Sotero Technical Support And Services Policy
This Sotero Technical Support and Services Policy (“Support Policy”) describes the support provided by Sotero to Customers of the Service. This Support Policy covers On-Prem Services and Hosted Services, but Section 5 and 7 below shall apply only to Hosted Services.
1. Definitions
“Business Day” means Monday through Friday (Customer Local Time), excluding holidays observed by Sotero.
“Business Hours” means 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Customer Local Time) on Business Days.
“Support Contact” means designated Customer personnel with Sotero Support Portal account.
2. Term
The Support Policy shall cover any Service for the term of such Service as specified on the applicable Order Form. The term of support may be extended if the term of the Service is also extended.
3. Technical Support Contact Information
Support Contact(s) may contact Sotero technical support by opening a case via the Sotero Support Portal (support.Soterosoft.com) to request information regarding the use, configuration or operation of the Sotero Products running on any Supported environment.
4. Support Services Obligations
Sotero will use commercially reasonable efforts, commensurate with the severity of the error, to correct any malfunction, defect or non-conformity (“Error”) in the operation of the Software so that it will substantially perform in accordance with Sotero documentation. Customer shall conduct reasonable and adequate research with respect to any claimed Error or related issue prior to contacting Sotero for assistance. Client will respond promptly to all reasonable Sotero requests for information, documentation, technical assistance and other assistance regarding any such Error. Each reported Error will be logged and tracked by Sotero, assigned a tracking identifier which can be used by Customer to refer to the reported Error, and will remain open until the issue is resolved. Assignment of severity level will be determined by Sotero in its reasonable discretion.
Sotero shall use commercially reasonable efforts to deliver a solution or an action plan to correct any reported Error as follows:
| CASE PRIORITY | Sotero Responsibilities | Customer Responsibilities | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | FOR 8x5 SUBSCRIPTION: Resources dedicated Monday through Friday during Business Hours. FOR 24x7 SUBSCRIPTION: Resources available 24x7 until a resolution or workaround is in place. | FOR 8x5 SUBSCRIPTION: Designated resources that are available Monday through Friday during Business Hours. Ability to provide necessary diagnostic information. FOR 24x7 SUBSCRIPTION: Designated resources available 24x7 until a resolution or workaround is in place. Ability to provide necessary diagnostic information. | A condition in which all or a critical portion of the Software is not operating. |
| Level 2 | FOR 8x5 SUBSCRIPTION Resources available Monday through Friday during Business Hours until a resolution or workaround is in place | FOR 8x5 SUBSCRIPTION Resources available Monday through Friday during local Business Hours until a resolution or workaround is in place. Ability to provide necessary diagnostic information. | A condition in which the Software is disrupted, but there is some capacity to operate and conduct business for a majority of Customer’s users. |
| Level 3 | Resources available Monday through Friday during Business Hours until a resolution or workaround is in place | Resources available Monday through Friday during Business Hours until a resolution or workaround is in place. Ability to provide necessary diagnostic information. | A condition whereby Customer has experienced a partial, non-critical loss of functionality. |
| Level 4 | Solid understanding of the customer request documented in our systems for review by Product Management | Use cases for the feature request and specifics on requested functionality | A condition whereby functionality of the Software is not affected, but a change is desired solely for aesthetic, “look and feel,” or similar reasons. |
| CASE PRIORITY | INITIAL RESPONSE TARGET 8x5 SUBSCRIPTION | UPDATE FREQUENCY TARGET 8x5 SUBSCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Within 1 business hour | Any update within 4 business hours |
| Level 2 | Within 2 business hour | Updated every business day |
| Level 3 | Within 8 business hour | Updated every 3 business days |
| Level 4 | Within 2 business days | N/A, feature request |
| CASE PRIORITY | INITIAL RESPONSE TARGET 24X7 SUBSCRIPTION | UPDATE FREQUENCY TARGET 24X7 SUBSCRIPTION |
| Level 1 | Within 1 hour | Continuous effort with written updates every 4 hours |
For a Level 1 failure, the Parties agree to activate a management call-out and escalation list for the purpose of problem resolution.
With the Customer’s written permission, Sotero may access error logs and application logs held by Customer for the sole purpose of providing proactive support and fixes to the Software. This may require a connection to the Customer’s system, or the Customer can establish a means of getting this information to Sotero personnel in a manner conducive to providing efficient support (e.g. posting logs to a secure ftp site).
5. Maintenance
Sotero may perform maintenance to the equipment, Software or any other elements of the hardware or infrastructure as Sotero deems necessary for the provision of the Service. During such maintenance, Customer may not be able to access the Service. Sotero will maintain at least one page that informs Customer and its users of the Service that maintenance is underway along with an estimate of when the Service will be available for use. Sotero will use commercially reasonable efforts to keep the frequency and duration of impeded access during the maintenance period to a minimum.
6. Assumptions
This Support Policy does not apply to any software, equipment, or services not purchased from Sotero, e.g. internal Customer IT security settings. The Support Policy does not apply in circumstances that are beyond Sotero’s reasonable control such as events of force majeure, natural disasters or acts of war. The Support Policy does not apply if the Customer is in breach of the Agreement. Sotero shall not be obligated to provide support services for the Service if the Service is not used in accordance with the then current Documentation or if any Error reported by Customer is found by Sotero to be due to Customer or a cause other than the Software as delivered by Sotero.
7. Availability of Hosted Service
Sotero will use commercially reasonable efforts to make the Hosted Service available to Customer twenty four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days per week, three hundred sixty five (365) days per year, except for certain scheduled service and maintenance or in the event of emergency or events of force majeure. Sotero runs its cloud application on Amazon Web Services and has used commercially reasonable efforts to architect the solution to be as highly available within the confines of the service provided. Sotero endeavors to deliver Service level availability (SLA) of 99.90%. This does not include planned outages. Sotero will make good faith efforts to perform service and maintenance to the Hosted Service outside peak usage hours. Customer acknowledges that availability of the Hosted Service may be affected by: (i) telecommunication network activity or capacity; (ii) hardware failures; and/or (iii) compatibility with third party communication equipment, Internet access software and/or browsers not in accordance with the Hosted Service requirements. Sotero disclaims any and all responsibility for any Hosted Service interruption in connection with such activity, capacity, failure and/or compatibility. Customer is responsible for providing all equipment and telecommunication services necessary to access the Hosted Service.