange server and e-mail client. As a way to support and encourage participation in the IHS-OIT standard desktop and computing environments, OIT has committed to providing skilled, responsive and dependable technical support and services for IHS customers, internally and externally. This Service Level Agreement (SLA) defines the scope of that support and the services that IHS-OIT users can expect:

Goals:

• Dependable support for a standard computing platform for core IHS-OIT business devices and applications
• Timely response to problems, new users, and other service requests
• Leadership by example to OIT customers and growth in IHS-OIT technical expertise
• Lower costs through standardized configurations and centralized support

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Support Providers

OIT will provide technical support to our customers via the Office of Information Technology Support Center. OIT is establishing an assurance mechanism that will be dedicated to providing remedy and tracking of service/problem tickets. OIT is the initial point of contact for the telephone questions and problems.

Recipients Support

All IHS-OIT customers (internally & externally) that have entered into a formal level of support agreement with IHS-OIT will receive the indicated technical services. This includes Indian Health Service wide, Tribes and Urban Organizations.

Hours of Service

As of October, 2005, IHS is working on a contract that will provide 24/7 National Level Support. Until that contract is put in place, support is available between 8:00am until 5:00pm Mountain Time, Monday through Friday.

Turnaround Times

The following turnaround times for services will be in effect:

  Account Management - within 1 business day

• Central point of contact
• Service Level Agreement issues
• General Account information and management
• IHS-OIT product & service line

  Network Resource Management (TMT & CSMT) - within 1 business day

• WAN/LAN account support, including email account services
• Device management
• Level 2 and 3 support (i.e., Microsoft, Cisco)

  Applications Support - within 1 business d

• Custom programming
• Upgrade and patches for software releases
• Software licensing

A designated support person will contact the user within 60 minutes of the creation of a remedy service ticket.

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Problem Escalation

Not all problems are emergencies, but those problems that are not addressed and resolved expediently can become emergencies. After pursuing the standard problem reporting mechanism via a Remedy service ticket submitted directly by the user or through OIT, the user will have a service ticket that can be used to reference the problem report. The user can progressively escalate emergency problems in the following manner:

• First point of contact is the appropriate Area office technical support team
• Via Area office, user's trouble ticket may be escalated to the appropriate OIT tech team POC
• Contact the lead help desk POC
• Contact the SLA account manager

In fairness to all parties, it is important to recognize that a user who sets a pattern of problem escalation (attempting to circumvent the problem resolution queue) will be admonished to respect the service queues and established turnaround times guarantees

Services Covered

OIT services covered will be based on the service packages selected by customer. As new products and services are developed and released, customers will be able to adjust the SLA if they chose to purchase the new products. Additions and changes to the list of services and support will be made via the "ever greening" process described later in the SLA. The following packages have been selected for support:

  National Database Services - Support Package 1

• Maintain/manage central databases
• Process national applications
• Provide workload/statistical info (Outputs)
• Provide technical assistance/problem resolution

  System Support/Training Services - Support Package 1

• Support distributed application systems
• Provide technical support & training

  Telecommunications Management Services - Support Package 2

• Provide telecommunications network
• Provide for data movement

  Software Development & Maintenance - Support Package 2

• Software upgrades/patches distribution
• Operating system related support and software license

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Account Management

Should there be a need for the SLA to be modified, Tribal shares adjusted, or general maintenance agreement issues addressed, the IHS-OIT Self-Determination team will be responsible for addressing the issues or coordinating the appropriate parties and verifying resolution.

Limits on Scope

There will be requirements for which the standard support is not well suited, such as the need for an application that only runs on another platform; the need to match some user computing environment for support purposes; or the desire to utilize an installed base of computers that do not or cannot conform to OIT standards. The support defined by this SLA cannot cover all platforms, software and services. Given the goals, the user population and the service and support list, there must also be some limits on scope of support and "Won't Do" list.

Here is a partial list of services that this SLA does not include:

• Administer work station hardware repairs or warranty work on PCs not ordered through OIT
• Printer maintenance (e.g., toner)
• Housecalls for home PCs
• Support for PCs running non-SLA operating systems
• Support for non-SLA component on a "dual boot" PC
• Support for software beyond the SLA products

Customer Responsibilities

Customers of OIT technical services, as part of this SLA in which the services they will receive are detailed, also have some responsibilities:

• Use the problem reporting procedures detailed in this SLA, including clear description of the problem
• Provide input on the quality and timeliness of service
• Recognize when software testing or non-standard software installation on a PC is causing problems that interfere with standard business functions and impede OIT support.
• Accept installation of OIT supported software in standard directories
• Allow OIT technical personnel to make an initial survey and diagnostics as part of the documentation process of the service.

Prudent use of LAN server disk space allotments

• Don't back up your hard drive to your home directory on the server
• Don't make copies of MS Office component or other applications in your home directory on the server
• Remove unneeded files from the home directory periodically

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"Ever Greening"

Computing environments and requirements inevitably change, and this SLA needs to define an "ever greening" process to ensure that the support agreement keeps pace with the reality of user requirements. The OIT technical teams recognize that this initial SLA covers the minimum set of devices and software that is used by the largest number of IHS-OIT users. The team's goal is to expand the support to include a broader range of software and hardware products, such as network applications, calendaring, graphics, and video conference clients.

IHS-OIT will identify a committee with cross-IHS-OIT representation to review technical support service success, service shortcomings, technology updates, and user requirement changes quarterly. Once the support service is initiated, the committee will note the results and recommend the changes and improvements. The committee will initially consist of the staff members in the IHS-OIT tech teams. This committee will provide an ever greening mechanism for the SLA and will assist IHS-OIT management in governance of this group.

Acknowledgement

The Indian Health Service and Customer have both acknowledged and accepted the terms and responsibilities required for effective and efficient service delivery. Should there be a need to modify the level of support, this will be done by designated individuals/teams of each party.

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