The service
level agreements following are standard for Southland Benefit Solutions. However, additional service level agreements
may be defined per customer and outlined in individual administrative
agreements.
Southland
currently has the following classifications of issues.
1) Support Request: Support
requests typically resolve a specific problem or a trivial change to existing
functionality.
2) Work Request: Work
requests typically enhance existing functionality or implement new
functionality without major effort and with minimal coordination of resources.
3) Project Request: Project
requests are typically used when significant non-labor expense is likely, when
the work effort will be coordinated among multiple departments or third
parties, and/or when significant effort will be required to complete the
request definition, development, testing, and implementation.
Southland
shall resolve all issues and will have information of each logged item from
clients stored within the ticketing system.
The issue shall be submitted through email, telephone, or web
submission. Southland shall provide an issue tracking number at the time of
submission or within one business day for email submission.
Southland
incidents and requests will be categorized according to the following severity
priorities. Project and Work requests
are prioritized according to client or company need rather than severity.
Critical
A critical issue represents that a system or application is not
functional or accessible, data corruption has occurred, or such corruption could
result from the continued use of effected system(s). As many resources as necessary should be
working on this issue until it is resolved.
During
normal business hours, if a member of system support is not immediately
available to take the call, then a Southland member will return the call within
one (1) hour following receipt of the initial request.
Resolution: Southland associate(s) with the appropriate
subject matter expertise shall immediately be assigned to resolve the issue. Executive management will be immediately
notified of all critical issues.
Communications will generally be sent every two hours throughout the
duration of the incident until resolution is achieved. Southland will commit the appropriate subject
matter expert(s) to the issue exclusively until the issue is either resolved or
an acceptable workaround solution has been implemented. If a temporary workaround solution is
implemented, Southland will continue to track the issue to point of final
resolution.
High
A high
issue represents that a system or application is functioning sporadically but
the problem affects a user’s ability to effectively perform essential job
functions, functionality is down and there is a limited or no workaround
available, or a client has requested immediate attention. This request should take priority over any
other non-critical request.
High
requests will be processed after critical requests. Requests prioritized as
high are escalated every four hours until work begins at which point
escalations continue every eight hours until resolved.
Resolution: At least one Support member will be assigned
to work the issue until resolved. Status
updates should be provided on a daily basis while the issue is
outstanding. Given the amount of time
physically required to resolve the issue, the customer and support will work
together in good faith to determine a mutually agreeable delivery date.
Medium
A
medium request represents that a system or application functionality is
impaired but it is not significantly hindering essential job functions. If
not addressed in a timely manner, this could become a high priority request.
Medium
requests are processed on an “as soon as practical” basis. Support members should provide acknowledgement
of these requests within one business day following receipt of the initial
request.
Resolution: Resolution of medium priority
requests is based on availability of resources and prioritization among other
medium requests, projects, and work requests.
Management may override priority so that task will be given immediate
attention.
Low
A
low request is used when essential job functions are not significantly impacted
and it is not anticipated that they will be in the near future. The request
will be worked when convenient.
Resolution: Low priority requests are typically
resolved when able to be combined with related higher priority requests or
resources become available.
Issues
are monitored on a daily basis and issue reports can be provided to the customer
upon request. Outstanding request
tickets are reported to management on a weekly basis and reviewed for
prioritization. Customers may be able to
track issues via the tracking number provided in email generated from ticketing
system.
In
the event client is dissatisfied with the level of service provided by Southland,
Southland will facilitate a meeting with client in an effort to resolve
satisfaction issues and continue the current relationship. If a resolution cannot be reached, Southland
and the client will determine, on a case by case basis, the best course of
action.