A process to manage service levels ensures that all IT services delivered to customers meet agreed-upon standards of quality. It involves ensuring that Service level Agreements (SLAs) are in place, are adhered to and service levels are monitored and reported on.
To achieve this, it’s essential to have the right tools in place. The processes and systems that determine service levels are outsourced to third-party http://www.slm-info.org firms. It is important to know how to manage them within your own SLM process.
The first step in setting up an SLM process is identifying the essential services to the company, and establishing reasonable metrics for success. This will include aspects like effectiveness, user base, and design factors. It is crucial to choose the technology expertise of a company that is focused on specific platforms may be able to commit to higher performance levels than a generalised service provider.
After the SLA targets are set and the team has to develop an action plan to ensure they are met. This usually involves putting in systems that track the progress of the team and notify them immediately when there is a problem in achieving goals.
Additionally, a well-designed SLM process will include continuous improvement processes. They will allow teams to take the information they collect, and find ways of improving the processes that are causing problems. For example, if a NOC service is consistently not meeting its SLA to answer phone calls within 30 seconds it should be possible to figure out the reasons for this, and then fix it.