About Service Level Agreements

As Algonquin College transitions from partial to full RCM, agreements between Academic and non-Academic departments have been created as useful tools to identify and confirm expectations on both sides.

The Steering Committee recommended the use of a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to define this relationship. This is a simple document, created at the department level, which would be signed by all Members of President’s Council. These will solidify the message to the College community that all services are provided to all departments. While it is a formal contract, it is not a legal document and is used for clarification of expectations and reporting purposes.

The SLA explicitly defines the goods and services to be provided in exchange for a share of the central administrative allocation pool. SLAs are based on a simple and transparent formula: one common basket of services for one price. The goods and services are defined at a materiality level understandable to the user, but flexible enough to ensure the SLA is not a constrictive device in managing the use of any department resources. In addition, the SLA provides details on the benchmarking of current services, to provide a reference for budget negotiations for future increases or decreases in service requirements by non-Academic department.

These formal contracts eliminate any potential confusion: Directors define the goods and services to be provided and Deans manage the scope of services provided internally. This will allow the services to be defined and measured.

One SLA per non-Academic department has been negotiated, which is to be reviewed annually with formal renegotiation after 3 years. The SLA review following this defined period would be the responsibility of Academic Operations & Planning, under the leadership of the department Executive Director, Director or Dean and their respective Vice-President. The formal review process has not been defined, however, the first Client Satisfaction Survey relating to the SLA’s will launch February 17th, 2017.

Find the SLA’s on MyAC/Resources/Service Level Agreements (SLA) Group – anyone can join! Do it today.

Key Elements of the Service Level Agreement

The SLAs define key elements:

  • The scope of work for both core (common basket of services) and ad hoc (pay as you go) services;
  • The benchmarks for core and ad hoc service provision, using current (where possible) standards;
  • The timeframes for service delivery: for instance, a help-desk ticket response from ITS within two business days, or an expense report processed by Finance within 10 business days;
  • The metrics by which the provision of goods and services will be measured: performance tracking should be simple and meaningful;
  • The procedure for dispute, problem and service delivery (accountability) resolution in the event of an issue between the parties;
  • Duties and responsibilities applicable to both parties;
  • Guidance on ad hoc pricing and processes;
  • Specify methodology on resources for increased services

SLA Work Plan

The initial working group strongly recommended that all departments use the same template. This template was maintained overall, with specific enhancements where necessary to support services provided by a specific department.

All non-Academic departments completed SLA’s are posted on myAC, in a Group called Completed Service Level Agreements. There are no restriction on internal viewing of these documents

Appendix A: Listing of Departments

Academic Departments

  • Algonquin in the Ottawa Valley
  • Algonquin Heritage Institute
  • Faculty of Arts, Media & Design
  • Faculty of Health, Public Safety & Community Studies
  • Faculty of Technology & Trades
  • School of Business
  • School of Hospitality & Tourism
  • Center for Continuing & On-line Learning
  • Language Institute
  • Corporate Training

Non-Academic Departments

  • Academic Operations
  • Academic Development
  • Advancement
  • Applied Research
  • Business Development
  • Communications & Public Relations
  • Community Partnerships
  • Finance & Admin (includes VP F&A)
  • Foundation
  • Human Resources (includes VP HR)
  • Information Technology Services (included VP Digital Strategies)
  • International (includes VP International & Strategic Priorities)
  • Learning & Teaching Services
  • Marketing
  • Registrar’s Office
  • Student Recruitment
  • Student Support Services (Includes VP Student Services)
  • Workplace & Personal Development
  • Office of President, BOG*
  • Office of VPA*
  • Physical Resources
  • Risk Management
  • Ancillary (not part of Shared services)

*No SLA produced