External WAN Connectivity

Document Code No.: INF 8-6 (AEP)
Department/Issuing Agency: Executive - Information Resource Council
Effective Date: October 12, 1998
Approved: /s/ Ron Sims
Type of Action: New

1.0 PURPOSE:

To establish policy regarding the connection of external Customers to the King County Wide Area Network (KC WAN) or King County Intergovernmental Network (KC IGN) to provide access to department or agency business application services.

2.0 POLICIES:

2.1 General. An external customer may be provided service(s) by way of a network connection to the KC WAN or KC IGN based on formal Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the Customer, and King County through its Information and Telecommunications Services (ITS) division, and the department/agency providing the application service(s).

2.2 Approval Criteria. External Customer requests for County services will meet two criteria before granted:

2.2.1 The department/agency director who owns the County service has determined the service that can be provided has direct business benefit for the County and the Customer.

2.2.2 The County's Chief Information Officer (CIO) has determined the associated network connection can be implemented without service disruption, constraint, or violation of the integrity of the County's networks.

2.3 Scope and Limitations.

2.3.1 This policy applies to County departments/agencies engaged in business with external Customers. In the context of this policy, external Customers are cities, government agencies, or private organizations engaged in business, contractually or otherwise, with the County. Other organizations are excluded, unless approved case-by-case.

2.3.2 Applications accessed via Internet, as well as potential privacy and confidentiality issues, are not addressed in this policy.

2.3.3 The County will not be liable for the accuracy of data transmitted.

2.4 Department/Agency Service.

2.4.1 Each King County department/agency will define which business application(s), if any, it will offer as business service(s) to external Customer(s).

2.4.2 Each department/agency director or designee must authorize each request for access to business service(s). The County CIO must also review each associated network connection for potential impact to County networks.

2.4.3 The Customer and the department/agency will establish a business SLA (or other contractual agreement) identifying the tenrms and conditions for the business service provided, as outlined in the External Connectivity Business Application SLA standard.

2.4.4 Each department/agency will determine compensation, if any, associated with a service and the mechanism it will use to recover expenses from the Customer.

2.5 Network Connection.

2.5.1 King County ITS and the external Customer will establish a formal technical SLA outlining the roles, responsibilities, procedures, and expectations for the daily operation, maintenance, and problem resolution, as outlined in the External WAN Connectivity - Technical SLA standard.

2.5.2 Generally, the Customer will pay for the one-time connection as well as monthly operation and maintenance (O&M) expenses. If an authorizing department/agency determines an exception is appropriate, the authorizing department/agency may cover the costs on behalf of the external Customer. ITS will define those expenses and the customer payment mechanism.

2.5.3 ITS will manage the network connection and may distribute expense of administrative or technical services to the network infrastructure in support of the connection to Customer (or department/agency by exception).

2.5.4 Customers will conform to the County's network and security standards while connected in accordance with the County's Security Policy. The Customer is responsible for its additional requirements for security.

3.0 PROCEDURES:

3.1 Business SLAs will be developed jointly between the department/agency providing service(s), the external Customer, and ITS. The business SLA will focus on the business service requested; however, all parties will ensure network management issues, if any, are addressed in the context of the service requested. The department/agency will track and manage the business SLA and inform ITS of changes.

3.2 If a Technical SLA is not already in place between the County and the external Customer, ITS and the Customer will develop and agree to a technical SLA for network management, prior to establishing the business service. ITS will track and manage the technical SLA and inform the respective department/agency of changes.

4.0 DEFINITIONS:

4.1 External Customer: A city, government agency, or private organization requesting access to King County services.

4.2 Service: Access to a business application, which a department/agency offers. An application is department/agency-owned and serves a specific business need. Examples are Jail Electronic Mugshot System (JEMS), Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), roads maintenance systems, or health applications systems.

4.3 Service Level Agreement (SLA): A formal agreement that outlines the roles, responsibilities, procedures, and expectations shared between two parties. This may be an Interlocal Agreement or an Interagency Agreement between government agencies.

4.4 King County Wide-Area-Network (KC WAN): The network that connects King County buildings and work sites and enables the sharing of information among employees and work groups.

4.5 King County Intergovernmental Network (KC IGN): The Statewide model for connecting municipalities, counties, and the state to enable the sharing of information regionally.

4.6 Information and Telecommunications Services Division (ITS): The King County agency responsible for the configuration, operation, and maintenance of the KC WAN and KC IGN network infrastructure.

5.0 RESPONSIBILITIES:

5.1 King County ITS will provide external connectivity network management.

5.2 King County departments/agencies will provide business application service management.

5.3 King County departments/agencies are responsible for informing their employees of this policy.

6.0 ORGANIZATIONS AFFECTED:

All King County.

7.0 REFERENCES:

7.1 King County Security Policies and Standards.

7.2 King County ITS Network Standards.

7.3 External WAN Connectivity - Technical Service Level Agreement (SLA) Standard.

7.4 External WAN Connectivity - Business Application Service Level Agreement (SLA) Standard.

8.0 KEY WORDS:

Services, External customer, KC IGN, KC WAN, SLA.

9.0 APPENDICES:

APPENDIX A:

List of Potential Cost Items

1. One-time costs.

site survey

network router

line installation

network modifications...

2. Maintenance.

monthly line fee

network administration

network technical services