An arrangement whereby one party to a contract agrees to provide a detailed level of services to the other party. The SLA contains the performance levels required to meet the standards of the contract.
At the grand signing of a customer order, they quietly raise the requirement to have an 'SLA'. Do you:- a) Act dumb and hope it goes away OR b) Knuckle down to some hard negotiating. Answer b) - these are Service Level Performance requirements embodied in a formal Agreement that form part of a supply agreement - usually carrying penalties for non-performance.