iShare Support

Terms and Conditions

Introduction

This document sets out the terms and conditions of iShare Support.

iShare Support

iShare Support comprises two elements:

  • iShare Application Support, which is included within your iShare Open Enterprise Agreement or other such license agreement as may exist between the Customer and Astun
  • iShare Site Specific Support, which is called off against the Consultancy Support Days within your iShare Open Enterprise Agreement or that you have pre-purchased.

General Conditions

  1. iShare Application Support is limited to the iShare applications detailed within your iShare Open Enterprise Agreement and queries and problems that relate to those applications.
  2. The Customer agrees to ensure that at least one nominated member of staff is suitably trained in the management and use of the iShare applications that are covered by this support agreement, and that from time to time they will undertake reasonable appropriate update training (at the Customer’s expense) if so requested by Astun.
  3. Adequate IT Infrastructure Support should be provided by the Customer.
  4. Astun will usually show or instruct the Customer how to resolve a problem or achieve a result rather than doing it on their behalf.
  5. Astun will refer the Customer to our Frequently Asked Questions, or to the Support Forum on the Astun Support site, or send written instructions for the resolution of a query or problem if applicable.
  6. If, in our opinion, the quickest resolution to a problem will be achieved by Astun support staff having direct online access to a Customer’s system we will notify you and request such access
    1. Any cost of licenses for access or other related cost shall be the Customer’s responsibility
    2. The customer undertakes to provide prompt access, any costs incurred by Astun or the Customer due to delays in providing access shall be the Customer’s responsibility
    3. Direct online access to a Customer’s system is subject to Astun signing a 3rd Party Connection Agreement with the Customer
  7. If you require Astun to undertake tasks that are, in our opinion, within the reasonable scope of a competent trained system administrator you will be required to make a request using the Consultancy Support Days (CSD) within your Agreement or to purchase additional Consultancy Support Days.
  8. All support provision is subject to our Fair Use Policy.

What is included in iShare Application Support

  1. Subject to payment of the Fees as detailed in the Schedule of your iShare Open Enterprise Agreement (or such other license agreement as may exist between the Customer and Astun), Astun shall provide the following iShare Support:
    1. Advice on maintaining iShare
    2. Access to official iShare and community forums
    3. Advice on configuring and extending iShare
    4. Instructions on how to remedy common faults v. Resolution of issues related directly to a serious flaw in iShare
  2. The Customer may obtain iShare Application support by logging a request on Astun’s Support Portal
  3. Astun will allocate an employee to any new case (support incident) and provide a Case Identifier to the Customer. The employee shall be responsible for contacting the Customer, and diagnosing and resolving the case
  4. The provision of support is dependent upon the Customer providing adequate information to enable Astun to diagnose and reproduce any errors in the Application at Astun’s own offices
  5. Astun will provide the support service during normal working hours, which are between 0900 and 1700 GMT, Monday to Friday, excluding Bank Holidays
  6. The Customer shall be responsible for implementing any patches (error corrections) or may request Astun to implement patches using Consultancy Support Days

What is included in iShare Site Specific Support

(NB: Time deducted from Customer’s Consultancy Support Days)

  1.  iShare Site Specific Support includes advice on or resolution of problems with:
    • Additional support required because of any changes, alterations, additions, modifications or variations to the Council’s IT infrastructure other than those arising due to the introduction of iShare Updates
    • Attendance to faults caused by using the Applications outside design or other specifications or outside the provisions laid down in any documentation or manual supplied with the Applications
    • Any custom web page, data configuration or data manipulation processes
    • Custom configuration of Applications
    • Bespoke developments
    • Integration with other systems
    • Data
    • Applications not included within this Agreement
    • The underlying OSGeo technologies on which the Applications are built (including but not limited to PostGIS, MapServer and OpenLayers)
    • Diagnosis and/or rectification of problems not associated with the Applications
  2. Astun will deduct the appropriate amount of time from CSD Hours (see below) (or if such hours are not pre-purchased make additional charges) for Site Specific Support requested by the Customer regardless of whether or not it is specifically covered 1.i to 1.x above

iShare Updates

  1. Astun will notify the Customer of its release strategy from time to time and, provided the Fees are paid, will make available to the Customer at no further cost applicable, iShare Updates as they are made generally available
  2. The Customer is responsible for installing, testing and implementing iShare Updates at their own expense.
  3. Astun will provide the customer with procedures and guidelines for installing iShare updates. iShareGIS updates can usually be undertaken by a trained system administrator. However the Customer accepts responsibility for backing up system settings before applying an upgrade and any costs incurred in resolving errors in a Customer implemented upgrade
  4. Customers with additional iShareMaps modules (for example, Publisher and MyAlerts) will in most instances need to make provision for Astun assisted upgrades utilising Consultancy Support Days or by purchasing additional Consultancy Days.
  5. Any faults introduced by the implementation of an Update will be classified and responded to in accordance with the ‘Support Classification’ section of these Support Conditions.
  6. The Customer may request Astun to provide additional services to implement Updates by utilising Consultancy Support Days or by purchasing additional Consultancy Days. In response to such a request, Astun will send the customer an Upgrade Questionnaire which they must complete in order for Astun to prepare a quotation for the services required.
  7. iShare Updates implemented by Astun are normally undertaken in two stages:
    • Astun staff undertake the ‘Initial Installation’ stage, including training to allow the customer to complete the transition of their data
    • Astun staff assist the customer with the ‘go-live’ stage
  8. iShare Updates (New Versions, Patches or Updates) may affect the User Interface or styling, Astun will endeavour to notify customers of such changes in the Release Notes of an update.
  9. Adaption of the user interface or the application of previous customisations will not be included in a quotation for an update service unless specifically requested.
  10. Customisations to the iShare user interface will only be preserved in an upgrade if the customised files are stored in the web or webservice custom folders. Customisations to core iShare files may be overwritten during an upgrade.

Consultancy Support Days for Call Off (CSD)

  1. Under an iShare Open Enterprise Agreement Astun will provide a number of Consultancy Support Days for call off for iShare Site Specific Support.
  2. CSD are intended to help the Customer to exploit enhancements to iShare and respond to changing business requirements.
  3. The Customer must provide a nominated contact who will be responsible for the creation of consultancy requests.
    1. The nominated contact will be responsible for acceptance of any deliverables.
    2. Where deliverables have neither been accepted nor has written comment been received within six weeks of delivery then the Astun will consider the deliverables as accepted.
  4. Astun provides CSD on a time and materials basis. CSD Days are based on 7 hours per day (“CSD Hours”). For work carried out remotely from Astun’s offices, CSD Hours are recorded in 30 minute intervals with parts thereof being considered as 30 minutes.
    For on-site work, time is recorded as half or full days:
    • For half days, travel time is chargeable for any time the consultant is out of their Astun workplace in excess of 3.5 hours
    • For full days, up to 2 hours at the start and end of the day for travel are included at no additional cost. Where additional travel time is required, either the on-site time can be reduced or the additional time will be chargeable. For example, if the journey time to the customer’s site is 3 hours each way, the customer can elect to reduce the on-site time to 5 hours or pay for the additional 2 hours
    • Travel times are based upon either the travel time from Astun’s office in Epsom or the Consultant’s home, whichever is the lesser, unless the customer specifies that a specific consultant is required to deliver the service. In this latter case, the travel time will be based upon the travel time from the Consultant’s home.
    • Travel time is recorded in 30 minute intervals with parts thereof being considered as 30 minutes
    • Where travel time is payable, this will be based upon the quoted day rate for the consultancy pro rata.
  5. A monthly statement of CSD Hours used will be provided to the nominated contact.
  6. The annual allocation of CSD Days as detailed within the Schedule of your iShare Open Enterprise Agreement (or such other license agreement as may exist between the Customer and Astun) must be used within each year of the Agreement and cannot be carried forward to subsequent years.
  7. Additional Consultancy Days can be purchased by the Customer at a discounted rate. The discounted rate for Additional Consultancy Days is currently £800 per day for pre-purchased blocks of 5 or more days. This discounted rate can be varied at Astun’s discretion with 60 days notice.
  8. The scheduling of consultancy requests is to be by agreement between Astun and the Customer.
  9. Typical Services that can be provided using CSD Days are:
    1. Quick diagnosis of common issues in configuration with the web server and operating system or proxy servers
    2. iShare configuration issues and resolution
    3. Limited windows server configuration for iShare
    4. Support for open source web mapping components including GeoServer, MapServer and OpenLayers
    5. Support for PostgreSQL and the PostGIS extension
    6. Reinstatement to previous configurations subject to the client having maintained regular and complete backups
    7. Implementation of updates and service packs to the iShare solution and related mapping applications
    8. General web mapping support
    9. Building and maintenance of additional test environments
    10. Web page integration support & custom development support using location based web services
    11. Data access and publishing advice including automated publishing of map data etc.
    12. Assistance with customisation and integration in relation to the iShare product suite beyond the initial implementation.
    13. Technical meetings with third parties on system integration.

Support Classification

  1. Faults shall be classified as to the severity of effect that they have on the Customer’s working or operating system. The severity classification shall be used to determine the response time for returning the system and Applications to a fully operational state. Astun shall ensure all faults in the Applications shall be classified as follows:
    1. Priority 1 – Emergency: Any Applications problem resulting in serious loss of functionality.
    2. Priority 2 – Urgent: Any Applications problem that reduces system security or data integrity, or which represents a serious threat to service.
    3. Priority 3 – Non-urgent: Low level Applications or procedural problems requiring resolution in defined time scales.
    4. Priority 4 – Low: Other low level Applications or procedural problems

Target Response Times

This section sets out the target response times to be achieved by Astun, so far as reasonable and practicable, in response to calls logged by the Customer.

Call CategoryRemote ResponseResolution (from date and time of call being logged)
Priority 1 4 hours 1 working day
Priority 2 8 hours 1 working day
Priority 3 5 working days 5 working days
Priority 4 10 working days Next release of application

Escalation Procedure

We will allocate a specific and suitably qualified employee to any reported error in the software and provide a Case Identifier to the customer, allowing them to track progress in our support system. In the event of a fault not being resolved to the satisfaction of the customer, the issue will initially be handled by the customer’s Account Manager with the option to escalate to the Managing Director.

Fair Use Policy

The aim of this policy is to ensure that no single client dominates Astun’s support services to such an extent that it compromises the service it offers to the rest of its clients. Astun undertake to employ sufficient, skilled technical staff to support it’s customer base.

Support for the Unlimited Deployment of iShare

Unlimited deployment is intended to allow the best fit to the Licensee’s IT infrastructure, removing traditional constraints on system deployment such as licensing issues which restrict:

  • Test server implementation
  • Load balancing
  • Clustering

Following discussion with a Customer, where a deployment of iShare exceeds what Astun believes is necessary to provide the best fit to the Licensee’s IT infrastructure, Astun reserves the right to limit the scope of its support.

Unlimited iShare Application Support

To achieve the aims of our Fair Use Policy, iShare Application Support is provided in accordance with the ’General Conditions’ set out above.