Service Level Agreements (SLA) and Service Catalogue Design – Dubai, 11–15 Jan 2027

Programme overview

Technical depth: Practitioner · Practical mode: Case study

Introduction

Many organisations promise service levels they cannot measure and publish catalogues their customers cannot use. Targets are copied from templates, internal teams have no agreements underpinning external commitments, and dashboards report green while complaints rise. This Core Concept course equips managers to design a service catalogue and the agreements behind it, using ISO/IEC 20000-1 and ITIL 4 practice guidance. Participants work through cases from several sectors and leave with a Service Catalogue and SLA Pack covering catalogue entries, SLA and OLA drafts, metric definitions and a service review template.

Course Objectives

• Map the services a function provides and the commitments already made to customers into a catalogue baseline
• Apply ISO/IEC 20000-1 and ITIL 4 practice guidance to define catalogue content and the SLA, OLA and contract hierarchy
• Design service catalogue entries and draft SLA and OLA clauses with measurable, achievable targets
• Specify metric calculation rules and review reporting that show both service level performance and customer experience
• Handle breaches, service credits and supplier-dependent risks to agreed service levels
• Produce a Service Catalogue and SLA Pack ready for sign-off by service owners and customers

Target Audience

• Service owners accountable for the scope and performance of customer-facing services
• Service delivery and customer service managers who agree targets with internal or external customers
• Contact centre and service desk managers responsible for response and resolution commitments
• Contract and vendor managers overseeing the performance of outsourced services
• Quality and service excellence managers who maintain service standards and charters
• Business relationship managers who negotiate service requirements with business units

Course Outline

Day 1: Service Commitments and the Current-State Baseline

• Service, Offering and Agreement Definitions in the ITIL 4 Service Value System
• Customer-Facing and Supporting Service Mapping with a Service Relationship Diagram
• Current Commitment Inventory: Contracts, Charters and Informal Promises
• Service Performance Baseline from Ticket and Contact Data
• Expectation Gap Analysis Using the SERVQUAL Gaps Model

Day 2: Standards and Frameworks for Service Levels and Catalogues

• ISO/IEC 20000-1:2018 Service Catalogue and Service Level Management Requirements
• ITIL 4 Service Level Management and Service Catalogue Management Practices
• ISO 18295-1:2017 Service Requirements for Customer Contact Centres
• SLA, OLA and Underpinning Contract Hierarchy Model
• Experience Level Agreements and Experience Indicators Alongside SLAs

Day 3: Designing the Catalogue and Drafting Agreements

• Service Catalogue Entry Template: Owner, Scope, Channels, Hours and Request Types
• Customer View and Technical View Catalogue Design
• Service Level Target Setting with an Impact-Urgency Priority Matrix
• SLA Clause Drafting: Measurement Definitions, Exclusions and Service Credits
• OLA Drafting Between Internal Teams to Underpin External Targets

Day 4: Measurement, Risk and Performance Control

• Metric Calculation Rules: Clock Start, Pause and Business-Hours Logic
• Watermelon Effect Diagnosis Using ISO 10004 Customer Satisfaction Monitoring
• Service Review Meeting Pack and RAG Status Dashboard
• Breach Escalation Path, Service Credit Calculation and Remediation Plans
• Supplier Service Level Risks in Outsourced Services Under ISO 37500 Guidance

Day 5: Case Work and the Service Catalogue and SLA Pack

• Shared Service Desk Case Study: Rewriting an Unmeasurable SLA
• Public-Facing Contact Centre Case Study: Aligning the Catalogue with the Service Charter
• Catalogue Entry Build for Three Services from the Participant’s Organisation
• Service Catalogue and SLA Pack Drafting
• Peer Review Using an ISO/IEC 20000-1 Conformance Checklist

Skills You Will Gain

• Service Catalogue Design
• Service Level Target Setting
• Agreement Drafting
• Service Metric Definition
• Service Performance Reporting
• Supplier Performance Management
• Experience Measurement
• Service Review Facilitation

Why Attend This Course

• Return to work with a Service Catalogue and SLA Pack for services you own, already tested in peer review
• Replace vague promises with targets that customers and delivery teams calculate in the same way
• Recognise green dashboards that hide dissatisfied customers and add experience measures to service reviews
• Compare catalogue and agreement practice with managers from other sectors and countries

Conclusion

A service commitment is only useful when customers can find it, delivery teams can meet it and both sides measure it the same way. This course moves from mapping existing services and promises, through the standards and practices that define catalogues and agreements, to the calculation rules, breach handling and supplier risks that decide whether an SLA holds. The final day turns that work into a Service Catalogue and SLA Pack that participants take back to their customers and delivery teams for agreement.