[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.}]

INTRODUCTION

[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.]

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SUPPORT SCOPE

[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 Mission Critical. ]

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SUPPORT REFERENCE MODEL

[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. ]

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Support Package Details and Contacts

[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) Named Escalation Contact (Only for Level C, B, and custom)   MSO Support Package Purchased (Level D, C, B, or Custom) Support Package Components 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.

Contract Options

[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				Optional
	Solution Custom Code QFE Support			ü	ü
	Source Code Control			ü	ü
	Scalability & Benchmarking Labs		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

Delivery Models

[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. ]

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Partner Models

[Description: Add support model for any 3rd party components included in solution.]

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Service-Level Metrics

[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.]

Business Hours:

Initial Technical response by severity:

Sev A – one business hour

Sev B – two business hours

Sev C – four business hours

24x7 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.  

SUPPORT ACTIVITIES

[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

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.

Problem Reporting

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.

Escalation

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.

Escalation Triggers

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.

QFE

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.

Solution Code

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.

Solution Documentation

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. 

Product Code

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.

Design Change Requests

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.

Advisory Services

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.