A contract between the provider and the user that specifies the level of service that is expected during its term SLAs are used by Application Service Providers to specify application availability and performance, response time for problem resolution (network down, server failure, etc ) and other service measurements
Performance objectives reached by consensus between the user and the provider of a service, or between an outsourcer and an organization A service level agreement specifies a variety of performance standards that may or may not include "service level " See Service Level
Agreements between health authorities or primary care groups and NHS trusts on services to be provide for a local population Annual agreements are to be replaced by long-term service agreements which cover a minimum of three years
A document outlining the service that a carrier provides to a customer SLAs normally include acceptable levels of latency, packet loss, availability, as well as other expectations of the customer and carrier In the event that the carrier does not meet their SLA, the customer may be eligible for billing credit For example, if a customer experiences a carrier-caused outage, they may be able to receive for availability for each day of the outage
A formal negotiated document that defines (or attempts to define) in quantitative (and perhaps qualitative) terms the service being offered to a Customer Confusion must be avoided over whether the quantitative definitions constitute thresholds for an acceptable service, targets to which the supplier should aspire or expectations that the supplier would strive to exceed Any metrics included in a SLA should be capable of being measured on a regular basis and the SLA should record by whom Typically it will cover: service hours, service availability, Customer support levels, throughputs and responsiveness, restrictions, functionality and the service levels to be provided in a contingency It may also include information on security, charges and terminology Apart from regular periodic reviews, SLAs should be renegotiated whenever a business service is subject to a change of requirement, or there is an inability to deliver to requirement