CSA Preface

Standards development within the Information Technology sector is harmonized with international standards development. Through the CSA Technical Committee on Information Technology (TCIT), Canadians serve as the SCC Mirror Committee (SMC) on ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1 on Information Technology (ISO/IEC JTC1) for the Standards Council of Canada (SCC), the ISO member body for Canada and sponsor of the Canadian National Committee of the IEC. Also, as a member of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Canada participates in the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (ITU-T).

Scope

This document seeks to establish a set of common cloud SLA building blocks (concepts, terms, definitions, contexts) that can be used to create cloud Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

This document specifies

a) an overview of cloud SLAs

b) identification of the relationship between the cloud service agreement and the cloud SLA

c) concepts that can be used to build cloud SLAs, and

d) terms commonly used in cloud SLAs.

This document is for the benefit and use of both cloud service providers and cloud service customers. The aim is to avoid confusion and facilitate a common understanding between cloud service providers and cloud service customers. Cloud service agreements and their associated cloud SLAs vary between cloud service providers, and in some cases different cloud service customers can negotiate different contract terms with the same cloud service provider for the same cloud service. This document aims to assist cloud service customers when they compare cloud services from different cloud service providers.

This document does not provide a standard structure that can be used for a cloud SLA or a standard set of cloud service level objectives (SLOs) and cloud service qualitative objectives (SQOs) that will apply to all cloud services or all cloud service providers. This approach provides flexibility for cloud service providers in tailoring their cloud SLAs to the particular characteristics of the offered cloud services.

This document does not supersede any legal requirement.