kinops Platform Updates and Maintenance
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This document outlines Kinetic Data's policies and procedures regarding updates and maintenance of the kinops platform. Below are details about our service-level agreements, update processes, and communication strategies for Standard, Non-Standard/Urgent, and Emergency updates.
Our platform is designed to achieve over 99.9% uptime, excluding scheduled maintenance. This translates to less than 1 hour of downtime per month and less than 10 hours of downtime annually.
Maintenance occurs monthly on the third Thursday, starting after 5 PM Central Standard Time. We use redundant servers to prevent downtime and ensure service continuity during these times.
At Kinetic Data, our maintenance process is designed to establish a seamless and transparent communication channel right from the start of our partnership. This process ensures that customers are consistently informed about changes and updates to the kinops platform. Here’s how we implement this foundational process:
Customer Onboarding to Status Page: Our Customer Success (CS) team adds all new customers to our Status Page during onboarding. This action is a critical step in establishing a direct line of communication regarding any updates or changes.
Communication of Pre-approved Changes: Customers are informed that certain pre-approved changes — such as SAML changes, bouncing task engines, and the creation or deletion of spaces — are scheduled to occur on the third Thursday of every month. This regular schedule helps set clear expectations and allows customers to plan accordingly.
Status Page for Notifications: Our DevOps team plays a key role in communicating these changes. They ensure that all relevant information about the pre-approved changes is shared with customers promptly and accurately. The Status Page (available at ) is our primary tool for sharing this information. It offers an accessible and centralized platform for updates, ensuring customers are always in the loop.
Option for Additional Sign-ups: Customers can sign themselves or additional team members up for notifications on the Status Page. This feature allows for broader dissemination of information within customer organizations, ensuring that all relevant parties are kept informed.
At Kinetic Data, our approach to Standard Changes during the Monthly Maintenance Window is about implementing necessary updates and setting clear expectations with our customers to ensure their preparedness and minimize potential disruption. This process is fundamental in maintaining the reliability and security of the kinops platform. Here are the key steps we follow in our approach:
Preparation of Release Details by DevOpsTeam: The DevOps Team prepares the internal Platform Change Request (PCF) and creates a high-level summary, an impact analysis, and a rollback plan for the proposed changes.
Internal Stakeholder Email Approval: 20 days before the scheduled change, the DevOpsTeam compiles and sends the PCR for internal communication. The release details are then routed to internal stakeholders (James, Matt H., and Jef) for their review and approval.
Communication of Approved Changes: 14 days before the change, these details are posted on the Status Page for customer visibility. The internal stakeholders (James, Matt H., and Cassy) review, refine, and approve the change notice to be shared with customers.
Customer Notification: This step, led by our CS team, involves disseminating comprehensive information to the customers, including the detailed change notice, its potential impact, the rollback plan, and any actions required on the customer's end.
The Kinetic Data Platform Operations team will perform server patching and upgrades for the entire kinops environment from 6:00-10:00 CST on [enter date here] as part of our monthly scheduled maintenance window.
The kinops environment may experience intermittent outages during the maintenance window. You may be logged out during the upgrade and need to log in again. [this portion of the email can be updated depending on the implications of the standard change]
Please reply to this email if you have any questions or need to discuss this notice in more detail.
At Kinetic Data, we recognize that certain situations require urgent, non-standard changes that fall outside our regular maintenance schedule. Our goal in these scenarios is to manage these updates effectively while ensuring that our customers are promptly and thoroughly informed despite these changes not aligning with our pre-scheduled maintenance window. Here’s how we approach these urgent changes:
Process: The procedure for non-standard changes mirrors our standard changes, but it's adapted to a more compressed timeline due to the urgent nature of these updates.
Customer Notice: Communication remains a top priority, even for non-standard changes. We ensure that customers receive timely notices detailing the nature and expected impact of the changes.
By following this approach, we maintain our commitment to service excellence and transparency, even under urgent and unexpected circumstances.
Kinetic Data has identified a critical issue within the kinops cloud environment and will be undergoing urgent maintenance on [insert date]. This change addresses [high-level summary of the problem]. While we have conducted extensive testing in dev environments to minimize the impact, [insert potential behavior a customer may experience].
We understand the impact of unscheduled changes on you and your end users and appreciate your understanding. Due to the nature of the issue, the critical importance of maintaining the security of the Kinetic cloud platform, and the commitment to safeguarding customer data, this change cannot wait until the next scheduled maintenance period.
Please reply to this email if you have any questions or need to discuss this notice in more detail.
In an emergency, Kinetic Data prioritizes swift action and clear communication to manage unexpected critical issues effectively. We aim to address issues immediately, automate communication through the Status Page, and ensure minimal impact on our customers. The steps we take during an emergency change are as follows:
Preparation: The DevOps Team rapidly prepares the necessary PCR and an emergency change notification. This preparation is crucial for a swift and organized response.
Implementation: With no delay, the change is applied to the production environment. Speed is of the essence in these situations to prevent or mitigate any adverse effects.
Communication: Information regarding the emergency change is promptly available through the Status Page. This ensures that all stakeholders are informed about the ongoing situation in real-time.
Post-Update Communication: Internal stakeholders carefully refine the emergency change notes for clarity and completeness following the update. Comprehensive post-update and postmortem details are then shared on the Status Page or via email, maintaining transparency about the incident and the response.
Through this structured approach, Kinetic Data strives to handle emergency situations efficiently and clearly, keeping our customers informed at every step and minimizing any potential disruption to their operations.
During this time, you may experience [insert pain points. Outages, logging out, etc.]
We thank you for your understanding and patience during our critical update. Kinetic Data found [insert the concern here] and had to act immediately. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused for you and your end-users. We have successfully addressed the issue. Please let us know immediately if you notice any strange behavior or problems. Kinetic Data will continue monitoring our environments for the next twenty-four hours.
You will be notified of any changes to this schedule via a follow-up email. You can also visit our status page () and subscribe to updates related to service availability.
You will be notified of any changes to this schedule via a follow-up email. You can also visit our status page () and subscribe to updates related to service availability.
Kinetic Data regrets to inform you of an unexpected critical issue that has been identified within the Kinetic cloud environment, necessitating immediate action. We are working on updates currently, and you will be promptly notified of updates via a follow-up email. Additionally, you can monitor our status page at .
You will find attached our , which breaks out the details of this emergency change. Let us know if you need any additional information.