Service level management is the name

ting, co-ordinating, monitoring, and

). The process includes the on-going
that the required service quality is

given to the processes of planning, negotia

reporting on Service Level Agreements (SLAs
review of service achievement to ascertain
maintained and wherever necessary improved.

SLAs contain specific targets against which performance can be evaluated. They a
lso define the responsibilities placed on all parties, in particular binding Ser
vice Delivery to offer an agreed quality of service so long as the users constra
in their demands within agreed limits. The relationship between Service Delivery
and its customers is therefore put on to a formal business-like footing similar
to those which exist between Service Delivery and its suppliers. When used in c
onjunction with the financial management process, service level management provi
des the basis for running Service Delivery as a business or profit centre.
Service level management provides a number of benefits not least of which is tha
t it enables specific targets to aim for and against which service quality can b
e monitored and measured. Furthermore, service monitoring will allow weaknesses
in existing services to be identified, so that the quality of service provision
can be improved.