Service Level Agreement

Architecture

Courseplay uses a three-tier system to manage the application, database and content. Courseplay is currently hosted on Amazon AWS infrastructure, using Amazon EC2 and EC2 Spot Instances for the application, Amazon RDS for the database and Amazon S3 for the content. Individual SLAs for each of these services are available from AWS.

Service Uptime Guarantee

Service Uptime is the total time in a calendar month that the FCPL Online Training Platform (“Courseplay”, “Platform”, “LMS”) is available through the Internet to deliver online training, provided that the Client has established connectivity. FCPL takes responsibility for Platform availability within the FCPL network; however, FCPL cannot be held liable for upstream problems outside of FCPL’s network.

FCPL guarantees a 99.5% Monthly Uptime Percentage, calculated by subtracting from 100% the percentage of minutes during the month in which the Platform was Unavailable. Monthly Uptime Percentage measurements exclude downtime resulting directly or indirectly from any Platform SLA Exclusions (defined below). Unavailability is defined as a period in which 100% packet loss to FCPL’s website is experienced, which is determined to have been caused by a problem in FCPL’s Network as confirmed by FCPL.

Scheduled Downtime

Scheduled Downtime is any FCPL-scheduled interruption of Services for the purpose of upgrades, maintenance or replacement of any network, database, system or server components in order to provide better client service. Scheduled downtime occurs during notified downtime periods, with as much warning as possible via e-mail and a minimum of 24 hours’ notice.

• Major software and server updates are typically on the last Tuesday of every month between 1700–1800 hrs IST.
• Scheduled maintenance may also occur on Saturdays any time between 2200–0200 (+1) hrs IST.

Backups

FCPL will back up the Platform Database in a commercially reasonable manner. However, FCPL is not responsible for lost data. Backups will be stored by FCPL for no longer than 30 days. FCPL will provide an electronic copy of Client Data upon written request by the Client. Clients are advised to download and store their own reports on a regular basis.

Information Security Policy

FCPL will take commercially reasonable steps to prevent unauthorized access to FCPL’s online learning platform, content, user data and confidential information stored on FCPL’s server computers. This includes firewall protection, data encryption, SSL encryption, IDS systems, Anti-Malware software, and policies and practices based on industry standards. FCPL’s data security policy is defined as follows:

• Information and vital services to be made available with minimal disruption to team members and clients as required by the business process.
• The integrity of information must be maintained. This means that the accuracy and completeness of information must be safeguarded by protecting against unauthorized modification.
• Confidentiality of valuable and sensitive information, not limited to research, third parties, personal and electronic communications data, will be assured by protecting from unauthorized disclosure or unavoidable interruptions.
• Daily snapshots of the software, content and database are taken and recovery has been tested to ensure any data can be recovered and restored in case of a major failure or disaster.
• Information Security Awareness Training is made available to every employee every 12 months. Attendance and completion of the training is recorded.
• All breaches of information security, actual or suspected, are reported to and investigated by the relevant authorities, including the FCPL CEO and System Admins who oversee Incident Response. Staff understand their roles and responsibilities in handling incidents and have a comprehensive and well-tested incident response plan ready.
• Appropriate access control is maintained, and information is protected against unauthorized access.
• Each employee has a signed and valid NDA with the Company.
• Controls are in place so that Client data may not be modified by anyone other than the FCPL CEO.
• Client data can also be viewed but not modified by the Product Lead for support purposes.
• The production infrastructure is not accessible by any other employee of the Company.
• FCPL uses industry standard data security measures like strong passwords and two-factor authentication for AWS Console access.
• Firewalls are set up on all servers as a security measure.
• Root access is disabled on all servers for added security.
• GDPR EU, GDPR UK, ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 27001:2013 certifications are currently valid.

Training

Live instructor-led training is available to Clients via webinar or in-person as per the Agreement. SOPs for L1 issues or a pre-defined hand-holding period over video call and email will be available for all new Clients.

Minimum Hardware and Software Requirements

Computers and Laptops

• Operating System: Windows 7 or later, MacOS 10.9 or later, Linux Kernel 3.10 or later
• Software: Respective Audio and Video Drivers
• Browsers: Google Chrome v75+ | Mozilla Firefox v67+ | Apple Safari v12.0+ | Microsoft Edge v75+
• Hardware: Sound card, Speakers or Headphones, Monitor
• Internet Connection: Required. As some of the content requires streaming, FCPL recommends a minimum download connection speed of 512 KBps.

Mobiles & Tablets

• Minimum horizontal screen size: 786 px
• Software: Respective Audio and Video Drivers
• Device RAM: Min 4GB RAM required to support high-res video, SCORM and Microlearning content
• Device Storage: 100 MB minimum, additional 1 GB for content recommended
• Operating System: iOS 12 or later, Android 10.0.0 or later
• Browsers: Google Chrome v85+ | Mozilla Firefox v80+ | Apple Safari v13.0+ | Microsoft Edge v85+
• Internet Connection: Required. As some of the content requires streaming, FCPL recommends a minimum download connection speed of 1 MBps. Due to the presence of video content, FCPL recommends End Users use a Wi-Fi connection to prevent high data charges from the End User’s mobile service provider.

IT Networking Requirements

• In order to access Courseplay, FCPL requires that incoming and outgoing connections be opened on ‘*.courseplay.co’ and ‘s3.amazonaws.com’ for ports 80 and 443.
• In addition, video streaming from *.courseplay.co must be whitelisted.
• Lastly, all emails coming from ‘courseplay.co’ should be whitelisted to ensure important notifications, reminders and other communications are received.

IT Restrictions

The following soft restrictions are in effect for file uploads and can be increased upon request. It is highly unlikely that either of these restrictions should ever be violated. To ensure learners do not lose interest, FCPL recommends uploading content that is not longer than 20 minutes in length.

• Max Upload File Size: 250 MB. If the file is larger than 250 MB, it may not upload.
• Max Upload Timeout: 600 seconds. If the upload takes more than 10 minutes, the upload will “timeout” and fail.
• Recommended File Size: 40 MB is the recommended file size for SCORM packages to ensure the best user experience.

Supported Formats

The following formats are supported as module types on Courseplay:

• Images: .png, .jpeg, .jpg
• Slideshows: .pdf
• Videos: .mp4
• SCORM: All editions and versions of SCORM are supported. SCORM 2004 2nd Edition is preferred. 40 MB or smaller file size recommended. File names should not contain special characters.

Proprietary MS Office formats (e.g. .xlsx, .docx, .pptx) can be converted to SCORM or uploaded as Web Content by hosting on a third-party server. Support for these formats is coming soon.

Why are SCORM packages recommended to be only 40MB?

The 40MB file size is not a constraint but a recommendation to ensure the content runs smoothly on all devices, based on FCPL’s experience with different clients and SCORM modules. There is a setting on most e-learning authoring tools that allows you to easily compress all images and videos at the time of exporting the SCORM package.

Large SCORM packages hurt end users in two ways: (1) the content might not run smoothly due to the large size and (2) it takes up a lot of their data bandwidth. FCPL has found in the past that large SCORM packages lead employees to complain about the amount of data the content consumes, which gives learners a negative experience.

Email Requirements

If you plan to have more than 1,000 registered users on the platform or upload more than 1,000 registered users at a time, FCPL strongly suggests that Clients bring their own SMTP server. Clients are requested to share their SMTP server details with FCPL’s support team and FCPL would be happy to set it up for you.

Performance Standards

FCPL has outlined certain benchmarks by which the performance of Courseplay will be judged. All tests were conducted on a 1 Mbps internet connection. If Clients would like specific benchmarks to be appended to this list, a ticket should be created on the support management system or an email should be sent to support@courseplay.co.

Concurrent Users

Courseplay uses an advanced auto-scaling server architecture that automatically provisions additional servers at times of heavy server load; however, this feature takes 5 minutes to roll out. This allows FCPL to drastically reduce server costs and pass those savings on to FCPL’s clients. FCPL offers a minimum soft restriction of 50% concurrent burst users (CBU) per client at any given time. FCPL cannot guarantee performance if the allocated CBU has been exceeded by the client within a period of 5 minutes.

• Minimum Soft Restriction: This restriction can be increased by clients on request.
• Concurrent Burst Users (CBU): 50% of the registered users can safely log in simultaneously within a period of 5 minutes, after which FCPL’s auto-scaling policy will kick in and concurrent users will no longer be an issue. If additional users log in concurrently within a 5 minute period, users may face a temporary disruption of service or slow page loads.

Release Cycle

Major updates of the core platform are typically released once every 2 months on the 3rd Tuesday of the month (subject to last minute changes). Mobile app updates typically follow 2 weeks after the core platform updates. Clients with their own dedicated infrastructure and apps have full control over their own release cycles up to a certain extent.

Technical Support

Please provide details of the issue along with a screenshot if possible, and we will resolve the issues at the earliest. Please ensure that a full screenshot is provided and that the screenshot is not cropped. Any additional details like the name of the module, browser version, etc. would be very helpful in resolving the issue as quickly as possible.

For serious problems on production environments that involve all users, or severe degradation of performance that involves all users, immediate intervention will be attempted 24×7. Bugs that do not impact all users, or requests for clarification, will follow this procedure:

• Taking Charge: The incident is registered by the User, a ticket number is assigned and the request is saved in the help desk system.
• First Response – Ticket Follow Up: Before interaction with the customer, the support team will aim to diagnose and resolve the problem stated in the initial request. Screenshots or other information to clarify the problem might be requested. The User may be contacted via phone during business hours if further information is needed.
• ETA: The customer will be informed about the estimated time for resolution of the problem and will be updated if the ETA varies.
• Workaround: The support team will first deliver a workaround to the client so that the impact on business goals is minimum.
• Fix: The support team will then work to fix the issue on a permanent basis, either in parallel or after the workaround is delivered.
• Resolution: The client will be informed once the issue has been permanently resolved.

Business Hours

Business Hours are defined as 0900 hrs to 1900 hrs IST, Monday to Friday. During business hours, support over the support management system, email, chat and phone is available. Outside of business hours, in case of critical issues, a phone call is requested for immediate resolution.

SLA Violation Credit

SLA Violation Credit occurs when FCPL’s Service Uptime guarantees are not met or a User is unable to use the Platform after three separate attempts separated by a minimum of 15-minute intervals. In these cases, FCPL will credit the Client as per the schedule below.

In order to request a credit, you must email us screenshots depicting the outage within 7 business days of the reported violation at support@courseplay.co with “SLA Violation Credit” in the subject line. Your request logs that document the errors or outages should also be provided, with confidential information replaced with asterisks. SLA Violations will be reviewed by FCPL’s personnel during Business Hours.

If the Monthly Uptime Percentage of such request is confirmed by us and is less than the Service Uptime Guarantee, we will issue the Service Credit to you within one billing cycle following the month in which your request is confirmed by us. Your failure to provide the request and other information as required above will disqualify you from receiving a Service Credit. A Service Credit may only be awarded once a month.

SLA Violation Credits are calculated as a percentage of the total charges paid by you for the Platform for the period in which the Unavailability occurred, in accordance with the schedule below. This excludes one-time payments for services such as payments made for custom add-ons or content. In case of Quarterly, Annual or Three-Year billing, the amount will be calculated as per the method specified.

Monthly Uptime Percentage, Maximum Resolution Time and corresponding Service Credit Percentages

We will apply any Service Credits only against future Platform payments otherwise due from you. Service Credits will not entitle you to any refund or other payment from the Company. Service Credits may not be transferred or applied to any other account. Unless otherwise provided in the Agreement, your sole and exclusive remedy for any Unavailability, non-performance, or other failure by us to provide the Platform is the receipt of a Service Credit (if eligible) in accordance with the terms of this SLA.

Escalation Matrix

For issues that take longer than the “Maximum Resolution Time” to resolve, Clients will be awarded an SLA Violation Credit. Feature requests are not covered under this SLA. Contact details for all members of the escalation matrix will be shared at the time of kick-off and also provided in the implementation plan.

Level 0: Self Service

Users may access the self-service support page available on Courseplay to view Frequently Asked Questions (General FAQ’s), create a support ticket (Feedback & Assistance) or view Courseplay Version details (About).

Level 1: Internal Support

Users may use the form on the Support page (L0) or use an internal client-side help desk to request basic support and troubleshooting. If the issue is identified as a software bug or cannot be resolved within 20 business hours for whatever reason, it is pushed to L2 along with a screenshot of the problem.

Level 2

The Support team at Courseplay takes over. An L2 technician at Courseplay is limited to solving known issues and escalates new issues immediately to L3. If the issue is not ‘Solved’ or ‘In Progress’ within 20 business hours, it is also pushed to L3.

Level 3

If a bug or a critical feature modification is discovered, or if a new problem is found, the L3 technician is contacted and the Lead Developer is also informed. An L3 technician is a present or former member of the product development team with a minimum of 3 months of experience and familiarity with the product. If the issue is recognized as a top business priority incident, or not ‘Solved’ or ‘In Progress’ within 20 business hours, it is pushed to L4.

Level 4 or P0 Incidents

If the problem cannot be solved by an L3 technician or there is a top business priority incident, the L4 team is contacted. The FCPL CTO and FCPL CEO are immediately informed of the issue. Based on the problem, the AWS support team or third-party consultants may be involved as well. The issue is typically resolved within the same day. Data loss is unlikely but possible. If an issue is pushed to this level, 24×7 phone support is provided to the client until the issue is resolved.

SLA Exclusions

The Service Uptime does not apply to any of the following cases:

• Third-party server hardware failure e.g. AWS
• Scheduled downtime
• Problems outside of FCPL’s network (upstream providers, or client’s inbound connection) not affecting 100% loss to FCPL’s network
• Interruptions or failure of individual service caused by Client or their agents, employees or customers to their service, including inaccurate configuration, 3rd party software, client abuse or over utilization of resources, hacked client servers, attacks, exploits, or failure to acknowledge a maintenance contract
• Unavailability, suspension or termination of Services that result from a policy or clause described in the Platform Licensing Agreement
• Factors outside of FCPL’s reasonable control, including any force majeure event or Internet access or related problems beyond the demarcation point of the Platform
• Domain Name Server (“DNS”) issues outside FCPL’s control, including, without limitation, DNS propagation or any delays in the registration or transfer of domain name due to domain registrar or registry issues; browser, host file or DNS caching that may make your website appear inaccessible when others can still access your site

Cyber Security Incidents

In case of a “Cyber Security Incident”, where external parties have unlawful access to confidential data on the Platform, the respective clients will be informed along with the required nodal agency for computer security incidents. For cases where the breach takes place in India, CERT-IN will be notified. All such notifications of an incident will take place within 6 hours of FCPL’s team acknowledging the issue.

Support SOP

Please find below the details of the support portal process to provide requisite support with the project:

• Please raise the query for Courseplay with support@courseplay.co.
• The necessary details such as Department, Subject, Description of the Issue, Priority and Classification have to be filled in while submitting a ticket.
• Files can also be uploaded, such as snapshots, to describe the issue in a better way.
• If you are raising a ticket from an e-mail id, provide the priority in the mail. A ticket shared with no priority will be treated as LOW.
• Do define the Priority (as all issues wouldn’t be Show Stoppers or of High Priority) so that the most important issues of all locations can be resolved first.
• In order to connect with the client in real time, please ask your IT Team to connect via Zoom, Google Meet or any other web conferencing tool of your preference.

SLA and Service Suspension

This SLA will not be enforceable by Clients with any outstanding payment that is overdue for 30 days or greater. In addition, FCPL reserves the right to suspend technical support services for clients with payments overdue for 30 days or greater. In the event that outstanding payments are overdue for 60 days or greater, FCPL reserves the right to indefinitely suspend all services until the Client has cleared all pending dues.

2025 Holiday Calendar

Data Retention

• Records for Audit Trails and Notifications will be retained for ready access for the last 6 months. Records older than 6 months will be stored offline in cold storage.
• Records for users, learning and other activities will be retained for a minimum of 8 years for all records, including those that have been deleted from the front end.
• In case of account termination, data will be permanently deleted within 3 months of the date of termination.

Support Plans

Designed for your needs. Clients that require dedicated support get a few additional services included.

Updates and Additional Information

FCPL reserves the right to update and amend this policy as it is deemed necessary or appropriate to do so. Please check back often on courseplay.co/sla to be apprised of any changes.

Additional information can be found on the legal page of FCPL’s website, or by emailing us with any questions, comments or concerns at support@courseplay.co.

Effective Date: 1st January, 2016
Last Updated: 19th February, 2025
Changes Made: Added support management system as an SLA enforceable communication channel

About Courseplay

Courseplay is the next-gen solution for 360-degree employee growth. Our AI-powered learning experience platform focuses on offering on-the-job, social and formal learning to the workplace. Enterprises with large frontline teams are automating their entire skill and talent development lifecycle with our unified employee growth platform.

Features offered: Career Planning, Learning Management, Behavioral Scorecards, Performance, Leaderboards, Levels, Badges, Rewards and Recognition, Mentorship, Coaching, Training Needs Analysis, Onboarding, Training Recommendations, Task Management, Chatbot, and more!

Courseplay is GDPR, ISO 9001:2015 and ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certified, and a subsidiary of CIEL HR Services Ltd, which offers a comprehensive suite of HR solutions.