Contents Definitions Introduction Darwin Technology... 9

Transcription

1

2 Contents... 2 Definitions... 3 Introduction Darwin Technology Availability Performance Disaster Recovery Darwin Technical Support Incidents Service Requests Call Handling Performance Darwin Administration Service Darwin Employee Helpdesk Service Service Performance Call Handling Performance Escalation Process Service Level Reporting Process... 5

3 The following terms are used in this document and have prescribed meanings as follows: Thomsons Thomsons shall mean Thomsons Online Benefits and any subcontractors engaged by the company to support the delivery of the services described in this document. Darwin Darwin is the name of the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution to which the Client has subscribed. Darwin Explorer Darwin Explorer is the online knowledge base that is provided to all Thomsons Clients to help them learn how to manage and administer Darwin. Clients are able to learn about navigation, running monthly processes, amending site content and much more besides. Darwin Explorer material is available around the clock for any queries or for troubleshooting. Darwin Technical Guide The Darwin Technical Guide is a document that explains the requirements for supporting Darwin and how the software is hosted and developed. It covers topics including Darwin s hosting environment, its security and privacy architecture, its system architecture, its system access requirements, its coding standards, its release strategy and our disaster recovery plan for Darwin. Service Level Agreement This Service Level Agreement (or SLA) defines the performance standards that the Client can expect Thomsons to achieve throughout the life of Darwin as well as during the delivery of the associated support and administration services. Service Level Objective This SLA comprises a set of Service Level Objectives (or SLOs), each of which has a performance target that is the minimum service level that the Client can expect us to achieve consistently in each full calendar quarter (e.g. January to March inclusive) during the life of their contract with Thomsons. Achievement by Thomsons of the targets associated with the SLOs is measured continuously by a suite of operational support systems and reported periodically to the Client so that they can be confident of Thomsons performance as a supplier. Service Level Report The Service Level Report is a document that is produced once each calendar quarter for the Client and that summarises Thomsons performance in relation to each of the Service Level Objectives defined in the SLA. Availability Availability is the amount of time in a specified period that Darwin is accessible for use by the Client and is functioning materially as expected divided by the total amount of time that it could theoretically have been available for use in that same period. The total time for which it could theoretically have been available excludes periods of time when

4 there was a failure of any software, hardware or communications infrastructure that was beyond the reasonable control of Thomsons including but not limited to the Client s Internet connection, its Local Area Network and the desktop/laptop/mobile devices used by its employees to access Darwin, or there is Scheduled Downtime for Darwin, or a Disaster Recovery process was being executed following the occurrence of a Disaster up to the point that access to the solution was restored in full for the Client. If Darwin is not available for any period of time that is longer than 30 minutes, Thomsons will notify the Client of this by using an automated notification system within 2 hours of that situation arising and will do so again upon resolution, again within 2 hours of that resolution, providing that the Client has provided Thomsons with a contact address that is to be used in such circumstances. Availability is measured by Thomsons using automated performance monitoring tools that regularly access Darwin features in order to validate that the Client s solution is accessible and functioning correctly. The tools measure the availability of software, of hardware and of the communications connection from Darwin to the Internet, the reliability and resilience of which are the responsibility of Thomsons. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) Coordinated Universal Time (or UTC) is the time standard most commonly used across the world. UTC is a time standard rather than a specific time zone although it should be noted that GMT (or Greenwich Mean Time) which is a specific time zone is always at exactly the same time as UTC. Thomsons designs all its time-specific activities on the basis of UTC given the global presence of many of our clients so UTC is shown when displaying times in this document rather than GMT. Because many of Thomsons clients use Darwin in many countries, consideration is always given to the times of day at which we perform important or disruptive activities in the following time zones (amongst many others but these are the most common amongst our clients): PST UTC - 8 Pacific Standard Time CST UTC - 6 Central Standard Time EST UTC - 5 Eastern Standard Time GMT UTC Greenwich Mean Time CET UTC + Central European Time EET UTC + 2 Eastern European Time SGT UTC + 8 Singapore Time AEST UTC + Australian Eastern Standard Time NZST UTC + 3 New Zealand Standard Time Scheduled Downtime Scheduled Downtime means those periods of time during which Darwin has been scheduled to be unavailable in order to perform routine upgrades to and maintenance of the Darwin software and database. Clients will be given at least 5 Days notice of any Scheduled Downtime.

5 Scheduled Downtime will only ever occur at weekends and will start no earlier than 0600 UTC on Saturday and finish no later than 0000 UTC on Sunday. This means that scheduled downtime should not impact the working week for a Client on the West Coast of the USA (UTC 8), nor should it impact the working week for a Client with offices in the Middle East (generally UTC + 2) where the working week may include Sunday. Maximum Time Window For Scheduled Downtime Fri 200 Sat 0000 Sat 200 Sun 0000 Sun 200 Mon 0000 Mon 200 GMT (UTC) 0600 Sat to 0000 Sun PST (UTC - 8) 2200 Fri to 600 Sat EET (UTC + 2) 0800 Sat to 0200 Sun SGT (UTC + 8) 400 Sat to 0800 Sun NZST (UTC + 3) 900 Sat to 300 Sun Scheduled Downtime is typically required several times each year and the amount of time needed is generally substantially shorter than the 8 hour window described above. Very infrequently, the amount of Scheduled Downtime may be longer than 8 hours where a major infrastructure change is taking place (such as a Data Centre move). In such scenarios, Thomsons will give the Client at least 4 weeks notice of the event. Thomsons additionally reserves the right to have non-scheduled downtime on other days of the week and at other times of day for maintenance that is, at Thomsons discretion, emergency in nature, notably for any critical security updates. Thomsons has not exercised this right to date but needs to maintain the ability to do so should it become necessary. Average Page Load Time The Average Page Load Time is the average amount of time taken to load (make a Darwin web page visible to the user following a previous user action) a typical cross-section of pages that form part of the Darwin software product. The Average Page Load Time is measured using automated performance monitoring tools on a test Darwin site in the production environment that regularly login to Darwin and access its features in order to confirm that it is delivering acceptable performance from a user s perspective. The measurement is not performed from the Client s premises but from a controlled test environment as there is technology on the Client s premises that is beyond the control of Thomsons that can adversely affect performance (such as LAN architecture and configuration, the specification of access devices and their operating systems and the specification of the Client s own Internet connection). The pages that are loaded by the automated performance monitoring tools correspond to one of the most frequently used navigation paths in Darwin and are as follows: Login Home Benefit Selection Benefit Selection Update Selection Benefit Selection Workflow Benefit Selection Confirmation Logout

6 These pages therefore exclude any of those within Darwin Analytics Centre. The very nature of Analytics is such that longer response times (potentially much longer) can be expected depending on the complexity of the query performed. For this reasons, these are excluded from what is a test of more transactional user interactions with Darwin. Disaster A Disaster is an event that renders Darwin completely inaccessible and/or unusable for an indeterminate period of time as a result of a catastrophic event such as a fire, a flood, theft or even a major cyber-attack. Disaster Recovery Disaster Recovery is the process by which Darwin is restored to its operational state following a Disaster. Thomsons has a strategy and plan for Disaster Recovery which is set out in the Darwin Technical Guide. Recovery Time Objective The Recovery Time Objective (or RTO) is the maximum time that it should take to restore Darwin to its full operational state following the occurrence of a Disaster. RTO is measured on a 24x7 basis from the point at which the Disaster occurred. Recovery Point Objective The Recovery Point Objective (or RPO) is the maximum number of hours of data additions and changes that are lost following the occurrence of a Disaster. Incident An Incident is an event that leads to an interruption to or reduction in the quality of a Darwin service. They can range in severity from events that cause the entire Darwin solution to be unavailable to all of the Client s users to entirely cosmetic issues such as typographic errors. Priority The Priority of an Incident is a measure of the importance of implementing a resolution to an Incident and depends on both its severity and urgency. For the purpose of categorising the Priority of Incidents, four Priority Levels are defined and each Priority has an expected maximum response and resolution time. Service Request A Service Request is a question, request for guidance or request for an ad-hoc action to be performed raised by the Client but in relation to which no Incident has occurred. Examples of Service Requests include running ad-hoc pre-configured reports, performing ad-hoc uploads of data and providing ad-hoc information. Wherever possible, the Client is encouraged to self-serve using the online Darwin Enablement material rather than raise Service Requests. Day A Day comprises those hours on weekdays during which Thomsons commits to provide the services described in this SLA including the receipt and actioning of inbound communication from the Client. For Incidents raised with our European team, the Day lasts from 9am to 5.30pm from Monday to Friday GMT excluding UK public holidays. For Incidents raised with our Asia-Pacific team, the Day lasts from 9am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday SGT excluding Singaporean public holidays.

7 Hour A Hour is one hour within the hours that make up a Day. Target Response Time The Target Response Time is the maximum amount of time that it should take Thomsons to acknowledge receipt of an Incident or Service Request that is reported by or to engage in discussions about the Incident or Service Request with the Client if reported by phone, measured from the time at which it was first reported to us. The Target Response Time is expressed as either a number of elapsed hours on a 24 x 7 basis or as a number of Hours or Days. The Target Response Time for employee requests raised by are a matter of seconds or a few minutes as automated acknowledgements of receipt are issued by , following which the request is immediately queued for actioning. For requests raised by phone, response is immediate as there is interaction with our agent immediately. Target Resolution Time The Target Resolution Time is the maximum amount of time that it should take Thomsons to resolve the underlying cause of an Incident or implement a temporary workaround to it that avoids the negative impact of the Incident until a permanent fix can be implemented. The Target Resolution Time is measured from the earliest of (a) the time of the phone call during which the issue was first reported to us, (b) the time at which we read the that was sent to us to report the issue (which we do within a matter of minutes of it being received by our Exchange server), or (c) the moment that our monitoring software detected the issue (which is principally for priority level incidents). The only exception to the above method of measurement is when, for Priority Levels 2, 3 and 4 incidents, the issue is reported outside Hours in which case the timer starts at the beginning of the next Day. The Target Resolution Time excludes any time during which Thomsons has to wait for action by either the Client or third parties such as benefit and payroll providers and was unable to proceed with the actioning of the Incident as a result of this. The Target Resolution Time is expressed as either a number of elapsed hours on a 24 x 7 basis (for priority level incidents) or as a number of Hours or Days (for priority level 2, 3 and 4 incidents). Target Completion Time The Target Completion Time is the maximum amount of time that it should take Thomsons to complete the processing of a Service Request and provide the requested information or advice to the person who made that request. This time excludes any time during which Thomsons was waiting for action by either the Client or third parties such as benefit or payroll providers and was unable to proceed with the processing of the request as a result. The time it was first reported to us is considered to be the start of the next Day if it was reported out-of-hours. Critical Function A Critical Function in Darwin is one whose accessibility and use can reasonably be regarded as timecritical to the Client; meaning that their use is sufficiently urgent that they need to be accessible within a Day or there could be a material impact on the Client. The Critical Functions are as follows: accessing Darwin, making benefit selections, accessing the correct benefits based on eligibility rules,

8 issuing accurate payroll or provider reports, issuing pre-agreed legislative notifications documented in the Service & Administration Specification, issuing notifications, executing campaigns and directing them at the correct recipients, gaining access through SSO links, accessing life event functionality, and displaying benefits correctly to users (including rates and other important information). Target Call Answer Time The Target Call Answer Time is the maximum time it should take a Thomsons agent to answer an inbound call from the Client excluding any time spent during the initial welcome message or guidance through to the correct team; that is, the measurement only starts when call starts ringing for an agent. Target Call Abandon Rate The Target Call Abandon Rate is the maximum percentage of calls that are abandoned before an agent answers the call. It includes only those calls that are abandoned after the point an agent should have answered the call based on the Target Call Answer Time.

9 The purpose of this Service Level Agreement is to define the performance standards that every Client can expect Thomsons to achieve throughout the life of the Darwin Software-as-a-Service solution to which they have subscribed as well as during the delivery of the associated support and administration services. The targets associated with each of the Service Level Objectives in this document have been determined following an assessment of common industry practice/performance and an analysis of the degree of variability in performance that we have witnessed when delivering our benefits-related services in practice to hundreds of clients. The targets are neither overly-cautious nor overly-optimistic they reflect what our experience tells us is practical to achieve given the real world practicalities and challenges of delivering the services in question. The targets in this document were used to help us design a set of standard operating procedures, a resourcing model and a set of incident escalation paths and timings that would enable us to achieve those targets effectively and efficiently. As a result, we do not vary the targets from one Client to another as such changes would require us to customise our operating model for each Client and in doing so lose much of the efficiency and effectiveness that comes from our standardised approach. This Service Level Agreement is a living document that Thomsons expects to enhance over time, seeking to attain higher performance standards through a process of continuous improvement and add new Service Level Objectives both for existing services and for new services that may be introduced during the life of the contract with the Client. Thomsons hereby commits that it will not, over the life of the Client s contract, either withdraw existing Service Level Objectives, make the targets associated with any of the Service Level Objectives less stringent or change/strengthen the caveats and conditions associated with the measurement of those objectives - we only seek to improve. The remainder of this document sets out the Service Level Objectives and their targets. The services described in Sections 4 and 5 will only be relevant if the Client has purchased these optional Managed Services. The other Service Level Objectives apply to all clients The minimum Availability that the Client can expect of Darwin shall be as follows: Minimum Solution Availability in a Calendar Quarter 99.9% The maximum amount of Scheduled Downtime that the Client can expect of Darwin shall be as follows:

10 Maximum Scheduled Downtime per 4 Month Averaged Over Calendar Year hours Achieved Availability compared with target Availability and actual Scheduled Downtime compared with the target Maximum Scheduled Downtime is published on Darwin Explorer. The maximum Average Page Load Time shall be as follows: Maximum Average Page Load Time 4 in a Calendar Quarter seconds Data showing achieved Average Page Load Time compared with target for the previous quarter and for earlier quarters dating back no less that one calendar year can be found on Darwin Explorer. The Recovery Time Objective that the Client can expect Thomsons to achieve shall be as follows: Recovery Time Objective (RTO) for 24 Darwin after a disaster has occurred hours The Recovery Point Objective that the Client can expect Thomsons to achieve shall be as follows: Recovery Point Objective (RPO) for 4 Darwin after a disaster has occurred hours

11 The Target Response Times and Target Resolution Times in relation to Darwin Incidents are as follows: Priority Level Definition Examples Target Response Time Target Resolution Time SLO DARWIN NOT AVAILABLE A failure which results in Darwin being completely inaccessible to and unusable by all of our Clients users. Darwin software, hardware or communications infrastructure failure. Hour 4 Hours 00% resolved within target when measured over calendar quarter. 2 CRITICAL FUNCTION NOT AVAILABLE & NO WORKAROUND EXISTS A failure which results in a critical Darwin component or function not working correctly for all our Clients users and for which no workaround exists. Issues which prevent the closure of payroll, lead to reporting errors that affect payroll/provider reporting or prevent employees from making benefit selections. Hour Day 95% resolved within target when measured over calendar quarter. 3 CRITICAL FUNCTION NOT AVAILABLE & WORKAROUND EXISTS, OR NON-CRITICAL FUNCTION NOT AVAILABLE A failure which results in a critical Darwin feature not functioning correctly but for which a workaround exists that is only inconvenient whilst awaiting a permanent fix or a failure which results in a non-critical Darwin feature not functioning correctly and for which no workaround exists. Employees unable to access life event functionality without assistance from Thomsons or secondary functionality such as links on Reward Centre incorrect, an inability to print reward Engager or a failure of non-legislative notifications. Day 3 Days 95% resolved within target when measured over calendar quarter. 4 COSMETIC ISSUE An issue that is cosmetic or causes a minor inconvenience to users but does not materially affect the ability of users to work productively with the solution. Spelling errors, alignment issues and misleading textual content resulting from configuration error. Branding issues. Day 0 Days 2 90% resolved within target when measured over calendar quarter. Priority Level failures do not include any non-availability of Darwin that is caused by the exceptions identified in the Availability section of this document. 2 Priority Level 4 target is based on the assumption that the issue can be resolved through a configuration change. If the cosmetic issue requires a new Darwin release to resolve it, the issue will be queued for inclusion in a future Darwin release.

12 It should be noted that, although Thomsons will only be available to receive calls or s from the Client and then action them during the Day, Thomsons has a suite of monitoring systems and a technical support team in place to identify and fix Priority Level incidents on a 24x7 basis. Our support systems automatically notify Clients (to nominated address or addresses) if the downtime resulting from a Priority Level incident exceeds thirty minutes so that the Client is fully informed of the situation outside the Day. The Target Response Times and Target Completion Times for different types of Service Request are identified in the table below. It should be noted when considering the response and resolution time targets below that every task performed in response to a Service Request is one which the Client is able to perform themselves using Darwin; that is, Service Requests exist only as a fall-back measure for Clients when there is some reason why they are not in a position to perform the task themselves. Definition Example Target Response Time Target Completion Time SLO Payroll-critical Service Request received from Client s benefits or payroll team. Closing Process Manager and issuing payroll or provider reports. Day 3 Days 95% completed within target measured per calendar quarter 2 Non-payroll-critical Service Request received from Client s benefits or payroll team. Running ad-hoc preconfigured non-payrollrelated reports, performing ad-hoc data uploads. Day 5 Days 90% completed within target measured per calendar quarter 2 These definitions include all types of Service Request with the sole exception of any complex requests for running reports in relation to which Thomsons shall at its sole discretion decide whether a request is deemed to be complex. 2 The SLO percentage achievement target shall apply only if the number of Service Requests of that type is greater than or equal to 20 in the measurement period. If the number is less than 20, no more than 2 Service Requests shall fail to meet the response and completion time targets. The Target Call Answer Time and Target Call Abandon Rate for calls made to this service when measured across all our Clients are as follows: Maximum answer time for no less than 80% of 20 calls when measured over a calendar quarter seconds Maximum percentage of calls abandoned when measured over a calendar quarter 5%

13 The Darwin Administration Service is an optional service in which Thomsons performs certain well-defined administrative tasks related to the on-going administration of Darwin on behalf of the Client. This Service is only available to Clients that have explicitly purchased this Managed Service. During the project to implement Darwin for the Client, a specification is created which outlines the recurring and scheduled tasks required to administer the Client s benefits scheme on Darwin as well as the due dates for those tasks. This is known as the Service & Administration Specification. These activities can include running Process Manager, running regular reports, performing scheduled uploads and other mutually agreed tasks that rely on the use of Darwin. If the client has purchased this service option, Thomsons will then perform the tasks documented in the Service & Administration Specification on Days by the documented due date for each task from the point at which Darwin goes live for the client up to the date on which the Client s contract terminates. The target completion dates and times for the tasks are as follows: Definition Examples SLO Payroll-critical Scheduled Tasks outlined in the Service & Administration Specification. Closing Process Manager, Issuing Payroll Reports. 97.5% of these tasks will be completed with correct, accurate results on or prior to the end of the Day (unless explicitly specified otherwise) on the mutually agreed due date over a calendar quarter Non-payroll-critical Scheduled Tasks outlined in the Service & Administration Specification. Issuing regular reports, completing desktop procedures, issuing communications. 90% of these tasks will be completed with correct, accurate results on or prior to the end of the Day (unless explicitly specified otherwise) on the mutually agreed due date over a calendar quarter Thomsons commits to performing the tasks stated in the Service & Administration Specification by the due dates in that specification provided that (a) any inter-related tasks performed by the Client or any other third parties such as benefit or payroll providers have been performed correctly and on time, and (b) any data supplied by the Client for use in performing a task is complete and accurate and is supplied to Thomsons in the timescales reasonably required to enable Thomsons to perform the tasks accurately and on time.

14 The Darwin Employee Helpdesk Service is an optional service whereby Thomsons provides a Helpdesk that the Client s English-speaking employees can contact to raise and obtain answers to their requests and queries in relation to Darwin, the benefit selection process within Darwin or their benefits scheme as a whole. This Service is only available to Clients that have explicitly purchased this Managed Service. The Target Completion Times for the Darwin Employee Helpdesk Service are as follows: Definition Examples Target Completion Time SLO TIME-CRITICAL SERVICE REQUEST Any service request where the request concerns time-critical activities, these being those that relate to Critical Functions in Darwin. Provision of important benefit information, guidance on benefit selections, making selections before a window closes. 2 Days 95% completed within target measured per calendar quarter NON-TIME-CRITICAL SERVICE REQUEST Any service request which does not concern time-critical activities, these being activities that do not relate to any Critical Functions in Darwin. A query relating to a benefit scheme without an imminent selection window closure. 4 Days 90% completed within target measured per calendar quarter The Target Call Answer Time and Target Call Abandon Rate for calls made to this service are as follows: The Service Level Objectives below only apply to Clients that have purchased the Employee Helpdesk Service and have purchased the telephone communication option. Maximum answer time for no less than 80% of 20 calls when measured over a calendar quarter seconds Maximum percentage of calls abandoned when measured over a calendar quarter 5% Should be number of calls received in a calendar quarter exceed the average quantity predicted for that period (based on the call propensity stated in the Service Schedule) by more than 20%, the call handling performance and service performance Service Level Objectives above shall not apply for the quarter in question.

15 If the Client believes that Thomsons has inappropriately categorised any incident or service request and that this is causing material operational issues as a result of the perceived error in categorisation, or if the Client is unhappy with Thomsons performance on the handling of any incident or service request in terms of our speed of action or the quality of our work, the Client should in the first instance contact their nominated Thomsons Client Manager to raise their concern. Should the Client not receive a response from their Client Manager within one Day, they should contact our Head of Client Management, Katie Goodwin: katie.goodwin@thomsons.com Should the Client not receive a response from the Head of Client Management within one further Day, they should contact our Chief Operating Officer, Chris Nowell: chris.nowell@thomsons.com If the Client believes that Thomsons has not materially complied with the performance standards defined in this Service Level Agreement based on the Service Level Reports issued to the Client, they should first raise this concern with their Client Manager and, if not satisfied by the actions taken by the Client Manager to address the perceived performance failure, escalate the matter to the Head of Client Management. Thomsons shall produce a Service Level Report for the Client within ten working days following the end of each reporting period (which is mutually agreed between Thomsons and the Client but is generally quarterly). This report is delivered to a nominated Client representative and is typically followed by a business review with the Client so that its contents can be discussed, in particular any targets that Thomsons has failed to achieve, the reasons for the failure to achieve them and remedial actions that are being taken to avoid a repeat occurrence. If Thomsons is unable to produce and deliver a Service Level Report containing the expected contents for any reporting period within ten working days of the end of that reporting period, Thomsons will notify the Client as soon as reasonably possible to advise the Client of the missed timescale and agree a mutually acceptable alternative delivery date.