LC-MS-IQ Support, Availability, and Contingency Policy

Version 1.1

LCMS IQ, LLC

Purpose

This document describes the support, availability, maintenance, and contingency expectations applicable to LC-MS-IQ.

LC-MS-IQ is provided as a laboratory quality review and decision-support tool. Customers are responsible for maintaining independent laboratory procedures sufficient to continue operations in the event the software becomes unavailable.

No Guaranteed Support

LCMS IQ, LLC may provide support, assistance, software updates, bug fixes, documentation updates, feature enhancements, troubleshooting assistance, or maintenance services at its sole discretion.

LCMS IQ, LLC does not guarantee:

• Support availability
• Support response times
• Issue resolution times
• Bug fixes
• Feature requests
• Maintenance schedules
• Software updates
• Software upgrades

No customer should rely upon the availability of support services for continued laboratory operations.

No Service Level Agreement

Unless specifically stated in a separate written agreement executed by LCMS IQ, LLC, no Service Level Agreement (SLA) exists.

LCMS IQ, LLC does not guarantee:

• Uptime
• Availability
• Performance levels
• Recovery times
• Response times
• Resolution times

Any uptime targets, support expectations, or service commitments must be established through a separate written agreement.

Customer Contingency Responsibility

Customer acknowledges that LC-MS-IQ may become unavailable due to:

• Software defects
• Hardware failures
• Network failures
• Internet outages
• Cloud service interruptions
• Maintenance activities
• Security events
• Third-party failures
• Business interruptions
• Discontinuation of service

Customer is solely responsible for maintaining independent laboratory procedures and contingency plans sufficient to continue operations in the absence of LC-MS-IQ.

Alternative Review Procedures

Customer shall maintain alternative procedures allowing laboratory personnel to perform required review activities without LC-MS-IQ.

Examples may include:

• Native instrument software
• Vendor review software
• Manual review procedures
• Existing laboratory workflows
• Internal quality review procedures

Customer acknowledges that LC-MS-IQ is not intended to be the sole mechanism by which laboratory data are reviewed, analyzed, interpreted, or approved.

Mission-Critical Use Prohibited

LC-MS-IQ is not intended to function as a mission-critical system.

Customer shall not rely upon LC-MS-IQ as the sole means of:

• Analytical review
• Quality review
• Data storage
• Regulatory compliance
• Accreditation compliance
• Operational continuity

Appropriate contingency procedures shall be maintained at all times.

Customer Responsibilities

Customer remains solely responsible for:

• Laboratory operations
• Quality assurance activities
• Regulatory compliance
• Accreditation compliance
• Data retention
• Data backup
• Personnel training
• Operational continuity
• Business continuity planning

These responsibilities remain with the customer regardless of software availability.

Software Maintenance

LCMS IQ, LLC may perform maintenance, upgrades, modifications, repairs, migrations, or infrastructure changes at any time.

Such activities may temporarily affect software functionality or availability.

Advance notice may be provided when practical but is not guaranteed.

Software Changes

LCMS IQ, LLC reserves the right to modify:

• Features
• Functionality
• User interfaces
• Reports
• Calculations
• Thresholds
• Workflows
• Configuration options

at any time.

Customer is responsible for reviewing software changes and determining whether continued use remains appropriate.

Data Availability

LCMS IQ, LLC does not guarantee uninterrupted access to historical data, uploaded files, reports, trend information, configurations, or software-generated outputs.

Customer remains responsible for maintaining independent copies of records necessary for laboratory operations.

Business Continuity

Customer acknowledges that laboratory operations must remain capable of functioning independently of LC-MS-IQ.

The inability to access LC-MS-IQ shall not relieve Customer of regulatory, operational, quality, accreditation, reporting, or legal obligations.

Limitation

The availability of support, updates, maintenance activities, or customer communications shall not be interpreted as a warranty, guarantee, service commitment, or service level obligation.

Acceptance

By accessing or using LC-MS-IQ, Customer acknowledges and accepts the responsibilities and limitations described in this Policy.