The Purpose, Objectives, and Scope of Service Level Management
Let’s begin by looking at the purpose of the service level management process according the ITIL framework. ITIL states that the purpose of service level management is to ensure that all current and planned IT services are delivered to agreed achievable targets. The key words here are agreed and targets. Service level management is about discussing, negotiating and agreeing with the customer about what IT services should be provided and ensuring that objective measures are used to ascertain whether that service has been provided to the agreed level.
Service level management is therefore concerned with defining the services, documenting them in an agreement, and then ensuring that the targets are measured and met, taking action where necessary to improve the level of service delivered. These improvements will often be carried out as part of continual service improvement, which we will cover in more detail in Chapter 13, “Understanding Continual Service Improvement.”
Note also that the definition of service level management talks about current and planned IT services. Service level management’s purpose is to not only ensure that all IT services currently being delivered have a service level agreement (SLA) in place but also ensure that discussion and negotiation takes place regarding the requirements for planned services so that an SLA is agreed on and in place when the service becomes operational.
It is for this latter reason that service level management is one of the service design processes; services must be designed to deliver the levels of availability, capacity, and so on, that the customer requires and that service level management documents in the SLA. It is a frequent problem that the SLA is not considered until just before (or even after) the go-live date, when it is realized that the customer service level requirements are not met by the design. We discussed the concepts of utility and warranty in Chapter 2; service level management is concerned primarily with the warranty aspects of the service. The response time, capacity, availability, and so on, of the new service will be the subject of the SLA, and it is essential that the service is therefore designed to meet both utility and warranty requirements.
The objectives of service level management are not restricted to “define, document, agree, monitor, measure, report, and review” (how well the IT service is delivered) and undertaking improvement actions when necessary. It also includes working with business relationship management to build a good working relationship with the business customers. The regular meetings held with the business as part of service level management form the basis of a strong communications channel that strengthens the relationship between the customer and IT.
It is an essential feature of service level management that the customer and IT agree on what constitutes an acceptable level of service. Therefore, one of the objectives of SLM is to develop appropriate targets for each IT service. These targets must be specific and measurable so that there is no debate whether they were achieved. The temptation to use expressions such as “as soon as possible” or “reasonable endeavors” should be resisted, because the customer and IT may disagree on what constitutes “as soon as possible” or what is “reasonable.” By using such expressions in an SLA, it may be impossible for the IT service provider to fail, but this leads to cynicism from the customer and damages the relationship that the SLM aims to build. Where the IT service provider is an external company, the legal department will inevitably seek to reduce the possibility of the provider being sued for breach of contract, and these phrases may therefore be included; for an internal service provider, there is no such excuse. Using objective success criteria is essential if SLM is to achieve another of its objectives, that of ensuring that both the customer and IT have “clear and unambiguous expectations” regarding the level of service.
A further SLM objective is to ascertain the level of customer satisfaction with the service being provided and to take steps to increase it. There are challenges in this objective, because obtaining an accurate assessment of customer satisfaction is not straightforward. Customer satisfaction surveys may be completed only by a self-selecting minority. Those who are unhappy are more likely to complete such a survey than those who are content. Despite this tendency, the service level manager must still attempt to monitor customer satisfaction as accurately as possible, using whatever methods are appropriate; in addition to surveys, focus groups, and individual interviews, other methods can be employed.
The final objective that ITIL lists for service level management is that of improving the level of service, even when the targets are being met. Such improvements must be cost-effective, so an analysis of the return expected for any financial or resource investment must be carried out. SLM actively seeks out opportunities for such cost-effective improvements. Achieving this objective forms part of the continual service improvement that is an essential element in all ITIL processes.
The scope of service level management includes the performance of existing services being provided and the definition of required service levels for planned services. It forms a regular communication channel between the business and the IT service provider on all issues concerning the quality of service. SLM therefore has an important role to play in managing customers’ expectations to ensure that the level of service they expect and the level of service they perceive they are receiving match. As stated earlier, SLM is concerned with ensuring that the warranty aspects of a service are provided to the expected level. The level of service expected for planned services is detailed in the service level requirements (SLR) specification, and the agreed service levels (following negotiation) are documented in the SLA. SLAs should be written to cover all operational services. Through this involvement in the design phase, SLM ensures that the planned services will deliver the warranty levels required by the business.
Each IT service is composed of a number of elements provided by internal support teams or external third-party suppliers. An essential element of successful service level management is the negotiation and agreement with those who provide each element of the service, regarding the level of service that they provide. A failure by these providers will translate to a failure to meet the SLA. We will look at these agreements, called operational-level agreements (OLAs) in the case of internal teams and underpinning contracts in the case of external suppliers, later in this chapter.
Finally, SLM includes measuring and reporting on all service achievements compared to the agreed targets. The frequency, measurement method, and depth of reporting required is agreed as part of the SLA negotiations.
It is important to understand the relationship between service level management and business relationship management. SLM deals with issues around the quality of service being provided; a business relationship management’s role is more strategic. The business relationship manager works closely with the business, understanding its current and future IT requirements. It is then the responsibility of the business relationship manager (BRM) to ensure that the service provider understands these needs and is able to meet them. SLM is concerned more about how to meet the targets by ensuring that agreements are in place with internal and external suppliers to provide elements of the service to the required standard.
Service level management cooperates with and complements business relationship management. Similarly, the improvement actions identified by SLM in a service improvement plan (SIP) are implemented in conjunction with continual service improvement; they are documented in the CSI register, where they are prioritized and reviewed.