Definition
A service level agreement (SLA) is a commitment to complete a piece of work, or keep a service available, within a defined time or to a defined standard.
What is a service level agreement used for?
Between companies, an SLA is a contract term, such as a supplier promising delivery within 48 hours. Inside a business, teams set internal SLAs for each step of a process: quotations prepared within one working day, orders picked within 24 hours, approvals decided within four hours. Tracking time in each step against its SLA shows where work stalls and who needs help.
Example: a distributor sets a 24-hour SLA for picking confirmed orders and reviews every order that breaches it each week.
An SLA is only useful if someone looks at the breaches, often alongside the approval workflow for each step.