Service Level Agreement Best Practice

OBJECTIVES

• Plan & draft a range of service level agreements & construct & control contract negotiations & disputes
• Articulate how quality SLAs should be included within the Procurement processes
• Negotiate service level agreements with internal and external suppliers
• Document appropriate quality outcomes from service contracts
• Evaluate the likely results from alternative service performance frameworks

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

This training course will benefit all levels of personnel engaged in purchasing and procurement, commercial and contracts management departments, and technical operatives providing performance under service level agreements. It will enable them to contextualize their work, understand the contract and become aware of the different issues and risks associated with SLA contracting.

COURSE OUTLINE

Day One: Principles and Functions of Service Level Agreements

• The need to measure quality of performance
• Why, when and how can SLAs help to achieve quality
• Key objectives
• SLAs: Contracts or Contract substitutes?
• Introducing SLAs for services bought in from contractors
• Use of corporate SLAs between in-house departments

Day Two: Key Elements of a Service Level Agreements

• What services are being measured?
• Typical quality measures
• SLA Governance Frameworks: Managing, measuring and reporting service performance
• Duties of the customer
• Risk sharing and SLAs: Managing problems
• Termination of the agreement

Day Three: Drafting your Service Level Agreement

• Drafting principles
• A model structure for the SLA
• Essential elements of a quality SLA
• Using appropriate measurement language
• Carrots or sticks to encourage achievement
• SLA checklists

Day Four: Managing the in-life SLA      

• Review processes
• Using escalation to manage quality performance
• Keeping the SLA relevant: Managing changes
• Negotiation techniques to manage the variation
• Customer intervention options with an underperforming contractor
• Learning and applying lessons for the next SLA

Day Five: Using a Scorecard Approach to SLA Management

• Origins of the scorecard approach
• Aligning the SLA with the corporate strategy
• Balancing the needs of stakeholders
• Planning and Constructing a SLA scorecard
• Key Performance indicators to support the SLA
• Business process quality improvement