Say it like this
- We need to meet our SLA targets this quarter.
- That incident put us at risk of breaching the SLA.
- The SLA requires us to respond within 30 minutes.
Use it at work
Contracts
- Our SLA promises 99.9% uptime.
- We missed the SLA, so the client gets a credit.
Support
- Our SLA is a reply within four hours.
- This ticket is close to breaking the SLA.
Planning
- Can we offer a stronger SLA for enterprise?
- Let's check the SLA before we commit.
Don't say this
SLA is a noun (an agreement), not a verb. You do not SLA something; you meet or breach an SLA.
Don't mix it up
| Term | What it is | Who writes or uses it | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLA | Promise to customers, with penalties | Sales, legal | Contracts |
| SLO | Internal reliability target | SRE | Monitoring |
| SLI | The actual measured number | SRE | Dashboards |
Practice
Try it
4 quick exercises
1. You are discussing why the payment system went down. What would you say?
2. If our uptime falls below 99.5%, we _______ the SLA and must compensate the client.
3. Which sentence uses SLA incorrectly?
4. Rewrite using SLA: The company promised the customer that the service would be available 99.8% of the time, and if it was not, there would be financial penalties.
Say it out loud
Phrase 1 of 3
"We need to meet our SLA targets this quarter."
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More about SLA
Real examples(3)
- in a standup
"Yesterday we had a database outage that violated our SLA for 45 minutes, so we need to conduct a postmortem."
- in a team meeting
"Our new SLA with the enterprise client specifies 99.99% uptime and a 4-hour response time for critical bugs."
- in an email to management
"We're currently tracking at 98.5% uptime this month, which is below our 99.9% SLA commitment."
More mistakes(2)
Handle with care. Do not confuse SLA (Service Level Agreement) with SLO (Service Level Objective). SLA is a contract; SLO is an internal target.
- ✕Our SLA says we should try to respond quickly.✓Our SLA guarantees a response within 30 minutes.
SLAs contain firm commitments and measurable targets, not vague intentions like try or should.
- ✕The SLA and SLO are the same thing.✓The SLA is a contract with the customer; the SLO is our internal reliability target.
SLA is external (customer-facing); SLO is internal. They are related but distinct.
Other forms(3)
- SLA noun
"We signed an SLA with the client last month."
- SLA breach noun
"An SLA breach resulted in a penalty of $10,000."
- SLA compliance noun
"Our SLA compliance rate has improved to 99.8% this quarter."
Often used with(6)
- meet the SLA · to achieve the promised service level
- breach the SLA · to fail to achieve the promised service level
- SLA terms · the specific conditions and commitments in an SLA
- SLA violation · failure to comply with SLA requirements
- uptime SLA · a commitment about system availability percentage
- response time SLA · a commitment about how quickly support will respond
Similar words(2)
- service contract · More general term; SLA is more specific and technical.
- performance agreement · Similar meaning but less commonly used in tech; SLA is the industry standard.
Opposites(1)
- SLV (Service Level Violation)
Questions(5)
- What does SLA stand for?
- SLA stands for Service Level Agreement. It is a formal contract between a service provider and a customer that specifies the expected level of service, including uptime guarantees, response times, and penalties for non-compliance.
- How do you use SLA in a sentence at work?
- You use SLA when discussing service commitments or performance metrics. Examples: We must meet our 99.9% uptime SLA. An SLA breach occurred yesterday. Our SLA requires a 4-hour response time for critical issues.
- What is the difference between SLA and SLO?
- An SLA is an external, contractual commitment to customers with financial penalties for breach. An SLO (Service Level Objective) is an internal target that your team sets for itself. You promise the SLA to customers; you set the SLO internally, usually higher than the SLA.
- Is SLA formal or informal?
- SLA is Formal. It appears in official contracts and business documents, though it is also commonly used in everyday workplace conversations among tech professionals. The term itself is neutral and professional.
- What happens if you breach an SLA?
- When an SLA is breached, the service provider typically owes compensation to the customer, such as service credits, refunds, or penalties, depending on what the SLA contract specifies.
