Service Level Management (SLM) represents IT's ability to manage a committed level of IT services to the business. In doing so, SLM creates accountability, visibility, and transparency for IT within the organization. This note will cover the following topics:
- The importance of transparency, visibility, and accountability to the IT department.
- The goals of service level management, and its effect on IT's value proposition.
- A description of the various components involved in managing service levels including service catalogs, Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Operational Level Agreements (OLAs), and underpinning contracts.
This research note is followed with guidelines for optimizing SLM in the enterprise.