Service Management Toolkit
SLA
Version: nn
Start Date: nn/nn/nn
Review Date: nn/nn/nn
Author: xxxxx
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 2 of 28
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 3 of 28
1. Ownership
This agreement is made between Business Area
and Service Level Management.
This SLA is owned by Configuration management and controlled by Change Management. All
changes must be requested through Change Management.
Signatories:
Name……………………………… Position (Business Service Owner) Date……………….
Name………………………………. Position (Service Level Manager). Date……………….
Counter signatory:
Name………………………………. Position (Head of IT). Date……………….
Review Circulation:
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 4 of 28
2. Table of Contents
1. OWNERSHIP 3
2. TABLE OF CONTENTS 4
3. INTRODUCTION 8
3.1 SCOPE 8
3.2 EXCLUSIONS 8
3.3 PURPOSE OF SLA 8
4. SERVICE DESCRIPTION 9
4.1 PURPOSE 9
4.1.1 PURPOSE OF BUSINESS SERVICE 9
4.2 SCOPE AND ATTRIBUTES OF THE SERVICE 9
4.2.1 SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 9
4.2.2 SERVICE COMPONENT 9
4.2.3 SUPPORTING SERVICES & I.T. SYSTEMS 9
5. BUSINESS FUNCTIONS 10
5.1 KEY BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS 10
5.1.1 KEY BUSINESS FUNCTIONS 10
5.1.2 REGIONAL VARIATIONS 10
5.2 USERS & USER GROUPS 10
5.2.1 KEY USERS & GROUPS 10
5.2.2 CHANGES TO CRITICAL USERS, LOCATIONS AND TIMES 10
6. RESPONSIBILITIES 11
6.1 SERVICE OWNER RESPONSIBILITIES 11
6.1.1 USE OF SERVICE 11
6.1.2 INFORMATION 11
6.1.3 REPORTING 11
6.1.4 PROCEDURES 11
6.2 SERVICE LEVEL MANAGER RESPONSIBILITIES 12
6.2.1 INFORMATION 12
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 5 of 28
6.2.2 REPORTING 12
6.2.3 PROCEDURES 12
7. BUSINESS HOURS 13
7.1 BUSINESS HOURS 13
7.1.1 HEAD OFFICE BUSINESS HOURS 13
7.1.2 REGIONAL/BRANCH BUSINESS HOURS 13
7.2 BUSINESS PEAK TIMES 13
7.3 CRITICAL BUSINESS PERIODS 13
7.3.1 MONTH END 13
7.3.2 YEAR END 13
7.3.3 BUSINESS YEAR END 13
7.4 BUSINESS SUPPORT 13
7.5 IN BUSINESS HOURS 13
7.6 OUT OF BUSINESS HOURS 13
8. SERVICE LEVELS 14
8.1 SERVICE HOURS 14
8.1.1 SERVICE AVAILABILITY HOURS 14
8.1.2 ADDITIONAL SERVICE HOURS 14
8.2 SPECIFIC SUB-SERVICES 14
9. SUPPORT HOURS AND ARRANGEMENTS 15
9.1.1 ON-CALL SUPPORT 15
9.1.2 ON-SITE SUPPORT 15
9.1.3 THIRD PARTY SUPPORT HOURS 15
9.2 SPECIAL CONDITIONS/EXCEPTIONS 15
9.3 EXTENSIONS TO SUPPORT 15
9.4 INCIDENT RESPONSE TIMES 15
9.4.1 INTERNAL INCIDENT RESPONSE TIMES 15
9.4.2 OTHER INTERNAL SUPPORT TEAM INCIDENT RESPONSE TIMES 15
9.4.3 THIRD PARTY INCIDENT RESPONSE TIMES 15
9.4.4 OTHER THIRD PARTY RESPONSE TIMES 15
9.5 ESCALATION 15
10. KPIS – AVAILABILITY AND RELIABILITY 16
10.1 KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS AND TARGET AVAILABILITY AND SERVICE LEVELS 16
10.1.1 RESPONSE TIMES 16
10.1.2 BATCH COMPLETION 16
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 6 of 28
10.1.3 ONLINE AVAILABILITY 16
10.1.4 SERVICE BREAK TOLERANCE 16
10.2 DATA RETENTION AND SECURITIES 16
10.2.1 DATA RETENTION AND ARCHIVE 16
10.2.2 SECURITIES 16
10.3 VARIATIONS 16
11. SERVICE CAPACITY 17
11.1 BASELINE CAPACITIES AND THRESHOLDS 17
12. SERVICE CONTINUITY 18
12.1 RECOVERY METHOD 18
12.2 SCOPE OF RECOVERY 18
12.3 RECOVERY LEAD TIME 18
12.4 INVOCATION 18
12.4.1 AUTHORITY 18
12.4.2 CRITERIA 18
12.4.3 PROCEDURE 18
13. SERVICE CHANGE LEVELS 19
13.1 SLM FUNDED CHANGES 19
13.2 SLM FUNDED AD HOC REPORTS 19
14. CHARGES 20
14.1 CHARGING 20
15. PERFORMANCE INCENTIVES AND PENALTIES 21
15.1 DELIVERABLES 21
15.2 IMPACT OF SERVICE LOSS 21
15.3 KNOWN CHANGES 21
16. SERVICE REPORTING AND REVIEWING 22
16.1 SERVICE REVIEWS 22
16.2 SERVICE REPORT 22
16.3 REVIEW PERSONNEL 22
16.4 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION 22
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 7 of 28
17. SERVICE REPORT AND CONTENTS 23
17.1 MANAGEMENT SUMMARY 23
17.2 PERFORMANCE AGAINST MEASURED ATTRIBUTES 23
17.2.1 PERFORMANCE AGAINST KPIS 23
17.2.2 PERFORMANCE AGAINST OTHER MEASURABLES 23
17.2.3 OVERALL TRAFFIC LIGHT SERVICE PERFORMANCE INDICATION 23
17.3 NON-MEASURED PERFORMANCE 23
17.4 SERVICE IMPROVEMENT PLAN 23
17.5 REPORT ON SERVICE AND SUPPORT AREA PERFORMANCE 23
17.5.1 BREAKDOWN OF INCIDENTS 23
17.5.2 INCIDENTS IN DETAIL 24
17.6 A TABLE OF INCIDENTS COMPRISING, FOR EXAMPLE: 24
17.7 CAPACITY AND AVAILABILITY 24
17.7.1 SERVICE BREAKS AND EXTENSIONS 24
17.7.2 SERVICE EXTENSIONS 25
17.7.3 FUTURE PLANNED EXTENSIONS 25
17.7.4 UTILISATION 25
17.8 CHANGE CONTROL 26
17.8.1 RELEASES 26
17.8.2 EMERGENCY CHANGES 26
18. GLOSSARY 27
19. AMENDMENT SHEET 28
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 8 of 28
3. Introduction
3.1 Scope
Note here any caveats concerning other agreements, for instance:
The service levels agreed herein must not exceed those stated in superior SLAs or supporting SLAs,
Operational Level Agreements (OLAs) and Underpinning Contracts (UPCs).
3.2 Exclusions
Notes here about conflicting agreements and SM responsibilities therein…
If this is a supporting a priority judgement is made by the xxxx Business Owner against this
Supporting SLA, the Service Level Manager will not be held accountable for any subsequent failure
to reach Service Level targets.
If such an incident occurs, it will be looked at within the scope of the Service Improvement Plan to
assess ways of avoiding possible future re-occurrence.
3.3 Purpose of SLA
This SLE describes the following attributes of the service, where appropriate and agreed:
Description of the Service and the scope – what is covered and what is not
Responsibilities of the service provider and customer
Agreed Service Hours and Business Hours
Availability Targets
Reliability Targets
Support hours and arrangements
IT Service Continuity provision and service levels (referring to a separate Service
Continuity SLA)
Agreed volumes, transaction rates, resources, response times, batch turnaround times
Agreed volume of change
Charging (where appropriate)
Performance incentives (where appropriate)
Management Information
Service Review and Reporting arrangements and procedures
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 9 of 28
4. Service Description
4.1 Purpose
4.1.1 Purpose of Business Service
State detailed purpose of the business service
4.2 Scope and attributes of the service
4.2.1 Security Classification
State security classification
Supporting services are listed below:
4.2.2 Service Component
List all component features and services e.g. Van, Messenger etc.
4.2.3 Supporting Services & I.T. Systems
List all supporting services e.g. Van, Messenger etc.
Supporting I.T. Systems are listed below:
List supporting I.T. Systems – dependents
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 10 of 28
5. Business Functions
5.1 Key Business Requirements
5.1.1 Key Business Functions
State the hours that the key business functions are required and where they are required.
5.1.2 Regional Variations
Where key business functions differ from region to region, this should be stated here
5.2 Users & User Groups
5.2.1 Key Users & Groups
Details key users of the business service and their locations
5.2.2 Changes to critical users, locations and times
Details any changes to critical users, locations or times since the last review
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 11 of 28
6. Responsibilities
6.1 Service Owner Responsibilities
6.1.1 Use of Service
To ensure the Service is used as prescribed by the Service Level Manager and to advise on
change in use or practice.
6.1.2 Information
To advise the Service Level Manager of any relevant information about the service or changes to
the service in order to ensure accuracy:
Business Contacts: Helpdesks, Key Users and User Groups of the Service both regional and
national
Business Information
Business changes which may have an effect on the service or necessitate a change to the
Service Level Agreement
To nominate a Business Out of Hours contact, or to give authority for the Service Level
Management Out of Hours Manager (via Service Level Manager) to make decisions on
behalf of the business
To advise the Service Level Manager of the existence and location of Business Continuity
Plans relating to this Service
6.1.3 Reporting
Where agreed Service Levels are not met, ensure this is immediately reported to the
Service Level Manager
To advise the Service Level Manager of perception of Service, and to encourage Business
Helpdesks and Business Contacts to do the same.
6.1.4 Procedures
To ensure the Business adhere to the Organisation’s Change Management Procedures
To be fully cognisant of Service Owner responsibilities within Business Continuity and
Security Plans
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 12 of 28
6.2 Service Level Manager Responsibilities
6.2.1 Information
To advise the Service Owner of how the Service will be provided, and how the
business need to use the Service
To ensure all key business information is maintained as advised by the Service
Owner
To ensure all business functions are updated as advised by the Service Owner
To ensure all key information about supporting services and I.T. systems is
maintained.
6.2.2 Reporting
To ensure the Service Owner is informed immediately if there are any changes in the
Service Availability or Supported Hours
To monitor and report on agreed Service Levels at intervals agreed between the Service
Level Manager and the Service Owner
Where Service Levels have failed to reach targets, to inform the Service Owner
immediately, and to engage all relevant personnel in order to rectify the situation as soon
as possible
To advise the Service Owner of any changes in Change Management or other Service
Management procedures that would require an amendment of Service Owner/Service
Level Manager responsibilities
To advise the Service Owner of the cost for running and supporting this service, where
this can be established, and to advise of any subsequent increase or decrease
To actively seek perception of Service Performance from Service Owner, Business
Helpdesks, Business Contacts and Users
To arrange Service Reviews and to ensure all interested parties are invited to attend
6.2.3 Procedures
To negotiate higher levels of Service where required
To establish working relationship with all Business Contacts for this Service
To verify advised impact of service loss of key business functions.
To be fully cognisant of Service Level Manager responsibilities within the IT Service
Continuity plans
To be fully cognisant of Service Level Manager responsibilities within Security Plans
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 13 of 28
7. Business Hours
7.1 Business Hours
7.1.1 Head Office Business Hours
State the Organisation’s Business Hours for this Service
7.1.2 Regional/Branch Business Hours
Where these differ, state the Organisation’s regional Business Hours
7.2 Business Peak Times
State Peak hours, times within month, year etc.
7.2.1.1 Regional Peak Times
Where these differ from the National, state regional peaks
7.3 Critical Business periods
List each critical period and dates together with a description of what is required
7.3.1 Month End
7.3.2 Year End
7.3.3 Business Year end
7.4 Business Support
7.5 In Business Hours
State the support provided or that the SLM is authorised to take decisions on behalf of the business
out of hours
7.6 Out of Business Hours
State the support provided or that the SLM is authorised to take decisions on behalf of the business
out of hours
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 14 of 28
8. Service Levels
8.1 Service Hours
8.1.1 Service Availability Hours
State days and hours it is possible to access the business service
8.1.2 Additional Service Hours
Describe agreed procedure for requesting additional or extraordinary support: this should be a
standard process through service desk and the SLM
8.2 Specific Sub-services
List specific features and service levels and OLAs agreed, for instance, output distribution and
delivery.
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 15 of 28
9. Support Hours and Arrangements
State days and agreed hours of support
9.1.1 On-Call Support
9.1.1.1 National On-Call
9.1.1.2 Regional On-Call
9.1.2 On-Site Support
9.1.3 Third Party Support Hours
State days and agreed hours of support for each 3
rd
party supplier
9.2 Special conditions/exceptions
Detail agreed conditions/exceptions to support arrangements
9.3 Extensions to Support
Describe agreed procedure for requesting additional or extraordinary support: this should be a
standard process through service desk and the SLM
9.4 Incident Response times
9.4.1 Internal Incident Response Times
9.4.1.1 A Priority Incidents
9.4.1.2 B Priority Incidents
9.4.1.3 C Priority Incidents
As appropriate
9.4.2 Other Internal Support Team Incident Response Times
The incident resolution time relates to the Application and does not include the Infrastructure
9.4.3 Third Party Incident Response Times
Name the 3
rd
Party
9.4.3.1 A Priority Incidents
9.4.3.2 B Priority Incidents
9.4.3.3 C Priority Incidents
As appropriate
9.4.4 Other Third Party Response Times
Specify any other Third Party response times
9.5 Escalation
Specify the escalation criteria and process in terms of incident priority and elapsed time before
escalation and escalation route.
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 16 of 28
10. KPIs – Availability and Reliability
10.1 Key Performance Indicators and Target Availability and Service Levels
For instance
10.1.1 Response Times
10.1.2 Batch Completion
10.1.3 Online availability
10.1.4 Service Break Tolerance
10.1.4.1 Maximum Service Breaks
The maximum number of service breaks that can be tolerated within a (week/month/year) are?
10.1.4.2 Planned Outages
List Planned Outages for the agreed period. State how many may be expected over a reporting
year.
10.2 Data Retention and Securities
10.2.1 Data Retention and archive
Describe the strategy for archiving data:
Business data – customers, transactions etc
System data and code
10.2.2 Securities
Element
Frequency
Retention
System
Database
Code
Business data
10.3 Variations
Describe any variations from the above for specific business or maintenance reason. Describe
periods where availability is critical or more important than others.
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 17 of 28
11. Service Capacity
11.1 Baseline Capacities and thresholds
Infrastructure
Element
Baseline
Threshold
Growth +1 year
Disc
MIPS
Database
Throughput
Print & despatch
Network
SW licences
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 18 of 28
12. Service Continuity
This should refer to SLAs and OLAs with suppliers of ITSC services, but summarise here
12.1 Recovery Method
12.2 Scope of recovery
12.3 Recovery lead time
12.4 Invocation
12.4.1 Authority
12.4.2 Criteria
12.4.3 Procedure
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 19 of 28
13. Service Change Levels
State the volume of change the service and requests for additional information that may be made
13.1 SLM Funded Changes
The number of SLM funded changes that can be made to this service throughout the year is limited
to nnnn.
13.2 SLM funded Ad Hoc Reports
The number of SLM funded ad-hoc reports Service Level Management will provide for this service
throughout the year is limited to nnnn.
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 20 of 28
14. Charges
14.1 Charging
For instance
The annual cost for running and supporting this service is:
Disc Usage £
MIPS £
Output Handling £
Software licence cost £
Maintenance contract costs £
Support staff resource costs £
Software costs £
Annual amendment fixed costs £
Other (please specify) £
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 21 of 28
15. Performance Incentives and Penalties
List the incentives and penalties, related to KPIs of course, but also things like the Service
Improvement Program, if applicable.
15.1 Deliverables
List all business deliverables the service will provide, including prints or other outputs
15.2 Impact Of Service Loss
Percentage loss tolerance and agreed service levels for key business functions under the following
headings –
Legal
Government/Ministerial
Public Visibility
Revenue Loss
Departmental Staff
State whether impact of service loss is High, Medium or Low in each case. To be set by the Service
Owner. Where this is dependent on time of day/month/year this should also be stated
15.3 Known Changes
The following are known changes required that will impact upon this SLA
Change Ref
Nature of change
Impact
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 22 of 28
16. Service Reporting and Reviewing
16.1 Service Reviews
State the frequency of Service Reviews, location, mandatory and optional attendees.
16.2 Service Report
State the lead-time for delivery of the Service Report and its circulation.
State what method of reporting is used. State number of report types currently available. State
proposed requirements with advice on limit
16.3 Review Personnel
Service Owner
Service Level Manager
Operational Business Manager(s)
Change Manager
Problem Manager
Configuration Manager
Release Manager
Representative from Technical Services
Representative from 3
rd
party supplier
Regional Service Level Manager
I.T. Service Continuity Manager
16.4 Management Information
State the management information required.
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 23 of 28
17. Service Report and Contents
The Service Report forms the basis of the service review and whilst some detail is required it
should be at a level appropriate to the intended outcomes of the Review. Most of the report
should be at summary level and should mirror the aspects of the SLA that are measurable.
17.1 Management Summary
A summary of the major features of the reporting period describing briefly incidents, service levels,
improvements and service issues.
17.2 Performance Against Measured Attributes
17.2.1 Performance against KPIs
17.2.2 Performance against other Measurables
17.2.3 Overall Traffic Light Service Performance Indication
17.3 Non-Measured Performance
This is a description of any problems, incidents and achievements that happened or were made
during the reporting period. The sections in here depend on what is in the SLA and what is of
interest, for instance a particular aspect of the service is under scrutiny
17.4 Service Improvement Plan
A table of planned service improvements comprising identification, a very brief description, status,
the expected delivery date, resource allocated and any other information of interest:
Description
Progress and status
Actions and Issues
Delivery
Date
Responsibility
17.5 Report on Service and Support Area Performance
Specific areas, for instance, Service Desk or Operations, are reported on according to criteria
agreed
17.5.1 Breakdown of Incidents
A summary, for example
Service
Functional
Area
Priority 1
Incidents
Priority 2
Incidents
Priority 3
Incidents
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 24 of 28
17.5.2 Incidents in Detail
17.6 A table of incidents comprising, for example:
Date
&
Time
Description
Resolution
Actions
Responsibility
Delivery
Date
17.7 Capacity and Availability
17.7.1 Service Breaks and Extensions
Report here details such breaks
17.7.1.1 Unplanned Breaks
Date
Reason for break in
service
Resolution
Agreed
Duration
of break
Actual
duration
of break
17.7.1.2 Planned Breaks
Date
Reason for break in
service
Actions
Agreed
Duration
of break
Actual
duration
of break
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 25 of 28
17.7.2 Service Extensions
Date
Reason for extension
Duration
17.7.3 Future Planned Extensions
Date
Reason for extension
Duration
17.7.4 Utilisation
17.7.4.1 Summary
As necessary – use of resources against plan, contract, SLA, for example:
Infrastructure
Element
Design/Contract
baseline
Utilisation this
reporting
period
Predicted
Growth + 1
year
Disc
MIPS
Database
Print &
Despatch
Network
SW licences
17.7.4.2 Specific
Here the report will highlight specific elements that are required to be reported in detail as a result
of the SLA or actions from previous reviews. For example where the utilisations or growth rates
exceed threshold values, or issues resulting from incidents.
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 26 of 28
17.8 Change Control
A summary of changes applied to the system. The detail required might be great or Service
Management all depending on the purpose. At least a summary is required.
17.8.1 Releases
List or describe the releases implemented
17.8.2 Emergency Changes
List or describe the emergency changes implemented.
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 27 of 28
18. Glossary
Service Owner The person responsible for decision making with regard to the
Business Service
Service Level Manager The person responsible for ensuring that Service Levels for the
Service are met
Service A business defined deliverable supported by one or more I.T.
Systems, which enables the business to deliver its objectives
System An I.T. deliverable comprised of varying hardware and
software, which enables a Service to run
Key Business Functions The vital functions of the business, without which there would
be no point in having a Service
Key Users Usually chief business contacts and administrators; people
who use the service and I.T. systems regularly and directly
interface with the public or other internal users (e.g. in the
case of the HQ Services)
Key User Groups Based on importance of location to the business. The area(s)
that above all others gathers most revenue/target most
fraud/perform most ministerial requirements/have most
external customers etc.
©Purple Griffon Ltd Page 28 of 28
19. Amendment Sheet
Author
Reviewers
Signatories
DOCUMENT INFORMATION
Master Location
:
File Name
:
Distribution
CHANGE HISTORY
Version
No.
Date
Details of Changes included in Update
Author(s)
Authors name
