1. Apparatus for use in managing a service level associated with resources in a distributed information technology (IT) system based on financial terms, the apparatus comprising: at least one processor operative to: (i) construct and maintain an electronic contract that contains information pertaining to descriptions of one or more business transactions in IT terms, financial implications of one or more business transaction service levels, and reporting to be performed in one or more financial terms; (ii) measure at least one service level of at least one distributed element of the IT system in terms of one or more business metrics based on the electronic contract and based at least in part on input received from at least one agent module located in the at least one distributed element; (iii) determine at least one financial optimization based at least in part on the measured at least one service level of at least one element of the IT system and based at least in part on the electronic contract, the financial optimization being specified in the electronic contract at the time of construction such that, at the time the financial optimization is to be determined, the electronic contract is accessed to identify a particular financial metric of the financial optimization that is to be computed and to identify an operation for computing the particular financial metric, the one or more business metrics are converted to one or more financial equivalents wherein the one or more financial equivalents comprise a cost of a lost connection, a cost of down time, and a relationship between revenue and network latency; and (iv) issue at least one control command based on the at least one financial optimization, the command to be executed on the at least one distributed element by the at least one agent module located in the at least one distributed element; and memory, operatively coupled to the at least one processor, for storing at least one of the electronic contract and results of the measurement operation.