What an SLA Covers in an MSP Contract
A service level agreement is the part of your managed services agreement that states what a client is entitled to when they need help: how quickly you respond, how incidents are prioritized, when support is available and what happens if you miss. It is the document both sides reach for when something has gone wrong and tempers are short. An SLA written to sound reassuring during the sale becomes a liability during an outage; one written around what your team can deliver on a bad week is a defense.
Most MSP SLAs are built on a severity table like the one below. The wording matters more than the thresholds, which you should set from your own desk's history rather than a competitor's brochure.
| Priority | Typical Definition | What You Commit To |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | The business cannot operate | A response and continuous work until service is restored |
| High | A team or key system is impaired | A response within the agreed window, work the same day |
| Normal | One user is affected, with a workaround | A response within the agreed window |
| Low | Requests and questions | Scheduled handling |
Promise Response, Not Resolution
The common mistake is promising resolution times. You control when someone picks up a ticket, which is why time to first response is the right thing to commit to. You do not control when a vendor ships a fix, when a failed drive arrives or when the client's staff are free. Committing to an outcome that depends on other people is how an SLA becomes unmeetable in exactly the situations it was written for. Track time to resolution internally and discuss it openly instead.
Clauses MSPs Forget
- Coverage hours, and the time zone they are measured in.
- Who may raise a critical ticket, so a single user cannot declare a company-wide emergency.
- Exclusions: unsupported hardware, software the client installed, third-party outages and work outside scope.
- Client obligations, such as keeping systems under your management and giving timely access.
- The remedy for a miss, usually a service credit capped at a share of the monthly fee, and how the client claims it.
- How and when the SLA can change, so a price or scope review does not require renegotiating the whole agreement.
The SLA also shapes pricing. Faster commitments and wider coverage hours need more staff on shift, so they belong in higher tiers, which the guide to how MSPs price their services walks through.
Measuring and Reporting It
An SLA you do not measure is a promise you cannot defend. Configure the SLA clocks in your PSA to match the contract exactly, including coverage hours and pause rules, and review SLA attainment monthly. Share the results with clients at the QBR, misses included. A client who sees an honest report with an explanation trusts it; a client who discovers a miss you did not mention stops trusting the rest.
Common Questions
Are service credits worth offering?
Small, capped credits show you take the commitment seriously without exposing the business. Uncapped credits or termination rights for a single miss are a risk most MSPs should refuse.
Should every client get the same SLA?
Use one standard SLA per service tier. Custom SLAs per client multiply the rules your desk has to remember and the PSA has to enforce.
Does an SLA replace the master agreement?
No. It usually sits as a schedule to the master services agreement, which covers liability, payment and termination.
What if a client's own staff cause the delay?
Your SLA should let the clock pause while you are waiting on the client for access or information, and the ticket history should show why.