Measurements

Many metrics may be tracked to measure an SLA, you should aim to limit the number of metrics you measure to prevent misunderstanding and unnecessary costs on both sides.

To measure your SLA effectively, you should examine your operations to determine which metrics are most relevant and prioritize them accordingly. A good point to remember is that the more complicated the monitoring, the more time is required to analyze the data thoroughly, and the less likely it is to be accurate.

When in doubt, you should prioritize those metrics that are easy to collect. When measuring SLAs, automated systems are preferable, as an expensive manual metric collection is unlikely to be accurate.

Depending on the service, the following metrics can be monitored and measured:

1. Service availability The length of time the service is available for use. This metric can be determined by time slot, with 99.5 per cent availability expected between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., and more or less availability listed at other times. E-commerce operations are notorious for having highly aggressive SLAs at all times; 99.999 per cent uptime is not unusual for a platform that produces millions of dollars per hour.
2. Error rates Error counts or percentages in significant deliverables. This category can include production failures such as incomplete backups and restores, coding errors/rework, and missed deadlines.
3. Technical quality Technical quality is measured in outsourced application production using commercial research methods that analyze variables such as program size and coding defects.
4. Security Application and network security breaches can be expensive in these highly controlled times. Measuring controllable security measures, including anti-virus updates and patching, is critical in demonstrating that all appropriate preventive measures were taken in an incident.
5. Business results Business process metrics should be included in their service level agreements (SLAs). Using existing main performance metrics is usually the best way, as long as the vendor's contribution to such Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is calculable.