WSG Sample Contract

This page contains information about the CITES Workstation Group's usual contracts

Overview

All system administration contracts with the CITES Workstation Services Group (WSG) are subject to the following terms. As noted, some sections may be adjusted on a per-contract basis at the discretion of WSG.

1. Contract Length, Renewal Terms, and Termination Terms

Contracts shall be signed on a per-fiscal-year basis, lasting from 1 July to 30 June. If a client wishes to begin a contract after 1 July, the charges for the current fiscal year will be pro-rated based on the time remaining in the fiscal year.

Prior to the end of the fiscal year, the client will be contacted to make a decision regarding renewal for the upcoming fiscal year. If the client wishes to renew for the next year, WSG must receive confirmation of this fact prior to 1 June and a billable account number before 30 June of the current fiscal year, or all contract services will be discontinued immediately.

If the contract is terminated prior to the end of the current fiscal year's contract, WSG may retain funds already paid for the contract term.

2. Service Hours and Response Time

Available service hours and response times for all WSG contracts are specified in the WSG Service Level Agreement (SLA). By default, all contracts are 0900-1700, Monday through Friday unless otherwise specified. If the client requires extended coverage, this must be spelled out prior to the signing of the contract and may incur additional fees. Hours of service may be changed after the acceptance of the contract only at the discretion of WSG.

Response times for all WSG contracts are defined in the SLA.

3. Points of Contact

Each contract shall have at least two WSG Unix professionals assigned to it, one as primary and one as backup. These shall be the points of contact between the client and WSG. For research groups and other entities of multiple persons who contract with WSG, the client must spell out which members of the group have the authority to request system-level changes to the machines under contract.

4. Adherence to Law and University Policy

All clients must certify that they will abide by the University of Illinois' IT policies. WSG will act in accordance with applicable laws and University policies and we reserve the right to cancel a contract when the actions or requests of a client conflict with our responsibilities as information technology professionals at the University of Illinois.

The full list and texts of the University of Illinois' information technology policies are available online at the following URL:

http://www.cio.illinois.edu/policies.html

5. Software Maintenance

All machines included on a contract must be signed up for software support so that they are licensed for vendor patches and upgrades of the operating system.

6. Assistance Coverage

Assistance coverage is available to clients who already have a Unix support person who can handle the following routine tasks:

All other covered tasks (see the Comprehensive Coverage contract specifications below for details) will be taken care of by the contract's assigned WSG personnel. If the local support person cannot perform these tasks independently, a Comprehensive Coverage contract will be required.

7. Comprehensive Coverage

With comprehensive coverage, WSG maintains all aspects of the system, including the following (in addition to the routine daily tasks listed above with the assistance coverage):

Please note that while we are familiar with certain applications (such as the Apache webserver) there is simply too much software on the market for us to be able to make a blanket statement of support. Therefore, depending on the software and the nature of the request, we will install application software, but site-specific customizations may be the responsibility of the client.

8. Data Backups

There are two options for data backups, local and CITES Enterprise Backup. Local backups involve a tape drive, rsynced hard drive, or other similar device. Generally, clients will be considered responsible for the maintenance of these backups once initial setup is completed by WSG personnel.

CITES Enterprise Backup is a backup service offered by CITES which transfers files over the network to a large tape library in DCL, with off site copies as an available option. The CITES Enterprise Backup service provides for robust data integrity as well as multiple version retention, and is considerably easier to set up and maintain than most other local solutions. However, there will be a separate charge from the CITES Enterprise Backup service manager in addition to WSG support charges.