Structuring Meaningful SLA’s for IT Support- Part 4a

Sample SLA (Service Level Agreement) Structure – Introduction

This section identifies the IT organization delivering the service, the business customer receiving the service, and the service relationship between them. An example would be: Infrastructure Group, providing network support for a shipping warehouse or Application Support Group providing support for the time-attendance system within the payroll department.

Description of Services – What services will be provided, what types of work will be performed, and the parameters of service delivery:

1. Describe the types of service and work that are part of service delivery (Maintenance/Enhancements, Incident Repair, Technical Support)

2. Hours and days of support for different types and levels of service

3. Service contact process and detailed contact information

Description of Responsibilities: This section describes who is responsible for what within the framework of services being delivered and received. Responsibilities can go three ways:

1. Responsibilities of the IT service provider

2. Responsibilities of the customer

3. Responsibilities shared by both

Operational Parameters

In order to achieve service commitments defined within the SLA it is important to agree to the operational parameters which govern the service delivery environment. These operational parameters may affect service performance and therefore must be defined and monitored. If operational parameters move outside the control of the service provider or users of the service exceed the limits of their specified operational parameters, then the SLA may need to be renegotiated.

Example: Maximum number of concurrent on-line users

Example: Peak number of Transactions per hour

Example: Maximum number of concurrent user extracts or ad hoc queries