Managed Services agreements - Services Agreement
1) Managed Services
a) Contract Term – All Managed Service Plans (MSP) are provided on a Month-to-Month basis and may be terminated by the client, for the following month, at any time prior to the first day of the month.
b) Payment – Invoices for services are issued on the first day of the month for services delivered in that month. All invoices are due on the 15th of the month. Capstan Services reserves the right to suspend or terminate services for non-payment.
c) Support Terms – Capstan Services Managed Services Plans (MSP) include support services for your entire information technology environment as laid out in this document. You will be charged based on the size of your environment and will be billed a monthly rated based on the number of:
· Endpoints
· Hypervisors
· Virtual Servers
· Physical Server
· PBX Servers
· Phones
This model enables Capstan Services to provide for an easy-to-understand price structure that can grow and shrink as your business needs change.
d) All Devices must be included – Managed service plans cover more than just the equipment for which you are being charged. In order to cover your entire environment, you will be billed for all hardware that is in use in your environment. This plan does not allow for you to choose which equipment is billed and not billed. If you are interested in covering only certain equipment for services, please ask about alternative options for hourly services or hybrid services.
e) Labor Only – MSP services are an operations labor only offering and do not include any hardware, software, custom software development, project management or software systems. Capstan Services will deploy agent software on your endpoints and servers. This software is owned and/or leased by Capstan Services to facilitate Capstan Services in the support of your environment and is not being sold or leased to your company.
f) Support Limits – Our MSP support program is designed to be a replacement for the operations labor provided by an Information Technology (IT) department. Our pricing includes services needed to keep your businesses technology running properly. Unfortunately, these services are sometimes abused, and we cannot provide a guarantee of “unlimited” support. Our MSP services do not have a hard limit on the number of hours delivered each month, but we do reserve the right to limit the total number of support hours used in a month to 1 hour per endpoint per month. This limit will only be implemented under specific circumstances. If we plan to limit the number of hours we will be delivering to your account you will be notified.
g) Locations – MSP services are provided for your corporate environment and are limited to the specific location(s) identified. All supported locations will be included as part of your services and supported and billed in their entirety. If you have needs for certain locations to receive limited support or not be billed in full, please ask for an alternate option for these locations.
h) Legal Entities – Support is provided for the legal entity that is identified as the client of Capstan Services. This is generally the client that is paying Capstan Services. Support services do not cover additional legal entities. If you need support for more than one legal entity, please talk to us about adding services for these entities. This limitation includes support of shared servers which host data for more than one legal entity. If you plan to pay Capstan Services for support on any server or endpoint that contains data form multiple legal entities, you must notify Capstan Services and obtain support for these entities to avoid any service interruptions.
i) Termination of Services – At the termination of services, all services will terminate at 12:00 midnight on the first day of the month services are terminated or at the point in time when the decision to terminate services is made for non-payment of services. If services are terminated for any reason other than non-payment of services, Capstan Services will provide a copy of your companies Runbook as of the last day of services.
j) Changes & Updates – Capstan Services reserves the right to update this services agreement, without notice at any time. Our latest services agreement can be found at https://www.capstanservices.com/agreement/
2) Honesty and Integrity
a) Capstan Employees – Capstan Services considers honesty and integrity to be our most important corporate values. Our employees will always deliver services with honesty and integrity. If at any time you believe a Capstan Services employee is not living up to these standards, we encourage you to discuss this with the Capstan Services CEO. Contact Keith McLaren on his cell phone as (214) 717-0045. It may be unusual to have the CEO’s cell number in a services agreement, but we are unusually serious about these values.
b) Your Employee’s – We hope that your business also prioritizes honesty and integrity. We will not hold your employees to the same standards of integrity as our own. We do expect a reasonable amount of cooperation and honesty when we are working with your employees.
3) Monitoring
a) Monitoring – Standard MSP services provide for monitoring during business hours which are 8:00 am – 6:00 pm in your local time zone. We also provide limited monitoring nights and weekend in order to catch critical issues. If you require 24x7 monitoring services, please speak with us to discuss options for additional support levels.
b) SOC & SIEM – 24x7 Security Operations Center Monitoring (SOC) and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) are not a standard part of MSP services and are not included in this agreement. If you have specific compliance needs that require these services or would like to discuss adding these services, we will be happy to work with you to identify a solution.
c) Server Monitoring – Servers covered by a managed services plan will be monitored during business hours for an ever changing and expanding set of criteria. We do not publish a detailed list of all items for which we monitor since this is a key part of our business’s intellectual property. A high-level list of areas in which we monitor can be found in Appendix B. We do not restrict your business to these items. We will also monitor your servers for specific conditions which may be specific to your business. We can monitor for windows events, log entries, service state, file existence, performance counters, SNMP state and process status. If you want to monitor something that is not in this list, please ask since we can most likely find a solution. We reserve the right to change the items that we are monitoring without any additional notice.
d) Endpoint Monitoring -- Endpoints covered by a managed services plan will be monitored during business hours for an ever changing and expanding set of criteria. A high-level list of areas which we monitor can be found in Appendix C. We do not restrict your business to these items. We can also monitor your workstations for specific conditions which may be specific to your business. As with servers please ask and we can most likely provide you with the monitoring you require.
e) Network Monitoring – We provide network monitoring to make sure that your network is working properly and has connectivity to the internet where applicable. This includes monitoring your router for uptime (where supported) and verifying internet connectivity. We also monitor for router failover if a supported redundant router solution is in use. We can also monitor for specific network requirements that may be identified by your business.
f) Business Systems – We will provide monitoring for business systems issues which you identify as important if we have the capability of performing such monitoring. We will also identify issues that we identify as being a potential problem. If a business system issue requires a resolution that falls within our scope (i.e. it is an IT operations issue) we will then receive the alerts and take actions on them. If you have a need to monitor for items that are not within the scope of IT operations, we will be happy to monitor for these items and notify your staff when issues are found. Example: If you have a process where orders from customers occasionally break due to incorrect order data, we may be able to identify these orders and notify your sales team that there is an order waiting.
g) Automated Resolution – Capstan Services has advanced capabilities that allow for automated problem resolution. Through automation we can resolve a host of problem quickly and then resolve the underlying root cause after the fact. This keeps your business running while also allowing our team to properly resolve issues so that they do not return. If you have any reason why you do not wish to have us use an automation, please let us know so that we can turn it off. We may also be able to resolve business specific problems and we will identify any that fall within our operational IT services. If you have a need for a specific item to be resolved, please ask.
4) Server Maintenance
a) Operating System Patching – A key part of your company’s security is keeping your server patched. We employ automated patching technology to keep your servers up to date. We will deploy patches on servers using an automated schedule that is based on the individual server’s uptime requirements.
b) Application Patching and Updates – We provide automated patching for many server applications including Microsoft SQL Server. This patching will include and non-server-based applications that are installed on the server (web browsers, Notepad++, etc.). We will deploy application patches and updates as a part of your server patching schedule. We currently support automated patching for the applications listed in Appendix A.
c) Lifecycle Management – A key part of keeping you’re an IT environment stable is Lifecycle management. Capstan Services will assist you in planning and budgeting for the lifecycle of your servers. This planning will include management of Hypervisors and adjustment of server loads based on hardware age. This allows your most critical loads to run on your most recent hardware.
d) Upgrades & Replacement – When your servers are ready to be replaced, your MSP services include installation and decommissioning of servers in order to replace aged hardware. We will replace server hardware as often as once per year. We encourage you to replace servers at 3 years of age and no later than 5 years of age.
e) Hardware Support – We will provide hardware support for your server to the extent that is typical for onsite helpdesk technicians. This includes items like installing or replacing memory, replacing hard drives/SSDs and changing system batteries. Managed service plans to NOT include the repair of failed hardware. We encourage you to keep your hardware under a warranty with the manufacturer. If there are costs for hardware repair outside of the warranty these costs (parts and labor) are not a part of your support services.
f) Hardware Warranty’s – Properly run businesses will have warranty support for the servers that run their business. MSP support does NOT alleviate the need for such warranties. We encourage you to keep your servers under contract for support with the manufacturer. This allows our technicians to work with your hardware vendor to resolve any issues as quickly as possible. Our included vCIO services can assist you with decision making around the service levels you may need in order to protect your business from the risk of downtime.
g) Server Uptime – Capstan Services cannot guarantee server uptime for servers that we do not own. As your partner we will work with you to meet the uptime requirements that your business requires. We shoot for and generally achieve the follow uptime requirements for our customers:
· Server Hardware: 99.999%
· Hypervisors: 99.9% - 99.99% depending on the level of redundancy and the patching schedule.
· Physical Server & Virtual Machines: 99.5% - 99.9% which allows for the regular patching required to keep a typical server updated. Downtime will be based on your schedule and is generally scheduled for deep nights.
5) Endpoint Support
a) Operating System Patching – A key part of your company’s security is keeping your endpoints patched. We employ automated patching technology to keep your endpoint up to date. We will deploy patches daily at midnight unless you desire an alternate patching schedule. We will be happy to group your machines based on usage profiles and adjust schedules based on these groups.
b) Application Patching and Updates – We provide automated patching for numerous applications in addition to your endpoints operating system. We will deploy application patches and updates as a part of your patching schedule. We currently support automated patching for the applications listed in Appendix A.
c) Lifecycle Management – A key part of keeping you’re an IT environment stable is Lifecycle management. Capstan Services will assist you in planning and budgeting the lifecycle of your endpoints. This includes setting up a replacement schedule for endpoint hardware in order to keep the hardware refreshed. We recommend a 3- or 4-year lifecycle for endpoints and suggest never allowing hardware to age past 5 years since this is the point where hardware becomes unreliable.
d) Upgrades & Replacement – When your endpoints are ready to be replaced, your MSP services include installation and decommissioning of hardware in order to replace aged hardware. We will replace endpoint hardware as often as once per year. We encourage you to replace endpoints at 3 years of age and no later than 5 years of age.
e) Endpoint Deployment – MSP services include deployment of endpoints in the case of new installations as well as for hardware upgrades. We automate the deployment of most software products in order speed up this process and bring consistency to your environment. We do not use imaging technology (i.e. Ghost) to deploy machines since imaging can cause problems long after the installation. Operating systems will be either factory installed, manually installed or scripted installs. Software applications will be installed primarily via automated installation with certain applications manually installed where required.
f) Endpoint Standardization – Highly standardized computing environments are more stable and allow businesses to be nimbler since users will have a common and unified user experience. We will use automation technology to standardize your environment to the extent that this makes sense for your business. We will keep your computers updated with the same software and also configure specific settings to standards that work for your business. We will discuss how you would like to standardize your environment and always configure to your desired standards.
g) “Swap Down” or “Trickle Down” hardware – Keeping your systems stable is one of our key competencies. This requires your systems to be properly setup and configured which takes time and labor. We do not encourage nor provide support for “swap down” or “trickle down” hardware schemes. These schemes involve any form of installing new hardware as a replacement for a machine which is not intended for retirement and then redeploying the replaced computer to another user. These schemes are not sustainable from a labor cost perspective and will also cause significant and unnecessary disruption to your business. This is not a service that we provide.
h) Hardware Support – We will provide hardware support for your endpoints to the extent that is typical for onsite helpdesk technicians. This includes items like installing or replacing memory, replacing hard drives/SSDs and changing system batteries. We will also work with your hardware vendor to have hardware repaired under warranty. Managed service plans to NOT include the repair of failed hardware. We encourage you to keep your hardware under a warranty with the manufacturer. If there are costs for hardware repair outside of the warranty these costs (parts and labor) are not a part of your support services.
i) Unreliable Endpoints – Hardware of any age can become unreliable and when it does the solution is to replace the hardware. If a piece of hardware requires repairs, parts replacement or software rebuild/reinstall more than once it needs to be replaced. We set the following limits on endpoints based on age:
· Machines under warranty and aged 3 years or less – We will service or rebuild 2 times. After 2 repairs or rebuilds we ask you to replace the machine or pay hourly for additional support if it fails a 3rd time.
· Machines not on warranty or over 3 years old (but less than 5 years old) – We will service or rebuild 1 time. After 1 repair or rebuild we ask you to replace the machine or pay hourly for additional support if it fails a 2nd time.
· Machines over 5 years old – Any machine over 5 years should be replaced and we will not provide hardware support or rebuild these machines. Machines over 5 years old that experience a failure should be replaced.
j) Hardware modifications – We are not a hardware manufacturer and do not build computers. This means that our MSP services do not include modifications or major hardware upgrades. This includes upgrades to Motherboards, CPU’s, GPU’s, video cards, power supplies, cases and other major changes. We expect that endpoints will be purchased with the hardware that you plan to use throughout the lifecycle of the computer. We will perform installation of replacements of parts, like for like, as part of a repair to a computer if the repair has been approved and is supported by the manufacturer.
k) Multiple Monitors – We support computers with multiple monitors to the extent that the hardware was designed to support the configuration. Most commodity business computers will support two monitors even if they have more than two connections. We will not support more monitors on a computer than the machine and card were design for.
l) Spare Endpoint Hardware – We encourage our customers to keep one or more extra computers on hand and ready for deployment. This allows for quick resolution of endpoint problems and improves the efficiency of your staff. To encourage this key process we will build and maintain, at no charge, one machine to have on hand as a spare machine provided that the machine is not currently in use. For environments of more than 25 endpoints will build and maintain two endpoint machines and an additional endpoint for each additional 25 endpoints.
m) Hardware Warranty’s – Properly run businesses will have warranty support for endpoints that are critical to their business. MSP support does NOT alleviate the need for such warranties. We encourage you to keep your endpoints under contract for support with the manufacturer. This allows our technicians to work with your hardware vendor to resolve any issues as quickly as possible. If hardware support is not available for an endpoint that fails, we will troubleshoot the problem and work with the manufacturer to identify the cost of repair so you can make the decision to repair or replace.
6) Software Support
a) Endpoint Software – Support for business systems running on your endpoints is provided for all licensed software running on your endpoints. We provide industry standard support as typically provided by a helpdesk. Complex issues may require additional support from the manufacturer or software experts in the case of business systems. These specialty support costs are not part of MSP services.
b) Software Support – In order to best support your business systems, we request that you have support contracts for your business systems. Our technicians understand commercial software products but we are not a software vendor and thus cannot be responsible for being the final source for software support. We will perform that triage of all issues and interface with your vendors and support providers in order to get your problems resolved as quickly as possible.
c) Unsupported Software -- If you choose not to have support contract with vendors or if your chosen software does not have support, we will provide best effort support but cannot guarantee that we can fix issues that may require the expertise of the vendor or developers of the software. Capstan Services reserves the right to charge for support services on unsupported software and also may limit best effort support.
d) Support Limitations – All software vendors have limits to what they will support. Capstan Services depends on your vendors to be the final stop for support and will not provide any support beyond what the software vendor supports or recommends. If you have software that is being used outside of the support guidelines of your software vendor, we will not provide support for this software.
e) Software Upgrades – Keeping software updated is key to having a secure and stable computing environment. We provide support for installation of software updates as a part of MSP services. We will perform automated deployment of updates whenever possible which allows for the most seamless deployment outside of business hours. MSP services do not include additional services required that are not part of the installation of the upgrade. Services that are not included project management, software integration, software testing, integration testing, software development and software customization.
f) Out of Date Software – We encourage out customers to keep software updated in order to remediate the risks associated with unsupported software. If you choose to use out of date or unsupported software we will provide best effort support. Any risks, security or otherwise, related to outdated software is outside of your MSP services and Capstan Services accepts no responsibility for these risks.
7) Printers
a) Printer Support – MSP services include support for printing to network printers and problems with print queues on both server and workstations. Support for printer drivers is also a part of MSP services provided the printers are business class printers with current support from the vendor. We encourage all businesses to keep their printers current but also understand that there are occasions where old technology is required to meet specific business requirements. If your printer is out of date, we will provide best effort support.
b) Printer Hardware – Repair of printer hardware is not a part of MSP services. We will troubleshoot printer issues to the point of identifying a hardware problem. Hardware problems require a manufacturer trained specialist. We will be happy to make a warranty claim or arrange for printer repairs. The cost of any printer repairs is not included in MSP plans.
c) Managed Print Services – We encourage our customers to use a managed print vendor for all printing needs. Managed print vendors provide printer hardware and supplies at a cost that is almost always less than what you would pay buying the printer and supplies yourself. With managed print you also have hardware support for your printers which allows for high reliability and quick response times. We will partner with your managed print vendor to provide end to end services so that you never need to worry about printer issues. This is our preferred solution for our customers.
d) Printer Supplies – MSP services do not include any printing supplies and do not include the labor to install paper or supplies into printers. We will assist your users to learn how to change supplies if they need assistance.
8) Endpoint Security
a) Endpoint Security Software – We understand that every business is unique, and that no endpoint security solution is right for all companies. We therefore do not provide, require or mandate any specific endpoint software for our customers. This is an important business decision, and we allow you to make this decision for your business based on how the cost vs. risk fits your business needs. We are happy to assist you with this decision and provide our technical expertise. You will make the final decision since it is your business that must bear the costs and risks.
b) Endpoint Security Mandatory – We do not mandate any specific security solution, but we do mandate that you make an effort to protect your business from risks to endpoint. We will not provide support to any business that does not have endpoint security on Windows based endpoints. We are happy to implement the free Windows Defender or assist you in obtaining a low cost, base level endpoint security solution. We believe that Bitdefender is a good solution, and the base Bitdefender license is very reasonably priced.
c) Endpoint Security Monitoring – We will monitor, daily, the endpoint security product that you choose to implement at your business. We will also respond to any push alerts that are generated by your endpoint security product(s).
9) Onsite Support
a) Local Offices – Capstan Services believes strongly that an in-person relationship is key to supporting your users. Support services include onsite support on a regular plus as needed basis. We will send a technician onsite to your company’s primary location if they are within our service areas. This visit will average at most every 2-3 weeks for companies under 10 users. For companies over 10 users, we will average once a week. If your company requires visit on a specific day or time please let us know so that we can schedule the appropriate resources. If you require more or less frequent visits we are happy to work with you on a custom solution.
b) Remote Locations – Onsite support at remote locations is NOT included with your MSP services. This includes additional locations within our support areas as well as onsite support at the homes of your employees. We can provide onsite support for your additional locations at an additional charge and response times will be based on availability of Capstan Services staff.
c) Access to Facilities – We will require access to your facilities to support your environment and during onsite visits. We do NOT require unattended access nor the ability to enter without your knowledge. Please let us know your procedure for entry and if you have any requirements for monitoring our employees while they are on your premises. You may also choose, at your prerogative, to give our employees access to your facility. Capstan Services does not request or require direct or unmonitored access to any facility and any decision to allow our employees access and associated risks are made solely at your discretion.
10) Remote Computers
a) Traveling Laptops – We will provide remote support for laptops that are part of your environment. This support will include all services that are provided for the machine which can reasonably be provided remotely. This includes software support, operating system support and patching to the extent that the machine has reliable Internet connectivity. Support for networks, printers and other infrastructure is NOT included while a laptop is traveling since we have no control over the hardware.
b) Home Computers – Support for computers at employees’ homes is not included in MSP services unless the computers are added to your support plan.
c) VPN – An exception to the Home Computers support limitation is that MSP plans will support the use of a VPN on a home computer that is not part of the plan. If you allow your users to use their own home computer, we will provide limited support to remotely install the VPN client and setup a VPN connection to your business. We do not encourage this practice since it opens your network to computers that are not under corporate control. If you choose to allow home computers to VPN into your corporate network, you accept all risk and liability.
11) Network Support
a) Routers/Firewalls – MSP services include support for the components of your network. Your network should include a router and/or firewall. We will provide support for your edge router and/or firewall providing that it is a model/brand that we have the ability to support. Supported models include SonicWALL, XYXel, Meraki, WatchGuard & Sophos. MSP services do NOT include support for Cisco or Juniper routers or Firewall. If you have Cisco or another brand of router/firewall not listed please ask. (Capstan Services generally recommends the use of SonicWALL routers due to the price/performance they provide.)
b) Switches – We will provide support for the switches in your network provided they are corporate switches. We will support Cisco, Netgear, SonicWALL and Meraki. We do not support TP-Link, D-Link, TRENDnet or other home brands of switches. We ask that you budget to upgrade these to a corporate switch if they require our services.
c) Wireless – MSP services include support for corporate wireless networks. This includes support and configuration of Wireless Access Point and wireless controllers. We do NOT provide support for wireless repeater systems which are not appropriate for a corporate network.
d) Wired Networking – We support and maintain your network equipment and intra-equipment patching as part of MSP services. This includes patch cables within wiring racks, structured cable management as well as the equipment to support your network (switches, routers, hubs, etc.). The cost of the equipment, cables and fiber are not included. If your business requires new or replacement cable of fiber within the building itself this is not included. We are happy to assist you with identifying a vendor and working with your vendor of choice to complete such projects.
e) VPN – We will setup and install router-based VPN connections as part of your MSP services. This includes site-to-site VPN’s as well as software VPNs for remote workers. VPNs require a router that is capable of supporting a VPN and the cost of any hardware or software upgrade costs for your router are not included as part of your MSP services. (If you choose to upgrade your router the labor to perform the upgrade is included.)
12) Business Process
a) Employee Onboarding – We support your corporate onboarding process as an integral part of our process. We will build a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the onboarding process at your company. We request 48 hours’ notice prior to onboarding a new employee whenever possible. We will be happy to work with your Human Resources (HR) team to integrate our process into your corporate HR process.
b) Employee Termination – Shutdown of IT services is a key part of employee termination, and we take this part of your business seriously. We will build an SOP with your HR department that will allow for seamless termination of employees. We ask that you please take the time to work with us on this extremely important process. When notified of an employee termination we will do our best to coordinate with the HR staff to shut off all services while the employee is in the termination meeting.
13) Response Times
a) Incident Priorities – All support requests are prioritized on a scale of 0 to 5 where severity 0 is the most severe and 5 is no priority. The score is based on four factors: 1) scope, 2) Impact on goodwill, 3) impact on operations and 4) urgency. We use a scoring matrix (Appendix E) to identify the priority on our 0 – 5 scale. The final score allows us to properly set a case priority.
b) Incident Response – We pride ourselves on having quick response time and we normally respond to all requests on the same day. Most requests receive a response within a few hours. We also understand that there are times when external circumstances cause high volumes both for our company and for yours. We use incident priorities to set maximum response times and set priorities within your business. Appendix F contains our response time template. This template can be customized to set priorities specific to your business.
c) Incident Reporting – All severity 0 & 1 incidents will generate an after-incident report that will be shared with the executive team at your company. This allows us to review the response and look for opportunities for improvement. We will work with you to identify any changes that can be made to prevent future outages and also look for process improvement opportunities. We take outages seriously and ask for your partnership in reviewing after-incident reports.
14) Legal & Compliance
a) Software – All software must be legally licensed. Capstan Services will NEVER support, install, deploy, maintain, use or assist in the use of software that is illegal or improperly licensed. This includes the use of software that is licensed for home use which is being used in a business environment. Identification of ANY illegal software on a computer will result in a hard stop on support until the license issue is resolved.
b) Illegal Activities – We will NOT work on any activity that is identified as being illegal or which we cannot reasonably know is within state, federal and local laws. If we are asked to work on an activity that we believe to be illegal, we reserve the right to stop work until we can identify that no laws are being broken.
c) Non-Disclosure Agreements – Our employees are prepared to sign a reasonable don-disclosure agreement that protects your company and your intellectual property. We encourage you to provide your NDA to each employee directly as we understand this to be the proper solution. Capstan Services will be happy to sign a corporate non-disclosure, but we cannot guarantee that this will transfer to our employees. If this is important to your company, we suggest you consult an attorney.
15) Health and Safety
a) Employee Safety – We consider the safety of our employees to the utmost priority. We will not allow our employees to perform any activity that may be adverse to their welfare, health or safety. All services provided as part of this or any other agreement will be limited to activities that are deemed safe for our employees by both Capstan Services and the specific employee engaged in the activity.
b) Specific Safety Restrictions – The following is a list of activities that our employees will NOT perform as a part of this or any other services agreement and which they are expressly prohibited from performing.
(1) Climbing or being raised to any height off the ground
(2) Opening any entry or door using anything other than a key or keypad
(3) Entering any unsafe area (as deemed by the employee)
(4) Anything that would not be an OSHA approved activity
(5) Operation of fork lifts, scissor lifts or any heavy equipment
(6) Operation of manufacturing machinery
(7) Working with or around any wiring containing high voltage
16) Backup and Disaster Recovery
a) Backup Software – Capstan services will support your backups using the enterprise backup software of your choice. We require that all backup software is intended for corporate use and do not recommend software products intended for home use. All backup services and software should support point in time restores, BareMetal backup/restore, file level restore, NTFS security and rights and support for corporate technologies like SQL Server and Exchange server.
b) Backup Services – We will manage and monitor backups on your choice of cloud services proving that they are proper backup services which are purpose built for corporate backups. If you wish to use Barracuda backup and cloud services, we will be happy to discuss options for backup services at an additional cost. MSP services do not include building or developing any form of custom backup solution and we will not support backups to non-backup services like AWS or Azure. If you plan to build your own backup solution, we suggest that you hire a development firm to build and design a product for you. This does not prohibit you from using a corporate backup solution that uses a cloud provider for storage provided that the cloud provider manages these services.
c) File Sharing Services – File sharing services like Dropbox, OneDrive and box.com are great services for file sharing and enabling users to quickly find old versions of their files. We will manage these services as part of your MSP services but do NOT consider these to be proper backups for your business. We encourage you to back these services up using a corporate backup service in order to properly protect your business from the risk of data loss.
d) Backup Support – MSP services include the setup and configuration of backups, Daily monitoring of your backups, quarterly test restores and backup/recovery planning for your server environment. We will restore backups if you experience data loss, hardware failure, encryption attacks or other data loss. Backups are not intended for daily use or to restore files that users regularly lose or overwrite due to poor business process or poor computing hygiene. If this becomes a problem, we will require the sign off of the CEO for all file restores in order to assist your business with resolving these issues.
e) Onsite & Cloud Backups – We believe strongly that a proper disaster plan includes both onsite and cloud-based backups. Onsite backups allow for fast recovery from hardware failures and other events where you lose a specific machine or machines. Cloud based backups are slower to restore but give you the added protection required when larger disasters like fires, floods and encryption-based attacks. We heavily encourage you to have a backup plan that includes both forms of backup. If you choose not to have both forms of backup you choose this at your own risk.
f) Backups to removable storage – Your company deserves to have proper backups that are intended to protect a company for the many risks that you will face in our modern computing environment. Backing up to external devices like tapes, external disks and external hard drives to not provide an appropriate level of protection for todays companies. Additionally, these technologies are very slow to restore from and they pose a risk of extensive business outage during a disaster. Capstan Services will not provide support services for these forms of backup.
17) Vendor Management
a) Vendor Management – As your partner we will work with your technology vendors to manage your accounts and interface with your vendors when there are issues. This is a key part of our service since we can more quickly resolve issues if with have access to the vendors. By engaging with your vendors, we will have the relationship in place prior to needing their support.
b) Account Access – We need to have access and be authorized on your accounts if we are going to be able to get problems resolved. We ask that you engage us with your vendor during the onboarding process in order to build our relationships before problems occur. We will provide a list of vendor types at onboarding but you should feel free to engage us with additional vendors who may have been missed.
c) Types of Vendors – The following vendors are typically managed by your IT department or MSP. We are happy to manage these relationships:
· Internet Service Provider(s)
· Phone Provider(s)
· Hardware Vendor(s)
· Software Vendor(s)
18) Virtual CIO
a) What is vCIO? Our Virtual CIO services allow your business to have an executive team member without the cost of a full time CIO. You have access to your vCIO on an as needed basis and as a part of our quarterly business review meeting. You can work with your vCIO to perform strategic tasks as well as planning and budgeting.
b) Strategic Planning – Our services are built around an IT program that is well tested and programs like ours are typical in corporate environments. Getting the process right usually requires a bit of planning and your vCIO is available to help you with planning. In addition, your vCIO can assist with longer term strategic planning of your technology needs.
c) Budgeting – We encourage you to have an IT budget and we are here to assist you with your technology budgeting needs. We will be tracking your vendors and can identify all the areas where you have technology spend. We can then work with your accounting/finance team to obtain the historic costs of these services and prepare a budget going forward. We will also estimate hardware and software costs that will be required to keep your hardware and software reliable and up to date.
d) Budget Containment – Your support team and vCIO are always looking for cost saving opportunities for your business. We work with many vendors and partners and regularly find opportunities to save in various areas of your business.
e) Continual Improvement – At Capstan Services we are constantly striving to improve our service levels. We are here to help your business improve as well. Most companies do not have IT processes, budgets and systems in place when we start working with them. Your vCIO will work with you to build a plan for improving your IT environment over time and within your budget. We understand that not every aspect of our program is achievable for every company, but we always identify opportunities for improvement.
19) Intellectual Property
a) Ownership of Documentation – Capstan Services will be providing you with documentation as a part of the services provided. All documentation created by Capstan Services is property of Capstan Services, Inc. and will remain property of Capstan Services, Inc. in perpetuity. Documentation created by Capstan Services may not be shared, sold, copied or otherwise used for any purpose other than to understand and/or maintain the computing environment for which they were provided to support.
b) Ownership of Processes – All processes created and provided to you by Capstan Services are Property of Capstan Services, Inc. Processes created by Capstan Services, Inc. cannot be shared, copied, reused, modified
c) Ownership of Source Code – Any source code shared with you or installed on any computer by Capstan Services is property of Capstan Services unless this code was written by Capstan Services for your company under a separate contract. This agreement does NOT include any software development services.
20) Termination of Service
a) Termination – All contracts are month to month and may be terminated by either party. Termination of this agreement must be made in writing. Contracts will terminate at 11:59 pm on that last day of the termination month. The termination month will be the later of either the last month for which payment has been made or the last month in which Capstan Services has performed services for your business.
b) Payment for Outstanding Charges – All outstanding charges will become due upon termination of your contract. Any outstanding charges that have payment terms will become due upon the date of contract termination. Contracts that have been terminated (by either party) and also have charges past due will have services terminated immediately for non-payment.
c) Non-Payment of Services – Capstan Services will have the right to terminate or limit any/all services if there are charges past due. This service interruption will be independent of the termination status of the agreement. Any limitation or termination of services due will be at the expense of the customer who is past due and is not cause for any refund or discount.
d) Illegal Activities – Capstan Services reserves the right to terminate services at any time if Capstan Services deems that there are or may be illegal activities being performed. Any contract terminated due to illegal activities will NOT be refunded for any remainder of the contract.
Appendix A – Software supported for automated patching
1) 7-Zip File Archiver
2) Adobe Acrobat Reader DC
3) Adobe AIR
4) Adobe Flash Player (As supported by Adobe)
5) Adobe Shockwave
6) Amazon Corretto
7) Apple Bonjour
8) Apple Garage Band
9) Apple iMovie
10) Apple Keynote
11) Apple Numbers
12) Apple MacOS
13) Apple Safari
14) FileZilla
15) Google Chrome
16) GoTo Meeting
17) Internet Explorer 11
18) LibreOffice
19) Microsoft .Net 3.5
20) Microsoft .Net 4.5
21) Microsoft .Net 4.6
22) Microsoft .Net 4.7
23) Microsoft Edge
24) Microsoft Excel 2019
25) Microsoft Office 2010
26) Microsoft Office 2013
27) Microsoft Office 2016
28) Microsoft Office 365
29) Microsoft Office Runtime
30) Microsoft OneNote
31) Microsoft Outlook
32) Microsoft PowerPoint
33) Microsoft Skype
34) Microsoft SQL Server 2005
35) Microsoft SQL Server 2012
36) Microsoft SQL Server 2014
37) Microsoft Teams
38) Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable
39) Microsoft Visual Studio 2008
40) Mozilla Firefox
41) Notepad ++
42) Oracle Java Runtime SE
43) Oracle VirtualBox
44) PuTTY
45) RealVNC
46) Teamviewer
47) VLC Media Player
48) Windows 7 (as supported by Microsoft)
49) Windows 8.1
50) Windows 10
51) Windows 2012
52) Windows 2012 R2
53) Windows 2016
54) Windows 2019
55) Windows Defender
56) WinRAR
57) Wireshark
Appendix B – Server Monitoring
1) Active Directory Performance
2) Active Directory Services
3) Backup Errors
4) DHCP Address Pool
5) DHCP Performance
6) DHCP Service
7) DNS Performance
8) DNS Service
9) Event Log System Errors
10) High CPU Utilization
11) IIS Performance
12) IIS Counters
13) IIS Services
14) Low Disk Space
15) Memory Issues
16) Network Utilization
17) Page File Issues
18) Printer Queue Errors
19) Printer Queue Stuck Jobs
20) Print Spooler Service
21) SQL Server Performance
22) SQL Server Services
23) Stopped Services
24) Terminal Services Performance
25) Terminal Services Service
26) WINS Performance
27) WINS Service
Appendix C – Workstation Monitoring
1) High CPU Utilization
2) Internet Speed
3) Low Disk Space
4) Network Errors
5) Page File Issues
6) Printer Queue Errors
7) Printer Queue Stuck Jobs
8) Print Spooler Service
9) Remote App Errors
10) Restricted Executable Files
11) USB Monitoring (Optional)
Appendix D – Standard Maintenance
1) Restore Point Creation
2) Patch Deployment – Operating System
3) Patch Deployment – Software
4) Print Job Auditing
5) Print Spooler Cleanup
6) Software Cleanup (Crapware)
7) Temp File Cleanup