Escalation procedures
Sophos’ goal is to resolve all Incidents professionally, accurately and in a timely manner. As part of the analysis stage of an Incident, or at any point prior to the resolution of an Incident, Sophos Support may decide to escalate the Incident internally. Depending upon the Severity Level of the Incident, internal escalation will normally occur when Sophos Support determines that further technical assistance and problem diagnosis are needed from senior support staff, or support management, in order to resolve the Incident.
In order to ensure Incidents are resolved in a timely manner, submitted Incidents are normally subject to the following escalation procedures:
Target response/escalation times
| Action | Enhanced | Enhanced Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | ||
| Engineer actively working on the resolution | Hour 0-8* | Hour 0-2** |
| Escalation to Support Management | Hour 8 | Hour 2 |
| Product development | Hour 8 | Involved as required |
| High | ||
| Engineer actively working on the resolution | Hour 0-72 | Hour 0-48 |
| Escalation to Support Management | Hour 72 | Hour 48 |
| Plan drafted to ensure reasonable efforts are made to correct the problem or provide a workaround | Time frame agreed upon with customer/partner | Time frame agreed upon with customer/partner |
| Medium | ||
| Engineer actively working on the resolution | Day 0-15 | Day 0-15 |
| In the event the incident worsens, customer or partner may request severity reclassification | Day 30 | Day 30 |
| Low | ||
| Engineer actively working on the resolution | Day 0-30 | Day 0-30 |
* During the investigation of a “Critical” Severity Level Incident, if the customer or partner contact person for the Incident (or their suitably technically qualified representative) is unavailable for a period of more than 8 hours, then the Incident will be downgraded to a “High” Severity Level.
** During the investigation of a “Critical” Severity Level Incident, if the customer or partner contact person for the Incident (or their suitably technically qualified representative) is unavailable for a period of more than 2 hours, then the Incident will be downgraded to a “High” Severity Level.
Note
Escalations are only possible for Licensed Product-related problems. Problems related to customer-/partner-specific environments and/or unsupported use or modification of the Products by customers or partners are not eligible for escalation. All hours are defined as business days.