Support Plans
VSHN operates services and guarantees availability according to Service Levels. In addition to the basic support plan - which is included in every service - a priority support plan is available.
1. Offering
| Basic | Priority | |
|---|---|---|
best effort |
within 1 hour [1] |
|
best effort |
according to the service level of the affected service |
|
Office Hours [2] |
24/7 |
|
Personal Contact |
VSHN Engineer |
Dedicated Account Manager and VSHN Engineer |
Ticket |
Ticket, Chat, Phone |
|
not available |
available on request [3] |
|
optional |
included in service |
|
Price per month |
included in service, personal contact is billed by the hour. |
5% of cumulative recurring monthly service fee, minimum CHF 800.00 (whichever is higher), personal contact is billed by the hour. |
2. Applicability
The scope of support plans is limited to the expertise of VSHNeers and VSHN’s own Product Portfolio. In other words, we only support what we know. For other requests, there is no guarantee of resolution, neither implied nor explicit. We reserve our right to involve our technology partners as required.
Specifically, support is meant in the following situations:
- General Support
-
Questions or requests for information regarding VSHN services, architecture, etc.
- Service Requests
-
-
Requests to instantiate a standard service (for example, a new DB instance)
-
Small changes to an existing service (new user account, another database, ACL change, etc.)
-
- Change
-
A change to the configuration of a service.
Support is not meant for:
- Service Onboarding
-
Onboarding to VSHN services includes setup and customizing, which is usually part of the initial project.
3. Support Channels
The primary support channel is the ticket system. Please always open a ticket before using any other channel. This helps us centralize information in a single source of truth to better help you.
- Ticket
-
Access the ticket system in the VSHN Portal to open and track issues. Choose between different severity levels to influence response time, depending on the support plan.
- Chat
-
Direct channel to VSHNeers for discussing tickets.
- Phone
-
VSHN support is available at +41 44 545 53 53 (Office Hours). The phone number to reach VSHN support 24/7 is communicated in VSHN Central.
4. Dedicated Account Manager
Dedicated Account Managers provide personal contact to ensure a higher level of attention.
5. Response Time
The response time is the period between receipt of a ticket and starting to work on the request, as indicated by updating the ticket. It depends on the severity level:
| Severity Level | Basic | Priority |
|---|---|---|
Default |
Best effort |
Next business day |
High |
Best effort |
4 business hours |
Critical |
Best effort [2] |
1 hour |
Ticket support channels must be used for guaranteed response times.
5.1. Severity Levels
- Default
-
The issue doesn’t hinder work, or hinders work in a less important areas. Examples:
-
The customer is not blocked in his work. (For inquiries, suggestions, etc.)
-
Small sections of applications or development environments are not accessible, or are delayed / slow.
-
Access to core applications is not possible in non-business critical functions.
-
A bypass solution is available, can be set up, or does not cause significant additional work.
-
- High
-
The issue hinders the continuation of an essential activity. Examples:
-
The primary function of the service is working, but essential secondary functions aren’t.
-
Functions in core applications cannot be executed in individual areas, or can only be executed very slowly.
-
- Critical
-
The issue prevents the continuation of business. Examples:
-
Access to business-critical core applications is not possible (direct impact on business activity).
-
An immediate workaround is not possible or foreseeable.
-
6. Resolution Time
The resolution time represents the period between starting work on a ticket and achieving its final resolution. This time measurement:
-
Starts when work begins on the ticket
-
Ends when a final resolution is achieved
-
Can be interrupted by special events:
-
Escalation to other teams
-
Request for third-party support
-
Rejection of proposed solutions
-
Other blocking events
-
The ticketing system automatically tracks and calculates resolution time. Time periods where tickets are marked as "Pending" (for example during overarching problems) are excluded from the service level calculations.
If a solution is not delivered within the specified resolution time, compensation is provided through service credits as defined in the Service Level Agreement of the affected service.
7. Support Availability
- Office Hours
-
Mon - Fri from 09:00 to 18:00 CET / CEST (excluding public holidays in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland).
- 24/7
-
Mon - Sun from 00:00 to 24:00. Support outside office hours (see above) has a surcharge of 100% to the price per work hour.
8. Work-Hour Pricing
Price per work hour: CHF 250.00.
8.1. Prepaid Hour Packages
Hour packages bring the advantage of discounted volume prices. These packages expire after one year from the date of purchase. Worked hours are deducted from the account balance and reported once a month.
| Hours | Price / Hour | Total |
|---|---|---|
40 |
CHF 240.00 |
CHF 9'600.00 |
80 |
CHF 230.00 |
CHF 18'400.00 |
120 |
CHF 220.00 |
CHF 26'400.00 |
240 |
CHF 210.00 |
CHF 50'400.00 |
Hour packages must be used within one year of the contract signing. You will receive a monthly report of hourly packages used. If an hourly package is used, it will be billed at the normal rate, and a new package can be ordered at any time.
9. Constraints
- Per Customer
-
Support plans apply per contract.
- Eligibility
-
All named customer representatives are eligible to make use of support plans.
- Location of service delivery
-
VSHN Canada typically handles tasks scheduled within time windows that fall during nighttime in the CET/CEST time zone. See also Switzerland-Only Option.
- Planned work outside office hours
-
Conducting planned work outside office hours is available for all support plans. It must be requested by the customer at least one week in advance.
- Outside office hours billing
-
Work conducted outside office hours has a surcharge of 100% to the price per work hour.
- Fair-Use
-
Support outside office hours is meant for work which was planned in advance or for emergencies. We reserve the right to refuse support outside of office hours in case of excessive demand.
- Work hour logging
-
Work is logged in an increment of 15 minutes. Access to work logs is granted via the VSHN Portal.
- Scope
-
We can only offer support for what we know. Therefore, our support plans are scoped to our product portfolio. We don’t offer any support outside our portfolio.
| All prices on this page are excl. VAT |
10. Option: Switzerland-Only Support
| This option includes the "Priority" Support Plan. |
We offer a Switzerland-only support option if exclusive access to server and service resources from within Swiss borders is required. With this option, we guarantee that access to the servers and services of the customer is only done from within Switzerland. This applies to direct access to systems and all manual manipulations, including change rollouts.
| The Switzerland-only option explicitly rules out the use of VPN connections to access the customer systems from outside the country. Only VSHNeers directly connected within Swiss borders perform operations on those systems. |
| System Access | Access From | |
|---|---|---|
Status Monitoring and Incident Triage |
No |
Worldwide |
Operations |
Yes |
Switzerland |
Engineering |
No |
Worldwide |
Manual Change Deployment |
Yes |
Switzerland |
Automated Change Deployment |
No |
Worldwide |
Maintenance with system access |
Yes |
Switzerland |
Automated Maintenance |
No |
Worldwide |
11. FAQ
11.1. Under which conditions is the Chat support channel available?
Chat is meant for a direct interaction between a customer and VSHNeers. It’s not meant to open issues, and it should only be used after opening an issue. We reserve the right to refuse interactions via Chat in case of abuse.
11.2. How do we distinguish between request types?
We don’t distinguish different types of request (For example incident or support). Communications about criticality and expected response times depend on the severity level.
11.3. Can I contact VSHN outside office hours with the "Basic" Support Plan?
For critical incidents it’s still possible to contact VSHN outside office hours. When choosing to do so, you’ll be upgraded to the "Priority" support plan automatically, retroactively for the past 12 months. We call this "push the red button", so when you really need our help, we’re here for you.
11.4. How to know the support level I need in advance?
It might be difficult to know in advance how many hours of support is required in advance, to choose the appropriate Prepaid Hour Packages. We offer a DevOps workshop to analyze your needs, and help you find the best matching package.