Service Level Agreement
This Service Level Agreement (the “SLA”) is entered between MSM Group of Companies, a collective reference to M Square Business Solutions Inc., Q Academy limited, Eton College Canada Inc. Innivec Ventures Inc. Taylor Pro College Ltd. and other relevant subsidiaries and affiliates (“Company,” “We,” “Us,” or “Our”) and You (“User,” “You”) forms an integral part of the End User License Agreement (“Agreement”) for the Learning Management System (“LMS”).
By signing up to use our services and clicking on the relevant button below, You indicates your acceptance and agreement to be bound by this SLA for the use of our Platform, https://www.msmunify.com/tech/. You should not access or continue to use the Platform if You does not wish to enter into this Agreement. The continued use of the Platform signifies the continuing agreement of the User to the changes and amendments to this SLA and the Agreement as may be implemented by the Company from time to time.
1. Availability
During the duration of the Agreement, We will use commercially reasonable efforts to ensure that the Service is available for access and use in accordance with the Agreement at a monthly Uptime percentage (defined below) of at least 99%, as measured over any calendar month. Upon request, the Company shall provide You with a report of monthly Uptime Percentage during a calendar month (the “Monthly Report“).
2. Definitions
All capitalized terms used in this SLA without definition shall have the meaning ascribed to them in the Agreement. In addition, the following definitions shall apply to this SLA:
2.1. “Downtime” means the total time within a Measured Period during which the Service is not accepting paper submissions, through this website or Our supported integrations, or when users are unable to log in through thiswebsite.
2.2. “Measured Period” means the total number of hours in the calendar month, except for SLA Exclusions.
2.3. “Scheduled Downtime” shall mean any Downtime (i) of which You are notified at least fourteen (14) days in advance, or (ii) during a standard maintenance window, as published by Us from time to time. In either of the foregoing two situations, We will use commercially reasonable efforts to ensure that the Scheduled Downtime falls during historically low usage periods, and to notify User via our website or/and emailinfo@msmunify.com.
2.4. “Uptime” means the absence of downtime.
2.5. “Uptime Percentage” means Uptime expressed as a percentage, calculated as:
Uptime Percentage = Uptime /(Measured Period – SLA Exclusions) × 100
2.6. “Service Degradation” means when Users can log in and submit papers but some part of the service / Your experience is degraded including, but not limited to:
- System lag; backlog resulting in reports to take longer to generate
- Broken CSS; DV, GradeMark, etc. not visible or broken
- Service access issues specific to one or more integration
2.7. “Force Majeure Event” means any unforeseen or uncontrollable circumstance that prevents Us from fulfilling Our obligations under the Agreement. Such events typically include natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes, floods), government actions (e.g., regulatory changes, embargoes), acts of war or terrorism, labor strikes, pandemics, or any other events beyond Our reasonable control. During a force majeure event, Our obligations may be suspended without liability.
3. SLA Exclusions
The following shall not be considered within the definition or calculation of Downtime: (i) Scheduled Downtime; (ii) Service unavailability attributable to (a) causes beyond Company’s reasonable control, including any Force Majeure Event or the performance of any third party communications or internet service provider; (b) the User’s failure to perform any obligation under the Agreement that affects the performance of the Service; and/or (c) any actions or omissions of the User, its permitted users or any third party acting on their behalf, or to the User’s or any third party’s equipment, software or other technology; (iii) Service unavailability caused by the suspension and termination of the User’s right to use the Service in accordance with the Agreement; and (iv) separate instances of Service unavailability of less than 10 (ten) minutes duration each, provided such instances are not of a persistent nature such that they cause a detrimental impact on the User (each an “SLA Exclusion“).
4. Remedies Available to the User in the Event of Low Uptime Percentage
Service Credits
4.1 If the Uptime Percentage falls below 99% during any calendar month, the User will be eligible to receive a credit (“Service Credit”) as follows:
Uptime Percentage | Service Credit as Percentage of Monthly Subscription Fee |
Below 99% but not less than 98.5% | 4% |
Below 98.5% but not less than 97.5% | 6% |
Below 97.5% | 10% |
Except as set forth in Section 4.2 below, the User’s sole and exclusive remedy for failing to meet the prescribed Uptime Percentage is the receipt of a Service Credit (if eligible) in accordance with this SLA.
Service Credit will be granted by the extension of the duration of this Agreement commensurate with the Service Credit and must be requested by the User.
The foregoing constitutes User’s sole and exclusive remedy and the Company’s sole and exclusive liability for Uptime Percentage.
4.2 Should the User be unable to use Services of LMS, SIS or GPA due to any other reasons except the SLA Exclusions in Clause 3 and Clause 4.1, then the following table of Service Credits will apply.
Hours unavailable | Service Credit as Percentage of Monthly Subscription Fee |
4-7 hours | 2% |
7-10 hours | 4% |
10-13 hours | 6% |
Over 13 hours | 10% |
4.3 MSM Unify’s obligations hereunder are based on and subject to the User: (i) complying with the terms and conditions of the Agreement, including this SLA; (ii) complying with Company’s instructions, if any, for performing corrective action; and (iii) the User maintaining the connectivity (with acceptable bandwidth) of the workstations and User to the internet, including network connectivity and connectivity between the Service and the User’s local applications interacting with the Service
5. Support
5.1. The User shall report all issues to Support via the Company’s Help Center on the MSM Unify.com website and email sent to info@msmunify.com (each a, “Support Case”).
5.2. The Company’s Response to Support Cases:
Response Level | Description (applies only if the incident affects the majority of customers in a region or regions) | Initial Response after discovery (non-automated) | Updates |
1 | MSM Unify.com is not reachable | 1 hour | Hourly via: System Status Page Emails to Administrator* |
2 | Users cannot submit a paper via website or Company’s supported integration; or Originality Reports not generating; or Instructors cannot mark papers; or Security issues | 2 hours | Every four hours via: System Status Page Emails to Administrator |
3 | Other features working incorrectly | 1 business day | Email responses within 24 – 48 hours to Administrators and Instructors |
4 | Non-performance related incidents, including: general questions, requests for information, documentation questions, enhancement requests | 2 business days | Email responses within 24 – 48 hours to Administrators and Instructors |
*Administrators, like all Users, have the option to opt out of communication from the Company. If an Administrator has opted out, s/he will not receive email updates.
5.3. System Status Page
Notwithstanding the foregoing, all Response Level 1 incidents of Downtime which are known by the Company will be reported on the System Status Page. In the event of Downtime, the Company shall update the Downtime Status Page on an hourly basis until resolution of such Downtime event. All incidents of Downtime which are known by the Company and which affect only the User will be communicated via a support case or by email.
5.4. 24×7 Monitoring and Escalation
The On-call Technology Team provides 24×7 coverage for the Service by monitoring and alerting on any issues or problems with servers, operating systems, network devices (switches/routers), backup systems, and server-side performance.If downtime is reported and, if not resolved within one (1) hour, then the Company will escalate the matter to its Director of Global Customer Care& Director IT.
6. Incident Management
The Company seeks to respond to all incidents in a timely manner. Our response and communication process will be determined by the severity of the incident.
6.1 Severity of Issues
| Severity | Description | Response |
| Acute | System Down Significant issues affecting all Users in a region preventing Users from submitting or grading work. | Immediate On Call Response Team. |
| Major | Major Product Issue A bug that has a major impact on the User experience on a non-deprecated feature where an acceptable workaround is available | Added to backlog for determination of the next viable release dependent on scope |
| Minor | Minor Product Issue Informational or an issue with a minor impact or issue on a deprecated aspect of the system where there is an acceptable workaround or alternate | Added to the backlog as a non urgent desired change |
6.2 Broadcast Incident Communication Channels
Broadcast communication applies when the incident affects the majority ofUsers in a region or regions. For smaller incidents we will update the known issues section within the support wizard at https://www.MSM Unify.com/self-service/support-wizard.html
| @MSM UnifyStatus | Twitter. As a broadcast mechanism arguably the fastest way to communicate incidents and the place that students look for information. Twitter also provides the ability to receive mobile phone updates for those that need instant notification. |
| MSM UnifyStatus Page | Web based system status page providing real time updates at https://MSM Unify.statuspage.io/
Administrators can self-subscribe for email updates from this page. |
6.3 Broadcast Incident Communication Response Time for Acute Issues
| Type | Description* | Frequency |
| Initial | Communication sent detailing the issue and how widespread the impact is to all channels. | 1 hour of event |
| Ongoing | Update communications explaining current impact and any changes noted in the period since previous update to all channels. | Hourly until restoration |
| All Clear | Service restoration confirmed. Communications sent out to all Users as confirmation to all channels. | Within 1 hour of confirmed restoration |
| Degradation Report | Service degradation report detailing the issue encountered and degradation window released for User view sent to admins by email. | 5 business days |
6.3. System Status Page
Notwithstanding the foregoing, all Response Level 1 incidents of Downtime which are known by the Company will be reported on the Twitter feed @MSM UnifyStatus, displayed on the System Status Page. In the event of Downtime, the Company shall update this information on an hourly basis until resolution of such Downtime event. All incidents of Downtime which are known by the Company and which affect only an individual User will be communicated directly with the affected User via a support case or by email.
6.4. 24x7 Monitoring and Escalation
The On-call Technology Team provides 24/7 coverage for the Service by monitoring and alerting on any issues or problems with servers, operating systems, network devices (switches/routers), backup systems, and server-side performance.
6.5. Incident Reporting
In the event of an acute service degradation or outage, the Company will produce and release a Service Degradation Report (SDR) including reason for outage/degradation, Impact and degradation/outage windows where applicable.
7. Self Service and Guidance
7.1 Manuals and Guides
The Company will provide the latest guidance and user manuals for administrator, instructor and student use of the product available at info@msmunify.com.
This guidance will include:
- Guidance to help Users with initial adoption and onboarding in the form of landing pages and User starter packs
- Detailed how-to steps, with accompanying screenshots, focusing on use of the Company’sproduct as a whole. This includes account basics, such as joining an account, resetting passwords, submitting, and other frequently asked questions
- Quickfire guidance can be accessed from the Company’s Support Wizard
7.2 Release Notes
The Company will provide release notes for updates and changes to:
- Applicable Services
- Integrations (where information is provided from the vendor)
7.2 Release Notes
Release notes will be provided for every User-facing change or update.
These release notes will:
- Inform Users of the change or update that has taken place
- Provide information on how these changes or updates were made
- Include screenshots, where relevant
- Provide guidance on the impact of the change, where relevant
