What belongs to the covered service
List applications, environments, components and integrations. Separate production from test and user support from code changes. For each external dependency, state whether the support supplier resolves, coordinates or only communicates.
Severity should follow impact
| Level | Example impact | Operational objective |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | Service unavailable or major data risk with no workaround | Restore and communicate continuously |
| High | Important function affects several users | Limit impact and remediate with priority |
| Medium | Affected function with a workaround | Plan within the agreed window |
| Low | Minor defect or information request | Normal backlog and response |
The client may propose severity, while a confirmation rule is still required. User count, financial impact, data and available alternatives are better criteria than the word urgent.
Response, restoration and resolution
Response confirms ownership and begins triage. Restoration returns the service, potentially through a workaround. Permanent resolution may require development, testing and a release window, so it should not be confused with restoration.
Define support hours, holidays, accepted channels and what happens when information or access is missing.
Exclusions and mutual obligations
- incidents caused by unapproved changes;
- external supplier outages outside control;
- missing access or a person able to confirm impact;
- new features presented as incidents;
- force majeure and contractually defined situations;
- supplier obligations for data, logs and escalation procedure.
SLA reporting and review
Reporting should show incidents by severity, times, recurring causes, breaches and preventive actions. A periodic review can adjust thresholds, monitoring and coverage. An SLA remains useful only when it reflects the actual application and capacity rather than a table copied from another contract.
Do you need to check whether an SLA is measurable and realistic?
We can start from architecture, impact and required coverage and separate included support from changes that need their own estimates.
Discuss your project