The Service Level Agreement SLA Guide - SLA book, Templates for Service Level Management and Service Level Agreement Forms. Fast and Easy Way to Write your SLA

The Service Level Agreement SLA Guide: SLA Book Templates for Service Level Management and Service Level Agreement Form...

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The Service Level Agreement SLA Guide: SLA Book Templates for Service Level Management and Service Level Agreement Forms - Fast and Easy Way to Write your SLA

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Service Level Management Workbook

TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS..........................................................................................................3 INTRODUCTION ROADMAP .................................................................................................5 SERVICE DESIGN .................................................................................................................9 CONTINUAL SERVICE IMPROVEMENT ........................................................................... 43 SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS............................................................................................. 55 Objectives and Goals ................................................................................................... 57 Policies Objectives and Goals ..................................................................................... 63 SLM Scope ...................................................................................................................... 67 Business Justification Document .................................................................................. 75 Organizing for Service Design – Roles & Responsibilities .......................................... 81 SLM Process Manager ................................................................................................... 87 Customer Based SLA ..................................................................................................... 91 Service Based SLA.......................................................................................................... 99 Multi Level SLA’s ........................................................................................................... 108 Business and IT Service Mapping ............................................................................... 116 Operational Level Agreement................................................................................... 130 Service Level Requirements........................................................................................ 136 Service Options ............................................................................................................ 144 Underpinning Contracts.............................................................................................. 150 Functional Specification ............................................................................................. 156 Technical Specification............................................................................................... 164 Price List ......................................................................................................................... 172 Communication Plan .................................................................................................. 176 Business and IT Flyers.................................................................................................... 184 Reports KPI’s Other Metrics......................................................................................... 188 SLM IMPLEMENTATION & PROJECT PLAN .................................................................. 194 FURTHER INFORMATION ............................................................................................... 204

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INTRODUCTION ROADMAP Many organizations are looking to implement a Service Level Management as a way to improve the structure and quality of the business. This document describes the contents of the Service Level Management Workbook. The information found within the Workbook is based on the ITIL Version 3 framework, specifically the Service Design and Continual Service Improvement phases which incorporate the updated ITIL version 3 Service Level Management process. The Workbook is designed to answer a lot of the questions that Service Level Management process raises and provides you with useful guides, templates and essential, but simple assessments. The supporting documents and assessments will help you identify the areas within your organization that require the most activity in terms of change and improvement. Presentations can be used to educate or be used as the basis for management presentations or when making business cases for Service Level Management implementation. The additional information and bonus resources will enable you to improve your organizations methodology knowledge base. The workbook serves to act as a starting point. It will give you a clear path to travel. It is designed to be a valuable source of information and activities. The Service Level Management Workbook: Flows logically, Is scalable, Provides presentations, templates and documents, Saves you time.

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Step 1 Start by reviewing the PowerPoint presentations in the following order: Presentations 1 and 2 provide a detailed and comprehensive overview of Service Level Management in the specialist areas of ITIL Version3 1. ITIL V3 SLM Presentation - Service Design. 2. ITIL V3 SLM Presentation - CSI These presentations will give you a good knowledge and understanding of all the terms, activities and concepts required within the Service Level Management process. They can also be used as the basis for management presentations or when making a formal business case for Service Level Management implementation. Make sure you pay close attention to the notes pages, as well as the slides, as references to further documents and resources are highlighted here.

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Step 2 If you did not look at the supporting documents and resources when prompted during the PowerPoint presentations, do this now. Below is an itemized list of the supporting documents and resources for easy reference. You can use these documents and resources within your own organization or as a template to help you in prepare your own bespoke documentation. ITIL V3 SLM Presentation - Service Design 1. Objectives and Goals 2. Policies Objectives and Scope 3. SLM Scope 4. Business Justification document 5. Organizing for Service Design - Roles & Responsibilities 6. SLM Process Manager 7. Customer Based SLA 8. Service Based SLA 9. Multi level SLA's 10. Business and IT Service Mapping 11. Operational Level Agreement 12. Service Level Requirements 13. Service Options 14. Underpinning Contracts 15. Functional Specification 16. Technical Specification 17. Price List 18. Communication Plan 19. Business and IT Flyers 20. Reports KPI's other metrics 21. SLM Process Manager 22. Organizing for Service Design - Roles & Responsibilities ITIL V3 SLM Presentation - CSI

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Step 3 Alternatively, continue by working through the SLM Implementation & Project Plan with the focus on your organization. This will help you ascertain the Service Level Management maturity for your organization. You will able to identify gaps and areas of attention and/or improvement. The supporting documents and bonus resources found within the workbook will help you fill these gaps by giving you a focused, practical and user-friendly approach to Service Level Management.

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SERVICE DESIGN

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Service Level Management (SLM) is a process that is found within two Service Lifecycle phases.

Within Service Design, Service Level Management is concerned with: •

Design and plan process

•

Determining Service Level Requirements (SLRs)

•

Negotiating and Agreeing upon SLAs, OLAs and UCs.

Within Continual Service Improvement, Service Level Management is concerned with improving services and processes through constant: •

Monitoring (executed within Service Operation)

•

Reporting

•

Evaluating

•

Improving

The major focus of Service Level Management within Continual Service Improvement is identifying potential service improvements.

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SLM is a vital process for every IT service provider organisation as it is responsible for agreeing and documenting service level targets and responsibilities within SLAs and SLRs for every activity within IT.

If targets are appropriate and accurately reflect the requirements of the business, the service delivered will align with business requirements and meet the expectations of the customers and users in terms of service quality.

When targets are not aligned with business needs, the service provider activities and service levels will not be aligned with business expectations and therefore problems will develop.

The SLA is effectively a level of assurance or warranty with regard to the level of service quality delivered by the service provider for each of the services delivered to the business.

The quality of the Service Portfolio and the Service Catalogue is pivotal to the success of the SLM.

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Service Level Management (SLM) negotiates, agrees and documents appropriate IT service targets with representatives of the business, and then monitors and produces reports on the service provider;s ability to deliver the agreed level of service.

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Proactive measures are also taken to seek and implement improvements to the level of service delivered.

More information is available within this workbook, in the following documents: •

Objectives and Goals on page 57

•

Policies Objectives and Scope on page 63

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SLM is the name given to the processes of planning, coordinating, drafting, agreeing, monitoring and reporting of SLA’s, and the ongoing review of service achievements to ensure that the required and cost-justifiable service quality is maintained and gradually improved.

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SLM must manage the expectation and perception of the business, customers and users in order to ensure that the quality of service delivered by the service provider is matched to those expectations and needs. In order to do this effectively, SLA should establish and maintain SLAs for all current live services and manage the level of service provided to meet the targets and quality measurements contained within the SLAs. SLM should also produce and agree SLRs for all planned new or changed services.

This enables SLM to ensure that all services and components are designed and delivered to meet their targets in terms of business needs. The SLM processes should include the: •

Development of relationships with the business

•

Negotiation and agreement of current requirements and targets, and the documentation and management of SLAs for all operational services

•

Negotiation and agreement of future requirements and targets, and the documentation and management of SLRs for all proposed new or changed services

•

Development and management of appropriate Operational Level Agreements (OLAs) to ensure that targets are aligned with SLA targets

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Continued…

•

Review of all underpinning supplier contracts and agreements with Supplier Management to ensure that targets are aligned with SLA targets

•

Reporting and management of all services and review of all SLA breaches and weaknesses

•

Instigation and coordination of a Service Improvement Plan (SIP) for the management, planning and implementation of all service and process improvements


SLM Scope on page 67

Page 16


SLM is not only concerned with ensuring that current services and SLA’s are managed, but is also involved in ensuring that new requirements are captured and that new or changed services and SLA’s are developed to match the business needs and expectations. SLA’s provide the basis for managing the relationship between the service provider and the customer, and SLM provides that central point of focus for a group of customers, business untis or lines of business.


Business Justification document on page 75

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•

Written agreement between a service provider and Customers), that documents agreed Service Levels for a Service: Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

•

Written statement of IT services, default levels and options: Service Catalogue

•

Contract with an external supplier that supports the IT organization in their delivery of services: Underpinning Contract (UCs)

•

Internal agreement which supports the IT organization in their delivery of services: Operational Level Agreement (OLAs)

•

Detailed recording of the Customer’s needs: Service Level Requirements

Page 18


More information is available, within this workbook, in the following documents: •

Organizing for Service Design - Roles & Responsibilities on page 81

•

SLM Process Manager on page 87

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Service Based SLA The SLA covers one service, for all customers of that service. Difficulties may arise if the specific requirements of different customers vary for the same service, or if characteristics of the infrastructure mean that different service levels are inevitable. As such, separate targets may be needed within the one agreement. However, where common levels of service are provided across all areas of the business, service-based SLAs may be the most efficient approach.

Customer Based SLA The SLA is an agreement with an individual customer group, covering all the services they use. Customers often prefer such an agreement, as a single document will cover all their needs.


Customer Based SLA on page 91

•

Service Based SLA on page 99

Page 20


Multi – level SLA’s Some organizations have chosen to adopt a multi level SLA structure. E.g A 3 level structure such as;

Corporate Level: covers all generic SLM issues to every customer throughout the organization.

Customer Level: covers all SLM issues relevant to a particular customer group of business unit, regardless of the service being used

Service Level: covers all SLM issues relevant to the specific service, in relation to a specific customer group


Multi level SLA's on page 107

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The activity of determining the initial targets for inclusion with an SLR or SLA can be very difficult. All other processes need to be consulted for their opinion on realistic targets, such as Incident Management on incident targets. Capacity and Availability Management processes will be of particular value in determining appropriate service availability and performance targets.

While many organizations have to give initial priority to introducing SLAs for existing services, it is also important to establish procedures for agreeing SLRs for new services being developed or procured.

If can be difficult to draw out specific requirements, as the business may need help in understanding and defining their needs, particularly in terms of capacity, security, availability and IT service continuity. Several iterations of negotiations may be required before an affordable balance is struck between what is sought and what is achievable and affordable.

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The Service Desk, when linked to a comprehensive CMS, can be used to monitor the customer’s perception of availability. It can also be used to monitor incident response times and resolution times.

It is essential to ensure that any incident / problem handling targets included in SLAs are the same as those included in Service Desk tools and used for escalation and monitoring purposes. Some amendments may be needed to support tools, to include the necessary fields so that relevant data can be captured.

Transaction response times can be a difficult area to monitor and can be dealt with in the following ways: •

Include a statement in the SLA stating that any response time delays experienced for more than x minutes should be reported to the Service Desk

•

Agree and include in the SLA an acceptable target for the number of such incidents that can be tolerated in the reporting period

•

Create an incident category of ‘poor response’ to ensure that such incidents are logged accurately

•

Produce regular reports of target time breaches and instigate investigations via Problem Management to find a solution

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SLAs are just documents, and in themselves do not materially alter the quality of service being provided. However, it must be noted that SLAs do affect the behaviour and help engender an appropriate service culture, which can then have an immediate beneficial effect and make longer-term improvements possible.

It is recommended that attempts be made to monitor customer perception on soft issues such as opinions or feelings toward the service. Methods of doing this include: •

Periodic questionnaires and customer surveys

•

Customer feedback from service review meetings

•

Feedback from Post Implementation Reviews (PIRs) conducted as part of the Change Management process on major changes, releases, new or changed services etc.

•

Telephone perception surveys (perhaps at random on the Service Desk, or using regular customer liaison representatives)

•

Satisfaction survey handouts (left with customers following installations, service visits etc.)

•

User group or forum meetings

•

Analysis of complaints and compliments

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Continued…

Where possible, targets should be set for these and monitored as part of the SLA. Ensure that if users provide feedback they receive some return, and demonstrate to them that their comments have been incorporated in an action plan, perhaps an SIP. All customer satisfaction measurements should be reviewed, and where variations are identified, they should be analysed with action taken to rectify the variation.

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OLAs need not be very complicated, but should set out specific back-to-back targets for support groups that underpi8n the targets included in the SLAs.

OLAs should be monitored against OLA and SLA targets, and reports on achievements provided as feedback to the appropriate managers of each support team. This highlights potential problem areas, which may need to be addressed internally or by a further review of the SLA or OLA.

Before committing to new or revised SLAs, it is therefore important that existing contractual arrangements are investigated and, where necessary, upgraded.

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SLM should identify the specific reporting needs and automate production of all reports wherever possible. The extent, accuracy and ease with which automated reports can be produced should form part of the selection criteria for integrated support tools.

Operational reports must be produced on a regular basis. This should be weekly, or possibly more frequently and must produce exception reports whenever an SLA has been broken or threatened.

Periodic reports must be produced and circulated to customers and appropriate IT managers a few days in advance of service level reviews, so that any queries or disagreements can be resolved ahead of any review meetings. These reports should incorporate details of performance against all SLA targets, together with details of any trends or specific actions being undertaken to improve service quality. Other interim reports may be required by IT management for OLA or internal performance reviews and/or supplier or contract management.

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Continued…

It is essential that accurate information from all areas and all processes are analysed and collated into a concise and comprehensive report on service performance, as measured against agreed business targets. Service reports should not only include details of current performance, but should also provide historic information on past performance and trends, so that the impact of improvement actions can be measured and predicted.

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Particular attention should be focused on each breach of service level to determine exactly what caused the loss of service and what can be done to prevent any recurrence.

Reports should also be produced on the progress and success of the SIP, such as the number of SIP actions that were completed and the number of actions that delivered their expected benefit.

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Reviews should ensure that the services covered have: •

Relevant targets

•

No significant changes

•

Change Management control any agreed changes

•

Include overall strategy documents.

Page 32


The Business Service Catalogue provides information on all the key business and IT contacts relating to the services, their use and their importance. In order to ensure that this is done in a consistent manner, SLM should perform the following activities: •

Confirm stakeholders, customers and key business managers and service users.

•

Assist with maintaining accurate information within the service portfolio and service catalogue.

•

Be flexible and responsive to the needs of the business, customers and users and understand current and planned new business processes and their requirements for new or changed services, documenting and communicating these requirements to all other processes as well as facilitating and innovating change wherever there is business benefit.

•

Develop a full understanding of business, customer and user strategies.

•

Regularly sample the customer experience – providing feedback on customer issues to IT

•

Ensure the correct relationship processes are in place to achieve objectives

•

Proactively market and exploit the Service Portfolio and Service Catalogue.

•

Promote service awareness and understanding

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Continued…

•

Raise the awareness and understanding

•

Facilitate the development and negotiation of appropriate, achievable and realistic SLR’s and Sla’s between the business and IT.

•

Ensure the business, customers and users understand their responsibilities/commitments to IT.

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Definitions of what constitutes a complaint and compliment should be agreed with the customers, together with the agreed procedures for their correct management and analysis.

All complaints and compliments should be recorded and communicated to the relevant parties. All complaints should also be actioned and resolved to the satisfaction of the originator. If not, there should be an escalation procedure for all complaints that are not actioned and resolved within the agreed timescale.

Reports should also be produced on the numbers and types of complaints, trends identified and actions taken to reduce the numbers received. Similar reports should be produced for compliments.

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Business and IT Service Mapping on page 115

Page 37



Operational Level Agreement on page 129

•

Service Level Requirements on page 135

•

Service Options on page 143

•

Underpinning Contracts on page 149

•

Functional Specification on page 155

•

Technical Specification on page 163

•

Price List on page 171

•

Communication Plan on page 175

•

Business and IT Flyers on page 183

Page 38


Objective: •

Number or percentage of service targets being met

•

Number and severity of service breaches

•

Number of services with up-to-date SLA’s

•

Number of services with timely reports and active service reviews

Subjective: Improvement in customer satisfaction

Page 39



Reports KPI's other metrics on page 187

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Page 41



SLM Process Manager on page 87

•

Organizing for Service Design - Roles & Responsibilities on page 81

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CONTINUAL SERVICE IMPROVEMENT

Page 43


Service Level Management (SLM) is a process that is found within two Service Lifecycle phases.

Within Service Design, Service Level Management is concerned with: •

Design and plan process

•

Determining Service Level Requirements (SLRs)

•

Negotiating and Agreeing upon SLAs, OLAs and UCs.

Within Continual Service Improvement, Service Level Management is concerned with improving services and processes through constant: •

Monitoring (executed within Service Operation)

•

Reporting

•

Evaluating

•

Improving

The major focus of Service Level Management within Continual Service Improvement is identifying potential service improvements.

Page 44


This provides input into CSI activities and helps prioritize improvement projects. Even though SLM is critical for many organizations it is often one of the least mature processes.

Service Level Management can be described using two words: building relationships! Building relationships with customers, the functional groups within IT and the vendor community who provide services to IT.

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Even without any formal SLA’s or OLA’s, an organization can still strive to improve the services they provide to customers.

Page 46


Explicit SLA: one of the goals of SLM, is to get a formal document that clearly defines the services provided, levels of service, quality of service and cost of the service. Everyone understands their responsibilities

Implicit SLA: based on how you have provided your service in the past. If you provide good service the customers expect good service. If you improve on your service, then this becomes the new minimal level expected. Also if you have provided poor service in the past then your customers will actually expect poor service. Implicit SLA’s are difficult to manage.

Psychological SLA: often associated with the Service Desk where we publish information to the end users often b y putting a sticker on their monitor that states ‘if you need help call ######’. In the mind of end users this creates an agreement that all they have to do is call the Service Desk to find a solution to their issues. In realty there are some Service Desks and Help Desks that provide less than ideal help!

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SLM is essential in any organization so that levels of IT service needed to support the business can be determined, and monitoring can be initiated to identify whether the required service levels are being achieved – and if not, why not! Service Level Management is a cornerstone of CSI. Why embark on any service improvement initiative if the customers and the business are satisfied with the levels of service received? Because business requirements change!

Page 48


The Service Level Management process is created in the Service Design phase of the Service Lifecycle. It is important that CSI is involved in the design of SLM to ensure that measurable targets are created. These targets can then be used to identify potential service improvements.

Page 49


Where an underlying difficulty has been identified which is adversely impacting upon service quality, Service Level Management must, in conjunction with CSI, using Problem Management and Availability Management, instigate a SIP to identify and implement whatever actions are necessary to overcome the difficulties and restore service quality.

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At any time, a number of separate initiatives that form part of the SIP may be running in parallel to address difficulties with a number of services.

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If an organization is outsourcing its service provision to a third party, the issue of service improvement should be discussed at the outset and covered in the contract. Otherwise there is no incentive for the supplier to improve service targets if they are already meeting contractual obligations and additional expenditure is needed to make the improvements.

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This model emphasizes the fact that there are many opportunities for CSI. The model illustrates a constant cycle for improvement. Additional info for Items to consider list: •

Embrace the vision by understanding the high level business objectives.

•

Access the current situation to obtain an accurate and unbiased snapshot of where the organization right now. This baseline assessment is an analysis of the current position in terms of the business, organization, people, process and technology.

•

Based on a deeper development of the principles defined in the vision. The full vision can be years away but this step provides specific goals and a manageable timeframe.

•

Detail the CSI plan to achieve higher quality service provision by implementing ITSM processes.

•

Verify that measurements and metrics are in place to ensure that milestones were achieved, process compliance is high, and business objectives and priorities were met by the level of service.

•

Finally, the processes should ensure that the momentum for quality improvement is maintained by assuring that changes become embedded in the organization.

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SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS Through the documents, look for text surrounded by > these are indicators for you to create some specific text. Watch also for highlighted text which provides further guidance and instructions.

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Objectives and Goals

IT Services Detailed Objectives/Goals Process: Service Level Management

Status:

In draft Under Review Sent for Approval Approved Rejected

Version:

Release Date:

Note: SEARCH AND REPLACE Search for any > as your input will be required Also review any yellow highlighted text

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Detailed Objectives/Goals for Service Level Management The document is not to be considered an extensive statement as its topics have to be generic enough to suit any reader for any organization. However, the reader will certainly be reminded of the key topics that have to be considered. The detailed objectives for Service Level Management should include the following salient points: Objective After they have been agreed upon a specific objective for the process is to continue reporting metrics. This is an activity that is often forgotten over time or simply not done from the out-set.

Notes Met/Exceeded/Shortfall

☺ Dates/names/role titles

Appoint/Recruit the SLM team and provide ongoing awareness, education and training for staff involved with the process and communication to non-involved, but affected personnel. Setting schedules for reviews of Service Level Agreements and associated supporting documentation. Arranging the logistics of bringing the involved parties together (at intervals that are not considered to be a “nuisance” but will allow the process objective to be upheld. Monitor customer and end-user satisfaction levels. Monitor the marketplace for appropriate process tools and make recommendations. Design, manage and implement an awareness/communication plan appropriate for this process.

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Use these objectives to generate discussion about others that may be more appropriate to list than those provided. Failure to meet objectives (or when service breaches are detected) should trigger a process for improvement. Under the Service Level Management process, we refer to this as a Service Improvement Plan (SIP). Service Improvement Plan (SIP) Where an underlying difficulty has been identified that has lead to a degradation in service quality it is necessary for the Service Level Management process to start a Service Improvement Plan (SIP). The SIP must be drawn together with input from other processes (in particular Problem Management) so that the action steps in the SIP do in fact contribute to improvements and eradication of poor performance. Areas to address

Comments/Examples

SIP Reference number

Unique identifying number for the SLA (for inclusion in the Configuration Management Data Base – CMDB)

Owner

Functional role description of who is responsible for this SIP (who would participate in a review of this document). Representatives from customer and IT.

Service Name

Preferably use a name that is common language in the organization (not a technical name).

Service Description (Business) (refer to Technical Considerations later in this table)

Briefly describe the primary function of the service. Use language that is business user friendly. (eg. instead of “NT Server, with 2Gb RAM and 500Gb of disk storage” – we would say “large central server designed for all customers to use and share information from”)

Time Frame/Notes/Who

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Service Breach(s) details (refer to Problem & Availability Management issues).

The SIP will generally be based on broken SLAs. Use this section to briefly detail in generic terms why this SIP is required.

Problem Management details

The SIP will be driven as a result of the need to improve degraded performance. It is likely that there have been continuing Problems that have led to the service degradation. From Problem Management we can gain a better understanding of the background to the SIP.

Availability Management details

After the SIP is instigated the end users and customers should expect a higher level of service availability than they have in the past. The SIP must directly address the issue of availability by reviewing the past, current and future availability metrics for this service.

Service Security Considerations

Briefly list any considerations regarding security considerations for this SIP.

SIP Validity period

Is there a life-span for this SIP; is the life of the SIP time based or driven by activities only?

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SPECIFIC SIP ACTIONS

This part of the SIP will outline actual steps to be taken to improve availability and eradicate poor performance. This section of the SIP can be run as a Project if large enough, or as a simple list of action items, responsible person and timeframe. Action items will centre on discussions, negotiations, communications, documentation (new and updates to existing), testing, reviews, training/education and reworking current procedures and work practices. (Note: don’t forget to track changes and ensure the Configuration Management database is updated).

Version Control Information

SIP Creation Date SIP Last Modify Date

Technical considerations

In this section you can describe any technical considerations that are essential to document. It is more likely however, that you will include here a link to the Service Catalogue or Technical Specification.

Notes & Comments

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Policies Objectives and Goals

IT Services Policies, Objectives and Scope Process: Service Level Management

Status:


Version:

Release Date:

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Refer to Implementation Plan - Project Plan for planning and implementation guidelines (that includes the Policy, Objectives and Scope statements) on page 193. Policies, Objectives and Scope for Service Level Management The document is not to be considered an extensive statement as its topics have to be generic enough to suit any reader for any organization. However, the reader will certainly be reminded of the key topics that have to be considered. Policy Statement A course of action, guiding principle, or procedure considered expedient, prudent, or advantageous Use this text box to answer the “SENSE OF URGENCY” question regarding this process. Why is effort being put into this process? Not simply because someone thinks it’s a good idea. That won’t do. The reason has to be based in business benefits. You must be able to concisely document the reason behind starting or improving this process. Is it because of legal requirements or competitive advantage? Perhaps the business has suffered major problems or user satisfaction ratings are at the point where outsourcing is being considered. A policy statement any bigger than this text box, may be too lengthy to read, lose the intended audience with detail, not be clearly focussed on answering the WHY question for this process. The above Policy Statement was; Prepared by: On:

And accepted by: On: Objectives Statement

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Something worked toward or striven for; a goal Use this text box to answer the “WHERE ARE WE GOING” question regarding this process. What will be the end result of this process and how will we know when we have reached the end result? Will we know because we will establish a few key metrics or measurements or will it be a more subjective decision, based on instinct? A generic sample statement on the “objective” for Service Level Management is: The Service Level Management process aims to improve, while maintaining, IT Service delivery quality. Actions to achieve this include the requirement to conduct repetitive actions that include reporting, agreeing and monitoring. The process must review Service Achievements against customer expectations and take steps to improve or modify Service Delivery accordingly. Note the keywords in the statement. For the statement on Service Level Management they are “report, agree and monitor”. These are definite areas that we can set metrics for and therefore measure progress.

The above Objective Statement was; Prepared by: On:

And accepted by: On:

Refer to Reports, KPIs and Other Metrics for metrics on page 187.

Refer to Objectives and Goals for detailed statements of process objectives/goals on page 57.

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The above Policy Statement was; Prepared by: On:


Scope Statement The area covered by a given activity or subject Use this text box to answer the “WHAT” question regarding this process. What are the boundaries for this process? What does the information flow look like into this process and from this process to other processes and functional areas? A generic sample statement on the “scope” for Service Level Management is: Through the use of agreements written in the form of documents the SLM process will manage relationships between providers of IT services that are both external to the organization and internal to the organization. These external agreements shall be referred to as Underpinning contracts and the internal agreements will be called Operational Level Agreements. An scope statement any bigger than this text box, may be too lengthy to read, lose the intended audience with detail, not be clearly focussed on answering the WHAT question for this process.

The above Scope Statement was; Prepared by: On:


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SLM Scope

IT Services Scope Document Process: Service Level Management

Status:


Version:

Release Date:


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Service Level Management Workbook Document Control

Author

Prepared by Document Source

This document is located on the LAN under the path: I:/IT Services/Service Delivery/Service Level Management/Scope Document Approval

This document has been approved for use by the following: •

, IT Services Manager

•

, IT Service Delivery Manager

•

, National IT Help Desk Manager

Amendment History

Issue

Date

Amendments

Completed By

Distribution List

When this procedure is updated the following copyholders must be advised through email that an updated copy is available on the intranet site: Business Unit

Stakeholders

IT

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Introduction Purpose The purpose of this document is to provide the IT Organization with the specifications of the IT Services that will be included within the scope of the Service Level Management Process.

Scope This document describes the following: •

Scope of Service Level Management

•

Audience This document is relevant to all staff in

Ownership IT Services has ownership of this document.

Related Documentation Include in this section any related Service Level Management reference numbers and other associated documentation: •

Implementation Plan / Project Plan

•

Policies, Guidelines and Scope Document

•

Process Template

•

Service Catalogue

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Executive Overview Describe the purpose, scope and organization of the document.

Service Level Management Overview The document’s intent is to provide a scope for the Service Level Management Process.

The definition of an SLA is:

>

The definition of an OLA is:

>

The definition of a UC is:

> Process Scope The process scope details the scope of the activities that need to occur within the Service Level Management Process.

Definition This activity helps define the services that you already deliver and can deliver. The output from this activity is the Service Catalogue.

In this section determine the scope of the Service Catalogue.

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Specify This activity is about gathering the Service Level Requirements. This will be done by a series of interviews with department managers and senior executives.

In this section determine the scope of the Requirements gathering.

Department

Services

Business Owner

IT Owner

Negotiate and Agree In this activity we create the necessary SLAs, OLAs and UCs necessary to support the agreed services.

In conjunction with the above table, we can now set the scope for the SLA. In this manner we need to determine what will be included in the SLA.

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For example: Customer

IT Service

Service Level Agreements Availability

Marketing

Email

Sales and Support

Logistics

Capacity

Disaster Recovery

Monitor In this section we need to set the scope for which aspects of the services we are going to monitor, and what tools we are going to use to monitor the services with.

This will be done in conjunction with the above table.

Reports Reports are an integral way of spreading information about IT Services back to the business as well as to IT Departments for process improvement. As such the reports should be written in Business English as well as Technical English. In this section, provide a list of reports necessary for each customer based on each service. The below table provides an example. Reports Customer

Service

Business Reports Productivity

Marketing

Email

Marketing

Internet

Sales

Logistics

Sales

Accounts

Transport

Logistics

No. of Incidents

% of Availability

IT Reports Bandwidth

CPU Seconds

Transaction Rates

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Appendices Include any applicable appendixes that are needed.

Terminology Make sure that all terminology is captured and documented correctly.

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Business Justification Document

IT Services Business Justification Process: Service Level Management

Status:


Version:

Release Date:


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Business Justification Document for Service Level Management The document is not to be considered an extensive statement as its topics have to be generic enough to suit any reader for any organization. However, the reader will certainly be reminded of the key topics that have to be considered.

This document serves as a reference for HOW TO APPROACH THE TASK OF SEEKING FUNDS for the implementation of the Service Level Management process.

This document provides a basis for completion within your own organization. This document was; Prepared by: On:


Service Level Management Business Justification A strong enough business case will ensure progress and funds are made available for any IT initiative.

This may sound like a bold statement but it is true. As IT professionals we have (for too long) assumed that we miss out on funds while other functional areas (e.g. Human resources and other shared services) seem to get all that they want. However, the problem is not with them, it’s with US. We are typically poor salespeople when it comes to putting our case forward.

We try to impress with technical descriptions, rather than talking in a language that a business person understands.

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For example: We say

We should say

We have to increase IT security controls, with the implementation of a new firewall.

Two weeks ago our biggest competitor lost information that is now rumored to be available on the internet.

The network bandwidth is our biggest bottleneck and we have to go to a switched local environment.

The e-mail you send to the other national managers will take 4 to 6 hours to be delivered. It used to be 2 to 3 minutes, but we are now using our computers for many more tasks.

Changes to the environment are scheduled We are making the changes on Sunday for a period of time when we expect there afternoon. There will be less people working to be minimal business impact. then.

Doesn’t that sound familiar? To help reinforce this point even further, consider the situation of buying a new fridge. What if the technically savvy sales person wants to explain “the intricacies of the tubing structure used to super cool the high pressure gases, which flow in an anti-clockwise direction in the Southern hemisphere”.

Wouldn’t you say “too much information, who cares – does it make things cold?” Well IT managers need to stop trying to tell business managers about the tubing structure and just tell them what they are interested in.

So let’s know look at some benefits of Service Level Management. Remember that the comments here are generic, as they have to apply to any organization.

Notes/Comments/Relevance The most important aspect of Service Level Management is the monitoring and delivery of services that lead to increasing satisfaction levels of customers. (Note in ITIL terms the Customer is the person who “pays” for the IT Service)

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With Service Level Management we focus on meeting the Service Level Requirements specified to us by customers. The SLR gives us a blueprint to check our own Service Delivery against. IT Services delivered that have no corresponding SLR may in fact be surplus to business requirements.

Service Level Management forces us into the creation of targets and metrics against which we can measure performance. If it can’t be measured it can’t be managed.

Through the process of Service Level Management we can develop a common language of understanding between IT and Customers. The process of establishing and monitoring performance levels means that when IT and business people discuss IT related issues they are in fact talking about the same thing (and not – as often happens – talking at odds with each other. For example if a meeting is held to discuss the Service Level Agreement for the provision of E-mail services then there is common ground for discussion.

Service Level Management also ensures that we have clearly defined roles and responsibilities. This is a clear benefit in that we can easily identify those involved with negotiations, escalations, monitoring and reporting. Even if one person performs many different roles within the process we can clearly articulate what these are. (importantly, the process also allows us to document customer responsibilities as well as IT)

The monitoring aspect of SLM is the perfect way to discover weak or potentially weak areas of Service Delivery. Ideally, identified in advance so that remedial action can be taken (e.g. Service Improvement Plan – SIP)

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SLM underpins supplier management (and vice versa) - in cases where services are outsourced the SLAs are a key part of managing the relationship with the thirdparty - in other cases service monitoring allows the performance of suppliers (internal and external) to be evaluated and managed

When we create Service Level Agreements – the most widely known single activity of Service Level Management - we generally include a section on Pricing. The SLA then becomes the basis of charging for IT Services (Note that IT Service Managers must be able to clearly articulate the difference between cost and value – cost is discussed in absolute monetary terms; value is a discussion regarding potential business impact).

An important, but often overlooked part of this process is the identification of weaknesses in the use of IT Services from the organization end-user population. Monitoring the nature of calls for support and general communication can help us to identify such weaknesses and therefore suggest education programs that will address the lack of knowledge and skill.

Having a continuous improvement philosophy regarding IT Service delivery ensures that the IT Department is (a) looking to reduce service disruptions and (b) decrease the overall cost of service delivery (without compromising the quality).

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Page 80


Organizing for Service Design – Roles & Responsibilities To enable the Service Design phase to be successful, it is essential that the relevant roles and responsibilities are defined, within the organization of various activities.

When designing a service or a process, it is imperative that all the roles are clearly defined. A trademark of high performing organizations is the ability to make the right decisions quickly and execute them effectively. Whether the decision involves a strategic choice or a critical operation, being clear on who has input, who decides and who takes action will enable the company to move forward rapidly.

The RACI model is beneficial in enabling decisions to be made with pace and confidence. RACI is an acronym for the main roles of:

Responsible – person or people responsible for getting the job done. Accountable – only one person can be accountable for each task. Consulted – people who are consulted and whose opinions are sort. Informed – people who are kept up-to-date on progress.

Occasionally an extended version of RACI is used called RACI-VS, with two further roles as follows: Verifies – person or group that checks whether the acceptance criteria have been met. Signs off – person who approves the V decision and authorizes the product hand-off. This could be the Accountable (or A) person.

A third variation of the RACI model is RASCI, where the S represents Supportive. This role provides additional resources to conduct the work, or plays a supportive role in implementation, for example. This could be beneficial for IT service implementation.

The RACI chart shown below in Table 1 shows the structure and power of RACI modelling with the activities down the left-hand side including the actions that need to be taken and decisions that must be made. Across the top, the chart lists the functional roles responsible for carrying out the initiative or playing a part in decision making.

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Whether RACI or some other tool or model is used, the important thing is to not just leave the assignment of responsibilities to chance or leave it to the last minute to decide. Conflicts can be avoided and decisions can be made quickly if the roles are allocated in advance.

To build a RACI chart the following steps are required: •

Identify the activities/processes

•

Identify/define the functional roles

•

Conduct meetings and assign the RACI codes

•

Identify any gaps or overlaps – e.g. where there are two R’s or no R’s

•

Distribute the chart and incorporate feedback

•

Ensure that the allocations are being followed.

Table 1 Example RACI matrix

Director service management

Service Level Manager

Problem Manager

Security Manager

Procurement Manager

Activity 1

AR

C

I

I

C

Activity 2

A

R

C

C

C

Activity 3

I

A

R

I

C

Activity 4

I

A

R

I

Activity 5

I

I

A

C

I

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Functional Roles Analysis •

Many A’s: are duties segregated properly? Should someone else be accountable for some of these activities? Is this causing a bottleneck in some areas that will delay decisions?

•

Many R’s: Is this too much for one function?

•

No empty spaces: Does this role need to be involved in so many tasks?

•

Also, does the type or degree of participation for this role’s qualifications?

Activity Analysis •

More than one A: only one role can be accountable.

•

No A’s”: at least one A must be assigned to each activity.

•

More than one R: too many roles responsible often mean that no one takes responsibility. Responsibility may be shared, but only if roles are clear.

•

No R’s: at least one person must be responsible.

•

Many C’s: is there a requirement to consult with so many roles? What are the benefits and can the extra time be justified?

•

No C’s and I’s: are the communication channels open to enable people and departments to talk to each other and keep each other up-to-date .

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Skills & Attributes

The specific roles within ITIL Service Management all require specific skills, attributes and competences from the people involved to enable them to work effectively and efficiently. However, whatever role, it is imperative that the person carrying out that role has the following attributes: •

Awareness of the business priorities, objectives and business drivers

•

Awareness of the role IT plays in enabling the business objectives to be met

•

Customer service skills

•

Awareness of what IT can deliver to the business, including latest capabilities

•

The competence, knowledge and information necessary to complete their role

•

The ability to use, understand and interpret the best practice, policies and procedures to ensure adherence.

The following are examples of attributes required in many of the roles, dependent on the organization and the specific role:

Management skills – both from a person management perspective and from the overall control of process.

Meeting skills – to organize, chair, document and ensure actions are followed up

Communications – an important element of all roles is raising awareness of the processes to ensure buy-in and conformance. An ability to communicate at all levels within the organization will be imperative.

Articulate - both written, for reports etc., and verbal Page 84


Negotiation – required for several aspects, such as procurement and contracts

Analytical – to analyse metrics produced from the activity.

More information about the skills and competences of these roles can be found within the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA – www.sfia.org.uk)

Service Level Manager

The Service Level Manager has responsibility for ensuring that the aims of Service Level Management are met. This includes responsibilities such as: •

Keeping aware of changing business needs

•

Ensuring that the current and future service requirements of customers are identified, understood and documented in SLA and SLR documents.

•

Negotiating and agreeing levels of service to be delivered with the customer (either internal or external); formally documenting these levels of service in SLA’s.

•

Negotiating and agreeing OLA’s and, in some cases, other SLA’s and agreements that underpin the SLA’s with the customers of the service.

•

Assisting with the production and maintenance of an accurate Service Portfolio, Service Catalogue, Application Portfolio and the corresponding maintenance procedures.

•

Ensuring that targets agreed within underpinning contracts are aligned with SLA and SLR targets.

•

Ensuring that service reports are produced for each customer service and that breaches of SLA targets are highlighted, investigated and actions taken to prevent their recurrence.

•

Ensuring that service performance reviews are scheduled, carried out with customers regularly and are documented with agreed actions progressed.

•

Ensuring that improvement initiatives identified in service reviews are acted on and progress reports are provide to customers

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•

Reviewing service scope, SLA’s, OLA’s and other agreements on a regular basis, ideally at least annually.

•

Ensuring that all changes are assessed for their impact on service levels, including SLA’s, OLA’s and underpinning contracts, including attendance at CAB meetings if appropriate.

•

Identifying all key stakeholders and customers

•

Developing relationships and communication with stakeholders, customers and key users.

•

Defining and agreeing complaints and their recording management, escalation, where necessary, and resolution

•

Definition recording and communication of all complaints

•

Measuring, recording, analysing and improving customer satisfaction.

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SLM Process Manager

IT Services Role, Responsibilities Process: Service Level Management

Status:


Version:

Release Date:

Note: SEARCH AND REPLACE Search for any > as your input will be required

Also review any yellow highlighted text

Page 87


Detailed responsibilities of the Service Level Management process owner

The Service Level Manager…..

Description

Notes/Comments

1. Will design, maintain and review a structure for the process that covers the interactions of the people involved and the expected content of Service Level Management related documents (involving IT and Customers) AND Coordinates any required Service Improvement Plans/Programmes to eradicate falling Service Delivery performance 2. Will coordinate process reviews utilizing independent parties to provide an objective view on the simplicity of the process and areas for improvement. Will be responsible for implementing any design improvements identified.

Use the notes/Comme nts column in different ways. If you are looking to apply for a process role, then you can check yourself against the list (with ticks or look to update your resume).

3. Will establish, maintain and review: • Service Level Agreements with the business Customer (including a decision on SLA Structure). • Operational Level Agreements with the IT provider • Underpinning Contracts with third party providers. 4. Is responsible for the creation, maintenance, marketing and distribution of the Service Catalog (which documents the IT Services offered by the organization) 5. Will control and review: • Any outstanding process related actions • Current targets for service performance • Performance against SLAs, OLAs and UCs

If you are looking to appoint a process manager or promote someone from within the organization you can make

6. Make available relevant, concise reports that are both timely and readable for Customers and IT providers.

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Service Level Management Workbook Detailed skills of the Service Level Management process owner The Service Level Manager….. Description

Notes/Comments

The Service Level Manager will display a communication style based around listening and demonstrable genuine interest. Ability to use and apply valuable information gained from customers.

Use the notes/Comment s column in different ways. If you are looking to apply for a process role, then you can check yourself against the list (with ticks or look to update your resume).

1.

2. High degree of people/relationship management focus and an ability to deal with an administrative workload. Will also tend to be balanced in negotiations – almost to the point of neutrality during discussions between the customer and the IT Service Provider. 3. The Service Level Manager will take an active interest in learning about services offered by external and internal providers. The manager will be interested in understanding how services are provided, rather than just accepting a marketing statement. 4. The Service Level Manager must have good oral and presentation skills. They are a “champion” for this process and must display an air of confidence, without arrogance. 5. The Service Level Manager must be able to communicate with people at all levels of the organization; this is one contributing factor that also will require a high degree of understanding of human emotion and resistance.

If you are looking to appoint a process manager or promote someone from within the organization

6. The process manager must be able to demonstrate ways to “do things differently” that will improve the process. They must not be risk adverse, but must be very risk conscious. 7. Although not a highly numeric role, the selected person must be able to understand the basics of supply and demand, with a commonsense attitude to service charging and a grip on basic statistical analysis. 8. The process manager will need to be able to engage in technical discussions with technical people (to ensure credibility) and to engage in business discussions with business people, about those technical issues (of course in non-technical terms).

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Customer Based SLA

IT Services Customer Based SLA Process: Service Level Management

Status:


Version:

Release Date:

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Customer Based Service Level Agreement (SLA) The document is not to be considered an extensive statement as its topics have to be generic enough to suit any reader for any organization. However, the reader will certainly be reminded of the key topics that have to be considered.

This document serves as a GUIDE FOR THE CREATION OF AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE SERVICE LEVEL MANAGEMENT PROCESS OWNER AND THE CUSTOMER OF IT SERVICES (Covering all the IT Services they use). This document provides a basis for completion within your own organization.

The customer based SLA is usually preferred by customers as it allows a single document to cover all the IT Services that they use. It means less administration time spent in negotiating different documents and generally only requires a single representative to participate on behalf of the business.

An agreement with an individual Customer group, covering all the services they use. For example, agreements may be reached with an organization’s Finance Department covering, say, the Finance System, the Accounting System, the Payroll System, the Billing System, the Procurement System and any other IT systems that they use.

Advantage Customer based SLA

Disadvantage

An agreement with an individual Customer groups could cover all of the services they use.

An inability to deal with differing requirements amongst users in the same customer group. Service A

Customer

Service B Service C

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Service Level Management Workbook This document was; Prepared by: On:


The following form can be used as the Customer Based SLA document. The SLA does not have to be in a lengthy written format and in fact it is more likely to be adopted if it is kept concise, with only salient details.

With regard to Customer Based SLA the following points should be addressed:

Overall SLA Information

Areas to address

Comments/Examples

Description of the “agreement”

Brief description of the contents of this SLA Note: the SLA may cover several IT Services. Use this section simply as an Executive summary. Do not try to describe each service here.

Reference number


Owner

Functional role description of who is responsible for this SLA (who would participate in a review of this document?) Representatives from customer and IT. (Special tip: Avoid using names as it dates the document quickly)


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Customer definition

List and/or describe the customers that are considered for in this SLA.

SLA Validity period

Duration that this SLA is expected to remain in place before it is reviewed.

SLA Review Procedure

The process for reviewing the SLA and who is involved. Special Tip: Avoid using people’s names and use role descriptions to avoid dating the document.


SLA Creation Date SLA Last Modify Date

Specific Service Information (Duplicate the following table for each service to be covered in this SLA). Areas to address

Comments/Examples

Service Name


Service Description (Business) (refer to end of table for technical considerations)

Briefly describe the primary function of the service. Use language that is business user friendly. (eg. instead of “NT Server, with 2Gb RAM and 500Gb of disk storage” – we would say “large central server designed for all customers to use and share information”)


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Service Expectation Level

This is a unique concept to this SLA design template. Far too often we write descriptions of IT Services in a clinical fashion. These clinical descriptions set an expectation for the customer/end-user about the IT Service. Quite often the description is interpreted by the reader in a way not intended by the writer. Use this section to set the expectations of the reader. If you feel that there could be some interruptions to service delivery, because the service is relatively new, then document that here. However, remember that using the reason “new service” has only a limited life-span.


Briefly list any considerations regarding security considerations for this service. Are there any differences in the level of accessibility for different people/roles for this service? (try to use role descriptions – instead of names)?

Service Target Response priorities

If the SLA accommodates different priorities they must be listed here, with a description on the type of service that each priority level should receive.

Service Target Response time

Here we document the agreed response time for the different priority levels.

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Service Support Hours (Availability)

Consider marginally longer support hours (if less than 24) Maximum number of accepted outages. Minimum percentage availability. Maximum number of errors or reruns.

Service Out of Hours support procedure

Are the in hours support staff the same as out of hours? Phone numbers and what information will be required when support is called. What does the user do if the nominated person is not available?

Service Charging policy

Do we require external staff to only act if they have a validated cost code for work? Are there any special aspects of the work that has to be recorded for later charging?

Service Metrics for performance

What will be the performance numbers for the work performed under this UC? Will the expected performance be higher than negotiated in the SLA to allow a safety margin?

Service Breach Clause

Perhaps your organizational culture is built upon imposing penalties for poor performance. If this is the case, then the penalties for failing to meet the stated metrics must be listed here. If the SLA is not to have a penalty focus, then simply remove this line.

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Continuity Considerations (should be linked to the IT Service Continuity Plan)

If the agreed support hours cannot be met, then it is necessary to invoke a continuity option for this service. The definition of when this invocation should occur will be listed here. Cross-referencing to the IT Service Continuity Plan is also required.

UC Cross references

Reference number to related and closely coupled UCs

OLA Cross references

Reference number to any closely coupled agreements with internal IT department


In this section you can describe any technical considerations that are essential to document. It is more likely however, that you will include here a link to the Service Catalogue or Technical Specification.

Notes & Comments

NOTE: THERE CAN BE NO SINGLE CORRECT DEFINITION OF AN SLA THAT WILL COVER ALL SITUATIONS FOR ALL ORGANIZATIONS. THIS TEMPLATE HOWEVER, DOES PROMPT THE READER TO CONSIDER THE MOST CRITICAL AREAS OF AN SLA and IT PROVOKES THOUGHT ABOUT OTHER AREAS THAT COULD BE INCLUDED BASED ON INDIVIDUAL NEEDS.

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Service Based SLA

IT Services Service Based SLA Process: Service Level Management

Status:


Version:

Release Date:

Page 99


Service Based Service Level Agreement (SLA) The document is not to be considered an extensive statement as its topics have to be generic enough to suit any reader for any organization. However, the reader will certainly be reminded of the key topics that have to be considered.

This document serves as a GUIDE FOR THE CREATION OF AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE SERVICE LEVEL MANAGEMENT PROCESS OWNER AND THE CUSTOMER OF IT SERVICES, FOR A SINGLE SERVICE. This document provides a basis for completion within your own organization.

The service based SLA is usually preferred by IT as it allows a single document to cover a single service for all end-users of that service. It means less administration time spent in negotiating different documents with different customers and less time spent on worrying about accommodating different requirements amongst users. Advantage Service based SLA Disadvantage

Just one SLA document could be agreed for all Customers/end users of a single service. Inability to satisfy the customers that have differing requirements of the service being addressed.

Customer A

Service

Customer B

Customer C

This document was; Prepared by: On:


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The following form can be used as the Service Based SLA document. The SLA does not have to be in a lengthy written format and in fact it is more likely to be adopted if it is kept concise, with only salient details. With regard to Service Based SLA the following points should be addressed:

Specific Service Information

(Duplicate the following table for as many services to be covered in this SLA).

Areas to address

Comments/Examples


Brief description of the contents of this SLA Note: the SLA will cover only ONE IT Service, but end users from many areas. Use this section simply as an Executive summary.

Reference number


Owner

Functional role description of who is responsible for this SLA (who would participate in a review of this document?). Representatives from customer and IT. (Special tip: Avoid using names as it dates the document quickly)

Service Name



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Service Description (Business) Briefly describe the primary (refer to Technical function of the service. Considerations later in this table) Use language that is business user friendly. (eg. instead of “NT Server, with 2Gb RAM and 500Gb of disk storage” – we would say “large central server designed for all customers to use and share information”)






If the SLA accommodates different priorities they must be listed here, with a description on the type of service that each priority level should receive. Page 102



Here we document the agreed response time for the different priority levels set.










Perhaps your organizational culture is built upon imposing penalties for poor performance. If this is the case, then the penalties for failing to meet the stated metrics must be listed here. If the SLA is not to have a penalty focus, then simply remove this line. Page 103




SLA Validity period






UC Cross references





In this section you can describe any technical considerations that are essential to document. It is more likely however, that you will include here a link to the Service Catalog or Technical Specification.

Notes & Comments

Page 104


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Service Level Management Workbook Customer Information Areas to address

Comments/Examples


Customer definition List and/or describe the customers that are included in this SLA. It is most likely that the customers will be all endusers of IT services in the organization. However, the SLA for this service may be only for particular function holders that are spread throughout the organization).

NOTE: THERE CAN BE NO SINGLE CORRECT DEFINITION OF AN SLA THAT WILL COVER ALL SITUATIONS FOR ALL ORGANIZATIONS. THIS TEMPLATE HOWEVER, DOES PROMPT THE READER TO CONSIDER THE MOST CRITICAL AREAS OF AN SLA and IT PROVOKES THOUGHT ABOUT OTHER AREAS THAT COULD BE INCLUDED BASED ON INDIVIDUAL NEEDS.

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Multi Level SLA’s

IT Services Multi-Level Based SLA Process: Service Level Management

Status:


Version:

Release Date:

Page 108


Multi-Level Based Service Level Agreement (SLA) The document is not to be considered an extensive statement as its topics have to be generic enough to suit any reader for any organization. However, the reader will certainly be reminded of the key topics that have to be considered.

This document serves as a GUIDE FOR THE CREATION OF AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE SERVICE LEVEL MANAGEMENT PROCESS OWNER AND THE CUSTOMER OF IT SERVICES, FOR MULTIPLE SERVICES. This document provides a basis for completion within your own organization.

The multi-level based SLA is usually preferred by IT as it allows a single document to cover a single service for all end-users of that service. It means less administration time spent in negotiating different documents with different customers and less time spent on worrying about accommodating different requirements amongst users. This structure allows SLAs to be kept to a manageable size, avoids unnecessary duplication, and reduces the need for frequent updates.

Advantage Multi-Level based SLA

It requires more time to negotiate and obtain agreement than other structures.

Disadvantage

SERVICE D

Service A

Customer

Service B

Customer

Service C



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(The following form can be used as the Multi-Level Based SLA document. The SLA does not have to be in a lengthy written format and in fact it is more likely to be adopted if it is kept concise, with only salient details)

SLA Information

Areas to address

Comments/Examples


Brief description of the contents of this SLA Note: the SLA will cover only ONE IT Service, but end users from many areas. Use this section simply as an Executive summary.

Reference number


Owner

Functional role description of who is responsible for this SLA (who would participate in a review of this document?). Representatives from customer and IT. (Special tip: Avoid using names as it dates the document quickly)


Page 110


Specific Service Information (Duplicate the following table for as many services to be covered). Areas to address

Comments/Examples

Service Identification Code (This code can be crossreferenced in the Customer information table).

A unique reference number for this service.

Service Name


Service Description (Business) (refer to Technical Considerations later in this table)



This is a unique concept to this SLA design template. Far too often we write descriptions of IT Services in a clinical fashion. These clinical descriptions set an expectation for the customer/end-user about the IT Service. Quite often the description is interpreted by the reader in a way not intended by the writer. Use this section to set the expectations of the reader.


If you feel that there could be some interruptions to service delivery, because the service is relatively new, then document that here. However, remember that using the reason “new service” has only a limited life-span.

Page 111





If the SLA accommodates different priorities they must be listed here, with a description on the type of service that each priority level should receive.


Here we document the agreed response time for the different priority levels set.







Page 112





Perhaps your organizational culture is built upon imposing penalties for poor performance. If this is the case, then the penalties for failing to meet the stated metrics must be listed here. If the SLA is not to have a penalty focus, then simply remove this line.



SLA Validity period






Page 113


UC Cross references





In this section you can describe any technical considerations that are essential to document. It is more likely however, that you will include here a link to the Service Catalog or Technical Specification.

Notes & Comments

Customer Information (Duplicate the following table for as many customers to be covered). Areas to address

Comments/Examples

Customer definition

List and/or describe the customers that are included in this SLA. It is most likely that the customers will be all end-users of IT services in the organization. However, the SLA for this service may be only for particular function holders that are spread throughout the organization).

Applicable Services

Description of Service and/or Service identification code/s


NOTE: THERE CAN BE NO SINGLE CORRECT DEFINITION OF AN SLA THAT WILL COVER ALL SITUATIONS FOR ALL ORGANIZATIONS. THIS TEMPLATE HOWEVER, DOES PROMPT THE READER TO CONSIDER THE MOST CRITICAL AREAS OF AN SLA and IT PROVOKES THOUGHT ABOUT OTHER AREAS THAT COULD BE INCLUDED BASED ON INDIVIDUAL NEEDS. Page 114


Page 115


Business and IT Service Mapping

IT Services Business and IT Service Mapping Process: Service Level Management

Status:


Version:

Release Date:


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Document Control Author Prepared by

Document Source This document is located on the LAN under the path: I:/IT Services/Service Delivery/Business and IT Service Mapping/

Document Approval This document has been approved for use by the following: •


•


•


Amendment History Issue

Date

Amendments

Completed By

Distribution List When this procedure is updated the following copyholders must be advised through email that an updated copy is available on the intranet site: Business Unit

Stakeholders

IT

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Introduction Purpose The purpose of this document is to provide IT departments with an understanding of how the IT Services provided map to the organization’s business processes.


details of each Business Process and the corresponding IT Service provided by the IT departments within the organization:

•

description of business process

•

description of service

•

business contacts

•

service contacts

Note: It is assumed for each Business Process and IT Service described in this document that the supporting back-end technology is already in place and operational.


Ownership IT Services has ownership of this document in conjunction with nominated Business Representatives.

Related Documentation The following documents may help you to complete or understand the purpose of this document: •

Relevant SLA and procedural documents

•

Relevant IT Services Catalogue

•

Relevant Technical Specification documentation

•

Relevant Functional Specification documentation

•

Relevant User Guides and Procedures

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Executive Overview In the past organization’s IT Services functions have generally grown and developed into large complex environments. Unfortunately this growth has not always been as structured and pre-planned as it should have been.

The result has been an IT department not having a very clear picture of all the services they currently provide, and with no accurate profile of the actual customers for each of these services.

With increasing demands being placed on IT services and increasing reliance on IT systems, it has become imperative for the IT department to establish an accurate picture of the services it provides and to whom it provides them.

This document describes an approach for mapping IT Services to the Business Process. That is, mapping what services are provided by IT to the business areas that use them.

Mapping Business Process and IT Service: An approach Most organizations now understand the benefits of having Information Technology (IT) throughout their structure. Few realize the potential of truly aligning the IT department’s objectives with the business objectives. However, more and more organizations are beginning to recognize IT as being a crucial delivery mechanism of services to their customers.

When the IT services are so critical, steps must be in place to ensure that the IT group adds value and delivers consistently.

In line with this concept, the first step in mapping IT Services to the needs of the business is to understand the organization.

An organization starts with a Mission Statement. The Mission Statement for an organization defines its reason for being. Once we capture the Mission Statement, the next thing to look at is the Vision Statement.

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The Vision Statement defines where it is that the organization wants to go. By understanding where the organization wishes to position itself within its market space, then we can start looking at how its short term and long term objectives align with this.

At this point we need to see the “objectives and strategy” of the organization. By having this information, IT departments are more likely to be aware of the pressing business issues and needs that may impact on the services that they provide. For example, the organization may have an objective of expanding its business into new markets within the next 12 months, requiring additional offices and staff. The direct impact on IT departments would be the successful planning of capacity of new IT Services, the successful planning of how to change our current services to meet the demands of the business, and being flexible enough to meet these demands.

However, an objective is not sufficient enough to determine how IT departments should be delivering its services. The organization will meet these objectives by changing, enhancing or creating new business processes. For example, Administration staff may need additional resources, a new ordering package may be required, or perhaps a new billing process needs to be implemented to meet these objectives.

Therefore, after capturing the organizational objectives, we need to understand how these map to current business process, if the current business processes are changing or if they are becoming obsolete and if there will be any new business processes.

This is where the IT departments need to capture the Business Processes being used by the organization.

Once the IT departments have a clear view of each of the business units involved in the business process, we need to capture the fact that the business processes need one or more IT services (eg. CRM application, e-mail, word processing, financial tools) to function.

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Each of these IT services runs on IT infrastructure. This is where IT departments now map the IT Services to those Business Processes listed above.

With this information IT Departments will now be able to clearly see how their IT Infrastructure / IT Services supports the business. This allows IT to better deliver IT aligned Services to the organization.

A simple model for this approach is illustrated below. •

What are the Objectives of the organization? What is its Mission and Vision?

•

What Business Processes are in place or will be in place to meet these needs?

•

What IT Services are needed or in place to service the Business Processes?

Business Objectives

Business Processes

IT Services

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Mission Statement A mission statement describes the reason for the organization’s being. Without an understanding of the mission statement of an organization, it becomes hard to define what it is that the organization is trying to achieve.

In this section of the document capture the mission statement of the organization. It is important to show that the IT department is aware of the business.

Vision Statement In this section, document the Vision statement for the organization.

Below is a text example of what may be included in this section.

Listed below is the Vision Statement for : •

Quality Care

•

Convenient Service

•

Good Experiences

•

Care at Competitive Prices

•

Service You'll Recommend to Friends and Family

These are the major goals of the staff at . With over xxx services and xxx staff, we constantly strive to provide the highest-quality service throughout the xxxxxxxx. >>

Business Process Summary The below table is an example of a Business Process Summary Table. Columns and Rows can be added as needed. A more detailed breakdown of each process name is provided in the following pages.

BUSINESS Process Name

Process Owner

Description

Department(s)

Parent Process

Triggers

Business Process A

This section of the document should be repeated for each Business Process.

Department Name of the department

Process Name of the process, and official abbreviation, if any

Process Owner Name of the Department head or person responsible for ensuring the effectiveness and efficiency of the process.

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Description Briefly explain the purpose of the business process.

Parent Business Activity/Process Name of the parent business activity or process, if any

Primary Product(s) List the primary product(s), and explain if necessary. Identify the customer for each primary product.

Trigger(s) List the event(s) that trigger the process. (Triggers can be a calendar date, as well as an actual event.)

Sub-processes If the process is subdivided, list the sub-processes here.

Standard Path Events/Activities List the important activities and/or events that occur as part of the standard path for this process. If an activity or event occurs in a specific sub-process, identify the subprocess that includes the activity/event. Note any locations where an alternative path breaks off from the standard path.

Alternative Path Events/Activities List the important activities and/or events that occur as part of the alternative path for this process, beginning with a note on where the alternative path breaks off from the standard path, and ending with a note on where the alternative path rejoins the standard path, if it does. If an activity or event occurs in a specific sub-process, identify the sub-process that includes the activity/event.

Inputs List the inputs to the process, and explain if necessary. Identify the source of the input. If the input is specific to a sub-process, identify the sub-process.

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Secondary Products List the by-products, or minor outputs that result from the process. Identify the customer for each output. If the secondary product is specific to a sub-process, identify the sub-process.

Participants List the participants (actors) in the process, and explain their function briefly. If the participant is active only in a specific sub-process, identify the sub-process.

IT Services The following section provides a table for capturing those IT Services that help support the business process described in this section.

> This table should be used on a landscape page layout.

IT Service

Description

IT Service Owner

Hours of Availability

Contract

Service Level Agreements

Impact

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Business Process B

Department Process Process Owner Description Parent Business Activity/Process Primary Product(s) Trigger(s) Sub-processes Standard Path Events/Activities Alternative Path Events/Activities Inputs Secondary Products Participants IT Services IT Service

Description

IT Service Owner

Hours of Availability

Contract

Service Level Agreements

Impact

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Business Process and IT Service Summary

This section provides a summary matrix table of the business processes and their corresponding IT Services.

This is a comprehensive summary table designed to be tailored for your needs. If necessary add or remove rows and columns as needed. A simpler matrix may be just as effective for your needs.

The table breaks down the IT Services and offers you the ability to capture the owner of the IT Service, the impact of the service on the business process and the agreed service hours.

The impact is an arbitrary value that IT and the business need to agree upon. These values may be defined within the Service Catalogue or the Service Level Agreements.

The table also breaks down the Business Processes and offers you the ability to capture the department(s) that are involved in that particular business process, the business owner of the process, and the business rating.

The Business Owner may be hard to define in an organization, in this instance there maybe a number of owners of the process which would generally be made up of the Department heads.

The Business Rating is also an arbitrary value that the business needs to agree upon. In most instances each department will rate their business processes Critical or Very High. The easy way to determine the Business Rating of the process would be to ascertain if the business could still deliver its services if that business process was unavailable for a period of time.

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Service Level Management Workbook Business Process A

IT Services

Service A

Service B

Service C

Service D

Owner

Impact

Very High

Servic e Hours

24 x 7

Owner

Impact

High

Servic e Hours

Mon-Fri: 8am 6pm

Owner

Impact

Medium

Servic e Hours

Mon-Sat: 6am 6pm

Owner

Impact

Low

Servic e Hours

Mon-Fri: 6am 10pm

Business Process B

Department

Owner

Business Rating

Department

Owner

Business Rating

Accounting

>

Very High

Admin

>

Medium

Appendices List any appendices needed in conjunction with this document.

Terminology IT Infrastructure: includes hardware, software, procedures, policies, documentation, etc. Page 129


Operational Level Agreement

IT Services Operational Level Agreement Process: Service Level Management

Status:


Version:

Release Date:

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Operational Level Agreement (OLA) The document is not to be considered an extensive statement as its topics have to be generic enough to suit any reader for any organization. However, the reader will certainly be reminded of the key topics that have to be considered.

This document serves as a GUIDE FOR THE CREATION OF AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE SERVICE LEVEL MANAGEMENT PROCESS OWNER AND THE IT DEPARTMENT. This document provides a basis for completion within your own organization.

There is a common misconception that the Service Level Management Process owner must be a member of the IT Department. This is not the case and quite often the best person for the role is someone with no bias towards IT. For example, a Human Resource Manager would do well in a role that has such a high degree of communication required. This document was; Prepared by: On:


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(The following form can be used as the OLA document. The OLA does not have to be in a lengthy written format and in fact it is more likely to be adopted if it is kept concise, with only salient details) With regard to OPERATIONAL LEVEL AGREEMENTS (OLAs) the following points should be addressed: Areas to address

Comments/Examples

Link to parent Service Level Agreement

Cross reference to the “parent” SLA.

Description of Service

Brief description (should be taken from SLA)

OLA Reference number

Unique identifying number for the OLA (for inclusion in the Configuration Management Data Base – CMDB)

OLA Owner

Functional role description of who is responsible for this OLA (who would participate in a review of this document) (Special tip: Avoid using names as it dates the document quickly)

OLA Parties involved

Within the IT department perhaps there are different functional parties involved. List them here with a brief description of their involvement.


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OLA Target Response priorities (reflected in parent SLA)

If the OLA caters for different priorities they must be listed here, with a description on the type of service that each priority level should receive.

OLA Target Response time (reflected in parent SLA)

Consider quicker response time to allow for delays

OLA Support Hours (reflected in parent SLA)

Consider marginally longer support hours (if less than 24)

OLA Out of Hours support procedure (reflected in parent SLA)

Are the in hours support staff the same as out of hours. Phone numbers and what information will be required when support is called. What does the user do if the nominated person is not available?

OLA Charging policy (reflected in parent SLA)

Do we require staff to only act if they have a validated cost code for work? Are there any special aspects of the work that has to be recorded for later charging?

OLA Metrics for performance (reflected in parent SLA)

What will be the performance numbers for the work performed under this OLA? Will the expected performance be higher than negotiated in the SLA to allow a safety margin?

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Reference number to other closely coupled OLAs

UC Cross references

Reference number to any closely coupled agreements with external suppliers

OLA Validity period

Duration that this OLA is expected to remain in place before it is reviewed.

OLA Review Procedure

The process for reviewing the OLA and who is involved. Special Tip: Avoid using people’s names and use role descriptions to avoid dating the document.


OLA Creation Date OLA Last Modify Date

Notes & Comments

(Duplicate the above table for the number of OLAs to be created)

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Service Level Requirements

IT Services Service Level Requirements Process: Service Level Management

Status:


Version:

Release Date:


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Service Level Requirements (SLR) The document is not to be considered an extensive statement as its topics have to be generic enough to suit any reader for any organization. However, the reader will certainly be reminded of the key topics that have to be considered.

This document serves as a GUIDE FOR ESTABLISHING THE NEEDS OF CUSTOMERS WITH REGARD TO IT SERVICES. This document provides a basis for completion within your own organization. The document is made up of 3 sections.

The first section allows you to briefly describe the service. The second section is where you capture user specific requirements (duplicate this section the number of times required). The third section allows you to cross reference the requirements uncovered in this study with other agreements/documents that may already exist.



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(The following form can be used as an SLR interview or data gathering document. The SLR document does not have to be in a lengthy written format and in fact it is more likely to be adopted if it is kept concise, with only salient details) With regard to understanding SERVICE LEVEL REQUIREMENTS (SLR’s) the following points should be addressed:

Service Information

Areas to address

Comments/Examples

Unique SLR Reference #

Useful to cross reference to related Service Level Agreements, OLAs or Underpinning Contracts

Related SLA Reference #

For cross referencing to the created Service Level Agreement (filled in after the SLA is created).


Service Name Preferably use a name that is common language in the organization (not a technical name).

Service Description (Business) (refer to end of table for technical considerations)


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Customer Information

(Duplicate the following table for as many services to be covered in this SLR).

Areas to address

Comments/Examples

Customer Definition and date of discussion

Whether the customer is an; Individual Individual representing a group of users A group meeting to discuss service requirements. It should be documented here. The date is an important consideration as requirements will definitely change over time. You can use this form or the SLA that will be derived from it as a starting point for the next review.

Customer Expectations



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Briefly list any considerations regarding security considerations that the representative has for this service. Should there be differences in the level of accessibility for different people/roles for this service? (try to use role descriptions – instead of names). Be careful of using generic terms like “confidential”. Confidential can be interpreted different ways (eg. Confidential to the individual or for the functional group or for a peer group).


What sort of priority levels of support need to be in place for this service? Are there categories of end user for the service that require differing levels of support? (Eg. Group A requires phone support only, Group B needs face-to-face support)


Against the levels/priorities defined are there corresponding response times for the different priorities? (Eg. Group A needs immediate response, Group B needs a 2 hour response)


What are the REALISTIC support hours required for this service? Impress upon the representatives understand that IT staff also have day jobs and do not automatically start work, after they have gone home!! Get numbers: What is the maximum number of accepted outages, in a Page 140

Service Level Management Workbook given time period? What would be an acceptable number of errors or reruns?


Is after hours support required? To what degree is the support needed (full support, partial, best effort)?


Does the representative have any expectation regarding charges for Service Delivery? Be careful with this question as it may create some defensive reaction from the representative (what do you mean I have to pay for the service? I never have in the past!!) The question of charging is generally a more strategic decision made by business managers. How is charging to be implemented? (eg. Per user, per transaction) What is the customer budget with regard to this service?


Can the representative help you to define metrics for this service? Does the representative have a way that they classify the service? (that we may have missed – as our focus tends to be more on technical issues)


Does the representative have any thoughts regarding penalties that should be imposed if the service cannot be delivered according to agreed expectations? (Realistic!)

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Continuity Considerations

Does the representative have any expectations regarding how the service should be recovered in the event of an extended outage? Do they require immediate recovery, or can they work in a paper based mode for a period of time? Can the customer accept any loss of data? If yes, what is the roll back point (eg. 2 hours, 1 day, 1 week)?

Non-representative Information

(Duplicate the following table for the number of services that data is being gathered on).

Areas to address

Comments/Examples

SLA Cross Reference

Make a reference to any existing SLAs that may be able to be adapted or modified to meet this requirement.


In this section you can describe any technical considerations that are essential to document. It is more likely however, that you will include here a link to the Service Catalog or Technical Specification. You can use this section as a check that the service is in fact documented in the Service Catalog.


Notes & Comments

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NOTE: THERE CAN BE NO SINGLE CORRECT DEFINITION OF A DATA GATHERING EXERCISE FOR IT SERVICE DELIVERY REQUIREMENTS THAT WILL COVER ALL SITUATIONS FOR ALL ORGANIZATIONS.

THIS TEMPLATE HOWEVER, DOES PROMPT THE READER TO CONSIDER THE MOST CRITICAL AREAS OF DATA GATHERING and IT PROVOKES THOUGHT ABOUT OTHER AREAS THAT COULD BE INCLUDED BASED ON INDIVIDUAL NEEDS.

(Duplicate the above table for the number of Services that requirements are to be gathered for)

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Service Options

IT Services Process: Service Level Management Service Options Status:


Version:

Release Date:


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Document Source This document is located on the LAN under the path: I:/IT Services/Service Delivery/Service Level Management/Service Options

Document Approval This document has been approved for use by the following: ♦ , IT Services Manager ♦ , IT Service Delivery Manager ♦ , National IT Help Desk Manager


Date

Amendments

Completed By

Distribution List

When this procedure is updated the following copyholders must be advised through email that an updated copy is available on the intranet site: Business Unit

Stakeholders

IT

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Introduction

Purpose The purpose of this document is to provide the IT Organization with a breakdown of options for the Services listed in the Service Catalog


Service Options

•



Related Documentation Include in this section any related Service Level Management reference numbers and other associated documentation: •

Implementation Plan / Project Plan

•

Policies, Guidelines and Scope Document

•

SLM Process Template

•

Service Catalogue

Executive Overview Note: The intent of this document is to provide a simple break down of options available for IT Services. This document is to be used in conjunction with Service Catalogue.

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Service Level Management Overview

Summarize the organization definition for crucial Service Level Management components here.

The definition of an SLA is:

>

The definition of an OLA is:

>

The definition of a UC is:

>

The definition of a service is:

>

Service Options

The following table breaks down each service and the available options. This is a template and is used to illustrate for the user of this document the available options and structure to use when creating service options.

The below table should be created for each individual service offered in the Service Catalogue.

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Service Level Management Workbook IT Service:

Business Process:

IT Owner:

Business Owner:

Service Criticality:

Business Process Criticality:

Service Components

Service Options Platinum

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Default

Availability Capacity Response SLA Recovery SLA Service Hours Recovery Options Security Pricing

Appendices

Include any applicable appendixes that are needed. Terminology

Make sure that all terminology is captured and documented correctly.

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Underpinning Contracts

IT Services Underpinning Contracts Process: Service Level Management

Status:


Version:

Release Date:

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Underpinning Contract (UC) The document is not to be considered an extensive statement as its topics have to be generic enough to suit any reader for any organization. However, the reader will certainly be reminded of the key topics that have to be considered.

This document serves as a GUIDE FOR THE CREATION OF AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE SERVICE LEVEL MANAGEMENT PROCESS OWNER AND AN EXTERNAL PROVIDER (THIRD PARTY) OF IT SERVICES. This document provides a basis for completion within your own organization.

There is a common misconception that the Service Level Management Process owner must be a member of the IT Department. This is not the case and quite often the best person for the role is someone with no bias towards IT. For example, a Human Resource Manager would do well in a role that has such a high degree of communication required.



(The following form can be used as the UC document. The UC does not have to be in a lengthy written format and in fact it is more likely to be adopted if it is kept concise, with only salient details) With regard to UNDERPINNING CONTRACTS (UCs) the following points should be addressed:

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Service Level Management Workbook Areas to address

Comments/Examples

Link to parent Service Level Agreement

Cross reference to the “parent” SLA.

Description of Service

Brief description (should be taken from SLA)

UC Reference number

Unique identifying number for the UC (for inclusion in the Configuration Management Data Base – CMDB)

UC Owner

Functional role description of who is responsible for this UC (who would participate in a review of this document?) (Special tip: Avoid using names as it dates the document quickly)

UC Parties involved

Within the external provider there may be different functional parties involved. List them here with a brief description of their involvement.

UC Target Response priorities (reflected in parent SLA)

If the UC accommodates different priorities they must be listed here, with a description of the type of service that each priority level should receive.

UC Target Response time (reflected in parent SLA)

Consider quicker response time to allow for delays


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UC Support Hours (reflected in parent SLA)

Consider marginally longer support hours (if less than 24)

UC Out of Hours support procedure (reflected in parent SLA)


UC Charging policy (reflected in parent SLA)


UC Metrics for performance (reflected in parent SLA)


UC Cross references

Reference number to other closely coupled UCs



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UC Validity period

Duration that this UC is expected to remain in place before it is reviewed.

UC Review Procedure

The process for reviewing the UC and who is involved. Special Tip: Avoid using people’s names and use role descriptions to avoid dating the document.


UC Creation Date UC Last Modify Date

Notes & Comments

(Duplicate the above table for the number of UCs to be created)

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Functional Specification

IT Services Functional Specification Process: Service Level Management Service: <service name> Status:


Version:

Release Date:

Note: SEARCH AND REPLACE

Search for any > as your input will be required Also review any yellow highlighted text

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Document Source This document is located on the LAN under the path: I:/IT Services/Service Delivery/Functional Specifications/



•


•



Date

Amendments

Completed By


Stakeholders

IT

Page 157


Introduction Purpose The purpose of this document is to provide relevant Business Units with the functional specifications of the range of services provided by IT Services to the community.

Scope This document describes the following: details of each service provided by IT Services including: •


•

functional capabilities of the service

•

user characteristics

•

user operations and practices

•

software and hardware interfaces

•

service contacts

•

details of procedures for the service

Note: It is assumed for each service described in this document that the supporting back-end technology is already in place and operational.



Related Documentation Include in this section any related Service Level Agreement reference numbers and other associated documentation: •


•


•


•

Relevant User Guides and Procedures Page 158


Executive Overview Describe the purpose, scope and organization of the Functional Specification document.

Service Overview Service Description Describes briefly the reason for the service, and lists the most important features and capabilities. Also include the services relationship to the business processes. Service functional capabilities This section presents a list of the functions that the service will be required to perform. Where the service comprises of several functional capabilities, a table may be developed to illustrate these relationships. The list of functional capabilities may be an updated version of the capabilities listed in the original “Service Level Requirements” for this service. (Refer to Service Level Requirements) User characteristics This section describes the intended users of the service in terms of job function, specialized knowledge, or skill levels required. This section should consider various user classes or profiles such as managers, engineers, equipment operators, IT support staff, and network or database administrators. User operations and practices Describes how persons will normally use the service, and the tasks they will most frequently perform. Also covers how users might use the service on an occasional basis. Consider using a formal “Use Case” to specify the end-users' expected use of the service. This may also be derived from the Service Level Requirements.

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General constraints This section will list the limitations, user interface limitations, and data limitations of the service. Includes items such as minimum availability, capacity, security needed by the service to function. It should also include maintenance requirements; more specifically the amount of time and frequency the service will be unavailable due to maintenance and service. Also, states if training is required for use of the system.

Assumptions This section lists any assumptions that were made in specifying the functional requirements of this service.

Other services How does the service interact with other services?

Specific Function Descriptions This section is repeated for each function of the service. Some examples of functions are: email sending or receiving, sorting or archiving email, virus checking and scanning of email, and recovery of email services.

Description The description describes the function and its role in the service.

Inputs Describe the inputs to the function. Input validation strategy, allowed email types and values are specified for each input.

Processing Describes what is done by the function. Cited here would be database definitions where relevant, transaction algorithms or functions, flow of information etc.

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Outputs This section describes the outputs of the function. Where a user interface description is relevant, it is included. Reports generated are also defined.

External Interfaces The interfaces in this section are specified by documenting: the name and description of each item, source or input, destination or output, ranges, accuracy and tolerances, units of measure, timing, display formats and organization, availability and capacity requirements and any relevant agreements that may impact on the service.

User Interfaces Where necessary. This section describes all major forms, screens, or web pages, including any complex dialog boxes. This is usually best done via simulated, non-functioning screen shots (such as PowerPoint slides), and may take the form of a separate document.

The navigation flow of the windows, menus, and options is described, along with the expected content of each window. Examples of items that could be included are screen resolutions, color scheme, primary font type and size. Discussion also includes how input validation will be done, and how the service will be protected from security issues. This section can be generic enough to describe simply the User Interfaces to the functions of the service. Examples of items here would be client interface available, web interface available, email interface available etc.

Hardware Interfaces Describes the components needed to provide the service, and also other output or input devices such as printers or handheld devices.

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Software Interfaces This section describes any software that will be required in order for the service to operate fully. Includes any developed software or commercial applications that customers will be utilizing together with the planned service. Also describes any software that the service will interact with such as operating system platforms supported, file import and export, networking, automation, or scripting. This section will also specify whether the users must provide the interface software and any special licensing requirements.

Communication Interfaces Describes how the service will communicate with itself (for multi-platform applications) or other software applications or hardware, including items such as networking, email, intranet, and Internet communications, PABX, IP telephony etc.

Functional Design Constraints Any examples of constraints that will prevent or influence the ability of the system to deliver the expected functionality will be listed here.

Attributes Security Describes where necessary the technical security requirements for the service. For example, any password-protected access levels such as operator, engineer/modeller, manager, database administrator and which functionality will be accessible to each access level, firewall requirements and virus software. This section should also describe all physical, organizational and procedural security requirements for the service.

Reliability, Availability, Maintainability This section describes requirement items such as days or weeks of continuous operation, strategy for data recovery, structuring of service for ease of future modification.

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Installation and Distribution This section describes the planned method for installation and distribution of releases for the service: done by the user independently, done by customer company internal IT services, done by an external contractor. The section should specify the handling of such items as data transfer from prior releases, the physical storage of hardware and software in conjunction with releases and the presence of software or hardware elements from prior releases.

Usability It is important to describe items that will ensure the user-friendliness of the service. Examples include error messages that direct the user to a solution, user documentation, online help etc.

Additional Requirements Describes other characteristics the service must have, that were not covered in the prior sections.

Administration Includes any periodic updating or data management needed for the service. •

User documentation: Describes the user documentation to be delivered in conjunction with the service, including both hard copy and online requirements.

•

Other requirements: Describes any other requirements not already covered above that need to be considered during the design of the service.

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Technical Specification

IT Services Technical Specification Process: Service Level Management Service: <service name> Status:


Version:

Release Date:


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Document Source This document is located on the LAN under the path: I:/IT Services/Service Delivery/Technical Specifications/



•


•



Date

Amendments

Completed By


Stakeholders

IT

Page 165


Introduction Purpose The purpose of this document is to provide relevant IT Units with the technical specifications for the range of services provided by IT Services to the community.

Scope This document describes the following: details of each service provided by IT Services including: •


•

functional capabilities of the service

•

user characteristics

•

user operations and practices

•

software and hardware interfaces

•

service contacts

•

details of procedures for the service

Note: It is assumed for each service described in this document that the supporting functional awareness of the service is already known.

Audience This document is relevant to IT staff in


Related Documentation Include in this section any related Service Level Agreement reference numbers and other associated documentation: •


•


•


•

Relevant User Guides and Procedures Page 166


Executive Overview Describe the purpose, scope and organization of the Technical Specification document.

Service Overview Service Description Describes briefly the reason for the service, and lists the most important features and capabilities. Also include the services relationship to the business processes.

Service technical capabilities This section presents a list of the technical aspects that the service will be required to perform. Where the service comprises of technical aspects, a table may be developed to illustrate these relationships.

User characteristics This section describes the intended users of the service in terms of job function, specialized knowledge, or skill levels required. This section should consider various user classes or profiles such as managers, engineers, equipment operators, IT support staff, and network or database administrators.

User operations and practices Describes how persons will normally use the service, and the tasks they will most frequently perform. Also covers how users might use the service on an occasional basis. Consider using a formal “Use Case” to specify the end-users' expected use of the service. This may also be derived from the Service Level Requirements.

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Assumptions This section lists any assumptions that were made in specifying the technical requirements of this service. Other services How does the service technically interact with other services?

Specific Technical Descriptions This section is repeated for each technical aspect of the service. Some examples of technical aspects are: Processing, Backup, Archive, Restores.

Description The description describes the Technical aspect and its role in the service.

Inputs Describe the inputs to the aspect. Data feeds from other systems, human input or automated timed activities are examples of inputs.

Processing Describes what is done. For example with regard to backups we would describe the database close, backup and database restart activities.

Outputs This section describes the outputs. For example, if we are describing the archive activity we would expect to end up with a media storage device that would be stored in a secure location. Reports generated are also defined. Other technical considerations The interfaces in this section are specified by documenting: the name and description of each item, source or input, destination or output, ranges, accuracy and tolerances, units of measure, timing, display formats and organization, availability and capacity requirements and any relevant agreements that may impact on the service.

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Hardware details Describes the technical components needed to provide the service, and also other output or input devices such as printers or handheld devices.

Software details Describes the technical aspects of the software used to provide the service (eg. client server details), operating system levels, backup software used, virus protection details, other supporting services and applications that contribute to the service availability.

Communication details Describes how the service will communicate with itself (for multi-platform applications) or other software applications or hardware, including items such as networking, email, intranet, and Internet communications, PABX, IP telephony etc.

Performance Discusses items such as response times, throughput requirements, data volume requirements, maximum data file size or problem complexity, maximum number of concurrent uses, and peak load requirements (for web-based applications). Includes expected response times for entering information, querying data files and databases, performing calculations of various complexities, and importing/exporting data. Technical Design Constraints Examples of technical constraints that affect service design choices are items such as memory constraints involving minimum and maximum RAM and hard disk space, and limitations arising from hardware, software or communications standards.

Additional Requirements Describes other characteristics the service must have, that were not covered in the prior sections.

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Administration Includes any periodic updating or data management needed for the service. •

User documentation: Describes the user documentation to be delivered in conjunction with the service, including both hard copy and online requirements.

•

Other requirements: Describes any other requirements not already covered above that need to be considered during the design of the service.

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Page 171


Price List

IT Services Price List Process: Service Level Management

Status:


Version:

Release Date:

Note: SEARCH AND REPLACE

Search for any > as your input will be required

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Price List Considerations for Service Level Management The document is not to be considered an extensive statement as its topics have to be generic enough to suit any reader for any organization. However, the reader will certainly be reminded of the key topics that have to be considered.

This document serves as a GUIDE FOR DETERMINING THE PRICE OF IT SERVICE DELIVERY TO CUSTOMERS. This document provides a basis for completion within your own organization. This document can be read in conjunction with: Service Catalogue (which is where summary pricing information is presented).



There are three considerations to review when looking to establish the prices for IT Services that are delivered. It is the combination of these areas that will help the Service Level Manager (along with the process owner for Financial Management for IT Services) set and negotiate pricing for IT Service delivery. These considerations are:

1) The degree of IT costs that are expected to be recovered. Such a decision will generally come from a business policy regarding cost recovery for other shared services. For example if Human Resources aim to recover all costs from the departments or user groups it supports, it is likely that this will also apply to IT.

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2) The degree that IT wants to change consumption patterns of Customers and Users There is no surer thing. Once services start to cost, then behaviours will change and demand will decrease. Of course, the major challenge of looking to use pricing to influence (drive down) consumption is the major resistance that can be expected.

3) Budget influence Careful and well articulated pricing for IT Services allows better predictions regarding the expected budget required for a future time period. This positive influence helps to reduce the number of unexpected surprises that can often happen, when budget funds cannot support requirements.

Use the following table with examples to help determine which IT Services will be charged for in your organization and the basis upon which you will levy that charge.

Chargeable Item (examples)

Ancillary Services

Cost basis

Sales transaction

Network connection Personal Computer File server processing

Simple cost per transaction, or; Cost per speed of processing, or; Cost per size of transaction

E-mail sent

Network connection to mail server Personal Computer Internet connection

Per unit, or; Stored limit, or; Mail items in the “in-box”

An important point to consider regarding the pricing of services is the case when a customer claims that they can buy the service cheaper from an external provider.

While this may be the case, the overall impact on the organization may be negative – so it may be necessary to impose restrictions regarding purchase of external services when suitable internal services are available.

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Once the pricing differential is identified a controlled process of (a) reducing costs or (b) outsourcing to an external provider can be carried out.

The final point to consider regarding the price of IT Services is whether actual funds transfer will take place or if charges are just imaginary (or “nominal”).

Nominal charging allows customers to see the costs of the IT Services they consume, but they are not expected to transfer funds from their cost centres to the IT department. This method can have a low impact; in that without transferring funds, the affect on behaviour may be negligible.

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Communication Plan

IT Services Communication Plan Process: Service Level Management

Status:


Version:

Release Date:

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Communication Plan for Service Level Management

The document is not to be considered an extensive statement as its topics have to be generic enough to suit any reader for any organization. However, the reader will certainly be reminded of the key topics that have to be considered.

This document serves as a GUIDE FOR COMMUNICATIONS REQUIRED for the Service Level Management process. This document provides a basis for completion within your own organization.

This document contains suggestions regarding information to share with others. The document is deliberately concise and broken into communication modules. This will allow the reader to pick and choose information for e-mails, flyers, etc. from one or more modules if and when appropriate. This document was; Prepared by: On:


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Initial Communication Sell the Benefits First steps in communication require the need to answer the question that most people (quite rightly) ask when the IT department suggests a new system, a new way of working. WHY? It is here that we need to promote and sell the benefits. However, be cautious of using generic words. Cite specific examples from your own organization that the reader will be able to relate to. Generic Benefit statements

Specific Organizational example

CM provides accurate information on our IT components.

This is important because…

Allows us to more carefully control the valuable IT infrastructure.

In recent times our control on IT has…

Helps us to more effectively manage our expenditure on IT.

Apart from the obvious benefits, the IT department in recent times has…

Assists with protecting against illegal or unauthorized software.

A recent example of … saw the individual and the company face severe penalties.

The above Communication module (or elements of) was/were distributed; To: On:

By: On:

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Service Level Management Goals The Goals of Service Level Management The Goals of Service Level Management can be promoted in the following manner. Official Goal Statement: Through a process of continual negotiation, discussion, monitoring and reporting the Service Level Management process aims to ensure the delivery of IT Services that meet the requirements and expectations of our customers and end-users. •

Seek agreement on expected delivery of IT service by gaining an understanding of the Service Level Requirements from nominated personnel

(Special Tip: Beware of using only Managers to gain information from, as the resistance factor will be high) •

Oversee the monitoring of service delivery to ensure that the negotiations regarding the service requirements are not ignored and treated as a once off exercise.

•

Provide relevant reports to nominated personnel.

(Special Tip: Beware of reporting only to Managers. If you speak to a lot of people regarding Service Delivery then you need to establish ways to report to these people the outcomes and progress of the discussions). Always bear in mind the “so what” factor when discussing areas like goals and objectives. If you cannot honestly and sensibly answer the question “so what” – then you are not selling the message in a way that is personal to the listener and gets their “buy-in”.

The above Service Level Management Goals module was distributed; To: On:

By: On:

Service

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Service Level Management Activities Intrusive & Hidden Activities

The list of actions in this module may have a direct impact on end users. They will be curious as to why staff have a sudden interest in trying to develop an understanding regarding what they need from IT. There could be an element of suspicion, so consider different strategies to overcome this initial scepticism. Identification • Analysing current services and Service Level Requirements • Recording the current service provision in a Service Catalogue. Definition Matching & customising (with the customer) of the right service provision against the right costs: • Service Catalogue • Demands of the customer (Service Level Requirements). Agreement (Defining and signing SLA/s) • Service Level Agreements, supported by: Operational Level Agreements (OLAs) and Underpinning Contracts Monitoring Measuring the actual service levels against the agreed service levels Reporting Reporting on the service provision (to the customer and the IT organisation) Evaluation (review) • Evaluate the service provision with the customer • Match & customise: adjust service provision if required? (SIP, SQP) • Match & customise: adjust SLA if required? Information regarding activities was distributed; To: On:

By: On:

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Service Level Management Deliverable Outputs of the Process There are a variety of output documents that should be visible to the customer and end-user. Outlining these will allow the use of common terms – which enhances the overall communication process. SLR = Service Level Requirements • Detailed recording of the customers’ needs • Blueprint for defining, adapting and revising of services Service Spec Sheets = Service Specifications • Connection between functionality (externally / customer focussed) and technicalities (internally / IT organisation focussed) Service Catalogue • Detailed survey of available services • Detailed survey of available service levels • Derived from the Service Spec Sheets, but written in “customer terminology” SLA = Service Level Agreement The written agreement between the provider and the customer (business representative) Service Level Achievements = the Service Levels that are realised SIP = Service Improvement Programme / Plan Actions, phases and delivery dates for improvement of a service OLA = Operational Level Agreement (or SPA, Service Provisioning Agreement) A written agreement with another internal IT department to support the SLA UC = Underpinning Contract (=a written agreement with an external IT supplier)

News about the Service Level Management deliverables was distributed; To: On:

By: On:

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Service Level Management Planning Costs Information relating to costs may be a topic that would be held back from general communication. Failure to convince people of the benefits will mean total rejection of associated costs. If required, costs fall under several categories: • • • • • •

Personnel – audit verification staff, database management team (Set-up and ongoing) Accommodation – Physical location (Set-up and ongoing) Software – Tools (Set-up and ongoing) Hardware – Infrastructure (Set-up) Education – Training (Set-up and ongoing) Procedures – external consultants etc. (Set-up)

The costs of implementing Service Level Management will be outweighed by the benefits. For example, many organizations have a negative perception of the function of the IT Department. A well run Service Level Management process will make major inroads into altering that perception. Failure to deliver acceptable services will only add to any poor perceptions and start business people questioning the value of IT.

Details regarding the cost of Service Level management were distributed; To: On:

By: On:

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Page 183


Business and IT Flyers

IT Services Process: Service Level Management Business and IT Flyers

Statu s:


Versi on:

Rele ase Date:


Page 184


Introduction

The following pages provide 2 examples of flyers that can printed and distributed throughout your organization.

They are designed to be displayed in staff rooms.

Note, they are examples, and your input is required to complete the flyers.

Remember, the important thing is to ensure that the message delivered in the flyer is appropriate to the audience that will be reading it.

So think about how and where you will be distributing the flyers.

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Service Level Management

Key Points: •Agreed Levels of Service. •Easy to understand Service Catalogue. •Services You Need. •Services at the Right Time! •Improved IT Services •Less Disruption •

IT Services Department The IT Department is embarking on a Service Level Management Improvement Programme. > > Provide contact lists for the IT Department as well as the business managers that they can contact. >>

CONTACTS >

Show steps as necessary and beneficial >>

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Service Level Management

IT SERVICE IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME

HELP US HELP YOU Contact your immediate Manager to let them know what you need to do your job better We need to know about the Services YOU NEED. IMPROVED SERVICE DELIVERY IS OUR GOAL KNOW YOUR SERVICE RIGHTS

Sponsored by IT SERVICES

“Constantly improving and aligning to your needs” Page 187


Reports KPI’s Other Metrics

IT Services Reports and KPI Targets Process: Service Level Management

Status:


Version:

Release Date:


Page 188


Reports and KPI Targets for Service Level Management

The document is not to be considered an extensive statement as its topics have to be generic enough to suit any reader for any organization. However, the reader will certainly be reminded of the key topics that have to be considered.

This document serves as a GUIDE ON SUITABLE KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs) and REPORTS FOR MANAGEMENT for the Service Level Management process. This document provides a basis for completion within your own organization.

This document contains suggestions regarding the measures that would be meaningful for this process. The metrics demonstrated are intended to show the reader the range of metrics that can be used. The message must also be clear that technology metrics must be heavily supplemented with non-technical and business focused metrics/KPI’s/measures.



Page 189


Key performance indicators (KPI’s)

Continuous improvement requires that each process needs to have a plan about “how” and “when” to measure its own performance. While there can be no set guidelines presented for the timing/when of these reviews; the “how” question can be answered with metrics and measurements.

With regard to timing of reviews then factors such as resource availability, cost and “nuisance factor” need to be accounted for. Many initiatives begin with good intentions to do regular reviews, but these fall away very rapidly. This is why the process owner must have the conviction to follow through on assessments and meetings and reviews, etc. If the process manager feels that reviews are too seldom or too often then the schedule should be changed to reflect that. Establishing SMART targets is a key part of good process management. SMART is an acronym for:

Simple Measurable Achievable Realistic Time Driven

Metrics help to ensure that the process in question is running effectively.

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With regard to SERVICE LEVEL MANAGEMENT the following metrics and associated targets should be considered: Key Performance Indicator

Target Value (some examples)

The percentage of Underpinning contracts and OLAs in place that are supporting Service Level Agreements.

Expressed as a percentage, it indicates that SLAs are more than just a document, but have been extended into related agreements with internal and external providers.

Meetings held (on time) to review performance

A reducing number here may be a good indication or at least the number should be stable.


Costs of Service Delivery decreasing.

The percentage of targets relating to Service delivery being met.

The number of Service breaches recorded

Improvements in salient points from Customer feedback forms

Others

Special Tip: Beware of using percentages in too many cases. It may even be better to use absolute values when the potential number of maximum failures is less than 100 Page 191

Reports for Management

Management reports help identify future trends and allow review of the “health” of the process. Setting a security level on certain reports may be appropriate as well as categorizing the report as Strategic, Operational or Tactical.

The acid test for a relevant report is to have a sound answer to the question; “What decisions is this report helping management to make?” Management reports for Service Level Management should include:

Report Expected growth in demand for the service (will generally be high at start-up, but then plateau)

Serious Service breaches and remedy steps taken

Backlog details of process activities outstanding (along with potential negative impact regarding failure to complete the work in a timely manner) – but also provide solutions on how the backlog can be cleared.

Simple breakdown of new SLA/OLA/UCs created, simple notes on reviews of same completed.

Analysis and results of meetings completed

The situation regarding the process staffing levels and any suggestions regarding redistribution, recruitment and training required.

Human resource reporting including hours worked against project/activity (including weekend/after hours work).

Relevant Financial information– to be provided in conjunction with Financial Management for IT Services



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SLM IMPLEMENTATION & PROJECT PLAN

IT Services Implementation Plan/Project Plan Skeleton Outline Process: Service Level Management

Status:


Version:

Release Date:

Page 194

Service Level Management Workbook Planning and implementation for Service Level Management This document as described provides guidance for the planning and implementation of the Service Level Management ITIL process. The document is not to be considered an extensive plan as its topics have to be generic enough to suit any reader for any organization.

However, the reader will certainly be reminded of the key topics that have to be considered for planning and implementation of this process.

Initial planning

When beginning the process planning the following items must be completed: CHECK ☺ or or date

DESCRIPTION 2 Get agreement on the objective (use the ITIL definition), purpose, scope, and implementation approach (eg. Internal, outsourced, hybrid) for the process. Assign a person to the key role of process manager/owner. This person is responsible for the process and all associated systems. Conduct a review of activities that would currently be considered as an activity associated with this process. Make notes and discuss the “re-usability” of that activity. Create and gain agreement on a high-level process plan and a design for any associated process systems. NOTE: the plan need not be detailed. Too many initiatives get caught up in too much detail in the planning phase. KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING. Review the finances required for the process as a whole and any associated systems (expenditure including people, software, hardware, accommodation). Don’t forget that the initial expenditure may be higher than the ongoing costs. Don’t forget annual allowances for systems maintenance or customizations to systems by development staff. Agree to the policy regarding this process

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Create Strategic statements Policy Statement

The policy establishes the “SENSE OF URGENCY” for the process.

It helps us to think clearly about and agree on the reasons WHY effort is put into this process.

An inability to answer this seemingly simple, but actually complex question is a major stepping stone towards successful implementation

The most common mistake made is that reasons regarding IT are given as the WHY we should do this. Reasons like to make our IT department more efficient are far too generic and don’t focus on the real issue behind why this process is needed.

The statement must leave the reader in no doubt that the benefits of this process will be far reaching and contribute to the business in a clearly recognizable way.

Objective Statement

When you are describing the end or ultimate goal for a unit of activity that is about to be undertaken you are outlining the OBJECTIVE for that unit of activity.

Of course the activity may be some actions for just you or a team of people. In either case, writing down the answer to WHERE will this activity lead me/us/the organization is a powerful exercise.

There are many studies that indicate the simple act of putting a statement about the end result expected onto a piece of paper, then continually referring to it, makes achieving that end result realistic. As a tip regarding the development of an objective statement; don’t get caught up in spending hours on this. Do it quickly and go with your instincts or first thoughts – Page 196

Service Level Management Workbook BUT THEN, wait a few days and review what you did for another short period of time and THEN commit to the outcome of the second review as your statement.

Scope Statement

In defining the scope of this process we are answering what activities and what “information interfaces” does this process have.

Don’t get caught up in trying to be too detailed about the information flow into and out of this process. What is important is that others realize that information does in fact flow.

For example, with regard to the SERVICE LEVEL MANAGEMENT process we can create a simple table such as:

Service Level Management Information flows Process

Process

Information

SLMMgt

to

FinancialMgt

Customer budget details

FinancialMgt

to

SLMMgt

Expected ROI calculations for new service

ReleaseMgt

Details regarding mandatory times for service availability

SLMMgt

Expected impact (+ve or –ve) of release

ServiceDesk

Client expectations regarding call pick up times (eg. 2 rings)

SLMMgt

Details of irate callers

to SLMMgt to ReleaseMgt

to SLMMgt to ServiceDesk

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Service Level Management Workbook Steps for Implementation

There can be a variety of ways to implement this process. For a lot of organizations a staged implementation may be suitable. For others a “big bang” implementation – due to absolute equality may be appropriate.

In reality however, we usually look at implementation according to pre-defined priorities. Consider the following options and then apply a suitable model to your own organization or case study.

STEPS

NOTES/ /RELEVANCE/DATES/ WHO

Produce the Service Catalog

Plan the SLA Structure

Establish the Service Level Requirements

Draft SLA and seek initial approval

Establish monitoring levels

Review agreements with internal and external suppliers

Define reporting standards

Publicize and market

The priority selection has to be made with other factors in mind, such as competitive analysis, any legal requirements, and desires of “politically powerful influencers”.

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Service Level Management Workbook Costs

The cost of process implementation is something that must be considered before, during and after the implementation initiative. The following points and table helps to frame these considerations: (A variety of symbols have been provided to help you indicate required expenditure, rising or falling expenditure, level of satisfaction regarding costs in a particular area, etc.)

Initial Personnel Costs of people for initial design of process, implementation and ongoing support Accommodation Costs of housing new staff and any associated new equipment and space for documents or process related concepts.

During

Ongoing

0

/

☺

Software New tools required to support the process and/or the costs of migration from an existing tool or system to the new one. Maintenance costs Hardware New hardware required to support the process activities. IT hardware and even new desks for staff. Education Re-education of existing staff to learn new techniques and/or learn to operate new systems. Procedures Development costs associated with filling in the detail of a process activity. The step-by-step recipe guides for all involved and even indirectly involved personnel.

In most cases, costs for process implementation have to be budgeted for (or allocated) well in advance of expenditure. Part of this step involves deciding on a charging mechanism (if any) for the new services to be offered.

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Service Level Management Workbook Build the team

Each process requires a process owner and in most situations a team of people to assist.

The Service Level Management process is perhaps the process in the Service Delivery set that has the largest amount of initial and on-going activity.

The team size may or may not reflect this. Of course a lot will be dependant on the timing of the implementation and whether it is to be staged or implemented as one exercise.

Analyze current situation and FLAG

Naturally there are many organizations that have many existing procedures/processes and people in place that feel that the activities of SLM are already being done. It is critical to identify these systems and consider their future role as part of the new process definition. Examples of areas to review are:

Area

Notes

Power teams Current formal procedures Current informal procedures Current role descriptions Existing organizational structure Spreadsheets, databases and other repositories Other…

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Service Level Management Workbook Implementation Planning

After base decisions regarding the scope of the process and the overall planning activities are complete we need to address the actual implementation of the process. It is unlikely that there will not be some current activity or work being performed that would fit under the banner of this process. However, we can provide a comprehensive checklist of points that must be reviewed and done. Implementation activities for Service Level Management

Activity

Notes/Comments/Ti me Frame/Who

Review current and existing Service Level Management practices in greater detail. Make sure you also review current process connections from these practices to other areas of IT Service Delivery.

Review the ability of existing functions and staff. Can we “reuse” some of the skills to minimize training, education and time required for implementation?

Establish the accuracy and relevance of current processes, procedures and meetings. As part of this step if any information is credible document the transition from the current format to any new format that is selected.

Decide how best to select any vendor that will provide assistance in this process area (including tools, external consultancy or assistance to help with initial high workload during process implementation).

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Establish a selection guideline for the evaluation and selection of tools required to support this process area (i.e. SLA Management tools).

Purchase and install tools required to support this process (i.e. SLA Management tool). Ensure adequate skills transfer and on-going support is considered if external systems are selected.

Create any required business processes interfaces for this process that can be provided by the automated tools (eg. reporting – frequency, content).

Document and get agreement on roles, responsibilities and training plans.

Communicate with and provide necessary education and training for staff that covers the actual importance of the process and the intricacies of the process itself.

An important point to remember is that if this process is to be implemented at the same time as other processes that it is crucial that both implementation plans and importantly timing of work is complementary.

Cutover to new processes

The question of when a new process actually starts is one that is not easy to answer. Most process activity evolves without rigid starting dates and this is what we mean when we answer a question with “that’s just the way it’s done around here”.

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Service Level Management Workbook Ultimately we do want the new process to become the way things are done around here, so it may even be best not to set specific launch dates, as this will set the expectation that from the given date all issues relating to the process will disappear (not a realistic expectation).

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FURTHER INFORMATION For more information on other products available from The Art of Service, you can visit our website: http://www.theartofservice.com

If you found this guide helpful, you can find more publications from The Art of Service at: http://www.amazon.com

Page 204

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