Fahad Speaks

What is an SLA? Best practices for service-level agreements:

A service-level agreement (SLA) defines the level of service you expect from a vendor, laying out the metrics by which service is measured, as well as remedies or penalties should agreed-on service levels not be achieved. It is a critical component of any technology vendor contract.

SLAs are a critical component of any outsourcing and technology vendor contract. Beyond listing expectations of service type and quality, an SLA provides remedies when requirements aren’t met.
Following are answers to common questions about SLAs and tips on how your organzation can craft effective SLAs with your vendors and partners.

What is an SLA?

A service-level agreement (SLA) defines the level of service expected by a customer from a supplier, laying out the metrics by which that service is measured, and the remedies or penalties, if any, should the agreed-on service levels not be achieved. Usually, SLAs are between companies and external suppliers, but they may also be between two departments within a company.
Why do I need an SLA?

SLAs are an integral part of an IT vendor contract. An SLA pulls together information on all of the contracted services and their agreed-upon expected reliability into a single document. They clearly state metrics, responsibilities and expectations so that, in the event of issues with the service, neither party can plead ignorance. It ensures both sides have the same understanding of requirements.
Any significant contract without an associated SLA (reviewed by legal counsel) is open to deliberate or inadvertent misinterpretation. The SLA protects both parties in the agreement.
Ideally, SLAs should be aligned to the technology or business objectives of the engagement. Misalignment can have a negative impact on deal pricing, quality of service delivery, and customer experience.

Who provides the SLA?

Most service providers have standard SLAs — sometimes several, reflecting various levels of service at different prices — that can be a good starting point for negotiation. These should be reviewed and modified by the customer and legal counsel, however, since they are usually slanted in favor of the supplier.
When sending out an RFP, the customer should include expected service levels as part of the request; this will affect supplier offerings and pricing and may even influence the supplier’s decision to respond. For example, if you demand 99.999 percent availability for a system, and the supplier is unable to accommodate this requirement with your specified design, it may propose a different, more robust solution.

What’s in an SLA?

The SLA should include not only a description of the services to be provided and their expected service levels, but also metrics by which the services are measured, the duties and responsibilities of each party, the remedies or penalties for breach, and a protocol for adding and removing metrics.
Metrics should be designed so bad behavior by either party is not rewarded. For example, if a service level is breached because the client did not provide information in a timely manner, the supplier should not be penalized.
What are key components of an SLA?
The SLA should include components in two areas: services and management.
Service elements include specifics of services provided (and what’s excluded, if there’s room for doubt), conditions of service availability, standards such as time window for each level of service (prime time and non-prime time may have different service levels, for example), responsibilities of each party, escalation procedures, and cost/service tradeoffs.
Management elements should include definitions of measurement standards and methods, reporting processes, contents and frequency, a dispute resolution process, an indemnification clause protecting the customer from third-party litigation resulting from service level breaches (this should already be covered in the contract, however), and a mechanism for updating the agreement as required.
This last item is critical; service requirements and vendor capabilities change, so there must be a way to make sure the SLA is kept up-to-date.
What is an indemnification clause?
An indemnification clause is an important provision in which the service provider agrees to indemnify the customer company for any breaches of its warranties. Indemnification means that the provider will have to pay the customer for any third-party litigation costs resulting from its breach of the warranties. If you use a standard SLA provided by the service provider, it is likely this provision will be absent; ask your in-house counsel to draft a simple provision to include it, although the service provider may want further negotiation of this point.
Is an SLA transferable?
Should the service provider be acquired by or merge with another company, the customer may expect that its SLA will continue to be in force, but this may not be the fact. The agreement may have to be renegotiated. Make no assumptions; however, bear in mind that the new owner will not want to alienate existing customers, so may decide to honor existing SLAs.
How can I verify service levels?
Most service providers make statistics available, often via an online portal. There, customers can check whether SLAs are being met, and whether they’re entitled to service credits or other penalties as laid out in the SLA.
Usually these processes and methodologies are left to the outsourcing company to identify, ensuring that such processes and methodologies can support the SLA agreement. However, it’s recommended that the client and the outsourcing company work together during the SLA contract negotiation to eliminate any misunderstanding about the process and method of support as well as management and reporting methods.
For critical services, however, customers should invest in third-party tools to automatically capture SLA performance data, which provide an objective measure of performance.
What kind of metrics should be monitored?
The types of SLA metrics required will depend on the services being provided. Many items can be monitored as part of an SLA, but the scheme should be kept as simple as possible to avoid confusion and excessive cost on either side. In choosing metrics, examine your operation and decide what is most important. The more complex the monitoring (and associated remedy) scheme, the less likely it is to be effective, since no one will have time to properly analyze the data. When in doubt, opt for ease of collection of metric data; automated systems are best, since it is unlikely that costly manual collection of metrics will be reliable.
Depending on the service, the types of metric to monitor may include:
Service availability: the amount of time the service is available for use. This may be measured by time slot, with, for example, 99.5 percent availability required between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., and more or less availability specified during other times. E-commerce operations typically have extremely aggressive SLAs at all times; 99.999 percent uptime is a not uncommon requirement for a site that generates millions of dollars an hour.
Defect rates: Counts or percentages of errors in major deliverables. Production failures such as incomplete backups and restores, coding errors/rework, and missed deadlines may be included in this category.
Technical quality: in outsourced application development, measurement of technical quality by commercial analysis tools that examine factors such as program size and coding defects.
Security: In these hyper-regulated times, application and network security breaches can be costly. Measuring controllable security measures such as anti-virus updates and patching is key in proving all reasonable preventive measures were taken, in the event of an incident.
Business results: Increasingly, IT customers would like to incorporate business process metrics into their SLAs. Using existing key performance indicators is typically the best approach as long as the vendor’s contribution to those KPIs can be calculated.
What should I consider when selecting metrics for my SLA?
The goal should be an equitable incorporation of best practices and requirements that will maintain service performance and avoid additional costs.
Choose measurements that motivate the right behavior. The first goal of any metric is to motivate the appropriate behavior on behalf of the client and the service provider. Each side of the relationship will attempt to optimize its actions to meet the performance objectives defined by the metrics. First, focus on the behavior that you want to motivate. Then, test your metrics by putting yourself in the place of the other side. How would you optimize your performance? Does that optimization support the originally desired results?
Ensure that metrics reflect factors within the service provider’s control. To motivate the right behavior, SLA metrics should reflect factors within the outsourcer’s control. A typical mistake is to penalize the service provider for delays caused by the client’s lack of performance. For example, if the client provides change specifications for application code several weeks late, it is unfair and demotivating to hold the service provider to a pre-specified delivery date. Making the SLA two-sided by measuring the client’s performance on mutually dependent actions is a good way to focus on the intended results.
Choose measurements that are easily collected. Balance the power of a desired metric against its ease of collection. Ideally, the SLA metrics will be captured automatically, in the background, with minimal overhead, but this objective may not be possible for all desired metrics. When in doubt, compromise in favor of easy collection; no one is going to invest the effort to collect metrics manually.
Less is more. Despite the temptation to control as many factors as possible, avoid choosing an excessive number of metrics or metrics that produce a voluminous amount of data that no one will have time to analyze and create excessive overhead. While less likely, too few metrics are also a problem as missing any one may mean the provide has breached the contract.
Set a proper baseline. Defining the right metrics is only half of the battle. To be useful, the metrics must be set to reasonable, attainable performance levels. Unless strong historical measurement data is available, be prepared to revisit and readjust the settings at a future date through a predefined process specified in the SLA.
Define with care. A provider may tweak SLA definitions to ensure they are met. For example, the Incident Response Time metric is supposed to ensure that the provider addresses an incident within a minimum number of minutes. However, some providers may meet the SLA 100 percent of the time by delivering an automated reply to an incident report. Customers should define SLAs clearly so that they represent the intention of the service level.
In addition to defining the services to be provided, the contract should also document how the services are to be monitored, including how the data will be captured and reported, how often it will be reviewed, and who is involved in the review.
Is there room for negotiation on SLAs with cloud service providers?
Cloud vendors are more reticent about modifying their standard SLAs because their margins are predicated on providing commodity services to many buyers. However, in some cases, customers are able to negotiate terms with their cloud providers.
Whether or not there is wiggle room, it is critical to understand and scrutinize the SLAs in a cloud computing contract to determine whether they present any significant risk.
Can I create joint SLAs shared among multiple vendors or service providers?
Customers can create joint metrics for multiple service providers that factor in cross-supplier impacts and account for impacts that the vendor can have on processes that are not considered in-scope to their contract.
IT organizations managing multiple service providers may want put in place operating level agreements (OLAs), which outline how particular parties involved in the process of delivering IT services will interact with each other in order to maintain performance.
If I opt for outcome-based pricing with an IT outsourcer, do I still need SLAs?
IT outsourcing deals in which service providers’ compensation is linked to business outcomes achieved have grown in popularity as companies evolve from pure time and materials or full-time-employee based pricing models.
In these cases, the outcome is a business result rather than a specific activity, task, or resource. But even in an outcome-based deal, SLAs serve as important indicators of performance against those business outcomes. SLAs for these deals will not outline technical or operational requirements for given tasks; rather, they outline end-client goals. For this approach to work well, those outcomes must be unambiguous, there must be ways to measure achievement of the outcomes, roles and responsibilities must be clearly defined, and the supplier must have control over the end-to-end service required to deliver results.
Can we create SLAs for shadow IT?
IT can harness the power of shadow IT services and solutions and mitigate associated risks by taking the same types of SLA IT uses to manage the performance of IT service providers and apply them to shadow IT. The IT organizations can take several steps to build an SLA framework for technology services delivered outside the IT organization and measure and report on their performance.
What happens if a provider doesn’t meet agreed-on service levels?
SLAs include agreed upon penalties, called service credits, which can be enforced when
vendors miss minimum performance standards. Provider and customer agree to put a certain percentage of monthly fees (typically equal to the vendor’s profit margin) “at risk” from which these credits are drawn when SLAs are missed. This approach is intended to incentivize provider performance without being overly punitive.
Best-in-class IT organizations avoid using SLA provisions as punishment for their IT partners and use SLA metrics as an opening for productive conversations around performance, priorities, and the future direction of the engagement or relationship.
What are “earn backs”?
Some vendors may ask for the right to “earn back” paid service credits. Such a provision allows providers to earn back the service credits they’ve given up for SLA defaults by performing at or above the standards service level for a certain amount of time. While providers may argue that an earn back provision is only fair, it can undermine the service credit approach altogether.
How often should we revise our SLAs?
As businesses change, so do its service requirements. An SLA should not be viewed as a static document. In fact, SLAs should include a clearly defined framework for modification during the term of the contract. The SLA should be reviewed periodically, specifically if:
• The client’s business needs have changed (for example, establishing an e-commerce site increases availability requirements).
• The technical environment has changed (for example, more reliable equipment makes a higher availability guarantee possible).
• Workloads have changed.
• Metrics, measurement tools and processes have improved.
The SLA is a critical part of any supplier agreement, and it will pay off in the long-term if the SLA is properly thought-out and codified at the beginning of a relationship. It protects both parties, and, should disputes arise, will specify remedies and avoid misunderstandings. That can save considerable time and money for both customer and supplier.

Special thanks to: Stephanie Overby and Lynn Greiner and Lauren Gibbons Paul

The State shall provide and compulsory education to all children of the age of to years in such manner as may be determined by law.

Ref: Article 25 (A) of Constitution of Pakistan

پاکستان بھر میں، لیگل ریکارڈ اس طرح کے کمروں میں محفوظ کیے جاتے ہیں، جہاں کاغذی دستاویزات ایک دوسرے کے اوپر ڈھیر ہوتی ہیں، اکثر چھت تک پہنچ جاتی ہیں۔

کیس ریکارڈز، جاری اور اختتام پذیر دونوں صورتوں کے لیے، صرف کاغذ پر مبنی شکل میں رکھے جاتے ہیں۔ انہیں سال، موضوع یا عدالت کے ذریعہ ترتیب نہیں دیا جاتا ہے۔

اس کا مطلب یہ نہیں ہے کہ ریکارڈز کو بازیافت کرنا ناممکن ہے — ایسے کمروں میں کام کرنے والے افراد جانتے ہیں کہ وہ کیا کر رہے ہیں اور عام طور پر مطلوبہ ریکارڈز تلاش کرنے کے قابل ہوتے ہیں۔ وہ دسیوں سالوں سے ریکارڈ روم میں کام کر رہے ہیں،
پاکستانی عدالتوں میں ریکارڈ کبھی بھی تباہی سے دور نہیں رہا — گیس ہیٹر عام طور پر ایسے کمروں میں استعمال کیے جاتے ہیں، سگریٹ نوشی نہ کرنے کی پالیسیاں نافذ نہیں ہیں، اور آگ پر قابو پانے کے نظام فعال نہیں ہیں۔

لیکن، گزشتہ چند ہفتوں میں، پاکستان کے پورے شہر اور دیہات سیلاب کی زد میں ہیں۔ انہوں نے ہمیں دکھایا ہے کہ قدرت کس طرح چند دنوں میں نسلوں کی محنت کو ختم کر سکتی ہے۔ پورے خاندان بے گھر ہو چکے ہیں اور اب تک ایک ہزار کے قریب لوگ اپنی جانیں گنوا چکے ہیں۔

اگرچہ جانی نقصان کے مقابلے میں کچھ بھی نہیں ہے، بہت سے لوگوں نے کئی دہائیاں دیوانی، خاندانی اور فوجداری مقدمات کی پیروی میں گزاری ہیں اور ان کے پاس صرف کیس کا ریکارڈ موجود ہے۔ اگر یہ ریکارڈ گم یا خراب ہو جاتے ہیں، تو اس کا ممکنہ طور پر مطلب یہ ہو سکتا ہے کہ قانونی چارہ جوئی کرنے والوں کو اس مقام تک پہنچنے کے لیے اور بھی زیادہ دہائیاں گزارنی پڑیں گی جہاں وہ پہلے سے موجود تھے۔

مزید یہ کہ صوبائی دارالحکومتوں کے علاوہ دیگر شہروں میں جائیداد کے ریکارڈ اب بھی بغیر کسی بیک اپ کے اپنی طبعی شکل میں محفوظ ہیں۔ ان ریکارڈوں کی تباہی کا مطلب یہ ہوگا کہ جائیداد کے جائز مالکان اب اپنی ملکیت کے دعوے ثابت کرنے کے قابل نہیں ہیں۔

قانونی ریکارڈ کی ڈیجیٹلائزیشن اب پہلے سے کہیں زیادہ اہم ہے۔ اس کی کوئی وجہ نہیں ہے کہ درخواستیں، درخواستیں، اور گذارشات کو ای-فائل نہ کیا جائے اور نجی کلاؤڈ پر ڈیٹا بیس میں محفوظ کیا جائے جس تک قانونی چارہ جوئی، وکلاء، عدالتی حکام اور جج آسانی سے رسائی حاصل کر سکتے ہیں۔

جدیدیت وقت کی ضرورت ہے اور قانونی نظام پر عوام کا اعتماد بحال کرنے کے لیے اسے 21ویں صدی کے مطابق ڈھالنا ہو گا۔

Credit: Law By Najam

Stages of Criminal Trial

Notification of Diyat for the Financial Year 2022-23.
مالی سال 23 -2022 کیلئے دیت کی رقم مبلغ .4.318,524 روپے مقرر کی گئی ھے۔
نوٹ=ہر مالی سال کیلئے وفاقی حکومت دیت کی رقم یکم جولائی کو مقرر کرتی ھے مگر اس سال دیت کی رقم کا نوٹیفکیشن آج مورخہ 26 اگست 2022 کو جاری کیا گیا ھے

Diyat amount for the Financial year 2022-23.
Rs.4.318,524 / -
( Rupees Four million three hundred eighteen thousand five hundred and twenty four only ) , to be the value of thirty thousand six hundred and thirty ( 30,630 ) grams of silver.

"Every worker shall be entitled to with full pay for in a year.
Every worker shall be entitled to days sick leave on half average pay in a year or Eight days with full pay.

Ref: Factories Act 1934

"Where a worker:
In a factory works for more than in any day or for more than hours in any week.
In a factory works for more than in any day or for more than hours in any week;
He shall be entitled in respect of the overtime worked to pay at the rate of his ordinary rate of pay."

Ref: Factories Act 1934

"Where a worker works on a shift which extends over (Night Shift), the ensuing day for him shall be deemed to be the period of hours beginning when such shift ends and the hours he has worked after midnight (nigh shift) shall be counted towards the previous day."

Ref: Factories Act 1934

"No adult worker shall be allowed or required to work in a factory for more than in any : Provided that a male adult worker in a factory may work in any day."

Ref: Factories Act 1934

"No adult worker shall be allowed or required to work in a factory on a unless ; he had or will have a for a whole day on one of the three days immediately before or after that Sunday.."

Ref: Factories Act 1934

"No adult worker shall be allowed or required to work in a factory for more than hours in any , or, where the factory is a one, for more than hours in any : Provided that an adult worker in a factory engaged in work which for technical reasons must be continuous throughout the day may work for hours in any .

Ref: Factories Act 1934

"An establishment must employ 1% of its employees a disable person and if it does not employ any disable person it must give same amount to Fund establish under Disable Persons' Ordinance 1981."

Ref: Disable Persons Ordinance 1981

"If a woman employee dies on the day of the delivery of the child, its a liability of the employer to pay maternity benefits to legal representatives."

Ref: Section 6 of The West Pakistan Maternity Benefit Ordinance 1958.

"To avail maternity benefit from the employer a woman employee must have spend with the organization."

Ref: Section 4 of The West Pakistan Maternity Benefit Ordinance 1958

"No employer can hire a woman who has given birth to a child and has not completed 6 weeks from the day of birth of the child."

Ref: THE WEST PAKISTAN MATERNITY BENEFIT ORDINANCE, 1958

If an employee is being terminated from his services by the employers for any reason the final settlement shall be paid before the expiry of the second working day from the day on which his employment is terminated.

Ref: Payment of Wages Act 1936

The following acts and omissions shall be treated as misconduct:
i- Willful in subordination or disobedience, whether alone or in combination with others, to any lawful and reasonable order of a superior;
ii- Theft, fraud, or dishonesty in connection with the employer's business or property; iii- Willful damage to or loss of employer's goods or property.
iv- Taking or giving bribes or any illegal gratification.
v- Habitual absence without leave or absence without leave for more than ten days.
vi- Habitual late attendance.
vii- Habitual breach of any law applicable to the establishment.
viii- Riotous or disorderly behavior during working hours at the establishment or any act subversive of discipline.
ix Habitual negligence or neglect of work
x- Frequent repetition of any act or omission referred to in clause (i)
xi- Striking work or inciting others to strike in contravention of the provisions of any law, or rule having the force of law.
xii) go-slow.

Ref: Standing Order Ordinance 1968

The Art of Advocacy: Twenty Tips for your First Court Appearance

1. Remember that someone is always watching you wherever you are in the building and word quickly gets around. It should not surprise you to know that the clerk in your court does discuss you with the Magistrate/Judge before they enter the court. Make sure that you leave a favourable impression, which leads me to tip #2.



2. Use your manners. With EVERYONE. Mind your Ps and Qs with court staff, police, other lawyers and most of all your clients.



3. Get there early so you can have time to speak to opposing counsel to try for a last minute resolution. The court is always grateful for such attempts even when fruitless.



4. Introduce yourself to opposing counsel. Write their name on your note pad so you don’t forget it. Make small talk. You are not enemies.



5. Keep your client in the loop. Some lawyers pass notes and some prefer to wait for the adjournment to discuss the events of the hearing. Talk to your client in language they understand, and do what you can to show your client that you “get” them and where they are coming from. I have noticed over the years that a well-informed client seems to be a much more settled client.



6. Know your audience. Do not swagger in to a Children’s Court protection application hearing acting like you are walking in to the High Court. Some courts are more formal than others, so tailor your advocacy style to suit the forum.



7. It is never a good idea to use the phrase, “I demand that Your Honour…” Just don’t.



8. Be on time and be prepared. If you are listed for 10am, be ready at 10am. It is never a good start to a case when you need to ask the bench for more time. Again, first impressions really do count.



9. Before you start examination or cross-examination, offer the witness a glass of water. It makes you look considerate and puts them at ease.



10. Don’t ask the clerk what kind of mood the Magistrate is in. They will not tell you.



11. If you are new to a jurisdiction, get to know the forms. Go to the Registry to discuss the most commonly used forms, but do so in the afternoon. The mornings are taken up with getting each courtroom ready for the day.



12. Don’t be afraid to ask the bench clerk for their opinion. They have sat through thousands of hours of hearings and although they must and will remain neutral, they may be able to give you feedback on more practical things, such as where witnesses can wait, whether they think you will be out of there by lunchtime or 4pm, and how to best display exhibits.



13. If you plan to tender something on paper, make sure that you have enough copies for everyone at the bar table, the witness, and the Magistrate, and ensure that the clerk gets the original.



14. If you have lengthy reports to tender, provide copies ahead of time to your learned friends and to the court so that all parties have an opportunity to read those reports outside of the time set aside for the hearing of the case.



15. If you need a projector/dvd player/cd player to play or show your exhibit, let the court know at least a week before the hearing date. It will ensure that the facilities are available to you and prevent needless adjournments.



16. Regardless of the case, believe in your submissions. The court can tell when it’s half hearted and when you are just going through the motions. Give your client a passionate and engaged advocacy.



17. In all of your submissions, start by outlining what you are seeking. The court will be grateful for the “signpost” and it will give your submissions more relevance. Do not wait for the court to ask, “Yes, but what do you want?”



18. Speak slowly and clearly. The Judge/Magistrate is taking notes, as are your learned friends at the bar table. Make sure the witness understands your question.



19. Be honest with the court about your case and timeframes. If you have 35 witnesses, don’t round it down. If the case runs over and the Judge/Magistrate needs to find time in a very busy diary to finish the case, they will not think highly of you.



20. And now for the last-minute basics:

Turn your phone to silent

Face the bench and bow from the waist whenever you enter or leave a sitting courtroom.

Do not move a muscle when a witness is being sworn in. If the oath is interrupted by anything at all, the clerk must start the swearing in all over again.

Have the phone numbers of all of your witnesses in your phone/iPad.

Stand when addressing the court, unless it is the rule of that particular court to remain seated during submissions.

If you find yourself with some free time on your hands, spend it at your local court and watch a few different cases to see the different advocacy styles.



When it comes time to prepare for your own court appearances, don’t forget to work hard, be polite, talk to your clients, and be nice to the Bench Clerk!

"All the payment of wages shall be paid till the expiry of 7th day if the number of employees of an establishment is less than 1000."

"All the payment of wages shall be paid till the expiry of 10th day if the number of employees of an establishment is more than 1000."

Ref: Section 5 of Payment of Wages Act 1936.

If an establishment does not cover medical insurance of a permanent employee (Health + Life) and if death of employee occurs (Any reason) then the establishment is liable to pay the same amount to the heirs of the deceased employee as the insurance company would have given.

Ref: Standing Orders Ordinance 1968

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"Every permanent workman shall be entitled to a service certificate (Experience Letter) at he time of his dismissal, discharge, retrenchment or retirement from service."

Ref: Standing Order Ordinance 1968

Note: Even Terminated Employee has the right to receive experience letter.

A workman found guilty of shall be liable to any of the following punishments:

1- Fine (deduction) in salary not more than 3% of the basic salary.
2- Withholding of increment or promotion for a specified period not exceeding one year.
3 Reduction/Demotion to a lower post.
4- Dismissal without payment of any compensation in lieu of notice.

: Standing Order Ordinance 1968