ITIL Service Level Management (SLM), encompassing Service Level
Agreements (SLAs), Operating Level Agreements (OLAs), Service
Catalogues, Underpinning Contracts (UPCs) is more important than these
documents suggest. It is a key IT Service Management discipline, and may
well be the first point of reference when considering ITIL
implementation within an organisation.
SLM relies on the service provider(s) being able to commit to SLAs.
This, in turn, implies that some basic service support disciplines
(especially Incident and Change Management) are in place and robust
enough to allow this. If this not the case SLM will need to manage
Customer expectation carefully until the service provider(s) can commit
to formal SLAs.
SLM defines and negotiates SLAs for the services being provided to
Customers. It takes input from all the parties involved including
Customers, end-users, IT support, operations and third parties. This
allows SLAs to reflect Customer requirements as well as address
technical, capacity, availability, operational, support and financial
issues.
Operational Level Agreements are agreements that are between internal
support groups. There aim is to ensure that support groups respond and
resolve Incidents and Changes in a timely manner so that the overall is
not breached. An example could be the new Starter process (Standard
Change Management) where many groups are involved from procurement to
Desktop support, each group will be aware of how much time to spend on
their task before it passes to the next team. All these individual
pieces of work will help form the SLA with the customer.
Quite often Underpinning Contracts will also have to be put in place. As
their name suggests these are contracts with third parties and support
elements of service provision as defined in SLAs (such as final line
support for applications software).
The fundamental difference is that an SLA is an agreement, where as an
Underpinning Contract will usually contain financial penalties.
SLAs inevitably require a degree of compromise and this is usually based
around the priorities of service provision, its capacity and
availability and cost. A formal and consistent approach enables SLAs to
be created which are achievable at an acceptable cost. Once SLAs, OLAs
and associated Underpinning Contracts are in place, service performance
should be monitored against the targets set in these documents. Reports
on this should be the subject matter of regular reviews with Customers
and Suppliers. Also where performance does fall below acceptable levels
this will trigger corrective action which SLM will monitor carefully.
Before introducing SLM it is important to understand the Customers'
(including users) current perception of service so that the
effectiveness of SLAs, when they are introduced, can be measured. This
may also help to indicate the pace at which to proceed and to identify
priority services.
If service monitoring is not yet in place a Customer satisfaction survey
may provide the information needed. This should collect views at
management and users levels as well as those of the service providers to
create as holistic a picture as possible.
Once this initial stage has been done a SLM Implementation project can
be developed. It is important that it is treated as a project rather
than being allowed to grow organically. The project approach will
ensure that priorities are handled correctly and that any issues/risks
are highlighted and dealt with in a manner approved by the Project
Board. Once elements of the project are delivered (SLM process, Service
Catalogue, SLA structure) these will become operational and be measured
as agreed. Reviews, at regular intervals, will ensure that all elements
of SLM are effective and efficient.