An SLA (service-level agreement) is traditionally a contract between an organization and an external service provider, such as an ISP or ASP (application service provider), that mandates specific performance levels. But the usefulness of an SLA is not limited to outside services; SLAs can be used internally to define requirements for everything from help desk services to network performance and availability, application performance and availability, and internal processes.

Internal SLAs between IT and other departments provide numerous benefits to the entire organization. Managing expectations, boosting productivity, and increasing employee morale are all direct advantages. SLAs also provide indirect benefits. They can help the IT group prioritize work, and as an incentive to provide good service, they lead to better overall system performance. They can also help foster good relations between IT and other departments.

Creating an internal SLA is a simple five-step process. The first step is to set up meetings between IT and department managers and define the requirements and expectations of each party. For example, the IT department may want two weeks to process a new user request, whereas the managers who make these requests would love to have a one-day turnaround. Discussions may determine that one day is not realistic for the IT department and two weeks is not satisfactory for the department managers. In this scenario, a one-week response time may be acceptable to both parties.

A response time, or any other service measurement covered by the SLA, must be agreed on by all the parties involved, and the specific requirements and expectations should be documented. Without a clear, detailed record of what everyone expects, the SLA will not provide a means of managing expectations and identifying responsibilities.

Performance metrics

The second step is to identify the metrics and define the baseline requirements that will measure the effectiveness of the response time, performance, and availability covered by the SLA. For any service, the metric used to measure it should be one of the key, quantifiable indicators of service quality. The metric should also be realistic.

For example, if you want to measure response time, avoid insisting that all requests must be met with a response within 1 second. That's unrealistically strict. Instead,

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