Principles and Functions of Service Level Agreements

• The need to measure quality of performance
• Why, when and how can SLAs help to achieve quality
• Key objectives
• SLAs: Contracts or Contract substitutes?
• Introducing SLAs for services bought in from contractors
• Use of corporate SLAs between in-house departments

Key Elements of a Service Level Agreements

• What services are being measured?
• Typical quality measures
• SLA Governance Frameworks: Managing, measuring and reporting service performance
• Duties of the customer
• Risk sharing and SLAs: Managing problems
• Termination of the agreement

Drafting your Service Level Agreement

• Drafting principles
• A model structure for the SLA
• Essential elements of a quality SLA
• Using appropriate measurement language
• Carrots or sticks to encourage achievement
• SLA checklists

Managing the in-life SLA      

• Review processes
• Using escalation to manage quality performance
• Keeping the SLA relevant: Managing changes
• Negotiation techniques to manage the variation
• Customer intervention options with an underperforming contractor
• Learning and applying lessons for the next SLA

Using a Scorecard Approach to SLA Management

• Origins of the scorecard approach
• Aligning the SLA with the corporate strategy
• Balancing the needs of stakeholders
• Planning and Constructing a SLA scorecard
• Key Performance indicators to support the SLA
• Business process quality improvement