--- sourceDocument: Australia IT Operations Management sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/it-operations-management Release : - australia ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - Australia IT Operations Management ft:clusterId : - itom bundleId : - itom workflow : - Technology --- # Exploring SLO Management # Exploring SLO Management {#ariaid-title1} Release version: Australia Updated March 12, 2026 ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 3 minutes to read Summarize ![AI sparkle icon](https://servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ai-sparkle-icon) Summarized using AI This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. ## Summary of Exploring SLO Management Service Level Objective Management (SLO Management) provides a structured framework to set, monitor, and improve IT service performance based on clear customer expectations. It enables organizations to define measurable targets for services like incident resolution and service request fulfillment, ensuring consistent delivery and identifying opportunities for improvement. Show full answer Show less ## Key Users and Roles * **Administrators**: Responsible for overall platform setup and Service Reliability Management (SRM) configurations, including integrations and policy setups. * **Managers**: Oversee teams of Service Reliability Engineers (SREs), manage schedules, monitor performance, and develop incident procedures and solutions. * **Responders**: SREs who handle day-to-day tasks such as diagnosing and resolving incidents. Their access is scoped to their teams and assigned alerts. Each user role comes with specific permissions to configure services, manage teams, set up integrations with Application Performance Monitoring (APM) tools, and maintain reliability indicators and error budgets. ## SLO Management Workflow * **Define SLOs:** Identify critical services and set objectives aligned with business and customer needs. SLOs can also be auto-generated using the SLO creator agent. * **Establish SLIs:** Develop Service Level Indicators to quantitatively measure performance against the SLOs. * **Monitor and Analyze:** Continuously track SLIs and evaluate performance relative to targets. * **Identify Gaps and Improve:** Detect where targets are not met and implement improvements. * **Review and Refine:** Regularly reassess SLOs to maintain relevance and effectiveness. ## Benefits for ServiceNow Customers * **Improved Service Quality:** Align IT service delivery with customer expectations to boost satisfaction and loyalty. * **Increased Transparency:** Foster shared understanding of service goals between IT and customers. * **Better Resource Allocation:** Prioritize efforts based on SLO performance to focus on areas needing improvement. * **Enhanced Collaboration:** Promote teamwork across IT and customer groups to achieve service resilience. * **Data-Driven Decisions:** Use SLO metrics to guide continuous service improvements. * **Automated SLO Generation:** Utilize the SLO creator agent to jumpstart SLO monitoring by analyzing operational data. Service Level Objective Management (SLO Management) helps IT services meet customer expectations. ## SLO Management overview {#exploring-service-level-objective-management__cf-exploring-parent-overview} SLO Management is a framework for setting clear expectations and measuring the performance of IT services. It helps organizations deliver consistent services and identify areas for improvement. SLOs define the target service level for a specific service, such as incident resolution or service request fulfillment. Effective SLO management involves setting realistic objectives, monitoring performance, and continuously improving services to meet customer needs. ## SLO Management users {#exploring-service-level-objective-management__cf-exploring-parent-users} {#exploring-service-level-objective-management__table_ayk_qqd_pwq__entry__3} | Users | Description | Contains Roles | |-|-|-| | admin | A ServiceNow administrator is responsible for the administration, development, operation, education, and maintenance of the ServiceNow platform. Responsible for installation and can perform Service Operations Workspace Admin Center configuration of SRM. | All | | Administrator \[srm_admin\] Note: Not the ServiceNow admin role | SRM administrators can manage account settings, configurations, and users. Administrators can perform the following actions: * Access, create, edit, or delete all SRM configurations. * Add or manage integrations. * Create Integrations with Application Performance Monitoring (APM) tools * Set up and maintain Reliability Indicators. * Set up and maintain Error Budget Policies. {#exploring-service-level-objective-management__ul_byk_qqd_pwb} | * Manager * Responder {#exploring-service-level-objective-management__ul_cyk_qqd_pwb} | | Manager \[srm_manager\] | Managers oversee a team of service reliability engineers (SREs). Managers assign SREs to the team on-call schedule, monitor their performance, create procedures to deal with incidents, and develop solutions. Managers help ensure resilience across all the systems and the DevOps workflows. Managers can perform the following actions within the context of their teams: * Define and set up and teams, on-call schedules, and services. * Add and delete users such as responders, and managers for the teams the are a part of. * Add or manage integrations. * Create Integrations with Application Performance Monitoring (APM) tools * Set up and maintain Reliability Indicators. * Set up and maintain Error Budget Policies. {#exploring-service-level-objective-management__ul_dyk_qqd_pwb} | Responder | | Responder \[srm_responder\] | An SRE that uses SRM to perform everyday tasks. Responders are the individuals who are on call and diagnose and remediate incidents. Responders can only access configurations that they're a part of. They can only access the alerts or incidents for which they have permissions. SREs can perform the following actions, within the context of their teams: * Set up services, teams, and integrations * Confirm their on-call schedules * Manage incident and alert records * Update teams that they've created * Add other responders * Create Integrations with Application Performance Monitoring (APM) tools * Set up and maintain reliability metrics * Set up and maintain error budget actions {#exploring-service-level-objective-management__ul_eyk_qqd_pwb} | Inherits 17 roles including the following: * cmdb_read * sn_sow.sow_user * sn_sow_srm.srm_responder * workspace_user * slo_operator {#exploring-service-level-objective-management__ul_fyk_qqd_pwb} | [Table 1. Users] {#exploring-service-level-objective-management__table_ayk_qqd_pwq} Note: If you're using the SLO plugin without SRM, make sure that the required alert and cmdb_ci read access is granted to team members. ## SLO Management workflow {#exploring-service-level-objective-management__cf-exploring-parent-workflow} 1. Define SLOs - Identify critical services and define SLOs based on customer expectations and business requirements. Note: SLOs can also be generated automatically using the SLO creator agent. For details, see [Generating service level objectives](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/8m6Kp~uJc3IfV6za6OV1AA "Use the service level objective (SLO) creator agent to auto-generate SLOs for services and configuration items (CIs). The agent can help teams adopt SLOs faster and monitor service performance."). 2. Establish SLIs - Develop Service Level Indicators (SLIs) to measure SLO performance. 3. Monitor and analyze - Track SLI data and analyze performance against SLO targets. 4. Identify gaps and improve - Determine areas where SLOs aren't being met and implement changes to improve service performance. 5. Review and refine - Regularly review SLO performance and refine SLOs as needed. {#exploring-service-level-objective-management__cf-exploring-parent-workflow-ol} ## SLO Management benefits {#exploring-service-level-objective-management__cf-exploring-parent-benefits} * Improved service quality - SLOs help IT services meet customer expectations, leading to increased satisfaction and loyalty. * Increased transparency - Clear SLOs provide a shared understanding of service expectations between IT and customers. * Better resource allocation - SLOs help prioritize resources and focus on areas that need improvement. * Enhanced collaboration - SLO management encourages collaboration between IT teams and customers to achieve common goals. * Data-driven decision making - SLO performance data informs decisions and drives continuous service improvement. * Automated SLO generation - The SLO creator agent analyzes operational data to generate SLOs, helping teams get started with SLO-based monitoring. For details, see [Generating service level objectives](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/8m6Kp~uJc3IfV6za6OV1AA "Use the service level objective (SLO) creator agent to auto-generate SLOs for services and configuration items (CIs). The agent can help teams adopt SLOs faster and monitor service performance."). {#exploring-service-level-objective-management__ul_mct_vfk_ybc}