This Service Level Agreement (SLA) forms the basis of the agreement between you as the client and FairGrow. This SLA defines the minimum level of FairGrow’s service in terms of tasks, responsibilities, service levels, procedures and arrangements. The SLA also applies to parties engaged by FairGrow to deliver the service.

Before this SLA takes effect, you have tested your FairGrow environment and confirmed that it works properly: your devices deliver data, the dashboard shows your measurements and notifications work as agreed. Custom work, such as a specific integration or a tailored view, is set up for your environment in consultation.

By default, FairGrow does not provide a separate test environment. You get one environment that goes into production at a moment of your choosing. If you want a separation between a test and a production environment, for example to shield your live cultivation data from trial setups, we will set that up. The associated costs are charged to you.

This SLA describes the service that FairGrow offers on a structural basis and for which the platform is configured by default. This is in contrast to a custom service that is not offered structurally and is arranged specifically for you. This standard SLA is part of the service; custom services carry a surcharge based on reasonable, applicable economic grounds.

Changes to this SLA are only possible following a written request for change, and after written agreement from both parties. The change is submitted to FairGrow or to you as the client and is then processed.

The SLA describes the qualitative and quantitative arrangements regarding the service. It consists of indicators (the service levels) that matter to you with a view to the quality of the service. These indicators are measurable and can be influenced by FairGrow.

FairGrow delivers cloud services for connected cultivation. Your sensors, dataloggers, gateways and satellites deliver real-time measurements, which we show together with weather and satellite data in one clear dashboard. On that basis we offer, among other things, charts, threshold values and notifications, an irrigation workflow and open-data predictions.

The foundation is our own algorithms and open data sources that, depending on your needs and your plan, are configured for your cultivation.

FairGrow always keeps ample buffer capacity available to process, store and visualise millions of sensor measurements per 24 hours. This keeps your dashboard running smoothly even with large numbers of devices and high measurement frequencies.

This section describes the general arrangements and performance standards for the service.

The platform is available 24/7 in principle. We only carry out innovative or adaptive maintenance in consultation or at your request. We schedule maintenance activities in consultation with you. For changes that pose a risk to the service and involve multiple parties, we announce the maintenance at least 5 business days in advance.

The standard for average platform availability is 95% over a one-month period, with the exception of unavailability resulting from improper handling attributable to you. Support is provided remotely; for support or training on location we make separate arrangements.

Below are the standards for response and resolution times for which the service is configured. Based on your needs and budget, prioritisation, response time and resolution times can be set more tightly.

When contact is made by phone or from a different email address, your support request may be delayed. In that case we first verify the claimed identity of the requester, for example with the user of the service. This prevents anyone without proper rights from gaining access to your environment or data.

FairGrow continues to make every effort to provide temporary solutions, for example during a nationwide internet outage. A temporary solution can be a local view or another form of workaround to get around the issue in question. We will not apply problem-avoiding solutions before you have given your written consent.

To make communication and decision-making about the service efficient and effective, consultation takes place at strategic, tactical and operational levels. These consultations are aimed at improving the collaboration and the quality of the service. We jointly determine the objective, frequency and level of consultation and record them in the quote or order confirmation.

If there is disagreement about the priority to be applied, priority consultation (actual escalation) can take place. On FairGrow’s side, a senior staff member is the point of contact for this. In the event of a (threatening) overrun of the resolution time, the matter is escalated. On your side, a fixed contact person deals with the escalation.

FairGrow’s management services cover all actions needed to manage the servers and the platform. These services are put together for each client and can include the following elements:

• Monitoring and reporting of the platform, servers and the status of your devices.
• Backup and restore of the platform and your measurement data.
• Dynamic capacity management that scales with the number of devices and measurements.
• Security and the timely installation of patches and updates.
• Data storage: your sensor and measurement data are retained, so you keep your history, charts and trends. This is precisely the core of the service.

The platform runs on Linux and uses proven open source components for time-series storage of sensor data, communication with your dataloggers, gateways and satellites, and visualisation in the dashboard. With preventive maintenance, our own specialists install and check the updates.

FairGrow’s servers are located in a professional data centre within the European Union, so your data falls under European legislation (GDPR). The systems are accessible only to FairGrow staff who subscribe to the internal ICT code of conduct. The environments are shielded and can only be reached from defined, trusted addresses.

For the design of its security, FairGrow follows the ISO/IEC 27001 framework. You can find more details on the about us page and in our security documentation.

Where possible, FairGrow takes precautions to bring security to a high level, such as:

FairGrow uses a secure mail server connection in line with STARTTLS and DANE. Client environments are hardened according to the current CIS Benchmarks. A pentest by an external organisation may be carried out annually.

A security incident is an event in which there is a possibility that the confidentiality, integrity or availability of information or information-processing systems is, or may be, compromised. Examples include infections with viruses or malware and attempts to gain unauthorised access to information or systems (hacking).

A data breach occurs in the case of loss of a storage medium containing sensitive information, theft of data or hardware, a compromised mailbox, documents left in a publicly accessible location, or other situations where personal data risks ending up outside the protected environment. Where applicable, we report these circumstances to the data protection authority and to the client concerned.

If personal data is processed, a data processing agreement applies. For this, FairGrow offers a data processing agreement that complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), in which arrangements regarding processing, security and retention periods are set out.

FairGrow takes care of daily backups according to a fixed schedule, which are retained as agreed. In contrast to temporary processing, we deliberately retain your measurement data, because history, charts and trends form the core of the service. The databases that are necessary for your process are protected against failure.

On request, we carry out spot checks on data integrity and restore tests. The best-efforts obligation, the procedure description and the periodic execution of these fall outside the standard SLA and are recorded separately. As the client, you remain responsible for your raw data, your processed content and the supporting databases.

In addition to this SLA, a confidentiality agreement can be signed with you. The basic stance is that the client’s information is not made public or made available to third parties.

Records in log files are important when analysing incidents, such as security breaches and errors in the service, and when monitoring day-to-day use. We can make separate arrangements with you about this.

If the agreement is dissolved, the termination plan comes into effect. This allows you to secure your data, such as an export of your measurement data and reference data, within an agreed period before the environment is wiped. This also applies to backups, for which a different time schedule may be agreed. FairGrow guarantees the transfer and destruction of data, insofar as it exists and is accessible.