The Service Level Agreement (SLA) provides a framework from which to measure levels of success of activities against the stated objectives. SLA's 'define expectations, technical service specifications and performance standards' (Theriault, 2010, p405).

Part a) Define a service level agreement, identify the contents of such an agreement and suggest the benefits of using SLA's to define current customer requirements and service provider obligations. (20 marks)

Part b) Explain the different ways in which performance standards may be defined within an SLA, giving examples of the different approaches.