Sla a universal panacea qmk

SLA : A Universal Panacea ?
Alfredo Saad
IT Outsourcing Consultant
alfredo.saad@terra.com.br

SLA: A UNIVERSAL PANACEA ?
“ SLA’s may sound like a universal panacea, but there is a
number of things a SLA cannot compensate for. An
inadequate definition of business objectives, for
instance. Nor it can compensate for lack of standards.
SLA’s cannot substitute for poor customer management
or poor support management ”
(Andrew Hiles)
alfredo.saad@terra.com.

AGENDA
- Service Level Management
- Concepts
- Objectives
- SLA: Technical x Business Aspects
- SLA in an IT Outsourced Environment
- Causes of Failed Implementations
- Recommendations

SERVICE LEVEL MANAGEMENT
CONCEPTS
Undoubtedly tools are vital, but they
do not guarantee, by themselves, a
high-level services quality
Only when adequately used as part
of a Service Level Management
process they will become an
important element towards the
achievement of effective results

If performance indicators are inadequate or if their monitoring is
ineffective, the service level management process will become a
tough task.
Such problems will result in late and merely reactive actions, in such a
way that decisions will be already made under the pressure of
unsatisfied users .
From a management point-of-view, this will mean increasing costs and a
scenario of growing users frustration, concerning their perception
about the real capability of the IT area to support them.
CONCEPTS

Continuous monitoring of performance indicators will permit an early
detection of problems still forming and their correction before
their effects become visible to the end user community.
A solid Service Level Management process makes it possible a more
transparent relationship between the IT area and the business
areas, contributing to alleviate any stress that may exist.
CONCEPTS

- Support business needs
- Manage expectations
- Optimize resources allocation and utilization
- Keep costs under control
OBJECTIVES

- Support business needs
“ SLA’s force the support service to orient itself to
providing cost-effective service solutions to business
needs and to support the business plan ”
(Andrew Hiles)
OBJECTIVES

- Manage expectations
- Optimize resources allocation and utilization
“ Without lining up customer expectations with IT’s ability
to realistically meet those expectations, IT stands little
chance of breaking out the first circle of ‘ service
bureau hell ’ : unreliable expectations matched to limited
resources ”
(Christopher Koch)
OBJECTIVES

- Keep costs under control
“ The biggest benefit of an SLA in my mind is it makes
the business aware that there’s a relationship between
support and dollars. This way they can make a better
business decision about what support is required and
how much it will cost ”
(Tim Parsons)
OBJECTIVES

SLA: TECHNICAL X BUSINESS ASPECTS
Availability
Response time

Availability
Response time

Relative
Cost
Availability Percentage
1
10
100
90.000 % 99.999 %

10
100
72 hours 26 seconds
Maximum unavailability time during a 30-day month
Relative
Cost
1
10
90.000 % 99.999 %

10
100
90.000 % 99.000 % 99.900 % 99.990 % 99.999 %
7.2 hours 43 minutes 4.3 minutes
Relative
Cost
72 hours 26 seconds
Maximum unavailability time during a 30-day month
1

Availability
Response Time

Initial Business Transactions
Volume  low
Initial Response Time
 good
Initial Performance
Curve
1
Business Transactions
Volume
Response
Time

Response Time
 bad
Business Transactions Volume
 high
1
2
 good
Response
Time Initial Performance
Curve
Volume  low
Volume

 constrained
Response Time
 acceptable
3
1
2
Response Time
 bad
 good
Response
Time Initial Performance
Curve
 high
Volume  low
Volume

Final Performance
Curve
3
1
2
Response Time
 acceptable
Response Time
 bad
 good
Response
Time
 constrained
 high
Volume  low
Volume
Initial Performance
Curve

Final Performance
Curve
3
1
2
Response Time
 acceptable
Response Time
 bad
 good
Response
Time
 constrained
 high
Volume  low
Volume
Initial Performance
Curve Continuous
Improvement
Process

Final Performance
Curve
3
1
2
Response Time
 acceptable
Response Time
 bad
 good
Response
Time
 constrained
 high
Volume  low
Volume
Initial Performance
Curve Continuous
Improvement
Process
Final Response
Time very good
4
Final Business Transactions
Volume  very high

SLA IN AN IT OUTSOURCED ENVIRONMENT
- Desired capabilities of the selected provider
- High maturity on systems management disciplines
- High coordination capability to integrate the execution of the
processes among all disciplines
- High integration capability in an environment with multiple
providers
- High capability to continuously improve outsourced functions
processes
- High capability to proactively detect and solve problems
- Quick and accurate corrective problem diagnosis and root-cause
analysis

- Relevant clauses in an IT outsourcing services contract
- Service level Agreements unambiguously defined
- Clear and objective targets for continuous improvement
- Bonus and penalties mechanism
- Contract cancellation due to bad performance
- Accurate demonstration of consumed services volumes
- Additional services request process
SLA IN AN IT OUTSOURCED ENVIRONMENT

CAUSES OF FAILED IMPLEMENTATIONS
- Client organization (IT or business areas) do not clearly establish
their objectives, plans and priorities
- Insufficient involvement of management and executive levels
- Business areas do not adequately quantify the business impact of
SLAs not accomplished by the provider
- IT area describes SLAs with technical terms which business areas
cannot comprehend and which cannot be easily associated to
business impacts

RECOMMENDATIONS
- Service Level Agreements must ...
- ... make it possible an immediate association to the client
business and to the satisfaction of its users
- ... be formulated in such a way that permanently encourage the
best cost/benefit ratio on service provision
- ... be continually reevaluated to reflect the dynamic objectives
and priorities of the client business needs

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