Proactive Network Maintenance Program

TCI's Managed Care Program v. 1.2

This program is ideal for customers interested in addressing network issues that arise before they become serious and affect the operation of the practice, acting proactively rather than responding reactively. The program was developed based on our customers' goals to reduce and manage the expenses of ongoing maintenance of their existing networks.

The program is centered on having a TCI technician connect to your practice's server once a week and reviewing the status of the backup system, antivirus protection, event logs, uninterruptible power system, storage systems and security updates. We will be looking for signs of developing problems while performing necessary ongoing maintenance.

Benefits

Investing in this program will reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of your network by minimizing unplanned interruptions of the whole practice. A TCI expert will keep your server in tune so that your network, and your practice, will continue to run smoothly.

How does it work?

Every month a TCI technician will connect to your practice's main file server either by pcAnywhere or Terminal Services over your practice's existing high speed Internet connection. Once connected, they will inspect the server's performance following a predefined maintenance list. At times it may be necessary to restart the server as part of the maintenance, in this case the timing of the work will be coordinated not to interrupt your practice's operations and your office will be contact first prior to any server reboot.

At the end of each month a report will be sent to you informing you of the work performed so that you can have peace of mind knowing everything is working. If an issue is uncovered that cannot be addressed within the scope of this program (such as the UPS battery needing routine replacement), you will be contacted immediately and informed of the issue so that a course of corrective action can be set in motion.

Along with the time spent to do these checkups any on-site visit for cleaing, updates, or repairs will automatically deduct from the block hour contract. Additionally any technical support over the phone will be billable (deducted from hours purchased on contract) for any call extending longer than 15 minutes, and will be deducted i 15 minute intervals.

What does it cost?

TCI's Managed Care Programs are specialy designed to address each client as they need. After a throrough and accurate network evaluation TCI will recommend a service agreement in the amount of a set hours for a twelve month period. Some hours will be used and sutomatically deducted for wekely maintenance checkups, phone support, and any onsite visit (be it for repair, physical hardware cleanings, and software updates). The remaining hours will be deducted from the contract as any service call requiring additional support arises.

How do you enroll in the program?

All it takes is a simple call to your TCI representative and say "do it." We will gather the necessary information from you, schedule an onsite network assesment and once your acceptance and first quarter payment are received you're all set!

What are the minimum requirements?

To be able to effectively perform the responsibilities we need the following:

  • A dedicated file server that is not used by the practice as a workstation in any way (one where the staff sit and use it like a regular PC).
  • A designated contact person to coordinate the scheduled work and address unresolved issues.
  • An email address to send the monthly status report to is preferred, but not neccesary.
  • The server MUST be remotely accessible via TCP/IP over a high speed internet connection such as DSL or Cable Modem. The servers IP address is preferred to be static, but we do have software utilities to work around this. This program is not available to practices with dial-up connections.
  • The server must be reconfigurred to allow for remote administration and support for and by TCI.
  • We must be provided with the passwords to the Administrator accounts of the server and firewall device (if this is not origianlly setup by TCI).

What are the limitations of the program?

This program is designed as routine maintenance for your network, similar to getting the oil changed in your car every 3000 miles. We are checking under the hood and changing the oil, not rebuilding the engine. It is not all-inclusive, nor is it designed to cover new build-outs or large office expansions.

Specifically:
  • It is limited to the inspections detailed in a predetermined maintenance list
  • Server monitoring services will be provided once a week. TCI must be allowed to perform the work within reasonable business hours of 7am to 5PM EST.
  • Although every effort will be made to discover developing issues, this is in no way a guarantee of system performance. Regular maintenance should lead to reliable operation, but many other factors can affect the performance of the server or network that are beyond our control such as environmental factors, equipment deterioration or failure and changes made by others.
  • Monitoring, maintenance and many software updates will be performed mostly remotely, however physical cleanings will be scheduled to ensure better performance of the PCs.
  • Phone support past 15 minutes will deduct from the overall contract.
Sample Maintenance List

The following is a sample maintenance list of the items that will be reviewed by the technician.
  • Backup System
    • Check the job status and review the backup completions on a weekly basis
    • Review the backup logs for any failed or incomplete backup jobs and adjust the system as necessary
    • Delete any logs older than one month
    • Update the integral virus protection as needed
  • Antivirus System
    • Check that the system is operational
    • LiveUpdate the software (Update virus data files via Internet)
    • Check quarantine for any viruses and review their origins.
    • Empty quarantine
  • Uninterruptible Power System
    • Check functional status
    • Perform a self-test
    • Initiate a calibration
  • Operating System
    • Apply all available Microsoft Critical Updates via Microsoft Windows Update
    • Review the event logs for unusual errors or issues, then clear the event logs
    • Review the Dell OpenManage system
  • Storage System
    • Review the status of the RAID array
    • Review the remaining available storage on all local drives
    • Clean any temp files that may have accumulated