StarLabs Glossary / Managed IT Terms
SLA (Service Level Agreement)
The part of an IT contract that says what support you get, when you get it and how fast.
A service level agreement (SLA) is the written commitment between a business and its IT provider that defines the service to be delivered: hours of cover, how issues are prioritised, target response and resolution times for each priority, how performance is reported, and what is excluded. It turns vague promises like “fast support” into terms you can measure.
How it works
When a member of staff reports a problem, the provider logs it as a ticket and gives it a priority. The SLA says how quickly each priority must be picked up and, ideally, how quickly it should be fixed. Reports at the end of each month show whether those targets were met. If the provider keeps missing them, the SLA is your basis for raising it, and some agreements include service credits or a right to end the contract.
An SLA is only as useful as its detail. Here is what a good one should spell out.
| Section | What it should state |
|---|---|
| Hours of cover | Days and times support is available (for example Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm), whether Singapore public holidays are covered, and the cost of after-hours help |
| Priority levels | Clear definitions of P1 to P4 with examples, so there is no argument about whether an issue is urgent |
| Response targets | How soon a technician starts working on each priority, measured in business hours or clock hours |
| Resolution targets | How soon the issue should be fixed or worked around, and what happens if a vendor or part is needed |
| Scope | Which users, devices, sites and applications are covered |
| Exclusions | What is not covered, such as hardware parts, new projects, personal devices, third-party software faults or damage from misuse |
| How to log issues | Phone, WhatsApp, email or portal, and when the clock starts |
| Reporting and review | How often you get a report and meet to review performance |
For a fuller explanation of the two most-quoted numbers, see response time vs resolution time.
What it means for your business
- Match hours of cover to how you actually work. A retail shop open on Sundays needs different cover from an office that closes at 6pm.
- Check whether timers run in business hours. A four-hour target logged at 5pm may not be met until the next morning.
- Read the exclusions first. That is where most surprise bills come from.
- Ask for a sample monthly report before signing, so you know what you will see.
Red flags in an IT SLA
Be careful if the agreement only quotes response times and never resolution targets, if priority levels are decided by the provider with no definitions, or if the document says “best effort” throughout. Also check what happens when you leave: a fair agreement says how passwords, documentation and data are handed back.
Common questions
What is a good SLA response time for IT support?
It depends on the priority. A whole-office outage should be picked up within minutes to an hour; a request for a new software install can reasonably wait a day or more. Judge the targets against what each issue costs you in lost work.
Is an SLA legally binding?
When it forms part of a signed contract, its terms can be enforced like the rest of the contract. Whether a missed target leads to credits or a right to terminate depends on the wording, so ask for those remedies to be written in.
What is the difference between an SLA and a contract?
The contract covers the whole relationship: price, term, liability and termination. The SLA is the part that defines service quality and how it is measured. It is often a schedule attached to the main contract.
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Reviewed by the StarLabs technical team · Last checked 18 October 2026
