Microsoft SharePoint Online for Enterprises

Transcription

1 Microsoft SharePoint Online for Enterprises Configuration Request Guidelines Dedicated Plans Version 12.3 Published: October 2012

2 The information contained in this document represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication. This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from Microsoft, the furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, ActiveSync, Active Directory, Entourage, Forefront, Internet Explorer, Lync, Outlook, SharePoint, Windows, Windows Phone, Windows Mobile, Windows PowerShell, and Windows Vista are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. Microsoft SharePoint Online Configuration Request Guidelines ii

3 Contents Introduction... 1 What s New in this Release... 1 Request Types... 2 Standard Configuration Requests for SharePoint Online... 2 Custom Solution Reviews... 3 Other Complex Requests... 3 Configurations That Cannot Be Modified... 3 New Feature Requests for SharePoint Online... 3 Configuration Request Policies... 4 Validating Configurations On-Premises... 4 Scheduling Configuration Requests... 4 Requests with User Impact... 4 Frequent Configuration Requests... 5 Submitting a Configuration Request... 6 Configurations without Additional Requirements... 6 Configurations that Require PPE Sign Off... 6 PPE Incidents... 6 Configurations that Require Analysis... 6 Notifications... 6 Customer Responsibilities during the Configuration Request Process... 8 Appendix A PPE Configuration Sign-Off Template... 9 Microsoft SharePoint Online Configuration Request Guidelines iii

4 Introduction This document provides guidelines for customers to modify configurations of the Microsoft SharePoint Online offering of the Office 365 for enterprises dedicated plans. Customers modify configurations by submitting a configuration request (CR) through the service delivery manager (SDM). These guidelines apply to SharePoint What s New in this Release New changes and updates to these guidelines include: Through the Service Administration portal, customers can delete user profiles that have been flagged as candidates for deletion by the User Profile Synchronization service. For more information, see the Using the Service Administration Portal guide, available on the Customer Extranet site. CRs for the SharePoint Online service must be submitted using the appropriate request template, and if any request is not in the appropriate template it will be rejected. All CR templates are available on the Service Administration portal. Microsoft SharePoint Online Configuration Request Guidelines 12.3 October

5 Request Types Customer requests submitted through the SDM are entered into the Customer Request Analysis System (CRAS) and categorized as follows: Standard configuration requests are pre-approved configuration requests that do not require management approval on a case-by-case basis, and these are documented on the Service Administration portal. New feature requests for a future product or service release when the designed behavior of the product or service does not meet a customer s needs. Each of these types of requests is described in further detail in the Microsoft Online Operations Handbook (available on the Customer Extranet site). Standard Configuration Requests for SharePoint Online Each type of pre-approved CR is detailed on the Service Administration portal and accompanied by a link to an appropriate request template that can be used to submit a CR. For the latest version of the request templates, follow these instructions: 1. Go to the Service Administration portal using the appropriate URL. In the sample URLs below, contoso would be replaced by your company s unique identifier. o o If you use the SharePoint Online Portal web application, use this URL: If you do not use the SharePoint Online Portal web application, use this URL: 2. On the Service Administration page, in the left navigation pane, click the appropriate item for the category of configuration you want to request. 3. On the page that opens, click the item for the desired configuration request. 4. On the page for the specific configuration request, click Download Request Form. 5. If you are prompted for your credentials, enter them and then click OK. If at any point in time it is found that a CR cannot be supported on the SharePoint Online service, the CR will be denied and you will be notified. If you have a question about a specific configuration that is not included in the list, please engage the SDM and consider submitting a new feature request (as described below). Microsoft SharePoint Online Configuration Request Guidelines 12.3 October

6 Important Only after you have validated and accepted the SharePoint Online service will Microsoft make any changes you request to the configurations of the service. No requests to modify configurations will be completed before customer validation of the service. Note If you have any technical issues with the Service Administration portal (such as denial of access, missing templates, etc.) open a service request (SR) with the Office 365 support team. Custom Solution Reviews The review and approval of a high-level design (HLD) for a custom solution, or the review and deployment of the code for a custom solution, also require submission of a CR. However, these CR types are used as an advanced notice and must be submitted five business days before submission of the design or code. (There are links to these CR templates on the Service Administration portal. To access them, click Customizations.) This document also applies to custom solution requests, but does not provide complete details on deploying a custom solution to the SharePoint Online environment. For complete information about that topic, see SharePoint Online Custom Solution Policies and Process, available from the Microsoft Download Center. Other Complex Requests Beyond the general guidelines within this document, more detailed information for complex requests is available on the Customer Extranet site. For example, there is information on these and other topics: Content Migration Policy Site Use Confirmation and Deletion Partner Access Configurations That Cannot Be Modified There are certain configurations that cannot be modified on the SharePoint Online service. Only the changes listed on the Service Administration portal can be made. If a configuration change you want is not listed on the Service Administration portal, it is not a standard change and is considered a new feature request. New Feature Requests for SharePoint Online The guidelines in this document are focused on standard configuration requests. If you want to make a configuration change that is not listed on the Service Administration portal, you should work with the SDM to submit a new feature request. (Feature requests were previously known as non-standard change requests.) You must include both a description and details of the business impact in your request. A New feature request template is available on the Customer Extranet site. Feature requests are reviewed upon receipt by Microsoft. A feature request with sufficient detail that is received by Tuesday at 09:00 Pacific Time will be taken to the weekly triage meeting and reviewed by all teams to determine if the request can be supported. If a feature request does not include sufficient detail, it will be sent back requesting more detail. If a feature request with sufficient detail is received after Tuesday at 09:00 Pacific Time, it will be triaged in the following week. The turn-around time for feature requests is variable, but updates on the status will be provided in CRAS. Microsoft SharePoint Online Configuration Request Guidelines 12.3 October

7 Configuration Request Policies The following are policies that must be followed when submitting CRs for the SharePoint Online environment. A CR may be rejected if the request is found to be incomplete, or inaccurate, or if the request will exceed prescribed limits imposed by the product or the service. Validating Configurations On-Premises Prior to submitting a CR to Microsoft, customers must validate the configuration in their own on-premises test environment. The on-premises environment will also help identify any design issues or limits imposed by the SharePoint product, any custom solutions, or any other specific configuration. Validating a change prior to submission aligns with Change Management processes as per the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework. The pre-production environment (PPE) that Microsoft makes available is only for functional validation purposes. The PPE is not meant to be a substitute for a customer s on-premises test environment for UAT or scale testing. Scheduling Configuration Requests The following are important limits on the configuration request policies: To control the risk introduced by making changes simultaneously, a maximum of four changes to the production environment can be made during a given change window or within a business day. Custom solution deployments count as a change to the production environment, so an example of the maximum changes that can be applied during a given change window would be three standard configuration requests and one custom solution deployment. A maximum of two distinct custom solutions can be scheduled for deployment at any one time for each environment (production and PPE). Two custom solutions can be scheduled for deployment in production and two in PPE. Additional custom solutions can be submitted for review, but none will be scheduled for deployment until one of the solutions already scheduled has been deployed. If you are submitting multiple interdependent CRs, each CR must specify the sequential order of implementation (ex: 1/2 Add Profile Property, 2/2 Add New Audience.) and the dependency must be called out in the Pre-Requisite/Dependecy Order section of the CR template. If a sequence has been specified in each of the interdependent CRs, Microsoft will implement them in that order. Requests with User Impact Requests that might impact users due to potential downtime or performance degradation will be scheduled to be implemented during a change window. For some CRs with user impact this schedule can be modified, and the customer can provide an SLA exemption if they would like the CR to be implemented outside of the scheduled change window and during a business day between the hours of 10:00 and 18:00 Pacific Time. Microsoft SharePoint Online Configuration Request Guidelines 12.3 October

8 You may use the SLA Exemption template (available on the Customer Extranet site) to notify the SDM if you are willing to grant an SLA exemption if a configuration can be implemented ahead of the next change window. Microsoft will only implement CRs with user impact outside of a change window if the risk associated with making a change on a weekday does not jeopardize the time that both Microsoft and the customer require to validate the configuration. If it is determined that there is not sufficient time to perform a complete validation, Microsoft may propose an alternate day for the change. Staffing schedules will also be reviewed prior to committing to applying such changes outside of the designated change windows. Frequent Configuration Requests To expedite fulfillment and avoid operational errors, Microsoft requires that any configuration requiring frequent manual or repetitive work be automated as a custom solution. Microsoft does not maintain a repository of automation scripts, so these must be submitted by the customer. These custom solutions will be deployed and run in the SharePoint Online environment only after review and approval following the process outlined in SharePoint Online Custom Solution Policies and Process. Microsoft SharePoint Online Configuration Request Guidelines 12.3 October

9 Submitting a Configuration Request In order to request a standard configuration, you should choose the type of request you wish to submit from the Service Administration portal, and complete the appropriate request template. Then you must ask the SDM to submit the CR through the Customer Request Analysis System (CRAS), and attach the completed request template. Configurations without Additional Requirements Many of the standard configuration requests do not require customer PPE signoff prior to production implementation. Configurations that do not require PPE signoff or engineering analysis will be fulfilled in 4 business days. Configurations that Require PPE Sign Off Some types of CRs require you to sign off that the implementation of the configuration to the PPE matches your expectations, before the configuration will be implemented in production. These types of CRs are marked appropriately in the SCL. For those types of CRs that do require PPE sign off, Microsoft will implement the CR to the PPE within 3 business days. Some configurations may take longer and the planned implementation schedule in the CR will reflect this after acceptance of the request. After the configuration is modified in the PPE environment, Microsoft will notify you. You are asked to validate the configuration in PPE, and sign off on the configuration in an message to the SDM within 5 business days. The SDM must attach your sign-off message to the CR before Microsoft will implement the configuration in production. For a sample template, see Appendix A: PPE Sign Off Template. All other configurations will be modified directly in production. You must provide sign off, and then the SDM must attach that to the CR by noon Pacific Time for Microsoft to be able to triage on the next business day. After receiving sign off, Microsoft will implement those CRs with no customer impact in production within 3 business days, and those CRs with customer impact in the next change window. PPE Incidents As PPE is not a production environment, any PPE incidents will always be prioritized below incidents that impact production. Therefore PPE incidents are considered Severity D incidents. Configurations that Require Analysis Some types of CRs require Microsoft to review an aspect of your SharePoint Online environment before the configuration can be scheduled or modified. In all such cases, this required analysis will be called out in the template for the configuration type. Notifications Before a CR with customer impact is implemented in production, you will receive notification of the implementation date of the CR, and the CR will be visible in the customer portal. The customer portal is always the most current source of information about the status of a CR. Additionally, Microsoft will Microsoft SharePoint Online Configuration Request Guidelines 12.3 October

10 provide updates upon successful completion, failure, or any delay which will require additional time to fulfill the configuration request. The following table provides timelines for implementing approved requests to change standard configurations or deploy custom solutions from beginning to end. All days shown are business days. Note CRs with user impact will only be applied in production during a Change Window, unless an SLA exemption is provided and approved. Table 1. Standard Change and Custom Solution Timelines Action Custom Solution Standard Configuration Heads up notice 0 N/A Microsoft review (CRT for custom solutions, engineering analysis for standard configurations) Microsoft deploys custom solution to PPE, if approved. Customer validates the deployed custom solution in the PPE. Microsoft deploys custom solution to production. Within 4 business days after HLD approval* Within 3 business days Within 5 business days** Within 3 business days of customer validation of PPE Within 4 business days Within 3 business days, if required Within 5 business days, if PPE deployment is required** Within 3 business days * This assumes that the HLD has already been approved and a valid CR number attained. The HLD review period is 5 business days, assuming Microsoft requires no additional information to process the review. ** The 5-day PPE approval period is the maximum. If the customer does not require the full 5 business days for PPE approval, deployment to the production environment can occur 3 business days after the customer gives PPE approval (SLA exemption may be required). Microsoft SharePoint Online Configuration Request Guidelines 12.3 October

11 Customer Responsibilities during the Configuration Request Process Table 1: Customer CR Process Responsibilities If You Need To Customer Responsibility Microsoft Response Modify a CR before it has been implemented. Notify the SDM as soon as possible. If notification is received in time, the CR will be modified as requested. If the notification is not received before the CR is implemented to the PPE or production, see below for details on Microsoft s response. Modify a CR after it has been implemented to PPE. Modify a CR after it has been implemented to production. Notify the SDM two business days prior to the production implementation date (if scheduled). If notification is received in time, Microsoft will retract the CR from PPE and close it. You will need to submit a new CR for the modified request. If the notification is not received before the CR is implemented to production, see below for details on Microsoft s response. A CR cannot be modified after it has been implemented to production. Instead the customer must submit a new CR. Cancel a CR before it has been implemented. Notify Microsoft that a CR was implemented incorrectly in PPE. Notify the SDM prior to the CR being implemented to the production environment. Notify the SDM and ask them to update the CR with a request for Microsoft to remediate. If notification is received in time, the CR will be cancelled as requested. If the notification is not received before the CR is implemented to production, you must submit a new CR asking that the configuration be rolled back, with a reference to the original CR. (Some configurations cannot be rolled back completely. If a configuration can be rolled back, Microsoft will use the rollback steps provided in the original CR and schedule the rollback per standard fulfillment times.) Microsoft will review and remediate the configuration as part of the same CR. Notify Microsoft that a CR was implemented incorrectly in production. Open an SR with Office 365 Support that references the original CR, stating what was originally requested what that needs to be corrected. Office 365 Support will process the SR and correct the configuration to match the original CR. (The SR will have no higher than Sev-B severity, unless it is service impacting.) Microsoft SharePoint Online Configuration Request Guidelines 12.3 October

12 Appendix A PPE Configuration Sign-Off Template A template to sign off on a configuration after validating it in the PPE environment is given below. We hereby confirm that we have successfully validated the change listed below in PPE, and it can be now scheduled in production. CR # Change Description: < description> Microsoft SharePoint Online Configuration Request Guidelines 12.3 October