Service Level Management (SLM) is essential in any organization so the level of IT service needed to support the
business can be determined, and monitoring can be initiated to identify whether the required service level are being
achieved - and if not why not. Service Level Agreements (SLA), which are managed through the SLM process, provide
specific targets against which the performance of the IT organization can be judged.
Documenting and gaining Customer and Provider agreement on service level requirements and detailed service
specifications as depicted in Figure 1 is key to:
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establishing and maintaining agreement with the customers and other stakeholders on what the system should do
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provide system developers with a better understanding of the system requirements.
Figure 1 - Service Level Management Documents
Goals
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To maintain and improve IT Service quality, through a constant cycle of agreeing, monitoring and reporting upon IT
Service achievements and instigation of actions to eradicate poor service - in line with business or cost
justification.
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To ensure that customer objectives are translated into service-level objectives that the providers of information
technology can attain and measure.
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To clarify the goals, commitments, and attainment of service to both the providers of information technology and
the customer
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To define remedies for the failure to attain service level commitments
Scope
This process addresses life-cycle management of service agreements.
Includes
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Planning, creation and maintenance of a service catalog containing the services defined in the Service
Portfolio
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Identifying new services offered by service providers
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Implementing Service Level Agreements - from feasibility through monitoring, renewing and improving
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Integrating the service characteristics of specialist processes (such as Availability, Capacity, etc.)
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Evaluation of IT transactional service performance in relation to business services and their requirements
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Creation and maintenance of Operational Level Agreements (OLAs) with providers further along the service supply
chain, and consideration of resulting requirements for and performance defined in Underpinning Contracts (UCs)
Excludes
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Making decisions on requests from customers for new services and/or functionality
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Publishing the service catalog
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Pricing the elements within the service catalog and specific SLAs
Key Performance Indicators
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Number of agreed upon Service Level Agreements (SLA)
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Percent of IT services usage covered by SLA
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Customer satisfaction with SLA parameters and attainment
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Percent of SLA attained
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Percent of SLA clearly prioritized based on the value of the agreement
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Value of SLA attained versus not attained
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Accuracy of attainment projections throughout period
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The direct costs associated with this process
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