IT07: Information and Communication Technology Systems Maintenance

Policy #:
IT07
Responsible Authority:
Director, Information, Institutional Research and Technology Services (IIRTS)
Approval Authority:
President's Executive Committee
Executive Sponsor:
Vice President, Business Development
Approval Date:
2007/02/07
Last Reviewed:
2011/11/23
Mandatory Revision Date:
2016/11/23
Downloadable Version:
Information and Communication Technology Systems Maintenance

PURPOSE

To establish a schedule for systems maintenance, upgrades and changes to the College technology infrastructure so as to minimize disruption to students and employees   

SCOPE

All information and communication technology systems under the responsibility of the Information Technology Services

DEFINITIONS

Word/Term

Definition

Maintenance

Includes any activity which requires a system or systems to become  unavailable for a period of time for the purpose of upgrading, reconfiguring, modifying, replacing or changing it.  Maintenance includes, but is not limited to software changes, hardware changes, network changes, patches, fixes or cabling.

Mandatory Maintenance

Mandatory maintenance includes any maintenance that corrects an issue which:

a)      compromises the safety or security of students, or employees  (e.g. telephone systems, security systems, etc.);

b)      places the College network or information security at significant risk;

c)       elevates the probability for an unexpected system outage to be more than 5% (that is, if a system has greater than a 5% chance of unexpected failure, and scheduled maintenance can reduce it, then the maintenance will be considered mandatory);

d)      could cause physical damage to equipment;

e)      could cause unacceptable performance (less than 70% of optimal performance) on the system, another system, or the network; or

f)       is otherwise deemed mandatory by the client community and Information Technology Services (ITS).

Maintenance Window

A maintenance window is a period of time pre-scheduled for maintenance.  The particular system is likely to be unavailable for this period of time.

“Change Freeze” Period

These are important periods of time to the operations of the College when, to ensure that systems remain stable, only Mandatory Maintenance is to occur.

ICT

Information and Communication Technology

POLICY

  1. IIRTS will schedule any planned systems maintenance at a time which has the lowest impact on the College Community.
  2. There will be predefined “change freeze” periods during the academic year in order to ensure that the delivery of course materials will not be impacted by planned systems maintenance.   Exceptions shall be negotiated with all client representatives in cases where a change must be made because the infrastructure is unstable or may potentially become unstable (mandatory change).
  3. CHANGE FREEZE PERIODS
    3.1   The “change freeze” periods shall be the following:

    -  The first three weeks of every term;
    -  Two weeks prior to the beginning of the evaluation period until the day after grades are released to students.

    Any exceptions to this “change freeze” period must first be approved by the College Technologies Committee.

  4. MAINTENANCE WINDOWS
    4.1      Normal Maintenance Windows
    Maintenance will be normally performed at times which will minimize disruption to the operations of the College. These will be scheduled outside of normal College hours of operation.

    4.2   Maintenance Windows for Specific Services
    Specific services may have different preferred maintenance windows based on their peak use, critical operational periods and client community. These maintenance windows will be determined with representatives of the client community.  For example, the Finance System will have different peak periods from the Student Information System.

    4.3   Extended Maintenance Windows
    There will be periods when significant upgrades may be required during the year that may take longer than the normal maintenance windows.  This maintenance will take place at periods that have the least impact on the client community.  During this time, all students and employees can expect to experience system degradation or unavailability for any Information Technology infrastructure or service.

    The extended maintenance windows presently used by IIRTS are:

    -  The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day for the full twenty four (24)  hours of each day;
    -  The first Sunday of the annual study break in February for the full twenty four (24) hours (i.e. midnight to midnight).

  5. IIRTS will notify the College community for the use of any maintenance window.


PROCEDURES


Action

Responsibility                     

1.

Scheduling Maintenance


1.1

Ensure that all scheduled maintenance follows the schedules found in the ITS Change Management Process Documentation.

Director, IIRTS

1.2

Provide written notice of all scheduled maintenance of a significant nature to clients, stating the nature of the change, system impact as well as documenting the starting time and duration of the maintenance window.  Coordinate the appropriate time for the maintenance window with clients, escalating up to the vice presidents, as appropriate, to resolve issues.

IIRTS  Management

1.3

Communicate to the College Community regarding the scheduled outage at least a minimum of 48 hours prior to the outage, and where possible, a further five v4(5) working days prior to the outage.

IIRTS  Management

2.

Maintenance Window

 

2.1

Send a reminder notice to identified stakeholders twenty (20) minutes prior to the start of a scheduled maintenance window.  

ITS Support Staff

2.2

Update client representatives on the progress throughout the maintenance window,

ITS Support Staff

2.3

Alert client representatives if the duration of the maintenance window needs to be extended for any reason, as requested by maintenance staff.

IIRTS  Management

2.3

Notify client representatives and other impacted stakeholders when the required maintenance is completed and system operations have been restored.

IIRTS  Management

2.4

Update and review appropriate system maintenance logs and documentation. 

IIRTS Staff


SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
None

RELATED POLICIES
None

RELATED MATERIALS
ITS Change Management Process Documentation


Back to Policies >>