What Is an Operational Level Agreement?

OLA agreements document how a service providerwill track performance, communicate progress, and deliver on their promises. These documents are critical to service level management and hold all parties accountable because they carefully detail responsibilities.

Most OLA agreements underpin the specific service offering and critical promises to clients regarding the customer experience and critical events that may impact operations.

Common Terms in Operational Level Agreements

OLA contracts contain basic provisions establishing essential roles, communication protocols, and the terms and conditions between two parties. However, some terminology is unique to OLAs and is difficult to understand. Here’s a guide to help increase your knowledge:

Basic Overview

The general overview sets the groundwork for a productive relationship. It identifies the parties, defines the service, sets objectives, structures communication channels, and establishes who’s accountable.

Service Description

This section describes the technical elements of the provided services and how the outputs of these services will be communicated to the client.

Responsible Parties

Service providers need to have a plan in place in case issues develop. An OLA lists the names, working hours, and contact information of repair technicians.

Problem Management

Along with knowing who to contact, an OLA should also include information about steps that should be taken when problems occur. This problem management list should contain various scenarios and tips on reacting to them.

Service Exceptions

This is important because it details the relationship’s scope and depth of services. Properly outlining exceptions lets everyone clearly understand what problems fall under the agreement, and which will need to be scheduled and paid for outside of the service agreement.

Metrics and Goals

Determining the key performance indicators is a critical part of an OLA contract. These help both parties determine the relationship’s effectiveness.

Operational Level Agreement Best Practices

OLAs play a significant role in the quality of service your provider delivers, so making sure you have the right elements in place is critical. Here are some best practices to consider when negotiating your next OLA:

Carefully Detail the Purpose

In the opening paragraphs, make sure the purpose of the service agreement is carefully detailed. This helps guide the rest of the contract and provides peace of mind that you receive the support you need.

List All Parties

Listing all participating parties, departments, and teams involved lets you know who to contact and protects your enterprise when problems develop. Often our BuildingLogiX work begins with the client’s IT department. We work closely with both the Facilities and IT teams to ensure that the client’s IT security and network protocols are respected and enhanced.

Be Precise

The OLA plays a significant role in maintaining your company’s internal efficiency. Being clear and transparent about your expectations is critical.

Track Your OLA

The only way to know if you made the right decision is to track results. Ask the provider for regular metrics to make sure they’re holding up their end of the agreement.

Want to learn more about how BuildingLogiX keeps OLA contract providers accountable? Contact us to learn about the power of Connected Building Services.

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BuildingLogiX: Offering Operational Level Agreements That Deliver More

For many industries, operations level agreements are underpinning contracts that hold all parties in a relationship accountable. The BuildingLogiX OLA works to tailor the deployment of Connected Building Services into the unique operations of each client. Each campus client has their own unique mix of talent, work flows, tracking mechanisms and decision making. We work closely with each client at the beginning of our engagement to ensure that our Connected Building Service deployment fits seamlessly into the client’s operational preference.

Our OLA contracts are partnership oriented and features a streamlined process where our internal team works closley with your on site team to install the BuildingLogiX platform, , tailor its deployment to your operational processes, customize the communication tools, and loop feedback and evaluation into the daily tasks of your facilities team.

Partnering with BuildingLogiX grants you access to innovative technology platform and an expert team of engineers that know how it works. From Fault Detection and Diagnostics to Strategic Energy Management, our team works with you until you’ve reached a comfortable level of self sufficiency. Whether it takes months or years, our experts are happy to work by your side to make sure you fully maximize the potential of CBS.

How Our Staff Implements CBS

KiX-Start

BuildingLogiX works closely with your maintenance and IT teams to determine the ideal data pathway and storage system. We establish a connection that links your building to the BDX Data eXchange, and the process begins! BuildingLogiX is a brand agnostic provider, and our technology works with most building automation systems installed in the last 20 years.

Data Gathering

Our system immediately gathers data after installation and begins storing it in a client-accessible database. . CBS tag and organize the data, allowing for improved analysis and visualization.

Data Analysis

CBS’s matrix of analytics read the data and generate graphs and trends that track building system performance at the:

Campus Level
Building Level
System Level
Device Level

Our team also offers regular reporting sessions that include detailed reports with data-backed analysis. Working with BuildingLogiX means having a partner with your best interests in mind.

Maintain Operational Efficiency With BuildingLogiX

BuildingLogiX is a technology-driven service provider that’s helped clients increase building operations and reduce energy costs since 2006. Connected Building Service platform lets clients harness our expertise and technologies to increase productivity and reduce wasteful spending. CBS are scalable from one to 1,000 buildings and suits enterprises across multiple industries. Contact us today to learn more about how our software helps you keep your OLA provider accountable.