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Service Level Agreement (SLA)

What is a Service Level Agreement (SLA)? Definition and meaning

The abbreviation SLA stands for Service Level Agreement. This describes an agreement between a client and a service provider. This agreement covers the provision of the agreed service.

Contents of an SLA

Service Level Agreements are frequently concluded in IT. Important contents of this SLA agreement are, for example:

  • Response time With an SLA agreement, a response time can be defined. This defines the time window within the service provider’s operating hours in which a client will receive a response to their request.

  • Availability / Accessibility In an SLA contract, the time window is defined here in which the service or the service offering is available.

  • Recurring activities

Here the SLA contract includes regularly recurring activities, such as updates.

  • Backups The number of backups can be agreed in an SLA framework contract.
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Frequently asked questions

What is a Service Level Agreement (SLA)?
The abbreviation SLA stands for Service Level Agreement. It describes an agreement between a client and a service provider about the provision of an agreed service.
What does an SLA contain?
Typical contents are response time, availability and accessibility, recurring tasks such as updates, and the number of backups. Such SLA agreements are often used in IT, where requests can be tracked in a structured way with the ticketing system from projectfacts.
What does the response time in an SLA govern?
The response time defines the time window within the service provider's operating hours in which a client receives a response to their request.