Service Level Agreement (EN)

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What is a Service Level Agreement (SLA)?  

A Service Level agreement sets out the contractual agreements between a service provider and his client, concerning the availability and maintenance of the service.

Why do I need a SLA?

Many companies use different types of services every day for their own activities. If a service is not functioning correctly, it can cause damage to your clients.

This SLA includes clauses on:

• The availability of the software;
• What kind of maintenance the service provider assures;
• When the maintenance will be performed;
• What kind of support the service provider offers;
• The procedures in case of malfunctions or errors of the software; and
• When malfunctions or errors should be solved.

Other names for Service Level Agreement

• SLA
• Service contract
• Maintenance agreement

Important tips and notes

Is your SLA part of a (SaaS) agreement?

The SLA is usually an annex to an agreement in which the parties agreed on using an IT-service, like our SaaS user agreement [LINK] or our SaaS general terms [LINK]. Therefore, we recommended to match the duration of the SLA with the underlying (SaaS) agreement.

What does ‘Response Time’ and ‘Solution Time’ mean?

These are the most important terms in the SLA. If something happens with the service (bug, downtime, malfunction, etc) and a user files a report, how soon do you reply (response time) and how soon can you fix it (solution time)?

What does ‘availability’ mean?

The service provider commits itself by this agreement to keep the software available to the users. The ‘availability’ specifies the guaranteed “uptime” of the software or services. If this guaranteed time is not met, the service provider must pay a penalty for each day that the software is not available.

What should I keep in mind when making this SLA?

It is very important to include terms that you, as a service provider, are able to meet. If you are a new company, 99% uptime might not be feasible. Also, if you set the response and solution times to tight you might run into trouble.

You should also consider whether you want to charge extra for the SLA or whether it is included in the underlying (SaaS) agreement.

Annex

The SLA is usually an annex to another agreement, like the SaaS-agreement. Don’t forget to attach this document to the initial agreement!

Legal background

Service Level Agreements are largely based on basic contractual rules defined from practise.

The provider of an IT-service (the service provider) and the client set out their agreements on the quality and delivery of the service or software in the SLA, as well as agreements on additional services like a helpdesk and how problems should be fixed.

Note!

This is a convenience translation from the original Dutch Service Level Agreement. Although we try to assure that the agreement is without errors, we do not guarantee this is any way. Also, translated Dutch legal concepts may mean something else in other jurisdictions. Note that this agreement is to be used in a Dutch context only.