---
title: "SLA Management"
slug: "sla-management"
updated: 2026-02-13T13:13:44Z
published: 2026-02-13T13:13:44Z
canonical: "help.symphonysummitai.com/sla-management"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.symphonysummitai.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# SLA Management

**Service Level Agreement (SLA):** An SLA is the agreement between an IT Service Provider and a Customer. The SLA describes the IT Services, documents Service Level Targets, and specifies the responsibilities of the IT Service Provider and the Customer. A single SLA may cover multiple IT Services or multiple Customers.

**Operational Level Agreement (OLA):** An Operational Level Agreement (OLA) is a contract defined between the various departments within an organization to ensure on-time delivery of Services to the Customer. OLAs are designed to address and solve the problem of IT silos by setting forth a specific set of criteria and defining the specific set of IT Services that each department is responsible for.

##### Applicability and uses:

- Applicable between Incident and Work Order, and Workgroups within an Incident.
- Applicable for Auto created Work Orders (only for the Work Orders created while Incidents are logged and not applicable for sequential Work Orders).
- If the OLA is within an Incident, it corresponds to the Transfer Time.

**Example:** OLA between Workgroup 1 and Workgroup 2 is 30 min. An Incident is logged at 10 AM and in the que of Workgroup

- If it is transferred to Workgroup 2 before 10:30 AM, the OLA is considered as met. If transferred after 10:30 AM, the OLA is considered as not met.
- If the OLA is made between the Incident and Work Order, it corresponds to Resolution Time.

**Example:** OLA between Workgroup 1 and Workgroup 2 is 30 min. Incident logged at 10 AM and in the que of Workgroup 1. There is a Work Order created for this incident and is in the que of Workgroup 2. If the Work order is resolved by 10:30 AM, the OLA is considered as met. If resolved after 10:30 AM, OLA is considered as not met.

**Underpinning Contract (UC):** The Underpinning Contract (UC) is the agreement between an IT Service Provider and a Third Party (Vendor). The Third Party provides Goods or Services that support delivery of an IT Service to a Customer. The Underpinning Contract defines targets and responsibilities that are required to meet agreed Service Level Targets defined in an SLA.

```SLAManagement
SLR → SLS → SLA  (Customer Layer)
        ↓
     OLS → OLA   (Internal Layer)
        ↓
Underpinning Contract Specification
        ↓
Underpinning Contract Agreement
        ↓
Vendor Execution
        ↓
SLA Fulfillment
```

# 📊 SLA vs OLA vs Underpinning Contract

| Layer | Audience | Purpose | Trigger |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| SLA | Customer | Service commitment | Ticket creation |
| OLA | Internal teams | Support SLA | Workgroup assignment |
| UC | Vendor | Support OLA & SLA | Vendor assignment |

### Advantages

- Documented SLA, OLA, and UC ensures no miscommunication between the Customer, Vendor, and Departments.
- Better understanding of the Services provided by the Vendor.
- A document to refer back to in case of any misunderstanding.
- All these 3 documents should be in sync with each other to ensure all the service levels are met.

Let us see the actions carried out by Admins and Approvers in SLA Management.

| ![](https://cdn.document360.io/62351b42-cfbd-43ad-8ce1-82b8f455337f/Images/Documentation/SR%20-%20icon%20for%20Admin(2).jpg) | ![](https://cdn.document360.io/62351b42-cfbd-43ad-8ce1-82b8f455337f/Images/Documentation/SR - icon for Approver(2).jpg) |
| --- | --- |
| [Admin](/apex/docs/administrator-14) | [Approver](/apex/docs/approver-8) |