A service level management system makes sure that all IT services provided to customers meet agreed upon standards of quality. It also includes ensuring that Service Level Agreements are in place and are being observed, measuring and reporting informative post on the service levels, and continuously striving to improve the quality of service offered over time.

It is vital to have the right tools in place for all of this. Most often, the processes and systems that determine service levels are outsourced to third-party firms. Therefore, it is essential to know how best to manage them in the context of your own SLM processes.

The first step to set up an SLM process is to determine what services are most important for the business and establish appropriate metrics for success. This includes aspects like effectiveness, user base and design aspects. It is also crucial to choose technology expertise carefully For instance, a company that specialises in a particular platform might be able to promise higher levels of performance than a generalised service provider.

After the SLA goals are established then teams need to devise a plan to maintain them. This usually means creating systems that track progress, and notify the team when there are issues with meeting goals.

A strong SLM process also includes ongoing improvement processes. They will allow teams to learn from the metrics they track, and discover ways to improve the processes that cause them problems. If, for example, a NOC service fails to meet its SLA of answering phone calls within 30 seconds, it should be possible identify the cause and fix it.