What are underpinning contracts used to document?

The provision of IT services to customers is documented in a service level agreement (SLA), not an underpinning contract.

An underpinning contract is a legally binding agreement between an IT service provider and an external third-party supplier. It documents the provision of goods or services that underpin the delivery of IT services to the business, ensuring that external dependencies are formally governed and aligned with service level commitments.

Service levels agreed between an internal service provider and its customer are captured in a service level agreement (SLA) or operational level agreement (OLA), not a UC.

Metrics and CSFs for internal support teams are typically recorded in operational level agreements (OLAs) or internal scorecards, not underpinning contracts.