Service Level Agreement

1. Definitions

The following definitions and rules of interpretation apply in this SLA and, for the avoidance of doubt, definitions in the Licence Agreement shall have the same meaning when used in this SLA unless the context requires otherwise.

Commercially Reasonable Efforts

The same degree of priority and diligence that Secure Schools uses to make the Secure Schools Services available and meet its other Customers' support needs.

Downtime or Downtime Incident

The time during which the Secure Schools Platform is itself wholly unavailable to the Customer, including Maintenance occurring outside of Maintenance Hours for which less than 24 hours notice was provided. However, Downtime shall not include: 1. Scheduled Maintenance; 2. factors outside of Secure Schools’ control, including any Force Majeure Events; 3. failures of the internet; 4. acts or omissions of the Customer and its Authorised Users; 5. any errors or failings by the School or MIS; and 6. enforcement of any Applicable Laws.

Fault

Any failure of the Secure Schools Platform to operate in all material respects in accordance with this SLA or the Licence Agreement to the extent Secure Schools solely caused such fault.

Help Desk Support

Any support provided by help desk technicians to identify and resolve most support issues relating to Secure Schools Platform or Services.

Higher-level Support

Any higher-level support provided by an individual within Secure Schools.

Maintenance

Any scheduled Downtime of the Secure Schools Platform, as announced by Secure Schools by way of advance notice.

Maintenance hours

Any hours outside of Support Hours business hours to the extent that this is reasonably practicable for Secure Schools, considering all facts and circumstances of such maintenance needs.

"Monthly Uptime Percentage"

Is calculated by subtracting from 100% the percentage of minutes during the month in which the Secure Schools Platform was in Downtime. Monthly Uptime Percentage measurements exclude Downtime resulting directly or indirectly from any Secure Schools SLA exclusion.

Platform

The online platform and software applications provided by Secure Schools as part of the Services, with the functionality described in the Order Details and Platform Specification.

Scheduled Maintenance

Planned outages, either suspending service in full or in part, which Secure Schools will endeavour to announce at least 5 days in advance, and in any case, will announce no later than 24 hours in advance, which will not exceed a reasonable time for the required maintenance, and where reasonably practicable during the Maintenance Hours.

1. Services: the subscription services provided by Secure Schools to the Customer under this Agreement via the website https://www.secureschools.com (or such other website as notified from time to time by Secure Schools) or via any other method, as set out in the Order Details and including: access to the Platform; the provision of the Materials; and the performance of Vulnerability Assessments and other assessments (where agreed to be included within the Services), each as more particularly described in the Platform Specification. Where the Customer places an Additional Order, a separate agreement will apply to the Services provided under that Additional Order.

Service Commitment

Has the meaning set out in paragraph 5.1 below.

Service Extension Credit

An extension to the Customer’s current services, calculated as set out below, that Secure Schools may credit back to the Customer.

Solution

Either of the following outcomes:

1. correction of a Fault; or

2. a workaround in relation to a Fault (including a reversal of any changes to the Secure Schools Platform if deemed appropriate by Secure Schools) that is reasonably acceptable to the Customer.

Support Hours

Email and telephone support are available Monday through Friday, 09:00-17:00 (UK time).

Support Request

An electronic request made by the Customer in the form of a ticket request submitted to the Secure Schools support team using the processes outlined in this SLA (or as notified from Secure Schools to the Customer from time to time) for support in relation to the Secure Schools Platform, including correction of a Fault.

Support Services

Maintenance of the then-current version or release of the Secure Schools Platform, including Help Desk Support and Higher-level Support, but excluding any out-of-scope services.

Unscheduled Maintenance

Any urgent maintenance or repair work carried out by Secure Schools on the Secure Schools Platform or related software at any short notice to address critical issues that may arise from time to time.

Uptime

As calculated in accordance with this SLA.

2. SLA Effective Date

This SLA will be effective from the date of the Licence Agreement and shall terminate without notice upon the termination or expiry of the Licence Agreement.

3. Support Services

Any Higher-Level Support requested by the Customer and provided by an individual whose qualification or experience is greater than that reasonably necessary to resolve the relevant Support Request shall be deemed an Optional Service payable by the Customer.

Secure Schools may reasonably determine that any services are Optional Services. If Secure Schools makes any such determination, it shall promptly notify the Customer of that determination, and the Customer shall pay Secure Schools for any Optional Services.

4. Service Commitments and Service Extension Credits

Secure Schools will use Commercially Reasonable Efforts to enable the Secure Schools Platform to have a Monthly Uptime Percentage of at least 99.95% during any Billing Cycle (the "Service Commitment''). In the event that the Monthly Uptime Percentage falls below this standard, the Customer can apply for a Service Extension Credit.

Service Extension Credits are calculated on a whole calendar month basis for the subscription period in which the Downtime or Downtime Incident occurred in accordance with the schedule below:

For Monthly Uptime Percentage less than 99.95% but equal to or greater than 99.0%, the Customer will be eligible for a one-month extension to their subscribed services. For Monthly Uptime Percentage less than 99.0%, the Customer will be eligible for a three-month extension.

Secure Schools will apply any Service Extension Credits only against current subscriptions Service Extension Credits may not be transferred or applied to any other third party.

1. provide Help Desk Support through the following telephone number +44 (0)1638 438186 and e-mail address support@secureschools.com;
2. commit appropriate resources to the provision of Higher-Level Support;
3. provide Higher-Level Support where Help Desk Support is not provided within the relevant response time;
4. use Commercially Reasonable Efforts to correct all Faults notified correctly pursuant to this SLA; and
5. provide technical support for the Secure Schools Platform where it is appropriate to do so.

5. Credit Requests and Payment Procedures

To receive a Service Extension Credit, the Customer must submit a claim by emailing support@SecureSchools.com. To be eligible, the credit request must be received by Secure Schools by the end of the second billing cycle after which the incident occurred and must include:

1. the words "SLA Credit Request" in the subject line;
2. the dates and times of each Downtime Incident being claimed;
3. the account handle(s); and
4. logs that document the errors and corroborate any claimed outage (any confidential or sensitive information in these logs should be removed or replaced with asterisks).

If the Monthly Uptime Percentage of such a request is confirmed by Secure Schools and is less than the Service Commitment, then Secure Schools will issue the Service Extension Credit to the Customer within one month of Secure Schools confirming the request. The Customer’s failure to provide the request and other information as required above will disqualify it from receiving a Service Extension Credit.

Service Extension Credits are the exclusive remedy for Secure Schools’ failure to meet its Monthly Uptime Percentage guarantee, and no other or additional types of damages can be claimed, including breach of warranty, non-performance, or other failure by Secure Schools to provide the Secure Schools Platform or any other remedy being sought.

6. Secure Schools SLA Exclusions

1. any suspension of the Licence Agreement;
2. any Unscheduled Maintenance;
3. issues caused by factors outside of Secure Schools’ reasonable control, including any Force Majeure Event; or
4. problems beyond the demarcation point of the Secure Schools network (including internet or network issues due to circumstances beyond Secure Schools’ reasonable control);
5. any updates or maintenance-related service in respect of the MIS;  or
6. that result from the equipment, software or other technology of the Customer or any third party (other than third-party equipment within Secure Schools’s direct control).

7. Support Requests

Secure Schools undertakes to operate a Customer Support team, having suitably skilled support staff during the Support Hours to log first-line support calls and promptly deal with problems encountered with the Secure Schools Platform.

The response and Solution time will depend on the nature of the Fault reported. The severity of the problem will be mutually agreed and the parties will use all reasonable endeavours to work together to respond according to these guidelines:

1. Urgent - A Fault that needs to be resolved to enable the Secure Schools Platform to be wholly available to the Customer during normal business operations. Subject to the Customer notifying Secure Schools as per the contact details at paragraph 5.3.1 above and marking such communication as ‘urgent’, Secure Schools’ support staff will use its Commercially Reasonable Efforts to respond to the Customer within four (4) Support Hours of receiving notice of an ‘urgent’ Fault issue being reported. Critical Faults will be worked on continuously until the Fault is permanently cleared or the system is operational.
2. High - A Fault which significantly inhibits production but does not disrupt operational use of the Secure Schools Platform. This level of support should normally be dealt with by the Customer support team however, where required, Secure Schools’ support staff will use its Commercially Reasonable Efforts to respond to the Customer within eight (8) Support hours of receiving notice of a ‘high’ Fault being reported.
3. Normal - A Fault which does not impede productive use of the Secure Schools Platform. This level of support should normally be dealt with by the Customer support team. Where necessary, Secure Schools’ support staff will use its Commercially Reasonable Efforts to respond to the Customer within 3 Business Days of a ‘normal’ Fault being reported.
4. Low - Cosmetic production problems and general test system problems that do not affect the availability of the Secure Schools Platform. This severity level will also be used to categorise general technical help desk type of calls. This level of support should normally be dealt with by the Customer support team. Where required, Secure Schools’ support staff will respond to the Customer within 10 Business Days of a ‘low’ issue being reported, or if relevant in the next version release. An example of a ‘low’ issue may be an enhancement request or notification of a misspelt word.

If Secure Schools employ a workaround at any given time, the priority of the issue will be reassessed and may change. Such changes will be notified to the Customer.

The parties may, on a case-by-case basis, agree in writing to a reasonable extension of the Service Level response times.