What are service-level indicators (SLIs) used for?

Service-level indicators (SLIs) are critical metrics utilized to assess the performance and reliability of a service against predefined criteria. Specifically, SLIs help an organization gauge whether it is meeting its service-level objectives (SLOs), which are agreed-upon targets for the quality or reliability of a service.

By measuring aspects such as response times, availability, error rates, and throughput, SLIs provide concrete data that organizations can use to evaluate how well they are performing with respect to their SLOs. This allows them to ensure the service meets customer expectations and also helps in identifying areas for improvement.

Other options do not align with the primary function of SLIs. For instance, while user satisfaction can be informed by SLIs, they are not directly designed to track satisfaction, nor are they intended for sales forecasts or market trend analysis. SLIs focus specifically on the quantifiable aspects of service performance necessary for setting and assessing service-level objectives.