IT After Hours Support Policy

Policy Purpose

This policy defines the scope for “After Hours” support by the UAFS IT department. The current staffing hours are Monday - Friday: 7:30am - 7:00pm. All other times are considered “After Hours”.

Policy Statement

It shall be the policy of the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith to provide after hours IT support for campus emergencies only. After hours support will be available from 7:00 pm to 7:30 am Monday through Friday, all day Saturday and Sunday, and on all campus holidays. Users may call the normal IT Service phone line at (479) 788-7460. The caller can then leave a voice message for the on call person. After hours support falls into two categories:
1. Large scale service interruptions – This includes core campus systems that directly impact multiple users. Some of those systems include campus email, Blackboard LMS, campus internet service, entire building networks down or offline, etc. This is not a full list of services affected.
2. Problems affecting critical University-related business or campus safety - These types of problems may only impact a few people but involve work of a nature that is critical to the University and delaying support until regular business hours would result in a major detrimental impact to University operations. It also includes systems critical to ensuring the safety of students and employees.

Applicability

This policy applies to all University employees and students.

Definitions

After hours support – Support during the time periods where there are no scheduled IT staff on campus.

Policy Procedure

1. An on-call rotation schedule will be used that includes all Information Technology Services team leaders.
2. When a support call is received, the on-call person should discuss the issue with the caller, gathering as much useful information as possible about the problem. Be sure to get a callback number for the caller.
3. The on-call person is to use their best judgment in determining whether or not the reported issue meets the criteria for a campus emergency. When it does not, they should advise the caller that the issue will be promptly addressed during normal business hours. The on-call person should take responsibility for logging the issue into TeamDynamix at their earliest convenience.
4. If the incident is considered to be a campus emergency, the on-call person should let the caller know that they will take immediate action to resolve the issue. They should then

Enforcement

None Applicable

Policy Management

This policy is managed by the IT department. The IT Director and appointed IT personnel are the primary administrators of this policy. The responsible executive is the VCFA.

Exclusions

None Applicable

Effective and Approved Date

This policy was approved and subsequently adopted by Darrell Morrison, Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration, on July 16, 2014.

Last Updated

7/2/2025 – Copied to new template and added in TeamDynamix in place of Service Now, and added accessibility - Terry Meadows - CIO