A service-level contract (SLA) can be an important part of consulting for businesses. It is often used to establish a relationship between the internal operations of a company and its clients. It defines what each party needs to reach its goals and provides a mechanism for reporting on those goals and any issues functioning of a service level agreement that arise.
SLAs protect both the end user and the service provider by establishing standards, targets and consequences for meeting or not meeting those expectations. They also allow for the creation of key performance indicators that can help a business identify areas that are not on track to meet its strategic objectives.
The SLA is a document that defines all the services that will be included in a given contract. It should also include information on turnaround times and exclusions. The contract should also specify a list metrics that will be used by the service provider to measure their performance.
Metrics that are easy to collect should be chosen to reflect factors that are under the reasonable control of the service provider. They should also be set up with a reasonable base, so they can be refined as time goes on.
KPIs are metrics that measure how well an organization is performing with respect to its primary goals. It can help determine whether the business is veering away from its course, a common problem with small businesses.
