Service Level Management

"No part of this volume may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical including photocopying and recording or by any information storage or retrieval system except as may be expressly permitted." "This softcopy is guaranteed to be the latest. If this document is printed, please refer to the latest version number indicated in the QMS Master list, to avoid using an outdated version."
1. Control Information 4.Showing the Way 7.Amendment Record 2. Purpose 5.Implementing Model 8.Annexure 3.Defining the Model 6.Output

1. 1. Control Information
Author: Sundar.R, Sushma.J.S Approved By: Document/Version Number: Version Number: SANJEEVI KUMAR, RAVIBABU AYYAGARI QLTY\QMS\MAN\SLM v1.0

2. 2. Purpose
The customer is responsible for ensuring that services support the business and have value for the money spent. Services must evolve in order to be appropriate and effective to support changes in business and thereby continue to have value for money. Service Management is the means of ensuring that the customer continues to get what is wanted and/or is entitled to.

3. 3. Defining the Model

Service Level Management involves planning, coordinating, drafting, agreeing, monitoring Service Level Agreements and reviewing the service achievements to ensure that the required and cost justifiable quality is maintained and gradually improved. SLAs (Service Level Agreements) provide the basis for managing the relationship between the customer and supplier. Service Management aims to achieve common understanding between the customer and provider by managing service level expectations and in the process delivering and supporting desired results. IT based services, or business services based on IT, may be delivered directly to the customer or - in the case of e-government - to the general public on behalf of the customer. Service Management also looks at the dependence that businesses and organizations have on IS/IT services to acquire and process the elements, which make up many of their services. Service quality monitoring demonstrates ongoing value for money and service improvement.

4. 4. Showing the Way

The policy: The Service Management policy must have within its scope service requirements and objectives that can be achieved. A management framework should take the right approach towards risk assessment and risk management. The framework should also have the right approach to monitor and continuously improve the quality of services that are delivered. A policy highlights the key roles and responsibilities required within the service management team together with the use of third party suppliers. Communication: Service Management is all about achieving common understanding, managing expectations, and delivering results for which communications and relationships are critical to success. Good communications at senior management level is important in keeping service delivery up to date and relevant to the customer's requirements. Mutual requirements need to be reasonable and realistic. The Goal of SLM is to maintain and improve the quality of IT service through a constant cycle of agreeing, monitoring, and reporting upon IT services achievement and instigation of actions to eradicate poor service in line with business or cost justifications. -- Improved Service Quality -- Measurable service levels -- Balance between customer demand and IT capabilities

5. 5. Implementing the Model

Infrastructure which forms the interface between the service provider and business requirements of the client is a set of inter linked processes. The flow of control from client to service desk to the services and operation and back to the client is detailed out in this diagram.

ACCOUNT MANAGEME N NT
SERVICE LEVEL MANAGEMENT M

DEVELOPME N NT
SERVIC E

SERVICE

B BUILD

& TEST

DESIG N

IT SERVICE CONTINUITY M MANAGEMENT AVAILABILIT SERVIC FINANCIAL Y E MANAGEME MANAGEME PLANNI N NT NTTTTTTT N NG CAPACITY MANAGEME N NT T TNTTT C CHANGE MANAGEMENT

INCIDENT MANAGEMENT M

PROBLEM MANAGEME N NT

C CHANGE MANAGEMENT

CONFIGURA TION MANAGEME N NT

RELEASE MANAGEME N NT

PRODUCTIO N

Implementation of service delivery strategy and formulating the SLA The high level process of service formulation starts when developing and interpreting the business strategy. The nature of the services required is a business decision that can be either services delivered by the organization to the citizen or internal services to support the business. The form of those services is partly a function of business strategy implementation and partly of the IS and IT strategies. How to deliver the services is partly a function of implementation of business, IS and IT strategies, and partly of the acquisition strategy. The delivery details are left to the service provider under some contractual options. Defining a Service Level Agreement: A service level agreement is a formal contractual arrangement specifying the required service levels and the expected quality of service to be delivered. It must state the mutual responsibilities of the customer and provider thus ensuring that both parties are responsible for monitoring, revising, and evaluating existing Service Level Agreements (SLAs). The process of service management seeks to put in place SLAs with providers in order to monitor and manage service levels, improve services, and ensure that end users are satisfied with the services received. SLAs should be reviewed when significant changes to requirements take place and reviewed annually to ensure that they continue to meet business needs. Operational Level Agreements The SLA has three parts: General, Delivery, and Support. The general area describes the services delivered, the parties to the agreement, and how these parties will be reported to. The Delivery area describes the requirements, availability of service hours, reliability, volumes and expected performance of service, contingency actions, and security. Underpinning Contracts The Support area describes the requirements (UCs) of service hours, support methods, change procedures, and escalation procedures. A) General Introduction i) Parties ii) Signatures iii) Service Description Reporting and Reviewing i) Content ii) Frequency iii) Incentives and Penalty B) Delivery Availability Throughput Transaction response time Batch turnaround time Continuity Security C) Support

Service Hours Support Change Procedures Escalation The SLAs defined above have to be checked against other existing SLAs for any potential conflict of interests. The OLAs or Operational Level Agreements are to be checked with every internal department to reiterate the capability of supporting the SLAs requirements. Sufficient UCs (Under Pinning Contracts) with external suppliers has to be ensured for proper availability of resources.

C Customer S Service Level Agreements I IT Organization

Underpinning Contracts ( (UCs)

Internal Suppliers

( (Departments)

External Suppliers

H Hardware

S Software

E Environment

N Network

Performance measurement Service levels defined are measured and the related metrics are calculated. Based on the service level indicators, the status of the service is foreseen and the necessary corrective and preventive steps are taken. Escalation of the status of Internal Targets helps meet the Service Level Agreement. Different metrics calculated helps in improving the Service Levels identified. A measurement program considers the high-level business objectives and the detailed operational criteria. This should be in terms of: What the business wants, What the customer wants, Measuring costs and value, Demonstrating continued effort towards best value under changing circumstances, and Selecting measures that will assist the service management and diagnostic process. Service Level reports are generated/prepared and they are discussed internally to review the status of it. The reports are communicated to the customer for the benefit of knowing the status. KPI and SLA The measurement of the levels of service is achieved by a metrics called KPI or Key Performance Indicators. Using the SLO or Service Level Objectives that are agreed upon in the SLA, KPIs are arrived upon. Some metrics followed at HTC are: SLO Availability of Application Problem resolution within the allotted time Modification Quality Application response time Project execution and completion Support Availability Support Instances Project metrics: Defect resolution, Defect injection, detection, distribution, and seepage Benchmarks and performance logs, % change in response time, Logs Project metrics: Lead time, Earned Value, Effort, and Schedule adherence % Availability of support No of support calls, no of incidents KPI % of Availability , MTTR (Mean Time to Repair) % Response, Call response time, % SWT

Assessment of KPIs and SLAs The level of service is captured and base lined regularly. This provides a basis for measuring service improvements and achievements using defined metrics for each service management process. The results of the program are monitored regularly and appropriate actions are taken to correct any under-achievements. SLAs must take account of Underpinning Contracts where they already exist. SLAs must be monitored to see if the service being delivered is to the required specification and reviewed to judge the viability of the underlying specification. Assessment of OLAs and UCs are done in internal meetings to review the capability of the organization to support the commitments made in the SLA. The UCs and OLAs also take into account the IT services continuity management i.e. Capacity management, Financial management and Availability management and Development and Execution operations i.e. service design and service build to test. An SIP or the Service Improvement Plan creates the outline of continuous improvement in the levels of service. An SQP or the Service Quality Plan is made to guide the internal departments and suppliers on the course of meeting the commitment. Managing Relationships internal, external, customers, and providers. Professional relationship between an organization and its clients, suppliers, and intra departmental personnel is critical to the success of this model. Services that cross multiple service domains and/or contract boundaries can be problematic.

6. 6. Output
The model describes the methodology of arriving at a detailed SLA with service level objectives that meet the requirements of the client and is within the providers capability. A contractual document specifies the required service levels and the expected quality of service to be delivered and is the basis of initiating a Work Order. Service Level Management will enable a balance between the providers capability and the customers demands and increase the quality of service.

7. 7. Amendment Record
Version # 1.0 Initial Preparation Description Section # All Release Date MAY_30_2006

8. 8. Annexure
ServiceLevel Management Annexure