Service level agreement template with real uptime and response targets
A client wants an SLA before signing, or you need one from a vendor. This prompt has your todo.is agent draft a service level agreement for your service: what is covered, uptime and how it is measured, support hours, response and resolution times by priority, service credits and what is excluded, with a table you can drop into a contract.
The prompt
- Draft a service level agreement between [PROVIDER] and [CUSTOMER] for [SERVICE]. Targets: [UPTIME TARGET], support hours [SUPPORT HOURS AND TIME ZONE], and response times [RESPONSE TIMES BY PRIORITY]. Service credits: [CREDIT RULES]. Include: scope and services covered, definitions (downtime, incident, priority levels with examples), how uptime is measured and over what period, scheduled maintenance and notice, exclusions (customer causes, third parties, force majeure), support channels and escalation contacts, response and resolution targets in a table, service credits and how to claim them, monthly reporting, customer responsibilities, review and changes, and how the SLA links to the main contract. Save as a Word file, and add a one-page summary table I can share with my team.
What to change
- [PROVIDER]: Who provides the service, e.g. "Cobalt IT Services Ltd".
- [CUSTOMER]: Who receives it, e.g. "Marlow Dental Group".
- [SERVICE]: e.g. "managed IT support and hosting for 3 clinics" or "our SaaS booking platform".
- [UPTIME TARGET]: e.g. "99.9% monthly". 99.9% allows about 43 minutes of downtime a month.
- [SUPPORT HOURS AND TIME ZONE]: e.g. "Mon to Fri 8:00 to 18:00 GMT, critical issues 24/7".
- [RESPONSE TIMES BY PRIORITY]: e.g. "critical 1 hour, high 4 hours, normal 1 business day, low 3 business days".
- [CREDIT RULES]: e.g. "5% of monthly fee per 0.1% below target, max 25%".
Example result
- Service Level Agreement (sample draft)
- Provider: Cobalt IT Services Ltd. Customer: Marlow Dental Group. Service: managed IT support and hosting of the practice management server for 3 clinics.
- 1. Availability. The hosted service will be available 99.9% of each calendar month, measured by the Provider's monitoring every minute. Scheduled maintenance announced 5 business days ahead, outside clinic hours, does not count as downtime.
- 2. Priority levels
- • P1 Critical: a whole clinic cannot work, e.g. server down
- • P2 High: a key function fails for several users, e.g. printing to all treatment rooms
- • P3 Normal: one user affected, with a workaround
- • P4 Low: questions, small changes, new user setup
- 3. Targets
- • P1: response 1 hour, 24/7. Target resolution or workaround 4 hours
- • P2: response 4 business hours. Target resolution 1 business day
- • P3: response 1 business day. Target resolution 3 business days
- • P4: response 3 business days. Scheduled by agreement
- Support hours: Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 18:00 GMT. P1 issues by phone 24/7.
- 4. Exclusions. Downtime caused by the Customer's equipment or staff, internet provider outages, third-party software, or events outside reasonable control.
- 5. Service credits. If monthly availability falls below 99.9%, the Customer receives a credit of 5% of that month's fee for each 0.1% below target, up to 25%. Credits must be requested within 30 days and are the Customer's sole financial remedy for missed availability.
- 6. Reporting. A monthly report with availability, ticket counts by priority and targets met.
- 7. Customer responsibilities. Report issues through the agreed channels, give access when needed, and keep a named contact at each clinic.
- 8. Review. Both parties review this SLA every 12 months.
How to do it with todo.is
- Copy the prompt and fill in the parties, the service and your targets.
- Paste it into todo.is from the Today screen. Attach the main contract if the SLA must match it.
- Your agent writes the SLA as a Word file with a summary table for your team.
- Ask for changes like "add a P1 phone escalation list" or "make it a vendor SLA we are asking for", then share it with the other side.
Tips for a better result
- Translate the uptime target into minutes. 99.9% per month is about 43 minutes of downtime, 99.5% is about 3.6 hours.
- Define each priority level with a concrete example. Arguments about whether something was "critical" are the most common SLA dispute.
- Separate response time from resolution time. Promising a fix in 1 hour is very different from replying in 1 hour.
- Set a recurring to-do to compile the monthly SLA report from your ticket export so reviews are easy.
- This is a draft, not legal advice. Have a lawyer check how credits and liability interact with your main contract.
service level agreement template: FAQ
- What is a service level agreement? An SLA sets measurable service targets, like uptime and support response times, and what happens if they are missed, usually service credits. It normally sits alongside a main services contract.
- What is a good uptime target? 99.9% is common for business software and hosting. 99.95% or higher usually needs redundant infrastructure. Only promise what your monitoring and setup can back up.
- What are service credits? Service credits are discounts on future invoices when targets are missed. They are often capped, for example at 25% of the monthly fee.
- Can my agent review a vendor's SLA? Yes. Attach it and your agent summarizes the targets, exclusions and credits and flags weak spots like no P1 definition or very broad exclusions. It is not legal advice.
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