ServiceLevelAgreements

A service level agreement (SLA) is a formal contract between a service provider and a customer that specifies the expected level of service, responsibilities, and remedies. It is used to define what services will be provided, how performance will be measured, and what happens if the agreed standards are not met. SLAs are common in information technology, cloud services, telecommunications, outsourcing, and support arrangements.

Key components of an SLA include a service description, service level objectives (SLOs), performance metrics, and the measurement methods and tools used to monitor those metrics. Typical metrics cover availability or uptime, response time, turnaround time for incident resolution, and support response times. The document also outlines responsibilities of both parties, maintenance windows, escalation procedures, reporting and monitoring arrangements, change control, security requirements, and remedies such as service credits or termination rights if targets are not met.

SLAs can be customer-specific, service-based, or multi-level, and may be supported by underpinning contracts or separate legal agreements. They typically follow a lifecycle: negotiation and agreement, deployment and monitoring, regular reporting and review, renewal or modification, and potential renegotiation or termination.

In practice, SLAs are often complemented by internal reliability targets such as service level indicators (SLIs) and error budgets, managed through site reliability engineering or similar practices. While SLAs provide formal accountability, their enforceability depends on the contract terms and applicable law. They offer clarity, risk management, and a framework for performance improvement, but require careful definition to avoid misinterpretation and scope creep.