Legislation and Organizational Policies CHAPTER 14 201 SLAs Service level agreements (SLAs) are agreements between clients and service pro- viders that outline what services will be supplied, what is expected from the service, and who will fix the service if it does not meet an expected level of performance. In short, it is a contract between the parties who will use a par- ticular service and the people who create or maintain it. Through an SLA, the expectations and needs of all parties are clearly defined so that no misunder- standings about the system will occur at a later time. EXAM WARNING The Security exam expects that you understand that an SLA is used to establish an agreement between customers and the service provider as to the services available, and the requirements and conditions in providing them. Remember that SLAs are not only used between companies and third parties, but also as a commitment between internal IT staff and the organization's user base.