Service Level Agreement

IT Services Support Desk support of Miami University Faculty and Staff

I. SLA Purpose

The purpose of this Service Level Agreement is to define:

• the services that are provided by the Information Technology Services (IT Services) Support Desk to the faculty and staff of Miami University
  
• contact information for the Support Desk
  
• how support will be provided
  
• the timeframe in which faculty and staff can expect a response

II. IT Services Support Desk

Contact Information

Phone: (513) 529-7900
Fax: (513) 529-5577
E-mail: supportdesk@muohio.edu

Location

The IT Services Support Desk is located in 103 Robertson Hall.

Hours

Walk-in Assistance:
Regular Hours: Mon-Fri from 8am to 6pm
Summer Hours: Mon-Fri from 8am to 5pm

Phone Support:
Monday through Thursday: 7:00AM - Midnight
Friday: 7:00AM - 6:00PM
Saturday: 9:00AM - 6:00PM
Sunday: 9:00AM - Midnight

Response Time

The IT Services Support Desk will have two to six representatives available during phone support hours to answer faculty and staff requests for support. This is a sufficient number to answer most requests at the time of client contact. Calls that cannot be handled at the time of client contact will be forwarded to voice-mail. Faculty and staff are encouraged to leave a voice mail message, stating name (with a clear spelling of last name), phone number and a brief problem description, so that we can return their phone call as soon as possible.

All requests for support that come to the IT Services Support Desk via e-mail, fax, and voice-mail will begin to be worked on within one business day (Monday through Friday) of receipt of the request. Requests for assistance on problems related to university business will be addressed as soon as possible and will take precedence over requests for assistance on personally owned machines.

During the beginning of the semester, due to extremely high call volume and minimal student staffing, it may take up to five business days for someone to begin working on a request for support for a personally owned computer. Requests for assistance on problems related to university business will be worked on as soon as possible, even during the period of high call volume at the start of the semester.

The amount of time until the resolution of a problem will vary greatly depending on its complexity.

Please note: Searching the Miami University Knowledge Base for potential solutions before contacting the IT Services Support Desk may provide an immediate answer to a technology problem. The information in the Knowledge Base is provided by the support staff and addresses many common problems. The Knowledge Base is available at http://ithelp.muohio.edu/

III. Technical Support Representative (TSR) Program

Technical Support Representatives (TSR) or other local technology support staff often function as the point of first contact for their faculty and staff clients. They in turn may request help from the IT Services Support Desk as second level support, either as a standard procedure or upon individual request. Local support providers, for instance, may direct their clients to call the IT Services Support Desk with certain types of problems while asking that other problem types be logged and sent directly to the local support provider. Small divisions or departments without a local support provider usually contact the IT Services Support Desk directly.

The list of TSRs by department, division, or campus is maintained at http://www.muohio.edu/tsr/ under the “Find My TSR” section.

IV. Services Provided

Software

The IT Services Support Desk will provide assistance with the software products listed at http://www.muohio.edu/supportedsoftware/. This list will change on occasion, as vendors release new versions that replace the old versions.

Oftentimes, a department, division, or campus will use specialized software that is not supported by IT Services. Requests for support with this software should be directed to the responsible TSR.

Online Services

IT Services provides many online services to Miami faculty and staff. The IT Services Support Desk will provide assistance with these services.

The list of services may change; new services will be added as they become available and old services will be removed as they become obsolete. This agreement will be updated regularly in order to maintain the most current information.

• E-mail
  
• Universal Disk Space
  
• myMiami
  
• Bannerweb
  
• Blackboard
  
• Novell
  
• Directory
  
• Listserv
  
• Knowledge Base
  
• Computer Based Training
  
• UNIXGEN
  
• Wireless
  
• Encryption
  
• Administrative systems (Banner, MInE, Kronos) – the Support Desk assists clients with these services when the Administrative System Support group is not staffed (typically, evenings and weekends)

Network Connectivity

The IT Services Support Desk will provide assistance connecting to MUnet via Ethernet, wireless, or dial-up.

The IT Services Support Desk also provides assistance to faculty and staff using the Road Runner Internet access available through Network Services Enterprise.

If faculty and staff off-campus connectivity problems for personally-owned computers are unable to be solved over the phone, the IT Services Support Desk offers carry-in appointments to solve the problem. Please consult the Support Desk web pages for details on how to obtain an appointment.

Virus Removal

IT Services scans all incoming and outgoing e-mail for viruses. Despite this effort, many faculty and staff computers will be infected with viruses throughout the year due to the nature of how viruses spread (e-mail from non-Miami sites, download of files, etc.). The IT Services Support Desk offers a carry-in service to clean viruses from personally-owned computers.

Service charges may apply for personally-owned computers; please review Maintenance & Repair costs.

Miami-owned machines infected with a virus should be brought to the attention of a TSR.

General Computing

The information detailed above describes the minimal level of support the faculty and staff of Miami University should expect from the IT Services Support Desk. As time and knowledge allows, the IT Services Support Desk will assist faculty and staff with general computing problems not specifically mentioned above.

V. Performance Monitoring

Quantitative and qualitative measures will be used to determine how well the IT Services Support Desk is doing to meet the responsibilities detailed in this agreement. Below are some statistics to display the performance levels of the Support Desk, as a whole:

• 90% of phone calls are answered within 60 seconds
• In fiscal year 2005, we began working on 99% of requests within 1 business day
• In fiscal year 2006, we began working on 99% of requests within 1 business day

Call Tracking

All requests for support are logged in a tracking system by IT Services Support Desk personnel. In addition to aiding the tracking of requests for support, the tracking system also allows for reporting to be done on the data collected. This will allow reporting to be done on how many requests for help are not answered within one business day.

Our goal is to answer all requests for assistance on the day that the request is received.

Customer Support Services Client Satisfaction Survey

IT Services Customer Support Services conducts an annual survey to determine the client satisfaction level for services offered, including support provided by the Support Desk. The data collected from this survey will be used to gauge how well the IT Services Support Desk is serving faculty and staff clients and meeting the expectations detailed in this agreement. The data is also used to guide us in service improvements.

Spring, 2002 faculty satisfaction with the IT Services Support Desk was 3.78 on a 5 point scale. Spring, 2003 faculty satisfaction with the IT Services Support Desk was 4.44 on a 5 point scale. Spring, 2004 faculty satisfaction with the IT Services Support Desk was 4.56 on a 5 point scale.

Spring, 2002 staff satisfaction with the IT Services Support Desk was 4.25 on a 5 point scale. Spring, 2003 staff satisfaction with the IT Services Support Desk was 4.54 on a 5 point scale. Spring, 2004 staff satisfaction with the IT Services Support Desk was 4.79 on a 5 point scale.

VI. Expectations

IT Services Support Desk Expectations of Miami Faculty and Staff

Before making a request for support, Miami faculty and staff are expected to do the following (if these steps have not been done, Support Desk personnel will ask the faculty or staff member to perform the steps that are relevant to the problem being reported):

• See if a reboot of the machine clears the problem.
  
• Make sure all power, network, and peripheral cables are plugged in properly.
  
• Make sure all components are turned on (monitor, system unit, printer, modem, etc.)
  
• Record the exact text of any error messages received.
  
• Have any relevant details about the computer at hand (what operating system, what software is being used, special configurations, etc.).
  
• If the question concerns a Miami-owned machine, make sure that the TSR for that department desires that the problem be handled by the IT Services Support Desk.

If possible, be at the machine when requesting support.

When things do not work right, people can become upset and frustrated. IT Services Support Desk personnel are able to best help Miami faculty and staff if the person requesting assistance remains courteous.

Miami Faculty and Staff Expectations of the IT Services Support Desk

• Courteous and professional service.
  
• IT Services Support Desk personnel will make no assumptions about Miami faculty and staff technical expertise.
  
• If an IT Services Support Desk representative does not know the solution to a problem, he or she will consult with other IT Services Support Desk personnel before attempting to solve a problem.
  
• Assurance of assistance. The IT Services Support Desk will provide support for the services detailed in this agreement. If requests for support are received on services that IT Services does not support, we will do our best to provide assistance or a referral to an external resource (referrals to external resources are not endorsements of that resource).