Critical Service Outages

Purpose

This document describes reporting procedures and expected response times when there are operating failures of campus information resources.  When these failures are widespread this is called a critical service outage.

Scope

These procedures apply to all employees and students of Hamilton College.

Policy Revision History

Last revised, December 2014.

A critical service outage is defined as one or more of the following:

Failure of the campus network equipment or Internet connection making it impossible for a majority of users to access on-campus or off-campus resources.

• Campus-wide printing failure (not individual printers).
• Failure of a majority of computers in a public computer lab.
• Failure of the campus web server affecting the entire campus.
• Failure of the campus telephone system making it impossible for a majority of users to make outgoing calls or receive incoming calls.
• Failure of the college e-mail system affecting the entire campus.
• Failure of the college administrative system affecting the entire campus.

When college is in session, members of the College community should notify the LITS Help Desk at x4181 (hours of operation are listed below) of suspected problems with computers, networks, and related information technology resources. The Help Desk will investigate the problem and determine corrective action. If the Help Desk staff determines that the problem is related to the campus network or a server they will notify LITS personnel who will take appropriate action. Resolution of critical service outages will be a top LITS priority and will be resolved in a timely manner. Non-critical problems will be investigated and resolved as soon as is feasible.

Help Desk Hours of Operation

When college is in session: Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 10 p.m., Saturday & Sunday, 10 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Breaks: Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Outside of business hours during breaks and on college holidays, suspected critical service outages should be reported as follows:

 4:30 p.m. - 10 p.m. Monday - Friday and
10 a.m. - 10 p.m., Weekends and Holidays 

Any suspected critical service outages should be reported to Campus Safety at x4141. Campus Safety will call the appropriate LITS staff member to resolve the problem. No member of the community should call LITS staff outside of normal business hours.

Outside of these times, suspected critical service outages should be reported at the next designated time the following day.