Office 365 Service Communications

October 2013Microsoft Corporation

How does Microsoft approach change management communication?

What happens when I have an outage?

What is the Service Health Dashboard?

What is the future direction of Office 365 Service communication?

AgendaWhat is the communications philosophy?

What are the various communication types and channels?

What are Post Incident Reports ?

Service Communications

3

Communications Philosophy

One approach, one voiceOne Office

Demonstrate openness and authenticity

Transparent

Share the details we knowAccurate

Let customers know what to expectPredictable

Centralized informationSelf-

Service

Monthly New Functionality

Planned Platform Updates

Unexpected Service Incidents

Evolving System Requirements

Service Communication Types

Communications Channels  Channel Usage Direct-to-Customer Communications 

Message Center Contained within the admin console and is used for communicating directly to customers

Service Health Dashboard Contained within the admin console and is used for communicating targeted service status

Email Direct to admin communications via email

 Outbound Marketing   

Office 365 Technology Blog Used to broadly communicate about new features and capabilities of the Office 365 service

Office 365 Community (Blogs, Forums, Wikis)

Used to broadly communicate greater details and more technical information as well as prescriptive guidance

Twitter Social media channel for amplifying Office 365 messages

Service Incident CommunicationA

ddit

ional

Channels

Pri

mary

C

hannels

Service Health DashboardFirst and Best Content

Regional

Updated Hourly

Emergency Broadcast System will automatically redirect customers

http://status.office365.com

O365 Service Health Dashboard Status Description

SHD icon

Investigating Monitors have indicated a service anomaly and/or Microsoft has received reports of a potential service incident. Microsoft is currently investigating.

Service InterruptionMicrosoft has confirmed that normal services are being impacted. Microsoft is taking immediate action to understand the cause of the failure and determine best course of action to restore service.

Service DegradationServices are still active, but service responsiveness and/or delivery times may be slower than usual. Microsoft is working to restore normal service responsiveness.

Restoring ServiceMicrosoft has isolated the likely cause of the incident and is in the process of restoring service

Extended Recovery Services are restored and may be slower than usual

Service Restored Normal system services have been restored

False Positive The service is healthy and a service incident did not actually occur

Additional Information

There is additional information provided

Normal Service The service is healthy

?

i

Service Incident Information

SHD 30 Day - Historical View

Click on “View history for past 30 days”

SHD 30 Day History – Detail ViewClick on “Incident ID””

O365 Service Incident Notification Process

Office 365 TeamRoles and Responsibilities

• Incident Managers (IMs) are on-call engineers and core product group members with deep expertise in their relevant area

• Determine scope of the outage• Determine root cause and fastest and best path to resolution

• Communication Managers (CMs) are on-call engineers and core product group members with deep expertise in their relevant area

• Coordinate and provide information across internal teams• Post customer facing communications to SHD

• Support Technicians are technical resources• Provide 24 x7 customer phone and web support • Update internal support resources• Monitor support channels

• Escalation Management• Account Representative• Rapid On-Site Support

RSS Feed

Regional

Tenant Admin

Points to SHD

Community

http://community.office365.com

Forums are helpful resource

Technet or local marketing site

is used in countries without full community site.

Twitter

@Office365

To: Customer Email For Limited Set of Service Incidents

Explanation of Incident

Localized Content

Email Contact Preferences: Alternate Email

Email Contact Preferences: Business Email

Post Incident Reports Are published for Service Availability issues that span multiple customers

Available within 5 business days

Downloadable document accessible from SHD

A PIR includes: • Incident Information• Summary• Customer Impact• Incident Start Date and Time • Root Cause• Next Steps

30 day historical view in SHD

New survey feedback option

Post Incident Report in the SHD

Click on “Post-incident report published”

Post Incident Report - Document Download

PIR and SHD Surveys •We want your feedback on suggested improvements. •Survey Links included on SHD closure summaries

Focus is on future protection

from similar issues

Next steps determined

Post incident reviewwithin 5 days

Service reviewwithin 30 days

Improvement

Solid next steps

Tracked through delivery

Continuous learning

1 immediate next step in PIR

10 additional changes in comprehensive plan

Office 365 Planned Maintenance Communication

Type Description Channel

Planned Maintenance Update

• 5 business days prior notification of planned service maintenance. • Notification includes start and end

time.

• Service Health Dashboard• RSS Admin Feed

(for subscribed admins)

Service Alteration and Change Management

Respond to customer feedback through agile development

Deliver new features and value

Build trust and compliance

Office 365 service updates principlesContinuous innovation with confidence and control

Monthly release cadence

Minor & major updates

Up-to-date, no patching

Insights to help manage changeDirect to customer communications | Organizational readiness content

Security comes first

Evolving standards

Direct feedback

Real-time information

Common support issues

Direct to Customer Communication

New Office 365 Tech Bloghttp://blogs.office.com/b/office365tech

New Message CenterIn the product

Message CenterIn-product notification of critical changes and new features coming to Office 365.

Complimentary to other communications like service alert emails and the Office 365 technology blog.

Provides details on changes and highlights required admin actions.

Shipped August

2013

Shipped August

2013

“Admin Tasks” quarterly newsletterPrimary service alteration communication channel

Tailored to your environment: only those actions you must take appear

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Admin Tasks centerSupporting service alteration communication channel

Nearly every task has an FAQ covering

• The technical task required

• Why the change is important

• What happens if you don’t take action

Service Upgrades

Upgrade Cadence

Monthly RTW

Upgrades may include small features/product changes built entirely in that window

Features that take longer to implement are in progress simultaneously

Minor Upgrade

Major Upgrade

More releases will ship with features turned off

Upgrade timing and communicationPilot/Postpone

Timing: ~4 weeks priorPilot now, postpone if needed

Upgrade ScheduledTiming: 14 days priorExact upgrade date

Upgrade CompleteTiming: After upgrade

SurveyTiming: Complete+7Please let us know how it went

Upgrade in 2013Microsoft sets the rhythm and cadence of upgradesOffice Deployment Tool available now

Communication rhythmNotice at about 4 weeks and exactly 2 weeks priorMust postpone at least 7 days prior to upgrade

14->15 operational emailsPrimary upgrade communication channel

Communicates two important dates:

• First email includes postpone deadline

• Second email includes exact upgrade date

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Service Upgrade CenterSupporting upgrade communication channel

Provides detailed information about the service upgrade experience, including:

• How postpone works

• How “Early Upgrade” (a.k.a. pilot) works

• What to expect during and after the upgrade

• How to install Office 365 ProPlus pre-upgrade

http://community.office365.com

Office 365’s new client support policyBest experience Latest version of Internet Explorer

Recommended Current and previous versions Internet Explorer Latest versions of Chrome, Firefox and Safari

Best experience Office 365 ProPlus

Recommended Any Office client in mainstream support

Not recommended

Office clients in extended supportCommercially reasonable support12 months’ notice of substantial user experience degradation

Best experience Latest version of Windows or MacOS

Supported Any supported version of Windows or MacOS

Web browser

Office client

Operating system

http://blogs.office.com/b/office365tech/

Office Technology Blog

Future Direction

Transparent non-customer impacting service maintenance

More detailed information and programmatic approach around service updates and service incidents

Tenant Level Reporting

Alternate forms of Service Health Notification

In Product Notifications

Thank you!

ResourcesOffice 365 Blog: http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft_office_365_blog/

Follow: https://twitter.com/Office365

Check out: Garage Series for IT Pros: www.microsoft.com/garageOffice 365 FastTrack: http://fasttrack.office.com//

Connect: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Microsoft-Office-365-3724282

Office Technology Blog: http://blogs.office.com/b/office365tech/