The difference between a contract and an SLA.

Typically a contract is defined as an agreement between two or more parties, especially one that is written and enforceable by law. This legal document outlining the services provided, duration, cost, resources, approach, assumptions, etc. An SLA would focus only on the performance measuring and service quality agreed to by both parties, and may be used as a measurement tool as part of the contract. The service levels themselves may be established based on various factors, for example, a service provider may provide on-line credit checks to its customers. A service level in the contract may state the on-line service must be operational 99% of any given month, or it must provide the requested information with 3 hours after a request, etc. The rationale for having a separate SLA document is that you can revise the SLA without having to revise the contract. The contract can just refer to the agreed SLA. The contract might then last for 2 years but the SLA may be reviewed quarterly, for example. This reduces the administrative burden of reviewing the contract too frequently.