Set service levels (SLA policies) and follow the alerts

An SLA policy is a promise in minutes: how soon your team answers a service request and how soon it is resolved. Once a policy applies to a request, the system counts the time, warns before the deadline, marks a miss and escalates it, so service managers see problems before customers complain.

Open the SLA screen

1. Open CRM › Service › SLA. The page is titled SLA policies.

The figures at the top count the response deadlines: requests Tracked, deadlines Met and Breached, and the Compliance percentage.

Create a policy

1. Select New policy.

2. Type the Name and choose the Priority it applies to, or Any priority.

3. Under Applies to, narrow the policy if needed: a Ticket category, a Channel and a single Customer. Leave a field blank to match any value.

4. Enter the Response time (minutes) and the Resolution time (minutes).

5. To count only working time, turn on Business hours only and set the Business hours start, Business hours end and Business days. Otherwise the clock runs 24/7.

6. Add a Description. Tick Default policy for the one that applies when nothing else matches, and keep the policy Active.

7. Select Save.

Only one policy can be the default: ticking it on a new policy removes it from the old one.

Which policy a request gets

When a request is saved, the system picks one policy:

1. If the site or equipment is covered by a service contract that names an SLA policy, that policy wins.

2. Otherwise, the most specific matching policy wins. A policy for one customer beats one for a category, which beats one for a channel, which beats one for a priority.

3. If nothing matches, the Default policy applies. With no default, the request is not tracked, and the new-request form says so before you save.

What the clock does

• Response is measured until the first reply or status move on the request; resolution until it reaches a final status.

• A status marked Pauses the SLA clock stops both clocks while the request waits, for example for the customer. See ticket statuses.

• With business hours, nights and days off are not counted.

• At 80% of the allowed time, a warning is sent. At the deadline the clock is marked breached, and a missed resolution raises the request's priority one level, once.

Follow the alerts

The Alerts tab lists every warning and miss: the Ticket, the Policy, the Alert type (Response time warning, Response time missed, Resolution time warning, Resolution time missed) and Alerted at. Filter by alert type or status. Select Acknowledge once you have dealt with an alert, so the list shows only what still needs attention.

Alerts go to the person the request is assigned to or, when no one is, to the users of its assigned group.

Tips

• Start with a default policy for everyone, then add specific ones for urgent priority and for your key customers.

• Use Business hours only if your team does not work nights. Otherwise a request logged on Thursday evening may breach over the weekend.

Common questions

I changed a policy. Do open requests change too? Requests keep the deadlines they were given. The new times apply to new requests.

Can I delete a policy? Only when no open request is timed by it; use Delete in the policy's Actions menu. To stop using a policy that open requests still depend on, make it inactive instead.