Service Level Agreement

At Vision Database Systems, we work hard to provide a reliable service. This Service Level Agreement (SLA) outlines our commitment to keeping things running smoothly, even during maintenance and downtime.

Definitions

Term	Definition
Service	The SaaS applications hosted by Vision Database Systems on their vdsapps.com website, including EliteID, EliteID Plus and PerfectPass
Availability	The Service is operational and accessible, as measured by Vision Database Systems' monitoring tools.
Maximum Available Minutes	The total number of minutes in the service month, excluding Scheduled Downtime.
Downtime	The total accumulated minutes during a service month when the Service is Unavailable to the Customer.
Scheduled Downtime	Periods of Service unavailability due to planned maintenance, typically scheduled outside of peak business hours with at least 48 hours prior notice. Scheduled Downtime is excluded from Maximum Available Minutes and does not count as Downtime.
Monthly Uptime Percentage	Calculated as: Maximum Available Minutes} minus {Downtime} divided by {Maximum Available Minutes} multiplied by 100
Service Credit	The amount of Service Credit allotted by Vision Database Systems to the Customer due to a failure to meet the Service Commitment.

Service Commitment (Availability)

2.1. Guaranteed Monthly Uptime

Vision Database Systems commits to the following Monthly Uptime Percentage (the "Service Commitment") for the Core Service features:

Service Level Objective (SLO)	Guaranteed Monthly Uptime Percentage	Allowed Downtime per Month (Excluding Scheduled Downtime)
Core Service Availability	99.5%	3 hours 39 minutes

2.2. Service Credit Schedule

If the Monthly Uptime Percentage falls below the Guaranteed Monthly Uptime Percentage in any given calendar month, the Customer will be eligible to receive a Service Credit according to the following schedule.

Monthly Uptime Percentage	Service Credit Allotment
Less than 99.5% but greater than or equal to 99.0%	1 additional day added to Service Contract Length
Less than 99.0% but greater than or equal to 95.0%	3 additional days added to Service Contract Length
Less than 95.0%	7 additional days added to Service Contract Length

Note: Validated Service Credits will be added to the Customer’s service as an extension on their annual contract renewal date. Service Credits are the Customer's sole and exclusive remedy for any unavailability or failure of the Service.

Technical Support and Incident Response

3.1. Severity Definitions

Vision Database Systems will prioritize incidents according to the following severity levels:

Severity Level	Definition	Response Time Objective	Resolution Target
S1: Critical	Service is completely inaccessible or key features are non-functional, causing a severe impact on the Customer's business operations.	15 minutes during business hours Less than 8 hours during non-Business Hours	Continuous effort until resolution
S2: High	Service is accessible but major features or components are significantly impaired, impacting a majority of users or critical workflows.	1 hour during business hours Less than 16 hours during non-Business Hours	Within 8 business hours
S3: Medium	Partial or non-critical loss of functionality; workaround exists; limited impact on business operations.	4 business hours	Mutually agreed upon time
S4: Low	General questions, feature requests, or minor cosmetic issues with no impact on functionality.	24 business hours	As part of standard development cycle

Business Hours are defined as 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM EST Monday through Friday, excluding public holidays.

3.2. Response Time Definition

Response Time is the period from when the Customer logs an incident through Vision Database Systems’ designated support channel to when Vision Database Systems’ support personnel first acknowledges the incident, verifies the Severity Level, and begins remediation efforts.

Service Credit Claim Process

To receive a Service Credit, the Customer must:

Log the incident with Vision Database Systems within five (5) business days of the Service Level failure.
The claim must include:

A detailed description of the incident, including dates and times of the Downtime.

The approximate duration of the Downtime.

Any support ticket numbers related to the incident.

Vision Database Systems will review the claim against its own system logs and data. If the claim is validated, the Service Credit will be applied to the Customer's annual renewal date.

Exclusions from Service Commitment

The Service Commitment will not apply to any unavailability, suspension, or termination of the Service, or any other performance issues, caused by:

Scheduled Downtime (as defined in Section 1).
Factors outside of Vision Database Systems' reasonable control, including but not limited to, Force Majeure events (e.g., natural disasters, war, acts of government), Internet access or related problems beyond the Service demarcation point.
Failure of Customer's equipment, software, or technology (e.g., local area network, desktop computer, firewall settings).
Downtime caused by Customer's breach of the Master Service Agreement or Acceptable Use Policy (AUP).
Downtime arising from third-party services or software integrated by the Customer (e.g., Customer's custom integration tools, third-party APIs).
Customer's unauthorized use of the Service or use that is outside of the agreed-upon scope (e.g., exceeding capacity limits, testing or staging instances).
Suspension or termination of the Service in accordance with the terms of the Master Subscription Agreement (MSA) between the parties.

Security and Data Protection

Vision Database Systems commits to maintaining industry-standard security measures, including:

Maintaining physical, administrative, and technical safeguards to protect Customer Data.
Implementing encryption for Customer Data both in transit (using TLS 1.2 or higher) and at rest.
Maintaining a formal Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan designed to ensure business continuity and recovery from major incidents.
Complying with all applicable data protection laws, such as GDPR and CCPA.