Benefits

• Sites joining the Agreement save 10% off the ESC list prices
• Flexible support packages available, based on number of FTE staff or maximum number of incidents
• ESC has the ability to escalate support calls at no extra charge

Key Dates

• Start: 01 January 2012
• End: 31 December 2014

Eligible Institutions

Higher and Further Education and Research Councils in the United Kingdom and to Third Level Colleges in the Republic of Ireland.

Background Information

Eduserv entered into negotiations for ESC Services as a result of requests from the community.  This is the third agreement with the ESC through Eduserv.

Supplier Details

Owner: Education Support Centre UK Ltd (ESC) 

Product Description

The ESC is a shared service, set up by Microsoft in 2004 to provide escalation support for issues with Microsoft technologies.  It provides dedicated support to the education sector.

Education specialists

The ESC only deals with the education sector and therefore has an understanding of issues that are unique to that environment.  This focus enables the ESC to understand the ramifications of specific system failures that are not necessarily understood by the business sector.  The engineers and staff in the ESC all understand the importance of all systems being available through clearing and registration; print servers on essay deadline days; security aspects of a network, both internal and external (the responsibility to protect).  The ESC provides insurance against having issues with the Microsoft environment that customers may be unable to resolve quickly, via access to dedicated engineers that could help customers to be back up and running faster than may otherwise be the case.

Support for English language versions

The ESC provides technical support for English language versions of software produced by Microsoft Ltd.  The ESC break/fix support service covers all Microsoft Products covered by Campus and Select Agreements, from desktop applications to server products; virtualisation technologies to messaging solutions.  The ESC also provides support for products outside the Microsoft Support Cycle on a ‘reasonable efforts’ basis. 

What support is provided?

Support is provided via phone, email and web.  The ESC works with customers’ staff to resolve problems in the shortest possible timeframe.  80% of issues are resolved by the ESC’s own engineers.  That said, if ESC is unable to resolve an issue, support from the ESC includes a discretionary escalation channel to ESC selected escalation partner, directly to Microsoft or to a qualified Microsoft partner

This service includes break/fix support and advice, help services, fault diagnosis and recommendations for correction including action plans, patch and hotfix issuing.  Recent cases have involved, but are not limited to, issues and errors with migrations and upgrades; policy and permissions issues; security and virus issues; and crashes and performance degradation. All fixes are subject to the limitations imposed by contractual restrictions of Microsoft Ltd. 

The ESC ensures that its expertise is current by a continuous improvement program whereby staff members undertake personal and group training to ensure that their Microsoft and troubleshooting skills are up-to-date.

Pricing

Should a Licensee become licensed partway through a licence year (running from 1 January to 31 December), then the Fee shall be discounted.  Please contact Eduserv Help (help@eduserv.org.uk / 01225 470 523) for a quote if joining partway through a licence year.

In the table above the 12 Incident Package allows a Licensee to make a maximum of 12 requests for service from ESC in each of the Years of the Agreement (1 January through to 31 December).  Should a Licensee choose this option and become licensed partway through a Year, then the number of requests for service that may be made by that Licensee shall be prorated from the month in which the relevant licence starts and the end of 31 December of the current Year of Agreement.

A Licensee may order Additional Contacts at the price of £850 per Additional Contact per year. Should an Additional Contact be added partway through a Year, then the Fee shall be prorated from the month in which the Contact is added to the end of 31 December of the current Year of Agreement. Additional contacts added to a licence can be removed at any time but no refunds will be given. Any reduction in payments due as a result of additional contacts being removed from a licence will take effect from the next annual payment.

Payment Terms

Eduserv is the party responsible for invoicing and collecting Fees.

Unless otherwise shown:

• all prices are in GBP;
• all prices exclude VAT which shall apply at the appropriate rate;
• payments are due within thirty days of invoice date; recipients of late payments are entitled to interest in accordance with the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations 2002.

Eduserv will invoice a Licensed Site for the first year on receipt of a Licence Order Form (PDF, 548 Kb)  .  In subsequent years, Licensed Sites will be invoiced on the 1st of October.

Agreement Period

Start date: 1 January 2012         End date: 31 December 2014

Commitment Period

Licensed institutions are committed until 31 December 2014.  Sites may cancel early by giving written notice to Eduserv and ESC before 30 September in the year in which they wish to cancel.  A penalty fee will be payable.  No refunds will be given.

How to Order

1. Read the ESC Terms and Conditions (PDF, 138 Kb)  

2. Download and complete one copy of the Licence Order Form. (PDF, 548 Kb)  

3. Return the Licence Form with a Purchase Order to "Eduserv" by:

Email: help@eduserv.org.uk

or

Post:
Eduserv
Royal Mead
Railway Place
Bath
BA1 1SR

Licence Type

The Chest Agreement with ESC is for a service. The Eduserv Terms and Conditions have not been adopted.  Before purchasing services from ESC using the Chest Agreement, please read:

• ESC Terms and Conditions (PDF, 138 Kb)  

Termination Clauses

When a licence is purchased, the site is committed to the Chest Agreement for the ESC service from the licence start date through to 31 December 2014.  

A site has the opportunity before the start of the 2013 licence year and before the start of the 2014 licence year to cancel early by giving Eduserv and the ESC written notice by 30 September and paying a cancellation fee.

The Cancellation Fees are:

Location and Use Permissions

Students
Academic Staff
Non-Academic Staff
Staff home use rights
Student home use rights
Access via Citrix, Terminal Server

Personal Licences

Personal licences are not available under this Agreement.

Support Services 

The Services will be delivered within the ESC’s normal working hours of 8.00 am to 6.00 pm, Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays and the Nottingham Trent University closure days.

Service Level Agreement:

• The standard service level for an initial response to a technical query is four (4) hours.
• A response within two (2) hours is available for high impact technical issues.
• General queries will be responded to within one (1) working day.

The service level will be set by agreement between the technician and the customer in all instances.

Service Exclusions

The ESC will not be obliged to support the customer under the following circumstances:

• Requests for services for which the customer does not hold a licence with Microsoft Ltd for the use of the software for which support is requested.
• Requests for services for software products for which Microsoft Ltd has withdrawn support, save that the ESC will make a best efforts endeavour to provide help where it can.
• Requests for support on behalf of a third party.
• Requests which the ESC deems are the liability of customer's own in-house technical support staff.
• Late or non-payment of an invoice from Eduserv or the ESC to the customer.

The ESC is unable to provide support for the following:

• Games and hardware.
• Non-English language versions.

On-site support, design, consultation, deployment, root cause analysis, debugging, coding and scripting support.

Service Development

ESC endeavours to maintain the highest possible Service standards at all times, and to enhance and develop the Service in line with the needs of its user community.

Method of delivery of product

Requests for assistance may be made from a Licensee by telephone or e-mail by a contact named on that Licensee's Licence Form (the Order Form).

Online Instructions

The ESC website has a log in area where members can log calls and view the status of current incidents:

www.escuk.net

Technical Support

ESC Services can be contacted at:

Phone: 0870 012 0122

Email: info@escuk.net

Address: Education Support Centre UK Ltd, Nottingham Trent University, Burton Street, Nottingham, NG1 4BU