Severity Levels

Last modified: May 13, 2024.

Support tickets are categorized according to a severity or business impact scale.

Our Support Team efforts are prioritized based on the business impact of the issue and on the support level of the customer organization.

When submitting a support ticket, you are requested to supply detailed information (version, type of product, environment information, etc.) in order for support staff to properly identify and diagnose the issue and speed up the response and resolution of the ticket. Failure to supply this information upon request may result in a delay in support assistance.

Technical support cannot guarantee a fixed problem resolution period due to a number of influencing factors, amongst them:

• Customer's timely replies

• Response time of a third-party partner

• The need to prepare and release a patch, software update, new feature, etc.

The severity of a support ticket is set according to the guidelines listed below. Since it is not possible to define every possible condition or technical situation, these guidelines can only provide guidance.

Level 1 - Incidents

Blocker Incident

(Total Impact, unavailability): Refers to a problem that impacts Customer’s Syntphony Conversational AI Production Environment, where it is down or seriously impaired or Customer’s production data is lost or destroyed.

We included a special type of Incidents for Data breach for any incident that causes the destruction, loss, alteration, communication or unauthorized access to personal data. Data breaches may have to be reported to the supervisory authority.

Support effort

Requires maximum effort from NTT DATA support team and customer, until the environment is up and ready, an emergency fix is developed, or a workaround is available.

During the resolution of a case, the Syntphony Conversational AI Support Engineer will maintain contact via chat and/or email, or both as needed.

Critical situations may require both Customer and Support Team personnel to be at their respective work locations on an around-the-clock basis.

If the authorized or designated customer contact is not available to engage in this effort, Support may reduce the severity level. If the customer refuses to implement the steps suggested troubleshooting or correct the issue, Syntphony Conversational AI support team may close the ticket.

Level 2 - Errors

Critical Incident

(Unavailability of a service or function that has an impact on productivity): Refers to a problem where Syntphony Conversational AI is moderately impaired. The Customer’s Conversational AI system is functioning but in a reduced capacity, and there is no workaround currently available, or the workaround is cumbersome to use.

Support effort

Requires intensive support effort from Support Team and customer, until the environment is up and ready, an emergency fix is developed, or a workaround is available.

Severity 2 situations do not generally require Customer and Support Team personnel to be at their respective work locations on an around-the-clock basis. Support Team personnel will agree with the Customer what effort is required.

If the authorized or designated customer contact is not available to engage in this effort, Syntphony Conversational AI Support may reduce the severity level. If the customer refuses to implement the steps suggested troubleshooting or correct the issue, the Support Team may close the ticket.

Level 3 - Errors, Requests

Major

(No impact on productivity): refers to problems or requests that has been identified but does not prevent normal operation of the Customer’s Conversational AI system, or where the situation may be temporarily circumvented using an available workaround. A Severity 3 case does not need to be related to a Syntphony Conversational AI production system. No data has been lost, and the system has not failed.

Support effort

Requires moderate support effort from Support Team and Customer, until a fix is developed or workaround is available, or the request is answered.

Severity 3 situations do not require around-the-clock effort.

Level 4 - Requests and improvements

Minor: refers to non-critical issues or Improvements, including general questions and requests for enhancements to the Syntphony Conversational AI.

Support effort

Requires low support effort from platform Support Team and customer, until a fix is developed, a workaround is available or an answer to the customer question has been provided.

Severity 4 situations do not require around-the-clock effort.

Impact

The situation reported in a ticket may be determined as "Blocker", "High", "Medium" or "Low", depending on the level of impact it has on the environment(s). This rating must be entered in the "Impact" field.

Here's an example you can use as a guide.

Level	Decision characteristics
BLOCKER / HIGH	The decision will have a material impact on the customer experience OR will significantly impact the roadmap OR will adversely disrupt an internal business process.
MEDIUM	The decision will involve a less than material change to customer experience OR will impact the roadmap OR will impact an existing internal business process
LOW	All other decisions