Summary

The implementation process depends on solid basics, including crafting a clear and specific SLA. Getting instrumentation and reporting in place early for internal SLAs helps with realistic assessments of service quality before implementation begins. Giving internal users access to service quality reports is also helpful in building support.

A phased approach is usually most effective, starting with smaller efforts and gaining experience and speed over time. An existing application that uses simple prioritization or other rudimentary service level management systems is a prime candidate for the first full SLM project, as are applications that use manageable, but representative, subsets of the enterprise's total architecture.

Baselining the performance of the existing system and taking a census of all the existing system's components and their capabilities will help during the system development and tuning phases as well as during the evaluation of the success of the entire SLM project.

The implementation of full SLM relies on specification of the performance metrics, choice of instrumentation types and locations, and correct construction of the SLAincluding methods for resolving the disputes that will inevitably occur in the first implementations.