Importance of SLA manual in e

governance documentation:
Posted on February 23, 2011
E governance lifecycle ideally should go from a phase of initial conceptualisation, through
analysis and design, construction, planning and roll out to finally evaluation and
enhancements. During the move from conceptualisation to analysis and design phase there is
the relevance of key documents such as-Detailed project report (DPR), Request for
proposal(RFP)and service level agreement(SLA).
E governance should be characterised by IT enabled public governance coupled with
enhanced efficiency, transparency, accountability and a citizen-orientation. There has been a
gradual transition from the previous decades government-centric to a newer citizen-centric
paradigm in service provision and hence a drastic shift from a strategy solely based on
acquisition of IT assets to one which is service oriented and preferring to procure a set of
services conforming to specified service levels. Maximization of the customer satisfaction at
an optimal cost coupled with a contractually bided service enforcement magnifies the
relevance of a SLA in the initial phase of scaling of e governance strategy.
MCA21 and BangaloreOne ae the very few examples of successful apportionment of SLAs in
e government projects. A imperative need hence arises for all service oriented e government
projects to have well designed and managed SLA and that can be achieved based on a life
cycle approach.
In formulating a conceptual model for design and management of SLAs, there are two design
considerations-
One for SLA framework- it encompasses the issue of conceptualising a SLA framework in
case of business models with private players first and then attempting project specific
designing. The mandated considerations in SLA framework design should adhere to norms of
simplicity, legal sustainability, due emphasis on stakeholder considerations and varied
applicability catering to G2G,G2B, G2G as well as G2E services etc.
Then there is the design consideration of SLA specific to the project, that should be simple,
measurable, precise and unambiguous at the same time.
Considering SLA as an living instrument its lifecycle stages can be conceptualised under 6
heads namely-Step 1)Articulating the Business Objectives ,Step 2) Defining the Services
,Step 3)Defining the Service Level Objectives (SLOs)Step 4 )Defining Service Levels Step 5)
Designing the Service Level Agreement and Step 6)Establishing Service Level Management
(SLM).
The first step involves articulating the visions, missions and objectives in a structured manner
through phases of initial introspection leading to subsequent extrospection of
environment a and shareholders and hence realising the futuristic objectives.
Defining the services calls for encompassing the business outcomes and drivers to identify
the business objectives that in turn lead to value proposition definition and subsequent
definition, classification and prioritization of services.
The next step involves the definition of service level objectives(SLOs)that reflects the
management intent to design the service levels and service level arrangements(SLAs) through
the conceptualisation of service level parameters (SLPs)and service level matrices (SLMxs).
While defining service levels, the SLP tells us about the aspects to be measured vis a vis
improved design, speed delivery, maintenance of assets, user experience, user convenience,
security responses and standards to name a few parameters in alignment with SLOs.
Service levels are also characterised by SLMx, SL measurements method and SL
enforcement methods.SLMxs give the yardsticks of measurement with due weightage
assigned to the parameters as per their criticality to objective.
Finally follows service level measurement and then subsequent enforcement. The
measurement need to be objective, precise and consistent while service level enforcement of
SLAs can be achieved through either deduction(full payment to service providers) or through
addition method(service provider paid a proportion of baseline amount).
SLAs act as an legal enforcement tool in all this process ,connecting the service provider and
seeker in monetary compensation terms. It encompasses issues ranging from SLPs, SLMx,
SLOs to relationship and change control. SLAs are mandated in order to eliminate discretion
either against service provider or seeker.
Conclusively the service level management ensures the fulfilment of service outcomes
envisioned through effective relationship management either through joint management
model (responsibility in hands of committee constituted of members of both party) or third
party PMU models(responsibility with neutral party)
Hence conclusively it can be said that conceptualising SLA generic framework and then
narrowing it down to project specific SLAs through a life cycle approach definitely provides
a more holistic perspective requisite for ambitious service oriented e government projects.