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Ó 2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
The information contained in this document represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication.
This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS DOCUMENT.
Microsoft
and Visual Basic are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft in
the
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[Introduction to the Template
Description:
The Microsoft Support Plan describes how the solution will be supported by
Microsoft once operational in the customer environment. Different from the
Support Plan, this Microsoft Support Plan details the specifics as they relate
to the support services that are part of the solution provided by Microsoft.
This includes a description of the support personnel and their roles as well as
the processes to resolve problems arising within the solution
boundaries.
Justification:
Planning for a solution’s operational support ensures that the support personnel
and processes are in place as the solution is deployed. This enables operational
support personnel to be involved with the solution early and gain the knowledge
and skills necessary to provide quality ongoing support.
Team
Role Primary:
Release is responsible for the content of the Microsoft Support
Plan. Development
contributes content to the plan to ensure the feasibility of plan’s the
technical implementation.
Program Management is responsible for ensuring the plan is
complete and for incorporating it into the Master Project
Plan.
Team
Role Secondary:
All other teams review the plan to ensure its feasibility.}]
[Description:
This
document is designed to provide information on how the solution is supported by
Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS), including escalation paths, support
offerings and resources, and contracted support levels.
Justification:
As
each implementation of solutions are specific to match the customer needs and
scenario, so must the support package. This document must provide the
implementation teams with enough information to get started on detailing the
range and common scope for Microsoft support that should be put in place prior
to solution deployment.]
<<Begin text
here>>
[Description:
Support
Packages are scoped to a specific Microsoft Solution Offering (MSO). The support
package included in the solution sale is determined based on the operating
configuration of the solution as implemented at the customer. Three primary
categories are used: Departmental, Business Critical, and
<<Begin text
here>>
[Description:
Microsoft
Solution Offerings include a support package for solution focused support. The
support packages are detailed in the following section. Support is availably
directly from Microsoft or through a Microsoft Gold Certified for MSO Support
partner. ]
<<Begin text
here>>
[Description:
The
Microsoft Solution Offering will include details on the support package
purchased. In addition to a full service description, the following template
will be provided for quick access to support.]
MSO Support Package Details Support Contact 800 Number (24x7x365) Support Web Site Customer Access ID (Unique to each customer and solution configuration) MSO Support Package Purchased (Level D, C, B, or Custom) Number of hours Number of site visits Premium services included with package |
Upon completion of solution implementation, a MSO support representative will conduct an Orientation and Planning session with the customer to provide specific details on contract utilization.
[Description:
Solution
support comes in four levels of service, levels D, C, B, and Custom. The following lists the features of each
service level. The solution is recommended with a minimum support package of
level C.]
|
MSO – Level D |
MSO – Level C |
MSO – Level B |
MSO – Custom Level | |
Prescriptive Services |
Service Level Agreement |
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Optional |
Solution Custom Code QFE Support |
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ü |
ü | |
Source Code Control |
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ü |
ü | |
Scalability & Benchmarking Labs |
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Additional Fee |
ü |
ü | |
Technical Workshops |
|
Additional Fee |
ü |
ü | |
Architecture Review |
|
Additional Fee |
ü |
ü | |
Relationship & Service Level Management |
Solutions Operational Assessment |
|
Additional Fee |
Additional Fee |
ü |
Account Reporting |
ü |
ü |
ü |
ü | |
Escalation Contact |
Pooled |
Named |
Named |
Onsite | |
Advisory Services |
Onsite Advisory |
Additional Fee |
ü |
ü |
ü |
Solution Workshops |
ü |
ü |
ü |
ü | |
Solution Advisory Services (Setup, Configuration, Operations) |
ü |
ü |
ü |
ü | |
Resolution Services |
Solution QFE Support |
ü |
ü |
ü |
ü |
Rapid Onsite Support Service |
Additional Fee |
ü |
ü |
ü | |
Break-fix Support: • Emergency – 1 bus. hours • Critical – 2 bus. hours • Standard - 4 bus. Hours |
ü |
ü |
ü |
ü | |
Pooled Hours |
150 Hours |
400 Hours |
800 Hours |
Custom Hours | |
Internet & Information Services |
Solution Expert Roundtables |
ü |
ü |
ü |
ü |
Solution News Flashes |
ü |
ü |
ü |
ü |
[Description:
MSO
Support package services are provided by both Microsoft and Microsoft Gold
Certified for MSO Support partners. Microsoft direct support is provided by the
Microsoft Global Solutions Services Center (GSSC). Customers with Microsoft
Premier Support will have the MSO support package added to their Premier support
agreement and will receive service and status reports from their assigned
Technical Account Manager or Application Development Consultant. Customers
without Premier will receive support directly from the GSSC and will be provided
with a named Microsoft GSSC contact for MSO Level B, C, and custom support
packages. GSSC will provide front line support for the solution offering, which
includes troubleshooting the initial request from the customer, root cause
isolation, advisory services, and redirecting or collaboration with other PSS
support teams.
MSO
Support packages are also available from Microsoft Gold Certified for MSO
Support partners. Partners will provide the same support services and packages
identified in the Contract Options section. Partners will escalate issues to
Microsoft that require QFE. ]
<<Begin text
here>>
[Description:
Add
support model for any 3rd party components included in solution.]
<<Begin text
here>>
[Description:
Service
level metrics specify the maximum amount of time for a customer to be contracted
by a support representative after opening an incident. Initial response goals
will be the same for all support package levels but will vary by
severity.]
Initial Technical response by severity:
Sev A – one business hour
Sev B – two business hours
Sev C – four business hours
24x7 solution support is defined as the hours between 6pm and 7am Monday through Friday and between 2pm and 10am Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. During the “24x7” hours the Technical Routers will be calling/paging the appropriate on-call engineers or negotiating call backs for the next business day and dispatching the cases to the appropriate queue. Customers will be offered technical assistance via a page first, if they chose to wait until the next business day then the Technical Router will dispatch the case to the appropriate queue.
[Description:
Detail the plans for the various functions that are part of the support services
provided with the Microsoft Support Plan agreement for the
solution.]
Status reports will be provided on a quarterly basis for MSO Support Level D and C. Level B and Custom MSO support packages will provide monthly status reports. The status reports will detail the contract utilization. Details include hours used, onsite visits used, and a list of support incidents opened. For each incident the report will specify the number of hours used, the type of problem, and the time to resolution.
The customer will initiate contact with support via a telephone call or a web request using the contact information provided in the support package description. Customers purchasing the solution support package will receive a unique ID used to contract support. This unique ID ensures that the service request is routed to the solution support team that is familiar and trained on the solution.
All paths will result in the creation of an incident (SRX#) which will be provided to the customer. All incidents will be deducted from the customer support package by the hour. If the root cause of the problem is determined to be a bug, the incident time will be refunded.
If the cause of the incident is determined to be the solution code or documentation, a bug will be filed and the issue will be escalated to the Sustained Solution Engineering Team (see section on Escalation Procedures).
If the cause of the service request is not a bug or if it the request is related to custom code, the support professional will work the issue to resolution. This may involve collaborating with other support professionals, teams, or groups (e.g. SQL Support) as needed. The hours logged by all support professionals involved will be deducted from the support contract hours.
If
the support professional is unable to determine the root cause of the problem in
a timely manner (see section on triggers), the incident will be escalated to
Microsoft Solution Integration Engineering (SIE). SIE will perform more detailed analysis
of the issue to determine root cause and advise the customer, support team, SSE
Team, and/or CPR on further action as appropriate. The SIE support professional will be
responsible for isolating and reproducing the problem. Due to the complex nature
of the solution, it is likely that multiple support professionals would be
brought in at this juncture to work on the problem in a team environment. The standard Developer Support process for
escalation will be used for any problems discovered with the underlying
Microsoft products.
During the normal course of supporting the solution, various checkpoints will be established to ensure timely resolution of the incident. Triggers will be set based on time (both hours worked and days since incident creation) and severity. Such that high severity (business down) issues will have escalations expedited.
Triggers will be used to protect the customer from extended case times. The faster that an incident reaches the appropriate escalation level, the faster the resolution delivery time. The specific escalation path will be determined by the owning support professional, technical lead, team manager, and account manager.
Incidents that are a result of a bug may require QFE to resolve the problem. QFE issues can affect both executable code and documentation. Procedures for handling QFE are as follows.
If isolation of the problem results in the discovery of a bug in the code base of the solution, the customer will be notified as to the nature of the issue. Short term workarounds may be suggested. The case will immediately be sent to the Sustained Solution Engineering Team. The Sustained Solution Engineering Team will then be responsible for keeping the GSSC, Premier and customer contacts up to date with current status and estimated time to resolution.
If isolation of the problem results in the discovery of a bug in the product documentation, the customer will be notified as to the nature of the problem. A work around (code or procedural) will need to be developed. Once the workaround has been tested, it will be submitted to the Sustained Solution Engineering Team for inclusion in an updated document. Other options include being added as an addendum.
If isolation of the problem results in the discovery of a bug in the code of an underlying product, the customer will be notified as to the nature of the problem. The incident will immediately be dispatched to the appropriate Microsoft Critical Problem Resolution (CPR) team for resolution. It will be the responsibility of CPR to communicate to the appropriate GSSC, Premier, and customer contacts as to progress and estimated time to resolution.
It is likely that once the solution is in general use that changes in behavior are requested. These issues may be perceived as ‘bugs’ or design limitations. The origination of the requests may come from either external or internal sources. Regardless of origin, the requests will be reviewed by the Sustained Solution Engineering Team for merit and overall impact on a case by case basis. Unless the change is deemed ‘critical’ no response time is required. If the request is critical, the Sustained Solution Engineering Team will be notified of the severity and the customer apprised of the progress of the request. For critical issues, it may be preferable to identify alternative acceptable workarounds in the interest of expediting resolution.
In
addition to traditional break-fix support, MSO support packages include advisory
services. The Advisory Service provides short-term, proactive assistance for
specific design, development or deployment issues. Advisory service engagements
are focused on specific tasks within a development or deployment project and are
delivered remotely from Microsoft offices throughout the world. Advisory
services are billed by the hour and are deducted from the hours included in the
MSO support package.