A service level management system makes sure that all IT Services delivered to customers comply with agreed levels of quality. It is about making sure that Service Level Agreements are in place and being observed, measuring and reporting on service levels, and continually striving to increase the quality of service over time.
To do all of this, it is crucial to have the appropriate tools in place. Most often, the systems and processes that define service levels are outsourced to third-party businesses. It is therefore essential to know how you can best manage them within the context of your own SLM processes.
The first step in setting up an SLM process is to determine the most essential services for the business and set acceptable metrics for the success of the process. This includes factors like efficiency, user base, and design considerations. It is crucial to choose the technology expertise and a firm that specializes in a particular platform may be able commit to higher performance levels than a generalised service provider.
Once the SLA targets have been set, teams need to put a plan in place to keep them. This usually means the establishment of systems that can track progress, and notify the team of problems in meeting the targets.
Furthermore, a strong SLM procedure will include continuous improvement procedures. These processes will allow teams to improve and learn through the metrics they collect. For instance, if an NOC service is consistently not meeting its SLA to answer phone calls within 30 seconds, it should be possible to determine the reason why this is happening and then fix it.