The Tool Desk
Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →A useful managed IT services SLA turns promises into measurable commitments: exactly which services and assets are covered, who owns each task, how response and recovery are measured, what evidence the customer receives, and what happens when the provider misses an obligation. Use the checklist below to evaluate an MSP proposal or renew an agreement; negotiate targets around business impact and the services purchased, rather than assuming there is one industry-standard response time or backup schedule.
Start by defining the service boundary
Before comparing response times or prices, make sure each proposal describes the same work. Separate routine IT operations from security services: an agreement to maintain endpoints, for example, does not by itself establish that the provider monitors threats or leads incident response.
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- List included services and exclusions. Name the operational and security services, and state what is out of scope. Describe how the provider will route or price work that falls outside the agreement.
- Inventory covered assets. Identify the users, endpoints, servers, sites, cloud services, data, and configurations included. Specify business-hours and after-hours coverage and any asset or location limits.
- Record dependencies and prerequisites. State what the customer must provide, such as supported systems, licenses, connectivity, approvals, or access, and what the provider depends on from subcontractors or other vendors.
- Name accountable owners. Assign provider and customer contacts for access, approvals, change management, incident decisions, and communications. Include rules for handling sensitive data and any required staff qualifications or controls.
NIST’s SLA glossary describes an agreement as covering responsibilities, service type, expected performance, response times, reporting, resolution, and termination. Its SP 800-35 guidance also addresses roles, deliverables, service levels and costs, compliance assessment, remedies, and sensitive-data handling. These are useful contracting prompts, not a legal template: NIST SP 800-35 dates to October 2003, and requirements vary by jurisdiction, sector, and contract. The UK National Cyber Security Centre’s guidance on choosing an MSP is a separate UK source, not a substitute for applicable local requirements.
Make response targets measurable
A fast acknowledgment is not the same as fixing an outage. For every priority, define the conditions that put a ticket in that category and spell out what the provider promises to do next. NIST’s SLA definition includes response expectations and resolution and reporting; NCSC guidance likewise calls for clear responsibilities and response times. Neither establishes one universal number of minutes or hours for every MSP customer.
#1 Best Overall
| Agreement element | What to specify |
|---|---|
| Priority and impact | Concrete severity triggers tied to business impact—for example, which affected service, user group, or site makes an issue urgent—and who can change its priority. |
| Coverage and intake | Support hours, supported contact channels, after-hours arrangements, and any conditions for access to support. |
| Clock rules | When the response clock starts, whether it pauses, what information is needed to open a ticket, and how pauses or reclassification are recorded. |
| Response versus outcome | Separate the acknowledgment or first-action target from any target for workaround, restoration, or final resolution. State clearly if an outcome target is not offered. |
| Escalation and updates | Who receives an escalation, when it occurs, how the customer is kept informed, and how unresolved cases reach a decision-maker. |
| Measurement and reporting | The system of record, calculation method, exclusions, reporting cadence, and process for reviewing or disputing results. |
Choose the target for each priority based on the harm caused by delay and the purchased coverage. If uptime is part of the service, define the availability calculation and its exclusions separately; an uptime figure without a measurement method or scope is difficult to verify.
Specify backup and recovery outcomes
A promise to “back up” systems is incomplete unless the agreement identifies what is protected and how the customer can recover it. Agree recovery objectives first: the recovery point objective (RPO) describes how much recent data loss is tolerable, while the recovery time objective (RTO) describes how quickly service should return. Treat these as objectives unless the contract explicitly commits the provider to meeting them.
Rank #2
- Used Book in Good Condition
- Coverage: Enumerate protected data, systems, and configurations, including any exclusions and how new assets are added.
- Schedule and retention: Set backup frequency in relation to the RPO, and state how long copies are retained and how older copies are handled.
- Separation and access: Specify where copies are stored, how they are isolated from production, encryption arrangements, who controls keys, and which privileged accounts can alter or delete them. State how the customer can obtain a copy.
- Failure ownership: Identify who monitors backup jobs, investigates failures, retries or repairs them, and informs the customer when protection is impaired.
- Restore duties: State who can request a restore, who performs it, which systems and data are included, and how progress and completion are communicated.
- Testing and evidence: Set the cadence and scope for restore tests, define success criteria, require records of results, and specify how failures are escalated and corrected.
CISA recommends regularly updating and testing backups and aligning frequency with recovery point objectives; its MSP guidance also calls for separated or isolated backups and recovery exercises. NIST NCCoE’s April 2020 guide addresses MSP backup planning, maintenance, and testing. External media can be one way to keep a separate copy, but capacity, encryption, handling, and rotation still need to fit the environment; a drive alone is not a backup program.
Assign security and incident-response duties
Security responsibilities cross the provider-customer boundary. Put named duties in the agreement rather than assuming that “managed IT” includes every security control. CISA’s May 11, 2022 joint advisory urges customers to understand an MSP’s access and contractual security scope and to specify which party owns work such as hardening, detection, and incident response.
- Preventive controls: Assign responsibility for system hardening, updates, privileged and remote access, and enforcing multifactor authentication where applicable. State which systems or accounts are outside the provider’s control.
- Monitoring and detection: Say whether monitoring alerts and logs is included, which assets and hours it covers, who triages alerts, and how the customer is notified when an event meets the agreed threshold.
- Incident notice and coordination: Define what constitutes a notifiable event, the contract’s notification deadline, the required initial facts, contact paths, joint investigation steps, and who coordinates containment. The deadline must fit the customer’s sector, jurisdiction, and other legal or regulatory obligations; the cited guidance does not create a universal SLA deadline.
- Containment and remediation: Establish who may authorize disruptive actions, such as isolating a system, how urgent decisions are handled, what remediation completion means, and how unresolved risks escalate.
- Records and evidence: Set log and record retention expectations, customer access rights, secure transfer methods, and preservation steps during an investigation.
- Plans and exercises: Require incident-response and recovery plans with named roles, coordinated with the customer’s own process, and establish how regularly the parties exercise them.
CISA’s MSP customer guidance emphasizes detailed incident-management procedures, remediation criteria, logging and records expectations, and a clear distinction between IT operations and security services. Its 2022 announcement also highlights monitoring and logging, protection of remote access, MFA, and incident and recovery planning.
Set measurement, remedies, and review rules
Targets matter only if both parties can determine whether they were met. NIST SP 800-35 says an agreement should specify how compliance is assessed and that monitoring methods and frequency belong in the agreement.
Rank #4
- Identify the source for each metric, its calculation method, reporting cadence, customer review period, and route for resolving a disputed report.
- If negotiated, define service credits or other remedies, including how they are claimed and any caps or exclusions. Do not assume a credit is the exclusive remedy; that depends on the contract and applicable law.
- Set review points for changes in users, assets, risk, business needs, or service scope. State how changes are approved, recorded, and reflected in charges or service commitments.
- Clarify continuity arrangements if the provider itself is unavailable, including how the customer can reach support or obtain necessary information during the disruption.
Cover subcontractors and the end of the relationship
An MSP may rely on other providers to deliver parts of the service. State whether subcontracting is permitted, which material functions may be subcontracted, what security and confidentiality requirements apply, and whether the MSP remains accountable for subcontractors’ work. NCSC’s MSP selection guidance and NIST’s SLA material both make provider responsibilities and agreement terms relevant to the decision.
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Best Value
- Used Book in Good Condition
Compare offers on equal terms
Use a like-for-like review: normalize each offer’s covered assets and exclusions before comparing service levels. For each item, ask whether the agreement provides a measurable commitment, identifies an owner, and tells you what evidence or escalation is available.
- Included services, exclusions, dependencies, customer obligations, and subcontractors.
- Priority definitions, hours, intake channels, clock rules, response targets, and any separate restoration or resolution commitment.
- Escalation routes, performance measurement, reports, review rights, and remedies.
- Security control ownership, monitoring scope, incident notification and coordination, evidence access, and recovery responsibilities.
- Backup coverage, isolation, retention, restore assistance, test evidence, and RPO/RTO commitments or qualifications.
- Provider continuity, termination rights, data export and deletion, credential revocation, and transition support.
If an offer uses broad terms such as “24/7 support,” “secure backups,” or “rapid response,” ask what assets and services those words cover, how the promise is measured, and which party acts when something fails. Leave no critical duty dependent on an assumption that is absent from the signed agreement.
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