Reports

D2.1 Requirements emerging from a state of the art analysis

Deliverable D2.1 presents the initial compilation and elicitation of SLA requirements developing the following components of: requirements compiled from a state-of-the-art/practice analysis; initial gap analysis on missing requirements; preliminary design of the Cloud Service Provider (CSP) SLA repository.

D2.2 Requirements emerging from a state of the art analysis final report

Deliverable D2.2 is the final version updated over D2.1 that provide the refined version of the initial SLA state of the art/practice (SoA/SoP) reported in D2.1, in order to form the basis of composing the CRM. The progress with respect to D2.1 is: the elicitation of the requirements of the CRM has been reorganized according to the components specified by the ISO/IEC 19086 standard; a comprehensive analysis of the SLA Management SoA/SoP has been added; the components of SLA have been extracted from additional sources: EU projects, ISO/IEC 19086, C-SIG, legal and industry practices; performance components have also been added to the model; a comprehensive analysis of the economic and sociological aspects of the Cloud Service provisioning has been done; the elicited requirements are aligned with the revised life cycle model; the description of the SLA Repository has been updated to the final version.

D2.3 A Common Reference Model to describe promote and support the uptake of SLAs

Deliverable D2.3 is the result of the analysis made through deliverables D2.1 and D2.2. The result of the analysis is a Common Reference Model (CRM) to describe, promote and support the uptake of SLAs. The CRM provides a common understanding of SLAs for Cloud services and it integrates SLA components (e.g., terminology, SLA attributes, Service Level Objectives (SLOs), guidelines and best practices). D2.3 not only reports the CRM but also validates it with respect to the current state of practice in different domains. D2.3 is the initial iteration over the process of creation and evaluation of the CRM.

D2.4 A Common Reference Model to describe, promote and support the uptake of SLAs

Deliverable D2.4 validates the final version of the SLA-Ready Common Reference Model (CRM), an integrated set of SLA components (i.e., attributes and SLOs), including the guidelines/state of practice and standard terminology. The purpose of this deliverable is to develop a SLA-usage reference document, which will be transferred onto the SLA-READY marketplace as an easy to read reference for the SLA- READY stakeholders which are herewith categorised as: 1. SMEs, 2. Large Companies, 3. Cloud Service Providers, and 4. Cloud Service Customers.

D3.1 Engagement plan for standardisation and international cooperation

Deliverable D3.1 presents the strategy defined by Work Package 3 to focus on a specific set of related standardisation initiatives, the approach to continuously develop and analyse the standards being considered by SLA-Ready for potential contributions, and the initial feedback from standardisation activities where SLA-Ready has started to collaborate (in particular inputs from the latest ISO/IEC SC38 meeting).

D3.2 Standardisation & International Cooperation Initial Report

Deliverable D3.2 reports on the first year activities by SLA-Ready, targeting both standards groups and industrial/best-practices groups. The report focuses on SLA-Ready’s contributions to standardisation efforts and best-practices, with particular attention to aligning standards/best practices with the definition of the Common Reference Model (WP2). The overriding objective is to maximise the impact of SLA-Ready and its future sustainability. The report also covers the main outcomes to date of international co-operation activities, in particular our liaison with related initiatives taking place within NIST and Brazil and the continuous interaction with the project’s Advisory Board.

D3.3 A Business Guide to Service Level Agreements: How to be a well-advised user of cloud services

D3.4  High-level report on cloud SLA recommendations

Deliverable D3.4 provides a set of recommendations for trusted and transparent Cloud SLAs for the DSM, with recommendations based on a multi-stakeholder dialogue to ensure all key issues are addressed. This includes expert views from SME associations, SMEs including customers and re-sellers, procurers of cloud services, and standardisation experts. The document looks also at validation of the CRM and feedback regarding CSPs responses to the CSP self-assessment questionnaire and the SLA Repository.

D4.1 Communication and Dissemination Plan

Deliverable D4.1 define the focused actions that SLA-Ready will undertake to ensure active engagement with project target audiences during the lifetime of the project. The document identifies the main pain points around SLAs which can slow adoption and identifies the stakeholder groups that the project addresses, namely, SMEs, cloud service providers, large corporations and public sector decision makers. Core messaging and a clear plan for how the project will impact on these groups is identified through community building, website, outreach events (both project-organised and external events), and social media campaigns.

D4.2 SLA Ready Hub and Social Marketplace first iteration

Deliverable D4.2 describes the design and rollout phases for the Cloud Business Hub and SLA Marketplace, tailored content creation, tools and services, as well as sustainability through integration into the CSA STAR (Security Trust and Assurance Registry) and CloudWatchHUB. It also defines key performance indicators to measure the impact of the hub and marketplace. D4.2 expands on and updates D4.1 Communication and Dissemination Plan, which defines the main actions for serving the target audiences of SLA-Ready with particular reference to developing the hub and marketplace. Based on our updated analysis of market gaps and the SLA landscape, we have decided to call to the “digital hub” as the Cloud Business Hub and the “Social Marketplace” as the SLA Marketplace. In Annex 2, this document also provides a joint exploitation and sustainability plan for Year two of the project following Year one review recommendations.

D4.3 SLA-Ready Hub and Social Marketplace - final iteration

Deliverable D4.3 is an incremental update of the content presented in D4.2. In this document we highlight how in Y2, WP4 has implemented content from key deliverables deriving from WP2 and WP3 into website content and guides and tools tailored for our specific stakeholders. Our main stakeholders include: i) Cloud Service Customers and re-sellers, including SMEs and large enterprises; ii) Cloud Service Providers, including SMEs and large enterprises; iii) Current or potential implementers of standards: these include Cloud Service Providers and Procurement officers (classed as customers).

D4.4 A Socio-economic Impact of SLA-Ready and Exploitation Plan

The purpose of deliverable D4.4 is twofold: 1) Provide an analysis of the impact of SLA-Ready in relation to the European economy, characterising it on the demand and supply sides. The analysis uses both qualitative and quantitative data collected by SLA-Ready and provides a set of case studies describing socio-economic aspects in relation to the provision and consumption of cloud services. 2) Assess the sustainability of SLA-Ready Support as a Service based on technical, financial, marketing, and human support KPIs, presenting the final exploitation plans for the assets accrued. These assets comprise: i) Common Reference Model; ii) SLA Marketplace; iii) SLA-Repository; iv) Workshops for SMEs, including legal guidance sessions.

Cloudscape Brazil 2016 Position paper "SLA-Ready: A lifecycle approach to Cloud Service Level Agreements so SMEs know what to expect, what to do and what to trust"

Position paper presented at Cloudscape Brazil 3rd edition in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on on 6-7 July 2016, showcasing project's services, tools and guides for companies and SMEs who need to manage and understand the cloud service lifecycle.

ICT Proposers Day 2016 Position paper "Useful, Cloud Tools to be used by scientific communities when adopting cloud services"

Position paper presented at ICT Proposers Day in Bratislava, Slovakia, on 26 September 2016, showcasing how SLA-Ready, PICSE and CloudWATCH2 tools and services can also benefit the science and research communities.

Cloudscape 2016 Position paper "SLA-Ready: getting the European private sector into the cloud comfort zone"

Position paper presented at Cloudscape 2016 in Brussels, Belgium, on 8-9 March 2016, showcasing services and tools and for cloud customers who need to deep their knowledge of the cloud service lifecycle.

How SLA-Ready directly responds to the EC COM (2016) 19/4/2016 on ICT Standardisation Priorities for the Digital Single Market

SLA Ready supports the European Free Flow of Data Initiative as an important step at EU-level to allow SMEs and their stakeholders, including businesses, citizens, researchers and consumers to take full advantage of data technologies and services. Building on the work conducted by Standard Developing Organisation (SDOs), SLA-Ready aims to deliver a common reference model for Cloud SLAs, a set of services to support cloud customers in the use of cloud SLAs through their life cycle, and to encourage a culture of trust and transparency amongst CSPs.