Scope
Methodology Timelines Benefits of developing MSAs FAQ
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1. 2.
Service: A bundle of activities and resources (IT, people and processes) combined to provide a business outcome or output/ deliverable received by the customer. MSA (Master Service Agreement): A document, specific per program, which includes a service catalog, agreed SLAs (performance targets) and responsibilities of the service provider and customers, all of which helps improve service delivery, manage expectations, clarify responsibilities and facilitate communication between the parties. Service Catalog: A description of the services and service offerings provided by a program. This can be a multi-level set of information with linked and discrete hierarchies of services, child services and specific offerings (specific tasks) available for these services, and will typically include service terms, standards, packages, exclusions, etc. SLA (Service Level Agreement): A written, measureable target for service or process performance agreed between service provider and customers. Service Agreements: Individual documents signed between a service provider and each customer reflecting customer-specific information (choice of services from service catalog, contact information for escalation procedures, etc). Service rate: A price that incorporates the costs of delivering the service at the service levels agreed to by both parties.
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3.
4. 5. 6.
1.
Develop & provide support for the implementation of Master Service Agreements with common structure and content across the 4 Service Enterprises of DAS.
1. 2.
DAS EAM
1. 2. 3.
Develop / update service catalog Develop additional SLAs Adapt / convert document to DAS common MSA structure, developing additional MSA content as identified in common MSA index / structure approved by CUBs for all DAS programs
DAS EGS
Revise and update existing P&D MSA / SLA document Develop 4 new MSA documents for remaining programs
3. 4.
DAS EHRS:
Develop 1 MSA
DAS ETS
3 MSA/ SLA documents (ETS, TSC, E-Gov) ETS Service catalog document
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FOCUS
(common activities for all MSAs in DAS)
IMPLEMENT
TASKS
FOCUS
(common activities for all MSAs in DAS)
IMPLEMENT
DELIVERABLES APPROACH
1. 2.
Set up FOCUS task group (common to all 4 Service Enterprises). KEY TASK: Define / agree on structure of information.
1.
Key decisions:
1.
Define elements and structure of information in MSA document and in service catalog section of MSA.
2.
3. 4. 5.
Define common templates for MSA and service catalog. Define / agree on MSA common content (across all programs/ Service
Service rates
Service catalog
Process specific Service level Agreements Glossary/ Definitions Operational procedures
(forms, templates)
Customer commitments
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Proposed draft high level structure for MSA documents: 1. Service catalog (service terms, standards, packages, exclusions, etc.) a) Service terms, packages, standards, exclusions, schedules, etc. b) DAS & Customer (operational) commitments 2. Service Level Agreements: metrics and targets for service performance and delivery agreed with customers 3. Financial processes information (billing, payments, etc.) 4. Service management processes: a) Reporting b) Periodic review c) SLA amendment procedure d) Remedies (e.g, incompliance with agreed service levels, dispute resolution, etc.) 5. Definitions 6. Contact data 7. Appendixes: a) Hyperlinks to forms & templates to be used (if available) (e.g., to request a new service, etc.). b) Hyperlinks to written operational procedures (if available )(e.g., ordering, change requests,
c)
incident management). Program-specific service rates.
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Each service described in the catalog can have a number of elements/ service attributes. A key decision is agreeing on what elements each service description must contain and their level of detail. Different Service Enterprises in DAS may have different service elements, as elements relevant in an IT service catalog (e.g. availability or outage response commitments), may not be pertinent in service catalog for EHRS or Surplus).
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ELEMENTS
Question 1: What is the service (Service Description) R B Service summary Features & Functions Bundled/ unbundled offerings Availability, Metrics & Statistics
R
X
IT Specific element?
X X X
B A
Question 2: What is included (Service Description) R R Description of what is included in service Description of standard configuration supported Description of what is not included in service How is this service requested? What forms are used to request this service? When can you expect to have your service request fulfilled? Service Request Process/ Procedure Customer and Service provider commitments Getting Help Self-Service Support Escalation process Communication Plan Eligibility for service Clients and services affected by changes to this service Testing Documentation and Training for Support Customer and Service provider commitments Technical Specifications Technical Service Delivery Documentation Related websites X X X X X X X X X X X X
Question 5: How do I get help? How does the Service Enterprise provide support this service? (Support, Help and Self-Service) R B R R B X X
What forms are used to request this service? What to ask for?
When can you expect to have your service fulfilled? What are the availability and outage response commitments for this service? Is there anything else you need to know about this service?
B A A R
Question 6: How does ETS provide this service? (Service Delivery) B A A Key: A A X X X X X X X
X R = Required for all services / Minimum service definition/support X Basic service definition/support Production Support / Operational A = Required for Advanced service definition/support X Change B = Management Required for Processes
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1.
Identify workgroup members from DAS and customers. A team of 6-8 members is recommended for each MSA, with equal numbers of program delivery unit staff and customers represented.
Aim is having a balanced mix of customers representing different agency sizes and services contracted in workgroup. Participation from CUB will be preferred, but participated from non CUB represented customers will be tapped as needed. At least one CUB member will be a member of the work \group.
Support staff from DAS/DBS will also participate in order to assist and to facilitate the MSA development process / meetings.
2.
1.
Workshop to identify structure/ list of current services. Identify high level service structure/ framework (with service
groupings / functions).
2.
Describe current services / service offerings. Describe service items, packages, bundled and unbundled
offerings.
How is this service requested? What forms are used to request this service? What to ask for?
Describe service terms, standards, and exclusions. Describe service hours/ schedules, contact channels. Additional content: Forms? Templates? Operational procedures? See SDC service catalog
When can you expect to have your service fulfilled? What are the availability and outage response commitments for this service? Is there anything else you need to know about this service?
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1. Ideally, the output of the initial workshop between provide and customers would be:
A simple high-level definition of the service structure or framework. Identification of service components each service would be defined in terms of its position in the overall service structure/ framework i.e. is it part of a larger service, or does it also have some child services or offerings which are simply low level service features.?
2. It is important to keep
service catalog workshops / meetings to the point on service definitions, not SLAs or service issues (although these sometimes
creep in).
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Service Level Agreements: Written measureable targets for service performance agreed between provider and customers
Identify performance metrics
Measure current performance levels (Baseline) e.g., by implementing short term performance improvement actions
No
No
DEVELOP SLAs PROCESS Identify list of services Identify customer expectations/ quality factors Identify performance metrics
EXAMPLE FOR EHRS Client agency recruitment Agile process Quality of candidate list
BASELINE: 80 days
NO (hope to get to standard incrementally in the next 4 years) Yes AGREED SLA: 75 days
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How Long Does It Take to Establish an MSA? It depends. Many factors can influence the duration of the effort, such as:
The number and complexity of the services covered: The more services covered by a MSA, and the more complex these services, the longer it takes the two parties to discuss, negotiate and document the conditions of service delivery. The availability / commitment of the working team members: Joint service provider & customer work and face-toface negotiations are crucial in establishing a MSA. Insufficient commitment or availability of key SLA development team members can add significantly to the elapsed time.
The choice of performance metrics and the availability of past performance data. In the absence of past performance information, the team will need to baseline current performance levels before negotiating the final service level agreements.
The approval/ governance model for the agreement. A complex multi-party approval process, either for the final document or for any of its key elements, can certainly add to the elapsed development time.
The availability of a base model & template: The first MSA in an organization usually takes the longest. Once it is
completed and in operation, however, both the document and the process can serve as a model for subsequent MSAs. If the first MSA is successful, later ones usually proceed much more rapidly.
Prior SLA experience: The most expeditious MSA efforts are ones led or facilitated by SLA developers who have had prior successful experience establishing MSA / SLA documents.
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Given these factors, how long should it take to establish MSA/ SLAs in DAS?
Too short
A misconception about MSAs is that they can be created quickly. Developing a MSA in a week or even a month is both difficult and inadvisable. It is difficult because of the workload involved in such tasks as negotiating service standards, establishing tracking mechanisms, preparing supporting procedures, gaining approvals and generating buy-in. And it is inadvisable because the process is designed to help the two parties build the foundation for a strong, successful, long-term relationship.
Too long
"Too long" refers not to a specific time period, but to an effort that has stalled and is making no progress. A major contributor to a stalled effort is that one or both parties fail to bring a serious commitment to the effort. When management allocation of staff to establish the MSA is insufficient, or the effort is given a low priority, making progress can be a cumbersome task.
Just right
Establishing a MSA is typically a many-month process of information-gathering, analyzing, documenting, educating,
negotiating, and consensus-building.
Given the complexity of services provided by DAS, a tentative period of 3-6 months can be a good rule of thumb. When circumstances are optimal, 3 months is realistic, and sometimes even less. At the other extreme, if the situation is a complex one, 6 months may not be enough. However, if significant progress has not been made within 6 months, it's time to stop the
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Tentative proposed project plan for the development of EHRS MSA document
Q4 2012
OCT NOV DEC JAN
Q1 2013
FEB MAR APRIL
Q2 2013
MAY JUNE JULY
Q3 2013
AUG SEPT
IMPLEMENT
SET UP WORK TEAM COMMUNICATE MSA DEVELOP SLA s (PERF. METRICS AND TARGETS) DEFINE REST OF MSA
APPROVE MSA
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1.
2.
3.
4.
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1.
MSA development needs to inform 2015-2017 rate development activities therefore it needs to be finalized before kicking off the rate review process in July 2013. Developing the service catalog is only a part of the MSA development. The services identified in the service catalog need to be described with enough detail so as to enable the identification of performance metrics and targets. The proposed scope for the service catalog within the MSA development process is limited to services already established at the time MSA development begins. However, developing the service catalog section of the MSA document can offer an excellent opportunity for DAS & CUBs to discuss & challenge the existing offering of utility services and identify: New potential utility service offerings for 2015-2017. Additional utility service levels packages (e.g, gold packages)
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2.
The MSA development team (with DAS & CUB members) will define new services for 2013-2015 as part of the MSA development efforts If a need for a new service for 2013-2015 is identified as part of the development of the MSA document, a separate, dedicated service design & development team would have to be formed. This team would be led by representatives from the appropriate DAS Program or Service Enterprise and would have participation by CUB members (and possibly by other DAS customers). This team would work independently from the MSA development workstream in order to conduct the necessary service design and development activities (market research, detailed identification of customer expectations, defining growth projections, cost analysis, technical scoping, development of business case, development & testing of pilot/ prototype, preliminary rate analysis and agency impact modeling, definition of billing processes, development of POPs, etc). The service development team would report its final recommendations/ output to the CUB in order to inform the 2015-2017 rate development process.
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