NOTE: this service level agreement (SLA) for managed cloud applies only to Stack Overflow for Teams Business and Enterprise hosted. This agreement does not apply to Stack Overflow for Teams Free, Basic, or Enterprise on-premises.
1. Overview
During the term of any agreement for which Customers have a license for Stack Overflow Enterprise and Stack Overflow Business, such license includes ongoing coverage and technical support for the software products and services (“Services) provided by Stack Exchange, Inc. (“Stack”). This SLA describes the response that Stack will make to reported issues with the Services, along with a categorization of issue severity.
Customers should report all support issues to Stack by opening a ticket on Stack’s support portal. Once a case has been opened, Stack will provide support communication via e-mail or phone to address and resolve the issue, including providing status updates as appropriate, until the issue is resolved. Support cases opened via other means will not be covered by this SLA.
2. Covered systems
Stack Overflow Business Support Services only cover the performance, hosting, and support of the Stack Overflow for Teams Business Service, while Stack Overflow Enterprise Support Services only cover the performance, hosting and support of the Stack Overflow for Teams Enterprise Service. For clarity, this SLA shall not apply to Stack Overflow for Teams Free or Basic tiers, the Stack Overflow for Teams Application Programming Interface (“API”), early access releases, feature previews (such as Alpha or Beta releases), or non-production sites such as those used for testing.
Covered Services do not include any of the associated systems or infrastructures for which the Customer is responsible for operating or managing, which include but are not limited to: VPN endpoint or concentrators, Identity or Authentication Providers, local networks, and ISP connections.
Service credits are not available to customers using Services for Proof of Value.
3. Severity levels
Severity Level | Issue Description | Response & Commencement Time |
Severity 1 - Inoperative | The Stack Overflow for Teams site is inaccessible or a Core Function is inoperative to a majority of users. | Acknowledged and work commenced within 1 hour |
Severity 2 - Major | A Major Function is unavailable to a majority of users or a Core Function is unavailable to a minority of users. | Acknowledged within 4 hours and work commenced within 1 business day |
Severity 3 - Minor | A Minor Function is unavailable or a Major Function is unavailable to a minority of users. | Acknowledged within 4 business hours and work commenced within 1 business day |
Severity 4 - Low | A Cosmetic Function issue with the site is identified or an issue is identified with a Core, Major, or Minor Function that does not impair its general usage or ability to perform core tasks. | Acknowledged within 1 business day |
Severity 5 - General Inquiry | No functionality issue - general questions regarding site usage, functionality, community development, or other questions | Acknowledged within 1 business day |
4. Service level guarantees
Customer's Stack Overflow Enterprise Services and Stack Overflow Business Services will maintain a Quarterly Uptime of at least 99.5%
In the event that Quarterly Uptime is less than 99.5% but greater than 99%, Customers will receive a pro-rated credit of their license fee, equal to 5% of that quarter's portion of the annual fee.
In the event that Quarterly Uptime is less than 99%, Customers will receive a pro-rated credit of their license fee, equal to 10% of that quarter's portion of the annual fee.
The Quarterly Uptime guarantee does not apply to Downtime that is due to the direct result of an issue that affects the Microsoft Geographic Region that the service is hosted in unless the Customer has subscribed to a Multi-Region High Availability Disaster Recovery (“HADR”) setup.
While Stack takes steps to minimize Downtime, occasionally there will be service interruptions that are beyond Stack’s control and do not constitute Downtime for the purposes of this SLA, including:
Slowness or faults with a specific feature (such as search, voting, etc);
Delays with uploading or processing files;
External network problems outside of Stack’s control, such as bad routing tables between a Customer’s** internet service provider (ISP) and Stack’s servers;
"Scheduled Downtime" for maintenance (as detailed below); or
Other Acts of God or Force Majeure events.
5. Maintenance windows
While most of the work on Services happens silently, occasionally Stack will need to perform maintenance that requires Scheduled Downtime. If Scheduled Downtime for maintenance is necessary, Stack will endeavor to provide Customer’s administrators a minimum of twenty-four (24) hours advance notice via email or notices provided on the Services.
6. Definitions
Available/Availability: The ability of end-users to reach and display at least one page of the Customer’s** Stack Overflow Enterprise Service or Stack Overflow Service, as applicable.
Business Day/Hours: Customer Support is available for tickets of all severity between the hours of 12 am Monday and 11:59 pm Friday, eastern standard time, not including US Holidays, office closures. and staff availability. After-hours support is available for Severity 1 and Severity 2 tickets by opening a ticket on Stack’s support portal.
Cosmetic Functions: User interface issues, all static site content (such as documentation, help pages, or error messages).
Core Functions: Asking questions, answering questions, searching content, viewing content.
Downtime: A time period that the service is not Available.
Major Functions: Creating/editing users, tags, or other end-user facing organization related functionality. Integrations and 3rd party integrations (Slack, MS Teams, Jira, Github).
Minor Functions: Moderator tools and other site functionality not included in Core or Major functionality.
Quarterly Portion: The quarterly portion of a license fee shall be defined as equal to 25% of the Annual License Fee as listed on the Order Form or any other applicable ordering document agreed upon by Stack.
Quarterly Uptime: Quarterly Uptime % = (Maximum Available Minutes-Downtime) / Maximum Available Minutes.
“Scheduled Downtime”: A time period that the Service is anticipated to be unavailable for more than 5 minutes due to planned maintenance events.
Unscheduled Downtime: A time period that the Service is unavailable for more than five minutes without planned maintenance events.
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