Application support
The IBM partner who runs the application, under an SLA.
Most Maximo and MAS estates keep a business partner on the application even when the version is current and the platform is stable. MaxIron provides that layer: a named service manager, engineers on severity targets, and architects and business analysts when a ticket needs more than a repair. On MaxIron Cloud or on infrastructure you already operate.
Two different contracts
IBM product support covers the software. Application support runs the estate.
Both matter. Confusing them is how an organisation discovers, after an outage, that nobody owned the rota.
IBM product support
Entitlement on the version you run: usage guidance and defect handling under IBM’s support lifecycle.
MaxIron application support
The partner who acknowledges the priority, changes the configuration, cares for the interfaces and writes the service report.
What the buyer is buying
Coverage on the product: usage guidance and defect handling under the IBM support lifecycle for the version you run.
Operation of your estate: incidents, configuration changes, integration care, environment hygiene and the people who answer the phone.
Who sits on the rota
IBM support channels, reached through your entitlement and the case you raise.
A named MaxIron service manager, support engineers on severity targets, and architects or business analysts when the ticket needs design or process judgement.
What an audit asks for
Evidence that the product is under a current IBM agreement for that version.
Ticket history, change records, severity definitions, acknowledgement times and who accepted each priority call.
Where each one stops
It does not own your interfaces, your change board or your on-call rota. A product fix still needs someone on your side to apply and verify it.
It does not issue IBM product fixes. Where a defect needs one, we raise and pursue the case with IBM as an IBM Gold Partner, under your entitlement.
What the contract names
Roles on the rota, and how severity is written
Who is on the contract
- Service manager
- Named individual. Owns the relationship, the monthly service review, priority calls and the written service report.
- Support engineers
- Engineers who know Maximo Manage and the MAS estate: incidents, configuration, cron and escalation care, interface queues and environment hygiene.
- Architect access
- Solution and technical architecture available inside the SLA when a ticket needs a design decision, not only a repair.
- Business analyst access
- Functional and process support when the ticket is about how work is planned, assigned or closed, not only about the screen that broke.
How the SLA is written
- Severities
- P1 to P4, defined against named journeys you cannot lose. A P1 is a production stop on a named journey, not any ticket raised after hours.
- Acknowledgement
- P1 carries a one-hour acknowledgement target. Lower severities carry targets written into the service description before signature.
- Hours and coverage
- Business hours by default, with out-of-hours P1 cover where the contract says so. The rota is MaxIron’s, not one named individual at the client.
- Change route
- Every production change has a ticket, an approver and a rollback note. Where your change board already exists, we work inside it.
Targets, hours and module coverage are set in the service description before signature. Figures on this page that describe a worked incident are illustrative of how the rota operates, not a promise against an unnamed estate.
One priority through the rota
A stalled goods-receipt interface, from raise to the monthly review
The point is not the particular interface. It is that every beat leaves a written record a service review can read.
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06:42
Inbound integration queue stalls. Goods receipts stop landing on open purchase orders.
Written P2 raised against IF-PO-GR. Service manager and on-call engineer acknowledged inside the target.
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07:05
Engineer reads the last successful message, the failing payload and the error on the Maximo object structure.
Written Working note on the ticket: schema mismatch on a supplier code introduced by yesterday’s finance release.
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07:40
A compensating map is prepared in non-production and re-run against the held messages.
Written Change record opened. Approver named. Rollback is to restore the previous map and re-queue.
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09:10
Change accepted. Queue drains. Outstanding receipts replayed under observation.
Written P2 closed with cause, fix, messages replayed and the finance contact who confirmed the first good receipt.
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Month end
The same incident appears in the service report with volume, time-to-acknowledge and time-to-restore.
Written Service review agenda carries it as a closed P2, not as a verbal recollection.
Illustrative timings and interface name. Your severity definitions and journeys are written into the service description for your estate.
Coverage
What the SLA accepts, which way it moves, and who signs
A support term is a boundary. If it is not on this ledger, it is not assumed.
| What moves | From | Direction | To | Signed by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Production incidents on Manage and agreed MAS modules | Your users and monitoring | → | MaxIron support rota | Service manager on acknowledgement |
| Configuration and Automation Script changes inside the agreed scope | MaxIron engineer | ← | Your change board | Named client approver |
| Integration failures on interfaces MaxIron supports | Interface monitor or partner system | ↔ | Ticket and working note | Support engineer on the ticket |
| IBM defect cases that need a product fix | MaxIron as IBM Gold Partner | ← | IBM support under your entitlement | Service manager, with your entitlement referenced |
| Monthly service report and review | Service manager | ← | Your platform owner | Both parties at the review |
What the SLA does not absorb
- A full Maximo to MAS upgrade, a data migration or a re-implementation programme
- Rewriting your operating model or owning process adoption inside the business
- Issuing IBM product fixes or varying the terms of your IBM licence agreement
- Environments we cannot monitor or change
Hosting is optional. The application partner is not.
The same application support contract runs whether MaxIron hosts the platform or you do. What changes is the shared responsibility line for infrastructure, not the shape of the SLA on Maximo work.
Buy MaxIron Cloud when you want the platform operated. Buy this when you want a named partner on the application. Most clients who host with us take both; clients who host elsewhere take this alone.
Boundaries
Four limits that keep the SLA honest
These are in the contract. They stop support being asked to do the work of a programme, or to commit where it cannot see.
An SLA needs visibility and a change route
We can only commit to targets on environments we can see and change. Where monitoring, access or approvals are withheld, support is best-effort and the contract says so.
Product fixes stay with IBM
MaxIron does not issue IBM product fixes and does not reinterpret your IBM agreement. We raise and pursue the defect case; applying a published fix still follows your change process.
Programmes are not tickets
A standing support contract absorbs incidents and bounded changes. A MAS upgrade, a data migration or a redesign is a delivery engagement, scoped and priced on its own. See specialist augmentation when you need named people inside a programme.
Unsupported versions are a different contract
Estates still on classic Maximo 7.6 past mainstream support sit on 7.6 Extended Support, with the bridge to MAS written into the term. This page is for estates on a current, supported Maximo or MAS release.
Related
Three neighbouring engagements, and when each one fits
- Platform Managed Maximo hosting
Identity, patching, monitoring and backup when MaxIron also operates the platform under a shared responsibility model.
- Bridge Maximo 7.6 Extended Support
SLA-backed care for classic 7.6 while the cutover to MAS is planned, with a dated review point in the contract.
- Assess Health Check and Heal
A findings register across seven areas when you need the estate written down before a support term starts.
- Programme Specialist augmentation
Senior people embedded in your team for a bounded delivery window, directed by you and priced on time.
Questions buyers ask about application support
- Is this the same as MaxIron Cloud?
- No. MaxIron Cloud is the managed platform: hosting, identity, patching, monitoring and backup. Application support is the SLA for Maximo and MAS work on that platform or on yours. Many clients buy both; either can stand alone.
- Do you only support estates you host?
- No. The same application support contract runs on MaxIron Cloud, on your cloud tenancy, in your data centre, or on IBM-hosted MAS. We require monitoring access and a change route, because severity targets are only meaningful where the estate is visible.
- How is this different from Maximo 7.6 Extended Support?
- 7.6 Extended Support is for classic Maximo 7.6 past mainstream vendor support, and it is written as a bridge to MAS. This page is for current, supported Maximo and MAS releases where you need an IBM business partner on the application, not a deferral of the upgrade.
- What does a month of support look like in writing?
- A service report: tickets by severity, acknowledgement and restore times against target, changes shipped, open risks, and the IBM cases we are pursuing on your behalf. The service manager walks it with your platform owner at a fixed review.
- Can we reach an architect or a business analyst on a support ticket?
- Yes, inside the SLA when the ticket needs it. Day-to-day volume is handled by support engineers. Architecture and BA time is for design and process judgement, not for turning every P3 into a mini-project.
Start with the journeys you cannot lose.
A support term is only as good as the severity definitions behind it. Forty minutes with a senior engineer is enough to draft which journeys are P1, what access we need, and whether the estate sits on MaxIron Cloud or on yours.
Useful to have on the call
- Your Maximo or MAS version, and where it is hosted
- How tickets are raised today, and who is on the rota after hours
- The three journeys that stop the operation if they fail
- Whether a change board already exists, and who chairs it