SLA vs OLA

[rhofing]

I am building a small service catalog that will have SLA`s.   I want to better understand SLA's and OLA's.

If I am understanding the difference between the two, the OLA will be attached to individual catalalog tasks. Task 1 has an OLA of 1 day, task 2 has an OLA of 8 hours, etc.

The SLA =, if I am understaing this correctly, applies to the catalog request as a whole (ie one SLA can have one or more OLA's). What I want to undertsand better is the relationship between OLA and SLA.  

So, if the SLA is 5 days, then the total of any OLA's defined have to add up to 5 days?   Is this correct?   If so, is there a check done when defining the SLA's and OLA's to make sure they add up correctly?   For example, if I define an SLA of 3 days, but my OLA's add up to 5 days, will this be flagged?

Thank you!

Ric

[Pradeep Sharma]

Hi Ric,

You may find below link helpful.

What is difference between SLA & OLA

Difference Between OLA and SLA | Difference Between | OLA vs SLA

Defining an SLA - ServiceNow Wiki

[Chuck Tomasi]

Hi Ric,

The short answer - they are just labels/tags to help identify the two different types of records. There is really no functional difference.

Per ITIL, an SLA is something in your sphere of control - typically your IT groups. An OLA is still within your organization, but another department (e.g. HR, or Legal.) An an underpinning contract is with an external vendor or service provider.

[rhofing]

Thanks Chuck, that clears it up a little, but I am still not sure if, when I have a catalog item that has multiple tasks, if I should define an SLA on the item and OLA's on the tasks. For example, for a given catalog item (ie order a laptop), the laptop should be delivered, fully configured and ready to go, within 5 days (SLA). Of course there are a number of tasks performed by various departments (Procurement, IT, etc) involved in buying and provisioning a laptop. Should OLA's be defined for the individual tasks (which would "rollup" to the SLA)? Is this a common practice?   If not, can you provide a brief over view of how this is generally done?

I am envisioning that using SLA/OLA I can track the service levels for catalog items as well as the individual catalog tasks. For example, maybe there is one task of a total of five tasks that is consistently taking so long that the SLA is being breached. If there is a OLA on each of the tasks this will then help me determine and monitor the performance of each of these tasks.

[Chuck Tomasi]

Hi Ric,

Make the determination when you define the SLAs and OLAs. Let them get applied where they meet the conditions. Don't think about them as being exclusive to request items and catalog tasks. Instead, if you have a mixture, create definitions.

Example (SLA):

Start condition: Assignment Group | is | Laptop support

Example (OLA)

Start condition: Assignment group | is | Procurement

They can both be applied to the catalog task table. They are very flexible and you can use them as your requirements dictate.