What is csl and kpi?

For successful campaign and employee performance measurement, CSL's KPI Dashboard gives you unparalleled power to assess business plan effectiveness, and to make changes quickly and effectively, by integrating all inputs and outputs. The only substantive difference between CSLs and KMs is that failure to meet a CSL can result in the supplier incurring a Service Level Credit. A manager at CSL is responsible for ensuring his subordinates accomplish objectives using key performance indicators. What is a Key Performance Indicator (KPI)?. Each Performance Indicator is classified as a Critical Service Level (CSL), or a Key Performance Indicator (KPI); Service Levels means the specific performance.

It is important to understand that key performance indicators (KPIs) and service level agreements (SLAs) are not the same, even though there is some overlap. In this post I would like to explain the difference between KPIs and SLAs and look at the practical business applications of each.

Quite simply, KPIs are the way you measure how well individuals, business units, projects and companies are performing against their strategic goals. It’s the tool that helps leaders of an organisation know how close or far the team is to achieving an objective and by monitoring progress toward KPIs, it allows the team to course correct if they are off pace to achieve the strategic goals.

As a navigational tool, a KPI can highlight areas of the business that might be veering off track to hit a defined objective. Similar to how a doctor needs to get information about vital stats of a patient prior to recommending treatment, a leadership team can use KPIs as critical pieces of information to make business decisions.

For more information on KPIs you can:

What is a Service Level Agreement (SLA)?

A SLA is also a tool to gauge performance, but it is different than a KPI. It’s an agreement that’s between an internal or external service provider and the entity that is the end-user of that service. A SLA should clearly outline in simple language what the client will receive and what should be expected of the service provider.

We often distinguish between three different categories of service level agreements. They include:

When a SLA is in place, the service provider and the customer would regularly assess, communicate and adjust actions to adhere to the agreement. While a SLA might become a part of a legal contract, a contract isn’t necessarily a SLA because contracts can be finalised without outlining any services levels.

While the exact components will vary based on organisation and industry, SLAs have relevant use in almost any business relationship.

In general, most SLAs include:

It’s important that SLAs include meaningful measurements so both the service provider and the customer can clearly assess performance, this is where some overlap occurs between SLAs and KPIs.

The fact that SLAs must define the measurements of the service delivery means that many SLAs define KPIs as such measures of service performance. While SLAs define the overall agreement and service standards between service providers and their customers, the KPIs will be used to measure and monitor the performance levels.

Both Critical Service Levels (CSLs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are evaluation metrics that monitor Service Level Agreement (SLA) performance data. Though they appear similar, they have distinct functions that work in tandem to enable the improvement of managed services.

Both metrics’ general functions can be defined as follows:

Other distinguishing elements are less obvious and it is easy to confuse the two in practice.

Here are 6 primary differences to help clarify their roles and guide your efforts when defining and classifying service levels.

Both CSLs and KPIs provide continuous evaluations to ensure vendors fulfill their SLA requirements. But their specific operational responsibilities differ.

CSLs focus on correction and remediation, triggering actions in the case of a failed service level that directly impact business outcomes. They are based on quantifiable, objective data to prove under-performance and hard business consequences in real time.

KPIs function as reporting and projection tools. Besides providing vision of service processes and operational efficiencies, they are used to project potential outcomes and plan contingencies for resultant scenarios.

CSLs are always benchmarked against current capabilities and established SLA scope. Effective CSLs illustrate the connections between SLA clauses, vendor solutions, and target service levels, and how their dynamics impact performance.

As tools focused on potential, KPIs can include non-SLA objectives and make future performance projections. Any qualitative factors and aspirational targets not presenting quantifiable business impacts are also classified as KPIs.

Although both metrics convey valuable information for client performance management teams, they have different common user bases.

The CSL focus on real-time data makes them invaluable for front-end business users as they test deployed solutions and contribute data to evaluation.

Business users can range from client employees to vendors, and CSLs are standardized across managed service portfolios to maximize their effectiveness as comparative evaluation tools.

KPIs do not need strictly quantified data to function effectively. Back-end operational teams leverage KPI data to evaluate service performance, identify underperforming processes, and formulate optimization adjustments.

Highly organization-specific, KPIs are closely aligned to internal business goals and often utilize exclusive metrics and formats absent from formal SLA clauses or those used by CSLs.

The disparity in the types of collected data means CSLs and KPIs have vastly different requirements to stay cost-effective:

CSL reliance on verified, quantitative data necessitates rigorous, consistent, and standardized capture methods. Maintenance costs incurred from formulating these specifications must remain lower than the cost of tracking the data.

Vendor compliance costs should also be set below the costs of a continued failure to achieve service levels to incentivize vendor correction and dissuade contract termination.

KPIs do not execute corrective or proactive action and incur minimal operating costs. Their focus on data capture, projection, and inclusion of intangible qualities means they can function with little expenditure.

Both metrics have divergent load-bearing responsibilities regarding risk – and trigger separate actions in the case of vendor failure to achieve target service levels.

CSLs measure business state and performance impacts to regulate risk between clients and suppliers, setting terms that balance risk fairly and effectively.

Failed CSLs trigger a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) to locate the source of the problem, avoiding limited responses to surface-level issues. Subsequent findings inform the formulation of a related action plan to address the issue at its source.

KPIs exist to collect and report data, not interpret it. Neither client nor supplier is required to share internal KPIs, and they are therefore incapable of carrying or regulating shared risk.

Although a service level failure might trigger a KPI-led response, an RCA is rarely executed, and the action plan does not need to align with common service levels.

Vendor failures to meet CSL targets can trigger the application of service level credits. Alternative penalties can be applied in the case of a failure to meet multiple targets, or repeated failure to meet a specific target. In severe cases, penalties can include contract termination without client penalties.

By contrast, KPIs cannot inflict punitive measures on vendors. The lack of regulation and transparency between client and supplier KPIs makes standardized performance measurement and consistent, fair penalties impossible.

The specific metrics of effective CSLs and KPIs with well-defined operational responsibilities vary based on enterprise state, business objectives, vendor capabilities, SLA terms, and other unique factors. Expert guidance is recommended to define and classify service levels efficiently and achieve target outcomes.