Sample Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Help Desk & Customer Service Best Practices - Is Your Help Desk SLA Complete?
How can you develop an SLA?
What should be included in the SLA?
Who needs to be a party to the SLA?
Your Company, Inc. IT Help Desk
Service Level Agreement
Provider of Service
XXX IT Help Desk staff
Type of Service
IT Help Desk primary first level support
Service Period
January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2014
Performance
In order to provide optimal first level support service to all departments, all problem and repair calls must be received by the Help Desk.
The company XXX IT HELP DESK will provide (Customer Name/Department Name) with the following support:
First level problem determination where
- All problems will be recorded.
- Problems will be resolved or assigned to the appropriate specialist.
- Problems will be monitored.
- Users will be notified of commitment times and any problems that occur in meeting the established commitment.
- Problem resolution will be documented and available in report status.
- Monthly reports will be provided.
A single point of contact with the XXX department for
- Orders for new equipment.
- Equipment moves, adds, and changes (Equipment includes personal computers, printers, and telephones).
- Services such as data entry, building access authorizations, new computer user IDs and passwords, voice mail, Centrex lines, mainframe connections, file server connections, reports, and application program problems and requests.
Reliability
Services will be provided between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. During this time the Help Desk will be staffed with a minimum of X people.
The telephone number (000-0000) will have two lines available to take calls. When both lines are busy, calls will be forwarded to voice mail, where a message can be left. The Help Desk guarantees a return call within five minutes of an urgent voice mail message. All messages left on voice mail will be confirmed for receipt within four hours. A separate telephone number (000-0000) will be available to check the status of system (mainframe, AS/400, file server, voice mail) operability. From this number, a caller may also be transferred to the Help Desk staff. Telephone number 000-0000 is available for faxed information.
Response Time
First level problem determination will be assigned using the following criteria:
- Number of customers affected
- Effect on business mission
- Context of problem
- Deadlines
- Estimated solution time
- Application involved
- Frequency of problem
- Customer's sense of priority
- Customer's commitment level
- Availability of workaround
- Threat to data integrity or computer security
The following table will be used internally to prioritize calls and to give a response time commitment:
Severity Level
Definition
Response Times
1. System Down
AS/400, mainframe, server
Immediate
2. Critical
Business outage or significant customer impact that threatens future productivity
Within 1 hour
3. Urgent
High-impact problem where production is proceeding, but in a significantly impaired fashion; there is a time-sensitive issue important to long term productivity that is not causing an immediate work stoppage; or there is significant customer concern.
Within 2 hours
4. Important
Important issue that does not have significant current productivity impact
Within 4 hours
5. Monitor
Issue requiring no further action beyond monitoring for follow-up, if needed
Within 1 business day
6. Informational
Request for information only
Within 1 business day
Single point of contact response will be determined using the following criteria:
Definition
Response Time
1. Orders for new equipment provided by manager.
Information conveyed to manager within one business day, then schedule confirmation
2. Equipment moves, adds
If specific date requested, Help Desk staff will changes negotiate with all involved staff to confirm date.
3. Data entry service
Information conveyed to data entry supervisor within one hour, then schedule confirmation provided by data entry.
4. System sign-on requests
To be returned to user within five business days.
5. Centrex lines
Line to be ordered within one business day.
6. Voice mail
Voice mailbox with existing line - one business day.
7. Computer reports
Information conveyed to manager within one business day, then schedule confirmation provided by manager.
8. Application requests
Information conveyed to manager within one business day, then schedule confirmation provided by manager.
9. Building access authorizations
Form to be sent to requestor within one business day.
10. Budget figures
Information conveyed to XXX within one business day.
Liason
(Customer Name) internal liaison person is responsible for keeping and updating software manuals used by the department. The department liaison person is responsible for answering software use questions, while IT Help Desk staff will respond to software problems. The liaison person will also be responsible for contacting vendors when problems arise with Software or equipment not supported by XXX. (See Attachment 1 for complete list of supported software.) This liaison will be the individual who the IT Help Desk staff will work with on training needs, reporting information, and "in-department" trouble-shooting. The liaison will also assist the IT Help Desk in the maintaining of correct data base information. To facilitate this, the liaison will inform the IT Help Desk of any changes of staff (i.e. replacements).
The liaison for (Customer Name) is:
Purchasing Approval
Following is a list of the individuals within the Department who have the authority to place orders with the IT Help Desk for service or equipment that could generate billed back charges:
When orders are placed with the IT Help Desk, it will be the above contact's responsibility to provide purchase order information that can then be referenced on the orders. The department contact will work with (XXX Staff Name) to place and confirm components on orders. If the IT Help Desk is not provided with the correct authorization, the order will be placed on hold awaiting this authorization.
The clock for response time for the Help Desk will be suspended during this wait and will restart only after this information is provided.
Reporting
The IT Help Desk will provide monthly reports to (Customer Name) staff containing information on actual performance achieved, compared to service levels agreed on. Information will be provided on both open and closed requests. (Customer Name) staff is not responsible for reporting, but may at their discretion audit the methods being used by the IT Help Desk to gather and report performance data.
Modifications
This agreement may be amended at any time with mutual consent of both parties.
Operations Manager
__________________________
Date:
_____________
(Customer Name)
__________________________
Date:
_____________
Additional Whitepapers
IT Help Desk Whitepapers
