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# Google Cloud Platform
Services: Technical Support Services Guidelines

Last modified: February 14, 2022

This is not the current version of this document and is provided for archival
purposes.
View the current version

The following technical support services guidelines
("Guidelines") apply to agreements where Google provides
Google Cloud Platform (as described
at https://cloud.google.com/terms/services)
and related technical support to Customer (as amended from
time to time, the "Agreement"). Capitalized terms used but
not defined in these Guidelines have the meanings given to
them in the Agreement.

Regardless of any other statement in the Agreement or these
Guidelines, Google does not offer Technical Support Services
(“TSS”) to Customer for Cloud Identity or Orbitera features
(including those listed in the Google Cloud Platform
Services Summary), for which Google will instead provide
Customer, as applicable: (a) support for Cloud Identity in
accordance with the Cloud Identity Technical Support
Services Guidelines (available
at https://cloud.google.com/terms/identity/tssg)
and (b) Orbitera Support for any Orbitera features. Google
offers TSS to Customer for Firebase services, except as
described in the Firebase Technical Support Services Guide
(available
at https://cloud.google.com/terms/tssg/firebase/).

General Support Services Terms

1. **Generally.** As part of
Customer's purchase of Google Cloud Platform
Services, Google will provide Basic (formally
Bronze) Support to Customer. Customer may order
additional TSS for an additional fee.

2. **Basic
Support.** Customer will receive
automatic Services upgrades and Maintenance
updates, support for billing inquiries, and access
to documentation, white papers, online best
practices guides, and community forums.

3. **Support Request
Submission.**

   - 3.1. *First
Line Support*. Customer will provide
first-level support to Customer End Users. Google
will provide second-level support to Customer’s
Designated Contacts only.

   - 3.2. *Customer Efforts to Fix Errors*.
Prior to making a request to Google, Customer will
use reasonable efforts to fix any error, bug,
malfunction or network connectivity defect without
escalation to Google. Thereafter, Customer may
submit a Request for TSS.

   - 3.3. *Characterization of Requests*.
Customer designates P1-P4 priority upon submission
of Requests. Google will review Customer's
priority designation and may change designations
that Google believes are incorrect. Any such
determination made by Google is final and binding
on Customer.

   - 3.4. *Procedures for Acknowledgement and
Resolution of Requests*. When making a
Request, Customer will provide all requested
diagnostic information and assist Google Support
Personnel as may be required to resolve a Request.
Upon resolution of a Request, Customer may receive
an optional survey to provide feedback to Google
on the support Request experience.

   - 3.5. *Request
Acknowledgement*. Google may respond to a
Request by acknowledging receipt of the Request.
Customer acknowledges and understands that Google
may be unable to provide answers to, or resolve
all Requests.

   - 3.6. *Feature
Requests*. If Google deems a Request to be a
Feature Request, Google will log such Request for
consideration to add to a future update or release
of the Services and will consider the matter
closed. Google is under no obligation to respond
to or resolve any Feature Request or to include
any such Feature Request in any future update or
release.

   - 3.7. *Building Applications*. For
clarity, Google has no obligation under these
Guidelines to: (a) write, build or improve any
software Applications, or write code to facilitate
Applications; (b) configure the Services for
Customer; or (c) design, build or review Customer
infrastructure.

   - 3.8. *Pre-General Availability
Offerings*. Google has no obligation to
provide TSS for Pre-GA Offerings, but will
consider Requests relating to Pre-GA Offerings on
a case-by-case basis.

4. **Accessing Support.**

   - 4.1. *Setting
Designated Contacts*. Customer-designated
support admins may add Designated Contacts to its
Account. Solely with respect to Silver, Gold, and
Platinum TSS, if Customer wishes to change its
Designated Contacts, it will notify Google via the
Google Support Tool at least five Business Days
prior to the change, as applicable.

   - 4.2. *Support
Hours and Target Initial Response Times*.
Google will process Requests during the Hours of
Operation and in accordance with the applicable
target initial response times for each support
level, unless otherwise indicated in these
Guidelines. Any Requests received outside of the
Hours of Operation will be logged and processed
during the next Business Day.

5. **Maintenance.** To
ensure optimal performance of the Services, Google
performs periodic Maintenance. In most cases,
Maintenance will have limited or no negative
impact on the availability and functionality of
the Services. If Google expects planned
Maintenance to negatively affect the availability
or functionality of the Services, Google will use
commercially reasonable efforts to provide at
least seven days' advance notice of the
Maintenance. In addition, Google may perform
emergency unscheduled Maintenance at any time. If
Google expects such emergency unscheduled
Maintenance to negatively affect the availability
or functionality of the Services, Google will use
commercially reasonable efforts to provide advance
notice of such Maintenance. Maintenance notices
noted above will be provided via the Google
Support Tool or via an email to the Notification
Email Address.

6. **Language
Support.** All support provided by
Google pursuant to these Guidelines will be
provided in the English language except as
provided
at https://cloud.google.com/support/docs/language-working-hours.

7. **Support Data Processing
Activities.** Google collects and
processes Support Data for the purpose of
providing TSS under these Guidelines and
maintaining the Services.

8. **Technical Account Management
(TAM).** As part of the Platinum,
Enterprise and Premium Support offerings, Customer
will receive access to a named Technical Account
Manager for 1 day per week. Additional access to
Technical Account Management may be purchased,
subject to additional fees and terms. Technical
Account Management includes: (a) assistance in
developing a cloud strategy with respect to the
Services, (b) best practices guidance on
implementing and using the Services, and (c)
management of technical support escalations and
coordination with Google subject matter experts to
address technical inquiries related to the
Services.

9. **Professional
Services.** In addition to the
support and maintenance services described above,
Google may provide limited advisory services to
Customer under these Guidelines in accordance with
an order form executed by Google and Customer and
datasheets associated with the services.
Additional fees may apply. Advisory services are
recommendations only. Customer is responsible for
the results achieved when determining whether to
implement recommendations from Google. Google may
deliver recommendations to Customer in the form of
a working paper or report, which Customer may use,
modify and reproduce for its internal business
purposes. Google will not otherwise license any
intellectual property to Customer as part of the
advisory services provided under these Guidelines.
Any other advisory, professional or implementation
services will be subject to the terms of a
separate agreement between Google and Customer.

10. **Collaborative
Support.** In recognition that
Customer may deploy and use Services that are
offered in connection with or that rely upon a
range of third party hardware and software
components and computing platforms, resolving
Requests may sometimes require input from third
party providers who have qualified to participate
in the Google Cloud Platform collaborative support
program (such providers, "Collaborative Support
Partners"). Google will, in its reasonable
determination, identify to Customer any Requests
that require the involvement of Collaborative
Support Partner(s). Google may include
Collaborative Support Partners in support
communications with Customer, subject to the
following terms:

   - 10.1. Customer may
only receive support from a Collaborative Support
Partner if Customer has a valid support agreement
in place with that Collaborative Support Partner.
Neither these Guidelines nor the Agreement grant
to Customer any right to receive support services
from Collaborative Support Partners.

   - 10.2. Google will
include Collaborative Support Partners in direct
support communications with Customer solely at
Customer's direction. Google Support Personnel
will only reach out to a Collaborative Support
Partner after receiving Customer’s consent.

   - 10.3. When Customer
consents to include a Collaborative Support
Partner in an ongoing support case, Customer
consents to Google providing that Collaborative
Support Partner with Support Data Google
reasonably deems relevant to the Request,
including Customer's name, contact information,
and a description of the Request. When Customer
directs Google to engage a Collaborative Support
Partner, the Collaborative Support Partner acts as
an independent contractor of the Customer, not
Google. The Collaborative Support Partner, not
Google, is solely responsible for the processing
and use of any information, including Support
Data, provided to that Collaborative Support
Partner in the course of providing support
services.

11. **Resold Customer.** A
customer (a “Resold Customer”) of a
Google-authorized unaffiliated Google Cloud
Platform reseller (a “Reseller”) may purchase
Google-supplied technical support services that
are approved and enabled for resale through the
Reseller (“Resold TSS”), provided that:

   - 11.1. the prices and
fees for Resold TSS, and the terms applicable to
Resold Customer’s use of Resold TSS, are agreed as
between Resold Customer and the Reseller;

   - 11.2. any payment for
Resold TSS is made directly to Reseller under
Resold Customer’s applicable agreement with the
Reseller; and

   - 11.3. Google will not
provide Resold Customer any billing inquiry
support on the Services.

12. **Additional Definitions.**

   - 12.1.
*"Application"* has the meaning given in
the Agreement or, if not such meaning is given,
has the meaning given to “Customer Application” in
the Agreement.

   - 12.2. *"Business
Day"* means any day during the Hours of
Operation.

   - 12.3.
*"Customer End User"* has the meaning given
in the Agreement or, if no such meaning is given,
has the meaning given to “End Users” in the
Agreement.

   - 12.4.
"*Designated Contacts"* means administrators
or technical employees designated by Customer or
Reseller (if Customer is accessing TSS as a
customer of a Reseller) who are allowed to contact
Google for technical support.

   - 12.5.
*"Feature Request"* means a Request by a
Designated Contact to incorporate a new feature or
enhance an existing feature of the Services that
is currently not available as part of the existing
Services.

   - 12.6. *"Google
Support Tool"* means the Admin Console or a
support tool located at a URL (as may be updated
from time to time) provided by Google.

   - 12.7. *"Google
Support Personnel"* means the Google
representatives responsible for handling Requests.

   - 12.8. *"Hours of
Operation"* means 17:00 on Sunday to 17:00
on Friday Pacific Time Zone, except for holidays
in local time for each region documented in the
Google Support Tool.

   - 12.9.
*"Maintenance"* means maintenance work that
is performed on hardware or software delivering
the Services.

*12.10.
"Notification Email Address"* has the
meaning given in the Data Processing and Security
Terms.

*12.11. "P0"*
means impact to operating environments that have
been provisioned to support Mission Critical
Services.

*12.12. "P1"*
means Critical Impact – Service Unusable in
Production.

   - 12.13. *"P2"*
means High Impact – Service Use Severely Impaired.

*12.14. "P3"*
means Medium Impact – Service Use Partially
Impaired.

          12.15.
*"P4"* means Low Impact – Service Fully
Usable.

   - 12.16.
*"Priority"* means P0, P1, P2, P3 or P4
depending on the level of impact a Request is
having on Customer's operations and is used to
establish initial target response times.

*12.17. **"Request"* means a request
from a Designated Contact to Google Support
Personnel for technical support to resolve a
question or problem report regarding the Services.

*12.18.
"Reseller"* has the meaning given to it in
Section 11 (Resold Customer) in the General
Support Service Terms of these Guidelines.

*12.19. "Support
Data"* means account details and the
information that Customer provides to Google for
the purpose of obtaining TSS under these
Guidelines, including requests for support and the
details provided to Google about the specific
support issue.

*12.20. "Support
Role"* means the level of support available
to a Designated Contact under Role-Based Support,
as defined by one of two tiers (Development or
Production) and as designated by Customer in
accordance with Section 1 (Support Roles) of the
Role-Based Support terms.

*12.21. "Value Add
Services"* means additional TSS available to
Customer for an additional fee.

Standard Support

1. **Standard
Support.** Standard Support includes
unlimited Designated Contacts.

2. **Target Initial Response Times for
Standard Support.**

**Priority**
**Target Initial Response Times
during the Hours of Operation**

**P1**
**N/A**

**P2**
**4 hours**

**P3**
**8 hours**

**P4**
**8 hours**

3. **Enrollment and Unenrollment of
Standard Support.**

3.1 Standard Support
requires a minimum commitment through the end of
each calendar month.

3.2 Customer may
unenroll from Standard Support through the Google
Support Tool, in which case Basic Support will
apply after the end of the calendar month. If
Customer upgrades from Standard Support, the
applicable Fees for the new support level will be
calculated from the date of such upgrade.

Enhanced Support

1. **Enhanced Support**

   - 1.1. Enhanced Support
includes unlimited Designated Contacts.

   - 1.2. *Value
Add Services*. Customer may purchase the
following Value Add Services for an additional
fee:

      - 1.2.1. *Technical Account Advisor Service
(TAAS)*. Customer will receive access to a
Technical Account Advisor. TAAS includes: (a)
guided support onboarding, (b) guidance on best
practices for case handling, (c) management of
technical support escalations, (d) reviews of
operational and case metrics, and (e)
recommendations for training and optimization of
the Services.

      - 1.2.2. *Assured Support for Enhanced
Support*. Google will provide TSS for
Assured Workloads (“Assured Support”) in
accordance with the Customer-selected Admin
Console controls. All Requests for Assured Support
by Customer must be submitted via the “create
case” option from within the Google Support Tool
and include the project name (ID) in the project
field, which corresponds to an Assured Workloads
project. Google will provide Assured Support in
the English language only.

      - 1.2.3. *Planned
Event Support (PES)*. If Customer wishes to
purchase PES for an event, it must do so no less
than 30 days before that event to ensure proper
planning. Each event is limited to a maximum of
five calendar days. During each event, regardless
of Section 2 (Target Initial Response Times for
Enhanced Support) below, Google will respond to P1
Requests that are related to the event with a
target initial response time of 15 minutes.
Customer can purchase PES for up to three events
per calendar year.

2. **Target Initial Response Times for
Enhanced Support.**

**Priority**
**Target Initial Response
Times**

**P1**
**1 hour**

**P2**
**4 hours**

**P3**
**8 hours***

**P4**
**8 hours***

*during the Hours of Operation

3. **Enrollment and Unenrollment of
Enhanced Support.**

   - 3.1. Enhanced Support
requires a minimum commitment through the end of
each calendar month or as described in the
applicable Order Form.

   - 3.2. Customer may
unenroll from Enhanced Support by notifying Google
in writing or through the Google Support Tool, as
applicable, in which case Basic Support will apply
after the end of the applicable commitment period.
If Customer enrolls in another support level other
than Basic Support, the applicable Fees for the
new support level will be calculated from the date
of such new enrollment.

Premium Support and Partner-Led Premium Support

1. **Premium Support.**

   - 1.1. Premium Support
includes unlimited Designated Contacts.

   - 1.2. Premium Support
includes support from Google's Technical Account
Management, as described in Section 8 of the
General Support Services Terms (Technical Account
Management).

   - 1.3. *Value
Add Services*. Customer may purchase the
following Value Add Services for Premium Support
for an additional fee:

      - 1.3.1. *Assured Support for Premium
Support*. Google will provide TSS for
Assured Workloads (“Assured Support”) in
accordance with the Customer-selected Admin
Console controls. All Requests for Assured Support
by Customer must be submitted via the “create
case” option from within the Google Support Tool
and include the project name (ID) in the project
field, which corresponds to an Assured Workloads
project. Google will provide Assured Support in
the English language only.

      - 1.3.2. *Mission Critical Services
(MCS)*. Google will provide a target initial
response time of 5 minutes for P0 cases for
operating environments that have been provisioned
to support MCS, as noted in the table in Section 3
(Target Initial Response Times for Premium Support
and Partner-Led Premium Support). Google will
provide TSS for MCS in the English language only.

2. **Partner-Led Premium
Support.**

   - 2.1. Partner-Led
Premium Support includes unlimited Designated
Contacts.

   - 2.2. *Partner
Operations Management (POM)*. As part of the
Partner-Led Premium Support offering, Customer
will receive access to a named Partner Operations
Manager. POM includes: (a) assistance in
developing a cloud strategy with respect to the
Services, (b) best practices guidance on
implementing and using the Services, and (c)
management of technical support escalations and
coordination with Google subject matter experts to
address technical inquiries related to the
Services.

3. **Target Initial Response Times for
Premium Support and Partner-Led Premium
Support.**

**Priority**
**Target Initial Response
Times**

**P0**

**5 minutes (Premium Support with MCS only)**

**P1**
**15 minutes**

**P2**
**2 hours**

**P3**
**4 hours***

**P4**
**8 hours***

*during the Hours of Operation

4. **On-Site Support for Premium
Support and Partner-Led Premium
Support.** Google may, at its
discretion and with Customer's approval, send
Google Support Personnel on-site in response to an
issue that cannot be resolved remotely. Google
Support Personnel performing support at Customer's
facilities will comply with Customer's reasonable
onsite policies and procedures made known to
Google in writing in advance.

5. **Enrollment and Unenrollment of
Premium Support and Partner-Led Premium
Support.**

   - 5.1. Premium Support
and Partner-Led Premium Support requires a minimum
1-year Fee commitment from the date on which
Customer enrolls.

   - 5.2. Customer may
unenroll from Premium Support or Partner-Led
Premium Support at any time by notifying Google in
writing and any such unenrollment will take
effect, and applicable Fees for Customer's
downgraded support level will be calculated at the
downgraded amount, from the later of (a) the date
of such unenrollment, and (b) the Business Day
following the 1-year anniversary of Customer's
enrollment in Premium Support or Partner-Led
Premium Support. Unenrollment from Premium Support
automatically unenrolls all Value Add Services.

   - 5.3. Sections 5.1 and
5.2 above will not apply if Customer is an
existing Platinum or Enterprise Support customer.
Instead, the minimum term of Customer's current
Platinum or Enterprise Support Order Form will
govern its use of Premium Support or Partner-Led
Premium Support until the expiration of such Order
Form.

Silver, Gold and Platinum Support

1. **Silver.** The Silver
support level includes all the items in Basic
Support plus the ability to submit support
Requests for questions about Services
functionality, best practice guidance on how to
architect with the Services, and Services errors
reports, as well as up to two Designated Contacts.

2. **Gold.** The Gold
support level includes all the items in the Silver
level plus consultation on application
development, and specific guidance on how to
architect with the Services for Customer's
proposed use case, as well as up to five
Designated Contacts.

3. **Platinum.** The
Platinum support level includes all the items in
the Gold level plus Unlimited Designated Contacts
and access to Google’s Technical Account
Management team as described in the General
Support Service Terms Section 8 (Technical Account
Management).

4. **Target Initial Response Times for
Silver, Gold and Platinum Support.**

**Priority**
**Target Initial
Response Times**

**Silver**
**Gold**
**Platinum**

**P1**
**4 hours***
**1 hours**
**15 minutes**

**P2**
**8 hours***
**4 hours***
**4 hours***

**P3**
**8 hours***
**8 hours***
**8 hours***

**P4**
**8 hours***
**8 hours***
**8 hours***

*during the Hours of Operation

5. **Priority
Designations.** Notwithstanding
Section 3.3 (Characterization of Requests) of the
General Support Services Terms of these
Guidelines, Google will inform Customer of any
change of Customer’s Priority designation in its
response to the support Request. Customer may
appeal any such reclassification to Google's
Support management for review through any
available support channel.

Role-Based Support

1. **Support
Roles.** Google will provide
Customer with technical support through its
Designated Contacts, according to their designated
Support Role as follows:

   - 1.1. *Development*. The Development
Support Role includes all the items in Basic
Support plus the ability to submit Requests
related to Services functionality, best practices
guidance on how to architect with the Services,
and Services errors reports.

   - 1.2. *Production*. The Production
Support Role includes all the items in the
Development Support Role plus limited guidance on
how to architect with the Services for Customer's
proposed use case.

2. **Target Initial Response Times for
Role-Based Support.**

**Priority**
**Target Initial
Response Times**

**Development**
**Production**

**P1**
**N/A**
**1 hour**

**P2**
**4 hours***
**4 hours***

**P3**
**8 hours***
**8 hours***

**P4**
**8 hours***
**8 hours***

*during the Hours of Operation

3. **Upgrading/Downgrading Support
Roles in Role-Based Support.** All
Support Roles require a minimum 30-day Fee
commitment.

   - 3.1. *Upgrades*. Customer may
designate or upgrade a Support Role for a
Designated Contact at any time. When Customer
designates or upgrades any Support Role for a
Designated Contact, any applicable Fees will be
pro-rated in that month, and will automatically
renew at the beginning of the following month.
Customer may upgrade a Support Role for a
Designated Contact at any time. Any applicable
Fees for such upgraded Support Role will be
calculated at the upgraded rate beginning on the
day that the upgrade is processed.

   - 3.2. *Downgrades*. Customer may
downgrade or remove a Support Role for a
Designated Contact at any time. Such downgrade or
removal will take effect, and any applicable Fees
for such downgraded or removed Support Role will
be calculated at the downgraded amount, from the
later of (a) the date of such downgrade or
removal, and (b) 30 days after the Support Role
for the Designated Contact was last changed, and
the applicable Fees will automatically renew at
the beginning of the month following such
downgrade or removal.

Enterprise Support

1. **Enterprise Support.**

   - 1.1. The Enterprise
Support offering includes unlimited Designated
Contacts, each with Customer's chosen Support
Role. The "Business Critical" level of support is
only available to Customers who have enrolled in
Enterprise Support.

   - 1.2. If enrolled in
the Enterprise Support program, Customer may
assign the "Business Critical" role to each of its
unlimited Designated Contacts.

2. **Target Initial Response Times for
Enterprise Support.**

**Priority**
**Target Initial Response Times
during the Hours of Operation**

**P1**
**15 minutes 24x7**

**P2**
**4 hours 24x7**

**P3**
**8 hours**

**P4**
**8 hours**

3. The Enterprise Support offering includes
support from Google's Technical Account
Management, as described in Section 8 of the
General Support Services Terms (Technical Account
Management).

4. **On-Site
Support.** Google may, at its
discretion and with Customer's approval, send
Google Support Personnel on-site in response to an
issue that cannot be resolved remotely. Google
Support Personnel performing support at Customer's
facilities will comply with Customer's reasonable
onsite policies and procedures made known to
Google in writing in advance.

5. **Enrollment and
Unenrollment.**

   - 5.1. The Enterprise
Support program requires a minimum 1-year Fee
commitment from the date on which Customer
enrolls.

   - 5.2. Customer may
unenroll from the Enterprise Support program at
any time by notifying Google in writing and any
such unenrollment will take effect, and applicable
Fees for Customer's downgraded Support Role(s)
will be calculated at the downgraded amount, from
the later of (a) the date of such unenrollment,
and (b) the Business Day following the 1-year
anniversary of Customer's enrollment in Enterprise
Support.

   - 5.3. Sections 5.1 and
5.2 above will not apply if Customer is an
existing Platinum Support customer. Instead of
Customer's current Platinum Support Order Form
will govern its use of Enterprise Support until
the expiration of such Order Form.

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