Network Support Agreement
All system administration contracts with (BVOS) are subject to the following terms. As noted, some sections may be adjusted on a per-contract basis at the discretion of BVOS.
•1. Contract Length, Renewal Terms and Termination Terms
Contracts are done in 12, 24 and 36 month lengths and begin on the date in which the contract is signed by both the client and BVOS.
At the end of the year the renewal will be automatic unless notified in writing 30 days prior to the end of the year.
If the contract is terminated prior to the end of the current fiscal year's contract, BVOS may retain funds already paid for the contract term.
2. Service Hours and Response Time
Available service hours and response times for all BVOS contracts are specified in the BVOS Service Level Agreement (SLA). By default, all contracts are 0900-1700, Monday through Friday unless otherwise specified. If the client requires extended coverage, this must be spelled out prior to the signing of the contract and may incur additional fees. Hours of service may be changed after the acceptance of the contract only at the discretion of BVOS.
Response times for all BVOS contracts are defined in the SLA.
3. Points of Contact
Each contract shall have two BVOS IT professionals assigned to it: A primary and a secondary contact. These shall be the points of contact between the client and BVOS. For research groups and other entities of multiple persons who contract with BVOS, the client must spell out which members of the group have the authority to request system-level changes to the machines under contract.
4. Adherence to BVOS IT Policy
All clients must certify that they will abide by the BVOS IT policies. BVOS will act in accordance with applicable policies and we reserve the right to cancel a contract when the actions or requests of a client conflict with our responsibilities as information technology professionals to the client.
5. Software Maintenance
All machines included on a contract must be signed up for software support so that they are licensed for vendor patches and upgrades of the operating system.
6. Assistance Coverage
Assistance coverage is available to clients who don't already have a Windows support person who can handle the following routine tasks:
- adding/modifying/deleting user accounts
- monitoring file systems and disk usage
- monitoring system usage; performance tuning
- nonstandard configuration commercial software applications
- nonstandard configuration of BVOS supported public domain software
All other covered tasks (see the Comprehensive Coverage contract specifications below for details) will be taken care of by the contract's assigned BVOS personnel. If the local support person cannot perform these tasks independently, a Comprehensive Coverage contract will be required.
7. Comprehensive Coverage
With comprehensive coverage, BVOS maintains all aspects of the system, including the following (in addition to the routine daily tasks listed above with the assistance coverage):
- installation and upgrades of the operating system
- installation of required patches and security fixes
- standard installations of commercial software applications
- hardware/software purchase and migration consulting
- installation of compatible hardware peripherals
- coordination of any hardware maintenance by vendors or BVOS
- miscellaneous troubleshooting
Please note that while we are familiar with certain applications (such as the Microsoft Office) there is simply too much software on the market for us to be able to make a blanket statement of support. Therefore, depending on the software and the nature of the request, we will install application software, but site-specific customizations may be the responsibility of the client.
8. Data Backups
There are two options for data backups, local and TSM. Local backups involve a tape drive, re-synced hard drive, or other similar device. Generally, clients will be considered responsible for the maintenance of these backups once initial setup is completed by BVOS personnel.
BVOS ON-Line Backup is a backup service offered by which files are transfered over the network to a large tape library in Data Center, with off-site copies as an available option. BVOS provides for robust data integrity as well as multiple version retention, and is considerably easier to set up and maintain than most other local solutions. However, BVOS On-Line Backup is a separate charge from the BVOS IT service manager, in addition to BVOS support charges.