Service Level Agreement

For clients based in: 

North America, Europe and AsiaPac

This update: October 2018

Author: Kasia Czwarkiel

Welcome to Claritum’s Service Level Agreement. 

At Claritum, we continually strive to improve the service and support we provide to help our Clients minimize time to benefit and maximize satisfaction and Return on Investment.  

This Service Level Agreement (SLA) defines the standard Services that Claritum provides for all of our clients and covers our hosting uptime guarantee and the level of services you can expect in response to your support requirements.  

This document also covers some of the optional Services, which maybe included in your Agreement with Claritum. Please check your Claritum Agreement to identify which Services apply to your SLA. 

Table of Contents

What is Support?

Support is defined as providing assistance to users to ensure access and smooth operation of the Claritum Spend Management platform.

Claritum Support commences when a Live Platform is deployed for the Customer. Prior to this point responsibility for the Claritum Implementation Team will liaise with the client project team and is not covered by the scope of this Service Level Agreement (SLA).

Support is available to accredited Support Contacts at ‘service providers’ (direct clients and partners) subject to our standard Terms and Conditions and is provided to Client Support Contacts via the internet, phone and email and does not include onsite assistance. 

Your Responsibilities

Customers are responsible for providing Support Contacts. They perform a critical role for both Claritum and our Customers. Support Contacts are the Claritum experts within your organisation who can answer User questions, ensure compliance to the best practice business processes provided within Claritum, provide management with the information they need and where required, provide the interface with Claritum Support. 

Support Coverage

Under this SLA, Claritum provides support to selected groups of users on selected platforms as described below.

Claritum’s support services include:

Service Targets Definition

Claritum’s support is segmented by the type of support request and resolution required. As described below.

Support Contact Information

We want you to be as self-sufficient as possible. When an issue arises, your Support Contacts will know how to answer most user questions and know enough to resolve the majority of familiarisation, process, reporting and other questions themselves, without the need for contacting Claritum’s Support team. 

The Resolution Process

Every Support Request is logged with a unique reference (known as a 'Ticket'). Please quote this ticket reference in any further communication with the Claritum Support Team. The promptly and efficiently resolve Support Tickets inline with our SLA, we follow a strict Resolution Process as described:

Stage 1: Triage

Our Support team will initially review the Ticket to assess if sufficient information has been provided, to assign a Severity based on the criteria set out in the table below and, if possible, to resolve the Support Ticket as promptly as possible. 

We aim to address Service Requests as promptly as possible, which could be:

• By email to the Support Contact (triggered via Support Portal)
• In dialogue with a Support Contact on the phone (when contacted on the Support phone number)
• By directing the Support Contact to information provided on the Support Portal

Stage 2: Assignment

Where a Support Ticket cannot be resolved at the Triage stage it will be assigned to:

• Technical Team for system configuration, process optimisation or code fixes.
• Client Services for feature requests or system modifications.
• Training Manager to assign additional training time.

Please note that the assignment of severity is based on the criteria set out in the 'Support Definition' section.

Stage 3: Resolution

Technical Team

For Tickets passed to Support, the team will fix the problem, configure the software or make code changes to ensure effective resolution of the Ticket. Our Support team is responsible for testing that any fix, configuration or code change provides an effective solution to the Ticket and will notify the Support Contact via the Support Portal once resolved. The fix, configuration or code change will then be applied to the Client’s Test System or Live System and the Ticket closed.

Client Services

Where the Support Ticket requires a change to the software code, customisation or other Client specific requirement, our Client Services team will contact the Support Contact to assess the need for the change and discuss the cost for a custom change to the system. In most cases, these tickets can be resolved through additional training on the platform. 

Training Team

For Support Tickets passed to Claritum Training, the Training Manager will notify the Support Contact of any existing training materials that will assist the Support Contact, or will arrange an online training session (for minor requirements) or a face to face training program, for more significant training requirements.  

Support Escalations

If, for any reason, the Support Ticket is not satisfactorily resolved Support Contacts can escalate the ticket using the following process. The effect of escalation is to focus management attention on the appropriate allocation of resources for a particular Support Ticket. 

When to escalate?

Your Support Contacts should escalate the Support Ticket only the following instances:

• Progress is stalled and more senior expertise is required to further troubleshoot the problem
• Problem has a serious business impact on customer's environment
• If the Support Contact is unsatisfied with the performance of the Claritum Support Team

Please note: the escalation will not necessarily result in a speedier resolution of the Ticket as the Support Team will follow best practice processes for resolving your Support Ticket.

How Does The Escalation Process Work?

If Support Contacts are unsatisfied with the performance of Claritum Support Team, Support Tickets can be escalated according to the following hierarchy:

Stage 1 - Escalation Process within The Claritum Support Team 

The Support Contact should inform the Claritum Support Team that they would like to escalate the incident giving the reason for the escalation.

The Support Team member will contact the Senior Support Manager within 60 minutes of the escalation request using the Claritum Support Portal to track the escalation.  The Senior Support Manager will assess the customer’s case and determine an acceptable resolution plan in conjunction with the Support Contact.

The Senior Support Manager will document the agreed actions on the Claritum Support Portal to ensure that the resolution plan is followed and/or reset the customer’s expectations. The Senior Support Manager owns the escalation until the issue is resolved.

Stage 2 - Escalation to Client Services

If the Support Ticket is not be fully resolved by the intervention of the Senior Support Manager, the Client can escalate the ticket to their Client Services Manager. The Client Service Manager, will own the escalation until the issue is resolved.

Stage 3 - Escalation to Claritum Management Team

The Client Services Manager may escalate to the Claritum Management team to resolve if deemed appropriate. Any Support Tickets passed to the Management Team are deemed ‘critical’ due to the potential impact on a Client’s business.  

The Management Team will prioritise resources and co-ordinate communication to ensure a prompt resolution of the Support Ticket. Following resolution, The Claritum Management Team will review the history of the incident and a determination is made as to what action(s) will be taken to avoid repetition of the resolve the problem. 

The Support Contact is then notified of the actions agreed and if appropriate further updates will be communicated to the customer until the problem is resolved

Tracking and Reporting of Support Tickets

The Support Contact can track progress of any reported Support Tickets through the Claritum Support Portal. 

Every Support Case is allocated a unique reference number, which should be quoted in any future communication about this Support Ticket.  

Dependent on the Services defined in your Agreement with Claritum, Client Services will provide Summary of all cases raised and their resolutions during your Account Review.  

Closure of Support Cases 

The Claritum Support Team is committed to resolve all Support Tickets in a timely and satisfactory manner.

Service Requests will be Closed in the following situations:

• A Resolution is provided to the Support Contact
• The Support Contact reports that they no longer have the problem
• The Support Contact cannot provide the information requested by Claritum Support Team 
• An acceptable workaround is reached 
• The Support has attempted unsuccessfully to contact the Support Contact on 3 occasions

The Support Contact can open a new Support Case if the requirement remains. 

Platform Performance

We recognise the importance of being able to access the Claritum Platform wherever you are and whenever you want. We invest heavily in the enterprise level infrastructure required to ensure you get a high level of accessibility but also that the Platform performance quickly and responsively.

Claritum Uptime Guarantee

To provide your team with the reassurance you need to rely on Claritum, we provide an Uptime Guarantee. This means that you know your user community will have access to the platform whenever they need it.

Claritum guarantee service and system availability to 99.5%, 24x7x365 excluding down time associated with planned maintenance windows. 

 In reality, we normally deliver in excess of 99.95% uptime.

Maintenance Windows

Scheduled Maintenance Windows

Claritum’s program of continued improvement requires that maintenance releases are provided on an ongoing basis. Scheduled Maintenance Windows provide a defined period of time for Claritum to update your platform. Please ensure that all users log out of the system in order for Claritum to provide this service. Claritum will, where possible, notify your Support Contacts in advance of any planned update. 

Unscheduled Maintenance Windows

Claritum may, at its sole discretion, need to perform emergency maintenance and release outside of the Scheduled Maintenance Windows. Unscheduled Maintenance Windows are only utilized where Claritum believes there may be a critical risk to the system or performance such as a major infrastructure failure or security threat. Due to the importance of this type of these updates, we may not be able to provide prior notice of this activity.

Service Level Credits

Claritum’s Uptime Guarantee shows that we are committed to deliver a highly available Platform. However, if we fall below our Uptime Guarantee, we will provide Service Credits to your Account. 

Levels of Severity - Downtime

Claritum shall assess Downtime Occurrence as having one of three levels of severity, described below.

What is not downtime

Your Users may occasionally report that they cannot access the Claritum Platform. In many cases this may be because they do not have a suitable broadband internet connection or that the organisation’s access to the Internet is down. Before contacting Claritum, please ensure that you check that you have checked these items.

Scheduled Maintenance Windows are not included in determining Platform Availability.

Service Credits Calculation

In the event that the Customer experiences one or more Downtime Occurrence totaling 4 hours within a single Month, the Customer will be eligible to receive a Credit from Claritum based on the following criteria: 

 Measurement of Performance

If a Downtime Occurrence should take place, Claritum shall measure the occurrence by minutes that the Claritum System is totally or partially inoperable, commencing at the earlier to occur of the following:

the Customer notifies Claritum of the Downtime Occurrence and provides information necessary for Claritum to investigate the Downtime Occurrence or,

Claritum becomes aware that a Downtime Occurrence has taken place and the Customer provides information necessary for Claritum to investigate the Downtime Occurrence. 

Claiming Service Credits 

In order to claim Credits, the Customer must follow the process to ensure that Claritum are both notified of the Downtime Occurrence and have been provided with the information to assist in the investigation and resolution of the outage.

In order to receive a Service Credit, the Customer must notify Claritum in writing within 30 days of the time they become eligible to receive a Service Credit.

Service Credits will be issued in the next Customer’s invoice following approval of their claim for Service Credits.

General Exclusions

Claritum shall have no obligation to Customer with regard to Scheduled or Unscheduled Maintenance Windows or events which occur due to reasons beyond Claritum’s reasonable control, including but not limited to occurrences of force majeure, such as strike, fire, flood, delay in component supply, governmental acts, orders or restrictions, or acts of parties not authorized by Claritum. Claritum shall be responsible for Downtime Occurrences which take place due to factors within Claritum’s reasonable control. If a Downtime Occurrence should take place and Customer and Claritum are not in agreement as to whether the cause of the Downtime Occurrence was within or outside of Claritum’s control, the parties agree that they will investigate the event jointly with the goal of achieving a decision upon which they mutually agree.  Measurement of performance of the Claritum System shall be conducted solely as set forth above.  Claritum shall not recognize ping tests or other manual or automated tests performed by Customer as valid criterion for determining whether or not a Downtime Occurrence has taken place, and Customer shall not be able to obtain any credit thereby.

Release Management

As Claritum operate with a single unified code base, all service upgrades and patches are developed in parallel and are deployed into the Live System, for all supported languages, at the same time. This means that any languages that are supported at the time of the Release will be available at the same time. There will be no differences in the system apart from the language files. This includes all language versions supported by Claritum at the time.

 Ticket Resolution Summary

* Actual resolution of incident may require additional time. If the incident is caused by a known problem a workaround will be given and the specific incident closed. The underlying fix to the problem may depend upon a further software release, which will be subject to the usual release procedures and timescales

Note:  Support will make every commercially reasonable effort to resolve all incidents in a timely and satisfactory manner.