ABSTRACT

This chapter analyses the benefits of Service Level Agreements (SLA) in the space industry. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are a typical feature of many information technology (IT) service contracts, especially in IT outsourcing projects. During the negotiation phase, SLAs can be an excellent tool for helping the parties involved to improve their communications. Negotiations are therefore held among engineers without involvement of legal and financial experts. An SLA describes the quantity and quality standards of a service and, thus, makes the quality of the service measurable. Where a User Help Desk (UHD) is established, reaction and response time are usually measured by the time period between opening and closure of electronic trouble tickets. It is reported that the European Space Agency has implemented SLAs for certain routine operational activities related to the International Space Station (ISS) Columbus Module and the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV). Satellite communications was certainly the first branch of the space industry where such services were introduced.