A framework for service level agreement management

Although widely cited as a mechanism for establishing clear understanding between service providers and service customers, service level agreements (SLAs) have widely differing definitions within the telecommunications industry. Especially noteworthy is the lack of agreement on their scope, structure, and role in a service based system and their placement in service management systems. However, recent work of the telemanagement forum on SLAs provides clearer incite into the utility of these agreement. This paper describes an SLA framework and includes an example of the application of this framework to emergency telecommunications