Managing Agreements
Service Level Management (SLM) covers advanced management of various agreements or service commitments between businesses and their clients.
A service commitment refers to the speed and quality of service the user expects and the provider is able to provide. Failure to meet an agreed service commitment is called a breach. The expectations of all stakeholders can be formalized and documented in the form of an agreement.
SLM in ASM Core covers three different types of agreements:
Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are agreements between a service provider and its Users. SLAs are applicable to both calls and requests. For example, you might have an agreement with your Users to respond to and fix PC service calls within a set timeframe. They can be driven off Service Levels, or configured to be applied based on individual Users, config items, organizations, locations, or types.
Operational Level Agreements (OLAs) are agreements between internal departments of a service provider. OLAs are applicable to calls, tasks, and approvals. For example, you might have an agreement that states that Third Level Support will resolve technical issues sent to them from the service desk within a certain amount of time.
Underpinning Contracts (UCs) are agreements between a service provider and the external suppliers who provide additional services or support to the service provider. UCs are applicable to calls, tasks, and approvals. For example, you might have an agreement with a hardware supplier that they will deliver computers or parts within a certain number of days from when they are ordered.
You can create and update agreements in ASM Core, and add:
You can also:
Define selection criteria for the agreement (that is, the rules that define in what situations the agreement is used)
Define thresholds for the agreement (that is, the times at which escalation and agreement breaches occur)
Define measurements and penalties for the agreement
Upload or download an attachment
Specify Agreement Stakeholders
View the audit trail for the agreement
ASM automatically applies agreements to calls based on a combination of information (the call details, IPK selection criteria, agreement selection priority, and the action performed by the analyst).
Only SLAs (Service Level Agreements) can be linked to requests.
The appropriate SLA is identified in the following way:
The system looks for an SLA assigned to the workflow template on which a request is based. If one is found, it is applied.
If no SLA has been defined in the workflow template, the first time a request is authorized ASM tries to find an SLA to apply. It checks the fields defined for the request, in a specific order defined for each field, to see if the particular entity defined is matched to an SLA as a Workflow Selection Criterion. If so, the agreement is applied.
If no matches are found for any of the fields, ASM checks for a default agreement; if one is found, it is applied.
Otherwise, no SLA is applied to the request.
Creating an Agreement
You can create three types of agreements in ASM Core: SLA, OLAs, and UCs.
Select New. In the submenu, scroll down and select Agreement.
You can also create an agreement from the Search window by selecting the Add New button in the left pane, or clone it from an existing agreement.
From the Select Agreement Type list, select the type of agreement you want to create. The available types are:
4. The Agreement Details window appears. The upper part of the window contains some basic information about the agreement. The lower part contains a number of tabs, which can be selected by clicking on them. Depending on the type of agreement you are creating, some fields and explorer options are enabled or disabled.
5. Complete the agreement details.
Title - Type a name for the agreement. Choose an appropriate name, such as Laptop Service Agreement Reference
Type - a reference code for the agreement. It can be any number of letters or numbers, up to 50 characters long.
Status - Select the current status of the agreement, using the drop-down list. The default value is Active. You can change it to inactive if appropriate. While there can be more types of status set up, each must be considered to be active or inactive, which is shown in this field. The actual status for the agreement is selected on the Profile Info tab from the Status list.
Default - This option is only used for SLAs and is therefore disabled for OLAs and UCs. Select the checkbox to specify that this agreement is to be considered the default Service Level Agreement by ASM Core.
The system will apply the default SLA if no match is found based on the IPK or Workflow Selection Criteria for the agreement. Default SLAs can be defined when your system requirements are quite simple. These agreements are system wide agreements.
Default SLAs can be used in two ways:
To set up a simple escalation strategy
For calls not specifically measured by an agreement.
Multiple default SLA agreements can exist.
The default agreement with the latest End Date will be applied if no other agreement settings affect the selection, such ask IPK Status, for example.
Do not select the Default option for SLAs unless you are sure that this agreement is set up correctly as the default agreement.
6. Having completed the details, use the tabs at the bottom of the window to provide profile info, significant dates, working hours, support hours and financial information for the agreement.
7. You can also use the options in the explorer pane to:
Define selection criteria for the agreement (that is, the rules that define in what situations the agreement is used)
Define thresholds for the agreement (that is, the times at which escalation and agreement breaches occur)
Define measurements and penalties for the agreement
Upload or download an object from the agreement
Specify Agreement Stakeholders
View the audit trail for the agreement
8. When you have finished, select Ok to save the details, or Save New to save the details and display the Agreement Details window with blank fields, for creation of another agreement of the same type.
Agreement Details Explorer Options
The Agreement Details explorer pane consists of the following options:
Searching for an Agreement
Select Search from the main menu. From the submenu, select Agreements.
The Agreement Search window is divided into two panes. You can select the criteria for the search in the left frame. The results are displayed in the right pane. You can apply as many filters as you wish (some of the fields require you to select a check box for that criteria to apply).
Select Search. The results are displayed in a browse table located in the right hand pane.
When the browse table appears, the following buttons are available in addition to the standard ones.
Additional Search Criteria
By configuring your search criteria, you can add more fields to your search criteria panel, including:
Cloning an Agreement
Select the agreement you want to clone from the browse table, and select the Clone icon.
When the new agreement's details are displayed on the screen, select the Edit icon if necessary to activate the fields.
Update the details as necessary.
You can also use the options in the explorer pane to:
Define selection criteria for the agreement (that is, the rules that define in what situations the agreement is used)
Define thresholds for the agreement (that is, the times at which escalation and agreement breaches occur)
Define measurements and penalties for the agreement
Upload or download an object from the agreement
Specify Agreement Stakeholders
View the audit trail for the agreement
5. When you have finished, select Ok to save the details, or Save New to save the details and display the Agreement Details window with blank fields, for creation of another agreement of the same type.
Updating an Agreement
Select the agreement you want to update from the browse table, and select the Action icon or double-click the agreement title.
When the details are displayed on the screen, select the Edit icon if necessary to activate the fields.
Update the details as necessary.
When you have finished, select Ok to save the details, or Save New to save the details and display the Agreement Details window with blank fields, for creation of another agreement of the same type.
Deleting an Agreement
Select the agreement you want to delete from the browse table, and select the Delete icon.
Confirm the deletion.
Deleted agreements are not removed from calls, requests, or tasks they were assigned to before the agreement was deleted.
If there are active events at the time of deletion, they will continue to count down until the agreement events are completed.
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