Which statement correctly differentiates metrics, KPIs, and SLIs?

Which statement correctly differentiates metrics, KPIs, and SLIs?

• A. Metrics are raw measurements; KPIs are strategic performance indicators; SLIs are service-specific indicators linked to SLOs.
• B. KPIs are raw; SLIs measure customer satisfaction only.
• C. SLIs are broad business goals; KPIs are customer perceptions.
• D. Metrics are strategic; KPIs are raw data; SLIs are unrelated.

Answer: (A)

Understanding these terms starts with recognizing their scope and purpose. Metrics are raw measurements collected about performance or activity, such as latency, error rate, or throughput. KPIs are chosen metrics that have strategic importance for business goals—these are the indicators executives care about to gauge progress toward objectives like revenue growth or customer retention. SLIs are service-specific indicators that quantify the performance of a particular service aspect (for example, availability or latency) and are typically tied to an SLO, which is the target level for that indicator.

The statement aligns with this structure because it places metrics as raw measurements, KPIs as strategic performance indicators, and SLIs as service-specific indicators linked to SLOs. This separation helps teams decide what to measure broadly, what to monitor for strategic impact, and what to measure to ensure a service meets agreed-upon quality levels.

For clarity, imagine an online store: a metric could be page load time (raw data). A KPI might be quarterly revenue growth (business-focused). An SLI could be the percentage of requests served within 200ms, with an SLO of 99.9% uptime.