Service level agreement (SLA) template for Word (free download)

Service level agreement (SLA) template for Word (free download)

A service level agreement, known almost everywhere by its initials, is the document in which a supplier and its client put into writing what service will be delivered, to what standard and how that standard will be verified. It is not the quotation and it is not the purchase contract: it is the annex where everything usually left vague, "fast", "well", "whenever possible", becomes a target that can be measured.

The problem always shows up at the same point. A company hires transport, maintenance, cleaning, security or IT support, and during the negotiation everybody talks about response times, availability and emergencies. Nobody writes it down. Three months later the conversation goes like this: "we agreed faults would be handled the same day". "No, we agreed they would be handled quickly". Without a written target, a stated way of measuring and a defined frequency, every claim turns into an argument about impressions instead of numbers.

The template you can download on this page covers that gap. It is a Word file that already carries the letterhead, the parties, the table of services covered, the table of committed service levels with four typical indicators, what happens when a target is missed, the escalation path by level and room for signatures. You replace what sits between brackets with the data of your own operation.

What a service level agreement actually is

A service level agreement is a written document, signed by two parties, describing the services committed and the quality levels the supplier undertakes to sustain. Its value is not in the formality of the wording but in the fact that it forces both sides to answer three specific questions: what is measured, what target it is compared against, and which records prove it.

In practice this document rarely stands alone. It hangs off a supply agreement, a services contract or a purchase order; it can travel as an annex to the main contract or as a separate document signed the same day. Where it earns its keep is in continuous service: moving goods between warehouses, technical support for a platform, cleaning of premises, security or equipment maintenance. That is where it shows most, precisely because the service is delivered every day and its failures pile up quietly.

It is worth separating it from three documents it gets confused with. A quotation says what is offered and at what price. A contract says what each party is obliged to do. A service level agreement says to what standard the contracted work will be delivered and what happens when that standard is not reached. All three can live side by side, but each answers a different question.

Another common mistake is assuming this is only for large companies. A small supplier serving a steady client needs one of these more, not less: it is how the supplier proves with records that the work was done as promised and stops a single complaint from turning into "this supplier never responds".

What it is for, concretely

• It turns broad expectations into verifiable targets: "respond quickly" becomes a maximum response time written down and accepted by both sides.
• It gives the client an objective basis for a claim and the supplier an objective basis for a defence when the target was in fact met.
• It defines the escalation path, so a fault does not sit waiting in the message thread of whoever answered first.
• It separates ordinary service from emergencies: a support schedule for routine matters and a different channel for urgent ones.
• It feeds the periodic supplier evaluation, because it leaves a record of what was measured in each period.
• It stops the contract renewal from being renegotiated from scratch: last period's results show what is worth adjusting.

What the template includes

These are the actual sections of the file, in the order they appear:

The four indicators already written into the file are the ones that appear in almost any operation. They are worth understanding before filling them in:

How to use the template, step by step

1. Replace the letterhead data with your own and, if the file keeps a document control table, update the code and the version there.
2. Fill in the parties: service provider and client, each with its ID, plus the name and the role of the representatives who will sign. If someone signs on behalf of another person, make that clear here.
3. List the services covered and set a realistic support schedule for each. It is better to admit that support runs Monday to Friday than to sign round-the-clock availability you cannot staff.
4. Complete the indicator table. For each one, set the target, the source of the data and the review frequency. If an indicator has no data behind it, replace it with one that does.
5. Decide what happens when a target is missed: who gives notice, how long the improvement plan takes and what gets reviewed if the miss repeats.
6. Build the escalation path with names and channels, not generic areas. A first level of "customer service" is useless; a first level with a name, a phone number and an email address works.
7. Settle the term, the indicator review date and where the copies go before signing.
8. Have the document reviewed by the people who will actually deliver the service, not only by whoever bought it. Many agreements fail because the target was negotiated in an office and the person responsible never read it.

The bracketed fields: what goes in them and why to settle them before signing

The file is built with bracketed fields precisely so that nobody signs targets inherited from another company. Each one is a decision worth taking before the signature rather than after it:

• [Main service], [Support service] and [Emergency service]: name the service the way it will be called in daily operations. If a service does not apply, leave it out rather than write a commitment nobody will staff.
• [Committed target]: the level being promised. It must be reachable with the resources you have today; an ambitious target that never holds wears the relationship down more than a modest one that does.
• [the responsible party]: who owns the improvement plan. In most cases it is the supplier, but emergency service can be split between both sides.
• [number] days: the deadline to deliver the improvement plan after the period closes. This is the figure most argued over, so agree it with enough room to build a plan from real data, without turning it into an endless window.
• [terms, adjustments or termination]: decide in advance what gets reviewed if the miss repeats. Settling it beforehand avoids having the discussion once tempers are up.
• [customer service area]: where the copy goes. It helps to have one place to consult the agreement without depending on whoever signed it.

What to check before signing

• Targets that cannot be measured with the data available. If nobody records the exact time each request came in, response time cannot be calculated.
• Review frequencies too short for the volume. Measuring a service weekly when it sees three requests a year tells you nothing.
• Support hours that contradict the real operation: the commitment states one schedule and the supplier works another.
• An escalation path without names or channels, listing generic areas that in practice nobody answers.
• No stated data source. Every indicator should say where the figure comes from, so both parties read the same record.
• Signatures missing, or signed on behalf of someone else without leaving a record of the authority to do so.
• An agreement signed and never reviewed: if the review date passes and nobody acts on it, the document stops being useful.

When it is worth moving to a system

The agreement runs on autopilot while volumes are low: one or two requests a day can be tracked in a spreadsheet and an inbox. Once requests run into the dozens each day, comparing what was promised with what happened needs records that no longer fit in a notebook. That is where inventory and operations software such as Kardex Tauro adds what the document cannot provide on its own: timestamped records of every movement, times calculated automatically and indicator measurement built on the same information both parties use. It is worth considering when you spend more time assembling the monthly report for the agreement than handling the complaints that report is supposed to explain.

This template is general guidance, not legal advice

The file you download is a general template for internal use. It is not legal advice and it does not replace professional review: before signing, go through it with your company's adviser, adapt it to your operation and to the rules of your country, and confirm that the committed targets are reachable with the resources you have today. A service level agreement only works if the indicators can be measured with data both parties can see.