Glossary
SLA (Service Level Agreement)
An SLA (Service Level Agreement) is the part of a contract that defines the level of service a vendor commits to, such as 99.9% uptime or a four-hour response to critical issues, how it is measured, and what happens when the vendor misses it.
Key Facts
| Typical measures | Uptime percentage, response time, resolution time, support hours |
|---|---|
| Uptime in plain terms | 99.9% allows about 43 minutes of downtime a month; 99.5% about 3.6 hours |
| Remedies | Service credits, escalation, right to terminate after repeated misses |
| Common trap | Response time promised, but no commitment on resolution |
What a good software support SLA covers
- Severity levels with examples: critical, high, medium, low.
- Response and resolution targets for each.
- Support hours and contact channels.
- Exclusions, such as planned maintenance windows.
- Monthly reporting against the targets.
See software maintenance after launch and security requirements for every software contract.
Frequently Asked Questions
What uptime should I ask for?
99.5% to 99.9% is typical for business applications. Higher targets cost more to engineer and host.
Are service credits worth much?
Usually small. The real value of an SLA is clear expectations and escalation.
Related Glossary
Take the next step
Need help implementing this in your business?
Turbo Bytes Consulting helps businesses streamline operations and build custom software architectures that scale without chaos.