SLA – Service Level Agreement
Proof of Concept (PoC) – creation of a feasibility study
The term SLA has a very important meaning for many companies. The “Service Level Agreement” (SLA for short) specifies precise details of how a service is to be provided and in what time frame. This ensures reliable framework conditions for all partners. This article explains the details of these agreements.Importance of SLAs in IT
SLA stands for Service Level Agreement in the context of an IT service. It is used to contractually agree the quality or scope of a service. This provides a commercial enterprise with a reliable basis for its activities. The requirements should be precisely defined in the contract – for example, that a server must be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a maximum downtime rate of 0.1 percent. It is also necessary to specify the response times. It is possible to differentiate these further – for example, to specify a response time of 30 minutes on weekdays and one hour at weekends. Other contract contents include the client’s obligations in the event of damage and the possible communication channels. For example, many SLAs state that the customer must report a defect immediately by phone, email or ticket service. This is important in order to ensure rapid rectification. It also makes sense to define the sanctions in the event of non-compliance with the contract.
When should a proof of concept be carried out?
SLAs are primarily used to safeguard business-critical applications. The functions involved vary from company to company. Companies often conclude corresponding agreements for the maintenance of their servers. However, it is also possible to apply them to the provision of databases, printers, files or emails.
100% SLA? Almost impossible:
Most SLAs guarantee an availability of around 99 percent. Some customers wonder whether it wouldn’t make sense to specify 100 percent right away. However, this is technically almost impossible. Even a failure of just one second would mean that the value is below 100 percent. No technician would be able to repair the damage in this short time. In addition, the effort involved would be very high, as he would have to be on site around the clock to monitor the system. This would result in immense costs that would be disproportionate to the benefits. Therefore, all realistic SLAs provide for an availability of just under 100 percent.
Calculation example SLA
One of the key components of an SLA is defining the availability of a particular system. First of all, it is necessary to precisely define the desired operating times. A web server, for example, is normally in operation 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. A company server, on the other hand, may only be required during the company’s business hours – for example, 250 days a year for eight hours at a time. This results in very different requirements. Finally, it is necessary to record an exact availability. How high this value should be depends primarily on how high the financial loss would be in the event of an outage.
If an availability of 99 percent is specified for the web server mentioned above, the following values result, for example:Operating time: 365 days x 24 hours
Service level for availability: 99%
Maximum downtime per year: 3 days, 15 hours, 36 minutes
New Media Service GmbH offers these services in the SLA area
At New Media Service GmbH, it is possible to conclude SLAs for many different business applications. This starts with the availability of Internet and e-mails for banks and extends to printer availability in companies that produce delivery bills or shipping labels. The individual requirements are defined together with the customer in each individual case. It is also possible to precisely define the downtimes for scheduled maintenance work and then agree a suitable SLA.
If you would like to find out more, simply contact us for a free, no-obligation consultation . We will be happy to provide you with information on this topic and, if required, take care of implementation and realization for you.