Understand the SLA clock and run the SLA check
How due times are worked out, when the clock pauses, what the gauge means, and how the 80, 90, 100 and 120 percent alerts are raised.
Before you begin
A ticket has an SLA only when it has a policy, either chosen on the ticket or taken from the routing rule or the team default. Without one, the SLA panel shows No SLA. Policies are described in Set up SLA policies and routing rules.
How due times are worked out
Each policy has a First response target and a Resolution target in hours, and a Coverage:
- 8x5 counts working hours on the company calendar only. The UAE calendar is Sunday to Thursday, 08:00 to 17:00 Dubai time.
- 24x7 counts every hour.
Times are shown in Dubai time on the ticket.
Worked example (8x5)
The policy is Standard: 4 hours first response, 24 hours resolution. A ticket is raised on Thursday at 16:30.
- First response is due Sunday at 11:30: 0.5 hour on Thursday, Friday and Saturday skipped, then 3.5 hours from Sunday 08:00.
- Resolution is due Tuesday at 13:30: 0.5 hour on Thursday, 9 on Sunday, 9 on Monday and 5.5 on Tuesday.
With a 24x7 policy of 1 hour and 4 hours, a ticket raised at 22:00 on Friday has a first response due at 23:00 and a resolution due at 02:00 on Saturday.
Read the SLA panel
The right rail shows a gauge and a state chip:
| Chip | Meaning |
|---|---|
| On Track | Less than 80% of the window used. |
| At Risk | 80% to 99% used. |
| Breached | 100% or more used. |
| Paused | The clock is stopped. |
| Met / Missed | Shown after the ticket is resolved. |
| No SLA | The ticket has no policy. |
Remaining counts working time on an 8x5 policy. The First Response chip shows Met or Missed once a reply is sent or the time has passed, and Due otherwise.
Pauses
The policy has three switches:
- Pause while waiting on the customer (on by default).
- Pause while waiting on a vendor (on by default).
- Pause while waiting on another internal team (off by default; if on, handing a ticket to a colleague stops its clock).
While paused, the ticket is not in SLA Risk or Overdue and the check ignores it. When the status leaves the waiting state, the due times move later by the working time that passed. Waiting two working hours moves both due times two working hours later.
Changing the ticket's SLA Policy recalculates both due times from the creation time with the new hours.
Run the SLA check
Alerts are raised when someone runs the check. They are not raised automatically yet.
- Open Helpdesk > Tickets > Dashboard.
- Press Run SLA check. You need
helpdesk.manage. - Read the message, for example 'Checked 42 open tickets; raised 3 alert(s).'
| Used | What the check does |
|---|---|
| 80% | Tells the assigned agent: "HD-000012 at 82% of its SLA". |
| 90% | Tells the team leaders and the manager. |
| 100% | Escalates the ticket automatically to the first chain rung whose "At SLA %" is reached, otherwise to Manager as a notice. |
| 120% | Tells the executive rung's person and the team manager, for example "... is 25% past its SLA". |
Running it again raises nothing new for the same tickets. Paused, resolved, closed and no-SLA tickets are skipped. When the "SLAs and escalation" feature is off: 'SLAs and escalation is disabled for this company.'
Ask someone with helpdesk.manage to run the check on a regular routine until a schedule is in place. Without it, no alerts are raised.
Good to know
- Transfers can change the clock. See Assign, transfer and share a ticket.
- The History shows "SLA before > after" for each hand-off. The history labels use UTC, while the ticket uses Dubai time.
- The UAE calendar here is Sunday to Thursday. Confirm with your business owner that it matches your working week.