Service Level Agreement (SLA)

A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a written agreement between a service provider and its customer (external or internal) that defines the expected services and quality standards. An SLA specifies concrete metrics and targets – such as the guaranteed availability of a system (e.g. 99.5% uptime per month), response times to support requests (e.g. within 1 hour) or resolution times by incident priority.

An SLA also typically contains the responsibilities of both parties, escalation procedures in the event of non-compliance and reporting obligations (e.g. monthly reports). SLAs set clear expectations and make service quality measurable. In ITSM, they are central to creating a common understanding of “good service”, for example between the IT department and business units or between a provider and its customer; processes such as Availability Management and Incident Management are measured against the targets agreed in them.

If SLA targets are not met (e.g. repeatedly exceeding the promised resolution time), escalation mechanisms or even contractual penalties often apply – SLAs thus also motivate compliance with the agreed performance. SLAs must be defined realistically and achievably (Service Level Management negotiates suitable SLAs) so that they can be managed in practice. Overall, SLAs are an essential instrument for managing service quality and ensuring customer satisfaction. Suitable ITSM software helps to manage such processes centrally and document them traceably.

See also: ITSM.