SLA's - Good, Bad or indifferent in renewables.

I had a conversation about SLA's in renewable energy again last week and how a company had been let down again by a different ISP (Independent service provider) having the same issues as the first, dispite the good reputations.

Suffice it to say that I came away with the feeling that in our renewables industry there is so much misunderstanding about the purpose and rationale of an SLA especially at field level.

What is an SLA?

An SLA, or Service Level Agreement, is an agreement regarding the quality of service delivery between a customer and a service provider.

The primary goal of a SLA is to establish mutually-agreed targets and responsibilities of the service provider and the customer.

Now it seems that some people in renewables get so hung up what a SLA says (or doesn’t say) that they lose sight of the core issue – providing good service to the business.

In their minds, the SLA seems to take on some magical quality, as in the very existence of the document will make all service issues, poor planning and bad communication simply disappear when it comes to field work.

It doesn’t. Strictly speaking, it’s just a document with some words on it.

Well, it’s supposed to be a written document anyway. Frequently I find organizations who say that they have “SLAs”, but I'm hearing they are unable to produce any such documents.

I would say that unless there is a significant business requirement for defining and documenting an SLA, don’t write one.

SLAs should not be defined without a lot of thought and discussion between the business and ISP.

If the ISP organization is providing a good service, delivering recognizable and demonstrable value, underpinned by good customer service skills in the field why mess it up with a document.

However, If the ISP is not delivering in the field with measurable results, making promises they simply cannot keep, reporting on the wrong things and have a consistant litany of problems, then yes the SLA is crucial.

Remember though if the workforce in the field is not communicated with correctly and has no undestanding of what your SLA requires then there is bound to be issues and serious ones which may default the contract.

Have you even communicated whats in your SLA's to your field workers?

Are they aware what makes a good SLA?

Do they know how to measure the work against the SLA?

Do not forget your project managers, site managers and field workers when agreeing to an SLA with a client as its becoming a regular occurrence that people are doing deals and agreements without the workers in mind.

We all should all know communication can be simple. Simple communication makes for a great SLA result for both the ISP and the client.