SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT (SLA) SCHEDULE
Platform: LABA (Registered Trademark for Laboratory Information Management Systems)
Operating Entity: Biomed Systems Limited (Company No. 11537514, VAT Registration No. GB 515912105), First Floor Office, 3 Hornton Place, London, W8 4LZ, United Kingdom
Contractual Context: This Service Level Agreement ("SLA") forms part of the binding operational schedule to the Master Terms and Conditions of Business between Biomed Systems Limited and the research, clinical, or institutional entity specified in an executed Order Form ("Client").
Scope: Sets out technical support response thresholds, system availability commitments, incident remediation protocols, and maintenance delivery boundaries for Cloud-Hosted and On-Premise deployments.
1 Helpdesk Access and Operational Hours
1.1 Standard Operational Support: Technical support engineering coverage is delivered Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:30 UK GMT/BST, excluding UK Public Bank Holidays.
1.2 Helpdesk Despatch: All technical enquiries, incident notifications, and defect reports must be submitted via our authenticated administrative ticketing gateway or by direct email to the dedicated support address provided to the Client upon deployment.
Direct Engineering Contact: Authorised institutional administrators interface directly with senior system architects. We do not utilise outsourced or unverified tier-1 call centres.
2 Incident Classification and Target Resolution Framework
Biomed Systems Limited triages all reported technical incidents by operational severity and clinical workflow impact:
2.1 Severity 1 (Critical)
CriticalDefinition: Complete platform outage, inaccessible database, or catastrophic system failure that prevents all biobanking operations across the facility, with no operational workaround.
Maintains continuous engineering effort until operational restoration.
2.2 Severity 2 (Major)
MajorDefinition: Core operational workflow impaired (e.g. barcode generation failure, sample registration blockage, or virtual storage allocation failure), but secondary biobank operations remain viable.
2.3 Severity 3 (Standard)
StandardDefinition: Minor software defect, cosmetic user interface anomaly, or single-user credential error, with an existing operational workaround.
2.4 Severity 4 (Advisory)
AdvisoryDefinition: General technical enquiry, configuration advice, or minor module customisation request.
3 Cloud Availability Commitment and Service Credits
3.1 Monthly Availability Target: For Cloud-Hosted Deployments, Biomed Systems Limited targets 99.9% system availability each calendar month (equating to less than 44 minutes of unplanned downtime), excluding Scheduled Maintenance.
3.2 Measuring Availability: Availability is calculated by subtracting any unplanned downtime from the total minutes in a calendar month. Planned maintenance carried out outside standard working hours does not count as downtime.
3.3 Service Credit Schedule: If Biomed Systems Limited fails to meet the 99.9% monthly target, the Client may claim a Service Credit. This credit is calculated as a percentage of the monthly portion of the Client's annual maintenance retainer (one-twelfth of the annual fee) and applied as a discount to the Client's next annual renewal invoice:
| Monthly Availability Tier | Service Credit Percentage | Application Basis |
|---|---|---|
| 99.50% – 99.89% (44 to 216 mins downtime) | 5% credit of the monthly fee portion | Deducted from next annual maintenance renewal invoice |
| 99.00% – 99.49% (217 to 432 mins downtime) | 10% credit of the monthly fee portion | Deducted from next annual maintenance renewal invoice |
| Below 99.00% (>432 mins downtime) | 20% credit of the monthly fee portion | Deducted from next annual maintenance renewal invoice |
3.4 Claim Protocol: To claim a Service Credit, the Client must notify Biomed Systems Limited in writing within thirty (30) calendar days of the affected month, providing the dates and times of the disruption.
3.5 Exclusive Remedy: Service Credits are the Client's sole financial remedy for system availability issues. They cannot be exchanged for cash refunds or applied to previous invoices.
4 Continuity and Recovery Objectives (RPO and RTO)
4.1 Recovery Point Objective (RPO)
For Cloud-Hosted Deployments, the maximum targeted data exposure window is twenty-four (24) hours for daily encrypted snapshots, or under one (1) hour when high-availability transaction log shipping is provisioned.
4.2 Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
In the event of a catastrophic physical hardware failure at the hosting facility, the target restoration window for the LABA core engine and associated repository relational stores is under four (4) hours.
4.3 On-Premise Demarcation: For On-Premise Deployments, achieving the target RPO and RTO depends entirely on the Client's internal backup cadence, virtualisation snapshots, and hardware recovery procedures. Biomed Systems Limited assists with redeploying pre-compiled software packages once the underlying server hardware has been provisioned and restored by the Client's IT department.
5 On-Premise Maintenance Retainer Deliverables
5.1 Retainer Inclusions: An active On-Premise Maintenance Retainer guarantees:
- Continuous delivery of validated security patches and vulnerability mitigations.
- Browser compatibility updates to ensure stability with new releases of Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox.
- Regulatory logic revisions to keep your repository aligned with evolving HTA, FDA, and UK GDPR data integrity standards.
- Pre-compiled Zero-Touch update bundles and database migration scripts delivered directly to Client system administrators, with no persistent external remote backdoors or VPN access into the Client's private firewall.
Zero-Touch Air-Gapped Security: Under our On-Premise model, Biomed Systems Limited never demands remote network backdoors, SSH reverse tunnels, or persistent VPN connectivity. Your institutional perimeter remains inviolate.
5.2 Environmental Exclusions: Biomed Systems Limited is not responsible for software failures, degraded performance, or data corruption resulting from:
- Alterations to the Client's internal network routing, domain controllers, or group policy objects.
- Antivirus, endpoint detection, or firewall interference that terminates Microsoft SQL Server background threads.
- Operating systems, memory constraints, or virtual hardware configurations that fall below Biomed Systems Limited's published baseline specifications.
6 Scheduled Maintenance and Downtime Exclusions
6.1 Scheduled Maintenance Windows: Infrastructure maintenance and core software updates are performed outside standard operating hours (between 21:00 and 06:00 UK GMT/BST, or on weekends). Biomed Systems Limited will provide at least five (5) business days' prior written electronic notice before performing non-emergency scheduled maintenance.
6.2 Exclusions from Availability Calculations: System downtime is excluded from availability calculations and service credit eligibility when caused by:
- Factors outside Biomed Systems Limited's reasonable control, including upstream internet exchange failures or sovereign telecommunications outages.
- Client negligence, internal hardware failures, or unauthorised tampering with underlying database tables.
- Third-party laboratory hardware failures, including local barcode label printers, scanner serial interfaces, or external temperature monitoring devices.
7 Governance & SLA FAQ
Key operational clarifications regarding LABA service level standards, incident triage, and continuous institutional stewardship:
What is the monthly uptime commitment for Cloud-Hosted LABA deployments?
Biomed Systems Limited commits to a 99.9% Monthly System Availability target for Cloud-Hosted Deployments, which equates to less than 44 minutes of unplanned downtime per calendar month, excluding scheduled maintenance windows.
What are the incident response and resolution times for critical issues?
For Severity 1 (Critical) incidents—defined as complete platform or database inaccessibility preventing laboratory operations—Biomed Systems Limited guarantees an initial response within 2 business hours and maintains continuous engineering effort to provide a workaround or resolution within 8 business hours.
How are Service Credits structured under the LABA SLA?
If monthly availability falls below the guaranteed 99.9% threshold, clients may claim a Service Credit applied as a discount on their next annual maintenance invoice. Credits are calculated against the monthly portion of the retainer: 5% credit for 99.50% to 99.89% uptime, 10% credit for 99.00% to 99.49% uptime, and 20% credit for availability below 99.00%.
What are the Recovery Point (RPO) and Recovery Time (RTO) objectives?
For Cloud-Hosted deployments, the Recovery Point Objective (RPO) is a maximum of 24 hours for daily encrypted cold snapshots (or 1 hour where transaction log shipping is provisioned). The target Recovery Time Objective (RTO) to restore platform access following infrastructure failure is under 4 hours.
What is the maintenance protocol for On-Premise LABA deployments?
On-Premise deployments are maintained via our Zero-Touch Update Protocol. Biomed Systems Limited delivers pre-compiled, verified software packages, security patches, and database migration scripts to internal client IT teams, requiring zero persistent remote network backdoors or VPN access into the client's firewall.