COMPEL Glossary / service-level-agreement-sla
Service Level Agreement (SLA)
A Service Level Agreement is a formal commitment between a service provider and consumer defining expected performance levels.
What this means in practice
For AI systems, SLAs must include AI-specific dimensions beyond traditional software: prediction accuracy thresholds (minimum acceptable model performance), inference latency (maximum response time), fairness metrics (maximum allowable bias), availability (uptime requirements), and data freshness (how current the input data must be). SLAs are defined during the COMPEL Model stage and operationalized through ITIL service level management processes during Produce. Mature AI organizations publish internal SLAs for model deployment time, monitoring coverage, and incident response, creating the accountability structure that sustains production AI quality over time.
Related Terms
Other glossary terms mentioned in this entry's definition and context.