Service Guide Definitions

Shared meanings for terms used in the MSA, Order Form, and Service Guide.

Service Guide Version: 2026-04-21

These definitions reduce ambiguity. The Order Form may refine or override a definition for a specific client, service, or project.

Core service terms

Service Guide

The guide that defines service scope, delivery rules, priorities, limitations, excluded work, and support boundaries for agreements, quotes, Order Forms, or SOWs that reference it.

Covered system

A device, server, service, tenant, site, network component, phone service, or other technology asset expressly listed or included in the current Client Order Form, Quote, or approved service schedule and maintained in an MSP-supported configuration. Systems not listed, enrolled, or accepted in writing are excluded from service scope.

Covered user

A user receiving support under a selected service tied to covered systems and subject to the applicable service scope.

Support

Remote help, triage, maintenance, remediation, administration, or coordination for covered users and covered systems within the selected service scope.

Remote support

Assistance delivered without on-site presence using approved remote methods, ticketing, phone, email, remote access, cloud administration, or vendor coordination. Remote support does not include on-site labor, cabling, physical repair, or field work unless explicitly included in writing.

Unlimited remote support

Normal recurring remote support for covered users and covered systems during standard support hours, subject to the exclusions and boundaries in this Service Guide. It does not include project work, after-hours non-emergency work, unmanaged systems, or work outside the defined service scope.

Work classification terms

Standard remediation

Routine corrective work for covered systems, such as patch cleanup, endpoint troubleshooting, basic configuration correction, alert response, and normal user support.

Project work

Non-routine work that is planned, multi-step, implementation-oriented, materially changes the environment, or requires a separate scope, timeline, approval, or coordination effort. Project work is not included in unlimited remote support and requires a separate agreement, SOW, quote, ticket approval, or other written billable authorization unless explicitly included.

Out-of-scope work

Work not included in the selected package, Order Form, SOW, or this Service Guide. Work outside the defined service scope is billable at standard rates unless explicitly included in writing.

Defined service scope

The services, systems, quantities, users, sites, and boundaries selected in the Order Form, SOW, quote, agreement, ticket approval, or other written approval.

Billable work

Work that is not included in the defined service scope and is charged at standard rates, quoted rates, pass-through cost, project pricing, or another approved written billing method.

Standard restore operation

A normal recovery effort using an existing backup set and standard restoration methods for covered systems. It does not include reconstruction, forensic recovery, vendor engineering, or data repair outside the backup platform standard function.

Unsupported system

Any system that is end-of-life, unlicensed, lacks required access or tooling, falls outside the selected service, or is otherwise not supported by current Cloud Core MSP standards.

Incident and emergency terms

Incident

A suspected or confirmed event affecting confidentiality, integrity, availability, security, stability, or normal operation of a covered system. An incident does not automatically mean a security incident or P1 emergency.

Security incident

A suspected or confirmed compromise, unauthorized access, malware event, credential abuse, data exposure, or other security event requiring containment or investigation.

P1 emergency

A critical issue such as a major outage, confirmed or suspected security incident, unavailable core system, or substantial operational disruption.

Containment

Reasonable action intended to limit damage or spread, such as account suspension, device isolation, network restriction, password reset, or temporary service shutdown.

Administrative terms

Primary administrative responsibility

Cloud Core MSP is expected to manage day-to-day administration for covered systems, while client access and third-party access are coordinated to preserve security and accountability.

Material change

A change that could affect access, security, stability, backup, networking, identity, compliance, uptime, supportability, or service delivery.

Supported system

A system that is within vendor support lifecycle, accessible to Cloud Core MSP as needed, compatible with required tools, and reasonably safe to operate.

Service target

A target for response, containment, workaround, escalation, or resolution effort. Service targets are not guarantees unless separately stated in writing.

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