How Operational Level Agreements and Service Level Agreements Are Used in IT Services

SLAs are agreements between an IT service provider and the employees who request and use IT services. They explicitly define the type, quality, and timeframe of services to be delivered. SLAs focus on the external commitment to the employee.

OLAs are agreements between different IT teams or departments within the service provider company. They outline the responsibilities and performance targets each internal team must meet to collectively uphold the external SLAs. OLAs address the internal commitments required to deliver the external-facing service.

Here are two examples where SLAs and OLAs can differ:

Scenario 1: Audio-Video System Request

• Goal: Fulfill an employee's request for an Audio-Video (A-V) system.
• SLA: Service Request completion within 2 business days.
• OLA:

  Task	Target
  Task 1: Approval	OLA target of 8 hours.
  Task 2: Verification	OLA target of 4 hours.
  Task 3: Installation	OLA target of 8 hours.

Scenario 2: Critical Incident Resolution

• Goal: Resolve a Critical priority Incident for an application issue.
• SLA: Incident resolution within 2 hours.
• OLA:

  Team	Target
  L1 Support	Target of 15 minutes.
  L2 Support	Target of 30 minutes.
  L3 Support	Target of 60 minutes.