Bizarc

FREE technical support and systems advice to all Cloud and Grid computing customers.

The online support center includes comprehensive resources that can help answer most of your technical inquiries quickly and efficiently. As a rule, unless you have subscribed to one of the support packages, we recommend taking any of the following steps before telephoning technical support;

Review Online Documentation

Review a complete set of set-up documents and user guides online for all specific utility questions.

Search BIZARC Knowledge Base

Read up-to-date articles, frequently asked support queries and much more from our advanced helpdesk resource centre.

Register a support query

BIZARC support team is available to resolve technical issues during standard support hours. Please use the Online Support Form to submit your request, and our staff will respond by email within 4 hours.

We typically answer support or sales inquiries within four hours though in times of high demand this can be extended to the next business day. We value your business so our philosophy is... do whatever it takes but get back to the customer!

Rob Edsell, BIZARC CEO

In short. We'll do just about anything to ensure your service is running how you want it. Every memeber of staff has this focus.

legacy machines began to constrain the business through poor server and storage utilization which increased our costs. BIZARC helped migrate live systems to their service in a matter of days which saves me time and headaches.

Russ Michaels, Blue Thunder

BIZARC.COM Support policy

BIZARC Support answers general usage questions about BIZARC services known as “Utilities”. Our assistance includes helping you understand the following:

• Issues encountered after initial set-up of Utilities
• The documented features and benefits of our Utilities
• How these features can be adopted
• Troubleshooting unexpected behaviour encountered while using these features
• How we can help with the development of your project

Additional channels for project development include:

• Free access to BIZARC online knowledge base
• TechNotes, service updates and enhancement , books and links to other third-party sites available through the BIZARC Support Center
• Tutorials, Video presentations, training, and other monthly features, which are available in the Developer Centre

Fee-based Support Programs

All fee-based support plans are valid from the date they are purchased excluding Single Incident tickets which are charged and payable at the time of use.

Single Incident Support
Telephone-based support or remote website edits bought on a pay as you go basis charged at £50.00

Website Support Contract
Design and development services charged at £50.00 per hour (minimum of 3 hours)

Premium Support Contract
Monthly support contract charged at £189.00 per month which gives customers five (5) hours of telephone and support each month

Gold Support Contract
Monthly support contract charged at £120.00 per month which gives customers three (3) hours of telephone and email support each month

Note: For more information about Support Programs, visit the Support Programs FAQ.

Registration

BIZARC Support requires a registered account or support contract number for you to access any one-to-one support (for example, e-mail or telephone support). If you have not yet registered your trial service, please register online through the Arc Store.

Supported Utilities and Services

One-to-one support is available for all BIZARC utilities or services.

Definitions of Support: Customers who purchase a single incident of support will be charged at the time of use through premium rate lines. Should the assigned BIZARC Support Personnel determine the incident is related to a problem in service itself, the charge will be refunded.

Incident

BIZARC defines a single support incident as an issue that focuses on one aspect of the service - e.g. use of a specific feature of the product or assistance with a specific problem or error message. A single support incident may involve multiple phone calls, emails and off-line research. BIZARC Support Personnel are responsible for determining the best way to resolve support incidents and communicating this to our customers. Our Support Personnel will make reasonable efforts to resolve the issue but BIZARC cannot guarantee that every issue can be resolved quickly.

Customers will be refunded single incident charges, plus any applicable taxs, for bugs, documentation and installation issues in accordance with the following definitions:

Service Fault

BIZARC defines a “Service Fault” as some technical aspect or functionality of a service that does not execute or deliver results as expected and outlined in the supplied service documentation. Unexpected behaviour isolated to a user's specific configuration or environment does not correspond with BIZARC's definition of a “Service Fault”.
BIZARC Support Personnel can provide troubleshooting suggestions for unexpected behaviour in these cases; however, BIZARC is not responsible for the resolution of any such behaviour. An issue is recognised as a “Service Fault” only after confirmation from a BIZARC Support Engineer.

Documentation Error

BIZARC defines a documentation error as inaccurate information or instruction provided in the documentation accompanying the product. Accompanying documentation includes user manuals, Release Notes, and BIZARC product support site documents and TechNotes. BIZARC does not provide support or assume responsibility for any reference materials published by third parties.

Set-up

All registered customer are entitles to Free set-up advice. BIZARC defines Set-up as the process after which the service has been initiated and customer is having problems getting started using the documentation provided. A completed set-up is determined by a successful log on to the webmail service which shows the account is live and able to send and receive email.

Free set up is restricted to email support only. All new users MUST perform the following actions prior to beginning the installation guides as they are required to make authenticated connections.

• sent all details for BIZARC to change the MX records with your current domain host
• fully security patches from microsoft machine (PC or laptop) running Windows XP service pack 2
• know standing of which machines are running XP home / XP Professional
• be familiar with the basics of Outlook 2003 using Microsoft online help

Complimentary Online & Email Support

All registered users are entitled to complimentary online and email support guidance for each of the Utility Services subscribed to and for a number of the products purchased through the online store. For a list of products currently supported, please refer to our Supported Products and Services page.

Response Goals

BIZARC will make every effort to provide an initial response according to the following guidelines:

• Priority - Initial Response
• Urgent - Within 4 hours of receipt
• Expedient - Close of same business day
• Standard - Close of next business day

The initial response may be a priority discussion or a request for more information. In the case of an Urgent problem, we will make every attempt to provide you either with a resolution to the issue or suggest a work-around to give you an immediate solution for the interim.

Priority 1- Urgent.
The customer's business has been interrupted or seriously impacted for which there is no reasonable workaround currently available, meaning the issue requires immediate attention. BIZARC will use best efforts to fix priority one problems as soon as possible, typically through allocating a dedicated technical resource until it is resolved.

Priority 2 - Serious problem.
The service is operating but its functionality is degraded. BIZARC will use best efforts to address priority two problems as they arise helping clients maximize their use of our services.

Priority 3 - Minor problem or enhancement.
Priority three problems and enhancements will be scheduled to be fixed or implemented, as resources become available. Please keep your support engineer informed of any changes in your environment that affect the priority of the activity. For example, if the problem occurs more often or becomes more critical, please raise the priority level. Or, if you discover a workaround for the problem, please let us know and advise us if you think the priority level might be lowered.

What You Agree To

Provide BIZARC with accurate information required to change domain records, follow the guides to the letter, retain all account information and ensure all pre set up steps have been followed.

Problem diagnosis and resolution assumes that you will send BIZARC a clear description of the issue, defect (or symptom of defect) or problem and make available to a responsive individual capable of executing tests or trials, and communicating additional facts or properties, as may be needed from time to time, to assist BIZARC in problem diagnosis and resolution.

Note: For more information about Support Programs, visit the Support Programs FAQ.

Definition of Resolution of Issue
Once an issue is accepted as being within the extent of technical support (as described at the top of this page), resolution of a technical support issue shall be defined as accomplishing any one of the following:

• Providing a reasonable solution to the issue
• Providing a reasonable work-around to the issue
• Determination by BIZARC that the issue is not a Service Fault
• Escalation by BIZARC of the incident/Service Fault to BIZARC Operations Manager for review

System Centre monitoring available to all customers. Giving you full control over your hosted assets.

Systems Monitoring Operations

• System Centre Operations Manager – Monitoring and centralised reporting
• System Centre Configuration Manager - Patching and software deployment
• System Centre Virtual Machine Manager – Supports Microsoft Virtual Server and VMware ESX

External and Internal Systems Monitoring

Services and devices are monitored by a customised rule based mechanism. This is achieved via an Agent (services) and Agent-less modular structure. Centralised auditing provides us with a complete overview of all operating system logs and custom data collected from monitored devices and services.

Monitoring

Agent-less monitoring incorporates open network protocols for the collection of uptime and performance metrics.Agent based monitoring provides a sophisticated ‘in operating system’ approach for complete service overviews. We are set up with pre-defined service criteria that provides detailed metrics on all our core systems and customer infrastructure. Customers want more advanced features can have their systems configured for specific executable process to monitor performance and availability.

Reporting

Reporting criterion is custom defined to identify potential performance problems before they become critical and adversely affect services. Customers can define alerting and response criteria to ensure we are alerted at the right time to ensure effective responses as problems occur.

Virtual Machine Management

Centralised management of VM infrastructure for provisioning and monitoring provides you with a total overview of your enterprise. Our self service portal allows you total control over your systems while also allowing us to provide direct support into your systems.

Maintenance schedule 2009/2010

The following schedule is a list of potential BIZARC Server Maintenance sessions and the days on which they will occur. As we may not need to action anything these are potential sessions only and will be confirmed prior to any action taken. Each week BIZARC will evaluate the need for any upcoming maintenance and confirm/report according to the guidelines set out below via an email sent to each client administrator and posted here on the customer helpdesk.

For weekly and monthly maintenance BIZARC will send a follow-up report after any performed maintenance detailing the session and what activity is to take place. For quarterly, semi-annual, and annual maintenance sessions, you will receive a confirmation notice in advance if and only if BIZARC has determined that the maintenance session will take place.

1. Weekly Maintenance:

a. On Friday evenings starting at 7:00 P.M. (GMT) BIZARC will as needed conduct engineering works that may impact service for a period not exceeding one hour.

b. Weekly Maintenance reports will be sent on the Tuesday following any performed weekly maintenance sessions.

2. Monthly Maintenance:

a. On the first Weekend of each month starting at 7:00 P.M. (GMT) BIZARC will as needed conduct engineering works that may impact service for a period not exceeding four hours.

b. Monthly Maintenance reports will be sent on the Wednesday following any performed monthly maintenance sessions.

3. Quarterly Maintenance:

a. On the first Saturday of each quarter starting at 4:00 P.M. (GMT) will as needed conduct engineering works that may impact service for a period not exceeding four hours

b. Quarterly Maintenance Confirmation notice will be provided by close of business on Tuesday preceding the scheduled maintenance with a reminder on Thursday

4. Bi-Annual Maintenance:

a. Bi annually on a Saturday starting at 12:00 P.M. (GMT) BIZARC will as needed conduct engineering works that may impact service for a period not exceeding eight hours

b. Semi-Annual Maintenance Confirmation notice will be provided by close of business on the Wednesday one week prior to scheduled maintenance taking place, with reminders sent on the Monday and Friday directly preceding the scheduled maintenance

5. Annual Maintenance:

a. An additional Maintenance, not to exceed once annually, may be required, impacting services for no more than 24 hours starting on Saturday at 12:00 P.M. GMT.

b. Annual Maintenance Confirmation notice will be provided by close of business on the Monday two weeks prior to scheduled maintenance with reminders on the Tuesday and Friday directly preceding the scheduled maintenance

Notes: When maintenance schedules overlap they are exclusive of each other and not cumulative; so only the longest period will be used. Each scheduled time slot is chosen to occur during periods of low client network traffic, including Websites, Email, Sharepoint and remote desktop activity so as to minimise disruption to client services.
As the rate of security patches and service pack releases are out of our control we reserve the right to update this maintenance schedule at any time.