Understanding SLA Automation
This week, we’re diving into SLA automation. First, let’s break down what we mean by SLA, or Service Level Agreement. Put simply an SLA (or target due date) is an agreement with your customer on when an item will ship.
In many organizations, there are simple, fixed rules around production timelines. But in reality, things are rarely so straightforward. Different products take longer to make; brands have different targets, and some customers are VIPs or have high order value and get a different standard of service. Additionally, unexpected events in production can disrupt your regular schedule. It all means that even a simple due date rule base can very quickly become complicated.
Not surprisingly our view is that this complexity is best handled by automating the application of all the rules. Our ZenSmart philosophy is go beyond mere automated due date setting and and build agility into how you target work with efficiency to least cost.
Building Agility into SLA Management
So, what does agility in SLA management mean? It means establishing a dynamic, automated system that processes each incoming order by applying specific rules. As orders flow into the organization, our view is that the system should automatically consider details such as the customer’s identity, the product type (or combination of products ordered), unit quantity, and shipping destination. and based on this data, set a due date for when the item needs to ship. The rules should be part of your organizational DNA.
Automating Information Flow
Automation should also extend to preparing all the necessary information for production, generating both digital and printed banner sheets and job sheets that provide the production team with precise details for each order. Using a color language for all the work is a useful example of this – Monday due date work is green, Tuesday – yellow, Wednesday – blue and so on. By automating this information flow, the production team has all the relevant data at their fingertips, enabling them to work efficiently and ensure work is clearly prioritized.
Sharing information with the team
Prioritizing work is underpinned by sharing with the team what the situation is. SLA automation involves providing live data to the team around how much work is coming, what is the remaining target for today’s due dates, are there any VIP’s on their way and how they are tracking. Sharing information is the number one defense to ensure work is focused in the right place at the right time.
Agility in Manufacturing
The final, crucial element is agility within the manufacturing process itself. If an issue arises during production, your process system should be flexible enough to adjust and recover, ensuring that you can meet your SLAs even when unforeseen challenges occur. This means from a management point of view – clear views of orders not tracking to SLA target should be available at all times to bring focused attention to manufacturing problems.
Benefits
The sum of adopting a rule based, automated approach to managing your SLA’s simply means you embed into your organization the ability to deliver on your commitments but with efficiency and cost control. Persistent, repeated performance of the highest quality drives trust, higher rebuy rates and ultimately a better profit performance.
