Database Reference
In-Depth Information
satisfied. Do not forget that expectations can change over time, therefore, you should
monitor them periodically to ensure you and your customers are on the same page.
11.6.1 Service Level Agreement
The Service Level Agreement (SLA) formalizes some of these expectations. An SLA is a
formal contract that sets expectations, priorities, and clarifies responsibilities, in mea-
surable terms, between you and your customers by setting the criteria and standard for
service. The SLA may include things like:
• What percentage of the time services will be available
• What times the system is down for maintenance
• number of users that can be served simultaneously
• Specific performance benchmarks to which actual performance will be periodi-
cally compared like retrieval times and calculation times
• turnaround times for processing security requests
• turnaround times for creation of new report
• turnaround times for changes to a report
• turnaround times for hierarchy changes
• Data is refresh frequency from source systems
When negotiating SLAs, consider what you can control versus what you cannot.
If you are using shared resources, it can be difficult and dangerous to commit to definite
performance metrics. Be open and honest on what you can commit to and what you
cannot. If you are creating an ad hoc environment, frame your commitment carefully.
Because you cannot control what will be queried, it will be difficult to guarantee specific
performance SLAs. We told you that clients can be unrealistic, but guess what? you can
be as well. In other words, do yourself a favor, do not over commit.
An SLA can be as detailed as you and your customer believe it needs to be to prop-
erly address expectations. The SLA should be treated as a living document that can and
should be refined and amended as needed. The management aspect of the SLA should
not be overlooked and the following also should be defined in the document:
• how will service effectiveness be tracked?
• how will information about service effectiveness be reported and addressed?
• how will service-related disagreements be resolved?
• how will the parties review and revise the agreement?
It also is important to have SLAs with It. The same principle applies where it should
be mutually agreed upon. SLAs with It are extremely important because they will affect
fulfilling your customer SLAs. These SLAs typically revolve around delivery of data
through EtL, up-time of shared platforms, and maintenance windows.
11.7 managing the projeCt
you have completed your preproject tasks and you have selected a partner and/or built
your internal team. now, the real fun begins: managing the project. many hyperion
managers and Essbase Developers hate project management. Project management
is not fun; some would even call it boring. It is often a necessary evil so that you can
successfully make Essbase do things that cause everyone to “ooh” and “ahh” at what is
being built. unfortunately, the cool stuff is only part of the job. our role as an internal
