Support and service level schedule

1. Scope

1.1 This Schedule sets out the service availability commitment, service credit regime and helpdesk support arrangements applying to Care Academy during the Term.

1.2 This Schedule applies to the hosted Care Academy platform and related core service components made available by EdgeWorks™ under the Agreement. Unless expressly stated otherwise, this Schedule does not apply to separately scoped professional services, implementation services, consultancy, training delivery, customer internal IT support, or third-party systems outside EdgeWorks™ control.

1.3 This Schedule forms part of the Agreement. If there is any conflict between this Schedule and the main terms, the main terms shall prevail unless the Order Confirmation expressly states otherwise.

2. Definitions

2.1 Availability Commitment means the commitment in paragraph 3.1.

2.2 Covered Service means the Care Academy hosted platform, including the production web interface and related core service functions made available by EdgeWorks™ to the Customer, but excluding support services themselves.

2.3 Downtime means a period in which the Covered Service is unavailable to Authorised Users due to a failure of EdgeWorks™ controlled server, hosting, application or network components, excluding any Excluded Downtime. For the purposes of this Schedule, intermittent issues lasting less than ten consecutive minutes shall not count as Downtime.

2.4 Downtime Period means a period of ten consecutive minutes or more of Downtime.

2.5 Excluded Downtime means any period of unavailability caused by scheduled maintenance, emergency maintenance, Customer systems, devices, browsers, connectivity or local environment, third-party services or infrastructure outside EdgeWorks™ reasonable control, force majeure events, suspension permitted under the Agreement, Customer misuse, unauthorised access attempts, security incidents originating outside EdgeWorks™ systems, or breach of the Agreement.

2.6 Monthly Uptime Percentage means the total number of minutes in a calendar month minus the total number of minutes of Downtime in that month, divided by the total number of minutes in that month, expressed as a percentage.

2.7 Scheduled Maintenance means planned maintenance notified by EdgeWorks™ in advance where reasonably practicable. Scheduled Maintenance does not count as Downtime.

2.8 Service Credit means the service extension described in paragraph 4.

2.9 Support Hours means Monday to Friday, 10:00 to 17:00 UK time, excluding public holidays, unless the Order Confirmation states otherwise.

2.10 Response Time means the period within which EdgeWorks™ aims to issue an initial response under paragraph 6, measured during Support Hours only.

3. Service availability commitment

3.1 EdgeWorks™ shall use reasonable endeavours to ensure that the Covered Service is operational and available to the Customer at least 99.9% of the time in each calendar month.

3.2 The Availability Commitment is measured by reference to the Monthly Uptime Percentage.

3.3 The Availability Commitment applies only where the Customer has complied with the Agreement, has paid all undisputed charges due, and has promptly provided reasonable information requested by EdgeWorks™ in connection with investigating any service issue.

4. Service credits

4.1 If EdgeWorks™ does not meet the Availability Commitment in a calendar month, and the Customer meets the conditions in paragraph 3.3, the Customer shall be eligible to request the following Service Credit:

4.2 The aggregate maximum Service Credit in any single calendar month shall not exceed 2 days added to the end of the current service term. Service Credits are the Customer’s sole financial remedy under this Schedule for failure to meet the Availability Commitment, must be requested by the Customer in writing within 30 days after the end of the month in which the relevant failure occurred, may not be exchanged for cash or refunded as money.

4.3 If the Customer does not request a Service Credit within the period stated in paragraph 4.2, the entitlement to that Service Credit is lost.

5. Support channels

5.1 Care Academy helpdesk support is available through the online Request Help function within the platform, email, and telephone, subject to paragraph 5.3.

5.2 All registered users may submit support requests through the platform helpdesk function.

5.3 Telephone and direct email support may be restricted to the Customer’s nominated contact or contacts identified in the Order Confirmation, unless EdgeWorks™ agrees otherwise.

5.4 Telephone contact may be used for initial reporting, but resolution may be provided through follow-up by the support team through the helpdesk or email process.

6. Response times

6.1 EdgeWorks™ aims to provide an initial response within 4 business hours during Support Hours for Care Academy platform support requests.

6.2 General service enquiries will normally receive an initial response within 2 working days where reasonably practicable.

6.3 An initial response may consist of acknowledgement of the request, allocation of a ticket or reference number, request for further information, or confirmation that the matter is under investigation.

6.4 An initial response does not guarantee same-day resolution.

6.5 EdgeWorks™ will use reasonable endeavours to resolve issues within a reasonable timeframe, taking account of the nature, severity and complexity of the issue.

7. Support scope

7.1 Helpdesk support includes general platform usage queries not answered in the available user guidance or FAQs, platform connectivity queries relating to the Covered Service, Care Academy configuration issues or requests, incident logging and investigation for faults within EdgeWorks™ control, program updates, fixes, security alerts and critical patch updates, and major product or technology releases, including general maintenance releases, selected functionality releases and documentation updates.

7.2 Support covers reasonable assistance with the use of the Services and co-ordination of remedial action for issues within EdgeWorks™ control.

8. Support exclusions

8.1 Unless expressly agreed otherwise, helpdesk support does not include Customer internal IT support, local hardware, software or device configuration support, internet service provider or local network troubleshooting, browser, operating system or device compatibility issues arising from unsupported environments, issues caused by third-party systems not controlled by EdgeWorks™, professional services work, bespoke reporting, bulk administrative changes or consultancy, user training beyond standard guidance materials, or security-related account recovery by telephone.

8.2 EdgeWorks™ may, at its discretion, agree to provide out-of-scope assistance as chargeable professional or technical support.

9. Security-related support limitations

9.1 EdgeWorks™ takes account and personal data security seriously and will not provide usernames, passwords or equivalent access credentials by telephone.

9.2 Users should use the relevant login recovery function or follow the approved internal process operated by the Customer.

9.3 Support relating to security incidents, suspected compromise, access misuse or safeguarding-sensitive incidents may be handled through additional verification and restricted communication channels.

10. Configuration requests and chargeable support

10.1 Configuration changes should be requested through the platform helpdesk function unless EdgeWorks™ agrees on another formal route.

10.2 Where a requested change falls outside standard support, could reasonably be completed by the Customer, requires manual administration by EdgeWorks™, or amounts to project work or consultancy, EdgeWorks™ may apply a charge.

10.3 Any chargeable work will be identified in advance and will not proceed without Customer approval.

10.4 Remote technical assistance for Customer-side configuration or environment issues may be offered at EdgeWorks™ then-current technical support or professional services rates, if agreed.

11. SLA exclusions

11.1 The Availability Commitment and Service Credit regime do not apply to support services themselves, any service expressly stated in the Order Confirmation or documentation to be outside this Schedule, or any performance issue falling within Excluded Downtime.

11.2 For the avoidance of doubt, EdgeWorks™ is not responsible under this Schedule for failures caused by factors outside its reasonable control, or resulting from Customer equipment or third-party equipment not within the primary control of EdgeWorks™.

12. Maintenance

12.1 EdgeWorks™ may perform Scheduled Maintenance or emergency maintenance from time to time.

12.2 EdgeWorks™ will give reasonable notice of Scheduled Maintenance where practicable.

12.3 Emergency maintenance may be carried out without prior notice where reasonably necessary to protect the Covered Service, users, data, qualification integrity or compliance position.