Support Policy
Last updated: December 7, 2020
Unizin provides Universities with enterprise products and services in service of their academic mission. Our mission is to enable Universities to scale their academic innovations that depend on affordable digital content, data, and analytics.
This document contains Unizin's General Service Level Expectations (SLE). While each Unizin product may have amended SLEs appropriate to them, Unizin adheres to the following expectations about its service levels.
Unizin Support Responsibilities
The Unizin Support team is responsible for Tier 2 Technical support ("Incidents") and customer Service requests. Generally speaking, Unizin's Member Universities are responsible for providing Help Desk/Tier 1 support for Unizin's content, data, and analytics products and services. If they are unable to resolve technical issues or provide support, Member Universities may escalate technical issues to the Unizin Support team (i.e., Tier 2 support). In such cases, the Unizin Support team provides full support for its products and services, meaning that it will make every attempt to resolve the Incident issue or fulfill the Service request. Members may also submit Service requests to the Unizin Support team when, for example, they wish to implement new products and services.
Sponsor Teams
Unizin's customer support and service model relies on a key University partner: Sponsor Teams. Sponsor Teams are accountable for the University's responsibilities in Unizin's customer support and service model.
Each institution must identify a Sponsor Team for each Unizin product or service being utilized. University Sponsor Teams are the primary point of communication for the Unizin Support Team. Generally speaking, Sponsor Teams are responsible for:
Establishing and maintaining Tier 1 support/Help desk
Facilitating escalation of Technical support and Customer service issues to Tier 2
Supporting change management processes related to products and services (e.g., product updates and new features)
Receiving Unizin notices of planned outages, maintenance windows, product release notes, or other product and service related information
Tier 1 Support / Help Desk
For all Unizin products and services, Universities are responsible for Tier 1/Help Desk technical support and customer service.
During on-boarding of a new Unizin product or service, the Unizin Support team will work with your Tier 1/Help Desk staff to train them on the product and service. The Unizin Resources site also provides reference documentation and support playbooks that can be used by your Tier 1/Help Desk to support end-users.
Tier 2 Support
If a Sponsor Team and University Help Desk are unable to resolve a technical support or customer service question, they may escalate the issue to Unizin Staff for assistance by opening a support request. Prior to escalating an issue, the University Help Desk will make a reasonable effort to resolve the problem for the end-user.
If you are a student from any of our member institutions, please contact your University Help Desk directly for assistance with all Engage inquiries or support.
The Ticketing System is the only formal method of escalating a technical support or customer service issue. While direct email messages to the Unizin Support team staff may elicit a response, they are not considered part of the proper escalation path and therefore will not be subject to our incident management guidelines and response times.
Support Hours
"Normal business hours" are defined as Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm Central Time.
Unizin shall provide emergency Technical and Customer Support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for Priority 1 incidents.
Unizin shall provide Technical and Customer Support during normal business hours for Priority 2-4 incidents (see below), with the exception of Unizin observed holidays.
Product and service availability
While Unizin strives to ensure that its Products and Services operate uninterrupted, error-free, and as responsively as possible, we cannot guarantee it. Unizin reserves the right to suspend the operation of any Products and Services without notice to Members if it must for security or legal reasons.
Incident management
The Unizin Support Team will adhere to the following guidelines when prioritizing incidents.
We strive to work within the stated response times. Actual response times may vary depending on the volume of reported tickets, the availability of resources, the thoroughness of the information provided, and the root cause of the technical or customer service problem. If a ticket cannot be resolved in the expected timeframe, we will do our best to notify the Member University and provide a revised estimated time of completion.
Escalation requests are considered on a case‐by‐case basis.
1
Two (2) hours.
Updates every two (2) hours until resolved.
As quickly as possible.
A mission critical product or service is down and/or unavailable and no work around is available.
2
Four (4) business hours.
Updates every business day until resolved.
As quickly as possible, normally no more than two (2) business days from initial contact.
A mission critical product or service is down and/or unavailable, but a work around is available or the system is working slowly/partially.
3
Two (2) business days of the initial contact.
Updates every 4 business days until resolved.
Four (4) business days from the initial contact.
A task, service, or individual is impacted and a workaround may be available.
4
Two (2) business days of the initial contact.
Update at resolution time.
Fourteen (14) business days from the initial contact.
A task, service, or individual is impacted and a workaround is published and available to Tier 1 support.
Change management
Unizin will release updates to its Products and Services in a manner that minimizes impact on Member Universities. While many change management processes require no downtime, in the case that downtime is expected, Unizin will make reasonable efforts to release the update outside of normal business hours.
1
Hot fix
Users may or may not be impacted.
Product or service is unavailable or at high risk to a known vulnerability.
No lead time or notification is guaranteed.
2
Platform release
Users are not impacted.
Platform and/or infrastructure improvements conducted to improve reliability, performance, security, availability, and/or core capabilities, and bug fixes.
No lead time is guaranteed unless an outage is required. If an outage is required, 24 hours advance notice is given to mitigate potential user impact.
3
Application release
Users may or may not be impacted.
Introduction of new applications, major features, and/or enhancements to the production environment.
At least 5 business days advance notice is given. Unizin plans scheduled releases in recognition of the academic calendar.
Maintenance windows
Unizin may conduct maintenance on its Products and Services during pre-defined maintenance windows. Maintenance is not normal change management, insofar as an update to a product or service is not released. Rather, maintenance windows are used to address issues with the infrastructure on which Unizin products and services operate.
Maintenance actions conducted during maintenance windows may require downtime. Unizin will make reasonable efforts to conduct maintenance windows outside of normal business hours. Unizin will provide institutions with reasonable advance notice for any unplanned maintenance windows.
Unizin has established a standing, weekly maintenance window. Every Wednesday morning from 4 am to 6 am Central Time, Unizin may conduct a maintenance action. Most of the time, no maintenance actions will be conducted.
1
Unplanned maintenance window
Ad hoc
No lead time is guaranteed unless an outage is required. If an outage is required, 24 hours advance notice is given to mitigate potential user impact.
2
Standing maintenance window
Every Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday from 4 am to 6 am Central Time
A best effort is made to provide 1 business day lead time.
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