SLA vs. OLA: Setting the right IT service delivery expectations

When you order food online using Doordash or Zomato, you get an ETA of your delivery right away. How does this work? Before placing an order, you select your desired items, and based on the distance of the restaurant, the ordered food items, and even the time of the day, an estimated wait time and delivery cost is calculated and shared with you. This transparency empowers you to make informed decisions and know exactly what to expect upon placing the order.

These everyday consumer experiences have raised the bar for what employees expect from corporate IT service delivery. And being transparent and setting the right service expectations upfront is a key factor to achieve that.

While employees seek assistance from IT service desks, it is essential for IT service delivery teams to offer clarity by presenting their service level commitments based on the nature of the service requested. This ensures mutual understanding of the delivery timelines, priority levels, service quality standards, and more. But unlike the implicit food delivery promises, IT service desks typically formalize and spell out their commitments in a document called a Service Level Agreement (SLA).

What is an SLA?

An SLA, in the context of ITSM, refers to a comprehensive, documented agreement between the service provider (the IT service desk) and the end users (the employees) that sets the expectations about the IT services that are delivered to employees.

SLAs can vary based on the ticket priority or specific IT services they cover. They typically specify the timelines within which the IT service desk should respond to and resolve a ticket (both incidents and service requests).

SLAs also affix responsibilities such as assigning the right IT technicians who will deliver the service and defining an escalation path for any SLA violations.

SLAs will define the conditions under which a service request or an incident is escalated, including associated actions such as notifying a manager, spiking the priority of the ticket, or reassigning it to a different technician. Sometimes an escalation path can have multiple levels that are time-boxed and triggered just before or after an SLA violation occurs.

In essence, an SLA provides a clear picture of expectations, accountability, and responsibilities of both the IT team and the employees upfront. However, the effectiveness of an SLA hinges on its execution.

For a food delivery, the restaurant's operations have to be in full swing, and the person delivering should coordinate with the restaurant seamlessly, ensuring timely preparation and dispatch of the order. Similarly, when delivering IT services, adherence to SLAs involves a complex orchestration of tasks and responsibilities. This is where an operational level agreement (OLA) is brought into play.

What is an OLA?

An OLA refers to a contract made between the service provider and the internal teams involved in the service delivery. This agreement provides clarity on what the service delivery targets are for individual teams that each fulfill a part of the requested IT service and how they should communicate.

This way, OLAs establish the interdependent relationship among different service delivery teams so that they collaborate and back up the agreed-upon end-user-facing SLA.

Onboarding new employees: How do SLAs and OLAs get it done?

Here's an example of how SLAs and OLAs play a pivotal role in the onboarding process of new employees in an organization, where various IT services, including device provisioning and network access setup, are essential.

SLAs are set to establish clear expectations for when this onboarding request will be fulfilled and who the technician responsible is. It can also outline the escalation actions for any delays during the onboarding process.

Here, the SLA for onboarding might stipulate:

• The IT service delivery team will acknowledge and respond to the onboarding request within one day of receiving it.
• The assigned technician will be responsible for fulfilling the onboarding request within four days. In the event of a delay, the request shall be escalated to the technicians' supervisor for prioritized handling.

Meanwhile, to drive the fulfilment of this SLA, OLAs define the internal timelines for service delivery tailored to different teams, like:

• The IT support team should acquire workstations and deliver hardware within two days.
• The application and software team should install the required software within one day.
• The network and infrastructure team should enable VPN access for remote work within one day and should offer the WFH credentials within 30 minutes of access enablement.

By clearly delineating these responsibilities and timelines, OLA ensures that different teams are aware of their time-boxed tasks and can function together to set up the new hires in the organization.

Without proper SLAs and OLAs in place, there is a risk of missed asset deliveries, delayed information sharing, or lack of coordination between different teams involved in the onboarding process. This could impact the onboarding timeline and also reflects poorly on the organization's overall commitment to providing quality employee experiences.

Therefore, having well-defined SLAs and OLAs for each service ensures standardized and efficient service delivery, which is crucial for achieving high productivity levels and continually improving processes.

Know the differences: SLA vs. OLA

Practical tips for crafting effective SLAs and OLAs

If you are wondering where to begin or which comes first, OLA or SLA, there is no hard and fast rule.

• It is best to start questioning your IT service desk on what it can deliver. This involves delving into assessing the capacity and capabilities of the IT service desk, evaluating the availability and expertise of your workforce, and calculating the cost associated with the services. Then, collaborate with your internal teams to understand their abilities and remember to take all the potential delays into account. Once you conclude what you can achieve, roll out the OLA and then move on to drafting the SLA.
• Draft the SLA by defining the hours of operation, turnaround times, and other performance measurement metrics, responsible stakeholders, and escalations in case of delays. Make sure the SLAs are measurable and actionable. It is advised to avoid technical jargon.
• While setting expectations with SLAs, it is important to identify all the key stakeholders and assign them with ownership so that no party can claim inadvertence in case of a dispute.
• Here's a pro tip: Negotiation is the key when it comes to defining both OLAs and SLAs. The defined clauses should be favorable for all the teams and users involved. Remember to validate each service delivery target against the IT service desk's capability and the value it offers before finalizing the commitments.

Summary

SLAs and OLAs work hand-in-hand when it comes to service delivery. SLAs are established to set the expectations of an end user and to maintain the service desk's momentum towards achieving the SLA targets. Teams that are involved in fulfilling different parts of an IT service are served with an OLA as the guiding light to clarify each team's contributions. By understanding the core differences between SLAs and OLAs and effectively implementing both, IT service desk teams can ensure the delivery of high-quality services that exceed end-user expectations.