Service level management practice
Service level management practice (hereinafter, the Practice) is the practice to set clear business-based targets for service performance so that the delivery of a service can be properly assessed, monitored, and managed against these targets. The Practice relates to service level and service management. This Practice is a part of the ITIL practices.
Contents
Definitions
According to the ITIL Foundation 4e by Axelos,
- Service level management practice. The practice of setting clear business-based targets for service performance so that the delivery of a service can be properly assessed, monitored, and managed against these targets.
Purpose
The purpose of the service level management practice is to set clear business-based targets for service performance, so that the delivery of a service can be properly assessed, monitored and managed against these targets.
Best practices
Tasks
- The Practice should provide the end to end visibility of the organization's services. That should include:
- To establish a shared view of the services and target service levels with customers.
- To collect, analyze, store, and report relevant metrics to ensure service levels are met.
- To perform service reviews to ensure the current services continue to meet the organization and its customers' needs.
- To capture and report on service issues including performance against defined service levels.
SLA
- Main wikipage: Service level agreement
- A service level agreement (SLA) is a documented agreement between a service provider and a customer that identifies services required and the expected level of service. SLA is a tool to measure the performance of services from the customer's point of view. Key requirements for successful SLAs:
- Related to a defined service
- Should relate to defined outcomes, not just operational metrics
- Should reflect an agreement between the service provider and the service consumer
- Must be simply written and easy to understand for all parties
Interaction
- The Practice interacts with:
- Relationship management
- Business liaison
- Supplier management
- Business analysis
- Skills and competencies
Information Sources
- Customer engagement
- Initial listening
- Discovery and information capture
- Measurement and ongoing process discussions
- Asking simple open-ended questions
- Customer feedback
- Surveys
- Key business-related measures
- Operational metrics
- Business metrics
- Customer engagement