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Policies for All SAS Products

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Support Hours
Support Request Response Time
Escalations
Alternative Kubernetes Distributions

Third-Party Baseline & Later Support
Third-Party Vendors Drop Support
Disaster Recovery
Sending Sensitive Data

Support Eligibility

Generally, technical support is available to all Customers during the term of their agreement for SAS Software or SAS cloud Offerings that include access to SAS Software. However, Customers are encouraged to engage their designated on-site SAS support personnel as their first support contact. If the on-site SAS support personnel cannot address the request, Customers should contact SAS Technical Support to submit the support request. When Customers contact SAS Technical Support, they are required to provide information (for example, their SAS site number, company name, email address, and telephone number) that identifies them as a SAS Customer. Failure to provide necessary information precludes SAS Technical Support from taking action on the support request.

Support Cost

For most SAS Software and SAS cloud Offerings, technical support is included in the fee set forth in the Customer's agreement. Charges for any fee-based Enhanced Technical Support services or Extended Technical Support are outlined in the terms of the corresponding agreement.

Support Hours

For Customers in North America During Normal Support Hours

Support is provided in English from SAS corporate headquarters in Cary, North Carolina.

Support hours for new requests are Monday through Thursday 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern time and Friday 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.
Support hours for requests with an assigned case number are Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern time.

For Customers Outside of North America

Customers outside of North America should contact their local SAS office for specific support hours.

For Critical Support Requests After Normal Support Hours

SAS Technical Support provides 24x7, follow-the-sun support for critical situations in which SAS production Software is down or failing to function due to an unscheduled event. A Critical Support Request After Normal Support Hours is defined as an unscheduled critical production incident for qualifying Software. SAS Technical Support must be contacted by telephone for new Critical Support Requests After Normal Support Hours. The goal is to remedy critical situations encountered with the Software. Before Customers perform updates or maintenance for SAS Software, Customers must have a validated, repeatable, and completely tested backup-and-recovery process.

Note: A complete SAS Software restore is a viable recommendation for the on-call team member to make in order to resolve an after-hours issue that arises from planned system maintenance activities. Customers can update cases electronically 24x7.

Note: After-hours support is available only in English. Because the support is provided in English, it is important that Customers are able to adequately discuss their situation in English. SAS also provides self-help resources such as the SAS Help Center, the Customer Support site, and the SAS Support Communities. For Software products under Limited Support, Customers can search these resources for potential circumventions to issues they are experiencing.

In addition, Customers can access the SAS Support Site 24 hours a day.

Support Request Response Time

Severities are assigned to support requests based on the guidelines shown in the table below. All requests that are submitted electronically receive an immediate, automated email confirmation and a case number. Because SAS cannot guarantee less than a one business day response for requests that are tracked electronically, Customers should report Severity 1 or 2 problems by telephone.

Technical Support resources reside in many regions around the globe. Support requests opened during regular business hours for a region are typically initially handled by a Technical Support team member who is working the same business hours as the Customer. For requests opened by telephone that are not addressed during the primary contact, the team member and Customer agree on a severity level and the team member assigns a case number. Next, the team member might perform additional research or they might engage a specialist, who is potentially in another region.

Note: When a case is opened, Customers receive an immediate, automated email confirmation and a case number. Cases opened electronically are assigned a default severity level of 3 - Moderate (Sev3). Note that for hosted Customers, case severity is determined by the Customer's responses to questions about their specific issue.

The following table displays targets for initial follow-up and frequency of updates for support requests by Severity Level. The goals for initial follow-up after a request about production Software is first reported are based on the nature and severity of the request. The Technical Support team member will attempt to contact the Customer who submitted the request within the response time goals described below.

Severity Level	Condition	Initial Follow-up*	Frequency of Updates	Initial Follow-up*	Frequency of Updates
		Standard Support		Premium Support
1 - Critical (Sev1)	Critical problem that causes downtime of production Software, or a production environment that is inoperable. Issue has a critical business impact, with severe loss and degradation of production services and no known workaround. Note: Issues and critical problems that meet the criteria of 1-Critical and are related to going live and operating in production can qualify for Sev1 handling. When Customers identify the issue as Critical (Sev1), they confirm that the issue meets the criteria of Severity Level 1: the issue demands an immediate response, and Customers commit to continuous, daily engagement with the SAS team until resolution. In the absence of such daily engagement, SAS reserves the right to decrease the severity to High (Sev2) at its discretion. Critical (Sev1) qualifies for the SAS follow-the-sun policy. When requested, Customers commit to engage with SAS resources across multiple global regions, 24x7 until the issue priority is resolved, worked around, or lowered. Customers ensure that SAS has their accurate contact information, including a telephone number. Note: To ensure that SAS is aware and able to meet or exceed stated initial response times, qualifying Sev1 issues must be reported by telephone.	2 hours	Every day	1 hour ^†	As agreed upon with the TSAM
2 - High (Sev2)	Critical problem that has significant impact to the Customer's business with loss and degradation of services, but, when available, workarounds enable reasonable, albeit temporary, business continuity. Applies to all production and path-to-production activities. When Customers identify an issue as High (Sev2), they confirm that the issue meets the criteria of Severity Level 2: the issue demands an urgent response, and they commit to daily engagement with the SAS team until resolution. In the absence of such daily engagement, SAS reserves the right to decrease the Severity to Moderate (Sev3) at its discretion. If Customers request follow-the-sun support, they commit to a continuous, 24x7 engagement with SAS resources across multiple global regions until resolution; otherwise, SAS reserves the right to decrease the Severity to Moderate (Sev3) at its discretion. Customers also ensure that SAS has their accurate contact information. Note: To ensure that SAS is aware and able to meet or exceed stated initial response times, qualifying High (Sev2) issues must be reported by telephone.	4 business hours	Every 2 business days **	2 business hours	Every business day
3 - Moderate (Sev3)	Technical problem or Software bug that can be circumvented or SAS Software that is not performing as documented; there are unexpected results; a circumvention is possible; there is moderate or minor operational impact. If contact by phone is needed for a Moderate (Sev3) issue, SAS will contact Customers during business hours only. Customers also ensure that SAS has their accurate contact information.	1 business day	Every 3 business days	8 business hours	Every 2 business days
4 - Low (Sev4)	Support requests pertain to usage or clarification of documentation. If contact by phone is needed for a Low (Sev4) problem, SAS will contact Customers during business hours only. Customers are encouraged to address "How to" questions to SAS Support Community. Customers also ensure that SAS has their accurate contact information.	1 business day	Every 10 business days	8 business hours	Every 5 business days
5 - New Feature (Sev5)	This is not a function that requires SAS Technical Support assistance. Request new features at SAS Product Suggestions. Sev5 has been deprecated.	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
For support requests opened via the SAS Customer Support Center, Initial Follow-up* is defined as the time between when the request is initially received and when a Technical Support team member contacts the Customer. For Sev1 support requests opened by telephone that are not immediately resolved, Initial Follow-up is defined as the time between when SAS receives the Customer's call and when a Technical Support team member responds. Follow-up as agreed upon by Customer Management and SAS Technical Support Management. † Note:** Includes weekend or other non-business hours, during which support is provided via the Standard Support process.

SAS® Standard & Premium Support
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Severity Level (see conditions below)	Standard Support: Initial Follow-up*	Standard Support: Frequency of Updates	Premium Support: Initial Follow-up*	Premium Support: Frequency of Updates
1 - Critical (Sev1)	2 hours	Every day	1 hour ^†	As agreed upon with the TSAM
2 - High (Sev2)	4 business hours	Every 2 business days**	2 business hours	Every business day
3 - Moderate (Sev3)	1 business day	Every 3 business days	8 business hours	Every 2 business days
4 - Low (Sev4)	1 business day	Every 10 business days	8 business hours	Every 5 business days
5 - New Feature (Sev5)	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

*For support requests opened via the SAS Customer Support Center, Initial Follow-up is defined as the time between when the request is initially received and when a Technical Support team member contacts the Customer. For Sev1 support requests opened by telephone that are not immediately resolved, Initial Follow-up is defined as the time between when SAS receives the Customer's call and when a Technical Support team member responds.

**Follow-up as agreed upon by Customer Management and SAS Technical Support Management.

† Note: Includes weekend or other non-business hours, during which support is provided via the Standard Support process.

Select a Severity Level to read the Condition

Critical problem that causes downtime of production Software, or a production environment that is inoperable. Issue has a critical business impact, with severe loss and degradation of production services and no known workaround.

Note: Issues and critical problems that meet the criteria of 1-Critical and are related to going live and operating in production can qualify for Sev1 handling.

When Customers identify the issue as Critical (Sev1), they confirm that the issue meets the criteria of Severity Level 1: the issue demands an immediate response, and Customers commit to continuous, daily engagement with the SAS team until resolution. In the absence of such daily engagement, SAS reserves the right to decrease the severity to High (Sev2) at its discretion.

Critical (Sev1) qualifies for the SAS follow-the-sun policy. When requested, Customers agree to engage with SAS resources across multiple global regions, 24x7 until the issue priority is resolved, worked around, or lowered. Customers ensure that SAS has their accurate contact information, including a telephone number.

Note: To ensure that SAS is aware and able to meet or exceed stated initial response times, qualifying Sev1 issues must be reported by telephone.

Critical problem that has significant impact to the Customer's business with loss and degradation of services, but, when available, workarounds enable reasonable, albeit temporary, business continuity. Applies to all production and path-to-production activities.

When Customers identify an issue as High (Sev2), they confirm that the issue meets the criteria of Severity Level 2: the issue demands an urgent response, and they commit to daily engagement with the SAS team until resolution. In the absence of such daily engagement, SAS reserves the right to decrease the Severity to Moderate (Sev3) at its discretion.

If Customers request follow-the-sun support, they commit to a continuous, 24x7 engagement with SAS resources across multiple global regions until resolution; otherwise, SAS reserves the right to decrease the Severity to Moderate (Sev3) at its discretion.

Customers also ensure that SAS has their accurate contact information.

Technical problem or Software bug that can be circumvented or SAS Software that is not performing as documented; there are unexpected results; a circumvention is possible; there is moderate or minor operational impact.

If contact by phone is needed for a Moderate (Sev3) issue, SAS will contact Customers during business hours only.

Customers also ensure that SAS has their accurate contact information.

Support requests pertain to usage or clarification of documentation.

If contact by phone is needed for a Low (Sev4) problem, SAS will contact Customers during business hours only. Customers are encouraged to address "How to" questions to SAS Support Community.

Customers also ensure that SAS has their accurate contact information.

This is not a function that requires SAS Technical Support assistance. Request new features at SAS Product Suggestions.

Escalating Support Requests

If the Standard Support process does not produce the desired results, or if the request has changed in severity, customers can escalate the request as follows.

Contact the Technical Support team member who is working on the request and ask that the severity be escalated.
Ask to speak with a Technical Support Manager if additional escalation is required.

Addressing Support Requests

Because of the complex nature of Software development and operating environments, SAS cannot guarantee the amount of time that it will take to address a support request. In addition, response times might be affected if SAS Technical Support does not receive the requested information and/or is not allowed remote access to the relevant network(s) or system(s), as applicable. SAS endeavors to address support requests as expeditiously as possible.

Archiving Support Requests

A support request is archived upon mutual agreement between the team member who is responsible for the request and the Customer who submitted the request. If the team member is awaiting further information from the Customer, the team member makes at least one attempt either by telephone or email to contact the Customer within a few business days. During this contact, the team member communicates a timeline for archiving the support request if further information is not provided.

Information is not lost when a support request is archived. Data is handled in accordance with the SAS Privacy Statement. In the future, if Customers need to discuss the specific request that is documented in an archived case for any reason, a new case will be opened with a new case number, and all information from the archived case will be copied into the new case.

Remote Support Sessions

Under certain circumstances, SAS Technical Support team members use remote support sessions to troubleshoot and diagnose submitted support requests. In such a situation, SAS Technical Support will, with the Customer's agreement, initiate the remote session and provide connection instructions. Parameters defining the length, audience, and goals of a remote support session are jointly agreed upon before the remote session is initiated.

Remote support is not appropriate for all technical-support cases and is used only for the types of services described in the Support Terms and Comparisons section.

SAS Support for Alternative Kubernetes Distributions

In order for releases on the SAS Viya platform to remain under Standard Support, SAS requires that Customers run them on a supported distribution of Kubernetes. For detailed information about the Kubernetes distributions that SAS supports, select the documentation for the release in Kubernetes Cluster Requirements in SAS® Viya® Platform Operations.

Variants of Kubernetes distributions exist that are alternatives to the list that SAS identifies as officially supported. In addition, SAS Software uses technologies from various third-party vendors, which might or might not support these alternative Kubernetes distributions at the same level as SAS Software.

SAS provides Limited Support when the SAS Viya platform is deployed on an alternative distribution that the Customer has selected. If issues occur with the Software or system running on an alternative Kubernetes distribution, the Customer must perform further diagnostics on their own to isolate the problem. This investigation should include reproducing the problem on a supported Kubernetes distribution and third-party vendor software stack.

Note that, if a Customer elects to use an alternative Kubernetes distribution, SAS expects that they have the appropriate skills to resolve differences between the supported Kubernetes distribution and the alternative Kubernetes distribution that is being used. By electing to use an alternative Kubernetes distribution, the Customer acknowledges that they have made the appropriate investment into resolving the differences inherent in that alternative Kubernetes distribution.

SAS Support for Alternative Operating Systems

There are variants of operating systems that are alternatives to the list that SAS identifies as officially supported. These variants are sometimes derived from a supported distribution’s source code that might be destined to become part of a future release of a supported distribution.

SAS provides Limited Support for SAS Software when it is deployed on an alternative operating system that the Customer has selected. Further, SAS Software uses technologies from various third-party vendors at specific releases, which might or might not support these alternative operating systems as required by SAS Software. SAS is not able to assist Customers in determining equivalent third-party versions or releases on alternative operating systems. If issues occur with SAS Software that is running on an alternative operating system, the Customer must perform further diagnostics on their own to isolate the problem. This investigation should include reproducing the problem on a supported operating system and third-party vendor software stack.

Note that, if a Customer elects to use an alternative operating system, SAS expects that they have the appropriate skills to resolve differences between the supported operating system and the alternative operating system being used. By electing to use an alternative operating system, the Customer acknowledges that they have made the appropriate investment into resolving the differences inherent in that alternative system.

These restrictions do not apply to virtual applications supplied by SAS. For your reference, SAS maintains a list of Supported Operating Environments.

SAS Product Support for Virtualization Environments

For details about the support policy for SAS products that are run in an hardware virtualization environment, see S AS Product Support for Virtualization Environments.

SAS Third-Party Software Requirements - Baseline and Later Support

To keep pace with changes to third-party technologies and to meet the needs of SAS Customers, SAS follows a general policy of supporting one or more baseline major versions, as well as subsequent minor updates, for each third-party product. The supported baseline major versions are documented in S AS^® Third-Party Software Requirements - Baseline and Later Suppor t.

SAS^®Software Support When Third-Party Vendors Drop Support

In some instances, SAS Software is supported on an operating system, a Java application server, a Java Development Kit (JDK), a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) level, or a Kubernetes distribution even though the third-party vendor of that software has withdrawn support. When SAS can no longer provide updates to such components or receive updates to the component from the third-party vendor, SAS reserves the right to move affected products to Limited Support.

SAS is committed to helping Customers who rely on affected products to receive product updates from SAS whenever possible. Therefore, SAS makes such decisions based on a per-product basis.

For information about SAS support and Adobe Flash Player end of life, see SAS Software and Its Use with Adobe Flash Player.

SAS Disaster Recovery Statement

Disaster-recovery planning is important for any critical business system, including production systems running the SAS^® 9.4 Intelligence Platform, SAS® Viya® 3.x, and SAS^® solutions. SAS Customers should have disaster-recovery plans for their SAS Software and related data. For information about SAS support in this area, see the following pages:

Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS)

The Telecommunications Relay Service enables calls to be placed and received by people with hearing or speech disabilities who use a teletypewriter (TTY) or other text-input device. It enables SAS Technical Support staff to communicate with Customers who have hearing or speech disabilities. The availability of this service might vary by country or region.

Sending Sensitive Data

SAS safeguards data that is sent to SAS Technical Support in the same manner in which SAS protects its own similar confidential information. For details, see SAS Technical Support Policy Regarding Customer Materials in Support Files.

Termination

Effective October 1, 2023, SAS provides the termination rights detailed in w w w.sas.com/termination.

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