A service-level agreement (SLA) is an important part of business consulting and is often used between a company’s internal operations and its customers. It outlines the requirements for each party to reach their goals and provides an avenue for reporting on these goals as well as any http://royston-consulting.com/outsourcing-consulting-services-by-data-room/ issues that arise.

SLAs protect both the end user and the service provider by establishing standards, targets and consequences for meeting or not meeting those expectations. They allow the creation of key indicators that can assist a business in identifying areas that aren’t on track to achieve its strategic goals.

The SLA should define all the services that are included in a contract, with details on turnaround times and any exclusions. The contract must also specify the metrics that will measure the performance of the service provider.

Metrics should be selected to reflect only factors that are within the service provider’s reasonable control and be easy to collect. They should also be set to a reasonable baseline, so that they can be refined over time.

KPIs are metrics that measure how well an organization is performing with respect to its primary goals. It can help a business determine if they are veering from their course, which is an issue that is common for small businesses.