Managed Operations
Service description for Managed Operations
Service description valid from 01.10. 2022.
Subject to General Conditions, Cloud Agreement or SSA-D agreement.
About Managed Operations
Service agreement Managed Operations shall ensure the professionally sound operation of the Customer's own servers, server applications, infrastructure and users.
The operational services are delivered as fixed-price modules in combination with recurring services.
Fixed price modules contain elements such as control functions, monitoring, notification and regular preventive maintenance based on the subsystem in question.
Fixed price modules
Fixed-price modules cover the customer's actual system composition. The servers can be physical or virtual, and can be located in the Customer's own premises, the Supplier's data centre, and/or Microsoft Azure or other 3rd party public cloud or data centre.
Current Tasks
Incidental tasks are carried out continuously based on well-established industry practice, the manufacturers' "Best Practice" and other established sources of relevant information. Incidental tasks are performed as hourly consulting services as specified here in the agreement and regulated in the Service Description "Hourly Consulting Services".
The main goal is to ensure that the Customer is operated with a focus on technically good health, good security and compliance, and based on established best practice and thereby underpin the likelihood of high uptime, stability and availability in the Customer's systems.
Validity and Agreement
This service description describes deliveries in accordance with a valid agreement between the parties of the type "Managed Operations Agreement", "Cloud Agreement" or "SSA-D".
The services in Managed Operations are delivered in accordance with the current Service Description "Hourly-based Consulting Services" as published on the Supplier's website.
In the event of a conflict between Hourly Consulting Services and this service description, this service description takes precedence.
In the event of a conflict between this service description and a valid Cloud Agreement or SSA-D between the parties, the Cloud Agreement/SSA-D agreement takes precedence.
The services in this service description are subject to the currently applicable "Security SLA" as published on the Supplier's website.
Response level and Common SLA
Fixed price Modules indicate fixed-price services that are included in the agreement "Response level SLA" defines response times for all modules that are targets for the current agreement based on the levels Basis, Standard and Plus. Response level SLA is entered into for the agreement as a whole. "Common SLA" applies to all modules in the agreement unless otherwise stated in the individual module:
- Response level SLA: Response time level with options Basic, Standard and Plus.
- Common SLA: Applies to all SLA Modules unless otherwise stated in the Module
The SLA for the individual module is specified in separate sections.
Response level SLA
Response level The table describes expected response times in specified time periods based on the level of agreement that the Customer has entered into. Entered into at Agreement level.
| SLA level | Basic | Standard | Pluss |
| Access to support | Weekdays 07.30-16.30 | Weekdays 07.30-16.30 | Weekdays 07.30-16.30 |
| Access to hotline | Including | Including | Including |
| Response to non-critical alarms | Next weekday | Next weekday | Next weekday |
| Response to critical alarms | Weekdays 07.30-16.30 | Weekdays 07.00-23.00 | 24/7 |
| Response time to non-critical alarms | 3 days | 2 days | 1 day |
| Response time to critical alarms | 5 hours | 3 hours | 1 hour |
Common SLA
The common SLA applies to all modules unless a separate SLA is defined for the individual module that the Customer has in the current agreement.
| Common SLA Point | SLA Value |
|---|---|
| Dispatch | Including a free dispatch service of up to 15 minutes for inquiries from the Customer's appointed technical contact persons regarding the operational services in this agreement. |
| Service window | The standard service window is every Thursday working day from 21:00 until the following Friday 06:00.
In the Standard Service window, planned, ongoing maintenance and updates will normally be carried out. Downtime in connection with maintenance will occur. No further notice is given for downtime in the Standard Service window. If the Customer wants a different Service window/maintenance plan, this can be agreed for a separate price supplement. |
| Monitoring points | A standard set of monitoring points is established per partial service. The supplier can send a description of the standard setup on request. |
| Measures in the event of a minor incident, recorded from surveillance/monitoring/logging or other sources.
(Warnings, short-term exceeding of limit values and the like) |
The supplier's responsibility:
Response and response time according to the Overall SLA table |
| Measures in the event of a major incident, registered from surveillance/monitoring/logging or other sources.
(Error, Critical Error, continuous exceeding of limit values and the like) |
The supplier's responsibility:
Response and response time according to the Overall SLA table |
| Critical vulnerabilities | The supplier monitors and receives information about vulnerabilities and threats. The supplier makes a discretionary assessment of vulnerabilities and accordingly recommends to the customer whether an update should be installed immediately, as soon as possible or at the next regular maintenance. Actions are taken in consultation with the customer and are carried out as Ongoing Task with category Emergency Action. |
| Current Tasks | Planned Incidental Tasks are normally carried out within normal working hours. Task source can be technical system sources or customer request. The supplier must assess the task at its discretion on a professional basis.
If the change is considered to have a significant impact on the Customer and its end users, the change must be clarified with the Customer in advance. |
| Measures in case of hardware failure | In the event of a notified error or predictive error in hardware, the Customer's representative is notified via case registration in the Supplier's case management system. Further work on error handling is carried out as an Incidental Task. |
| Maintain admin tools | Maintenance of the Supplier's administrative tools used in connection with the agreement is included. |
| Licenses | Licenses for the Supplier's chosen tools for monitoring, operation and administration are included |
Current tasks
Services and tasks such as for is included in the fixed price SLA in the individual modules are categorized as Ongoing Tasks. These are performed as hourly consultancy services. Billable time is calculated per 15 minutes elapsed time.
It is recommended that the Customer simultaneously enters into an agreement on a Consultant account and will thus obtain discounted hourly rates and other benefits.
Execution of Incidental Tasks is otherwise regulated in the Service Description "Hourly Based Consulting Services" as published on the Supplier's website.
Implementation of Incidental tasks
Incidental tasks are undertaken by the Supplier or the Customer based on various sources, including, but not limited to:
- Inquiries from the Customer
- Status information from the system such as alarms, logs etc.
- "Best Practice" from Manufacturers
- Events that occur
Implementation of the Contingent Task on the part of the Supplier must be documented in the Supplier's case management system. The supplier's initiation must be professionally justified on an operational, technical or security basis in the best interest of the customer.
Limits for initiating Incidental Tasks
Initiation of Incidental tasks is delimited according to the following table:
| Estimated elapsed time | |
|---|---|
| < 4 hours | The supplier can start work without further ado |
| 4<>10 hours | The supplier can start work, but must at the same time notify the customer's representative. |
| >10 hours | The supplier must notify the customer's representative before the task begins. |
| Exception | Emergency measures are started without undue delay, regardless of the size of the task |
The customer is responsible for contacting the operator if it is not desirable to continue with the task.
Due Tasks Categories
| Task category | |
|---|---|
| Normal | Common tasks in daily operations including general maintenance, preventive tasks and planned changes etc. Necessary downtime must be added to the agreement's Service Window. |
| Urgent measures | Urgent measures can be of a technical, safety or change-related nature:
Necessary downtime for emergency measures may occur outside the service window and the customer's technical contact is notified with 1 hour's notice. |
| Emergency measures | Emergency measures must secure the customer's systems and data in the event of incidents of a technical or security-related serious and critical nature. Downtime including closing of systems and access can occur without further notice. Downtime will persist until the system is secured or fault corrected in a satisfactory manner. Otherwise see the Supplier's "Security SLA" for further descriptions. |
Fixed price Modules SLA
The SLA for fixed-price modules specifies services that are included for the individual entity:
- Managed Virtualization Host
- Managed SAN based Virtualization platform
- Managed HCI based Virtualization platform
- Managed Virtual Server (VM)
- Managed Physical server with Operating System
- Managed Microsoft SQL Server Instance
- Managed Microsoft Exchange Server
- Managed Active Directory Server
- Managed Network Device
- Managed Custom Probe
- Basic Application Operations
Managed Virtualization Host
The SLA applies to a physical computer with an associated operating system that forms part of the Customer's virtualization environment. The virtualization host can be independent with local storage or part of a virtualization cluster connected to common SAN storage.
| SLA Point | SLA Value |
|---|---|
| Physical state of health | Monitoring of Virtualization host physical health state according to built-in functionality from manufacturer. Normally, the health condition of the power supply, disk, fans and memory as well as temperatures are monitored. Predictive error notification when supported by equipment/components and the Customer's licenses for the system. |
| HyperVisor health monitoring | Monitoring of Disk I/O, Network%, CPU%, Memory% and Disk Usage% local disks and performance. Provider stores performance history for 90 days for trending and analysis. |
| Patch Compliance Hypervisor/OS | Monthly Compliance check of security and technical patch level of Hypervisor, or OS with Hypervisor.
Patching is performed as an Incidental Task. |
| Monitoring storage adapters | HBA, SAN and/or network cards used for storage traffic are monitored for condition and load. |
| Firmware upgrade | Half-yearly assessment of the need for firmware and driver upgrades in the host including UEFI and other HW components. The supplier assesses and determines the version at installation.
The necessary upgrade is carried out as an Ongoing Task. |
| Version upgrade Hypervisor | Upgrading to a new major version of the Hypervisor or OS is performed as an Ongoing Task. |
| Downtime when updating | For stand-alone Hosts that are not part of an HA Cluster, patching entails downtime for the Customer's VMs running on the host during patching. See SLA Operation Virtualization platform for Host that is part of the HA Cluster. |
| Startup control | Status check when starting/restarting the host. Checking that VMs are started as expected. |
Managed SAN based Virtualization platform
Applies to 1 piece. Cluster instance with 1 pc. SAN storage system (Controller pair) and associated SAN network. If the Customer has several Cluster instances and/or SAN storage systems (Controller pairs), each of these together counts as an additional Virtualization platform in addition.
| SLA Point | SLA Value |
|---|---|
| Monitoring of cluster condition | Monitoring of the operating condition in the Cluster in accordance with the Manufacturer's and Supplier's established Best Practice. |
| Monitoring vPlatform Condition | Degree of filling common disk volume, memory and CPU load. |
| Monitoring and maintenance of Snapshot/Checkpoint | Snapshot age, clearing in case of obviously outdated snapshot, notification via case in the case management system in case of doubt. |
| Cluster optimization | Cluster optimization is done as needed and is carried out as an Ongoing Task. |
| Patch Compliance Virtualization Platform | Quarterly security and technical patching of the platform. Emergency patching in the event of a serious threat situation. Patching of the Virtualization Platform is carried out as an Ongoing Task. |
| Moving VMs when patching the host | "Live" migration based on built-in automatic updates in the platform is included. Manual moving of the VM is performed as an Ongoing Task. |
| Monitoring SAN storage health | HW monitoring of power supply, fans, disks and controllers, Temperature |
| Monitoring of the SAN Network | FC, FCoE, iSCSI, SAS RAID disk solutions, NFS and SMB solutions
RAID and LUN mode |
| Half-yearly SAN SW/FW control | Half-yearly control of SW/FW versions against the manufacturer's recommendations.
The supplier can carry out updates as an Incidental Task if not included in the Service Agreement with the Manufacturer. Assistance to the Manufacturer when updating is carried out as an Ongoing Task |
Managed HCI based Virtualization platform
The SLA applies as of physical computer with associated operating system that forms part of the Customer's virtualization environment in an HCI cluster.
| SLA Point | SLA Value |
|---|---|
| Compute and Storage | Dedicated Microsoft HCI cluster(s) in accordance with the specification at the conclusion of the agreement and any subsequent extensions in accordance with the agreement annex. |
| Physical state of health | Monitoring of physical health status according to built-in functionality from the manufacturer. Normally, the health condition of the power supply, disk, fans and memory as well as temperatures are monitored. Predictive
error notification when this is supported by equipment/components and the Customer's licenses for the system. |
| HCI cluster monitoring | Windows cluster service state, S2D storage system state, including S2D network
Data from the monitoring is aggregated at the Supplier's operations center where a case with the correct classification is created, and the customer is notified in the event of a discrepancy. |
| Cluster optimization | Cluster optimization is done as needed and is carried out as an Ongoing Task. For example, tuning of the S2D subsystem |
| Patch Compliance Hypervisor/OS | Monthly Compliance check of security and technical patch level by
Hypervisor, or OS with Hypervisor. Patching is performed as an Incidental Task. |
| Version upgrade Hypervisor | Upgrading to a new major version of the Hypervisor or OS is performed as
Due Assignment. |
| Error correction | All troubleshooting of hardware, Clusternode OS, virtualization layer and HCI storage system that is uncovered through agreed monitoring is carried out as an Incidental Task. |
| Firmware upgrade | Half-yearly assessment of the need for firmware and driver upgrades in the hosts, including UEFI and other HW components. The supplier assesses and determines the version at installation.
The necessary upgrade is carried out as an Ongoing Task. |
| Licenses HCI Cluster operation | Necessary licenses for operating the HCI cluster are not included unless otherwise specified in the agreement, for example Virtual Machine Manager (VMM), Windows Admin Center (WAC) or VMware vCenter
Setting up suitable tools on the customer's "management" server is carried out as a pending task in connection with start-up if this does not already exist. |
* Assumes that the cluster / storage switch is monitored according to the SLA for network equipment
Managed Virtual Server (VM)
Applies per VM as defined on the Customer's Virtualization Host and/or Virtualization Platform.
| SLA Point | SLA Value |
|---|---|
| Surveillance | Ping test (uptime), CPU, Memory, Disk, Network, Service monitoring of Windows OS Service that is set to start automatically. |
| Patch Compliance | OS Patch Compliance Monitoring. |
| Trend monitoring | CPU, Memory consumption, Network, disk storage, trend monitored for early warning of capacity performance issues |
| Windows VM OS Patching | Monthly assessment of patches. Automatic update based on Windows Update or WSUS is included. Necessary manual measures for patching are carried out as an Ongoing Task. Emergency patching is performed as an Ongoing Task. |
| Linux VM Patching | Updating is carried out automatically based on the Customer's available tools. Administration of tools for Linux updates as well as any necessary manual updates is carried out as an Ongoing Task |
Managed Physical Server
Applies per named Physical Server The customer wants included in the agreement.
| SLA Point | SLA Value |
|---|---|
| Physical state of health | Monitoring of physical health status according to built-in functionality from the manufacturer. Normally, the health condition of the power supply, disk, fans and memory as well as temperatures are monitored. Predictive error notification when supported by equipment/components and the Customer's licenses for the system. |
| Monitoring of OS state | Ping test (uptime), CPU, Memory, Disk, Network, Service monitoring of Windows OS Service that is set to start automatically. |
| Patch Compliance | OS Patch Compliance Monitoring. |
| Firmware upgrade HW | Half-yearly assessment of the need for firmware upgrade in the host including UEFI and other HW components. The supplier assesses and determines the version at installation. Emergency upgrade in the event of a serious threat situation |
| Windows Server OS Patching | Monthly assessment of patches. Automatic update based on Windows Update or WSUS is included. Necessary manual measures for patching are carried out as an Ongoing Task. Emergency patching is performed as an Ongoing Task. |
| Linux Server Patching | Updating is carried out automatically based on the Customer's available tools. Administration of tools for Linux updates as well as any necessary manual updates is carried out as an Ongoing Task |
| Startup control | Status check when starting/restarting the server. |
Managed Active Directory Domain Controller
Applies per Managed Physical Server or VM that has the role of Active Directory Domain Controller.
| SLA Point | SLA Value |
|---|---|
| Monitoring AD | Server is monitored for Active Directory health status and related Windows Event land critical events. |
| Patch Compliance | Monthly check of AD DC installation against available updates and guidelines that apply to security. Recommendation to the Customer if measures are required. |
| Patch Installation | Automatic updates of the AD DC role are performed via WSUS or Windows Update. Schema change and other security measures are carried out as an Incidental Task |
Managed Microsoft SQL Instance
Managed Microsoft SQL Instance is delivered per SQL Instance installed on Managed Physical or Virtual Server. The service is limited to SQL Instances that run "Stand-alone" without Mirroring, Always-On Failover Clustering or other Cluster technology.
| SLA Point | SLA Value |
|---|---|
| Monitoring DB Agency | DB Instance is monitored for CPU and memory consumption as well as MS SQL Server Windows Event land critical events. |
| Patch Compliance | Monthly regular check of MS SQL DB software version against available updates. Recommendation to the Customer if manual updates are required. |
| Patch Installation | If the SQL Server installation supports automatic updating, this is done with WSUS or Windows Update. This requires that SQL Server is updated to the correct Service Pack level. |
| DBCC | Weekly execution of DBCC on databases belonging to the instance, notification of results in case of errors. |
Managed Microsoft Exchange Server
Applies to Microsoft Exchange Server installed on Managed Physical or Managed Virtual Server.
| SLA Point | SLA Value |
|---|---|
| Monitoring Exchange Server | Exchange is monitored according to Microsoft recommendations and Best Practice. Relevant Exchange Performance Counters, CPU and memory consumption as well as Exchange Windows Event land critical events are monitored. |
| Exchange Certificates | Exchange Certificates are monitored for expiration date. |
| Patch Compliance | Monthly check of the Exchange installation against available updates. |
| Security Patch installation | Exchange Security CU is installed automatically based on WSUS or Windows Update.
Critical security updates are installed as recommended by Microsoft and are performed as an Ongoing Task. |
| Cumulative Update Installation | Exchange Cumulative Update Installation is performed as an Incidental Task |
Managed Network Device
Applies to the following devices:
- Physical or virtual firewall/router instance. For firewalls/routers with virtual instances, each firewall instance counts as a firewall.
- Physical or virtual network switch. For chassis-based switches, the chassis counts as a switch and each card as a switch unit
- WLAN Network controller, per instance
- WLAN access point
| SLA Point | SLA Value |
|---|---|
| Monitoring Uptime | SNMP health status on physical device and power supplies. Uptime test via Pingtest. If a redundant unit is pinged, each unit is tested independently. |
| Patch Compliance | Monthly compliance check of firewall/router firmware/patch for technical and security updates. |
| Version upgrade and patching | Installation of new firmware/operating system versions when there are SW bugs and/or vulnerabilities that can affect the Customer's system. Patching and upgrading is carried out as an Ongoing Task. |
| Configuration changes | Performed on request as an Ongoing Task |
| Configuration backup | Automatic, weekly. Applies to equipment where an automatic backup can be taken with cattools or a similar automated tool licensed by the Customer |
| Troubleshooting | Due Assignment |
| Warranty management | Assistance in handling warranty cases against the manufacturer is carried out as an Incidental Task |
| Fallback configuration | Posting is carried out as an Incidental Task |
Managed Custom Sensor
Customized monitoring point that can be used for monitoring various equipment. The equipment must at least have support for Ping and/or SNMP Traps such as UPS, temperature sensors and more. Each SNMP parameter that is monitored counts as a Custom Sensor.
| SLA Point | SLA Value |
|---|---|
| Uptime monitoring | Uptime is measured using ping tests at agreed intervals. If the device supports SNMP, selected results can be logged with the supplier. Results land is sent on request |
| Event reception | If a message is detected from monitoring with a level of critical, serious, outside the agreed parameters or similar, a case is created in the Supplier's case management system and the Customer is notified.
The supplier can take the necessary measures which are carried out as a Task. |
Custom Sensor is configured based on the options built into the equipment to be monitored. Establishment is charged with an establishment fee per Custom Sensor and actual work for configuration (due task).
Basic Application Operations
Additional option for Managed VM, physical server, Custom Sensor or other named unit in the agreement, where the Customer wants basic assistance in connection with the operation of their applications. Basic application operation applies per named VM or Custom Sensor, where the Customer wants specified tasks and routines carried out in connection with the specified schedule, threshold values, events and/or alarms.
Monthly fixed price includes maintenance of specified tasks and routines. Manual operations are included with up to 15 minutes for operations that occur less often than twice per week. month. Additional manual operations are charged with a minimum of 2 minutes per operation and are then charged after the elapsed time as an Ongoing Task.
Set-up, configuration and documentation of application-oriented monitoring, threshold values, routines and procedures are charged after the elapsed time as an Ongoing Task. This also applies to the necessary training of the Supplier's operators.
The supplier reserves the right to take into account the types of operations that can be included in the standard fixed price.
| SLA Point | SLA Value |
|---|---|
| Scheduled task | Carried out on working days within normal working hours (08:00-16:00) |
| Task when the threshold value is exceeded | Carried out on working days within normal working hours (08:00-16:00) according to criticality. |
| Task for patching | Automatic patching must be planned within the agreement's response period for critical alarms. |
| Task in event / alarm | Follows the agreement's response period for critical alarms. |
General Terms and Conditions for the Services
Software and Licenses
All license costs are covered by the Customer, unless otherwise stated in this Service Description.
The supplier's access and rights to the customer's systems
The supplier must be given the necessary access at an administrative level to be able to perform tasks as specified in this Service Description.
Daily operations included in the SLA and Incidental Tasks require network access at a minimum level of Point-to-Point VPN or equivalent.
The customer's access and rights
The customer's administrative access to systems is recommended to be limited to the necessary minimum in connection with the agreement. This ensures that deliveries under this service description can take place under clear conditions of responsibility.
Change of composition in the service delivery/entities included
The Customer is obliged to notify the Supplier in writing with a notification to the Supplier's case management system in the event of changes to the composition of the Delivery. This applies both when adding new entities and when removing them.
For systems that allow automatic discovery of new and removal of old entities, the Supplier will automatically enroll these in the delivery.
Charging of the monthly price for new entities applies from and including the month they are enrolled. The customer will be charged for the delivery as well as the establishment fee at the next invoice period.
When entities are removed, they will be removed from the invoice base applicable from the month after a written request for removal has been received by the supplier.
Consumption costs
Consumption costs for storage, processing and transactions incurred in Microsoft Azure, the supplier's cloud, or other 3rd party cloud, in connection with the services are covered by the Customer. The customer can choose whether these costs are charged through the Supplier's Agreements/Partner Agreements or via another mercantile channel.
Supported server hardware and software versions
The supplier supports the following equipment and software versions under this agreement:
- Server, host and storage hardware
- Small Business and Enterprise category server equipment from the following manufacturers
- Lenovo
- IBM
- HPE
- Dell
- The hardware must be within the manufacturer's warranty period or extended service agreement with the Manufacturer. For equipment outside the warranty/service agreement, the SLA and included services are void. All work is carried out on the "best effort" principle as billable consultancy work.
- Small Business and Enterprise category server equipment from the following manufacturers
- Microsoft Windows Server Operating systems including Hyper-V
- Versions that are in active support according to Microsoft's lifecycle policy
- Versions past "End of Life" are not supported and the Supplier's SLA does not apply to such equipment
- VMWare
- Versions of VMWare products that are within "General Support" as indicated by the manufacturer
- Linux
- Supported distributions
- Ubuntu
- Debian
- Red Hat Enterprise
- CentOS
- Versions of distributions must be supported by the Manufacturer
- Versions that are "End of Life" are not supported
- Supported distributions
Supported virtualization hosts and platforms:
- Microsoft
- Windows Server 2019 or later with Hyper-V role as Virtualization Host.
- Microsoft Windows Failover Cluster with Hyper-V role with SAN or NAS-based shared storage.
- Including operation of Microsoft System Center VMM for administration of Windows Failover Cluster if the Customer is licensed for this
- VMWare
- ESXi Virtualization Host
- vCenter with SAN-based shared storage.
SAN Storage System Conditions and Limitations
The SLA applies to SAN storage systems that are covered by a valid Warranty and/or service agreement with the Manufacturer. The supplier recommends that the agreement with the Manufacturer includes On-Site HW repair.
Supported Network Equipment
The SLA applies to supported devices where the customer has a valid license and/or service and support agreement on the device. The supplier can confirm on request whether equipment is supported or not.
Certain operations in the SLA for Network Equipment require that there is an established option for "Out of Band Management" to which the Supplier has access. If such an option is not available, the Supplier may reserve the right to carry out operations that may result in loss of communication with the unit and subsequent uncontrolled downtime.
Backup
The Supplier must take a backup of the Supplier's systems, configurations and system technical data which is necessary to restore Deliveries in this Service Description within a reasonable time.
The customer himself is responsible for the backup of his data and systems. Backup of the Customer's systems and data is not part of this Service. Operation or monitoring of the Customer's backup system is not included.
It is recommended to enter into a separate "Backup as a Service" agreement with the Supplier if the Customer wants operational backup.
Establish a new business
Establishment of Managed Operations is charged with an Establishment fee corresponding to one month's amount for the scope of the agreement upon conclusion. The establishment fee includes:
- Setup of Point-to-Point VPN in the Provider's Internet termination point. The customer is himself responsible for the VPN and other network setup in his system. The supplier can assist with this as an hourly consulting service.
- Setup of Monitoring of the Customer's devices included in the delivery including necessary installations of agents, other necessary software as well as configuration of the Customer's systems as necessary for starting the services
- Setup of necessary services and functions for the delivery in the Supplier's data centre
Necessary work to bring the Customer's systems into a sufficient technical condition so that the service's deliveries can begin can be delivered as Hourly Consulting Services. The supplier recommends that mapping and necessary upgrades are carried out prior to the start of the agreement.
