Foundations of Service Level Management

Introduction. I: THEORY AND PRINCIPLES. 1. The Challenge. Mission Impossible. Divergent Views. Technical Challenge. What Is SLM? Pros and Cons. Other Service Providers. The Importance of SLM. Why Now? Summary. 2. The Perception and Management of Service Levels. Availability. Performance. Workload Levels. Security. Accuracy. Recoverability. Affordability. Summary. 3. Service Level Reporting. Audience. Types of Reports. Frequency of Reporting. Real-Time Reporting. Summary. 4. Service Level Agreements. The Need for SLAs. Functions of SLAs. Types of SLAs. SLA Processes. Summary. 5. Standards Efforts. IT Infrastructure Library. Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) SLA Working Group. Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)-Application Management MIB. Application Response Measurement Working Group. Summary. II: REALITY. 6. Service Level Management Practices. Lack of Common Understanding. Current Service Level Management Practices. Summary. References. 7. Service Level Management Products. Monitoring Tools. Reporting Tools. SLM Analysis. Administration Tools. Summary. III: RECOMMENDATIONS. 8. Business Case for Service Level Management. Cost Justifying Proactive Service Level Management. Quantifying the Benefits of Service Level Management. A Sample Cost Justification Worksheet. Summary. 9. Implementing Service Level Management. Planning the Rollout. Going Live with SLM. Following Through. Summary. 10. Capturing Data for Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Metrics for Measuring Service Levels. Methods for Capturing Service Metrics. Monitoring Individual Components and Aggregating Results. Inspecting Network Traffic for Application Transactions. End-to-End Service Level Measurement. Common Architectures and Technologies for Data Capture Solutions. Summary. 11. Service Level Management as Service Enabler. The Ascendance of IP. A Spectrum of Providers. The Importance of SLAs in the Service Environment. Different Strokes. Smart Implementation. Advice for Users. Advice for Service Providers. Summary. 12. Moving Forward. Establishing the Need for Service Level Management. Defining the Services to Be Managed. Communicating with the Business. Negotiating Service Level Agreements. Managing to the Service Level Agreement. Using Commercial Management Solutions. Continuously Improving Service Quality. Evolution of Service Level Management Standards. Evolution of Management Solution Capabilities. IV: APPENDIXES. Appendix A. Internal Service Level Agreement Template. About the SLA. About the Service. About Service Availability. About Service Measures. Appendix B. Simple Internal Service Level Agreement Template. Appendix C. Sample Customer Satisfaction Survey. Rating Service Quality. General Comments. Current Usage. Future Requirements. Optional Information. Appendix D. Sample Reporting Schedule. Daily Report. Weekly Report. Monthly Report. Quarterly Report. Appendix E. Sample Value Statement & Return on Investment (ROI) Analysis for a Service Provider Delivering an SAP Application. Summary of Value. Return on Investment (ROI) Value Areas. Benefit Areas. Return on Investment Analysis. Summary. Appendix F. Selected Vendors of Service Level Management Products. Glossary. Index.