Open call for tenders No 01/2102/12

The Court of Auditors of the European Union Directorate of Information and Technologies (DIT) Open call for tenders No 01/2102/12 Information Technology Helpdesk Services (ITHS) ANNEX 3 DRAFT SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT

CONTENTS 1. OVERVIEW... 3 2. ROLES... 3 3. SERVICES COVERED... 3 4. SERVICE LEVEL TARGETS... 3 5. MEASUREMENT OF KPI... 10 6. PENALTIES... 10 7. REPORTING... 15 8. REVIEW... 15 9. APPROVAL... 15 2/15

1. OVERVIEW This Service Level Agreement ( SLA ) between the Directorate of Information and Technologies (DIT) of the Court of Auditors of the European Union (hereafter referred as the Court ) and <name of company> (hereafter referred as the Contractor ) is an agreement which aims at describing the required quality levels of the services to be provided, their measurement methods, the related penalties in case the targeted quality levels are not attained and the associated reporting duties. This SLA is an integral part of the Contract signed between the Court and the Contractor and that will be signed as a result of the Open call for tenders n AO 01/2102/12. 2. ROLES The parties involved are represented by the following stakeholders: Organisation Name Title/role The Court of Auditors of the European Union The Court of Auditors of the European Union CORDERO VALDAVIDA Magdalena CARRASCOSA José DIT Director Head of User Services and Operations Unit <name of company> <to be filled in> Representative of <company> acting as Service Level Manager <name of company> <to be filled in> Team Leader 3. SERVICES COVERED The services covered by this SLA are those described in the technical specifications (Part B, Annex 2 to the invitation to tender). 4. SERVICE LEVEL TARGETS The quality of the provided services will be assessed by monitoring key performance indicators ( KPI ) which will be compared to their target value ( service level target or SLT ). Most of the KPIs will be evaluated. However, some of them will be evaluated yearly or at the Court s request. Below is an overview of all 21 KPIs, named K1 to K21, with: The section of the technical specifications to which the KPI refers; A short description of the KPI; 3/15

The Service Level Target (SLT) of the KPI; The evaluation frequency of the KPI. The term day refers to working days of the Court; the term hour refers to service hours of the Court (see section 4 of the technical specifications). The term calendar day refers to calendar days (Monday to Sunday). Name Section in the technical specifications KPI description SLT Frequency K1 3.1 Call Centre Percentage of properly managed tickets 90% K2 3.2 First-level Percentage of incidents resolved within 1 hour 70% K3 3.2 First-level Percentage of incidents resolved within 4 hours 85% K4 3.2 First-level Percentage of incidents resolved within 1 day 95% K5 3.2 First-level Percentage of incidents resolved within 3 days 100% K6 3.2 First-level Percentage of standard requests fulfilled within 1 day 80% K7 3.2 First-level Percentage of standard requests fulfilled within 2 days 90% K8 3.2 First-level Percentage of standard requests fulfilled within 5 days 100% K9 3.3 Second-level Percentage of incidents resolved at the 2nd level 50% K10 3.3 Second-level Percentage of requests fulfilled at the 50% 4/15

2nd level K11 3.8 Inventory of IT assets Percentage of completion of the inventory 95% yearly K12 3.8 Inventory of IT assets Percentage of errors in the inventory 5% K13 3.10 First-level hardware maintenance Maximum response time for hardware intervention (in hours) 4 K14 3.10 First-level hardware maintenance Maximum delay for repairing faulty part of hardware equipment (in calendar days) 42 Acceptable quality of the management of meetings (YES/NO), composed of 3 steps : K15 6.1 Periodic Meetings Agenda and relevant documents provided 5 days in advance Draft report provided maximum 5 days after the meeting Final report provided maximum 5 days after the Court s comments YES K16 6.2 Statistics and reports Acceptable quality of the activity report (YES/NO) YES K17 6.3 Service Desk Operation Manual Number of failures in the execution of processes and procedures from the SDOM 3 K18 7.1 Team Composition Acceptable quality and configuration of the team composition (YES/NO) YES at Court s request the K19 7.2. Service oriented culture Number of written complaints <3 at Court s request the 5/15

K20 7.4. Working Languages Success in working languages ability test for members of the team (YES/NO) YES at Court s request the K21 7.5 End-user communication Percentage of end-user communications of sufficient quality 95 % at Court s request the 1.1. SLT KPI K1 (Call Centre - Section 3.1 of the technical specifications) The quality of the management of tickets will be monitored by the Court by means of a evaluation of a sample of tickets directly related and relevant for its activity. The tickets will be selected randomly from the Service Desk's management system (see section 3.11 of the technical specifications). The sample will be composed of: 5 incident tickets 4 request tickets 1 problem ticket. In some cases, the Court might consider selecting a higher number of tickets to accommodate special circumstances. The Contractor shall manage at least 90% of the tickets with a sufficient quality. The calculated value will be communicated to the Contractor during the first working week of the following month. 1.2. SLT KPI K2 to K8 (First-level - Section 3.2 of the technical specifications) The first-level shall solve at least 50% of the received incidents and fulfil at least 60% of the received requests. The resolution time of incidents must conform to the following quality levels: 70% of incidents must be resolved within 1 working hour 85% of incidents must be resolved within 4 working hours 95% of incidents must be resolved within 1 working day 100% of incidents must be resolved within 3 working days. 6/15

The fulfilment time of standard requests must conform to the following quality levels: 80% of standard requests must be fulfilled within 1 working day 90% of standard requests must be fulfilled within 2 working days 100% of standard requests must be fulfilled within 5 working days. A definition of working day and working hour is indicated in section 4 of the technical specifications (service availability). In some cases incidents and requests have to be transferred to a team or person not covered within this call for tenders (hereafter referred to as external actor ). The time requested by the external actor shall not be included in the calculation of the indicators. Anyway, the Contractor shall continue to perform the following actions: Follow up of the issue; Report to the Court clearly indicating the current situation and possible criticalities (e.g. extended delays). Any incident that cannot be resolved within 3 working days or request that cannot be fulfilled within 5 working days because of external factors outside the field of responsibility of the Contractor (e.g. no licence available for requested software) may be excluded from the calculation; these incidents and requests must be clearly identified and the corresponding factors explained. 1.3. SLT KPI K9 and K10 (Second-level - Section 3.3 of the technical specifications) The second-level activity shall conform to the following quality levels: At least 50% of the incidents within the scope of this service must be resolved at the second-level of (i.e. sent on by first-level but not referred to third-level), At least 50% of the requests within the scope of this service must be fulfilled at the second-level of (i.e. sent on by first-level but not referred to third-level). 1.4. KPI K11 and K12 (Inventory of IT assets - Section 3.8 of the technical specifications) On a basis, the Court may check a sample of the inventory database or related events (e.g. equipment moving). The percentage of detected errors shall be less than 5%. The results of the check will be communicated to the Contractor during the first working week of the following month. 7/15

If a higher percentage is detected, the Court can request a full or partial update of the inventory. 1.5. SLT KPI K13 and K14 (First-level hardware maintenance - Section 3.10 of the technical specifications) The response time for starting corrective interventions on any hardware malfunctioning equipment is 4 working hours maximum. This includes the request to the external Contractor for hardware maintenance and moving the damaged hardware item to a central location of the Court (if applicable). The repaired items shall be returned to the original user within 4 hours (if a replacement was not already provided). If a replacement was already provided the repaired item will be stored in the Court s stock. The maximum delay from the opening of the hardware ticket to its closure shall not exceed 42 calendar days. The Court could accept exceptions to this rule for clearly justified reasons (e.g. excessive delay of the external company providing the warranty). Every month, the Contractor shall report to the Court on the performed hardware maintenances. When possible, reports shall include early warnings for possible critical situations (e.g. possible shortage or high failure rates of devices). The Contractor shall also propose possible corrective actions. The report shall at least present the following information: An overview of the performed actions. An indication of the percentage of faulty devices split by main groups of hardware equipment. When possible, reports shall include early warnings for possible critical situations (e.g. possible shortage or high failure rates of devices). The Contractor shall also propose possible corrective actions. This information is part of the statistics and reports requirements (see section 6.2), and the proposed model must include a section on hardware interventions. 1.6. SLT KPI K15 (Periodic meetings - Section 6.1 of the technical specifications) The agenda for the Steering meeting shall be drafted by the Contractor and delivered at least 5 days before the meeting. A draft meeting report shall be produced by the Contractor within 5 working days after the meeting. The Court will provide comments within 5 working days from the reception of the draft meeting report. The final meeting report must then be drafted by the Contractor within 5 working days, i.e. a maximum of 15 working days after the meeting. Compliance with these delays will be monitored by the Court. The Court will assess the compliance with the indicated deadlines and communicate the results of the assessment during the first working week of the following month. 8/15

1.7. SLT KPI K16 (Statistics and reports - Section 6.2 of the technical specifications) The quality of the regular statistics and/or reports ( Activity report ) about the users requests, reported incidents, problems, subsequent actions and status shall be assessed by the Court as soon as it will be available. The assessment will focus on the following elements: Completeness Accuracy Clarity Presentation of the report The acceptance or the refusal of the regular statistics and/or reports shall be communicated to the Contractor within 5 working days from the receipt of the report. 1.8. SLT KPI K17 (Service Desk Operation Manual (SDOM) - Section 6.3 of the technical specifications) The proper execution of processes and procedures from the SDOM will be monitored by the Court, on a basis, throughout the Contract. No more than 3 failures per month will be accepted. The result of the assessment will be communicated to the Contractor during the first working week of the following month. 1.9. SLT KPI K18 (Team composition - Section 7.1 of the technical specifications) Adequacy of the team in place in relation to the proposed model team requested in section 7.1 of the technical specifications. 1.10. SLT KPI K19 (Service-oriented culture - Section 7.2 of the technical specifications) After three official written complaints sent by the Court to the Contractor for a case of non compliance with a service-oriented culture, the Court can decide to apply the penalties defined in the SLA. In this circumstance, the Contractor shall provide a replacement respecting the rules indicated in section 6.5 of the technical specifications. 1.11. SLT KPI K20 (Working languages - Section 7.4 of the technical specifications) The Court might monitor the effective fluency in English and French of the team members. 9/15

In case the Court suspects a degradation in the language skills of any team member, the Court may request an evaluation of the involved person. The evaluation shall successfully demonstrate that the person reaches the level B.1 of the Council of Europe's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The result of the evaluation will be communicated to the Contractor during the first working week of the following month. 1.12. SLT KPI K21 (End-users communication - Section 7.5 of the technical specifications) The Court may examine at the end of a given month either all communications issued or a representative sample (depending on the number of communications issued during the month) and will check: Conformance to the existing procedures User orientation Message content (should be focused and to the point) Readability Language quality. The percentage of end-user communications of insufficient quality shall be less than 5%. 5. MEASUREMENT OF KPI This section describes the method of measurement of all KPIs. 5.1 KPI measured by the Contractor This section shall be filled in by the Contractor, explaining the measurement method for these KPIs: K2, K3, K4, K5, K6, K7, K8, K9, K10, K11, K13 and K14. The Contractor must describe the method of measurement with the appropriate tools, including all calculations needed. 5.2 KPI measured by the Court The KPIs K1, K12, K15, K16, K17, K18, K19, K20 and K21 will be calculated by the Court. The column Section of the previously presented table indicates the area of the technical specifications where a detailed description of the calculation is provided. 6. PENALTIES Failure of a KPI to reach its SLT will result in a financial penalty for the Contractor. 10/15

All penalties are expressed in percentage of the fee for the services. The fee for the services is calculated as the annual fixed price for all services divided by 12. For each failure of a KPI to reach its SLT, a penalty will be calculated. All penalties will then be summed and applied to the fee for the services. The total penalty amount will be credited the following month to the Court via a credit note. The maximum penalty that can be applied is 65% of the fee for the services. This would be the penalty resulting in the worst case scenario, where all 21 KPIs fail to reach their SLT (Service Level Target). Below is a list of penalties for all KPIs, according to the actual value of the KPI (noted as k in the table). Name Value (k) Penalty 0 k 50 4% 60 3% K1 70 2% 80 1% 90 k < 40 2% K2 40 k < 60 1% k 70 k < 60 2% K3 60 k < 85 1% k 85 K4 k < 80 2% 80 k < 95 1% 11/15

k 95 k < 90 2% K5 90 k < 100 1% 100 k < 50 2% K6 50 k < 80 1% k 80 k < 70 2% K7 70 k < 90 1% k 90 k < 90 2% K8 90 k < 100 1% 100 k < 20 3% K9 20 k < 40 2% 40 k < 50 1% k 50 k < 20 3% K10 20 k < 40 2% 40 k < 50 1% 12/15

k 50 k < 80 3% K11 80 k < 90 2% 90 k < 95 1% k 95 k > 15 3% K12 10 < k 15 2% 5 < k 10 1% k 5 k > 8 7% 7 < k 8 5% K13 6 < k 7 3.5% 5 < k 6 2% 4 < k 5 1 % k 4 k > 70 3% K14 56 < k 70 2% 42 < k 56 1% k 42 K15 See below 13/15

K16 NO 3% YES k > 10 5% 8 or 9 or 10 4% K17 6 or 7 3% 5 2% 4 1% k 3 K18 K19 NO 7% YES >=3 3% <3 K20 See below k < 80 3% K21 80 k < 90 2% 90 k < 95 1 % k>= 95 For K15, a derived indicator 'k will be taken into account: the number of steps that have failed. 14/15

In case of penalties, 'k will have the value 1, 2 or 3. The associated penalty will be the same value as 'k, expressed in percentage, i.e. 3% if all 3 steps failed, 2% if 2 steps failed and 1% if only 1 step failed. The value will be between 1% and 3%. For K20, assuming that tests have been required for 'N' members of the team, 'N' being the team size in number of persons, and assuming that 'f' is the number of failed tests over 'N' tests, the resulting penalty will be equal to f/n * 5 in percentages, rounded to even. The value will be between 1% and 5%. 7. REPORTING Compliance with the SLA will be assessed and formalised in a Service Quality Report provided by the Contractor as a reference document to every technical and management meeting (see the technical specifications, section 6.1). This report must contain all KPI values that have been measured during the month, compared to their SLT (Service Level Target). Should a disrespect or disagreement occur, the Contractor is expected to give all details (explanations, analysis, comments) in this report. All deviations of KPIs from their SLT will be discussed in management meetings. The Court reserves the right to apply the penalties stated in section 6 of this SLA. 8. REVIEW The list of services covered by this SLA or service level targets might be reviewed annually, at the Contractor s or the Court s request. Each review will be formalised in writing by an amendment to this SLA and give rise to regular consolidated versions of the document. 9. APPROVAL Organisation Name Date Signature The Court of Auditors of the European Union <to be filled in> <name of company> <to be filled in> 15/15