Integrated Information Technology Services
Downtime
POLICY:
Integrated Information Technology Services (IITS) requires opportunities to make equipment or services unavailable during standard, scheduled periods of downtime for necessary proactive maintenance. These periods will vary in frequency and length of time, but every effort will be made to schedule this work at times to limit the disruption to the University community during normal business hours.
IITS reserves the right to schedule and perform necessary maintenance for all Utica University equipment and services each Friday after the conclusion of normal business hours as needed. IITS also reserves the right to schedule and perform longer maintenance projects during weekends or University breaks. IITS may perform maintenance on other days of the week after the conclusion of normal business hours as needed during summer and winter terms.
In special circumstances, IITS will be required to perform unplanned emergency maintenance or to respond to equipment failures. In instances where this work causes any disruption to any business operations, IITS will notify the University community of all relevant information, including anticipated repair times.
In some special cases, downtime and maintenance may also be required for services provided by third parties (internet service providers, cloud hosted applications or services, third-party vendors, phone services provider, and etc.). The University will make every effort to provide advance notice of such downtime or outages resulting from the work of those third parties.
IITS will schedule file, print, and remote server maintenance for the last Friday of each month to occur after the conclusion of normal business hours. In the event that the last Friday falls on a scheduled University holiday, IITS will schedule the week before or after.
Two times per year, and in consultation with the relevant academic departments, IITS reserves the right to schedule an extended period of time to perform all necessary maintenance on virtual desktop environments in-between academic terms or parts of term.
The University community will be informed of scheduled downtime in advance so that users can plan for disruptions in service. While every effort will be made to distribute these notices as early as possible, some situations will require very little notice and will be out of the control of IITS or other University departments.
IITS reserves the right to modify this schedule and/or to schedule additional downtime as needed for major upgrades and other work that falls outside the purview of this policy, provided that the University community has sufficient notice and that the downtime has been reviewed in advance by the President’s Cabinet.
Emergency maintenance will be authorized by the President of the University, the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Senior Vice President for Student Life and Enrollment Management, the Senior Vice President for Market Innovation and New Ventures, the Vice President for University Infrastructure and Chief Information Officer, or the Vice President for Emergency Management.
SCOPE:
This policy and the procedures associated with it apply to all Utica University locations and members of the Utica University community, including online students.
REASON FOR POLICY:
Regularly scheduled maintenance helps to prevent equipment failures, including data loss, excessive downtime, hardware failures, unplanned outages, breaches of security, etc. A standard scheduled downtime allows end users to plan and minimize the impact of the temporary lack of service.
DEFINITIONS:
Business Hours: As defined by the Employee Handbook section 601, Hours of Operation, the University is generally open for business Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, although the regular work days and hours of each department may vary from the forgoing depending upon the particular needs and requirements of the department.
PROCEDURE:
For all cases where maintenance can be planned in advance, IITS staff will determine what equipment or service(s), if any, will be unavailable during each scheduled downtime period and request approval from the President’s Cabinet.
Once approved, IITS will notify the University community via Morning Mention or email at least two days in advance. In some instances where maintenance is limited in scope, IITS may contact only the affected parties to inform them of scheduled downtime.
When permitted, IITS will make every effort to provide a week of notice for any planned downtime. In the case of emergencies and unplanned downtime, the affected parties will be notified in advance whenever possible, or after work has begun in situations where no prior notice could be sent. However, IITS will be sensitive to major University events and will make every attempt to avoid scheduling downtime during these events.
RESPONSIBILITY:
It is the responsibility of IITS to properly notify the University community of service downtime in advance, when possible. It is the responsibility of all users to plan for these downtimes.
ENFORCEMENT:
Enforcement of Utica University policies is the responsibility of the office or offices listed in the “Resources/Questions” section of each policy. The responsible office will contact the appropriate authority regarding faculty or staff members, students, vendors, or visitors who violate policies.
Utica University acknowledges that University policies may not anticipate every possible issue that may arise. The University therefore reserves the right to make reasonable and relevant decisions regarding the enforcement of this policy. All such decisions must be approved by an officer of the University (i.e. President, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Vice President for Financial Affairs, Senior Vice President for Student Life and Enrollment Management, or Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel).
RESOURCES/QUESTIONS:
For any questions or additional information, please contact Integrated Information Technology Services.
Please note that other Utica University policies may apply or be related to this policy. To search for related policies, use the Keyword Search function of the online policy manual.
Integrated Information Technology Services (IITS) requires opportunities to make equipment or services unavailable during standard, scheduled periods of downtime for necessary proactive maintenance. These periods will vary in frequency and length of time, but every effort will be made to schedule this work at times to limit the disruption to the University community during normal business hours.
IITS reserves the right to schedule and perform necessary maintenance for all Utica University equipment and services each Friday after the conclusion of normal business hours as needed. IITS also reserves the right to schedule and perform longer maintenance projects during weekends or University breaks. IITS may perform maintenance on other days of the week after the conclusion of normal business hours as needed during summer and winter terms.
In special circumstances, IITS will be required to perform unplanned emergency maintenance or to respond to equipment failures. In instances where this work causes any disruption to any business operations, IITS will notify the University community of all relevant information, including anticipated repair times.
In some special cases, downtime and maintenance may also be required for services provided by third parties (internet service providers, cloud hosted applications or services, third-party vendors, phone services provider, and etc.). The University will make every effort to provide advance notice of such downtime or outages resulting from the work of those third parties.
IITS will schedule file, print, and remote server maintenance for the last Friday of each month to occur after the conclusion of normal business hours. In the event that the last Friday falls on a scheduled University holiday, IITS will schedule the week before or after.
Two times per year, and in consultation with the relevant academic departments, IITS reserves the right to schedule an extended period of time to perform all necessary maintenance on virtual desktop environments in-between academic terms or parts of term.
The University community will be informed of scheduled downtime in advance so that users can plan for disruptions in service. While every effort will be made to distribute these notices as early as possible, some situations will require very little notice and will be out of the control of IITS or other University departments.
IITS reserves the right to modify this schedule and/or to schedule additional downtime as needed for major upgrades and other work that falls outside the purview of this policy, provided that the University community has sufficient notice and that the downtime has been reviewed in advance by the President’s Cabinet.
Emergency maintenance will be authorized by the President of the University, the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Senior Vice President for Student Life and Enrollment Management, the Senior Vice President for Market Innovation and New Ventures, the Vice President for University Infrastructure and Chief Information Officer, or the Vice President for Emergency Management.
SCOPE:
This policy and the procedures associated with it apply to all Utica University locations and members of the Utica University community, including online students.
REASON FOR POLICY:
Regularly scheduled maintenance helps to prevent equipment failures, including data loss, excessive downtime, hardware failures, unplanned outages, breaches of security, etc. A standard scheduled downtime allows end users to plan and minimize the impact of the temporary lack of service.
DEFINITIONS:
Business Hours: As defined by the Employee Handbook section 601, Hours of Operation, the University is generally open for business Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, although the regular work days and hours of each department may vary from the forgoing depending upon the particular needs and requirements of the department.
PROCEDURE:
For all cases where maintenance can be planned in advance, IITS staff will determine what equipment or service(s), if any, will be unavailable during each scheduled downtime period and request approval from the President’s Cabinet.
Once approved, IITS will notify the University community via Morning Mention or email at least two days in advance. In some instances where maintenance is limited in scope, IITS may contact only the affected parties to inform them of scheduled downtime.
When permitted, IITS will make every effort to provide a week of notice for any planned downtime. In the case of emergencies and unplanned downtime, the affected parties will be notified in advance whenever possible, or after work has begun in situations where no prior notice could be sent. However, IITS will be sensitive to major University events and will make every attempt to avoid scheduling downtime during these events.
RESPONSIBILITY:
It is the responsibility of IITS to properly notify the University community of service downtime in advance, when possible. It is the responsibility of all users to plan for these downtimes.
ENFORCEMENT:
Enforcement of Utica University policies is the responsibility of the office or offices listed in the “Resources/Questions” section of each policy. The responsible office will contact the appropriate authority regarding faculty or staff members, students, vendors, or visitors who violate policies.
Utica University acknowledges that University policies may not anticipate every possible issue that may arise. The University therefore reserves the right to make reasonable and relevant decisions regarding the enforcement of this policy. All such decisions must be approved by an officer of the University (i.e. President, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Vice President for Financial Affairs, Senior Vice President for Student Life and Enrollment Management, or Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel).
RESOURCES/QUESTIONS:
For any questions or additional information, please contact Integrated Information Technology Services.
Please note that other Utica University policies may apply or be related to this policy. To search for related policies, use the Keyword Search function of the online policy manual.
| Effective Date: | 12/15/2021 |
| Promulgation Date: | 12/15/2021 |