Service Level Agreement Governance

IT outsourcing agreements, in which the remuneration of service providers is linked to the results obtained, have gained popularity, with companies developing from time and pure materials or full-time price models. A Service Level Contract (SLA) defines the level of service a customer expects from a provider and defines the metrics on which that service is measured and corrective actions or penalties, if they exist, if agreed service levels are not met. As a general rule, SLAs are located between companies and external suppliers, but they can also be between two divisions within the same company. A compensation clause is an important provision in which the service provider agrees to exempt the client company from possible violations of its guarantees. The exemption means that the supplier must pay the customer all third-party procedural costs resulting from the breach of the guarantees. If you use a standard ALS provided by the service provider, it is likely that this provision does not exist. Ask your in-house advisor to design a simple provision to include it, although the service provider may wish for further negotiations on this issue. Uptime is also a common metric that is often used for data services such as shared hosting, virtual private servers and dedicated servers. General agreements include network availability percentage, operating time, number of planned maintenance windows, etc. Ensure that the measures reflect factors that lie in the service provider`s control.

To motivate good behavior, ALS metrics must reflect factors in the control of the outsourcer. A typical mistake is to penalize the service provider for delays caused by the customer`s lack of performance. If the client. B provides application code change specifications several weeks late, making it unfair and demotivating to keep the service provider on a pre-indicated delivery date. AlS bias by measuring client performance in interdependent actions is a good way to focus on expected results. Most service providers provide statistics, often through an online portal. There, customers can check whether ALS is being met and whether they are entitled to service credits or other penalties under ALS. Service elements include the specifics of the services provided (and what is excluded if in doubt), the conditions of availability of services, standards as well as slots for each level. B service (e.g., prime time and non-prime time) may have different levels of service, responsibilities of each party, escalating procedures and compromise costs/services.