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Here, though, is an opportunity to analyze the service in its entirety and to anticipate the potential problems, pitfalls, or network bottlenecks that could cause concern in the future. A final reason for the system manager to favor the use of SLAs is that it could provide the necessary justification for further expenditure on improvements. The negotiation process and the monitoring of the performance should raise the profile of problematic areas. Using the SLA results, for example, the system 38 Part I: The System Manager Part I: The System Manager 39 manager could not only specify what is needed to improve the service, but also provide the projected improvement in efficiency and throughput that is likely.

A good way of collecting the required information is to use a time recording system. In this way, time is booked to various tasks by the people carrying them out. Managers then can produce reports to detail how much time (and, hence, cost) is spent providing a specific service. 1 shows an example timesheet that has been completed by a system administrator for a working week. A report would contain, say, monthly figures for the total time spent on a specific task and by all those contributing to it.

The sales team requirement (between three and seven seconds) is agreed as being acceptable and reasonable. 4. The graphical test report clearly shows that the current system is consistently performing well below the expected level. 48 Part I: The System Manager Part I: The System Manager 49 Internet- and email-related queries and orders are not as critical as telephone orders, although the slow response times of the system are causing the sales team to build up a backlog of requests and orders.