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Overview

A Service Level Agreement is the result of a formal process. It helps both customer and provider(s) to identify the services required, specify the conditions of development, delivery and support needed, identify the other parties involved. Once completed they will create a binding agreement upon which service improvements can be based, charges levied and penalties imposed.

SLAs are not new, however with the need to focus on core services there is a greater emphasis on formalising relationships between external and internal providers and their customers. One way of doing this is via the SLA provided it is part of a formal Service level Management process.

This course is based on the procedures, practices and standards as outlined in BS15000: 2000 and BSI DISC PD0005 and defined in detail in the Service Delivery volume of the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL).

This course focuses on user and supplier issues associated with managing and implementing SLA’s. It also explains how to identify different service needs and the negotiation styles required to develop and implement an agreement.

Who will the course benefit?

• Staff who are responsible for implementing Service Level Agreements especially relationship, service and project managers, IT support and delivery staff, business systems analysts.
• Staff who intend to obtain the Practitioner Certificate in Service Level Management.

Course Objectives

To describe how Service Level Management contributes to the success of the business. Take the Practitioner Certificate in IT Service Management: Service Level Management.

Prerequisites

To be entered for the Practitioner’s examination you must hold the Foundation Certificate in IT Service Management. Additionally you should be able to demonstrate at least one year’s experience with Service Level Management.

Delegates will learn how to

• Plan for Service Level Management and Service Level Agreements based on the IT Infrastructure Library® (ITIL®) ‘best practice’.
• Create/Review a Service Catalogue specification, SLA, OLA and SIP.
• Plan and conduct an SLA negotiation.

Course outline

Service Level Management and the Infrastructure

• How the ITIL / BSI approach is transforming IT and Business Services How Service Management links into Business Programs
• The main features and linkages of the ITIL service support and delivery components that impact on Service Level Management. The need for service level agreements.
• Customer Relationship Management concepts.

Planning for Service Level Management

• Why commitment from supplier and customer is paramount.
• The Procedures, Dependencies, Staff, Scope, Aims, Benefits and Costs.

Implementing Service Level Management and the Agreement process

• How to develop workable agreements using product and service lifecycle approaches.
• How to identify the Service and Supplier chains, Underpinning agreements and Business Drivers
• How to define the service level requirements (SLRs).
• How the Service Catalogue is used.
• How to create a detailed specification for internal and external use.
• How to create workable Service Level Agreements.
• How the SLA assists in Service Improvement Programmes (SIP).

A standard process for service improvement

• The process, roles, responsibilities and deliverables.
• The tasks associated with the initiation, investigation, analysis, development, proposal, negotiation, agreement, implementation, monitoring, control and management.

Planning for Negotiation and generating Supplier/customer commitment

• The negotiation process.
• Defining SLA ‘negotiables’.
• How to recognise and deploy factual, logical, analytical, procedural and emotional styles for mutual advantage

Interfaces and Dependencies

In course Assignment

Examinations

The Practitioner Certificate in Service Level Management examination is a closed-book, one hour, case study based, 25 questions multiple-choice paper. This accounts for 50% of the overall marks. The remaining 50% is derived from a 75 minute in-course assessed Case Study assignment.
Both parts of the examination are taken during the course. The pass mark is 65%.

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