Management of SLA Management Data Relationships Using the DIRECT Metadata Management Framework

A key challenge in the domain of service level agreement (SLA) management is the effective representation and exploitation of SLA management data which includes the SLA contract data and related internal service management data (e.g., interim service level attainment results). To the best of our knowledge, there is still no commercially available satisfactory means of capturing and managing the relationships between these SLA management data in support of SLA contract performance management. In more general terms, this challenge is best characterized as the representation of a domain specific set of relationships (or “knowledge base”) in support of domain specific application oriented queries against that knowledge base. This paper describes the essential relationships in the SLA management domain and presents an extensible relationship management framework which enables effective integration and exploitation of SLA management data (using XML data store technology) in support of proactive management of SLA contract performance. The design philosophy behind the relationship management framework is believed to have broader applicability than only this management domain.