A process of managing service levels ensures that all IT services delivered to customers are in accordance with agreed-upon levels of quality. It is about ensuring that Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are in place, are being fulfilled and that service levels are tracked and reported.
To achieve this, it’s crucial to have the necessary tools in place. Often, the systems and processes used to define service levels are contracted out to third party. Therefore, it is essential to know how to manage them within the context of your own SLM processes.
The first step in setting up an SLM procedure is to identify what services are crucial to the company and setting reasonable metrics for success. This includes factors like efficiency, user base and design factors. It is also essential to select the right expertise in technology For instance an organization that specializes in a particular platform might be able to guarantee higher levels of performance than a generalized service provider.
Once the SLA goals have been established, teams need to establish a strategy to meet them. This usually means implementing systems that monitor the progress of the team and notify them automatically when there are issues in meeting the goals.
A well-designed SLM process also includes ongoing improvement processes. These processes will allow teams to learn and improve by analyzing the data they collect. For instance, if a NOC service fails to meet its SLA of answering telephone calls within 30 seconds, then it should be possible identify the cause and fix it.