In the case of physical goods as well as services, the quality cannot be determined in a generally valid way, since there are usually different views on quality. While functionality can be assumed as a measure of quality for physical goods, there is often a disagreement between service providers and service recipients with regard to services. While service providers often only perform a minimum in order to fulfill a contract, service consumers often expect optimal quality.
In order to objectify the quality of a service, the service is divided into different levels with regard to various properties, which are offered by the service provider. These so-called service levels then specify the form in which a service can be provided. The client then no longer queries a service in general, but at a specific level. Often the levels between the supplier and the customer are freely negotiable.
The SLA is then the agreement between the service provider and the service customer on the level at which a service must be provided.
SLAs originally come from the field of IT services, w