An organization agrees a target for 'average response time of the order-entry transaction' but this measure is not tied to any service in the service catalogue. Why does the service level management practice warn against this?
ITIL 4 Foundation, objective 7. Seven ITIL practices in detail medium
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The options
Correct A target that does not relate to a defined service is just an individual metric with no purpose behind it
Correct. Agreements must relate to a defined service; otherwise the numbers float free of anything the customer is actually buying or the provider is actually accountable for.
Not correct Response time is a subjective measure and cannot be agreed contractually
Response time is objectively measurable. The defect described is the missing link to a defined service, not the nature of the measurement.
Not correct Only availability and capacity measures may be used as agreed service targets
There is no such restriction. Performance measures are legitimate; they simply have to hang off a defined service.
Not correct Targets of this kind belong to the business analysis practice rather than service level management
Business analysis analyses needs and recommends solutions; it does not take ownership of service targets. The issue is the missing service definition, not the owning practice.
Why
One requirement for successful SLAs is that they relate to a defined service — normally one described in the service catalogue. Without that anchor, agreed numbers are free-floating metrics: nobody can say which service is in trouble when a number is missed, and no meaningful scope of accountability exists.
Where this comes from
- Cited
- ITIL 4 syllabus clause 7
- What it says
- SLAs must relate to a defined service in the service catalogue; otherwise they are individual metrics without a purpose.
Practise this
Reading one question is not practice. The trainer will draw a set from objective 7 and space the ones you get wrong.