Service Level Management
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ITIL Service Level Management: Overview
Process Objective: To negotiate Service Level Agreements with the customers and to design services in accordance with the agreed service level targets. Service Level Management is also responsible for ensuring that all Operational Level Agreements and Underpinning Contracts are appropriate, and to monitor and report on service levels.
Part of: Service Design
Process Owner: Service Level Manager
ITIL Service Level Management: Process Definition
Essentially, the activities and process objectives of the Service Level Management process are identical in ITIL V2 and V3. In ITIL V3, the Service Review activities are part of Continual Service Improvement.
The following sub-processes are part of ITIL Service Level Management:
Sub-Processes
- Maintenance of the SLM Framework
- Process Objective: To design and maintain a structured catalogue and framework for Service Level Agreements, and to provide templates for the various SLM documents.
- Sign up Customers to Standard Services
- Process Objective: To capture customer requirements and agree service level targets with customers who request the provision of existing standard services (no modifications to existing Supporting Services are necessary in order to fulfill the customer's needs).
- Identification of Service Requirements
- Process Objective: To capture desired outcomes (requirements from the customer viewpoint) for new services or major service modifications. The service requirements are to be documented and submitted to an initial evaluation, so that alternatives may be sought at an early stage for requirements which are not technically or economically feasable.
- Decomposition of Business Service into Supporting Services
- Process Objective: To determine the Supporting Services which will be used to deliver a Business Service, and to find out where the Supporting Services must be modified in order to provide the required service levels and functionality.
- Technical and Organizational Service Design
- Process Objective: To determine how a new service will be provided from an IT perspective. In particular, this means to specify any technical infrastructure to be created, as well as required organizational changes. The resulting Service Design Package contains all relevant information for Service Transition.
- RFC Compilation and Submission
- Process Objective: To initiate the implementation of a new service by preparing a formal Request for Change.
- Agreements Sign-Off and Service Activation
- Process Objective: To have all relevant contracts signed off after completion of Service Transition, and to check if Service Acceptance Criteria are fulfilled. In particular, this process makes sure that all relevant OLAs are signed off by their Service Owners, and that the SLA is signed off by the customer.
- Service Level Monitoring and Reporting
- Process Objective: To monitor achieved service levels and compare them with agreed service level targets ("Service Level Report"). This information is circulated to customers and all other relevant parties, as a basis for measures to improve service quality.
Downloads
Use the following links to open the process overview of Service Level Management showing the most important interfaces:
ITIL Terms: Service Level Management
- Operational Level Agreement (OLA)
- An agreement between an IT service provider and another part of the same organization. An OLA supports the IT service provider's delivery of services to customers. The OLA defines the goods or services to be provided and the responsibilities of both parties. For example there could be an OLA - between the IT service provider and a procurement department to obtain hardware in agreed times - between the Service Desk and a support group to provide Incident resolution in agreed times (see also: ITIL Checklist SLA - OLA - UC).
- Service Acceptance Criteria (SAC)
- A set of criteria used to ensure that an IT service meets its functionality and quality requirements and that the service provider is ready to operate the new service when it has been deployed.
- Service Design Package (SDP)
- The Service Design Package builds upon the Service Level Requirements. It further specifies the requirements from the viewpoint of the client and defines how these are actually fulfilled from a technical and organizational point of view (see also: ITIL Checklist Service Design Package - SDP).
- SLM Document Templates
- Templates for the various documents used within Service Level Management, e.g. Service Level Requirements, Service Level Agreements, Operational Level Agreements, Underpinning Contracts, Service Acceptance Criteria, ...
- Service Level Agreement (SLA)
- An agreement between an IT service provider and a customer. The SLA describes the IT service, documents service level targets, and specifies the responsibilities of the IT service provider and the customer. A single SLA may cover multiple services or multiple customers (see also: ITIL Checklist SLA - OLA - UC).
- Service Level Requirements (SLR)
- The Service Level Requirements document contains the requirements for a service from the client viewpoint, defining detailed service level targets, mutual responsibilities, and other requirements specific to a certain (group of) customers.
- Service Level Report
- The Service Level Report gives insight into a service provider's ability to deliver the agreed service quality. To this purpose, it compares the agreed and actually achieved service levels, and also includes information on the usage of services, ongoing measures for service improvement, and any exceptional events. A Service Level Report is issued by the service provider for its customers, IT management and other Service Management processes. A similar report is also created by an external service supplier to document its achieved service performance.
- SLA/ OLA/ UC Catalogue and Structure
- A structured index of Service Level Agreements, Operational Level Agreement and Underpinning Contracts. Depending on the approach for structuring the agreements there might be multiple layers of agreements, from generic ones covering general SLM issues to specific ones for particular services/ service components and customers.
- Service Requirements
- The desired outcome of a service, stated in terms of required service functionality and service levels.
Additional Information on Service Level Management
ITIL KPIs and Checklists
ITIL Roles in Service Level Management
- Service Level Manager - Process Owner
- The Service Level Manager is responsible for negotiating Service Level Agreements and ensuring that these are met.
- He makes sure that all IT Service Management processes, Operational Level Agreements and Underpinning Contracts are appropriate for the agreed service level targets.
- The Service Level Manager also monitors and reports on service levels.
- Applications Analyst/ Architect
- The Applications Analyst/ Architect is responsible for designing applications required to provide a service.
- This includes the specification of technologies, application architectures and data structures as a basis for application development or customization.
- Service Design Manager
- The Service Design Manager is responsible for producing quality, secure and resilient designs for new or improved services.
- This includes producing and maintaining all design documentation.
- Service Owner
- The Service Owner is responsible for delivering a particular service within the agreed service levels.
- Typically, he acts as the counterpart of the Service Level Manager when negotiating Operational Level Agreements (OLAs).
- Often, the Service Owner will lead a team of technical specialists or an internal support unit.
- Technical Analyst/ Architect
- The Technical Analyst/ Architect is responsible for designing infrastructure components and systems required to provide a service.
- This includes the specification of technologies and products as a basis for their procurement and customization.
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