* if top main
menu invisible, click
main menu or
home please
Measuring for service level management
No.
177
File
Writer
Harris Ker
Date
2004-10-13
October 5, 2004
Takeaway:
Implementing a Service Level Agreement can provide efficiency benefits for your organization. Keep these tips in mind to make sure you get the most out of it.
By Harris Kern
Providing the basis for managing relationships between the IT service organization and its customers, service level management deals with how user service requirements are understood and managed. Service level management covers a variety of activities related to planning, monitoring, and reporting. In this article, I describe the minimum set of data and measurements required for effective service level management. Then, I'll list factors critical to the success of data gathering and measurement. With the ongoing monitoring and evaluation of key indicators and metrics, the IT service organization is in a better position to ensure the required quality of service is provided in cost-effective ways.
Benefits of service level management
Many benefits can be realized from a well-implemented service level management discipline:
Harmony between the user and the IT organization - The most important benefit is that the IT organization gets an accurate picture of what the users need. This may sound trivial, but the lack of well-implemented service level management disciplines causes most of the rifts between IT and users. A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a give-and-take relationship between IT and users; users articulate what they need, and IT gains support in getting the resources needed to provide it. Both parties must realize that any requested service may be provided, but none come free.
Efficiency of IT operations - Another advantage of having a SLA is that IT can allocate just enough resources towards what the users really need. The SLA reminds IT of what really matters to the business, so it does not waste resources providing services that are no longer needed, or are too complex and advanced for users. I have seen many IT organizations spend a fortune on technology products that users don
