Service level agreement (SLA)

GUARANTEED UPTIME: UPTIME LEVELS 99.9%

Exclusions: This SLA is written in good faith. Vendor will always do everything possible to rectify every issue in a timely manner.
However, there are exclusions. This SLA does not apply to:
  • Any equipment, software, services, third party or otherwise, or any other parts of the System not listed above.
  • Software, equipment or services not purchased via and managed by Vendor.
Additionally, this SLA does not apply when:
  • The problem has been caused by using equipment, software or service(s) in a way that is not recommended.
  • The client has made unauthorized changes to the configuration or set up of affected equipment, software or services.
  • The client has prevented Vendor from performing required maintenance and update tasks.
  • The issue has been caused by unsupported mobile devices, equipment, software or other services. This SLA does not apply in circumstances that could be reasonably said to be beyond Vendor’s control. For instance: floods, war, acts of god, civil unrest and so on. This SLA also does not apply if the client is in breach of its contract with Vendor for any reason (e.g. late payment of fees, improper use, violation of terms, etc.).
Vendor responsibilities
  • Vendor will provide and maintain the System used by the client.
  • Vendor will make available the System through internet, iOS and Android stores and proprietary client applications.
Additionally, Vendor will:
  • Ensure relevant software, services and equipment are available to the client where necessary.
  • Respond to support requests within a reasonable timeframe.
  • Take steps to escalate and resolve issues in an appropriate, timely manner.
  • Maintain good communication with the client at all times. Client responsibilities The client will use Vendor-provided system as intended. [The client will be responsible for, and obtain, all consents required under any law or regulation in any jurisdiction, relating to the use of the System on the telephone system, including but not limited to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”).] [The client will insure, indemnify, and hold harmless Vendor for any violations, real or alleged, of any laws or regulations, relating to the use of the System with the client’s consumers and clients. In other words, the client represents that it has the right to send text messages or SMS messages to its clients using the System and promises to indemnify Vendor if it does not.] [The client will provide Vendor with the use of the client’s business phone number for purposes of receiving incoming SMS or text messages.]
Additionally, the client will:
  • Notify the client of issues or problems in a timely manner.
  • Provide Vendor with access to equipment, software and services for the purposes of maintenance, updates and fault prevention.
  • Maintain good communication with Vendor at all times.
Guaranteed uptime: Uptime levels 99.9%
  • In order to enable the client to do business effectively, Vendor guarantees that certain items will be available for a certain percentage of time.
    • The UtilizeCore Service Business Automation System is guaranteed to have a 99.9% uptime.
    • The Weather Monitoring System is guaranteed to have a 99.9% uptime.
    • The Field Tech Mobile app is guaranteed to have a 99.9% uptime.
  • Back-off Requirements" means, when an error occurs, the devices are responsible for waiting for a period of time before issuing another request. This means that after the first error, there is a minimum back-off interval of 30 seconds and for each consecutive error, the back-off interval increases exponentially up to 5 mins.
  • "Downtime" means more than a 15% Error Rate for the UtilizeCore Service Business Automation component, Weather Monitoring Module component and Field Tech Connect mobile application component. Downtime is measured based on server-side Error Rate.
  • "Downtime Period" means a period of 30 mins or more consecutive minutes of Downtime. Partial minutes will not be counted towards any Downtime Periods.
  • "Error Rate" means: for the UtilizeCore Website (HTTP) component, the number of Valid Requests that result in a response with HTTP Status 50x and Code "Internal Error" divided by the total number of Valid Requests during that period; and for the UtilizeCore, the number of Valid Requests that result in device disconnections as reported in UtilizeCore Stackdriver metrics (or other similar metrics made available to Client), divided by the total number of Valid Requests during that period. Repeated identical requests do not count toward the Error Rate unless they conform to the Back-off Requirements.
Measurement and penalties
  • Uptime is measured over each calendar month. It is calculated to the nearest minute, based on the number of minutes in the given month (for instance, a 31-day month contains 44,640 minutes).
  • If uptime for any item drops below the relevant threshold, a penalty will be applied in the form of a credit for the client.
  • This means the following month’s fee payable by the client will be reduced on a sliding scale.
The level of penalty will be calculated depending on the number of hours for which the service was unavailable,
minus the downtime permitted by the SLA:
Important notes:
  • Uptime penalties in any month are capped at 25% of the total monthly fee.
  • Uptime measurements exclude periods of routine maintenance. These must be agreed between Vendor and client in advance.
  • Uptime measurements will start in 180 days after agreement signing, as the road map has heavy development early in product deployment.
  • Uptime measurements are excluded for 24 hours after a planned production release of the clients development requirements.
Financial Credit
  • Client Must Request: To receive any of the Financial Credits described above, Client must notify UtilizeCore technical support within 15 days from the time Client becomes eligible to receive a Financial Credit. Client must also provide UtilizeCore with identifying information (e.g., project ID and device registry IDs) and the date and time those errors occurred. If Client does not comply with these requirements, Client will forfeit its right to receive a Financial Credit. If a dispute arises with respect to this SLA, UtilizeCore will make a determination in good faith based on its system logs, monitoring reports, configuration records, and other available information, which UtilizeCore will make available to Client at Client's request.
  • Maximum Financial Credit: The total maximum number of Financial Credits to be issued by UtilizeCore to Client for any and all Downtime Periods that occur in a single billing month will not exceed 25% of the amount due by Client for the Covered Service for the applicable month. Financial Credits will be made in the form of a monetary credit applied to future use of the Service and will be applied within 60 days after the Financial Credit was requested.
Guaranteed response times
  • When the client raises a support issue with Vendor, Vendor promises to respond in a timely fashion.
Response times
  • The response time measures how long it takes Vendor to respond to a support request raised via Vendor’s support system. Vendor is deemed to have responded when it has replied to the client’s initial request. This may be in the form of an email or telephone call, to either provide a solution or request further information. Response times are measured from the moment the client submits a support request via Vendor’s online support system.
  • Response times apply during standard working hours (9am — 5.30pm) only, unless the contract between the client and supplier specifically includes provisions for out of hours support.
  • Subject to the above limitations, Vendor promises to respond to support requests within forty-eight (48) hours.
Resolution times
  • Vendor will always endeavor to resolve problems as swiftly as possible. It recognizes that the client’s use of the System is key to its business and that any downtime can cost money. However, Vendor is unable to provide guaranteed resolution times. This is because the nature and causes of problems can vary enormously. For instance, it may be possible to resolve a fatal server issue in minutes, simply by restarting the server. But if a server fails due to disk error or a hardware fault (also classed as a fatal issue) it may take much longer to get back up and running. In all cases, Vendor will make its best efforts to resolve problems as quickly as possible. It will also provide frequent progress reports to the client.
SLA Exclusions
  • The SLA does not apply to any: (a) features or services designated Alpha or Beta (unless otherwise stated in the associated Documentation), (b) features or services excluded from the SLA (in the associated Documentation), or (c) errors: (i) caused by factors outside of UtilizeCore's reasonable control; (ii) that resulted from Client's software or hardware or third party software or hardware, or both; (iii) that resulted from abuses or other behaviors that violate the Agreement; (iv) that resulted from quotas applied by the system or listed in the Admin Console; or (v) that resulted from Client use of the Covered Service in a way which is inconsistent with the Documentation, including invalid request fields, unauthorized users, or inaccessible data.