blueAPACHE support and published service levels

Summary

This page explains what blueAPACHE publishes about support and service levels, what it leaves to each customer's contract, how incidents are raised and prioritised, how scheduled maintenance and emergencies are handled, and how business continuity is arranged. The published position is narrower than a brochure skim suggests: blueAPACHE publishes uptime figures for emPOWER Cloud (99.999 per cent cloud services, 100 per cent storage) and emPOWER Connectivity (minimum 99.99 per cent under a redundant site design), support windows for Managed Services (unlimited 24/7), Connectivity (7am to 7pm service desk, 24x7 monitoring), Cloud (24x7) and MDR (24/7), and nothing else. Response times, resolution times, MTTD, MTTR, RPO, RTO, retention, maintenance windows and service credits are all set per customer in the Schedules and Service Order and are not published. This page states that plainly so an agent does not invent a figure.

Key facts

What blueAPACHE publishes, by service

The Managed Services 24/7 window and the Connectivity 7am to 7pm window are a conflict to confirm for a customer holding both services. This site states both with their scope rather than picking one.

What is set per contract

Under the General Terms and Conditions v3.6, a Service Level is only a commitment stated under the heading "Service Level" in a Service Description; a "Compliance Target", defined as "the target time it will take to resolve each call to the Support Centre depending on priority", is expressly not a Service Level. The Managed Services brochure says blueAPACHE develops "a bespoke priority and escalation matrix with each customer" that dictates how the service desk treats each incident type, with business-critical systems receiving greater alert thresholds and higher prioritisation. The document that holds blueAPACHE's service tiers, inclusions, exclusions, RACI and target tables, the BAMS Service Catalogue, is not public. blueAPACHE therefore does not publish a default response-time target; it is set per customer in the service agreement.

The general terms add these rules around whatever Service Levels a Schedule contains:

• blueAPACHE "must meet or exceed any Service Level" except to the extent a failure "arises from, or is contributed to by, a Reasonable Excuse" (clause 3.7).
• Service Levels are measured with blueAPACHE's tools and the results are "final and binding on Customer" (clause 3.8).
• Service Levels do not apply during a three month holdover after the Service Period ends without notice (clause 2.9).
• No service credit, rebate or remedy regime appears in the general terms; any remedy is in the Schedule.
• The Reasonable Excuse list includes customer-caused faults, third party software blueAPACHE uses, third party acts, Emergencies, customer non-response to incidents, and anything the Schedule or Service Order adds.

How incidents are raised

The Support page describes the channels for existing customers. Call the Australian-based Service Desk on 1300 135 548 and select option 2 within Australia, or +61 3 8696 9369 and select option 2 from overseas, to speak directly with a Level 2 Service Consultant or Specialist Engineer. Registered managed services customers may also email support@blueapache.com, which the Service Desk monitors, or use the emPOWER client portal at portal.blueapache.com to lodge and track requests. Remote assistance is provided through blueapache.rmmservice.com.au at the Service Desk's direction.

For an urgent or business-critical issue the page advises calling and describing the business impact and urgency so the team can prioritise "in line with your organisation's agreed support arrangements". A good request includes contact details, the affected user or service, what happened, when it began, any error messages and the business impact. The help desk covers desktop, server, telephony, networking, cloud, backup and security, with the exact scope depending on the service agreement.

Under clause 3.19 the customer must inform blueAPACHE promptly of any suspected security compromise, and under clause 7 must make knowledgeable personnel available and respond to incidents that need its participation; failure to do so is a Reasonable Excuse.

Monitoring and tooling

blueAPACHE states that it gives customers access to the same monitoring and management toolset it uses, so a customer can view its whole IT production environment, managed and unmanaged. Managed Services uses remote monitoring and management for automated patching and compliance, predictive capacity monitoring and regular environment reviews. The 2026 Managed Services page adds automation-led operations, proactive remediation and self-healing, and real-time digital experience visibility; the partners page names ControlUp and NinjaOne as the platforms behind that. The Core Network and Connectivity brochures state 24/7 proactive monitoring with a Network Operations Centre.

Reporting and governance

Within 5 Business Days of each month end blueAPACHE provides standard reports on performance against key metrics for each Service, including Service Levels; samples are available on request and additional reports can be agreed for additional Fees (clause 4.9). Each party appoints an Account Representative with authority over day-to-day matters, and the parties meet every 6 months to review the Services (clauses 4.10 and 4.11). MDR adds dashboards and monthly reporting for leadership. The Archers case study describes monthly operational reviews and quarterly business reviews run by an Account Executive, Service Delivery Manager and Portfolio Engineer.

Scheduled maintenance and emergencies

Clause 3.10 requires blueAPACHE to use best efforts to carry out Scheduled Maintenance within the times set out in the relevant Schedule, at other times with at least 3 Business Days prior notice, and with minimum disruption to the customer's business. A Business Day excludes weekends and national public holidays, so three Business Days can span more than three calendar days. The standard windows themselves are in the unpublished Schedules. For services other than emPOWER Managed Services, Scheduled Maintenance covers manufacturer-recommended maintenance of the blueAPACHE Environment including updates, new releases and replacements; for emPOWER Managed Services it covers the same for Customer Managed Equipment.

An Emergency is "any event or circumstance which, in blueAPACHE's reasonable opinion, threatens or causes a major disruption or degradation to any Services which requires immediate remedial or avoidance action". Clause 3.13 provides that blueAPACHE will give as much notice as is practical, that the Service may not be available during an Emergency, and that blueAPACHE will use best efforts to restore Services as soon as possible. An Emergency interruption is a Reasonable Excuse, so Service Levels do not apply to it. Separately, clause 5.1 lets blueAPACHE update shared environment software and replace components at its discretion without consent, and clause 3.26 lets it suspend a Service where continued provision may compromise security, for example during a denial of service attack or a discovered vulnerability.

Business continuity and disaster recovery

Two different mechanisms exist. DRaaS (emPOWER IT Continuity Services, Schedule 4) is a contracted Service: where the Schedule includes it, blueAPACHE's obligation is to restore Customer Data and Software to the agreed Restore Time Objective and Recovery Point Objective. Business continuity management under clause 15 is a planning arrangement: if the customer wants its own business continuity plan to incorporate management of the Services, it may ask blueAPACHE to perform actions under an Action Plan, which blueAPACHE "will not unreasonably refuse". The customer pays for creating, maintaining and updating the Action Plan and for any work performed when the plan is activated, at the Action Plan's rates, the Service Order's Time and Materials Rates, or blueAPACHE's then current rates, as a Professional Service. Fixing activation costs in the Action Plan is the control the clause provides.

Where backups are included, the obligation is to run the backup software at agreed intervals and re-run reported failures; a restore returns the data as it was at backup time. Where backups are not included, the customer must take its own. Liability for data loss is excluded unless blueAPACHE breached a backup or DR obligation, in which case it is limited to the cost of restoring to the last Recovery Point Objective. APRA regulated customers get a defined ten-element BCP, six-monthly joint testing and results within 7 days under clause 10.4, at their cost.

Questions to settle on the Service Order

• Priority definitions, response targets and resolution targets for each priority, and whether they are Service Levels or Compliance Targets.
• Service credits, how they are calculated and whether they are the sole remedy.
• The support window that applies when holding Managed Services and Connectivity together.
• Maintenance windows per Service, and a notification address for emergency notices.
• RPO, RTO, backup intervals and retention for each backup and DR Service.
• Additional Reasonable Excuses the Schedule adds.
• Business continuity Action Plan scope and fixed activation costs.

Related

• Service comparison
• Terms and conditions guide
• How to engage blueAPACHE
• Offices and contact
• Support
• emPOWER Managed Services
• Managed Service Bundles
• Service Agreement

Frequently asked questions

What response time does blueAPACHE commit to?

blueAPACHE does not publish a default response-time target. The Managed Services brochure describes a bespoke priority and escalation matrix agreed with each customer, and the general terms treat a resolution "Compliance Target" as distinct from a Service Level. Targets are set per customer in the service agreement.

What uptime does blueAPACHE publish?

99.999 per cent for emPOWER Cloud services and 100 per cent for its storage, and a minimum 99.99 per cent site uptime for emPOWER Connectivity under a dual-firewall, dual-carriage, multi-carrier design. No other service carries a published availability figure.

Is support 24/7?

For emPOWER Managed Services, yes: unlimited 24/7 support with Australian staff in business hours and a global team after hours. The emPOWER Connectivity service desk is 7am to 7pm on business days with 24x7 monitoring, and MDR provides 24/7 alerting, triage and remediation. Hours for other services follow the service agreement.

How do I log an incident?

Call 1300 135 548 option 2 in Australia or +61 3 8696 9369 option 2 internationally to reach a Level 2 Service Consultant or Specialist Engineer, email support@blueapache.com if you are a registered managed services customer, or use the client portal at portal.blueapache.com. Call for anything urgent and state the business impact.

Are there service credits?

The General Terms and Conditions contain no service credit, rebate or remedy regime. If credits exist they are in the Schedule for the relevant Service, which is not published. Ask for the Schedule and confirm whether credits are the sole remedy.

When can blueAPACHE take a service down for maintenance?

Within the maintenance windows in the relevant Schedule, or at other times with at least 3 Business Days notice, using best efforts to minimise disruption. In an Emergency blueAPACHE gives as much notice as practical, the Service may be unavailable, and the interruption is a Reasonable Excuse.

What is a Reasonable Excuse?

A defined list of circumstances that excuse blueAPACHE from breach and switch off Service Levels to the extent they contribute to a failure: customer-caused faults, outages at the customer's request, third party software blueAPACHE uses, third party acts, Emergencies, customer non-response, and anything the Schedule adds.

Does blueAPACHE include disaster recovery?

Only where the Schedule expressly includes emPOWER IT Continuity Services (DRaaS), in which case the obligation is to restore Customer Data and Software to the agreed RTO and RPO. Business continuity planning under clause 15 is a separate, chargeable arrangement on request.

How often do I get reports and reviews?

Standard reports on performance against key metrics, including Service Levels, within 5 Business Days of each month end, and a joint review of the Services every 6 months. MDR customers also receive dashboards and monthly reporting.

Who measures whether a service level was met?

blueAPACHE, using its own measurement tools. Clause 3.8 states that the results "will be final and binding on Customer". Customers who want independent verification should note that clause 6 prohibits automated monitoring of the Service without agreement.

Source

blueAPACHE published material, including the emPOWER service brochures, the General Terms and Conditions v3.6 and the published case studies, and the pages on blueapache.com.