Understanding Service Level Guidelines

A support ticket submission is required for all issues before they can even be triaged as a level 1 - 4. If an issue is received via another communication channel, it will not be considered an official request until it appears in Aspenware’s ticketing system. See Appendix A for ticket submission requirements.

Quick Sheet: Service Level Guidelines

Level	Quick Definition	Expected Response Time	Expected Resolution Time

Level	Quick Definition	Expected Response Time	Expected Resolution Time
Level 1 (Most Urgent) *Level 1 issues are the only issue type handled during the After-Hours On-Call Period.	Used when there is an error that causes the Software to entirely fail to function and/or crash the system on which the Software is installed	Within 1 hr of submission if submitted during Business Hours or After-Hours On-Call Period.	Within 24 hrs of submission (Except when a new version is required, in which case resolution in the code will be completed during business hours).
Level 2 (High Importance)	Used when there is an error that causes supported elements of the Software to fail to operate materially with no workaround but does not render the system on which the Software is installed inoperable	Expect the first response from a service agent within 9 business hours if submitted during business hours.	Within 5 business days assuming proper notification and planning guidelines were met (Except when a new version is required, in which case Aspenware will address a fix in code within 2 release versions).
Level 3 (Medium importance)	Used when an error produces an inconvenient situation in which the Software operates substantially per the Specifications but causes or results in substandard or erratic performance.	Expect the first response from a service agent within 3 business days of submission if submitted during business hours.	Within 10 business days (Except when a release is required, in which case Aspenware will address a fix in code within 6 release versions. However, a resolution is ultimately at Aspenware’s sole discretion).
Level 4 (Low importance)	The classification used when there is an Error that is minor or that is cosmetic in nature and does not result in reduced performance.	Expect the first response from a service agent within 5 business days of submission if submitted during business hours.	Within 20 business days (Except when a release is required, in which there is no expectation that the code change will be addressed as Level 4 software defects are at Aspenware’s sole discretion).

Glossary for Service Level Guidelines

Configuration Issue

Issue classified as standard support service provided (Detailed in Section 1). Issues, questions, and requests that arise with features with Aspenware supported systems as specified in Aspenware’s Documentation. The resolution of this issue type is handled solely within the service team and can be resolved using Aspenware Commerce or Arrival Admin and does not require custom SQL knowledge or DB updates. Aspenware will not re-build or re-configure products for the customer as part of standard support but rather will guide the customer to necessary configuration changes.

Infrastructure Issue

Issues classified as a standard maintenance service provided, such as Upgrade-related activities, or issues and questions with Infrastructure and/or Azure. The resolution of this issue type requires technical expertise, and/or the DevOps team to complete. This issue type is not resolved within Aspenware Commerce or Arrival Admin, but resolved by updating config files, running SQL, Azure updates, initiating upgrades, and more.

Software Defect

Issue classified as a reproducible defect in the Supported Program or Documentation when operated on a Supported Environment which causes the Supported Program not to operate substantially per the Documentation. The resolution of this issue type requires the development team and the release of a new code version to complete.

Level 1 (Most Urgent)

Definition:

Used when an error causes the Software to entirely fail to function and/or crash the system on which the Software is installed (e.g., shop is entirely down, log in and create an account does not work, majority of guests can’t checkout.)
Results in restricting the majority of guests from using the site and/or the customer’s ability to collect revenue are significantly impacted. For example, an error that makes a primary product* that was online prior unable to be sold online.
- *A primary product refers to a product that drives 50% or more online revenue at the time the ticket is submitted, for example, lift tickets in the middle of winter.
An error that prevents the majority of orders from transferring to the POS and the need to fulfill these orders is imminent due to guest arrival.

Expected Response Time: Expect the first response from a service agent within 1 hr of submission if submitted during Business Hours or After-Hours On-Call Period. Level 1 issues are the only issue type handled during the After-Hours On-Call Period. If submitted outside of Business Hours or the After-Hours On-Call Period, you should receive a response by 9 am (Mountain Time) the next morning.

Expected Resolution Time:

If the issue is an infrastructure or configuration issue and within Aspenware’s control to resolve, we will work to resolve the issue within 24 hrs of the first service response within commercially reasonable efforts.
If the issue is a software defect requiring a team of developers and if the issue is submitted during the After-Hours On-Call Period, Aspenware will first attempt to deploy a release of the software where this issue is not present within 24 hrs.
If deploying another version to resolve the issue is not possible, then the development team will work during business hours to resolve the Level 1 defect and will release a hotfix version as soon as possible. If a hotfix resolution is required, we will work to resolve the issue within a business day within commercially reasonable efforts.

IMPORTANT: Some issues that meet the Level 1 definition cannot be resolved by Aspenware and must be resolved externally. In the case that a root cause is determined as an outside incident (see Appendix E below) Aspenware cannot guarantee these resolution times when the resolution of the error is not within its control. Examples of outside incident Level 1 issues include Azure outage, Internet outage at the customer ski area, Email provider outage, payment outage, external header outage, a ransomware attack, etc.

Examples by Category:

Software Defect - Following an upgrade, adding to cart no longer works on mobile.
Configuration Issue - Dynamic pricing is not configured properly and lift tickets are selling for $0 on most days of the season in the middle of winter when they should be priced.

IMPORTANT: Products should be end-to-end tested 3 business days before launching and launches should be communicated with Aspenware representatives 10 days before launching. If it is determined that a customer launched a product during the After-Hours On-Call Period without proper notification and/or testing, Aspenware may choose to de-escalate the issue and ask that the customer take the product offline until the issue can be addressed as a Level 2 issue during business hours.

Infrastructure Issue - The order processor to send the orders to the POS is not functioning and a large number of guests will be arriving imminently.

NOTE: One potentially avoidable Level 1 if proper planning and communication are done ahead of time is traffic to the site that is higher than what the Azure levels can handle. This incident can cause a slow-performing site at best, and an outage at worst. See Login - Aspenware Customer Hub for Aspenware’s recommendations and stated customer responsibilities around helping your store handle high traffic. Aspenware cannot guarantee an immediate resolution to any incidents caused by volume surges if proper planning and communication with Aspenware were not completed.

Level 2 (High Importance)

Definition:

Used when there is an error that causes supported elements of the Software to fail to operate materially with no workaround but does not render the system on which the Software is installed inoperable.
A level 2 error results in restricting a large number of guests from using the site or renders the ability to fulfill orders 3x more difficult than before the issue started.
If a feature is used heavily at a particular customer but is not deemed a primary feature across Aspenware’s customer base, significant defects identified with this feature will be resolved as a Level 2.

Expected Response Time: Level 2 issues will be responded to and resolved during Business Hours only. Expect the first response from a service agent within 9 business hours if submitted during business hours.

Expected Resolution Time:

If it is a configuration or infrastructure request, we will work to resolve the issue within 5 business days assuming proper notification and planning guidelines were met (see note below).

If the issue is a Level 2 software defect, Aspenware will first attempt to deploy a version of the software where this defect is not present within 5 business days.
If deploying another version to resolve the issue is not possible, we will work to resolve the issue within two release versions, within commercially reasonable efforts. (Aspenware releases a new version approximately every 4 weeks.)

Examples by Category:

Software Defect - Inventory is being oversold on a product because of a defect in the supported inventory functionality.
Configuration Issue - The wrong product code was booked for a primary product in the Point of Sale.
Infrastructure Issue - A plugin that is used was inadvertently uninstalled during the last upgrade.

Level 3 (Medium Importance)

Definition: Used when an error produces an inconvenient situation in which the Software operates substantially per the Specifications but causes or results in substandard or erratic performance. An example of a Level 3 may be an issue causing a Supported element of the system to fail but it is limited to a single device or a cosmetic error that significantly distracts from the guest experience, etc.

Expected Response Time: Level 3 issues will be responded to and resolved during Business Hours only. Expect the first response from a service agent within 3 business days of submission if submitted during business hours.

Expected Resolution Time:

If it is a configuration or infrastructure request, we will work to answer questions and provide guidance within 10 business days.
If it is a software defect, we will strive to resolve the issue within the next six release versions, however, Level 3 issue resolution is ultimately at Aspenware’s sole discretion.

Examples by Category (each category has a corresponding section below with more details):

Software Defect - Extra spaces in Username and Email in the POS prevents login
Configuration Issue - Support for test environment configuration around an upcoming product launch.
Infrastructure Issue - Configuring new functions and plugins needed for taking advantage of a new feature for an upcoming product launch.

Level 4 (Low Importance)

Definition: Classification used when there is an Error that is minor or that is cosmetic in nature and does not result in reduced performance. (I.e. text changes or making the text more configurable, color changes, etc.)

Expected Response Time: Level 4 issues will be responded to and resolved during Business Hours only. Expect the first response from a service agent within 5 business days of submission if submitted during Business Hours.

Expected Resolution Time:

If it is a configuration or infrastructure request, we will work to answer questions and provide guidance within 20 business days.
Resolution of Level 4 Software Defects and feature requests are solely at Aspenware’s discretion and are not guaranteed. A reasonable result would be for Aspenware to close the ticket after adding the request to its internal list of non-urgent issues/requests that it evaluates periodically. We will not add software defect or feature requests to Monday as we do not guarantee a resolution on these, so tracking these requests is not respectful of either party's time.

Examples by Category:

Software Defect - A cosmetic issue that does not result in reduced performance.
Configuration Issue - Request to change a language string/content in an HTML widget.
Infrastructure Issue - Configuring new functions and plugins needed for taking advantage of a new feature for a down-the-road product launch.