The role of service level manager is a critical one in that the agreements negotiated with customers should inform the activities of the service provider. This book aims to help those whose role is to establish, negotiate, manage or update service level agreements and to use these as the basis of continual service improvement. It covers areas such as purpose, required skills, responsibilities, interface and career progression as well as tools, standards and frameworks related to the role.

John Sansbury owns Infrassistance, a consultancy specialising in service management, is an ITIL practitioner, examiner, trainer, speaker, author and consultant as well as a Chartered IT Professional and Fellow of BCS. He is passionate about service management and has helped some of the world's largest organisations improve the delivery of their IT services.

Service level management provides a framework in which IT services are defined, agreed upon and delivered. The role of service level manager is a critical one in that the agreements negotiated with customers should inform most if not all of the activities of the service provider. Rarely is this the case however, and there are many tripwires awaiting the inexperienced or unwary. This practical book is aimed at helping those whose role is to establish, negotiate, manage or update service level agreements and to use these as the basis of continual service improvement. It covers areas such as purpose, required skills, responsibilities, interface and career progression as well as tools, standards and frameworks related to the role.

1. Introduction
2. Overview of the field
3. The role of the Service Level Manager
4. Responsibilities, interfaces and dependencies
5. Key activities associated with the service design stage of the service lifecycle
6. Key activities associated with the service operation stage of the lifecycle
7. Standards and frameworks
8. Tools
9. Defining service levels
10. Marketing the SLA
11. Process maturity
12. A day in the life of a Service Level Manager
13. Career progression and skills development
14. Appendices