Service Expectations

For more information, see the MiDesktop Service Charter.

Support

ITS Service Center representatives are available Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. On-call support is available 24x7 for service restoration.

Most service requests will be fulfilled within 1 business day. Please allow an additional 2-3 days, however, if a new network is included in the request.

Customers may independently manage and request modifications to their MiDesktop configuration through the IT Services Portal.

Security of Data

Securing the data and guarding the privacy of the university community is a shared responsibility. ITS data centers are designed to ensure that your database is safe and secure, but the appropriate use of these IT resources and the data is your responsibility. The security and privacy measures extend into back-end systems.

MiDesktop includes the safeguards required by HIPAA. Accordingly, you may use it to maintain Protected Health Information (PHI). However, you should first consult with IIA (via the ITS Service Center) and take any steps required by your unit to comply with HIPAA.

See the U-M Sensitive Data Guide—Protected Health Information (HIPAA) for more information on using U-M services with PHI.

Service Availability

MiDesktop operates 24x7, except during scheduled system maintenance. While unscheduled outages are possible, customers should expect at least 99.7% availability.

Planned Maintenance

ITS will announce all disruptive system maintenance change at least thirty days in advance using the [email protected] distribution group. All disruptive system maintenance will be performed between the hours of 11 p.m. Saturdays and 7 a.m. Sundays. We anticipate that maintenance disruptions will occur rarely (less than two to three times per year).

Emergency Maintenance

Emergency maintenance is defined as any maintenance that needs to be implemented immediately and outside the usual approval procedures. ITS will notify customers as soon as possible. Communication may include direct email, system notifications, and updates to system status web pages.

Customer Expectations

While MiDesktop offers routine infrastructure maintenance and upgrades, ITS expects all MiDesktop customers to perform the following activities to ensure optimal service performance.

  • Customers are responsible for performing all traditional Base Image system administration activities such as operating system administration, application administration, and monitoring/troubleshooting.
  • Install, configure, patch, and maintain all application components.
  • Test, troubleshoot, and resolve application problems resulting from updates, patches and configurations to the operating system.
  • Manage the authorization groups for Base Image and Pool administration.
  • Determine the urgency of a problem that requires assistance from ITS.
  • Appropriately follow data management policies to comply with university policies, state and federal laws and regulations.
  • Request a Pool or Base Image to be retired when services are no longer needed/used.
  • Shut down desktops during scheduled maintenance if required to do so.
  • Communicate and plan for any network, firewall and front-end application changes that could affect access to Pool desktops.
  • Request any changes to the Pool and/or Base Image to handle corresponding growth.
  • Instant-clone pool customers must provide an Active Directory Organizational Unit (OU) on which they have the ‘delegate permissions’ role.