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Blueprint for an Exchange Service Level Agreement
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Management of
the SLA is a critical part of supporting end users. Before we
can determine if objectives have been met, we must first
identify metrics and the specifics of the contract.
Contacts and
Role assignment
First, name the
key contact to the Service Level Agreements and delegate SLA
management tasks to others. Other contacts for the SLA include:
ABC Company:
Management
Exchange connection into other corporate systems
Management of 3rd Party Outlook/Exchange Development
Application Development
Remote and Dial-in Access
Reporting
The frequency
and detail of reports must be identified as well. Reporting can
then be further broken down into two techniques:
Automated system reporting
should be implemented in order to provide current and historical
data. This data should be made available to the above named
contacts on a regular basis. The methods for providing reports
to the named contacts may include a secured website or
electronic mail attachments. Hard copies of the reports may also
be requested. The reports, for these contacts should be fully
detailed reports with data analysis and a trend summary for the
month. Moreover, historical data should probably be included.
It may be necessary for
regional and divisional managers to receive a summary
report/graphic depicting uptime and overall system performance
once a month, similar to the graph depicted to the right.
ABC Company may also require that an
automatic mechanism be put into place to notify the named
contacts when critical performance thresholds are met. Specific
thresholds are
discussed later in the document.
Questionnaires and end-user canvassing
methods should also be performed by ABC Company and/or the
Outsourcing Company as part of an overall customer service
initiative.
Finances
Payment terms and contract length are
negotiated with the outsourcing vendor. ABC Company may prefer a
contract length of six months, but will consider contracts as
long as one year. Renewals can be handled in many ways including
automatic six month extensions. Both ABC Company and the
outsourcing vendor should be able to request a formal renewal
meeting to update the SLA with riders and to negotiate new
terms.
There are two types of terminations
possible:
-
Contract Termination- Indicates that either ABC Company or the
outsourcing company elects to terminate the contract. A
“Technology Transfer” and associated fee would probably be
required in order to shift the maintenance and support to
another group.
Technology Termination- A
termination in technology would occur when the support
requirements are no longer required due to a shift in ABC
Company technologies. This form of termination may or may not
require a formal “Technology Transfer.”
Termination Options are described as
follows:
ABC Company may reserve the
right to cancel the contract for either termination option with
60 days notice to the outsourcing company. ABC Company
understands that there may be financial penalties for “Contract
Termination” if the SLA objectives were met by the outsourcing
vendor. These penalties often reflect the fee for one month of
support.
The outsourcing vendor may
reserve the right to “Cancel Termination” with 180 days notice
to ABC Company. A “Technology Transfer” fee would be charged to
cover labor costs associated with transferring the knowledge and
technology to another group.
Review
Process
There should be a formal review to
evaluate the performance and customer service levels as well as
staff reviews. A quarterly review is sometimes formalized in
order to include discussions on SLA fulfillment, staffing and
future projects that may affect the SLA.
Change
Management
Service Level Management is accomplished
by negotiating a change or additional to an existing Service
Level Agreement. Out-of-scope or new projects need not be
discouraged. A change process occurs during every review process
and can also be instigated as needed. Several things could
require a change or addendum to the existing SLA:
A change in the process
workflow
Additional services
Missed performance or
customer service thresholds
Additional third-party
applications
Changes are not
made directly to the SLA. Instead, contract riders are appended
to the SLA until such time that the SLA is rewritten to
incorporate the addendums. The SLA can only be written during a
renewal cycle with both parties present.
Financial
Incentive Plan
Most groups
believe that the total cost of ownership (TCO) is more a
function of cost of service and support of the system than a
function of the cost of hardware and software. SLAs can drive
down TCO by identifying damages for missed service levels.
In the case of
ABC Company, a third party may be asked to provide evaluations
to determine if service level objectives have been met. The
costs associated with the third-party evaluations are the
responsibility of the party requesting the evaluations.
Penalties and
bonuses for SLA performance guidelines could be “paid”
quarterly. Performance objectives are met based on a +10/-10
(percent?) allowance. Penalties are paid as a deduction of
regular costs for the pay period immediacy following the review
cycle. Bonuses are paid with four weeks of the review cycle and
do not require a separate purchase order from ABC Company.
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Blueprint for an Exchange Service Level Agreement
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whether express or implied, of its accuracy, completeness,
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work are authored, recommended, supported or guaranteed by
Stephen Bryant or Pro Exchange. OutlookExchange.Com, Stephen Bryant and Pro Exchange shall not be liable for any damages
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been advised of the possibility of such damages.
Copyright Stephen Bryant 2008