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This article will help Administrators to to optimize and improve Service Level Agreements using the TDAdmin interface. The user must be and administrator and have access to TDAdmin to configure SLA’s.
Overview
Service Level Agreements (SLA) are the terms of the contract between the service provider (either internal or external) and the client or end user and are crucial to providing quality IT service. In TeamDynamix they define the level of service – the response time plus what outcomes the customer will receive within that time.
Key Requirements
ITIL prescribes the following as best practices for designing your Service Level Agreements
- Tie an SLA to a specific Service. SLAs that exist apart from a service can be considered measurements with a context. By tying an SLA to a given Service, the SLA now has a context for more accurate, faithful measurement.
- Define outcomes beyond operational metrics. Operational metrics are of limited scope and do not accurately reflect a fully defined outcome. A good SLA will encapsulate a balance of metrics, like customer satisfaction and key business outcome.
- An SLA reflects an agreement. A good SLA reflects an agreed upon understanding between the Service Provider and the Service Consumer. Involving all stakeholders (partners, customers, sponsors, etc.) helps create such an agreement.
- They must be easy to understand by all parties. A well-written SLA can be understood by all stakeholders in the Service (partners, customers, sponsors, etc.)
The Watermelon Effect
The watermelon effect describes an SLA that is correctly measuring an outcome, but it is not an effective measurement of a customer's experience. An SLA can appear green on the outside (the SLA is being met) but is actually red on the inside (customer experience is unsatisfactory).
An example of a watermelon effect SLA would be a Network Availability SLA. Network Availability may be at 99% in a given month (green), but the customer experience may be extremely trying during the 1% when it is down (red). A better SLA would focus on customer and stakeholder needs within the 1% rather than to focus on the 99% availability time.
Improving Your SLAs
There are two factors to consider when improving your existing SLAs:
- Engagement, and
- Listening
Engagement addresses the ongoing needs of the organization, and doesn't presume that the same outcomes five years past are still relevant today.
Listening is part of engagement and pulls the Service Provider out of solution mode to help determine what is valuable for all stakeholders involved.
Sources for either can be found in:
- Customer engagement
- Customer feedback
- Surveys
- Key business-related measures
- Service Desk staff
- Operational metrics
- Business metrics