Support structure

The IAM team follows DoIT’s Operational Framework (https://kb.wisc.edu/itsm/page.php?id=6998), which defines processes and standards used to ensure operational efficiency, service and uptime for all DoIT services.

IAM also maintains a KB which contains documentation for resolving common issues or requests: https://kb.wisc.edu/iam/.

IAM Team Support Structure

• Core availability of IAM Team staff is during regular business hours.
• All other staffing outside of core availability is managed by adjusted schedules for planned maintenance.
• Support Staffing:
  • Two Support Specialists triage and follow up on support cases during regular business hours and maintain documentation.
  • Additionally, at least one engineer from each IAM subteam (4 in total) is actively reviewing and responding to support cases during regular business hours.

IAM Support Expectations

• All cases (those escalated from the Help Desk and those that come directly to our team) should receive some contact from the IAM Team within 3 business days. 
  • Note: This does not mean all cases will be resolved in 3 business days. Often, we are able to connect within eight business hours but timing will vary based on complexity of the case, volume of support cases, and team availability. 
• We appreciate planning ahead to allow our team time to work through support needs. That said, we recognize sometimes things come up that require more immediate attention. If you have a more pressing support request (not related to an outage), after you contact the DoIT Help Desk, please reach out to us (as detailed in the Escalation Path section) with your case number.  Outages should follow recommended outage procedures below.
• Communication should be regular throughout the life of the case. We will try to actively share updates and appreciate timely responses from our partners to work towards resolution.
• More immediate responsiveness can be expected in the event of an outage reported via the process detailed below.

Standard Support Requests

This section discusses how to request and get help for standard requests. Urgent requests related to an outage or a critical issue that needs immediate resolution should follow the procedure below.

General Support Requests

In general, all non-urgent support requests can go through the DoIT Help Desk. 

The IAM team works with the DoIT Help Desk on a regular basis to ensure timely and efficient escalation of IAM related issues and are always open to feedback if requesting support through the Help Desk is not meeting needs. Follow the process under the Escalation Path section to share this sort of feedback.

Application or Service Integration Requests

The following request form should be used for a project- or application-specific need for identity information about students, faculty, or staff for official University of Wisconsin administrative or academic purposes. That need could include integrating with NetID Login, identity data for operational needs, schema extension requests, or consulting on how applications will provision and deprovision users.

• Submit a work request here: https://it.wisc.edu/services/identity-access-management-work-request/
• Following submission of the request, an IAM team member will review the request and make initial contact. You can expect an initial response within two weeks of your submission (requests are reviewed as they are received and often responded to within a few business days).

Outage or Critical Issues

IAM infrastructure is considered tier 0 and follows the DoIT Continuity of Operations Framework in the event of a campus outage.

From the DoIT Operational Framework a service outage is defined in the following way:

The critical viewpoint in assessing an outage is the perspective of the user. If multiple users may regard the service as unavailable, DoIT's service management processes will regard the service as unavailable. Service Outages may be planned or unplanned.

Any event in which any of the following criteria are or will be met will constitute an IT Service Outage for a DoIT managed/monitored IT Service:

• The IT Service is unavailable to its customers or a subset of its customers.
• The IT Service is unable to function as designed and installed.
• IT Service performance has degraded to a degree to render the resource unusable.
• Multiple users' work may be lost.

Regular Business hours: For most immediate escalation during regular business hours, we recommend calling the DoIT Help Desk (608-264-4357) directly and communicating that you are experiencing an outage related to our services.

Outside of regular business hours: In the event of an emergency outside of regular business hours, service support staff can call the 24/7 Systems and Network Control Center (SNCC) at either 608-263-2648 or 608-263-4188 and press Option 3 for Systems and Service support.

• SNCC will escalate to technologists based on a prioritized list and vertically escalate as documented in the DoIT Operational Framework.

Escalation Path

When you need additional support or have feedback, please reach out to one of us to talk: 

• Abrianna Barca, Associate Director (abrianna.barca@wisc.edu)

• Tyler Ratwkoski, IAM Manager (tyler.ratkowski@wisc.edu)

• Cora Barczak, IAM Support Analyst (cbarczak@wisc.edu)

  • Cora would be the quickest to respond to escalations for specific cases as outlined in the Support Structure section.
    
    

We can be reached via email or MS Teams message.