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Service Level Agreement FAQs

Below are questions that my service level agreement clients have asked. I invite you to contact me at 781-986-8148 or by with your own questions.

For additional assistance, check out my handbook, How to Establish Service Level Agreements, which is in use internationally. Download this order form to get your copy.

See also my articles on service level agreements.

I've been delivering SLA seminars, presentations, and consulting support internationally for more than a decade. For additional information, contact me at 781-986-8148 or by

* What is the most common mistake you've seen in establishing SLAs?

* What is the typical duration of an SLA?

* I've heard people say an SLA should include a glossary? Is that really necessary?

* What should customers keep in mind in preparing to negotiate an SLA?

* How often is it necessary to hold service review meetings?

* What can I do if my management doesn't want to create SLAs?

* What kinds of circumstances warrant making changes to an SLA?

Q: What is the most common mistake you've seen in establishing SLAs?

A: A mistake I encounter repeatedly is that people create a statement of services and mistakenly think they've created a service level agreement. While these service statements are useful, they are not SLAs. In particular, they lack information concerning the terms and conditions of service delivery, and often fail to describe how the SLA will be managed; that is, how compliance with the agreement will be tracked, reported, and reviewed, and how changes to the SLA will be handled.

When reviewing an SLA, the first thing I look for is the presence and adequacy of the service and management elements. When I'm told that that an SLA isn't “working very well,” I frequently find that it lacks one or more of these elements, and an agreement that lacks the necessary elements is typically ineffectual.

Q: What is the typical duration of an SLA?

A: Internal SLAs typically serves as an ongoing mechanism, and as such have no end date. The parties to the SLA meet regularly to review service performance and to make adjustments to the terms and conditions of the SLA as deemed necessary. Such SLAs continue in effect until the parties to it agree to terminate it, as may happen if the services described are no longer needed or no longer available, or the organization undergoes a complex reorganization that renders existing SLAs obsolete.

Internal SLAs for which pricing or others provisions must be renegotiated on a set schedule, such as is the case in many governmental SLAs, typically have one-year terms. SLAs that are part of a legal contract have terms of one year or longer, in sync with the terms of the contract.

Q: I've heard people say an SLA should include a glossary? Is that really necessary?

A: Absolutely! One of the biggest sources of misunderstanding between providers and customers is that they define key terminology differently, which leads to conflicts in service delivery. It's not at all unusual for the two parties to have different things in mind when they use such terms as availability, reliability, acknowledgment, response, up-time, access, and problem resolution -- to name a few. For that matter, even members of the same team often interpret these terms differently.

Because of the high potential for misinterpretation, the process of developing a glossary is an immensely valuable effort. In working together to create it, the parties surface and resolve differences in their service requirements and expectations. The result is a shared vocabulary that reduces the odds of future misunderstandings. Some SLAs even include a definition of “service level agreement” in their glossary!

Q: What should customers keep in mind in preparing to negotiate an SLA?

A: Before entering into negotiations or making commitments to providers, customers should conduct a service assessment. This assessment entails gathering information from as many service recipients as feasible and as many sources of service data as possible, so as to answer such questions as:

* What services are you currently receiving?

* What aspects of these services are confusing or unclear?

* What services are you not currently receiving that would be beneficial?

* In what ways has service delivery been on target?

* In what ways has it fallen short?

* What aspects of the service need improvement?

* What changes in service delivery would be desirable?

The information gleaned from this assessment helps customers enter the SLA effort knowledgeably and better-prepared.

Q: How often is it necessary to hold service review meetings?

A: Important problems, issues and concerns invariably surface during periodic service reviews, even when service delivery has been on target during the review period. Therefore, holding service reviews regularly, with both provider and customer representatives participating, is essential to SLA success. In fact, the intention to conduct these reviews should be documented in the SLA.

I recommend holding a formal review meeting at least monthly when the SLA is new, when service delivery has been below acceptable levels, or when the service environment is complex or undergoing significant change. When service has been stable and at acceptable levels, quarterly review meetings may suffice. Of course, interim review meetings can be held as warranted, such as if significant concerns arise regarding the adequacy of service delivery. In addition to these periodic reviews, an in-depth annual review should be conducted in light of changing business or service needs.

Q: What can I do if my management doesn't want to create SLAs?

A: Start by trying to determine management's reasoning. An understanding of their perspective will help you build a case that's targeted to their specific concerns. In doing so, watch for problems that might not have occurred if SLAs had been in operation, such as customer confusion about service availability or conflicts between providers and customers about service quality. Point out to management the cost of lost productivity while wrestling with these situations.

Happily, many of the steps involved in creating an SLA can be carried out without a formal SLA effort. For example, one of the biggest tasks in establishing an SLA is creating a service description or service catalog to clarify service offerings. Another task is defining and communicating service standards that document the time frames and conditions of service delivery. A third task is gathering customer feedback to service as a baseline for assessing service effectiveness. If management supports these and the other individual steps involved in implementing an SLA, you may be able to achieve the benefits of an SLA without ever calling it that. I call this process How to Succeed by Not Quite Establishing a Service Level Agreement.

Q: What kinds of circumstances warrant making changes to an SLA?

A: Although everything in an SLA is eligible for change, changes should not be made casually or frivolously. Typically, it's best to limit changes to significant circumstances such that those arising from changing business or service needs, significant variations from agreed-upon service standards and unanticipated events. Whatever conditions are determined to warrant making adjustments to the SLA should be articulated in the SLA.

Karten Associates
Randolph, Mass., USA
Phone: 781-986-8148
Fax: 781-394-0530

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