North West SLA Contracts

This section looks at the demand for Service Level Agreement (SLA) skills within the North West region with a comparison to our Quality Assurance & Compliance category. Included is a guide to the contractor rates offered in IT job ads that have cited SLA over the 3 months to 4 July 2008 with a comparison to the same period last year.

Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Location Aberdeen Aberdeenshire Abingdon Ashton-under-Lyne Basildon Basingstoke Bath Bedfordshire Belfast Berkshire Birmingham Bracknell Bradford Bridgend Brighton Bristol Buckinghamshire Burnley Camberley Cambridge Cambridgeshire Canary Wharf Cardiff Cheltenham Cheshire Chester City of London Colchester Corsham County Antrim Coventry Crawley Croydon Derby Derbyshire Docklands, London Dudley Durham East Anglia East Midlands East of England East Sussex Edinburgh Egham England Epsom Essex Feltham Folkestone Gateshead Glasgow Gloucestershire Grays Guildford Hackney Halifax Hampshire Harrogate Hartlepool Hastings Hemel Hempstead Herefordshire Hertfordshire Horsham Ipswich Kegworth Kent Lancashire Leatherhead Leeds Leicestershire Liverpool London Luton Lutterworth M4 Corridor Macclesfield Maidenhead Manchester Merseyside Middlesex Midlands Milton Keynes Newbury Newcastle Upon Tyne Newport Norfolk North East North Wales North West North Yorkshire Northampton Northamptonshire Northern Ireland Norwich Nottingham Nottinghamshire Oxford Oxfordshire Peterborough Portsmouth Reading Redditch Rickmansworth Romford Runcorn Salford Scotland Sheffield Shropshire Slough Somerset South East South Wales South West South Yorkshire Southampton Staffordshire Stockton-on-Tees Street Suffolk Sunbury-on-Thames Surrey Swansea Swindon Telford Thames Valley Tyne and Wear UK Uxbridge Wales Warrington Warwickshire Watford Welwyn Garden City Wembley West Midlands West Sussex West Wales West Yorkshire Weybridge Wiltshire Windsor Woking Wokingham Worcestershire York Yorkshire	3 months to 4 Jul 2008	Same period last year
Rank	81	65
Rank change on same period last year	-16
Matching contract IT job ads	65	70
As % of all UK contract IT job ads sampled	0.086 %	0.074 %
As % of the category below	40.37 %	35.00 %
Daily rates quoted	7	19
Average minimum daily rate	£395	£421
Average daily rate	£419	£436
% change on same period last year	-3.91 %
Average maximum daily rate	£443	£451
UK excluding London average daily rate	£365	£364
% change on same period last year	+0.24 %
Hourly rates quoted	13	13
Average minimum hourly rate	£15.46	£15.00
Average hourly rate	£16.85	£16.38
% change on same period last year	+2.86 %
Average maximum hourly rate	£18.23	£17.76
UK excluding London average hourly rate	£17.19	£18.76
% change on same period last year	-8.36 %
Quality Assurance & Compliance North West
Matching contract IT job ads	161	200
As % of all UK contract IT job ads sampled	0.212 %	0.212 %
Daily rates quoted	30	47
Average minimum daily rate	£359	£398
Average daily rate	£379	£409
% change on same period last year	-7.31 %
Average maximum daily rate	£400	£421
UK excluding London average daily rate	£373	£376
% change on same period last year	-0.88 %
Hourly rates quoted	19	20
Average minimum hourly rate	£19.52	£17.61
Average hourly rate	£21.00	£19.27
% change on same period last year	+8.96 %
Average maximum hourly rate	£22.48	£20.94
UK excluding London average hourly rate	£23.52	£24.90
% change on same period last year	-5.54 %
SLA England

We calculate average IT contractor rates directly from the figures quoted and do not attempt to derive hourly rates from daily rates or vice versa.

SLA
Demand Trend

The chart provides a 3-month moving total beginning in 2004 of IT contractor jobs citing SLA across the North West region as a proportion of the total demand within the Quality Assurance & Compliance category.

SLA
Daily Rate Trend

The chart provides the 3-month moving average for daily rates quoted in IT contract jobs citing SLA across the North West region.

SLA
Daily Rate Histogram

The chart provides a histogram of daily rates quoted in contract IT jobs citing SLA across the North West region over the 3 months to 4 July 2008.

SLA
Hourly Rate Trend

The chart provides the 3-month moving average for hourly rates quoted in IT contractor jobs citing SLA across the North West region.

SLA
Hourly Rate Histogram

The chart provides a histogram of hourly rates quoted in contract IT jobs citing SLA across the North West region over the 3 months to 4 July 2008.

SLA
Contract Locations

This section looks at the demand and provides a guide to the average contractor rates quoted in IT job ads citing SLA within the North West region over the 3 months to 4 July 2008. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 3 month period last year. A positive number indicates a relative increase in demand.

Location	Rank Change on Same Period Last Last	Matching Contract IT Job Ads	Average Daily Rate Last 3 Months	Average Daily Rate % Change on Same Period Last Year
Manchester	-5	31	£527	+22.48 %
Cheshire	-26	14	£350	+0.20 %
Merseyside	-8	6	-	-
Lancashire	-6	4	£288	-38.39 %

SLA England

SLA
Top 30 Related IT Skills

For the 6 months to 4 July 2008, IT contractor jobs across the North West region citing SLA also mentioned the following IT skills in order of popularity. The figures indicate the number of jobs and their proportion against the total number of contract IT job ads sampled that cited SLA.

1 33 (22.60 %) ITIL 2 21 (14.38 %) Service Delivery 3 20 (13.70 %) Telecoms 4 19 (13.01 %) Windows 5 18 (12.33 %) 3G 6 17 (11.64 %) Finance 7 15 (10.27 %) Service Management 7 15 (10.27 %) Incident Management 8 11 (7.534 %) SAP 8 11 (7.534 %) Unix 8 11 (7.534 %) Windows NT 9 10 (6.849 %) MS Office 10 9 (6.164 %) SQL 10 9 (6.164 %) Microsoft 10 9 (6.164 %) Citrix

11 8 (5.479 %) French Language 11 8 (5.479 %) German Language 11 8 (5.479 %) Dutch Language 11 8 (5.479 %) MS Excel 12 7 (4.795 %) Change Management 12 7 (4.795 %) Thin Client 12 7 (4.795 %) Mainframe 12 7 (4.795 %) LAN 12 7 (4.795 %) TCP/IP 12 7 (4.795 %) MetaFrame 12 7 (4.795 %) ITIL Certification 12 7 (4.795 %) Windows 2000 12 7 (4.795 %) Fat Client 13 6 (4.110 %) Linux 13 6 (4.110 %) VB

SLA
Top Related IT Skills by Category

For the 6 months to 4 July 2008, IT contractor jobs across the North West region citing SLA also mentioned the following IT skills grouped by category. The figures indicate the number of jobs and their proportion against the total number of contract IT job ads sampled that cited SLA. Up to 20 skills are shown per category.

Application Development 1 1 (0.685 %) .NET	Application Platforms 1 6 (4.110 %) SAS 2 4 (2.740 %) Lotus Notes 3 3 (2.055 %) MS Exchange 3 3 (2.055 %) LiveLink 4 2 (1.370 %) IIS 5 1 (0.685 %) Apache 5 1 (0.685 %) Tomcat 5 1 (0.685 %) Exchange Server 5.5 5 1 (0.685 %) Exchange Server 2003 5 1 (0.685 %) Blackberry Enterprise Server
Applications 1 10 (6.849 %) MS Office 2 8 (5.479 %) MS Excel 3 5 (3.425 %) MS PowerPoint 4 1 (0.685 %) MS Project 4 1 (0.685 %) MS Visio 4 1 (0.685 %) Acrobat	Business Applications 1 4 (2.740 %) SAP FI 2 2 (1.370 %) SAP Oil and Gas
Communications & Networking 1 18 (12.33 %) 3G 2 7 (4.795 %) LAN 2 7 (4.795 %) TCP/IP 3 4 (2.740 %) Intranet 3 4 (2.740 %) Internet 4 3 (2.055 %) WAN 5 2 (1.370 %) LDAP 5 2 (1.370 %) Network Security 6 1 (0.685 %) SMS 6 1 (0.685 %) VPN 6 1 (0.685 %) WINS 6 1 (0.685 %) DNS 6 1 (0.685 %) SAN	Database & Business Intelligence 1 5 (3.425 %) MS Access 1 5 (3.425 %) SQL Server 2 3 (2.055 %) SQL Server 2005 3 2 (1.370 %) RDBMS 3 2 (1.370 %) BusinessObjects 3 2 (1.370 %) SQL Server 2000 4 1 (0.685 %) Crystal Reports 4 1 (0.685 %) Oracle Reports
General 1 20 (13.70 %) Telecoms 2 17 (11.64 %) Finance 3 5 (3.425 %) Health 4 3 (2.055 %) Banking 5 2 (1.370 %) Retail 5 2 (1.370 %) Pharmaceutical 5 2 (1.370 %) Games 5 2 (1.370 %) Retail Banking 5 2 (1.370 %) Law 5 2 (1.370 %) Education 5 2 (1.370 %) Government 6 1 (0.685 %) Chemicals 6 1 (0.685 %) Legal 6 1 (0.685 %) Manufacturing 6 1 (0.685 %) Auditing 6 1 (0.685 %) Billing 6 1 (0.685 %) Local Government 6 1 (0.685 %) Pensions	Job Titles 1 28 (19.18 %) Analyst 2 20 (13.70 %) Data Centre Engineer 3 15 (10.27 %) Service Manager 4 10 (6.849 %) Service Analyst 4 10 (6.849 %) Support Analyst 5 9 (6.164 %) Services Delivery Manager 5 9 (6.164 %) Delivery Manager 6 8 (5.479 %) Technical Support 6 8 (5.479 %) Applications Support 7 7 (4.795 %) Administrator 8 6 (4.110 %) Capacity Manager 9 5 (3.425 %) Network Engineer 9 5 (3.425 %) Coordinator 10 4 (2.740 %) Systems Engineer 10 4 (2.740 %) Desktop Support 10 4 (2.740 %) 2nd Line Support 10 4 (2.740 %) Project Administrator 10 4 (2.740 %) Project Coordinator 11 3 (2.055 %) Desktop Support Engineer 11 3 (2.055 %) Desktop Engineer
Miscellaneous 1 8 (5.479 %) French Language 1 8 (5.479 %) German Language 1 8 (5.479 %) Dutch Language 2 7 (4.795 %) Fat Client 2 7 (4.795 %) Thin Client 2 7 (4.795 %) Mainframe 3 3 (2.055 %) AS400 3 3 (2.055 %) Data Extraction 4 2 (1.370 %) Replication 4 2 (1.370 %) Blackberry 4 2 (1.370 %) Asset Management 4 2 (1.370 %) Freedom of Information 4 2 (1.370 %) VAX 5 1 (0.685 %) Danish Language 5 1 (0.685 %) Italian Language 5 1 (0.685 %) Norwegian Language 5 1 (0.685 %) Portuguese Language 5 1 (0.685 %) Spanish Language 5 1 (0.685 %) Swedish Language 5 1 (0.685 %) EPoS	Operating Systems 1 19 (13.01 %) Windows 2 11 (7.534 %) Unix 2 11 (7.534 %) Windows NT 3 7 (4.795 %) Windows 2000 4 6 (4.110 %) Linux 5 5 (3.425 %) Solaris 6 3 (2.055 %) MVS 7 2 (1.370 %) Windows Server 2003 7 2 (1.370 %) AIX 8 1 (0.685 %) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies 1 33 (22.60 %) ITIL 2 21 (14.38 %) Service Delivery 3 15 (10.27 %) Service Management 3 15 (10.27 %) Incident Management 4 7 (4.795 %) Change Management 5 6 (4.110 %) Configuration Management 6 5 (3.425 %) Project Management 7 4 (2.740 %) Performance Management 7 4 (2.740 %) Risk Management 8 3 (2.055 %) Stakeholder Management 8 3 (2.055 %) Supplier Management 8 3 (2.055 %) Problem Management 9 2 (1.370 %) Data Protection 9 2 (1.370 %) Disaster Recovery 9 2 (1.370 %) GAP Analysis 9 2 (1.370 %) Information Security 10 1 (0.685 %) Data Management 10 1 (0.685 %) Data Analysis 10 1 (0.685 %) Software Engineering 10 1 (0.685 %) CMMI	Programming Languages 1 9 (6.164 %) SQL 2 6 (4.110 %) VB 3 2 (1.370 %) VB6 4 1 (0.685 %) REXX 4 1 (0.685 %) Transact-SQL 4 1 (0.685 %) JavaScript 4 1 (0.685 %) Perl
Qualifications 1 7 (4.795 %) ITIL Certification 2 6 (4.110 %) Microsoft Certification 3 4 (2.740 %) MCSE 3 4 (2.740 %) Degree 4 3 (2.055 %) MCP 5 1 (0.685 %) HNC 5 1 (0.685 %) MCDBA 5 1 (0.685 %) PRINCE2 Certification 5 1 (0.685 %) MCTS	Quality Assurance & Compliance 1 6 (4.110 %) Sarbanes-Oxley 2 2 (1.370 %) BS7799 3 1 (0.685 %) ISO9000
System Software 1 7 (4.795 %) MetaFrame 2 4 (2.740 %) Active Directory 3 1 (0.685 %) NDS	Systems Management 1 4 (2.740 %) Unicenter 2 3 (2.055 %) OMEGAMON 3 2 (1.370 %) Tivoli Storage Manager 4 1 (0.685 %) MOM 4 1 (0.685 %) Netcool 4 1 (0.685 %) Nagios 4 1 (0.685 %) DameWare 4 1 (0.685 %) ServiceCenter
Vendors 1 11 (7.534 %) SAP 2 9 (6.164 %) Microsoft 2 9 (6.164 %) Citrix 3 6 (4.110 %) Remedy 4 4 (2.740 %) Lotus 4 4 (2.740 %) Red Hat 4 4 (2.740 %) Oracle 5 3 (2.055 %) HP 6 2 (1.370 %) Dell 6 2 (1.370 %) Business Objects 7 1 (0.685 %) Cisco 7 1 (0.685 %) IBM 7 1 (0.685 %) Adobe 7 1 (0.685 %) Sun 7 1 (0.685 %) CheckPoint 7 1 (0.685 %) Northgate 7 1 (0.685 %) Avaya 7 1 (0.685 %) Juniper 7 1 (0.685 %) Novell