Configuring Service Level Agreements


Overview

Tasks

Included with

Tivoli Service Desk

Overview

Service Level Agreements

Many Help Desks require the ability to monitor special promises or agreements they make to their customers. These agreements are known as Service Level Agreements (SLAs). An SLA term defines an agreement between the Help Desk and its customers that the Help Desk is expected to fulfill. The customer, in some cases, may be another department (such as the development desk) in the same organization as the service desk. The promise in the SLA term can usually be measured in terms of time. One example of an SLA term is that all network-related problems must be resolved within three hours. Any problem that is logged that meets this criteria will be expected to be resolved in the specified time frame (three hours in this example). If the problem is not resolved within the specified time, the agreement is breached.

An active SLA is created when a problem is created that meets the entry condition of an SLA term. An active SLA links a term to a problem.

Entry conditions

Each SLA term has an entry condition. When a problem is created (such as frozen, transferred, or resolved), the entry condition for each SLA term is compared against the problem. Any SLA terms that have an entry condition matching the problem are selected to be active SLAs for that problem.
Exit conditions Exit conditions describe the conditions upon which the SLA term has been met, meaning that no breach shall occur. When the exit condition defined in the SLA term is met by the problem, the active SLA is then terminated.
Breach relationship A breach relationship defines the metric used to determine if the Service Level Agreement has been satisfied. For example, a breach occurs if a problem has not been closed within the specified SLA term.

Tasks

Enabling SLA module After installing Service Level Agreements support, you must enable the SLA module. After you enable the SLA module, you can begin to define individual Service Level Agreements.

To enable the SLA module:

  1. In the Configure Service Level Agreements dialog box, select Enable SLA Module.
  2. Choose Close.

Adding breach relationships

To add a breach relationship:
  1. In the Configure Service Level Agreements dialog box, choose the Add button.
    Result: The Add dialog box appears.
  2. In the Breach Relationship Name field, type a name for the new breach relationship.
  3. In the Breach Relates to Table field, type the name of the table to which the breach relates.
  4. In the Primary Key for Relative Breach Table field, type the primary key for the breach table defined in the preceding step.
  5. In the Relative Date Column, type the date column name to be used for the breach relationship.
  6. In the Relative Time Column, type the time column name to be used for the breach relationship.
  7. In the Audit Breach to Table field, type the field name used to audit the breach relationship.
  8. Choose OK.
    Result: The Configure Service Level Agreements dialog box appears.

Editing breach relationship

You can edit a breach relationship from the Configure Service Level Agreements dialog box.

To edit a breach relationship:

  1. In the Configure Service Level Agreements dialog box, select a breach relationship from the Breach Relationship list.
  2. Choose the Edit button.
    Result: The Edit dialog box appears.
  3. Modify any of the fields as necessary.
  4. Choose OK to save your edits.
    Result: The Configure Service Level Agreements dialog box appears.

Viewing breach relationships

You can view the configuration of a breach relationship from the Configure Service Level Agreements dialog box.

To view a breach relationship.

  1. In the Configure Service Level Agreements dialog box, select a breach relationship from the Breach Relationship list.
  2. Choose the View button.
    Result: The View dialog box appears.
  3. View the breach relationship.
  4. Choose OK.
    Result: The Configure Service Level Agreements dialog box appears.

Deleting breach relationships

You can delete a breach relationship from the Configure Service Level Agreements dialog box.

To delete a breach relationship:

  1. In the Configure Service Level Agreements dialog box, select a breach relationship from the Breach Relationship list.
  2. Choose Delete.
    Result: The breach relationship is deleted.