Support Policy

ValidMind Support Policy and Services Level Agreement

Last updated: Nov 01, 2023 | Previous versions

This ValidMind Support Policy and Service Level Agreement (“Support Policy”) describes ValidMind’s Support and Service level offering in connection with Customer-reported bugs, defects, or errors in the Service (“Error(s)”). ValidMind shall provide technical support for the Service (“Support”) in accordance with this Support Policy and the applicable written subscription agreement between ValidMind and Customer for the Service (“Master Subscription Agreement”). The Customer shall receive ValidMind’s general Support offering, “Basic Support,” or ValidMind’s enhanced offering, “Premier Support,” as designated in the applicable Order Form (“Support Level”). However, ValidMind may provide more limited support for a free trial and evaluation use of the Service at its discretion. ValidMind may update this Support Policy from time to time.

Capitalized terms not defined in this Support Policy have the meaning given to them in the Agreement (including its associated addenda, policies, and other terms referenced therein).

I. Support

1. Testing. As further described in the Documentation, ValidMind has processes designed to perform robust testing and validation before each Service release to minimize Errors.
2. General Support Offering (“Basic Support”). The Customer shall designate at least one primary contact who will have administrator privileges and may designate additional contacts (“Customer Contact(s)”). ValidMind shall provide English-speaking remote assistance to Customer Contacts for questions or issues arising from any Error, as further described in this Support Policy, including troubleshooting, diagnosis, and recommendations for potential workarounds for the Subscription Term. ValidMind shall also provide the specific entitlements for the corresponding Support Level procured by the Customer, as further described in this Support Policy and the tables below. ValidMind’s Support team (“ValidMind Support”) shall implement follow-the-sun case management for handling Severity Level 1 requests for help with Service-related issues (each such request is a “Support Case”) to better facilitate uninterrupted support by utilizing ValidMind Support across multiple time zones. If Customer reasonably believes ValidMind Support is failing to provide timely and commercially reasonable responses in accordance with this Support Policy, Customer may escalate the Support Case using the support escalation process described in the ValidMind Community. Escalated Support Cases will be directed to ValidMind’s management team for consideration.
3. Contacting ValidMind Support. Customer Contacts may contact ValidMind Support for assistance with Support Cases by the following methods: (1) submitting a Support request to the ValidMind Support portal located at https://support.validmind.com (or such successor URL as may be designated by ValidMind; the “ValidMind Support”); or (2) if unable to access the web interface or the ValidMind Support, Customer Contacts may contact ValidMind Support by phone at the intake phone number identified in the ValidMind Support solely for purposes of having the Support request submitted on their behalf. All Customer Contacts must be reasonably proficient in the use and functionality of the Service and familiar with the Documentation. They shall use reasonable diligence to ensure a perceived Error is not an issue with Customer equipment, software, or internet connectivity.
4. Submission of Support Cases. Each Support Case shall: (1) designate the Severity Level of the Error in accordance with the definitions in Table 1; (2) identify the Account that experienced the error; (3) include information sufficiently detailed to allow ValidMind Support to effectively assess the Error (including any relevant error messages, but not export-controlled data, personal data (other than as required herein), sensitive data, other regulated data, or Customer Data); and (4) provide accurate contact information for the Customer Contact(s) most familiar with the issue. The Customer Contact(s) shall also give ValidMind any other important Support Case information in a timely manner. Information submitted pursuant to a Support Case is not Customer Data. Unless Customer expressly designates the Severity Level, the Support Case will have a default designation of Severity Level 4. If the Customer believes the issue to be related to Client Software, then the Support Case shall also include the applicable Client Software log files. If a Customer Contact submits a Support Case related to enhancement or feature requests, ValidMind will deem the Support Case closed once the request has been forwarded internally.
5. Premier Support. If Customer has procured Premier Support, in addition to providing Basic Support, ValidMind Support shall: (i) implement follow-the-sun case management for handling Severity Level 1 and Severity Level 2 Support Cases to better facilitate uninterrupted support by utilizing ValidMind Support across multiple time zones; and (ii) provide Customer the additional Support described below in Tables 1, 2, & 3 under the column labeled “Premier Support”.
6. Read-Only Users Support.  For clarity with respect to ValidMind’s data-sharing functionality, Read-Only Users may not be designated as Customer Contacts, and any Support Cases related to Customer, in its role as a Provider or with respect to any of its Read-Only Users, shall be submitted solely by Customer’s own Customer Contacts.
7. Other Support and Training. ValidMind also offers various support and training resources such as documentation, community forums, FAQs, and user guides available on the ValidMind Community. Additionally, ValidMind offers fee-based consultation and training services via Statements of Work.

Table 1: Error Severity Level Definitions
Severity Level 1 (Critical Severity)	An Error that (a) renders the Service completely inoperative, or (b) makes Customer’s use of material features of the Service impossible, with no alternative available.
Severity Level 2 (High Severity)	An Error that (a) has a high impact on key portions of the Service, or (b) seriously impairs Customer’s use of material features of the Service and Customer cannot reasonably circumvent or avoid the Error on a temporary basis without the expenditure of significant time or effort.
Severity Level 3 (Medium Severity)	An Error that has a medium-to-low impact on the Service, but the Customer can still access and use some functionality of the Service.
Severity Level 4 (Low Severity)	An Error that has a low-to-no impact on the Customer’s access to and use of the Service.

 

Table 2: Severity Level Response Times
Error Severity Level	Initial Response Time Target
	Basic Support	Premier Support
Severity Level 1 (Critical Severity)	One (1) hour	Fifteen (15) Minutes
Severity Level 2 (High Severity)	Two (2) Business Hours	Two (2) Hours
Severity Level 3 (Medium Severity)	One (1) Business Day	Four (4) Business Hours
Severity Level 4 (Low Severity)	Two (2) Business Days	One (1) Business Day

1. Error Response. Upon receipt of a Support Case, ValidMind Support will assess the Error based on the information submitted and the definitions in Table 1, and if ValidMind believes Customer’s Severity Level designation is incorrect, ValidMind will promptly notify the Customer. If Customer then identifies a reasonable basis for disagreeing with the Severity Level proposed by ValidMind, the parties each will make a good faith effort to promptly discuss, escalate internally, and mutually agree on the appropriate Severity Level designation. ValidMind shall then use commercially reasonable efforts to meet the Initial Response Time Target set forth in Table 2 above for the applicable Severity Level, as measured during the applicable Region (as defined in the ValidMind Service Consumption Table) ValidMind Support hours set forth in Table 3 below (“Business Hours”, and each in-Region day having Business Hours is a “Business Day”).

Table 3: Global ValidMind Support Hours
ValidMind Service Region	Basic & Premier Support Business Hours
	Severity 1 (Basic Support)	Severity 1 & 2 (Premier Support)	Severity 2-4 (Basic Support) Severity 3-4 (Premier Support)
North America	12x5x365	24x7x365	6AM-6PM PT Mon-Fri
EMEA	12x5x365	24x7x365	6AM-6PM CE Mon-Fri
Asia Pacific	12x5x365	24x7x365	6AM-6PM AEDT Mon-Fri

II. Service Level Agreement

Definitions:

“Average Daily ValidMind Credits” is defined as the Customer’s actual ValidMind Credit (as defined in the ValidMind Service Consumption Table) consumption in the calendar month of the Cloud Provider Region in which the Service Level Failure occurred, divided by the number of days in such month.

“Calendar Minutes” is defined as the total number of minutes in a given calendar month.

“Client Software” is defined as ValidMind’s Developer Framework, a library of developer tools, libraries, and other materials designed to automate the documentation and validation of Customer’s AI and traditional programmatic models.

“Cloud Provider Region” is defined as the Region (as defined in the ValidMind Service Consumption Table) and Cloud Provider selected by Customer on an Order Form or as configured by Customer via the Service.

“Error Rate” is defined as the number of Failed Operations divided by the total number of Valid Operations. Repeated identical Failed Operations do not count towards the Error Rate.

“Error Rate Threshold” is the value set forth in Table 4 below for each applicable Monthly Availability Percentage. This value represents the maximum Error Rate before a minute is considered Unavailable.

“Failed Operations” is defined as Valid Operations where the Service returns an internal error to Customer, subject to Section III (SLA Exclusions) below.

“Monthly Availability Percentage” is defined as the difference between Calendar Minutes and the Unavailable Minutes using the relevant Error Rate Threshold, divided by Calendar Minutes, and multiplied by one hundred (100).

“Service Level” is defined as a Monthly Availability Percentage of 99.99% when measured with a 10% Error Rate Threshold, and a Monthly Availability Percentage of 99.9% when measured with a 1% Error Rate Threshold.

“Service Level Failure” is defined as the Service failing to meet the Service Level in a given month.

“Service Level Credits” is defined as the number of ValidMind Credits a Customer will receive in the event of a Service Level Failure for a given Monthly Availability Percentage and Error Rate Threshold, as indicated in Table 4.

“Unavailable” is defined as an Error Rate greater than the relevant Error Rate Threshold over a one-minute interval calculated across all Accounts within each applicable Cloud Provider Region. The Error Rate is 0 when an Account is inactive, i.e., when there are no Valid Operations in the one-minute interval.

“Unavailable Minutes” is defined as the total accumulated minutes when the Service is Unavailable using the relevant Error Rate Threshold.

“Valid Operation” is defined as an operation that conforms to (a) the Documentation; or (b) Service-use recommendations provided by ValidMind Support personnel.

In the event of a Service Level Failure, Customer, as its sole and exclusive remedy, shall receive Service Level Credits credited against Customer’s usage in the applicable Cloud Provider Region in the immediately succeeding calendar month following the Service Level Failure, provided that Customer requests such Service Level Credits within twenty-one (21) days of the calendar month in which the Service Level Failure occurred. The number of Service Level Credits credited to the Customer will be calculated using the Monthly Availability Percentage and Error Rate Threshold combination that provides the Customer with the largest number of Service Level Credits set forth in Table 4. Service Level Credits may not be exchanged for, or converted to, monetary amounts.

Table 4: Service Level Credit Calculation
Monthly Availability Percentage	Error Rate Threshold	Service Level Credit
Under 99.99% but greater than or equal to 99.0%	10%	1 x Average Daily ValidMind Credits
Under 99.9% but greater than or equal to 99.0%	1%	1 x Average Daily ValidMind Credits
Under 99.0% but greater than or equal to 95.0%	1%	3 x Average Daily ValidMind Credits
Under 95.0%	1%	7 x Average Daily ValidMind Credits

Example Calculation – Customer has two Accounts (SFE1, SFE2) in the AWS US East Region. Each Account submits Valid Operations at a steady rate of 50 Valid Operations per minute. In the month of April, in each minute of a 250-minute period, all 50 Valid Operations submitted by SFE1 succeeded, whereas SFE2 experienced 2 Failed Operations out of a total of 50 Valid Operations. For the month of April, the Customer experienced an Error Rate of 2% across SFE1 and SFE2 Accounts in the AWS US East Region ((2 Failed Operations / 100 Valid Operations) * 100) during the 250-minute period. In this example, the Service was Unavailable for the period of 250 minutes because the Error Rate exceeded the 1% Error Rate Threshold across both Accounts even though it does not exceed the 10% Error Rate Threshold. There are 43,200 Calendar Minutes in the month of April (30 days x 24 hours x 60 minutes). This results in a Monthly Availability Percentage of 99.4% calculated as ((43,200 – 250)/43,200 * 100). According to Table 4, a customer experiencing a 99.4% Monthly Availability Percentage with an Error Rate of 2% will receive 1 x Average Daily ValidMind Credits. If Customer used a total of three hundred (300) ValidMind Credits across both Accounts in April, then Customer’s Average Daily ValidMind Credits for April would be ten (10) ValidMind Credits (300 / 30 days in April). Since the Monthly Availability Percentage is 99.4%, Customer would be entitled to request a Service Level Credit of ten (10) ValidMind Credits (1 x 10 Average Daily ValidMind Credits), which would be credited against Customer’s usage of the Service in May.

III.   SLA Exclusions

ValidMind will have no liability for any failure to meet the Service Level to the extent arising from:

1. Customer’s failure to process Customer Data in the Service in accordance with ValidMind’s recommendations for use of the Service — though, upon being notified of such a case, ValidMind will endeavor to help Customer address the failure (e.g., with additional recommendations);
2. Customer or User equipment;
3. Third-party acts, or services and/or systems not provided by or on behalf of ValidMind. For the avoidance of doubt, this exclusion (C) does not apply to the acts, services or systems of any Cloud Providers;
4. Force Majeure events – i.e., any cause beyond such party’s reasonable control, including but not limited to acts of God, labor disputes or other industrial disturbances, systemic electrical, telecommunications, or other utility failures, earthquake, storms or other elements of nature, blockages, embargoes, riots, public health emergencies (including pandemics and epidemics), acts or orders of government, acts of terrorism, or war;
5. Evaluation, free trial, or proof-of-concept use of the Service; or
6. Use of Service features or functionality that are subject to Preview Terms (e.g., beta functionality not intended for production use).