Application integration

Service Level Management integrates with Change Management (requests and tasks), Incident Management (incidents and tasks), Problem Management (problems and tasks), Request Fulfillment and Service Desk. This integration enables Service Level Management to collect metric information automatically and monitor the performance of associated service agreements.

Service Manager has an out-of-box configuration record in the slamodulecontrol table for each application. You can modify these records instead of creating new records. To modify the records, click Service Level Management > Administration > Configure Application in the system navigator, and then click Search in the SLM Module Control form.

You can disable Service Level Management by clearing the Enable SLM in this Application option.

Linking application records to service agreements

When you enable an application to work with Service Level Management and you create new service desk interactions, incidents, problems, requests, service catalog items, or change records, you can link the application record to a service agreement in the following ways:

• Customer SLA

  Service Manager automatically assigns a department or company SLA as the Customer SLA to the application record if it exists. This would be an SLA defined for the contact’s department or company.

• Service SLA

  The SLA for the contact’s subscription to a Configuration Item (CI). This is true only if the application record references a Business Service, the contact has a subscription to the service, and the subscription references an SLA.

• Default SLA

  If there is no SLA but there is a default SLA specified in the SLA control record, Service Manager automatically assigns the default SLA to the application record.

Calculating response time

Service Manager calculates response time with the sla.state.change application. To measure response time for an application event, Service Manager uses the out-of-box (or customized) slamodulecontrol record for the external application. In addition, the administrator must ensure that the application record has fields that are referenced by the sla.state.change application, such as:

• sla.breach
• next.breach
• logical.name.vj.duration
• logical.name.vj.sloavail

For example, to enable process metrics for a module, an administrator must add the sla.breach, next.breach, logical.name.vj.duration, and logical.name.vj.sloavail fields to the record table before SLM can be configured for the module. Most of the major tables (probsummary, request, etc) that can use SLM already contain these fields out of box.

Example: Enabling Service Level Agreement alerts

The following example shows you how to generate response Service Level Targets (SLTs) for Change Management requests and to generate alerts for SLTs. At the end of this example, you will be able to complete the following tasks:

• Create a Service Level Agreement (SLA)
• Add a Service Level Target (SLT)

Task 1: Ensure the background processes are running

1. Click Menu Navigation > System Status.
2. If the processes are not running, click Start Scheduler.
3. In the Name field, double-click startup to start all the background processes.

Task 2: Enable the SLM application

1. Click Service Level Management > Administration > Edit Control Record.
2. Select Enable SLM Application.
3. Click Save.
4. Log off Service Manager, and then log back on for the changes to take effect.

Task 3: Configure Change Management

1. Click Service Level Management > Administration > Configure Application.

2. In the Table Name field, type cm3r, and then click Search.

   The SLA module control form for cm3r opens. Ensure the Enable SLM in this application check box is selected.

3. Select Run in Foreground.
4. Click Save.
5. Click OK.

Task 4: Create an SLA

1. Click Service Level Management > Agreements > New Agreement.
2. Click Service Level Requirement.
3. In the Type field, select the contract type Customer.
4. In the Customer field, select a customer name from the list of records.
5. In the Title field, type SLA for change requests.
6. In the Effective From field, choose today's date in the calendar options for the SLA start date.
7. In the Expiration Date field, choose a date one year from today in the calendar options for the SLA end date.
8. Add an optional Description for the new SLA.

9. Click Save.

   You receive a message that states the service level agreement has been added. Service Level Management assigns an Agreement ID number to the record. Make note of the new agreement ID.

10. Click Review to move the record into the Review phase.
11. Click the Agreed By tab and specify the people who agreed to the SLA.
12. Specify appropriate values for the Next Agreement Review Date, Service Review Frequency, and Next Service Review Date fields.

13. Click Agree to move the record into the Agreed phase.

    The category of the SLA is moved from Service Level Requirement to Service Level Agreement.

14. Click Save or Save&Exit.
15. Log off Service Manager, and then log back on to see that the new SLA is available in the selection lists.

Task 5: Add an SLT

1. Click Service Level Management > Agreements > Search Agreement.

2. Type the Agreement ID, and then click Search.

   The SLA record opens.

3. In the Process Targets tab, click Add SLT(s).
4. In the Service Area field, select Change Requests, and then click Next.

5. Fill in the following fields to add the SLT. Make sure you click Next, as required.

   Field	Value
   SLT Name	Response SLT for change requests
   Description	Add an (optional) description.
   Schedule	24x7
   Priority	1-Critical
   Category	Default
   Initial State	Registration and Categorization
   Final State	Closure
   Duration Type	Interval
   Duration	The format should be DDD HH:MM where DDD is the number of days, HH is the number of hours, and MM is the number of minutes. Type 00 01:00
   Alerts	Click Fill, and then select SLA-50% from the list of records.

6. Click Finish.

   You receive a message that states a record has been added to Process Target. Make sure the record is displayed in the Process Targets tab.

7. Click OK.
8. Log out, and then log in again for your changes to take effect.

Task 6: Select the SLA definition for an ESS user

1. Click System Administration > Base System Configuration > Contacts.

2. In the Contact Name field, type the user's name, and then click Search.

   The user record opens.

3. Place your cursor in the Dept Name field, and then click Find.

   The department data form opens.

4. In the SLA field, select an SLA definition. For this example, select SLA for change requests.
5. Click Save.
6. Click OK.

Task 7: Service Desk Agent creates a change from a user interaction

As a Service Desk Agent, you can escalate an interaction to a change record.

To create a change request from a user interaction, follow these steps:

1. Click Service Desk > Interaction Queue or select Interaction from your To Do queue.
2. From the record list, double-click the Open-Idle interaction that you want to escalate to a change.
3. Click Fill for the Category field.
4. Double-click Request for Change and select the subcategory.
5. Click Escalate. The Escalation Details wizard appears.

6. Click the list fields to select the Location, Assignment, and Requested End Date for the change.

   Note A Change Coordinator is automatically assigned based on your selections.

7. Click Finish. A notification message with the change number displays above the interaction detail fields and the Service Desk application notifies the original end user of the actions taken.
8. Click OK.

Task 8: Change Coordinator goes to the change queue to review the upcoming alerts

After the Service Desk Agent escalates an interaction to a change, the change request moves to the Change Review phase. The Change Coordinator can then review the change request.

The Change Coordinator reviews the SLA and the Process Targets associated with the change. For this example, the duration was 1 hour, and the alert was 50%. The alert is 30 minutes from the time displayed on the Open Time in the History section.

1. Click Change Management > Changes > Change Queue.
2. From your To Do queue, select Change from the Queue list and My Open Changes from the View list.
3. Expand Phase: Change Review from the record list, and then click the change request to review it. Determine if it is complete and verify that the change is assigned to the correct support group. If more information is needed or the support group is incorrect, send the request back to the Service Desk Agent.
4. Open the SLT section. The new SLA definition is displayed.

5. Select the Upcoming Alerts subsection in the SLT section. the listed alert should be 30 minutes from the time displayed in Open Time, in the History section.

   The duration was one hour and the alert was 50%.

Access Service Level Agreements from Configuration Management

User roles: Coordinator [Configuration Management], System Administrator

You can access Service Level Agreements (SLAs) from Configuration Management in order to view an SLA and the details of its associated Process Targets. If you have System Administrator rights, you can also modify or add SLAs.

To access SLAs from Configuration Management, follow these steps:

1. Click Configuration Management > Resources > Agreement Information.
2. Add optional search criteria, and then click Search to generate a record list.

3. Click a record to view it in the Agreement form.