Value of Documentation - SLA

For providing IT services, a company usually develops a document called “Service Level Agreement (SLA)”. A SLA is a very detailed document which includes what is the responsibility of the company, what level of service the company provides, what is the disclaimer and so on. A company seems to spend a lot of time to develop such a document. Why does a company develop such a document?

SLA is one of the outcomes of IT service management activity of a company, and the development process is included in a part of ITIL. The current version of ITIL (v3) is composed of five volumes as follows: *1

1. ITIL Service Strategy
2. ITIL Service Design
3. ITIL Service Transition
4. ITIL Service Operation
5. ITIL Continual Service Improvement

SLA is a deliverable of Service Level Management activity which is written in the ITIL Service Design volume, and it is one of the most important documents in the ITIL framework. Service Level Management (SLM) is one of five components in the ITIL Service Delivery area.

“It is arguably the most important set of processes within the ITIL framework. SLM processes provide a framework by which services are defined, service levels required to support business processes are agreed upon, Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Operational Level Agreements (OLAs) are developed to satisfy the agreements, and costs of services are developed.” *2

 (Image Source: Lists & Notes*3)

Why is it so important? What is the value of service level management? There are many benefits can be acquired by developing service level management strategy. Harris Kern summarized three benefits gained by a good service level management as follows:*4

• Harmony between the user and the IT organization
• Efficiency of IT operations
• Improved user satisfaction

Above all, Harris wrote that the most important aspect is that IT organization can grasp an accurate image of what their customers need. He also wrote “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.”*4

The value of documentation is not only in the deliverable; rather the more value is in the process of developing the document.

References:
*1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IT_service_management
*2 http://www.teamquest.com/solutions/itil/service-delivery/service-level-management/
*3 http://www.listsandnotes.com/itil-v3-foundation-test-study-notes/
*4 http://www.techrepublic.com/article/measuring-for-service-level-management/5388735