Software and IT Support Agreements: Service Levels

Summary

This practice note focuses on the key issues to consider when structuring service levels and remedies for failure to achieve these in outsourcing and other IT services contracts. When drafting service level agreements (SLAs), relevant considerations will include the type of service level(s), what to measure, cost and quality, outcomes and outputs, how service levels are measured, service credits and other remedies, earn back and performance bonuses and changes to service levels during the contract term. The specific measurements and metrics used in SLAs will depend on the type of IT services (e.g. hosting, data communications and hardware maintenance). For more information about umbrella agreements for IT services, see Master Services Agreements for IT Services.