Upon receipt by Service Provider of notice from Client through the Support Center HOTLINE of an error, defect, malfunction or nonconformity in the Covered Software, Service Provider shall respond as provided below:
Severity 1: Produces an emergency situation in which the Covered Software is inoperable, produces incorrect results, or fails catastrophically.
RESPONSE: Service Provider will provide a response by a qualified member of its staff to begin to diagnose and to correct a Severity 1 problem as soon as reasonably possible, but in any event a response via telephone or email will be provided within four (4) hour(s). Service Provider will continue to provide best efforts to resolve Severity 1 problems in less than seventy-two (72) hours during business days. The resolution will be delivered to Client as a work-around or as an emergency software fix. If Service Provider delivers an acceptable work-around, the severity classification will drop to a Severity 2.
Severity 2: Produces a detrimental situation in which performance (throughput or response) of the Covered Software degrades substantially under reasonable loads, such that there is a severe impact on use; the Covered Software is usable, but materially incomplete; one or more mainline functions or commands is inoperable; or the use is otherwise significantly impacted.
RESPONSE: Service Provider will provide a response by a qualified member of its staff to begin to diagnose and to correct a Severity 2 problem as soon as reasonable possible, but in any event a response via telephone or email will be provided within eight (8) hours. Service Provider will exercise best efforts to resolve Severity 2 problems within five (5) business days. The resolution will be delivered to Client in the same format as Severity 1 problems. If Service Provider delivers an acceptable work-around for a Severity 2 problem, the severity classification will drop to a Severity 3.
Severity 3: Produces an inconvenient situation in which the Covered Software is usable but does not provide a function in the most convenient or expeditious manner, and the user suffers little or no significant impact.
RESPONSE: Service Provider will exercise best efforts to resolve Severity 3 problems in the next maintenance release.
Severity 4: Produces a noticeable situation in which the use is affected in some way which is reasonably correctable by a documentation change or by a future, regular release from Service Provider.
RESPONSE: Service Provider will provide, as agreed by the parties, a fix or fixes for Severity 4 problems in future maintenance releases.