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Service Levels

Service Levels

Service Levels

Service Levels

This table sets out the levels of service that Spark will endeavour to provide in relation to Voice and Network Services.

This table sets out the levels of service that Spark will endeavour to provide in relation to Voice and Network Services.

This table sets out the levels of service that Spark will endeavour to provide in relation to Voice and Network Services.

Service Attribute
Attribute Definitions
Service Target
Service Reception
 Answering a telephone call from a customer and logging information relevant to a fault or other details relevant to the service required. Service Restoration: incoming phone calls to be answered 24 hours a day, every day.
Normal Service Hours
 Those hours during which, when a customer reports a fault, Spark will commence restoration activity at no additional cost.  (See note 1 below). 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
Service Restoration Targets
 The elapsed time, during Normal Service Hours, between customer reporting a fault to Spark and confirmation to the customer that the service has been restored. 24 hours (reasonable endeavour)

Notes and Definitions:

Notes and Definitions:

Notes and Definitions:

  1. Call-out: Spark will fix any fault in the Spark Network at no additional charge. However should the fault be proved to be the responsibility of the customer, Spark may charge additional fees. These are called Call-out fees.
  2. CPE/Cellular Phone Maintenance: These service targets do not apply to maintenance of customer premises equipment (such as PBXs, phones, IVR and voicemail) or cellular phones. Maintenance of these items is covered under Spark's Equipment Maintenance Agreement (for CPE) or the customer's Preferred Dealer agreement (for cellular phones).
  3. International Faults: These targets do not apply to any fault caused by any network failure arising beyond Spark's International Gateway.

 

This table sets out the levels of service that Spark will endeavour to provide in relation to Spark mobile network services.

  1. Call-out: Spark will fix any fault in the Spark Network at no additional charge. However should the fault be proved to be the responsibility of the customer, Spark may charge additional fees. These are called Call-out fees.
  2. CPE/Cellular Phone Maintenance: These service targets do not apply to maintenance of customer premises equipment (such as PBXs, phones, IVR and voicemail) or cellular phones. Maintenance of these items is covered under Spark's Equipment Maintenance Agreement (for CPE) or the customer's Preferred Dealer agreement (for cellular phones).
  3. International Faults: These targets do not apply to any fault caused by any network failure arising beyond Spark's International Gateway.

 

This table sets out the levels of service that Spark will endeavour to provide in relation to Spark mobile network services.

  1. Call-out: Spark will fix any fault in the Spark Network at no additional charge. However should the fault be proved to be the responsibility of the customer, Spark may charge additional fees. These are called Call-out fees.
  2. CPE/Cellular Phone Maintenance: These service targets do not apply to maintenance of customer premises equipment (such as PBXs, phones, IVR and voicemail) or cellular phones. Maintenance of these items is covered under Spark's Equipment Maintenance Agreement (for CPE) or the customer's Preferred Dealer agreement (for cellular phones).
  3. International Faults: These targets do not apply to any fault caused by any network failure arising beyond Spark's International Gateway.

 

This table sets out the levels of service that Spark will endeavour to provide in relation to Spark mobile network services.

Service Attribute
Attribute Definitions
Service Target
Service Reception
 Answering a telephone call from a customer and logging information relevant to a fault or other details relevant to the service required. Service Reception: Incoming phone calls to be answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within 20 seconds.
Billing and Provisioning: Incoming phone calls are to be answered on Business Days (refer to clause 2 of 'Notes and Definitions' below), 0800 to 1730 within 20 seconds.
Normal Service Hours

Means those hours during which, when the customer reports a fault, Spark will commence restoration activity at no additional cost.

In the event the customer requests fault restoration, Call-out Fees may apply (refer to clause 1 of 'Notes and Definitions' below).

 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
Initial Restoration Update
 The elapsed time, during Normal Service Hours, between the customer reporting a fault to Spark and confirmation to the customer that initial diagnosis has been completed and an estimated time to restore is provided, if known. Within 60 minutes.
Progress Updates Updates on the status of service restoration activity. Provided to the customer on a 'significant event basis', or as agreed.
Service Restoration Targets
 The elapsed time, during Normal Service Hours, between the customer reporting a fault to Spark and confirmation to the customer that the service has been restored. 6 Hours - reasonable endeavours
Provisioning Change Target
 The elapsed time between the confirmed acceptance via email, fax or phone by Spark of the customer's Provisioning and Change Request and the implementation of that request, unless the customer specifies a longer time. As per the following page entitled "Provisioning and Change Targets".
Billing Issue Resolution Target
 The elapsed time between the customer initiating a billing enquiry and confirmation to the customer of its resolution. Single account, with account arrears less than 90 days: 2 Business Days.
Multiple accounts, or account arrears more than 90 days: by mutual agreement.

Notes and Definitions

Notes and Definitions

Notes and Definitions

  1. Call-out Fees: the customer may request Spark to provide restoration activity outside the service targets. Spark will undertake the restoration activity, but may charge the customer additional fees. Such additional fees may also be applicable in the event the fault is found to be the fault of the customer or a third party.
  2. Business Days: means Monday to Friday, excluding national public holidays and the provincial anniversary day applicable to the Spark office that responds to the customer's query.
  3. Mobile Phone Maintenance: The Standard Service Targets do not apply to the maintenance of mobile phones or associated hardware. Maintenance of these items is covered by the customer's Preferred Dealer Connection Agreement.
  4. International Faults: The Standard Service Targets do not apply to any fault caused by any network failure arising beyond Spark's International Gateway.

 

This table sets out the levels of service that Spark will endeavour to provide in relation to data network services.

  1. Call-out Fees: the customer may request Spark to provide restoration activity outside the service targets. Spark will undertake the restoration activity, but may charge the customer additional fees. Such additional fees may also be applicable in the event the fault is found to be the fault of the customer or a third party.
  2. Business Days: means Monday to Friday, excluding national public holidays and the provincial anniversary day applicable to the Spark office that responds to the customer's query.
  3. Mobile Phone Maintenance: The Standard Service Targets do not apply to the maintenance of mobile phones or associated hardware. Maintenance of these items is covered by the customer's Preferred Dealer Connection Agreement.
  4. International Faults: The Standard Service Targets do not apply to any fault caused by any network failure arising beyond Spark's International Gateway.

 

This table sets out the levels of service that Spark will endeavour to provide in relation to data network services.

  1. Call-out Fees: the customer may request Spark to provide restoration activity outside the service targets. Spark will undertake the restoration activity, but may charge the customer additional fees. Such additional fees may also be applicable in the event the fault is found to be the fault of the customer or a third party.
  2. Business Days: means Monday to Friday, excluding national public holidays and the provincial anniversary day applicable to the Spark office that responds to the customer's query.
  3. Mobile Phone Maintenance: The Standard Service Targets do not apply to the maintenance of mobile phones or associated hardware. Maintenance of these items is covered by the customer's Preferred Dealer Connection Agreement.
  4. International Faults: The Standard Service Targets do not apply to any fault caused by any network failure arising beyond Spark's International Gateway.

 

This table sets out the levels of service that Spark will endeavour to provide in relation to data network services.

Service Attribute
Attribute Definitions
Service Target
Service Reception
 Answering a telephone call from a customer and logging information relevant to a fault or other details relevant to the service required. Service Reception: Incoming phone calls to be answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within 20 seconds.
Billing and Provisioning: Incoming phone calls are to be answered on Business Days (refer to clause 2 of 'Notes and Definitions' below), 0800 to 1730 within 20 seconds.
Normal Service Hours
 Those hours during which, when a customer reports a fault, Spark will commence restoration activity at no additional cost. (See note 1 below). 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
Initial Restoration Update
 The elapsed time, during Normal Service Hours, between reporting a fault to Spark and confirmation to the customer that initial diagnosis has been completed and an estimated time to restore is provided, if known. Within 60 minutes.
Progress Updates Updates on the status of service restoration activity. Provided to the customer on a 'significant event basis', or as agreed.
Service Restoration Targets
 The elapsed time, during Normal Service Hours, between customer reporting a fault to Spark and confirmation to the customer that the service has been restored. 6 Hours - reasonable endeavours
Provisioning Change Target
 The elapsed time between the confirmed acceptance of a Provisioning/Change Request and the implementation of that request, unless the customer specifies a longer time.  
Billing Issue Resolution Target
 The elapsed time between the customer initiating a billing enquiry and confirmation to the customer of its resolution. Single account, with account arrears less than 90 days: 2 Business days
Multiple accounts, or account arrears more than 90 days: by mutual agreement

Notes and Definitions

Notes and Definitions

Notes and Definitions

  1. Call-out: Spark will fix any fault in the Spark Network at no additional charge. However should the fault be proved to be the responsibility of the customer, Spark may charge additional fees. These are called Call-out fees.
  2. Business days: Monday to Friday, excluding national public holidays and the provincial anniversary day applicable to the affected customer site.
  3. CPE: These service targets do not apply to maintenance of customer premises equipment. Maintenance of these items is covered under a Spark's Equipment Maintenance Agreement.
  4. International Faults: These targets These targets do not apply to any fault caused by any network failure arising beyond Spark's International Gateway.

 

Spark Dedicated Internet Access Services

  1. This table This table sets out the service targets that Spark will endeavor to provide, subject to the exclusions noted below.
  2. For the avoidance of doubt, where Spark is the provider of the transport service used by the customer, these service targets also apply to the transport service.
  3. In the event a third party provider is providing the customer's transport service, these service targets only apply to the Spark-provided component of the service. Spark is not responsible for any faults or service degradation attributable to services provided to the customer by any third party.
  1. Call-out: Spark will fix any fault in the Spark Network at no additional charge. However should the fault be proved to be the responsibility of the customer, Spark may charge additional fees. These are called Call-out fees.
  2. Business days: Monday to Friday, excluding national public holidays and the provincial anniversary day applicable to the affected customer site.
  3. CPE: These service targets do not apply to maintenance of customer premises equipment. Maintenance of these items is covered under a Spark's Equipment Maintenance Agreement.
  4. International Faults: These targets These targets do not apply to any fault caused by any network failure arising beyond Spark's International Gateway.

 

Spark Dedicated Internet Access Services

  1. This table This table sets out the service targets that Spark will endeavor to provide, subject to the exclusions noted below.
  2. For the avoidance of doubt, where Spark is the provider of the transport service used by the customer, these service targets also apply to the transport service.
  3. In the event a third party provider is providing the customer's transport service, these service targets only apply to the Spark-provided component of the service. Spark is not responsible for any faults or service degradation attributable to services provided to the customer by any third party.
  1. Call-out: Spark will fix any fault in the Spark Network at no additional charge. However should the fault be proved to be the responsibility of the customer, Spark may charge additional fees. These are called Call-out fees.
  2. Business days: Monday to Friday, excluding national public holidays and the provincial anniversary day applicable to the affected customer site.
  3. CPE: These service targets do not apply to maintenance of customer premises equipment. Maintenance of these items is covered under a Spark's Equipment Maintenance Agreement.
  4. International Faults: These targets These targets do not apply to any fault caused by any network failure arising beyond Spark's International Gateway.

 

Spark Dedicated Internet Access Services

  1. This table This table sets out the service targets that Spark will endeavor to provide, subject to the exclusions noted below.
  2. For the avoidance of doubt, where Spark is the provider of the transport service used by the customer, these service targets also apply to the transport service.
  3. In the event a third party provider is providing the customer's transport service, these service targets only apply to the Spark-provided component of the service. Spark is not responsible for any faults or service degradation attributable to services provided to the customer by any third party.
Service Measure
Description
Service Target
Exclusions & Notes
Provisioning Target
 The elapsed time between Spark's written acceptance of a provisioning request and the implementation of that request, unless the customer specifies a longer time. 21 Business Days

Based on the availability of fibre or cable into the requested site. If fibre or cable does not exist, installation targets will be by negotiation.

Subject to the availability of IP Addresses (factors involved in obtaining an IP address may result in delays, which are out of Spark's immediate control).
Service Capacity Upgrades
 The elapsed time between a request for increased capacity and the implementation of that request, unless the customer specifies a longer time. 21 Business Days Provided that the capacity upgrade required is in accordance with your forecast. Spark requires the customer to update their anticipated forecasts every three months to enable Spark to meet DDS Dedicated Internet Access requirements for the customer.
Service Reception
 Spark answering a telephone call from a customer and (if necessary) logging information relevant to a fault or other details relevant to the service required. Answered within 20 seconds Service Restoration: incoming phone calls to be answered 24 hours a day, every day, within 20 seconds.
Billing and Provisioning incoming phone calls to be answered within 20 seconds, during Normal Service Hours on Business Days.
Restoration Activity
 Those hours during which, the customer reports a fault, Spark will commence restoration activity for the customer at no additional cost (see note 1 below). 24 hours, 7 days a week Including public holidays
Initial Restoration Update
 The elapsed time, during Normal Service Hours, between the customer reporting a fault to Spark and confirmation to the customer that initial diagnosis has been completed and an estimated time to restore is provided, if known. Within 60 minutes  
Progress Updates
 Updates on the status of service restoration activity. Hourly or as agreed Provided to the customer on a significant event basis, or as agreed.
Service Restoration Target
 Normal Service Hours, between the customer reporting a fault to Spark and confirmation to the customer that the service has been restored. Major Metropolitan Areas: 6 Hours
Other Areas: 8 hours		 Spark will charge a fee for investigating and fixing faults caused by incorrect advertising of routes from the customer to Spark.
Planned Outage Targets
 The period of time that the service is temporarily suspended owing to the need for network maintenance or upgrading.

6 hours in aggregate during any one week.

12 hours in aggregate during any 3-month period.

  
Planned Outage Notification Target
 The elapsed time between Spark advising the customer by email of intended planned outage and the commencement of that outage. 3 Days If urgent circumstances arise, Spark may need to give less than 3 days notice (Spark would only instigate outages during peak times or without prior notice under extreme conditions).

Notes and Definitions

Notes and Definitions

Notes and Definitions

  1. Call-out fees: Spark will fix any fault in the Spark Network at no additional charge. However should the fault be proved to be the responsibility of the customer, Spark may charge additional fees. These are called call-out fees.
  2. Service Restorations: This target only applies to faults within Spark's core network and the access circuit between Spark's Core Network and the service delivery point.
  3. Southern Cross Cable system: Supporting resilience and availability, this cable system follows deep water routes supporting low Trans-Pacific network latency and increases application performance between Australasia, the USA and beyond.
  4. Service targets: Spark's Service targets do not apply to the extent that they are affected by:
    1. any planned outages
    2. any force majeure event
    3. failure arising on the customer's side of the SDP
    4. failure of the Southern Cross Cable System to pass traffic over the New Zealand-USA route resulting from a concurrent outage on both its working and protection transmission paths.
  5. Fault reporting: When reporting a fault, the customer must provide as much information as reasonably possible to enable efficient restoration of the fault. The minimal requisite information is as follows; customer company name, name of person reporting fault, circuit number, time, nature, duration, frequency of occurrence, and the affected networks.
  6. Business Day: Monday to Friday excluding national public holidays and the provincial anniversary day applicable to the affected customer site.
  7. Normal Service Hours: Monday Monday to Friday between 0800-1730.
  8. Major Metropolitan Areas: Means within 30 kilometres of the centre of Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Tauranga, New Plymouth, Napier, Palmerston North, Wellington, Nelson, Dunedin and Christchurch.

 

This table sets out the levels of service that Spark will endeavour to provide, subject to the exclusions noted below:

  1. Call-out fees: Spark will fix any fault in the Spark Network at no additional charge. However should the fault be proved to be the responsibility of the customer, Spark may charge additional fees. These are called call-out fees.
  2. Service Restorations: This target only applies to faults within Spark's core network and the access circuit between Spark's Core Network and the service delivery point.
  3. Southern Cross Cable system: Supporting resilience and availability, this cable system follows deep water routes supporting low Trans-Pacific network latency and increases application performance between Australasia, the USA and beyond.
  4. Service targets: Spark's Service targets do not apply to the extent that they are affected by:
    1. any planned outages
    2. any force majeure event
    3. failure arising on the customer's side of the SDP
    4. failure of the Southern Cross Cable System to pass traffic over the New Zealand-USA route resulting from a concurrent outage on both its working and protection transmission paths.
  5. Fault reporting: When reporting a fault, the customer must provide as much information as reasonably possible to enable efficient restoration of the fault. The minimal requisite information is as follows; customer company name, name of person reporting fault, circuit number, time, nature, duration, frequency of occurrence, and the affected networks.
  6. Business Day: Monday to Friday excluding national public holidays and the provincial anniversary day applicable to the affected customer site.
  7. Normal Service Hours: Monday Monday to Friday between 0800-1730.
  8. Major Metropolitan Areas: Means within 30 kilometres of the centre of Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Tauranga, New Plymouth, Napier, Palmerston North, Wellington, Nelson, Dunedin and Christchurch.

 

This table sets out the levels of service that Spark will endeavour to provide, subject to the exclusions noted below:

  1. Call-out fees: Spark will fix any fault in the Spark Network at no additional charge. However should the fault be proved to be the responsibility of the customer, Spark may charge additional fees. These are called call-out fees.
  2. Service Restorations: This target only applies to faults within Spark's core network and the access circuit between Spark's Core Network and the service delivery point.
  3. Southern Cross Cable system: Supporting resilience and availability, this cable system follows deep water routes supporting low Trans-Pacific network latency and increases application performance between Australasia, the USA and beyond.
  4. Service targets: Spark's Service targets do not apply to the extent that they are affected by:
    1. any planned outages
    2. any force majeure event
    3. failure arising on the customer's side of the SDP
    4. failure of the Southern Cross Cable System to pass traffic over the New Zealand-USA route resulting from a concurrent outage on both its working and protection transmission paths.
  5. Fault reporting: When reporting a fault, the customer must provide as much information as reasonably possible to enable efficient restoration of the fault. The minimal requisite information is as follows; customer company name, name of person reporting fault, circuit number, time, nature, duration, frequency of occurrence, and the affected networks.
  6. Business Day: Monday to Friday excluding national public holidays and the provincial anniversary day applicable to the affected customer site.
  7. Normal Service Hours: Monday Monday to Friday between 0800-1730.
  8. Major Metropolitan Areas: Means within 30 kilometres of the centre of Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Tauranga, New Plymouth, Napier, Palmerston North, Wellington, Nelson, Dunedin and Christchurch.

 

This table sets out the levels of service that Spark will endeavour to provide, subject to the exclusions noted below:

Service Measure
Description
Service Target
Exclusions & Notes
Provisioning Target
The elapsed time between Spark's written acceptance of a provisioning request and the implementation of that request, unless the customer specifies a longer time.		 21 days

Based on the availability of fibre or cable into the requested site. If fibre or cable does not exist, installation targets will be by negotiation.

Subject to the availability of IP Addresses (factors involved in obtaining an IP address may result in delays, which are out of Spark's immediate control).
Service Capacity Upgrades
 The elapsed time between a request for increased capacity and the implementation of that request, unless the customer specifies a longer time. 3 Business Days Provided that the capacity upgrade required is in accordance with your forecast. Spark requires the customer to update their anticipated forecasts every three months to enable Spark to meet CID requirements for the customer.
Service Reception
 Spark answering a telephone call from a customer and logging information if necessary, relevant to a fault or other details relevant to the service required. Answered within 20 seconds Service Restoration: incoming phone calls to be answered 24 hours a day, every day, within 20 seconds.
Billing and Provisioning incoming phone calls to be answered within 20 seconds, during Normal Service Hours on Business Days.
Normal Service Hours
 Those hours during which, the customer reports a fault, Spark will commence restoration activity for the customer at no additional cost (see note 1 below). 24 hours, 7 days a week Including public holidays
Initial Restoration Update
 The elapsed time, during Normal Service Hours, between customer reporting a fault to Spark and confirmation to the customer that initial diagnosis has been completed and an estimated time to restore is provided, if known. Within 60 minutes  
Progress Updates
 Updates on the status of service restoration activity. Hourly or as agreed Provided to the customer on a significant event basis, or as agreed.
Service Restoration Target
 The elapsed time, during Normal Service Hours, between the customer reporting a fault to Spark and confirmation to the customer that the service has been restored. Major Metropolitan Areas: 6 Hours
Other Areas: 8 hours		 Spark will charge a fee for investigating and fixing faults caused by incorrect advertising of routes from the customer to Spark (see also Notes 2, 6, 7 and 10 below).
Planned Outage Targets
 The period of time that the service is temporarily suspended owing to the need for network maintenance or upgrading.

6 hours in aggregate during any one week.

12 hours in aggregate during any 3-month period.

  
Planned Outage Notification Target
 The elapsed time between Spark advising the customer by email of intended planned outage and the commencement of that outage. 3 Days

The customer must maintain correct contact details on the CID web page in default of which Spark will use latest contact details as supplied to Spark.

If urgent circumstances arise, Spark may need to give less than 3 days notice (Spark would only instigate outages during peak times or without prior notice under extreme conditions).

Notes and Definitions

Notes and Definitions

Notes and Definitions

  1. Call-out Fees: Spark will fix any fault in the Spark Network at no additional charge. However should the fault be proved to be the responsibility of the customer, Spark may charge additional fees. These are called Call-out Fees.
  2. Service Restorations: this target only applies to faults within Spark's Core Network and the access circuit between Spark's core network and the service delivery point.
  3. Core Network: this comprises Spark's routers at each National Gateway (gateways located in NZ that facilitate CID services to the customer) and the high capacity interconnecting cable links using the Southern Cross fibre optic submarine cable system and network management systems.
  4. Southern Cross Cable system: supporting resilience and availability, this cable system follows deep water routes supporting low Trans-Pacific network latency and increases application performance between Australasia, the USA and beyond.
  5. Service Delivery Point (SDP): is where CID is delivered to the customer's site, and is defined as the point of electrical or optical interface with Spark's Ethernet port, located on the customer's side of Spark's access termination equipment.
  6. Service targets: Spark's Service targets do not apply to the extent that they are affected by:
    6.1  any planned outages
    6.2  any force majeure event
    6.3  failure arising on customer side of the SDP
    6.4  failure of the Southern Cross Cable System to pass traffic over the New Zealand-USA route resulting from a concurrent outage on both is working and protection transmission paths.
  7. Fault reporting: When reporting a fault, the customer must provide as much information as possible to enable efficient restoration of the fault. The minimal requisite information is as follows; customer company name, name of person reporting fault, circuit number, time, nature, duration, frequency of occurrence, and the affected networks.
  8. Business Day: Monday to Friday excluding national public holidays and the provincial anniversary day applicable to the affected customer site.
  9. Normal Service Hours: Monday to Friday between 0800-1730.
  10. Major Metropolitan Areas: means within 30 kilometres of the centre of Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Tauranga, New Plymouth, Napier, Palmerston North, Wellington, Nelson, Dunedin and Christchurch.

 

This table sets out the levels of service that Spark will endeavour to provide in relation to data network services.

  1. Call-out Fees: Spark will fix any fault in the Spark Network at no additional charge. However should the fault be proved to be the responsibility of the customer, Spark may charge additional fees. These are called Call-out Fees.
  2. Service Restorations: this target only applies to faults within Spark's Core Network and the access circuit between Spark's core network and the service delivery point.
  3. Core Network: this comprises Spark's routers at each National Gateway (gateways located in NZ that facilitate CID services to the customer) and the high capacity interconnecting cable links using the Southern Cross fibre optic submarine cable system and network management systems.
  4. Southern Cross Cable system: supporting resilience and availability, this cable system follows deep water routes supporting low Trans-Pacific network latency and increases application performance between Australasia, the USA and beyond.
  5. Service Delivery Point (SDP): is where CID is delivered to the customer's site, and is defined as the point of electrical or optical interface with Spark's Ethernet port, located on the customer's side of Spark's access termination equipment.
  6. Service targets: Spark's Service targets do not apply to the extent that they are affected by:
    6.1  any planned outages
    6.2  any force majeure event
    6.3  failure arising on customer side of the SDP
    6.4  failure of the Southern Cross Cable System to pass traffic over the New Zealand-USA route resulting from a concurrent outage on both is working and protection transmission paths.
  7. Fault reporting: When reporting a fault, the customer must provide as much information as possible to enable efficient restoration of the fault. The minimal requisite information is as follows; customer company name, name of person reporting fault, circuit number, time, nature, duration, frequency of occurrence, and the affected networks.
  8. Business Day: Monday to Friday excluding national public holidays and the provincial anniversary day applicable to the affected customer site.
  9. Normal Service Hours: Monday to Friday between 0800-1730.
  10. Major Metropolitan Areas: means within 30 kilometres of the centre of Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Tauranga, New Plymouth, Napier, Palmerston North, Wellington, Nelson, Dunedin and Christchurch.

 

This table sets out the levels of service that Spark will endeavour to provide in relation to data network services.

  1. Call-out Fees: Spark will fix any fault in the Spark Network at no additional charge. However should the fault be proved to be the responsibility of the customer, Spark may charge additional fees. These are called Call-out Fees.
  2. Service Restorations: this target only applies to faults within Spark's Core Network and the access circuit between Spark's core network and the service delivery point.
  3. Core Network: this comprises Spark's routers at each National Gateway (gateways located in NZ that facilitate CID services to the customer) and the high capacity interconnecting cable links using the Southern Cross fibre optic submarine cable system and network management systems.
  4. Southern Cross Cable system: supporting resilience and availability, this cable system follows deep water routes supporting low Trans-Pacific network latency and increases application performance between Australasia, the USA and beyond.
  5. Service Delivery Point (SDP): is where CID is delivered to the customer's site, and is defined as the point of electrical or optical interface with Spark's Ethernet port, located on the customer's side of Spark's access termination equipment.
  6. Service targets: Spark's Service targets do not apply to the extent that they are affected by:
    6.1  any planned outages
    6.2  any force majeure event
    6.3  failure arising on customer side of the SDP
    6.4  failure of the Southern Cross Cable System to pass traffic over the New Zealand-USA route resulting from a concurrent outage on both is working and protection transmission paths.
  7. Fault reporting: When reporting a fault, the customer must provide as much information as possible to enable efficient restoration of the fault. The minimal requisite information is as follows; customer company name, name of person reporting fault, circuit number, time, nature, duration, frequency of occurrence, and the affected networks.
  8. Business Day: Monday to Friday excluding national public holidays and the provincial anniversary day applicable to the affected customer site.
  9. Normal Service Hours: Monday to Friday between 0800-1730.
  10. Major Metropolitan Areas: means within 30 kilometres of the centre of Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Tauranga, New Plymouth, Napier, Palmerston North, Wellington, Nelson, Dunedin and Christchurch.

 

This table sets out the levels of service that Spark will endeavour to provide in relation to data network services.

Service Attribute
Attribute Definitions
Service Target
Provisioning Target The elapsed time between Spark's written acceptance of a provisioning request and the implementation of that request, unless the customer specifies a longer time.

Up to 128k - 15 Business Days

Over 128k - 21 business days
Service Reception
 Answering a telephone call from a customer and logging information relevant to a fault or other details relevant to the service required. Service Reception: Incoming phone calls to be answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within 20 seconds.
Billing and Provisioning: Incoming phone calls are to be answered on Business Days (refer to clause 2 of 'Notes and Definitions' below), 0800 to 1730 within 20 seconds.
Normal Service Hours
 Those hours during which, when a customer reports a fault, Spark will commence restoration activity at no additional cost. (See note 1 below). 0700 to 1900 inclusive, Business Days
Initial Restoration Update
 The elapsed time, during Normal Service Hours, between reporting a fault to Spark and confirmation to the customer that initial diagnosis has been completed and an estimated time to restore is provided, if known. Within 60 minutes.
Progress Updates Updates on the status of service restoration activity. Provided to the customer on a 'significant event basis', or as agreed.
Service Restoration Targets
 The elapsed time, during Normal Service Hours, between customer reporting a fault to Spark and confirmation to the customer that the service has been restored. 6 Hours - reasonable endeavours
Provisioning Change Target
 The elapsed time between the confirmed acceptance of a Provisioning/Change Request and the implementation of that request, unless the customer specifies a longer time.  
Billing Issue Resolution Target
 The elapsed time between the customer initiating a billing enquiry and confirmation to the customer of its resolution. Single account, with account arrears less than 90 days: 2 Business days
Multiple accounts, or account arrears more than 90 days: by mutual agreement

Notes and Definitions

Notes and Definitions

Notes and Definitions

  1. Call-out: Spark will fix any fault in the Spark Network at no additional charge. However should the fault be proved to be the responsibility of the customer, Spark may charge additional fees. These are called Call-out fees.
  2. Business days: Monday to Friday, excluding national public holidays and the provincial anniversary day applicable to the affected customer site.
  3. CPE: These service targets do not apply to maintenance of customer premises equipment. Maintenance of these items is covered under Spark's Equipment Maintenance Agreement.
  4. International Faults: These targets do not apply to any fault caused by any network failure arising beyond Spark's International Gateway.

 

This table sets out the levels of service that Spark will endeavour to provide in relation to data network services.

  1. Call-out: Spark will fix any fault in the Spark Network at no additional charge. However should the fault be proved to be the responsibility of the customer, Spark may charge additional fees. These are called Call-out fees.
  2. Business days: Monday to Friday, excluding national public holidays and the provincial anniversary day applicable to the affected customer site.
  3. CPE: These service targets do not apply to maintenance of customer premises equipment. Maintenance of these items is covered under Spark's Equipment Maintenance Agreement.
  4. International Faults: These targets do not apply to any fault caused by any network failure arising beyond Spark's International Gateway.

 

This table sets out the levels of service that Spark will endeavour to provide in relation to data network services.

  1. Call-out: Spark will fix any fault in the Spark Network at no additional charge. However should the fault be proved to be the responsibility of the customer, Spark may charge additional fees. These are called Call-out fees.
  2. Business days: Monday to Friday, excluding national public holidays and the provincial anniversary day applicable to the affected customer site.
  3. CPE: These service targets do not apply to maintenance of customer premises equipment. Maintenance of these items is covered under Spark's Equipment Maintenance Agreement.
  4. International Faults: These targets do not apply to any fault caused by any network failure arising beyond Spark's International Gateway.

 

This table sets out the levels of service that Spark will endeavour to provide in relation to data network services.

Service Attribute
Attribute Definitions
Service Target
Provisioning Target The elapsed time between Spark's written acceptance of a provisioning request and the implementation of that request, unless the customer specifies a longer time.

Up to 128k - 15 Business Days

Over 128k or n x 64 kbit/s - 21 business days
Service Reception
 Answering a telephone call from a customer and logging information relevant to a fault or other details relevant to the service required. Service Reception: Incoming phone calls to be answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within 20 seconds.
Billing and Provisioning: Incoming phone calls are to be answered on Business Days (refer to clause 2 of 'Notes and Definitions' below), 0800 to 1730 within 20 seconds.
Normal Service Hours
 Those hours during which, when a customer reports a fault, Spark will commence restoration activity at no additional cost. (See note 1 below).

0700 to 1900 inclusive, Business Days

0700 to 1700 Saturday

0800 to 1700 Sunday
Initial Restoration Update
 The elapsed time, during Normal Service Hours, between reporting a fault to Spark and confirmation to the customer that initial diagnosis has been completed and an estimated time to restore is provided, if known.  
Progress Updates Updates on the status of service restoration activity. Provided to the customer on a 'significant event basis', or as agreed.
Service Restoration Targets
 The elapsed time, during Normal Service Hours, between customer reporting a fault to Spark and confirmation to the customer that the service has been restored. 4 Hours - reasonable endeavours
Billing Issue Resolution Target
 The elapsed time between the customer initiating a billing enquiry and confirmation to the customer of its resolution. Single account, with account arrears less than 90 days: 2 Business days
Multiple accounts, or account arrears more than 90 days: by mutual agreement

Notes and Definitions

Notes and Definitions

Notes and Definitions

  1. Call-out: Spark will fix any fault in the Spark Network at no additional charge. However should the fault be proved to be the responsibility of the customer, Spark may charge additional fees. These are called Call-out fees.
  2. Business days: Monday to Friday, excluding national public holidays and the provincial anniversary day applicable to the affected customer site.
  3. CPE: These service targets do not apply to maintenance of customer premises equipment. Maintenance of these items is covered under Spark's Equipment Maintenance Agreement.
  4. International Faults: These targets do not apply to any fault caused by any network failure arising beyond Spark's International Gateway.

Spark continuously monitor throughput on the broadband network and work to make sure the average performance continues to be among the best in the world. However, we cannot provide specific speed performance guarantees and acknowledge that faults do occur.

Whilst we always strive to provide a consistent service, there are a number of factors that influence reliability. For this reason, we do not guarantee bandwidth, latency (delay) or bit rate through our broadband network to the ISP at any one point in time.

Broadband service performance can be impacted by many factors, including customer's house wiring, performance of other networks the traffic passes through, and geographical location of the website e.g. International websites always perform slower than local ones due to the additional distance the data has to travel. More information is available at the Xtra Products Web page.

1.1 Service Management

Spark will provide service management including the following services and capabilities for Managed Mail Service customers.

  • Change Requests: Spark service management includes management of change requests. All change requests to Spark are processed in accordance with the change control process (documents will be supplied to the customer detailing the MAC procedure), which has specific authorisation and impact analysis processes.
  • Monitoring & Alerting: Spark will actively monitor Managed Mail Service components including Exchange, online interface availability.
  • Availability Monitoring: All the components of the Managed Mail Service will be monitored by Spark's in-house support team on a 24/7 basis to ensure that it is available as per the agreed service levels.
  • Performance Monitoring: The Managed Mail Service components will be monitored by Spark's in-house support team on a 24/7 basis to ensure they have the agreed upon capability to process the required throughput i.e. the service will be fully monitored to ensure that it is meeting the contracted service levels.
  • Capacity Management: Managed Mail Service components (hardware and software) will be reviewed regularly to endeavour to make them meet the processing requirements detailed in the service targets in section 3 (covering hard disk capacity and processor utilisation).
  • Back-up: Back ups of the email will occur daily for users with the Outlook Standard and Outlook Outnabout profile. For the sake of clarity, a "back up" is defined as a mailbox data snapshot (at a particular point in time, either weekly or monthly). By default backups are retained for a period of 30 days.
  • Service Restoration: In the event of system failure, the Managed Mail Service components will be recovered within the timeframes and conditions specified in Section 3 of this Product Specification. Relevant data is backed-up nightly, enabling rapid recovery.
  • Help Desk: Spark provides a customer help desk facility that acts as a central contact point for all service issues. The help desk logs and initiates work on all customer action requests and fault calls, plus any trouble tickets that arise out of the active monitoring process. The help desk maintains ownership of all logged issues through to resolution, including interaction with any parties working to resolve issues, progress reports back to the customer, and management of the escalation process.
  • Notification & Escalation: Spark will notify and escalate any required actions or events as per a predefined plan.
  • Co-ordination of Hardware Support & Integrators: During the processes of problem determination and service restoration Spark will co-ordinate participating 3rd Party vendors where appropriate. This includes vendors responsible for hardware infrastructure support and software systems for the Managed Mail Service for the infrastructure managed by Spark on Spark premises.
  • Fault Diagnosis / Service Restoration: Spark has a team of specialists, dedicated to diagnosing problems, identifying causes, resolving and testing solutions. Fault restoration activities could include:
    • Contacting the customers to let them know an issue exists
    • Analysing the components involved in the problem
    • Working with end-users to diagnose problems online
    • Simulation of problems in the test laboratory
    • Researching problems with 3rd Party information sources and vendors

1.2  Service Boundaries

The service boundaries of the Managed Mail Service do not extend beyond the Managed Mail customer and Internet facing firewalls.

Exclusions
Currently the Managed Mail Services does not provide:

  • The networks and security beyond the Managed Mail Service Boundary.
  • Non-IP protocols.
  • Configuration, monitoring, operation, support and maintenance of customer-owned routers, firewalls, or other equipment or networks beyond the demarcation points of Managed Mail.
  • Configuration or on-going support of the customer's applications, including browsers and e-mail clients.
  • Security policy non-compliance by the customer's administrators or users outside Spark control.
  • Customer's server and workstation local security: including locking down configurations, virus screening on all servers and updating virus definitions.
  • The ability for users to share user accounts: user accounts are for individual users to access Managed Mail services. User names and passwords should not be shared between users, as this compromises security and reduces the level of control and reporting that can be enforced by Spark.
  • On-site support: the Spark Specialist Support Centre will assist in resolving issues from the Spark management centre. If on-site support is required, this is a chargeable service.
  • Guarantees: The nature of Internet security is such that absolute guarantees against attack or virus infection cannot be provided.
  • Mail relay services using protocols other than SMTP.
  • Virus scanning: attachments that are encrypted using systems such as PGP and WinZip (password protected) cannot be opened or inspected for virus content. These files will typically be quarantined and can be released on request. Please note that all quarantined files will be treated strictly as confidential information by Spark, and its supplier of virus scanning, however may be used for the purposes of virus pattern analysis and the development of virus scanning products and services.
  • Customer Outlook Client issues: customer Outlook Client issues will not be supported as part of this service.
  • First level support to customers users. Customers are expected to operate their own internal helpdesks to provide this.


Definitions
Software - Client Configuration - If the customer is accessing the Managed Mail service via their Outlook client they will need to configure Microsoft Outlook (MAPI access) or POP client to allow them access to email from the Managed Mail Service.

In advance of any migration to the Managed Mail service the customer will be responsible for the ensuring that all workstations/laptops meet the minimum configuration of Microsoft Windows 2000 / Office/Outlook 2000 and Internet Explorer 6. Service pack levels for this minimum configuration and later versions are detailed below:

Operating System:
Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 (SP4 recommended)
Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 1

Office / Outlook:
Microsoft Office / Outlook 2000 Service Pack 3
Microsoft Office XP / Outlook 2002 Service Pack 3
Microsoft Office XP / Outlook 2003 (Most recent Service Pack available)

Browser:
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1

Note: If RPC over HTTP access or mobility services such as OMA or Active Sync are required the following minimum configuration is applicable:

  • Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 / Outlook 2003 Service Pack (Service Pack 1 or later)

Note: Access to the Managed Mail service may be restricted if the client does not meet the minimum software version as stated above. Changes to the minimum version required will be notified to all users.

1.3. Mail Policies

This feature provides customers with the ability to enforce control over all email in and out of their organisation through policies implemented in this service. All email through this service is virus scanned and checked against the policies defined.

Mail Policy selection: The standard Managed Mail Policy template is implemented. This document will be supplied to the customer detailing the standard incoming/outgoing mail policy.

2. Service Targets

2.1. Service Delivery Performance Targets

Spark will endeavour to achieve the following targets:

  1. Call-out: Spark will fix any fault in the Spark Network at no additional charge. However should the fault be proved to be the responsibility of the customer, Spark may charge additional fees. These are called Call-out fees.
  2. Business days: Monday to Friday, excluding national public holidays and the provincial anniversary day applicable to the affected customer site.
  3. CPE: These service targets do not apply to maintenance of customer premises equipment. Maintenance of these items is covered under Spark's Equipment Maintenance Agreement.
  4. International Faults: These targets do not apply to any fault caused by any network failure arising beyond Spark's International Gateway.

Spark continuously monitor throughput on the broadband network and work to make sure the average performance continues to be among the best in the world. However, we cannot provide specific speed performance guarantees and acknowledge that faults do occur.

Whilst we always strive to provide a consistent service, there are a number of factors that influence reliability. For this reason, we do not guarantee bandwidth, latency (delay) or bit rate through our broadband network to the ISP at any one point in time.

Broadband service performance can be impacted by many factors, including customer's house wiring, performance of other networks the traffic passes through, and geographical location of the website e.g. International websites always perform slower than local ones due to the additional distance the data has to travel. More information is available at the Xtra Products Web page.

1.1 Service Management

Spark will provide service management including the following services and capabilities for Managed Mail Service customers.

  • Change Requests: Spark service management includes management of change requests. All change requests to Spark are processed in accordance with the change control process (documents will be supplied to the customer detailing the MAC procedure), which has specific authorisation and impact analysis processes.
  • Monitoring & Alerting: Spark will actively monitor Managed Mail Service components including Exchange, online interface availability.
  • Availability Monitoring: All the components of the Managed Mail Service will be monitored by Spark's in-house support team on a 24/7 basis to ensure that it is available as per the agreed service levels.
  • Performance Monitoring: The Managed Mail Service components will be monitored by Spark's in-house support team on a 24/7 basis to ensure they have the agreed upon capability to process the required throughput i.e. the service will be fully monitored to ensure that it is meeting the contracted service levels.
  • Capacity Management: Managed Mail Service components (hardware and software) will be reviewed regularly to endeavour to make them meet the processing requirements detailed in the service targets in section 3 (covering hard disk capacity and processor utilisation).
  • Back-up: Back ups of the email will occur daily for users with the Outlook Standard and Outlook Outnabout profile. For the sake of clarity, a "back up" is defined as a mailbox data snapshot (at a particular point in time, either weekly or monthly). By default backups are retained for a period of 30 days.
  • Service Restoration: In the event of system failure, the Managed Mail Service components will be recovered within the timeframes and conditions specified in Section 3 of this Product Specification. Relevant data is backed-up nightly, enabling rapid recovery.
  • Help Desk: Spark provides a customer help desk facility that acts as a central contact point for all service issues. The help desk logs and initiates work on all customer action requests and fault calls, plus any trouble tickets that arise out of the active monitoring process. The help desk maintains ownership of all logged issues through to resolution, including interaction with any parties working to resolve issues, progress reports back to the customer, and management of the escalation process.
  • Notification & Escalation: Spark will notify and escalate any required actions or events as per a predefined plan.
  • Co-ordination of Hardware Support & Integrators: During the processes of problem determination and service restoration Spark will co-ordinate participating 3rd Party vendors where appropriate. This includes vendors responsible for hardware infrastructure support and software systems for the Managed Mail Service for the infrastructure managed by Spark on Spark premises.
  • Fault Diagnosis / Service Restoration: Spark has a team of specialists, dedicated to diagnosing problems, identifying causes, resolving and testing solutions. Fault restoration activities could include:
    • Contacting the customers to let them know an issue exists
    • Analysing the components involved in the problem
    • Working with end-users to diagnose problems online
    • Simulation of problems in the test laboratory
    • Researching problems with 3rd Party information sources and vendors

1.2  Service Boundaries

The service boundaries of the Managed Mail Service do not extend beyond the Managed Mail customer and Internet facing firewalls.

Exclusions
Currently the Managed Mail Services does not provide:

  • The networks and security beyond the Managed Mail Service Boundary.
  • Non-IP protocols.
  • Configuration, monitoring, operation, support and maintenance of customer-owned routers, firewalls, or other equipment or networks beyond the demarcation points of Managed Mail.
  • Configuration or on-going support of the customer's applications, including browsers and e-mail clients.
  • Security policy non-compliance by the customer's administrators or users outside Spark control.
  • Customer's server and workstation local security: including locking down configurations, virus screening on all servers and updating virus definitions.
  • The ability for users to share user accounts: user accounts are for individual users to access Managed Mail services. User names and passwords should not be shared between users, as this compromises security and reduces the level of control and reporting that can be enforced by Spark.
  • On-site support: the Spark Specialist Support Centre will assist in resolving issues from the Spark management centre. If on-site support is required, this is a chargeable service.
  • Guarantees: The nature of Internet security is such that absolute guarantees against attack or virus infection cannot be provided.
  • Mail relay services using protocols other than SMTP.
  • Virus scanning: attachments that are encrypted using systems such as PGP and WinZip (password protected) cannot be opened or inspected for virus content. These files will typically be quarantined and can be released on request. Please note that all quarantined files will be treated strictly as confidential information by Spark, and its supplier of virus scanning, however may be used for the purposes of virus pattern analysis and the development of virus scanning products and services.
  • Customer Outlook Client issues: customer Outlook Client issues will not be supported as part of this service.
  • First level support to customers users. Customers are expected to operate their own internal helpdesks to provide this.


Definitions
Software - Client Configuration - If the customer is accessing the Managed Mail service via their Outlook client they will need to configure Microsoft Outlook (MAPI access) or POP client to allow them access to email from the Managed Mail Service.

In advance of any migration to the Managed Mail service the customer will be responsible for the ensuring that all workstations/laptops meet the minimum configuration of Microsoft Windows 2000 / Office/Outlook 2000 and Internet Explorer 6. Service pack levels for this minimum configuration and later versions are detailed below:

Operating System:
Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 (SP4 recommended)
Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 1

Office / Outlook:
Microsoft Office / Outlook 2000 Service Pack 3
Microsoft Office XP / Outlook 2002 Service Pack 3
Microsoft Office XP / Outlook 2003 (Most recent Service Pack available)

Browser:
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1

Note: If RPC over HTTP access or mobility services such as OMA or Active Sync are required the following minimum configuration is applicable:

  • Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 / Outlook 2003 Service Pack (Service Pack 1 or later)

Note: Access to the Managed Mail service may be restricted if the client does not meet the minimum software version as stated above. Changes to the minimum version required will be notified to all users.

1.3. Mail Policies

This feature provides customers with the ability to enforce control over all email in and out of their organisation through policies implemented in this service. All email through this service is virus scanned and checked against the policies defined.

Mail Policy selection: The standard Managed Mail Policy template is implemented. This document will be supplied to the customer detailing the standard incoming/outgoing mail policy.

2. Service Targets

2.1. Service Delivery Performance Targets

Spark will endeavour to achieve the following targets:

  1. Call-out: Spark will fix any fault in the Spark Network at no additional charge. However should the fault be proved to be the responsibility of the customer, Spark may charge additional fees. These are called Call-out fees.
  2. Business days: Monday to Friday, excluding national public holidays and the provincial anniversary day applicable to the affected customer site.
  3. CPE: These service targets do not apply to maintenance of customer premises equipment. Maintenance of these items is covered under Spark's Equipment Maintenance Agreement.
  4. International Faults: These targets do not apply to any fault caused by any network failure arising beyond Spark's International Gateway.

Spark continuously monitor throughput on the broadband network and work to make sure the average performance continues to be among the best in the world. However, we cannot provide specific speed performance guarantees and acknowledge that faults do occur.

Whilst we always strive to provide a consistent service, there are a number of factors that influence reliability. For this reason, we do not guarantee bandwidth, latency (delay) or bit rate through our broadband network to the ISP at any one point in time.

Broadband service performance can be impacted by many factors, including customer's house wiring, performance of other networks the traffic passes through, and geographical location of the website e.g. International websites always perform slower than local ones due to the additional distance the data has to travel. More information is available at the Xtra Products Web page.

1.1 Service Management

Spark will provide service management including the following services and capabilities for Managed Mail Service customers.

  • Change Requests: Spark service management includes management of change requests. All change requests to Spark are processed in accordance with the change control process (documents will be supplied to the customer detailing the MAC procedure), which has specific authorisation and impact analysis processes.
  • Monitoring & Alerting: Spark will actively monitor Managed Mail Service components including Exchange, online interface availability.
  • Availability Monitoring: All the components of the Managed Mail Service will be monitored by Spark's in-house support team on a 24/7 basis to ensure that it is available as per the agreed service levels.
  • Performance Monitoring: The Managed Mail Service components will be monitored by Spark's in-house support team on a 24/7 basis to ensure they have the agreed upon capability to process the required throughput i.e. the service will be fully monitored to ensure that it is meeting the contracted service levels.
  • Capacity Management: Managed Mail Service components (hardware and software) will be reviewed regularly to endeavour to make them meet the processing requirements detailed in the service targets in section 3 (covering hard disk capacity and processor utilisation).
  • Back-up: Back ups of the email will occur daily for users with the Outlook Standard and Outlook Outnabout profile. For the sake of clarity, a "back up" is defined as a mailbox data snapshot (at a particular point in time, either weekly or monthly). By default backups are retained for a period of 30 days.
  • Service Restoration: In the event of system failure, the Managed Mail Service components will be recovered within the timeframes and conditions specified in Section 3 of this Product Specification. Relevant data is backed-up nightly, enabling rapid recovery.
  • Help Desk: Spark provides a customer help desk facility that acts as a central contact point for all service issues. The help desk logs and initiates work on all customer action requests and fault calls, plus any trouble tickets that arise out of the active monitoring process. The help desk maintains ownership of all logged issues through to resolution, including interaction with any parties working to resolve issues, progress reports back to the customer, and management of the escalation process.
  • Notification & Escalation: Spark will notify and escalate any required actions or events as per a predefined plan.
  • Co-ordination of Hardware Support & Integrators: During the processes of problem determination and service restoration Spark will co-ordinate participating 3rd Party vendors where appropriate. This includes vendors responsible for hardware infrastructure support and software systems for the Managed Mail Service for the infrastructure managed by Spark on Spark premises.
  • Fault Diagnosis / Service Restoration: Spark has a team of specialists, dedicated to diagnosing problems, identifying causes, resolving and testing solutions. Fault restoration activities could include:
    • Contacting the customers to let them know an issue exists
    • Analysing the components involved in the problem
    • Working with end-users to diagnose problems online
    • Simulation of problems in the test laboratory
    • Researching problems with 3rd Party information sources and vendors

1.2  Service Boundaries

The service boundaries of the Managed Mail Service do not extend beyond the Managed Mail customer and Internet facing firewalls.

Exclusions
Currently the Managed Mail Services does not provide:

  • The networks and security beyond the Managed Mail Service Boundary.
  • Non-IP protocols.
  • Configuration, monitoring, operation, support and maintenance of customer-owned routers, firewalls, or other equipment or networks beyond the demarcation points of Managed Mail.
  • Configuration or on-going support of the customer's applications, including browsers and e-mail clients.
  • Security policy non-compliance by the customer's administrators or users outside Spark control.
  • Customer's server and workstation local security: including locking down configurations, virus screening on all servers and updating virus definitions.
  • The ability for users to share user accounts: user accounts are for individual users to access Managed Mail services. User names and passwords should not be shared between users, as this compromises security and reduces the level of control and reporting that can be enforced by Spark.
  • On-site support: the Spark Specialist Support Centre will assist in resolving issues from the Spark management centre. If on-site support is required, this is a chargeable service.
  • Guarantees: The nature of Internet security is such that absolute guarantees against attack or virus infection cannot be provided.
  • Mail relay services using protocols other than SMTP.
  • Virus scanning: attachments that are encrypted using systems such as PGP and WinZip (password protected) cannot be opened or inspected for virus content. These files will typically be quarantined and can be released on request. Please note that all quarantined files will be treated strictly as confidential information by Spark, and its supplier of virus scanning, however may be used for the purposes of virus pattern analysis and the development of virus scanning products and services.
  • Customer Outlook Client issues: customer Outlook Client issues will not be supported as part of this service.
  • First level support to customers users. Customers are expected to operate their own internal helpdesks to provide this.


Definitions
Software - Client Configuration - If the customer is accessing the Managed Mail service via their Outlook client they will need to configure Microsoft Outlook (MAPI access) or POP client to allow them access to email from the Managed Mail Service.

In advance of any migration to the Managed Mail service the customer will be responsible for the ensuring that all workstations/laptops meet the minimum configuration of Microsoft Windows 2000 / Office/Outlook 2000 and Internet Explorer 6. Service pack levels for this minimum configuration and later versions are detailed below:

Operating System:
Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 (SP4 recommended)
Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 1

Office / Outlook:
Microsoft Office / Outlook 2000 Service Pack 3
Microsoft Office XP / Outlook 2002 Service Pack 3
Microsoft Office XP / Outlook 2003 (Most recent Service Pack available)

Browser:
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1

Note: If RPC over HTTP access or mobility services such as OMA or Active Sync are required the following minimum configuration is applicable:

  • Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 / Outlook 2003 Service Pack (Service Pack 1 or later)

Note: Access to the Managed Mail service may be restricted if the client does not meet the minimum software version as stated above. Changes to the minimum version required will be notified to all users.

1.3. Mail Policies

This feature provides customers with the ability to enforce control over all email in and out of their organisation through policies implemented in this service. All email through this service is virus scanned and checked against the policies defined.

Mail Policy selection: The standard Managed Mail Policy template is implemented. This document will be supplied to the customer detailing the standard incoming/outgoing mail policy.

2. Service Targets

2.1. Service Delivery Performance Targets

Spark will endeavour to achieve the following targets:

Service Attribute
Attribute Definitions
Service Target
Call Reception
 The elapsed time for answering incoming telephone calls. Fault Reporting:
Within 20 seconds
Other Enquiries:
Within 30 seconds
Normal Service Hours
 Those hours during which customer calls & requests are supported & system monitored. 24 hours x 7 days x 365 days/year
Alarm Notification The elapsed time between a service impacting alarm occurring (which will be treated as an Urgent Fault) and notification that it has occurred. 1 Normal Service Hour
Initial Restoration Update
 The elapsed time between Call Reception or Alarm Notification (as applicable) and notification that initial diagnosis is completed and an impact report is provided.

Within 120 minutes

Estimated restoration time is to be provided, if known.
Progress Updates Updates on the status of service restoration activity.

Hourly for severity 1, two hourly for severity 2 or at intervals as agreed.

Severity 3 and 4 at intervals as agreed.
Service Restoration
 The elapsed time between Call Reception or Alarm Notification and notification that service is restored to the defined levels.

Severity 1
4 Normal Service Hours

Severity 2
8 Normal Service Hours

Severity 3
48 Normal Service Hours

Severity 4
As agreed
Maintenance Window
The period when routine maintenance can be undertaken on Managed Mail Service.		 Weekly maintenance window for Managed Mail Service is 2:00 am to 7:00 am, Sundays (NZST). Usual customer notification service levels apply.
Service Availability (Exchange Web Portal) The availability of the Managed Mail Service. Spark will use reasonable endeavours to maintain full service availability but does not guarantee the service will be continuously available.
Billing Enquiry Resolution
 The elapsed time between Call Reception of a billing enquiry and confirmation to the customer of its resolution. Single account, with account arrears less than 90 days: 2 Business days
Multiple accounts, or account arrears more than 90 days: by mutual agreement
Change Requests (MACs) Simple
The elapsed time between a Change Request being received and completed.		 Within 8 Normal Service Hours
Change Requests (MACs) The elapsed time between a Change Request being received and acknowledgement of receipt. Within 4 Normal Service Hours
The elapsed time between a Change Request being received and advice of an initial assessment. If possible an expected delivery date/time for the change will be confirmed. Within 2 Business Days
The elapsed time between a Change Request being received assessed as being Complex or a Project, and advising the expected delivery date for the change. As agreed in discussion with requestor
The elapsed time between the changes being completed and advising that it is ready for testing by the customer. Within 1 Business Day
The elapsed time between advising that a change is ready for testing by the customer and the change request being closed. After 5 Business Days
Planned Outage Notification
Notice of any maintenance that could cause a service outage to customer.
Please note that not all maintenance will necessarily cause an outage to a customer.

Weekly Maintenance Window:
3 Business Days

Outside Weekly Maintenance Window:
7 Business Days

Emergency Maintenance:
As much notice as possible will be given where emergency maintenance is required

Notes and Definitions

Notes and Definitions

Notes and Definitions

The customer must provide the first level support point of contact for its users - Managed Mail does not provide direct support to the customer's end users.

 

Fault severity as per following table:

The customer must provide the first level support point of contact for its users - Managed Mail does not provide direct support to the customer's end users.

 

Fault severity as per following table:

The customer must provide the first level support point of contact for its users - Managed Mail does not provide direct support to the customer's end users.

 

Fault severity as per following table:

Severity
Impact
Definition
Initial Response
1 Critical

Critical system and/or functionality unusable.

Impacts all or more than one customer (Users).

No workaround available.

Requires immediate corrective action using resources available.

 30 minutes
2 High

System and/or functionality unusable to a single customer site (or users associated with that customer)

Work around available

Problems severely affecting system usage, service levels to customers

Requires prompt corrective action using dedicated resource(s).

 45 minutes
3 Medium

Problems that do not significantly impair the functioning of the system and do not significantly affect service to customers.

Requires managed restoration.

 2 hours
4 Low

Problems with no impact to system functionality or service to customers.

Requires managed restoration.