Service Level Agreements:Evaluating and Negotiating Law School Technology SLAs

Ramsey DonnellAssoc. Director for Access & OrganizationThe John Marshall Law School

What is an SLA?

• Service Level Agreement•Core component of many technology contracts•Ancillary•Sometimes offered at added cost

•Promise by a vendor to meet a certain level of service

Examples

• Categories of agreements•Hosting•Cloud computing –ASP, software-as-service•Network connectivity•Technical support/maintenance

Examples

• Library/Law School agreements• Internet connection•Website hosting• ILS hosting/maintenance•Course management system hosting/support•Lecture capture•Server maintenance/support

Are SLAs negotiable?

• Often they are• If not…•Is it worth the price?•Does it signal a problem with the service provider?

• Ask to see SLA early in process

Why an SLA?

SLA

• Certainty • Immediacy• Incentive

No SLA

• Uncertainty • Delay• Cost of Litigation

Other incentives?

•Reputation•Renewal

The Bones of an SLA

1. What is being measured?• Availability, performance,

support

2. How is it measured?• Metrics—uptime, etc.

3. Remedy• Credits

First things first…

• Is the SLA part of the signed contract?•How can the SLA be modified?•“We reserve the right to change the terms of this SLA…”

Services & Metrics

•Availability of system/service•Metric—uptime•E.g., 99.9% over 365 days, 24/7

Availability, cont’d

•Exclusions from calculation•Scheduled maintenance•Hours per month?•Advance notice?•Limitations?

Availability, cont’d

•Exclusions from calculation•Emergency maintenance/unplanned downtime•Plan to minimize unplanned downtime?

Availability, cont’d

•Exclusions from calculation•Force majeure•Acts of god, war, natural disaster…•Overbroad?•Mitigation?

Force majeure• “Provider shall not be liable to Customer

for any failure or delay caused by events beyond Provider’s control, including, but not limited to, Customer’s failure to furnish necessary information, sabotage, failure or delays in transportation, communication or utilities, failures or substitutions of equipment, labor disputes, accidents, shortages of labor, fuel, raw materials or equipment, or other technical failures.”

Calculating Service Availability

AV Availability of service/system in a given month (percentage)

Total DT Minutes in a given calendar month for which service/system is not in operation

Permitted DT

Minutes of DT in a given month that is excluded from the calculation of AV (e.g., scheduled maintenance, DT due to force majeure)

Total service time

Total number of minutes in the given calendar month

Services & Metrics

• System/service performance•Metrics•Response time•Latency

Performance, cont’d

•Metrics•Consistency•Be wary of averages• Jitter

Performance, cont’d

•Metrics•Packet loss•Different data transfers tolerate different packet loss

Provider assumptions

• Assumptions underlying service levels•If exceeded, no remedy under SLA•Volume and transaction assumptions•Orders per second•System queries•Data transfer•Expansion

Services & Metrics

• Technical support•The system is down!•Mechanism for reporting?•Help desk—phone support•Online ticketing system

Technical support

•Call support—quality measures•English•Max. hold times•Live vs. automated system

Technical support

•Response time•Time to resolution

Technical support

• Response time•Severity Levels•Critical—faster response times•How defined?•Who assigns?

Technical support

• Time to resolution/workaround•When must work begin?•What resources devoted?•When will it be resolved?

Sample severity levels

Severity Level

Response Time

Resources Resolution

Severity 1 – service unusable

15 minutes

Immediate assignment of dedicated technician, continuous effort

2 hours or less

Severity 2 – portion of service unusable

2 hours Reasonable personnel and effort

8 hours or less

Severity 3 – minor errors

8 hours As needed As mutually agreed

Remedy

•Certainty + immediacy = Incentive

Remedy

•Service credits•Monetary•Objective•Incentive

Remedy

• Termination right•Chronic failures•Transition

Recap – Evaluating an SLA• Binding, no unilateral modification?• Structure•What is being measured?• Availability• Performance• Technical support

•Metrics – objective•Remedy• Credits• Termination