Choosing an SLA Structure

Choose the simplest SLA structure that fits your operating model: customer-based, service-based or multi-level. Whichever you select, it should minimise duplication across agreements while keeping each commitment relevant to the consumers it serves, so service level management remains a live, negotiated bridge between consumer needs and provider capability.

• Start by mapping services, customers and common terms, then identify commitments that can be reused rather than rewritten for every relationship.
• Choose the simplest maintainable structure. In the article's multi-level example, common corporate terms sit above service-specific schedules, which in turn sit above customer-specific variations.
• Test navigation with users. An elegant structure no one can navigate is a named pitfall, as are creating one document per relationship without reuse and mixing incompatible service scopes.
• Pilot on one representative case and review agreement duplication before extending the structure to a wider service population. Record the assumption, its expected effect on customer comprehension, and the date it will be checked.
• Measure agreement duplication, maintenance effort and customer comprehension as a set, each with an agreed baseline, data source and owner, and review trends with both providers and consumers so the structure is judged in its service context.