Question

A project manager is finalizing a support contract with a managed services vendor for a new customer-facing application. The business owner insists that any critical outage must be fully fixed within two hours. The vendor's proposed agreement guarantees that a technician will begin working on critical incidents within 15 minutes of a report. Which contract term does the vendor's proposed guarantee actually define, and what should the PM do?

Accepted Answer

It defines a response-time metric, not a resolution-time metric; the PM should negotiate a separate resolution-time commitment to meet the business owner's requirement.

Answer

It defines a resolution-time metric that fully satisfies the two-hour fix requirement, so the PM can sign the agreement as written.

Answer

It defines an uptime guarantee, so the PM should calculate the allowable annual downtime before signing.

Answer

It defines a service credit remedy, so the PM should focus on the penalty amount rather than the timing.