LTS Incident Response Charter

Problem Statement

The LTS portfolio frequently experiences service disruption. Whether it is on-call staff restoring a service at 4am, repeated automated system reboots, or an “all hands on deck” situation to contain and resolve an incident, LTS staff regularly implement fixes that resolve the issue at hand. Unfortunately, these short-term fixes often do not identify the underlying cause. This has resulted in gradually increasing system instability, which is unsustainable over the long term for both LTS human resources and the reliability of our service offerings. Additionally, and despite best intentions, LTS incident communication for extended outages can be uneven and opaque, which may erode trust with stakeholders over time.

Business Value

LTS aspires to improve its incident response process so that there’s a measurable reduction over time in late night fixes, automated service restoration, and “all hands on deck” situations. This work will include establishing communication norms and more efficient incident coordination. These improvements will correspond with an increase in service availability, accelerated incident resolution, and strengthened relationships with stakeholders.

Step 1: Revise our Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Review and revise our existing SLA levels so that they more clearly and accurately reflect the types of incidents and range of system and services offerings in the LTS portfolio. LTS will communicate the revised SLA out to Library leadership. 

Step 2: Review our services and map to the revised SLA

Review each service in the LTS portfolio to determine how it maps to the revised SLA, and associate systems and services with SLA levels accordingly. Collaborate with Business Owners to ensure the SLAs reasonably reflect service needs.

Step 3: Update the LTS incident lifecycle process

From initial incident report to incident resolution, LTS will update, codify, communicate, and socialize (internally and externally) its practices throughout the incident lifecycle.

MYGOs and OKR alignment

Our vision aligns with the following Harvard Library multi-year goals and objectives (MYGOs) and HUIT objectives and key results (OKRs): 

In Scope

Out of Scope

Definition of Done

This project will be done when the above work products have been completed, new SLA terms and assignments have been approved by library leadership and communicated to stakeholders, and when LTS internal processes have been revised and moved into practice for all systems.