What’s Included in the Rate

Last updated: August 31, 2022

This document includes some background on the Managed Workstation service (MWS), what is included in the Managed Workstation rate, and what services are billable at the hourly consulting services rate.

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Background: Design

The managed workstation service goal is to provide workstations to customers in a known state, including a number of management mechanisms to keep the workstation updated, functioning, and useful. The service design also allows the customer to customize that state. The customer can also use the workstation with other UW services, but the Managed Workstation service does not provide or support those other services.

There are 2 components to the support provided by the Managed Workstation service: The Monthly Service Rate and the Consulting Service.   The monthly service rate includes a baseline level of user support. User support outside of that monthly service boundary is generally charged at our consulting rate. This allows customers to only pay the additional consulting rate when user support is needed.

Consulting work is prioritized after work within the Managed Workstation service boundaries, i.e. we staff primarily for providing the services provided by the Managed Workstation rate. Managed Workstation only budgets staff resources for a modest amount of consulting work based primarily on the prior year’s demand. More significant requests or sharp increases in demand will experience delays.

Details

We have tried to enumerate what services are included and what services are billable, however neither list that follows is exhaustive. We can’t help with every IT problem, but we are open to considering any IT-related request and can often point you toward the service you need if your request falls outside our workstation management expertise.

What is included in the Managed Workstation rate:

Service Description
Up to 1 hour per customer account per fiscal year of IT consulting with regards to business needs. We listen to your business goals, provide suggestions about existing service offerings, and partner with you to find solutions.
Up to 1 hour per customer account per fiscal year providing computer hardware consulting You get specific recommendations that meet your computer hardware needs.
User support that consists of directing a customer to UW-IT documentation
User support that consists of directing a customer to another UW-IT service
User support that consists of spending 5 minutes talking a customer through UW-IT documentation
User support for a Managed Workstation capability that has no self-service mechanism Situations where you can’t fulfill your own request.

Common examples include:

  • Assistance analyzing MWS file service security, e.g. ‘We have files many layers deep under I:\groups. Can “joe” see file X? How do we change the permissions so “joe” can’t see file X?’
  • Setting permissions on MWS file services (I:\groups)
  • Transitioning a MWS group to your Groups Service namespace (i.e. moving u_nebula_<yourGroup> to u_<yourStem>_<yourGroup>)
  • Setting a VPN eligibility group, file service eligibility group, or home directory eligibility group for your department that is different than your general eligibility group
When a Managed Workstation service capability is broken or not working as designed User support related to a solution that enables you to continue to use that capability is included in the Managed Workstation rate.

Common examples include:

Software package creation at no additional cost for any software that can be released to anyone at the UW
Rebuilding a Managed Workstation that has been compromised. We will re-image an existing MWS computer with the current standard MWS image. If data transfer, additional application installation, special configuration, or travel to your site is required, that work is billable.
Request fulfillment for “claiming” your computer. This associates the computer with your department, budget and activates a variety of settings and configuration we provide.

What is billable consulting work:

Service Description
Any onsite visit
Any remote desktop support session.
Having us image your Managed Workstation Full service Managed Workstation setup
Software package creation beyond 1 hour for any software that cannot be released to everyone at the UW. For software that won’t be published organization-wide we provide 1 hour with the MWS rate and any additional time required is charged at consulting rates
Assistance adding third party software by installing the software manually
Assistance with ordering computers, and tracking status on orders you placed
Analysis of your IT problem.
  • Common examples include:
    • ‘My software doesn’t work right. Why is it not working?’
    • ‘I can’t get access to X (where X is not a Managed Workstation capability). Please help us fix it.’
    • ‘Which group memberships does Sally have? I’m asking because I think Joe should have a similar set of groups.’
      • Note: we will not make the membership changes, but we can do the analysis for you.
Help with Exchange Please reference our Exchange support document.
Handling interactions with another UW-IT service on your behalf. We are unable to request changes which only you are authorized to make.
Asking us to move file content from Managed Workstation file services to a non-Managed Workstation file service location
Warranty extension If your computer qualifies we can help you extend the warranty
Full service repairs for computers under warranty We handle all the interactions with the vendor for you.
Troubleshooting or fixing computers which are not a managed workstation.
  • There are some special details:
    • We are only able to provide assistance on Operating Systems listed as emerging, baseline, or containment on our OS lifecycle and support page.
    • There is a minimum 30 minute charge to cover getting up to speed on a computer we do not manage.
    • We strongly recommend that customers enable these computers for ongoing Managed Workstation services.
    • Computers running MacOS are covered elsewhere.

Support Managed Workstation will not provide

The following list is not exhaustive and was generated based on past requests we’ve considered together with capabilities for which we are not the most effective choice.

Service Description
Computers not owned by the UW UW rules and state law prohibit state employees from working on computers that are not owned by the UW, unless the computer is owned by a entity that has a grant or contract with the UW and the computer is owned by that entity but used by UW faculty, staff, or students for that grant or contract.
Group Management Customers should work with the team supporting the Groups Service. All legacy MWS groups should be transitioned to customer owned and managed, and we will assist in that transition at no additional cost.
Printer hardware setup or repair Customers should work with UW Print Service for this service.
Computer hardware repair Customers should work directly with their hardware vendor for repair service.

Note: we are happy to handle warranty interactions with your vendor at consulting rates.

Any request for IT assistance that requires that Managed Workstation be responsible for the design and maintenance of IT capabilities outside the Managed Workstation service This need may be met by other UW-IT consulting services.

Common examples include:

  • Can you manage the email services provided by a 3rd party provider?