The following technical support services guidelines ("Guidelines") apply to support services for your Google Apps Enterprise Agreement, Google Apps for Business Agreement, Google Apps - Security and Compliance Agreement, Google Apps - Message and Collaboration Agreement, Google Apps Premier Edition Agreement, Postini Services Contract, Google Apps for ISPs Agreement (also known as Google Apps Partner Edition Agreement), and/or Google Apps for Education Agreement (also known as Google Apps Education Edition Agreement) entered into by and between Google and Customer (as may be applicable, the "Agreement"). Google Apps Message and Collaboration services, Google Apps Core services and services provided under the Google Apps for Business Agreement, Google Apps for ISPs Agreement (also known as Google Apps Partner Edition Agreement), and Google Apps for Education Agreement (also known as Google Apps Education Edition Agreement) are collectively referred to in these Guidelines as "Google Apps Services." Google Apps - Postini Services and services provided under the Google Apps - Security and Compliance Agreement and Postini Services Contract are referred to in these Guidelines as "Postini Services." Capitalized terms not defined herein have the meaning set forth in the Agreement. For clarity, Google will have no obligation under the Agreement (or these Guidelines) to provide support for any of the services set forth at the following URL: http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=181865.

• Support Request Submission
  • 1.1. Customer Efforts to Fix Errors. Prior to making a request to Google, Customer will use reasonable efforts to fix any error, bug, malfunction or network connectivity defect without escalation to Google. Thereafter, a Customer Contact may submit a written request for technical support through the online help center or support portal as provided by Google, or by phone.
  • 1.2. Characterization of Requests. Customers designate priority upon submission of Requests. Upon receiving a request from Customer Contact, Google will determine whether the request is a "Service Unusable," "Standard Request" or a "Feature Request" (as defined in Section 7). Any such determination made by Google is final and binding on Customer. Google reserves the right to change Customer's Priority designation if Google believes that Customer's designation is incorrect and will inform Customer of any such change in its response to the support Request. Customer may appeal any such reclassification to Google's Support management for review through any available support channel.
  • 1.3. Procedures for Acknowledgement and Resolution of Requests. When making a Request, Customer will provide requested diagnostic information including but not limited to: (i) describing the problem, the configuration, and Customer's network; (ii) providing relevant data; and (iii) communicating further via email or telephone to answer questions and assist Google Support Personnel as appropriate.
  • 1.4. Request Acknowledgement. Google may respond to a Request by acknowledging receipt of the Request. Customer acknowledges and understands that Google may be unable to provide answers to, or resolve all, Requests.
  • 1.5. Feature Requests. If Google deems a Request as a Feature Request, Google will log such Request for consideration to add to a future update or release of the Services and will consider the matter closed. Google is under no obligation to respond to or resolve any Feature Request or to include any such Feature Request in any future update or release.
• Accessing Support
  • 2.1. Google Help Center. Customer's End Users of the Google Apps Services are provided support solely through the Google.com Help Center, which is accessible at http://www.google.com/support/ or such URL as Google may provide. Customer is responsible for responding to any questions and complaints by End Users or other third parties relating to Customer's or its End Users' use of the Services, with such support services to be provided at Customer's own expense.
  • 2.2. Support Hours and Target Initial Response Times. Google will provide access to help center and phone support for customers on a 24 x 7 basis. P1 Priority support Requests are responded to with a target initial response time of one hour and are responded to 24 x 7. If contact is made for a P1 Priority support Request on a weekend or applicable holiday, a phone call is needed to trigger a return support response. P2, P3 & P4 Priority support Requests are responded to during business hours of the location to which the Requests are assigned. P2 Priority support Requests will be responded to with an initial target response time of 1 business day or less.
  • 2.3 Customer ID and PIN may be Required to Access Support. For Google Apps Services, Customer will obtain a Customer PIN and Support PIN in the Admin Console in order to enable Customer to receive support from Google. Customer may be required to provide current Customer PIN and Support PIN in order to access support. If Customer is unable to provide both current Customer PIN and Support PIN when prompted, Customer will only be able to access the online help center and post a question to its online help forum, until such time as the Customer PIN and Support PIN are restored. The Customer PIN and Support PIN are updated periodically and are only available in the Admin Console.
• General Provisions
  • 3.1. Updates to Guidelines. Google may update these Guidelines from time to time but any update will not have a material adverse effect on Customer.
  • 3.2. Maintenance.. To ensure optimal performance of the Services, Google performs periodic Maintenance. In most cases, Maintenance will have limited or no negative impact on the availability and functionality of the Services. If Google expects planned Maintenance to negatively affect the availability or functionality of the Services, Google will use commercially reasonable efforts to provide at least seven days advance notice of the Maintenance. In addition, Google may perform emergency unscheduled Maintenance at any time. If Google expects such emergency unscheduled Maintenance to negatively affect the availability or functionality of the Services, Google will use commercially reasonable efforts to provide advance notice of such Maintenance. Maintenance notices noted above will be provided via the Apps Status Dashboard, Admin Console and/or Support Portal. In addition, Customers who subscribe may also be able to receive email and/or RSS Feed notifications of Maintenance.
  • 3.3. Language. The parties agree that all support provided by Google to Customer pursuant to these Guidelines will be provided in the English language.
  • 3.4. Term of Support. Google will only provide the support services described in these Guidelines during the term of the Agreement and will have no obligation to provide any support services to Customer after the expiration or termination of such Agreement.
• Standard Support All Customers will receive Standard Support which includes the following:
  • Automatic product upgrades of the Services
  • Maintenance updates of the Services
  • Online self help and training for End Users and Administrators designed to assist Customers with implementation and use of the Services
  • Access to support by phone and web
  • Status Dashboard providing real-time publicly available status information for the Services
• Premium Support (additional fees apply)
  Premium Support Services include all of the items set forth in Section 4 above as well as improved initial target response times to support Requests and Proactive Account Management from the Google Premium Services team, beginning when Customer starts to use the Services in production. Google agrees to use commercially reasonable efforts to respond to Customer requests based on the Priority of the Request as follows: P1 Priority support Requests are responded to with a target initial response time of 1 hour and are responded to 24 x 7. If contact is made for a P1 Priority support Request on a weekend or applicable holiday, a phone call is needed to trigger a return support response. P2 Priority support Requests are responded to with a target initial response time of 4 hours during business hours of the location to which the Requests are assigned. P3 and P4 Priority support Requests will be responded to with an initial target response time of 8 hours during business hours of the location to which the Requests are assigned. Proactive Account Management provides access to community resources from the Google Premium Services team for planning, advice, communication, and escalation purposes, with the Premium Services team, representing Customers to Google for important topics (including Engineering, Product Management, and Support), and providing Customer with relevant information when available pertaining to Services in or planned for use. For clarity, note that the Google Support Personnel - and not the Google Premium Services team - handle all break-fix and technical support issues as described above in this Section. Google may elect to not renew such Premium Support Services after a 12-month period.
• Express Support and Premier Support Phased Out
  The Express Support and Premier Support programs have been phased out. Each Customer who previously purchased Express Support or Premier Support will continue to receive that support for the remainder of its current support term, subject to the terms describing such Express or Premier Support in effect when the Customer last purchased such support. When such current Express or Premier Support term ends, it will not be renewed and will terminate, unless Google agrees otherwise in writing.
• Glossary of Definitions
  • For the purpose of these Guidelines, the capitalized terms below will have the following meanings:
    • 7.1 "Customer Contacts" means Administrators designated in the Admin Console.
    • 7.2 "Feature Request" means a Request by a Customer Contact to incorporate a new feature or enhance an existing feature of the Services that is currently not available as part of the existing Services.
    • 7.3 "Google Support Personnel" mean the Google representatives responsible for handling technical support requests.
    • 7.4 "Maintenance" means maintenance work that is performed on hardware or software delivering the Services.
    • 7.5 "Priority" means the level of impact a Request is having on Customer's operations and is used to establish target response times.
      • P1: Critical Impact - Service Unusable in Production
      • P2: High Impact - Service Use Severely Impaired
      • P3: Medium Impact - Service Use Partially Impaired
      • P4: Low Impact - Service Fully Usable
    • 7.6 "Request" means a request from Customer to Google Support Personnel for technical support to resolve a question or problem report regarding the Services.
    • 7.7 "Service Unusable" is any situation where Customer is unable to access or use the Services for the majority of its End Users or where Customer's network is not receiving any inbound email (and/or outbound email from the Services). Customer must identify a Request as Service Unusable by designating it as a P1 Priority support Request.
    • 7.8 "Standard Request" means a Request made by Customer to Google that is not a Service Unusable Request or Feature Request.
    • 7.9 "Standard Support" is defined above in Section 4.