GuardWare Service Level Agreement (SLA)

1. Purpose

This Service Level Agreement (SLA) defines the support, maintenance and service commitments provided by GuardWare Australia to its customers. It establishes measurable standards, support responsibilities and escalation procedures to promote consistent and reliable service delivery.

2. Scope of Services

The SLA covers the following services:

• Software bug identification and resolution
• Server-side software updates and maintenance
• Client software updates
• Security patches and vulnerability remediation
• Product enhancements and version upgrades
• Technical support and incident management

3. Service Availability & Support Hours

• Standard Support Hours

  • Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, excluding public holidays
  • Weekends and public holidays, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM on an on-call basis
• Extended / Critical Support

  • Support for Highest Severity incidents may be made available on a 24/7 basis, where applicable
  • Any support provided outside the standard support hours shall be treated as extended support and may be subject to additional charges
• Support Channels:

Email	[e-mail]
Portal	https://help.guardware.com.au
Phone	[phone]
WhatsApp	[phone]
Remote Assistance	Microsoft Quick Assist, AnyDesk, TeamViewer, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), where permitted, Zoom or Microsoft Teams screen sharing, where appropriate, any other mutually agreed secure remote support tools approved by GuardWare and the Customer.

Support is provided during the agreed business hours of the relevant support region. For customers in different time zones, the applicable support window will be based on the contracted service region or otherwise agreed in writing. SLA timeframes will be measured against the agreed support window.

4. Incident Severity Classification

Severity	Description
Critical (Highest)	Complete service outage or major business disruption
High	Significant functionality impacted, limited workaround available
Medium	Partial impact, workaround available
Low	Minimal or no business impact
Service Request (Others)	Non-incident requests such as information requests, minor changes or enhancement enquiries.

5. Service Level Targets

5.1 General Service Level Targets

Severity	Response Time	Resolution Time	Update Frequency
Critical	1 hour	2 hours	Every 30 minutes
High	2 hours	4 hours	Every 2 hour
Medium	4 hours	8 hours	Daily
Low	8 hours	3 business days	As required
Service Request	24 hours	As agreed	As required

• Resolution times refer to restoration of service or implementation of a workable mitigation.
• Permanent fixes may be delivered in a later scheduled release.

5.2 Cloud Server Availability

For customer environments hosted and managed by GuardWare, the target availability for cloud server infrastructure is 98% per calendar month, excluding approved maintenance windows, emergency maintenance, failures caused by third-party service providers, customer-controlled configurations, and events outside GuardWare’s reasonable control.

Incident Management Process

Incidents are handled through a structured process to ensure timely assessment, clear communication, and effective resolution. Escalation is triggered where SLA thresholds are at risk or where additional technical review is required.

1. Issue is logged via email or the support portal.
2. Ticket is acknowledged and assigned an initial severity.
3. Initial diagnosis and response are performed by the support team.
4. A resolution or workaround is implemented where possible.
5. Root cause analysis is completed for High and Critical incidents, where applicable.
6. If no response or further communication is received from the customer for 48 hours, the ticket may be automatically closed.
7. Ticket is closed following customer confirmation, documented resolution, or automatic closure due to lack of customer response.

Escalation principle: If an issue cannot be resolved within the applicable support tier or within target response windows, it will be escalated for additional review and action.

7. Customer Responsibilities

To support effective service delivery, customers are expected to:

• Provide accurate and complete information when logging issues
• Provide appropriate system access for troubleshooting where required
• Maintain supported environments and configurations
• Apply recommended updates, patches and remediation actions
• Nominate a primary point of contact for operational coordination
• Where required provide remote connectivity to the environment for further analysis

8. Updates, Patches and Release Management

8.1 Software updates and patch management

• All updates are tested in a controlled environment before release
• Customers are notified prior to deployment where applicable
• Emergency patches may be released outside standard schedules when required

8.2 Version update policy

Major releases include new features, enhancements and architectural changes and are typically delivered one to two times per year. Minor releases generally include bug fixes and security patches and are typically released monthly or as required.

8.3 Release Management

• All releases include release notes and change information
• Deployment windows are communicated in advance where practical
• Rollback procedures are maintained for critical failures

9. Service Exclusions

Unless otherwise agreed in writing, this SLA does not cover:

• Issues caused by third-party systems or services
• Unsupported configurations or environments
• Customer-side misconfigurations or unauthorised changes
• Force majeure events or circumstances beyond reasonable control

10. Confidentiality

All information exchanged under this SLA is classified as Confidential - Commercially Sensitive and must be handled with appropriate care.