Clearly defining the role of SLA Managers is critical to ensuring effective ongoing governance in Shared Services, Outsourcing and Global Business Services arrangements. Our defintion of the role of the SLA Manager is very clearly defined to ensure effective management of Service Level Agreements using the off the shelf SLA Management tool ServiceFrame. The definition is of general use for those attempting to clearly define the roles and responsibilities of those managing Service Level Agreements (even if not using a good SLA Management solution like ServiceFrame!)
Manage Quality of Service Delivery into the Organisation: The SLA Manager is the person in organisation who is responsible for the ongoing management of the quality of services delivered into the client or ‘buy side’ from another organisation – whether from an outsource service provider, a shared service centre or even a global business services organisation.
Create and/or Sign Off on SLA: The SLA Manager is a client side role. The SLA Manager will typically be responsible for creating or at least signing off on the Service Level Agreement at the beginnning of the sourcing arrangement. They will usually clearly identify the services that are to be sourced aswell as the specific metrics on the SLA. The SLA Manager is normally in an operational role in the organisation.
Track Compliance to the SLA: The SLA Manager will usually track the compliance of the service provider to the SLA – this will often be done either via spreadsheets or powerpoint. SLA Managers using the SLA Management tool ServiceFrame access an online SLA traffic light dashboard to view the performance of SLA metrics on an ongoing basis.
Create Monthly SLA Trend and SLA Performance Reports: SLA Managers are also reponsible for compiling monthly trend reports on SLA performance for senior company executives – these will often be compiled manually (using ServiceFrame the reports are easily downloadable at the click of a button). When they have time SLA Managers wil usually analyse the reports and create insights in order to improve or assess their current service levels.
Drive Regular SLA Review Meetings: Monthly or quarterly service review meetings are driven by SLA Managers on the ‘client’ or ‘buy side’. Regular reports detailing levels of performance against Service Levels are critical inputs for these meetings.
Faciliate Customer Satisfaction Surveys: Customer satisfaction surveys are also often managed by SLA Managers – although usually initiated by the Service Provider Account Manager.
Other key roles in the Shared Services, Outsourcing and Global Services Organisations include SLA Analysts, Service Owners and SLA Account Managers. All of these roles are critical to effective management of Service Level Agreements even when using Best Practice SLA Management tools.
