One of the questions I'm most frequently asked about service level agreements is how long they take to establish. Not surprisingly, the answer is, it depends. A service level agreement (SLA) is an excellent tool for helping service providers and their customers improve communications, manage expectations, clarify responsibilities, and build the foundation for a win-win relationship.

And many factors can influence the duration of the effort, such as:

The service environment:
The more services covered by an SLA, and the more complex these services, the longer it takes the two parties to discuss, negotiate and document the conditions of service delivery.

The proximity of the parties:
Face-to-face negotiation is crucial in establishing an SLA. However, if travel is needed to enable this face-to-face contact, it can add significantly to the elapsed time.

The span of impact of the SLA:
Establishing an SLA between two parties in a home office generally takes less time than establishing an SLA that spans regional, national or international boundaries.

The relationship between the parties:
When the relationship is characterized by trust and respect, the effort proceeds much more quickly than when it is marred by distrust and dissatisfaction. In the latter situation, additional steps may be needed to begin to repair the relationship before undertaking the more formal SLA process.

The availability of a model:
The first SLA in an organization usually takes the longest. Once it is completed and in operation, however, both the document and the process can serve as a model for subsequent SLAs. If the first SLA is successful, later ones usually proceed much more rapidly.

Prior SLA experience:
The most expeditious SLA efforts are ones led by SLA developers who have had prior successful experience establishing an SLA. Conversely, if prior experience is lacking or failed to result in an effective SLA, the development process often hobbles along.
Given these factors, how long should it take to establish an SLA?

Too short
A misconception about SLAs that I encounter regularly is that they can be created quickly. Some participants in my SLA seminars arrive under orders from management to complete one the following week (or last week, as one recent participant bemoaned). Management mandate notwithstanding, participants soon understand the impossibility of this task, and face the challenge of helping their management achieve this same understanding.

Developing an SLA in a week or even a month is both difficult and inadvisable. It is difficult because of the extensive workload involved in such tasks as negotiating service standards, establishing tracking mechanisms, preparing supporting procedures, gaining approvals and generating buy-in. And it is inadvisable because the process is designed to help the two parties build the foundation for a strong, successful, long-term relationship. To rush this process is to sabotage the entire effort.

Too long
"Too long" refers not to a specific time period, but to an effort that has stalled and is making no progress. One major contributor to a stalled effort is a lack of familiarity with the process of establishing an SLA. I recall one manager who energetically announced that her group and its customers would have a completed SLA in six months. Yet, after six months the effort had gone nowhere. She admitted that when they got right down to it, no one was quite sure what to do first and what to do next.

A second major reason that the effort often stalls is that one or both parties fail to bring a serious commitment to the effort. When management refuses to allocate staff to establish the SLA, or the effort is given a low priority, or one or both parties are unwilling to negotiate in good faith, progress becomes impossible.

Just right
Establishing an SLA is typically a many-month process of information-gathering, analyzing, documenting, educating, negotiating, and consensus-building. I have found 3-6 months to be a good rule of thumb. When circumstances are optimal, three months is realistic, and sometimes even less. At the other extreme, if the situation is a complex one, six months may not be enough. However, if significant progress has not been made within six months, it's time to stop the effort and examine why.


About the Author
Website: www.nkarten.com

Naomi Karten has always been fascinated by human behavior. Her background includes a B.A. and M.A. in psychology and extensive corporate experience in technical, customer support and management positions.

Since forming her own business in 1984, she has presented seminars and keynotes to more than 100,000 people internationally. Her services, books and newsletters have helped organizations and groups

• Manage customer expectations,
• Enhance their communications and consulting skills,
• Provide superior customer service, and
• Establish successful service level agreements.

She is the author of several books including:

Communication Gaps and How to Close Them, which provides strategies and guidelines for improved communication in such contexts as building strong relationships, delivering superior service, fostering effective teamwork, and managing change

Managing Expectations: Working With People Who Want More, Better, Faster, Sooner, NOW!, which offers a serious, lighthearted look (yes, both!) at policies and practices for successfully managing expectations in the workplace

How to Establish Service Level Agreements, a handbook based on more than a decade of experience providing SLA consulting and seminars internationally and which is designed to help you avoid the flaws and failures she encounters so often

© Naomi Karten, www.nkarten.com