Priority Definitions

Priority 1 Definition - Critical business impact, this indicates you are unable to use the program resulting in a critical impact on operations. This condition requires immediate resolution. Priority 1 Condition - Issue has crippling effect on the customers business (ie. the production system is down) Key Deliverables - Priority 1 service involves reacting to customers emergency situations by applying suitable resource immediately. Priority 1 issues will, unless otherwise agreed upon with the customer, be serviced on a continual effort basis until the Priority 1 condition has been resolved. It is to be understood that the resolution to Priority 1 conditions may come in a variety of forms, including temporary relief, that is viable in enabling the customers business to operate until a more comprehensive solution is provided. Priority 1 service delivery requires: o o o Both the product and the customer are eligible for customer support assistance Customer is available 24x7 to actively collaborate with the analyst System access or system information is available 24x7

Unless otherwise agreed, a break in continual effort by the customer will result in the situation no longer being classified as critical (with a corresponding lowering of Priority). The issue will then be serviced during normal business hours. Response Objective - Initial response must be made within 30 minutes of a Priority 1 case. Ongoing response must be continuous until the case is lowered to a Priority 2. See below for examples of Priority 1 case: o o o A database/application instance in production is down, affecting underlying business operability Data is either not accessible, cannot be backed up, or cannot be restored An application development (defect) problem exists, severely affecting immediate rollout schedules and resulting in substantial revenue loss for which customer is working 24x7 Customer has repeated production outages that are disrupting the success of their business

See below for examples of cases that are not typically a Priority 1: o o o o Database is operational, after a one-time outage, requiring root cause analysis New application development Customer not available for collaboration after hours but has after-hour expectations of support team First-time installation

NOTE: A Critical Situation does not automatically imply Priority 1. The associated problems business impact sets the Priority.

Technical Support Management 2008

Priority 2 Definition - Significant business impact, this indicates the program is usable but is severely limited. Priority 2 Conditions o o o o o o Issue is critical to customers success Non-production system data is inaccessible, cannot be archived or restored Critical application returning error during compile or runtime Poor performance having serious negative impact on business Root cause analysis required on a previous Priority 1 condition A database/application error has occurred severely hampering business operability

Key Deliverables - Priority 2 issues will be serviced as critical during normal business hours unless an alternative customer agreement exists and until the Priority 2 condition has been resolved. Rapid resolution should be provided using best effort. Priority 2 service delivery requires: o o o Both the product and the customer are eligible for customer support assistance Customer, unless otherwise agreed to, is available during normal business hours System access or system information is, unless otherwise agreed to, available during normal business hours

Response Objective - Initial response must be made within 1 hour of a Priority 2 case. Ongoing response is based on what is agreed to with the customer. A one to five day status is used as a guideline. Priority 3 Definition - Some business impact, this indicates the program is usable with less significant features (not critical to operations) unavailable. Priority 3 Conditions o o o o Issue will affect customers ability to meet near term deadlines An application returning errors during compile or runtime Poor performance having negative impact Acceptable workarounds may exist

Key Deliverables - Priority 3 issues will be serviced as having high importance to both the customer and customer services. Such issues will be progressed during normal business hours until the Priority 3 condition has been resolved. Priority 3 service delivery requires both the product and the customer eligible for customer support assistance. Response Objective - Initial response must be made within 1 hour of a Priority 3 case. Ongoing response is based on what is agreed to with the customer. A one to ten day status is used as a guideline. Priority 4 Definition - Minimal business impact, this indicates the problem results in little impact on operations or a reasonable circumvention to the problem has been implemented. Priority 4 Conditions o o o General question such as how-to or syntax questions Issue with little or no impact Documentation issues

Technical Support Management 2008

Issue is essentially resolved but remains open for customer confirmation. Intermittent wait status with little or no customer interaction required

Key Deliverables - Priority 4 issues will be serviced as general issues during normal business hours until the Priority 4 condition has been resolved. Priority 4 service delivery requires both the product and the customer eligible for customer support assistance. Response Objective - Initial response must be made within 1 hour of a Priority 4 case. Ongoing response is based on what is agreed to with the customer. A one to ten day status is used as a guideline. A formal status may not be required if the issue is in a wait condition (ie. Waiting on a fix pack, waiting for a recreate, etc). Note: Priority or Severity Priority and Severity are often used interchangeably. In some rare cases they are both used. I have used Priority in this document because I feel that it communicates a sense of business impact with the customer. You may have a different preference or a history of using Severity in your support organization. You can simply replace the terms in this document for your use if that is the case.

Technical Support Management 2008