Manage Sourcing Relationships Effectively_White Paper

By Traoloch

Modern enterprises increasingly rely on internal and external partners to deliver services core to their success. These partners may be outsource providers, Shared Services Centres or Global Business Services Organisations. Delivery failure or Unrealistic Expectations can ultimately lead to failure of the company itself. For this reason reporting on the quality of service delivered by business partners is critical – whether these are IT services, business process services or any other specialised service. The content of specific services is usually captured in a Service Level Agreement (SLA). The right approach will help organisations to ensure executives have the information they need to assess the effectiveness of their partner relationships. We believe that the right approach demands the use of intuitive SLA Management tools which can be deployed Rapidly, Incrementally and at Low Cost.

Key Features of Next Generation SLA Management Tools

ØWeb based solutions which ensure that companies have historical records of performance against all SLAs.

ØAccess for service providers so they can input (manually or automatically) information on relevant SLAs.

ØUp to date information on performance by service provider (using traditional traffic light model) – via Dashboard and Customisable Reporting engine.

ØAbility to compare the performance of multiple partners who provide the same (or similar ) service – e.g. Call centre services. Dynamically creation of a Service model base don the SLAs you enter.

ØCreation of clear accountability for services. All metrics and SLAs should have clear owners. This means that when information it is missing users can clearly see who can be contacted to provide the information.

Key Benefits of a Web based SLA Management tool

ØGet visibility of performance of all service providers in one place. (traffic light dashboard – see over)

ØBuilt to ensure Service Providers log on and input the performance information you want to see.

ØAvoid errors associated with manual processes by ensuring that all metrics are stored online and are inputted in a structured format by service providers.

ØDownload reports at will.

ØWorkflow approach ensuring that there is accountability for all your metrics. (we call it a self organising network)

Here is some background on how we try to approach it at ServiceFrame;

My Services

This screen presents users with a view on all the services being provided. Internal and external services can be added. This allows companies to view performance from a service (as well as provider) perspective.

My Reports

This screen contains a number of default reports. All reports are extracted in Excel. At ServiceFrame™ we recognise that reports are an invaluable tool to communicate information. for this reason we have built a reporting engine which allows us to customise all reports to our clients needs.My Service Reporting

The Service Reporting screen is where actual performance information is inputted. note: this step may be automated for some SLAs if appropriate.

•ServiceFrame™ requires service providers to input quantitative data – percentage indicators will be calculated by ServiceFrame™ where appropriate.

•where metrics are red then an explanation will be required – this explanation is then visible on all the ‘My SLAs’ dashboard and reports.

•If appropriate metrics may be delegated from this screen. this may be necessary where a metric has been assigned to the wrong person. Note: responsibility for inputting metrics will only be transferred when the other party has accepted.

: Reporting on SLAs

For More Information: Talk to your Sourcing Advisor or Contact us at info@serviceframe.com

Central Visibility of Performance against all SLAs

The screenshot below is from ServiceFrame™. You can see that this firm have inputted two Service Level Agreements. You can also see the services within the SLAS – as well as specific metrics.

•Where metrics are outside the agreed performance then they appear red.

•Where information on metrics have not been inputted on time, the service provider employee responsible is displayed.