Key Factors for Vendor Response Timeliness

Which of the following should be put in place when negotiating with a new vendor about the timeliness of the response to a significant outage or incident?

A.

MOU

B.

MTTR

C.

SLA

D.

NDA.

C.

When negotiating with a new vendor about the timeliness of the response to a significant outage or incident, the most appropriate document to put in place is a Service Level Agreement (SLA).

A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a contract between a service provider and a customer that defines the level of service expected by the customer from the service provider. An SLA typically includes the following information:

• The services being provided
• The expected uptime or availability of those services
• The performance metrics that will be used to measure the quality of those services
• The responsibilities of both the service provider and the customer
• The consequences for not meeting the agreed-upon level of service.

By including an SLA in the negotiation process, both parties can agree on the specific details of the service, including response time and how incidents will be handled. It also helps to ensure that the vendor has a clear understanding of their responsibilities and what is expected of them in the event of an outage or incident.

MOU, MTTR, and NDA are all important documents in their own right but do not directly address the issue of timeliness in response to an outage or incident. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is a non-binding agreement between two or more parties outlining the terms and details of an understanding, including each party's requirements and responsibilities. Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) is a metric used to measure how long it takes to repair a system after a failure, but it does not address the process of responding to the outage. A Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) is a legal document that prohibits one or more parties from disclosing confidential or proprietary information to third parties, but it does not relate to the timeliness of response to an incident or outage.