What is SLA? Why is it needed?

SLA (Service Level Agreement) is a service level agreement between a service provider and a client, which specifies the quality and availability parameters of the service.

Why is SLA needed:

• Expectation setting: Clearly defines what services and at what quality level will be provided.
• Quality control: Allows measuring and monitoring the fulfillment of service obligations.
• Responsibility: Establishes the provider's responsibility for non-compliance with the terms (e.g., fines or compensations).
• Relationship improvement: Helps build transparent and trusting relationships between parties.

Example parameters in SLA: support response time, service recovery time, availability (uptime) in percentage.