You don’t need to ask about a service agreement (SLA) if you have completed an ITIL Training. If you haven’t completed an ITIL online course, we can help you. An IT Service Level Agreement (SLA), is an agreement between a service provider and a customer.
You might be a customer of a bank, and the bank provides services for you. The service level agreement between the bank and you describes the services offered and the service levels they will provide. The bank will allow you withdraw money from an ATM, and the transaction will take less than 10 seconds. This is a service level agreement.
There are three types service level agreements that can easily be documented. The best SLA structure must first be created before ITIL service level requirements can be defined and agreed upon. An SLA structure that is appropriate for the purpose of the service will be created based on the services being provided to customers or businesses. Service level agreements are typically signed during the ITIL service design phase of the ITIL lifecycle.
Service Level SLA
The service-based SLA is the first type of service level agreement structure. A service-based SLA covers all customers for one service. Let’s say that an IT service provider provides customer service to many customers. A service-based service level agreement will ensure that the service level for all customers who use this service is the same. If two customers are using this service, for example, the IT service provider will provide the same SLA between them and these departments.
If, for example, the service provider is providing this service to two departments, the SLA between them and these departments will be the same. This is because it is a service-based SLA.
SLA based on customer
The customer-based SLA is the second type of service level agreement structure. A customer-based SLA is an agreement that covers all services used by a single customer. Let’s look at the relationship between you, your telecom operator. You use the voice, SMS, data, and other services offered by the telecom operator. You and the telecom operator have one contract for all of these services. Similar to the above, if the IT provider provides multiple services for customers and businesses, and all of the service levels are documented within a single service level agreement, it will be a customer-based SLA.
Multi-level SLA
The multi-level SLA is the third and final type of service level agreement. Multi-level SLAs are defined according to customer organization using some type of inheritance that includes general definitions and relevance for all subordinate levels. This SLA is focused on the customer’s organization. When defining multi-level service levels agreements, all services and their interrelationships to subordinate services are considered.
Service level management includes maintaining service level agreements. The service level agreement must be reviewed and updated every time there is a service change or a service level target. The service level agreement must reflect any changes to the service or service level targets. ITIL continuous service improvement includes the management of service levels agreements.
Why it is important to have an SLA
It is unclear what will happen if one party does not honor their end of the deal without a service agreement. Let’s say, for example, that a telecom provider provides a service level agreement.