ITIL Service Level Management

ITIL Solutions: ITIL Based Service Management

The following overview describes the fundamentals of ITIL Service Level Management. Also read how infraEnterprise supports Service Level Management.

The objective of the Service Level Management process is to manage and maintain the quality of IT services delivered to customers. The process also seeks to improve on the quality of service delivered to customers by reviewing the level of performance achieved by the IT Service Desk.

This is achieved through a continuous cycle of agreeing, monitoring and reporting upon IT service level performance.

Service Level Management is one of the most important processes of IT Service Management. It receives input from the Service Support processes (incident, problem, change management) and provides information used by all Service Delivery processes.

Agreements defined by Service Level Management

As defined by ITIL, The IT Service Desk can enter into three types of agreements with its customers:

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) – agreements between the customer and the Service Desk on the level of service provision delivered to the customer
Operational Level Agreements (OLAs) – agreements made between internal IT departments of an organization (e.g., Network Management and IT Operations
Underpinning Contracts (UCs) – contracts between the Service Desk and an external supplier.

A close relationship exists among these three agreements, as Service Level Agreements must be supported by their associated OLAs and UCs. This ensures that service levels committed to in OLAs and UCs enable the service levels within the Service Level Agreements they support.

Benefits of implementing Service Level Management

Implementing the Service Level Management process enables both the customer and the IT services provider to have a clear understanding of the expected level of delivered services and their associated costs for the organization, by documenting these goals into formal agreements.

Service Level Management can be used as a basis for charging for services, and can demonstrate to customers the value they are receiving from the Service Desk.

It also assists the Service Desk with managing external supplier relationships, and introduces the possibility of negotiating improved services and/or reduced costs.

The relationship of Service Level Management to other ITIL processes

ITIL Incident Management

Incident Management assists Service Level Management by:

monitoring and reporting on threshold breaches in agreements and notifying support officers when escalation and breach events occur
providing information on historical data and trends
providing the interface with customers on the level of services provided
recording escalation actions and activities to maintain the service commitment under an SLA with the customer.

ITIL Problem Management

Problem Management assists Service Level Management by:

identifying the underlying cause of incidents and problems to reduce calls (and therefore) opportunities to breach service levels
providing statistics, trends and historical data and assisting with Service Level Management reporting.

ITIL Change Management

Change Management assists Service Level Management by:

providing information on the impact of changes on the IT infrastructure and how the changes affect service level targets before and after changes are implemented
improving services since service levels are defined

ITIL Configuration Management

Configuration Management assists Service Level Management by:

identifying the services affected by faulty CIs
identifying components that combine to deliver the service so that underpinning agreements can be set up.