12/7/2015

WhatisthedefinitionofL1,L2,L3,L4supportlevelsinITOperationsManagement?|AppnomicBlog

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WhatisthedefinitionofL1,L2,L3,L4supportlevelsin
ITOperationsManagement?
PostedbyAppnomicBlogCentralonMar6,2015inAppnomicUpdates|0comments
AsexpertsinsoftwareproductsthatapplyadvancedanalyticsandautomationtoimproveITApplicationOperations,we
hearoftenhearthisquestion.Arecentsearchonlinedidnotresultingoodanswers.So,wedecidedtoshareourapproachat
AppnomicSystemsandonethatmanyofourresellerpartnersandverysuccessfulenterpriseclientsuse.
TosuccessfullyoperateanITsupportoperation,whetherwithinanenterpriseorwithinaserviceproviderorganizationon
behalfofClients,itiscriticaltobeclearonlevelsofsupportrelatedto:
Capabilitiesandresponsibilitiesofthetalentinvolvedinprovidingsupportand
Levelsofincidentorrequesttreatmentrelatedtopriority,urgency,escalationtreatmentandservicelevelagreements
(SLAs).
HereistheAppnomicSystemsdefinitionsofLevel1(L1)throughLevel4(L4)IToperationsmanagementsupport.
DefinitionsofIncidentorRequestLevelsareprovidedinotherdocumentationavailablefromyourAppnomicrepresentative.
L1FirstLineSupport:Telephonehelpdeskoranswercentersupport
Thissupportlevelreceivesinboundrequeststhroughchannelslikephone,Webforms,email,chat,orothermeansbasedon
thedocumentedagreementwiththeClient.L1supporttypicallyincludesindividualsthathaveverylimitedtechnical
expertise.L1supportlogs,categorizes,prioritizes,tracks,androutes(i)incidentsreportedbyusersor(ii)alarmsraisedby
monitoringtools.L1isintendedtobethefirsttoacknowledgeanincident.L1supporttracksticketsuntilsuccessfully
resolved.L1engineerscanimplementbasic,documentedbreakfixtasksalongthelinesoffollowingacookbookrecipe.L1
personnelwilltypicallyescalatetoanL2resourceandfollowdocumentedescalationprocedures,again,likefollowinga
cookbookrecipe.Dependingonthevendor,L1technicianswillhavefrom0to4yearsofpriorrelevantexperience.At
Appnomic,L1engineersgenerallyhaveatleast2yearsofpriorrelevantexperience.
L2SecondLineSupport
ThesetechnicianshavemoreexperiencethanL1supporttechniciansandmanageincidentsraisedbytheL1sorasagreedin
documentedSLA(ServiceLevelAgreement)timelines.L2techniciansfollowdocumentedprocessesandworkflows
providedbyClientsorhigherlevelsupportrepresentatives,vendors,productmanagement,etc.Theyareexpectedtoescalate
totheL3swhendocumentationisinsufficienttocompletethetasksordonotsolvetheincident.L2susuallyhaveand
maintainaRunBookwhichtheycanuseforimmediateresolutions.Theycollaboratewithanyothersupportordependency
groupsincasetheincidenthasalinkagetoothersupportpersonneloroutsidevendors.L2engineerswilltypicallyescalate
toanL3resourceandfollowdocumentedescalationprocedures.AtAppnomic,L2engineersgenerallyhave4ormoreyears
ofexperienceonaspecifictechnologyplatform(e.g.,Windowsservers,OracleDatabase,etc.).
L3ThirdLineSupport
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12/7/2015

WhatisthedefinitionofL1,L2,L3,L4supportlevelsinITOperationsManagement?|AppnomicBlog

L3technicalexpertsresolveissuesthataretypicallydifficultorsubtle.L3engineersparticipateinmanagement,
prioritization,minorenhancements,breakfixactivities,problemmanagement,stabilityanalysis,etc.Thesesupportleaders
havespecific,deepunderstandingandexpertiseinoneortwotechnologyplatforms(forexample,anOracledatabase
administratororaWindowsAdmin).L3engineersareproactiveinnature,identifyingproblemsinadvanceandlookingfor
continuousserviceimprovementopportunities.Ifafixinvolvesamajorenhancementoradevelopment,thentheproblemis
transferredtoengineeringordevelopmentteams,Level4.L3engineersmayhaverootoradministratoraccesstobasic
systems.AppnomicL3engineersgenerallyhave8ormoreyearsofrelevantexperience.
L4ProductandVendorSupport
L4supportreferstoproductorvendorsupportandofteninvolvesvendorproductarchitects,engineers,softwaredevelopers,
hardwaredesignersandthelike.Whenallotherlevelsofsupportcannotsolveaproblem,arequestismadetothislevelof
supportusuallymanagedbytheL3supporttechnicianorthroughspecialproject/programmanagementresources.These
escalationscanofteninvolveproductbugs,detailedconfigurationrequirements,orotherexpertlevelguidance.Appnomic
SystemsprovidesL4SupportforAppnomicsoftwareproductslikeAppsOne.

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