Service Level Agreement (No. 1)

The following agreement is a very simple, generic Service Level Agreement for an Internet banking application.

Service Level Agreement (No. 1)

Purpose

This agreement is between Buyer and Vendor. This document outlines the service level roles, responsibilities, and objectives of Buyer and Vendor in support of the given functional area.

Scope of Services

Vendor will house, manage, and operate all hardware and software necessary to provide Internet banking applications to Buyer.

Service Category

This SLA addresses application availability.

Acceptable Range of Service Quality

The Internet banking application shall be available at least 99.5% of each week.

Definition of What is Being Measured

1. "Availability" will be measured as the percentage of minutes each day that the Internet banking application will be able to receive and respond to messages from the Internet.

2. The server’s ability to receive messages will be ascertained using time-check availability software.

Formula for Calculating the Measurement

1. System availability shall be measured as the number of minutes per day that the Buyer’s Internet banking application is capable of receiving and responding to messages from the Internet divided by 1,440 (the total number of minutes in a day).

2. A 30-minute period from 2:00 AM to 2:30 AM shall be excluded from the calculation because Vendor will be performing system maintenance at this time each day.

Relevant Credits/Penalties for Achieving/Failing Performance Targets

1. If Vendor is unable to provide this service level to Buyer, Vendor will provide priority support to Buyer until performance levels are met. Service below the prescribed level will result in a rebate of 50% of the monthly fee for the month in which the exception takes place.

2. If Vendor fails to provide the agreed upon service level for more than two consecutive months, Buyer shall have the right to renegotiate the contract and/or terminate this agreement.

Frequency and Interval of Measurement

The system’s availability shall be measured daily by Vendor using time-check availability software. Vendor shall submit monitoring reports generated by this program to Buyer on a weekly basis.

Buyer’s Responsibilities

Buyer shall review all monitoring reports and advise Vendor of any deviations from this agreement in a timely manner. (Include any other items that Buyer will need to do so that Vendor may perform its tasks.)

Vendor’s Responsibilities

1. Vendor shall assume responsibility for customer communications at the point that customer messages leave the Internet service provider.

2. Vendor shall ensure that all messages are processed in a timely fashion. (Be sure to define the specifics of "timely" standards.)

3. Vendor shall ensure that the system shall be able to accept and respond to 1,200 inquiries per minute. (Include any other items that Vendor will need to do to provide the prescribed level of service to Buyer.)

Escalation Guidelines

In the event that Vendor is unable to meet the terms of this agreement, the CIO of Buyer and IT Manager of Vendor shall discuss resolution of the situation. If Vendor will be unable to provide service for more than two hours, Vendor’s contingency operating plan shall be invoked.

Renegotiations

1. Authorized representatives of Buyer and Vendor must mutually agree upon changes to this SLA.

2. All changes must be made and agreed to in writing.

3. Either party may request review of this SLA at any time. Each party will review the SLA annually and advise the other party of any desired changes.

Source

 * FDIC, Tools to Manage Technology Providers’ Performance Risk: Service Level Agreements, App. 2 (full-text).