The SLA Review should be documented and circulated for review in a manner suitable to the organization. The facilitator's job is made much easier if others act as timekeeper and minutes-taker.

The documentation to be circulated can include minutes sent by e-mail or posted to an intranet site. Team members review these minutes and, where appropriate, send comments back to the service level manager. The service level manager should impose a deadline for review and comments, usually before the next SLA Review is scheduled. For a Review Meeting Minutes template, which can be adapted for the SLA Review, see Operations Templates.

Regardless of the media used, the team lead should circulate the documentation promptly to all attendees of the SLA Review and to any interested parties. Technology managers or project managers, for example, may have input to some actions on a new service.

Action items should also be noted. For examples of a template containing OMR action items, which can be adapted for the SLA Review, see Operations Templates.

Actions resulting from the review may be directly related to the SLA and the improvement of service, but there may also be other service level management actions that are more peripheral. When they are discussed in the next SLA Review, the actions of the preceding meeting must be classified as resolved, in progress, or outstanding. The service level manager who carries out the review is responsible for tracking the progress of changes to the SLA, service catalog, OLAs, and reports and review processes.

Measuring Satisfaction

It is important for the IT representative or service level manager conducting the SLA Review to measure the satisfaction of the business with the service it is receiving from the IT services organization. It is useful to conduct a survey of all or a sample of certain areas of the business organization involved in the SLA Review. These can sometimes highlight issues in the perception of service, even if the SLA is not breached-for example, issues with the way service desk technicians respond to calls.

These issues should be resolved by the service level manager when they come to light. This manager should also ensure that they are communicated to the service improvement program, if there is one.

Informal Communications

Informal communications can influence an organization's perception of service management. For example, a poorly worded memo regarding a breach of an SLA on a lower-priority service could convey vague or misleading information. To avoid such a possibility, a representative from the IT department could contact the SLA Review representative in each area and advise him or her of the breach. This is often more effective and makes clients feel involved with the service level management process. This approach allows questions to be asked and answers to be provided if they are known, or allows for explanations if not.

The nature of informal communication can be defined and discussed during the SLA Review, since each area may have its own idea for what will be most effective for it. It is essential for the IT department to commit the time and energy to meet these requirements, but the methods should be cost-justifiable. For example, it might not be cost-effective to send an individual to advise each employee separately of a breach of an SLA. However, should an incident affect telephony and data transfer, there should be an efficient alternate method of communication in place to notify the organization of the breach.

Next Steps

After the SLA Review is complete, the service solution continues in operation, where it is expected that as-needed tuning is occurring as part of day-to-day operations activity.