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.

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