This section outlines MedTech support guidelines as well as partner responsibilities.
MedTech is here for your technical needs.
- MedTech will conduct business in a courteous and professional manner with WSU College of Medicine faculty, staff, students, and affiliates.
- MedTech will attempt first contact resolution with all partners.
- MedTech will document all information from partners required to establish contact information and to document the nature of the problem.
- MedTech will escalate support requests if not resolved prior to established resolution time targets.
- Partner shall use these policies and guidelines to request help and service.
- Partner shall monitor email and technology status web page for notifications of scheduled maintenance and unplanned outages.
- Partner shall respond to inquiries from MedTech staff regarding incidents and service requests.
- Partner shall adhere to and comply with all applicable policies and procedures including but not limited to:
- Electronic Communication Policy EP 4.
- Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Policy EP 7.
- WSU System Data Policies EP 8.
- University Network Policy EP 16.
- University Domain Name Policy EP 21.
- WSU Information Security Policy EP 37.
- College of Medicine Communication with Medical Students Policy.
Support Delivery Types
The following technical support services are provided to Partners of MedTech for all supported software and hardware.
Technical assistance via medicine.tech@wsu.edu; escalation to higher-level support as appropriate.
Technical assistance via 509.368.6848 and escalation to higher-level support as appropriate.
Technical assistance and escalation to higher-level support as appropriate.
Technical assistance and escalation to higher-level support as appropriate.
Categories
The following technical support categories indicate how we support Partners of MedTech.
- Tier O: Self-help and Partner-retrieved information via the tutorials on our website.
- Tier 1: Basic help desk resolution and service desk delivery via Slack or our Get Help form.
- Tier 2: In-depth technical support.
- Tier 3: Expert product and service support (could include external vendor support).
Priorities and Support Targets
MedTech will acknowledge all technical support requests within 1 business day of contact and will provide an estimated time when technical support will be available. The estimated time can vary depending on the severity of the problem. Technical support targets indicate the expected response, resolution, and update time for technical support requests from Partners of MedTech.
Assigned to issues with significant negative impact on multiple individuals or teams. This priority is assigned to system outages and severe service degradations.
Services Hours: Monday–Friday, 8:00am–5:00pm *After-Hours On-Call
Initial Response Time: 15 minutes
Resolution Target: 4 business hours
Status Update Frequency: 1 hour
Assigned to issues negatively impacting the reporting individual or team. This is our default priority level and is assigned to most support requests.
Services Hours: Monday–Friday, 8:00am–5:00pm
Initial Response Time: 4 business hours
Resolution Target: 2 business days
Status Update Frequency: 1 business day
Assigned to requests with limited impact on the reporting individual or our other partners. This priority level is assigned to inquiries about technical information or general configuration, where the purpose of the request is not to resolve an active problem or system anomaly.
Services Hours: Monday–Friday, 8:00am–5:00pm
Initial Response Time: 1 business day
Resolution Target: 5 business days
Status Update Frequency: 3 business days
After evaluating the situation, MedTech may upgrade or downgrade the severity rating to accurately reflect the situation at hand.
It is the goal of MedTech to meet—and exceed, when possible—the level of services documented in these policies and guidelines. For example, a support request with low priority will still be resolved quickly when possible.
Support targets do not include hardware repairs requiring parts to be ordered or warranty repairs. Also excluded are incidents where we are dependent on other technology business units within WSU and vendors in providing support services to the WSU College of Medicine. MedTech will coordinate as needed with such internal business units and with vendors regarding the provision of services under these policies and guidelines but cannot guarantee these support targets will be met when dealing with them.
Dependence on Others
MedTech is dependent on technology business units within WSU and on external vendors in providing support services to WSU College of Medicine. MedTech will coordinate as needed with such internal business units and with outside vendors regarding the provision of services. See Primary Support Responsibility for a list of who is primarily responsible for all technology support.
After-Hours On-Call Support
After-hours on-call support for urgent issues is available to partners of MedTech. This support is available when the issue impacts many people or when an unplanned outage occurs. Other support inquiries will be addressed the next business day.
For after-hours support, contact us on the Slack channel #medtech-help or by calling 509.368.6848. We will do our best to respond in a timely manner, but we may not always be available immediately.
Up-time
For those applications that we administer and provide primary support, including E.Flo MD, E.Flo Apps such as Colleagues, and any websites hosted on our WordPress/Elementor instances, we offer the following targets for up-time including:
- E.Flo MD and E.Flo apps 99.99 up-time, or ~1 hour of downtime per year.
- WordPress/Elementor websites 99.9, or ~8 hours of downtime per year.
Technology Outages
In the event of a technology-related outage, MedTech will enact a communications plan and in cases where our critical services are impacted, we will enact a Critical Service Backup Strategy, which will help our partners begin to restore access to those critical services.
Outages that are critical to business operations and/or education will take precedent over all other Office of Technology operations and will be handled with the highest level of attention.
Critical Service Back-up Strategy
When an unplanned outage impacts critical services including access to Wi-Fi, network, VPN, telephone, classroom technology, or E.Flo MD, the MedTech team will:
- For E.Flo MD outages lasting longer than 5 minutes, MedTech will provide session information including classroom location and Zoom meeting details to stakeholders on IT Slack channels. Session resources will be posted on Slack as needed.
- For Wi-Fi outages lasting longer than 5 minutes, MedTech will get a list of impacted classrooms and ensure hotspots and other technology are deployed to those locations so that education can continue unimpacted.
- For critical service outages lasting longer than 60 minutes, MedTech will notify all stakeholders to consider alternative work arrangements.
Procedure for Unsatisfactory Support and Services
Partners of MedTech should contact the Director of the Office of Technology, Erika Fleck, in the case where support was not delivered in a satisfactory manner. Contact the Director via email or provide feedback on our website. We will debrief and conduct an incident report before engaging in a continuous quality improvement process to improve support in the future.
“Best Effort” Support Definition
"Best effort" support will be provided for software purchases with College of Medicine funds that do not meet the conditions of full support and for devices that fall under the exceptions for full support. It only applies to software that is purchased using College of Medicine funds, used on College of Medicine-owned devices, and meets one of the conditions below:
- Vendor is still releasing patches/updates (not end of life).
- Not acquired through standard technology procurement processes.
- Outdated software or operating system that must be used for specific research tools or equipment will receive minimum support. These types of devices must be disconnected from the network.
by the Office of Technology