Service Level Agreement (SLA) Drafting

Service Level Agreement (SLA) - Overview

An agreement or contract or deal that bounds the customer and the service provider is known as service level agreement. SLA agreement holds a framework that states what type of services customers will get from that particular business. To make it clear, an service level agreement or SLA is a contract or agreement between the provider and the customers, which explains the level and type of service that is expected by the customer from the provider. These are mostly end-product based agreement and its purpose is to explain the nature, quality, and scope of the business or service that the customers will receive.

Requirement for SLA

• An Objective Statement
• Scope of the Services covered
• Responsibilities of the Service Provider
• Responsibilities of the Customer or Client
• Penalties that will be levied for any breach or omission
• The performance metrics.

Advantages of Service Level Agreement

Simplifies the Complex issues

Most of the customers are not interested to know how the service acts. All they want to know is how the service will impress them. The service level agreement can assist in the description of the questions that may come forward and how these questions can be answered if the response is not satisfactory or good enough.

No Unrealistic Expectations

Most of the end-users are frustrated when they are not satisfied with the service or their expectations are not met, whether these expectations are naturalistic or not. A comprehensive and well-defined service level agreement example helps to explain the expectations efficaciously by conveying the information thoroughly and the abilities which are present in the service provider.

Different Levels of Service Level Agreement

The different levels of the Service Level Agreement are given below:

• Customer-Oriented Service Level Agreement: It deals with all the services provided to individual or customer groups.
• Service-Oriented Service Level Agreement: A large group of customers receiving a particular service signed this contract or agreement with the service provider.
• Multi-Level Service Level Agreement: This agreement is divided into levels by sets of customers for receiving identical services, in the same sla service level agreement:
• Corporate Level: It deals with all the affairs that are same for the entire company.
• Customer Level: It covers matters which are particular for an end-user or customer. While covering the affairs related to particular service is the job of service level.

Service Level Agreement or SLA is a contract document that subsists between a user and a service provider. Even though this agreement does not furnish any details on how the service of the company is to be delivered, but it provides a sla time model for the proviso of that service.

Essentials of Service Level Agreement

Service Level Agreement or SLA is important because of the mentioned below factors:

•  Furnishes precise, unambiguous and clear details concerning the service
•  Describes the issue and its gravity also tells the reacting time
•  explains what will happen if the objectives are missed
•  What hierarchy, expertise and operational level agreement do the service provider follows?
•  Holds the list of location in which service shall be offered and what shall be the exemption.
• Service Level Agreement drafts the penalties and rights for customers
• SLA contract policies help to hold the relationship between the service provider and customer positively and clean
• Service Level Agreement explains the commitments which the service provider will
• satisfy and make sure the end-users are happy and fulfilled

Writing an SLA

For writing an SLA, the following should be done by the party:

• Assessing the situation so as to ensure that the service and the level of service provided to the customer is reaching their expectations and satisfaction levels.
• Define the scope of the services required, the purpose of the service and all the other information’s which are applicable to the service.
• Defining the role, responsibilities, duties, and the duration of the agreement along with the applicable times of service providing which majorly would include the holidays, and such other days giving clarity.
• The next one required for writing SLA would be the setting of performance level for ensuring that the expected levels of service are set. And along with this the procedures to be taken in case of falling in the level of service provided or missing of activities shall also be provided.
• The project metrics ranging from mean time between incidents of services, turnaround time, uptime, mean time for restoring of service and such other applicable metrics should also be defined and set.
• The terms, conditions, rules and norms associated with the service along with the total payment and the time for payments should be specified.

Drafting of SLA

• Defining what is or should be involved in the SLA.
• Category of the service provided.
• Purpose of the SLA or agreement.
• Tenure or period of validity of the SLA.
• Confirmation of the performance review procedure and allied protocols.
• Creating the service programs to be provided.
• Description of services to be provided.
• Listing the requirement of the service provider.
• Listing the requirements of the customer and email them with the same for taking confirmation.
• Cross verifying or checking the draft of the SLA.
• Sending the draft of SLA to the client for checking.