Service Level Agreement

1. Scope & Applicability

This Service Level Agreement ("SLA") is between TechShield MSP ("Provider") and any client ("Client") enrolled in an active managed service plan (Basic, Professional, or Business). It defines the service levels, response times, uptime commitments, and remedies available when those commitments are not met.

This SLA is incorporated by reference into the TechShield MSP Terms of Service and applies for as long as the Client maintains an active managed plan. One-time services and project-based engagements are subject to agreed project schedules, not this SLA.

2. Definitions

• Incident — Any unplanned interruption or degradation of a service covered under the Client's managed plan.
• Response Time — Time elapsed from when TechShield MSP acknowledges receipt of a support ticket to when a technician begins active work on the issue.
• Resolution Time — Target time from ticket acknowledgment to resolution or, where resolution requires third-party action, to delivery of a documented workaround.
• Business Hours — Monday through Friday, 7:00 AM – 8:00 PM Eastern Time, excluding TechShield MSP observed holidays.
• Emergency Support — P1 incidents are covered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
• Monthly Uptime Percentage — Total minutes in the calendar month minus downtime minutes, divided by total minutes in the month, expressed as a percentage.
• Scheduled Maintenance — Planned maintenance activities communicated to the Client at least 48 hours in advance. These do not count against uptime calculations.

3. Response & Resolution Times

Tickets are classified by priority at intake. Clients may request escalation if they believe a ticket is misclassified.

* Resolution targets represent the time to a working fix or approved workaround. Complex issues requiring hardware replacement or third-party vendor involvement may have extended timelines communicated proactively to the Client.

4. Service Availability

TechShield MSP targets the following monthly uptime percentages for managed monitoring and cloud services included in covered plans:

Uptime is measured monthly on a rolling calendar-month basis. Scheduled maintenance windows and downtime caused by Client actions or force majeure events are excluded from uptime calculations.

5. Monitoring & Alerting

For clients on Professional and Business plans, TechShield MSP provides:

• 24/7 automated monitoring of covered endpoints, servers, and network devices.
• Proactive alerting when thresholds for CPU, memory, disk, or network anomalies are exceeded.
• Automated ticket creation upon detection of qualifying incidents — no action required by the Client.
• Monthly performance and health reports delivered by the 5th business day of the following month.

Basic plan clients receive business-hours monitoring with next-business-day alert review.

6. Support Channels & Hours

Business Hours: Monday – Friday, 7:00 AM – 8:00 PM ET. Saturday 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM ET for Professional and Business plans.

7. Service Credits

If TechShield MSP fails to meet the uptime or response targets defined in this SLA, the affected Client is eligible for a service credit applied to the next billing cycle:

To request a credit: Submit a written request to support@techshieldmsp.us within 15 days of the end of the affected calendar month. Requests must include the date(s), duration, and nature of the incident. Credits are the sole and exclusive remedy for SLA breaches and do not waive any other rights under the Terms of Service.

8. Exclusions

The following circumstances are excluded from SLA calculations and credit eligibility:

• Scheduled maintenance communicated at least 48 hours in advance.
• Events beyond TechShield MSP's reasonable control — natural disasters, ISP outages, utility failures, acts of government.
• Downtime caused by Client actions, misconfiguration, or unauthorized changes to covered systems.
• Third-party software or service failures outside TechShield MSP's control (e.g., Microsoft 365, Google Workspace outages).
• Hardware failures on equipment not covered under the Client's plan.
• Incidents where the Client has not granted necessary access to TechShield MSP within a reasonable time.
• Accounts in arrears (past-due balance greater than 30 days).

9. Client Obligations

To enable TechShield MSP to meet its SLA commitments, the Client agrees to:

• Maintain all required remote access credentials and grant access promptly when requested.
• Report incidents promptly through the official support portal or emergency phone line.
• Designate at least one authorized point of contact for technical communication.
• Notify TechShield MSP at least 48 hours before performing any changes to covered infrastructure.
• Keep account and billing information current to avoid service interruption.

10. Escalation Procedure

If you are unsatisfied with the response to a support ticket or believe an SLA target has been missed:

1. Tier 1: Contact your assigned technician directly and request escalation within the ticket.
2. Tier 2: Email support@techshieldmsp.us with subject line "SLA Escalation – Ticket #[ID]". A senior technician will respond within 2 business hours.
3. Tier 3: For unresolved escalations, contact management directly at legal@techshieldmsp.us. A formal review will be initiated within 1 business day.