Managing service levels
Putting SLAs in place with consistent UCs and OLAs achieves nothing unless performance against the SLAs is measured, monitored and reported and
appropriate actions are taken to maintain and continually improve service
delivery. The ongoing responsibilities of SLM are concerned with maintaining a constructive and positive relationship with its customers, measuring and
monitoring performance against SLAs, reporting and reviewing performance with the customer, dealing with changing requirements and seeking continually to improve service levels where this is cost-effective. This is not a one-sided relationship, however. SLM also has a responsibility to help its customers and
the business make the most effective use of IT and to meet their obligations
included in SLAs.
Reports to customers and users should be in a format that is easy to follow. SLA monitoring charts (SLAM) are often used (sometimes referred to as a ‘RAG’
report based on the use of the colours red, amber and green to indicate SLA breach, warning or met, respectively). An example is shown in Figure 13.2.
SLM has responsibility for regularly reporting to the customer on performance, but will rely on other service management processes for the information: the service desk will report on the number of incidents handled and their performance in dealing with them; availability management will report on availability; capacity management will report on any capacity issues; and so on.