We strive to provide high-quality IT support and services while maintaining transparency regarding our billing practices. Below is an outline of how service charges apply to email support and related activities.
Billing Time and When It Applies
The clock does not start the moment you raise a ticket or send a helpdesk email. Billing time is dependent on the specific situation and circumstances. Here’s how it works:
- Faults Generated by Approved Systems: If the issue you’re experiencing is a result of a fault caused by Approved Systems, you will not be charged for the time it takes to resolve that issue. Our commitment to quality means that we stand behind our work and will rectify any errors at no additional cost to you.
- Action vs. Quoting: Whether we are performing an action or providing a quote for future work, both tasks can consume an equal amount of time. For example, requesting us to make a change on your Hosted PBX System account, such as adding or removing extensions from a queue, is billable time. However, the time spent on preparing a detailed quote for that task can also be significant, sometimes taking as long as or even longer than the task itself. It’s essential to recognize that even providing an estimate involves careful consideration, planning, and time commitment on our part.
Change Management and ITIL Compliance
At Approved Systems, we follow a structured Change Management process as part of our adherence to ITIL v4 standards. This process ensures that any changes to our systems, or your systems managed by Approved Systems, are carefully planned, reviewed, and implemented to avoid any unforeseen complications.
- Change Management Process: This process includes assessing the impact of the change, obtaining necessary approvals, scheduling the change, and performing a post-implementation review. While a quick action may seem efficient, it can lead to significant issues if not done with due diligence. An improperly managed change can result in much more time spent investigating and fixing issues that arise, which is why we follow the ITIL framework.
- ITIL v4 Framework: ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) is a globally recognized set of best practices for IT service management. It provides a structured approach to managing IT services, ensuring that changes are handled efficiently, effectively, and with minimal risk. ITIL v4 emphasizes flexibility, collaboration, and automation, helping organizations like ours deliver better value to our customers.
Charge Summary
Approved Systems is committed to providing transparent and fair billing practices. We track our work diligently to ensure that all tasks, whether they involve direct action or preparation work like quoting, are accounted for. Our adherence to ITIL v4 standards helps us maintain the highest levels of service quality and operational efficiency.
The Hourly Base rate of any service
with Approved Systems is $150 ex GST
Example charge of a low risk change
Prepare
Write up, complete or update a Change Deployment Plan (Standard Operating Procedure) for the task
Can take around 5 minutes if its a common change process we do for our customers.
Schedule / Action
The low risk change is automatically scheduled and then actioned or awaits approval by another qualified staff member to progress further.
Many changes may have to be done after hours and a Staff member placed on overtime may need to do a series of changes for various customers. Each change will be allocated a window to action, test and potentially roll back if unsuccesfull
Your requested change could potentially impact other customers using the same systems and services we offer, hence why it is done after hours.
Review
A “Change Advisory Board” (CAB) reviews the change (Successful or Otherwise)
The staff member involved in the change may be needed to take part of this review board taking them away from other value customers.
A review board is critical so they can help identify any repeating issues, and can advise on enhancing changes and outcomes
Sample Estimated Cost
- Email Request Processing – 5 min
- Preparation work – 15 min
- Action – 15 to 30 min
- Review – 5 min
- Total Minutes 40 – 55 min
Approx Charge
$100 to $137.50 ex GST
Emergency Change Requests
We understand that some situations require immediate attention, especially when they may be already impacting your business operations, to ensure that these emergency requests are handled promptly:
Service Charges: Emergency requests are billed at our full service charge rates, which are applied according to the time of day. Please note that emergency situations do not qualify for any waiver of fees, regardless of the cause of the problem.
Contacting Us: Please raise all emergency requests through our Helpdesk by both raising a ticket and then calling us on 1300 139 257. This will allow us to prioritize your situation and provide the necessary support as quickly as possible.
Requests for Future Enhancements
If you submit a request for a future enhancement with no urgency, we may consider implementing it without generating a charge.
Non-Urgent Enhancements: Requests that are not time-sensitive and do not require immediate action may be reviewed and implemented as part of our ongoing service improvements.
Benefit to Other Customers: If your request is something that could benefit other Approved Systems customers, we may add it to our development roadmap. This means your enhancement could be implemented in the near future as part of a broader service update.
If you have any questions about how service charges apply to your specific situation, or if you would like more details about our Change Management process, please do not hesitate to contact us. We’re here to ensure that your IT systems are managed with the utmost care and professionalism.