The ITIL Service Level Management process aims to negotiate, define, agree, monitor and report on the service levels of customers. It works closely alongside other processes such as Capacity Management or Availability Management to ensure services are delivered at a reasonable level.
In a perfect world the service-level management process starts by determining when and what services are required. This should be coordinated with the IT team and the business. This will help you create realistic and relevant goals that are both achievable and appropriate for your business. Teams should also collaborate in determining how these goals are being evaluated and the impact that they have on customer experience.
Once these goals are set Once these goals are set, the SLM should begin by defining service level requirements and establishing agreements with the customers. This includes describing services (including what is included and what is not, so that there is no room to make assumptions about) setting out escalation and responsibility procedures, as well as setting performance indicators. This should be documented in an SLA.
The SLM process must also contain plans to monitor and provide reports on compliance with service level requirements. This plan is reviewed regularly to determine whether or not the complete package for business software objectives are being met. Automated alerting is crucial. SLM must be coordinated between teams, so that everyone is aware of the services they are accountable for and whether the services are upholding the agreed upon level of service.
