Services of Service Level Agreement

IT service providers and managed service providers, as well as cloud and Internet service providers are examples of industries that use SLAs. Choose measures that motivate good behavior. The first objective of each metric is to motivate the appropriate behavior on behalf of the customer and the service provider. Each side of the relationship will try to optimize its actions to achieve the performance objectives defined by the metrics. First, focus on the behavior you want to motivate. Then, test your metrics by putting yourself in the place on the other side. How would you optimize your performance? Does this optimization support the desired results? The customer must agree on a list of all metrics used to measure performance and service level. One of the most important options is to establish a service level agreement with their customers. To learn more about what a service level agreement is, see this article.

Service Performance – Performance measurement measures and performance levels are defined. The customer and service provider must agree on a list of all the metrics they use to measure the provider`s service levels. For example, Customer is responsible for providing an agent to resolve issues with the Service Provider related to the SLA. The service provider is responsible for achieving the service level defined in the SLA. The performance of the service provider is assessed on the basis of a number of measures. Response time and resolution time are among the most important metrics included in an SLA because they relate to how the service provider handles a service disruption. This last point is essential; Service requirements and vendor functionality are evolving, so there needs to be a way to ensure that the SLA is kept up to date. Your support team will be more consistent if you set clear criteria.

If a customer contacts your support service for any reason, your goal should be to let them know exactly what to expect. Another concrete example of an SLA is a service level agreement of an Internet service provider. This SLA includes a guarantee of availability, but also defines the expectations and latency of package delivery. Packet delivery refers to the percentage of data packets received in relation to the total number of data packets sent. Latency is the time it takes to transfer a packet between clients and servers. Are you actively monitoring your WAN Service Level Agreement? The specific objectives of a service level agreement vary depending on the party and the situation. As managed services and cloud services become more common, SLAs are evolving to adapt to new approaches. Shared services and non-custom resources characterize new contractual methods, so service level commitments are often used to create comprehensive agreements designed to cover all of a service provider`s customers. If you are a service provider, you must create and sign an SLA with your customer before providing services.

Service Level Agreements set clear and measurable guidelines for you and the customer. If, for any reason, service levels or quality do not meet these expectations, the SLA provides for recourse. If a customer requests a service that is outside of what the SLA describes, you can have them referenced in the contract. Before subscribing to an IT service, the SLA must be carefully evaluated and designed to achieve the maximum service value from an end-user and business perspective. Service providers need to pay attention to the differences between internal outputs and client-centric outcomes, as these can help set service expectations. Service elements include details of the services provided (and what is excluded in case of doubt), conditions of availability of services, standards such as the time window for each level of service (prime time and non-prime time, for example, may have different levels of service), each party`s responsibilities, escalation procedures and cost/service trade-offs. It is not uncommon for an Internet backbone service provider (or network service provider) to explicitly state its own SLA on its website. [7] [8] [9] The U.S. Telecommunications Act of 1996 does not explicitly require companies to have SLAs, but it does provide a framework for companies to do so in Sections 251 and 252. [10] Section 252(c)(1), for example (“Duty to Negotiate”), requires established local mediation societies (CTCs) to negotiate in good faith on matters such as resale and access to rights of way. The main point is to build a new layer on the network, cloud or SOA middleware capable of creating a negotiation mechanism between service providers and consumers.

One example is the EU-funded Framework 7 research project, SLA@SOI[12], which examines aspects of multi-tier multi-vendor SLAs within service-oriented infrastructure and cloud computing, while another EU-funded project, VISION Cloud[13], has yielded results with regard to content-based SLAs. For the SLA to have a “bite”, failure to meet service levels must have financial consequences for the service provider. This is most often achieved by adopting a service credit scheme. Essentially, the service provider pays or credits the customer with an agreed amount, which should serve as an incentive to improve performance if the service provider does not meet the agreed performance standards. These service credits can be measured in several ways. For example, if the 99.5% level for reporting is not met, the SLA could include a service credit that grants a specific price reduction for each performance deviation of 0.5% each week. Alternatively, service credits can be assigned if, for example, three or more errors occur to reach a service level within a certain period of time. Again, each level of service must be considered individually and a reasonable level of credit must be agreed between the service provider and the customer if the agreed level is not reached over a certain period of time. The important thing is to make sure that the service credits are adequate and encourage the service provider to do better, and that they arrive early enough to make a difference. SLAs are thought to come from network service providers, but they are now widely used in a number of IT-related fields. Industries that have implemented SLAs include IT service providers and managed service providers, as well as cloud and Internet service providers. Availability of the Service: The length of time the Service is available for use.

This can be measured by the time window, where, for example, 99.5% availability between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. is required and at other times more or less availability is indicated. Ecommerce operations usually have extremely aggressive SLAs at all times; 99.999% uptime is a requirement that is not uncommon for a website that generates millions of dollars per hour. In these cases, the result is a business outcome, not a specific activity, task, or resource. But even with a results-oriented agreement, SLAs serve as key performance indicators for these business outcomes. SLAs for these transactions will not describe technical or operational requirements for specific tasks; Rather, they describe the end customer`s goals. For this approach to work well, these outcomes must be clear, there must be ways to measure the achievement of outcomes, roles and responsibilities must be clearly defined, and the provider must have control over the end-to-end service required to achieve results. Enterprise IT organizations, especially those that have opted for IT service management, enter into SLAs with their internal customers – users from other departments of the company.

An IT department creates an SLA so that its performance can be measured, justified, and perhaps compared to that of outsourcing providers. If the Service Provider is acquired by another company or merged with another company, the Customer may expect its SLA to remain in effect, but this may not be the case. The agreement may need to be renegotiated. Don`t make assumptions; Keep in mind, however, that the new owner does not want to alienate existing customers and therefore may choose to comply with existing SLAs. Another benefit of using digital contract software is that it reduces the amount of work required to manage SLAs. Service level agreements should be reviewed whenever objectives change or service levels need to be adjusted. Some have incorporated regular reviews, e.B when contracts are renewed. Overall, an SLA typically includes a statement of purpose, a list of services to be covered by the agreement, and a definition of the responsibilities of the service provider and the customer under the SLA. .





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