GUIDE · 04 / 8

Service level agreement (SLA)

Uptime · service credits · support · maintenance · exclusions · measurement

WHAT IT IS

The measurable commitment you make on your service's performance: uptime, response times, and what happens when the target is missed.

WHEN IT COMES INTO PLAY

Attached to the SaaS agreement, or required by customers whose operations depend on your service.

WHY IT MATTERS

The SLA makes your promise measurable. For the customer, it's the assurance the service will be there when needed. For you, it's the chance to define precisely what counts as an outage, how it's measured, and which remedy applies. Without a clear SLA, every incident becomes a debate about liability.

WHAT IT OFTEN CONTAINS

Uptime rate and calculation method

The promised uptime percentage and the exact calculation method, month by month.

Maintenance windows

Planned maintenance windows, excluded from the calculation and announced in advance.

Severity levels and response times

Incident classification by severity, with a response time for each.

Service credits

The credit granted when the target is missed, and how to claim it.

Exclusions

Situations that don't count: force majeure, customer fault, third-party services.

WHAT OFTEN GETS NEGOTIATED

Target rate: 99.5% or 99.9%

WHAT THE BUYER OFTEN ASKS FOR

99.99% uptime, measured to the minute.

SUPPLIER SIDE

A realistic target for your architecture, 99.5% or 99.9%, measured monthly.

Credits as sole remedy

WHAT THE BUYER OFTEN ASKS FOR

Credits on top of damages.

SUPPLIER SIDE

Credits as the sole remedy for unavailability.

Termination for repeated failures

WHAT THE BUYER OFTEN ASKS FOR

A termination right at the first failure.

SUPPLIER SIDE

Termination only after repeated failures over a defined period.

Definition of an incident

WHAT THE BUYER OFTEN ASKS FOR

A broad definition of incident, including slowness.

SUPPLIER SIDE

An objective definition based on unavailability of core functions.

SAMPLE CLAUSE

SERVICE CREDITS

« If monthly uptime falls below 99.5%, the Customer is entitled to a credit equal to 5% of the monthly fees, up to a maximum of 25%. These credits are the Customer's sole remedy for service unavailability. »

IN PLAIN TERMSIf the service is less available than promised, the customer gets a capped discount on its bill, and that's it.

BEFORE YOU SIGN

Is the target achievable with your infrastructure?

Is the calculation method precise?

Is maintenance excluded?

Are credits capped and exclusive?

Do response times match your support team?

FREE

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