Microsoft 365 Support Levels
Important Changes effective October 1st, 2019
Branding and Naming - Throughout our site, you may find references to
Premium Support,
Service Plans,
Services on Demand, and most recently SupportPrime. Likewise, Basic support has been rebranded as Free Support. Please rest assured that the terms remain largely interchangable - but we recognize this can cause some confusion.
Services on Demand is a broad branding term that covers all kinds of professional services available by subsciption, while
Service Plan is the term we use in our SLA and other legal documents.
SupportPrime is meant to replace privious references to
Premium Support, and it refers specifically to entitlements offered to customers who purchase
Service Plans. New branding will be phased into content and communications going forward over time. We appreciate your patience.
Support Entitlements - There has been significant realignment of all entitlements across all our support plans. These are described in detail below.
Rationale - These changes were put in place to make it more clear (for both our cloud support staff and customers) to which services clients are entitled and which are availalbe at an additional cost. While we want to give the best service possible to every customer, no matter how large or small, we must also recognize the costs involved in providing valuable IT services, and set appropriate boundaries as needed to ensure our work is funded.
Free Support, SupportPlus™, and SupportPrime™ Details
All Services on Demand Service Plan customers are entitled to SupportPrime, which is the correct and current branding for
Premium Support. Some specific entitlements vary by the individual Service Plan purchased. More details will be published in the next revision of
our SLA.
All customers, regardless of their current level of support, may acquire
SupportPrime grade service on a paid per-incident basis. This includes individual users of Microsoft 365 products for which there is no existing business relationship between the user's company and Liquid Mercury Solutions.
This table helps to explain the entitlements and boundaries of our support options:
| Free Support | SupportPlus | SupportPrime |
|---|---|---|---|
Applies to | Customers who do not purchase any licenses or service plans from Liquid Mercury | Customers who purchase licenses from Liquid Mercury Solutions, but do not purchase any
Service Plan | Customers who purchase
Service Plans such as
Admin 365 on Demand,
SharePoint Admin on Demand,
Dynamics 365 on Demand, or
Enterprise 365 on Demand |
Licenses, Billing, and Microsoft Liaison | |||
Hours of Operation | N/A | 9a to 5p EST weekdays | 9a to 5p EST weekdays |
Billing and License Support | N/A | Full service phone support for all billing and license changes; access to self-service license portal on request | Managed licenses and billing based on pre-defined business rules, plus full and self-service support |
License and Plan Flexibility | N/A | Adjust licenses month-to-month bases with no annual commitment | Adds business protections that allow reduction in
Service Plan coverage under conditions of business hardship |
License Usage Consult | One per tenant | Annually | Quarterly, as needed |
Microsoft Partner Advocate Services | One-time lost tenant / account rescue service for new clients | Facilitate MS ticket creation, | Extended trial requests, GCC eligibility assistance, Managed MS support tickets |
Technical Support | |||
E-mail / Forum based online tech support from our staff | Basic level response | Standard level response | Priority level response |
Collaboration using Microsoft Teams | Not available | Guest access to shared semi-public Team (only Liquid Mercury clients) | Guest access to dedicated private Team for your company only |
Phone and Online Meeting Support w/ Voice/Screen Sharing | Available only on a per-incident basis, at our sole discretion | First point of contact by phone; follow-up meetings by appointment only | Our Full Service Desk is available to assist you on demand or by appointment |
24/7/365 Support | Online assistance to refer end-users to their IT technical support contact(s) | Hotline and app for urgent requests outside normal business hours | Live online response from LMS staff for inquiries outside normal business hours |
Issue Resolution | Referral to support contact(s) | Tier 1 triage and support with handoff escalation to Tier 2/3 | Tier 2/3 delivered by our Full Service Desk; escalation and facilitation with MS cloud support when needed |
Case Origination | Admins only | Admins and approved customer staff only | Admins, designated staff, and/or end-users (varies by plan) |
Case Management | No case management, issues are managed on a per-contact basis. | Cases managed in our internal system | Case management system; end-customer portal access to case history; integrations possible via API + Flow/PowerApps |
Case Archiving | No case management, issues are managed on a per-contact basis. | Customer is responsible to reply within a reasonable time; we will send follow-up e-mail and wait 48 hours for a reply before archiving a Case. | Courtesy "babysitter" service is included, with attempts to follow up by both e-mail and phone; we will try three times to contact you about a Case and wait up to 72 hours without a reply before archiving it. |
Full Service Desk | |||
Full Service Desk Availability | 9am to 5pm EST weekdays; for new client tenant / trials only | 9am to 5pm EST weekdays | 8am to 8pm EST weekdays |
Full Service on Weekends / Holidays | No | Not Available | Available via ESR |
Account and Status Management | No | Status updates and reports by e-mail only | Regularly scheduled status meetings, frequency determined by plan |
Protects Against Hourly Charges | No | No | Yes, as determined by plan entitlements, with preferred rates |
Create New User Login/Mailbox When Adding Licenses | No | Simple process only | Custom onboarding following business rules |
Offboarding Users / Terminations | No | Disable account login only | Offboarding with data preservation, safe license de-allocation, and business rules |
Mailbox Changes | No | Simple changes only | Complex changes including selection of mailbox type and conversions |
New Tenant Configuration | One-time for new client | Yes | Yes |
Full Service DNS Configuration | One-time for new client, MS hosted w/ access via shared password or GoDaddy invite only | Single DNS domain per year, MS hosted w/ access via shared password or GoDaddy invite only | Multiple DNS domains, MS or third-party DNS hosted, no restrictions on access method |
Configuration of AD Connect or Windows Essentials | No | No | Yes |
Perform Other Back-end IT Administration Tasks on Behalf of Client | No | In select cases, subject to reasonable limitations and review process. (see out-of-scope exceptions) | Yes, IT workloads determined by plan and
SLA |
IT Co-existence / Shared Responsibility | No | Coexistence with your designated
internal IT staff only | Coexistence with your third-party IT providers, such as an MSP |
Contact third-party vendors on customer's behalf | No | Only for products sold by LMS | Available in select plans |
End-customer Access to Office 365 Admin Portal Provided | N/A | Upon request | Upon request plus Full Service Administration, IT workloads determined by plan and SLA |
Security and Access | |||
End-user Password Reset | Not available | Managed by customer IT/admin | Both end-user self-service password reset and full-service with identity verification options |
Admin User Access Restored / Granted | One-time lost tenant / account rescue service for new clients | Access granted / password reset on request by e-mail or phone | Full-service with identity verification |
Periodic Security Evaluation | No | No | Available with select plans |
Security Scans for Endpoint Devices | No | No | Available with select plans |
Security Incident / Threat Response | No | Basic response provided through the
Cybersecurity Readiness and Response Fee; extended response at our sole discretion | Basic response provided through the Cybersecurity Readiness and Response Fee; extended response available with select plans |
MFA Break Glass Plan | No | No | Included with all plans |
US Domestic Staff (ITAR/NIST/HIPAA) | Not required; may include third-parties | Not required; may include third-parties | Guaranteed service from domestic / US citizens only |
Resources and Guidance | |||
Cloud Strategy | Free initial consultation | Annual review | Regularly scheduled review, frequency determined by plan |
Consulting Services / Tech Experts | No | Access consultants in a multi-customer open discussion format; email/chat based Q&A | Private access to consultant level staff, by appointment or walk-in during scheduled office hours |
Training Events / Expert Presentations | No | Invitation-only access to scheduled group training or other special events and technical presentations | Bespoke online training and special presentations; training for individuals, small groups, IT staff, or train-the-trainer |
Knowledge Base | General access to knowledge base articles cleared for public consumption | Early-access to knowledge base articles which have been cleared for public consumption | Access to private knowledge base, which includes emerging and rapid response information |
Premium Content | General access to content released for public consumption | Access to Premium content after six months from the original publication date; expedited content available after 90 days | Access to curated content from day one of publication |
IP and Tools | None | None | Access to exclusive IP including PowerShell scripts and apps |
Out-of-Scope Services and Options | |||
How Edge Cases Will Be Handled | Strict: no exceptions | Limited: scope boundaries and limits will be enforced except at our discretion | Permissive: courtesy acceptance of scope boundary crossing when not excessive or usurious |
Full-Service Microsoft 365 Administration | Pay-as-you-go Full Service Administration at our Walk-in Prices | Always available, IT workloads determined by plan and
SLA | |
SupportPrime Services |
Pay-as-you-go
SupportPrime service at our
Walk-in Prices on a per-incident basis | Always available | |
Work Orders / Extended Service Requests | N/A; You must be a Liquid Mercury Solutions' customer to receive these services |
Billed at
Preferred Customer Rates; may be appended to recurring invoice | |
Emergency Services | Not Available | Standard Customer Rates |
Preferred Customer Rates |
As new entitlements and programs are made available, information will be updated here. Please check back from time to time to review your support entitlements.
