Business critical services

IST offers a variety of IT services to the University of Waterloo community.  A key subset of these are deemed core IT services:

Core IT services are primarily managed by the Technology Integrated Services group in IST, and are generally offered on a 7x24 basis with 99.9% or better availability (measured monthly).

For planned maintenance to core services, IST will provide the following notice:

• Between 22:00 – 08:00 weekdays, and anytime on weekends, statutory and University holidays, with:
  • At least 24 hours notice for maintenance window < 5 minutes
  • At least 48 hours notice for maintenance window 5 minutes to 1 hour
  • At least 7 days notice for maintenance window 1 to 2 hours
  • At least 14 days notice for maintenance window 2 to 6 hours
  • At least 30 days notice for maintenance window 6 to 12 hours
• At other mutually agreed times if maintenance activities are requested by a department, and impact is limited to that department.
• All other times with approval of CIO

IST's response times for service outages or degradation is immediate during business hours, with a target resolution time of less than 4 hours.  Outside of business hours, IST's response time is 1 hour, with a target resolution time of 12 hours (this includes the replacement of physical components, and the identification and resolution of software-based issues).

The Request Tracker (RT) system is used to report problems to, or request services from, various groups within IST, and some other departments/faculties.

Please see the TIS Service Level Expectations document for more specific information on any of the above items.