Defining SLA policies

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Location: Admin Center > Objects and rules > Business rules > Service level agreements

A service level agreement, or SLA policy, is an agreed upon measure of the response and resolution times that your support team delivers to your customers.

For example, you can define an agreement where you respond to urgent tickets in 10 minutes and resolve them within 2 hours. Messaging customers may want to define an SLA where the first reply time has a 30 second target.

This article contains the following sections:

• Setting up SLA policies
• Understanding which SLA metrics you can measure
• Reopening tickets effect on an SLA

Related articles:

• Defining group SLAs for internal teams
• Customizing your SLAs with advanced settings

Setting up SLA policies

Each SLA policy has a set structure consisting of conditions that a ticket must meet and the metrics you choose to measure. See Best practices for using metrics together.

Tickets must have a priority set in the system default Priority field (custom ticket fields don't count). If you don't set a priority, none of your rules will be met. You can use a trigger to set a priority when a ticket is created. See Creating triggers.

To set up an SLA policy

1. In Admin Center, click Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Business rules > Service level agreements.
2. Click Create policy.
3. Enter a Policy Name.
4. Optionally, enter a Description, then click Next.
5. Select the Conditions for the policy.

   

   Start typing the condition to autocomplete or select an option from the drop-down menu.

6. Click Next.

   The options to define Reply metrics, Update metrics, and Resolution metrics appear. Note that you don't need to set a target for every metric when setting up an SLA policy.

   

7. Click Add target for the SLA metrics you want to define, then select a target from the menu.
8. Enter a time target for each ticket priority.

   

   Note: The minimum target time you can set is 15 seconds. You can enter hours, minutes, or seconds.
9. Optionally, select either calendar hours or business hours for Hours of operation for each priority.
10. Click Add.

    The metrics you defined are added to your policy.

    

11. Continue to add additional metrics by clicking Add target, then selecting a target from the menu. Or click Save policy to finish.

    If you have existing SLAs, the newest SLA is added to the bottom of the list. The order of your SLA policies determines how they are applied to tickets.

    To make your policies most effective, you should roughly order your policies with the most restrictive policies at the top, and your least restrictive policies at the bottom (see Ordering SLA policies).

    Community tip! Mat Cropper shows how to set up SLAs so the correct policy is always applied in Running triggers, automations, and reporting based on ticket SLAs. And Mark Powell shows how to set up SLAs for time zones in Using SLAs with different time zones, contracts, and business hours.

Understanding which SLA metrics you can measure

You can define SLA service targets for seven different metrics, which include reply time, update time, and resolution time metrics. All metrics have standard criteria that control how the metrics are activated and fulfill their targets. Metrics' standard criteria can't be changed.

Some metrics have advanced settings that allow you to select additional criteria for how these metrics activate and fulfill their targets. See Customizing your SLAs with advanced settings.

Before defining any SLAs, make sure you understand how SLA policies are applied to tickets.

Do not confuse SLA reply time with the native Zendesk reply time metric. See Zendesk SLAs and first reply time.

Reply time metrics

Reply time metrics help you understand how your team is performing in regards to responding to your customers.

Reply time SLA policies apply to all ticket, chat, and messaging conversations. Note that if reply time SLAs for chat conversations aren't turned on, then only public replies count towards the reply time SLAs. See Activating reply-time SLAs for live chat.

Note: Reply time metrics are fulfilled if you set up a trigger to autoreply with a public comment. Autoreplies are available with the Copilot add-on only.

First reply time

First reply time is the time between ticket creation and the first public comment from an agent (or autoreply). Use this metric to specify how much time it should take your agents to get back to your customers.

The first reply time target starts when a customer submits the ticket and stops once an agent makes a public reply to the customer. This is the most common workflow and typical behavior. In the example below, the first reply time is a combination of segments A and B:

If an agent creates a ticket on behalf of a customer with an internal note, the first reply time target starts when the customer makes a public comment and ends when the agent makes a public reply. See the example below, where the first reply time is a combination of the segments C, D, and E:

Note the following considerations about the first reply time metric:

• The first reply time is not calculated on tickets if the agent creates the ticket with a public comment. This is because the SLA first reply time target is immediately satisfied. It does not activate or record an achievement.
• If a light agent makes the first comment on a ticket with an internal note, the SLA first reply time target starts at their comment and runs through the next public agent comment.
• SLA first reply time targets for side conversation tickets have additional considerations. See Defining OLA policies using internal SLAs and child ticket side conversations.

Next reply time

Next reply time is the time between the oldest unanswered customer comment and the next public comment from an agent (or autoreply). Use this metric to set the amount of time it takes for your team to get back to your customers.

The next reply time target starts at the oldest unanswered customer comment and stops when an agent makes a public comment. In the example below, the next reply time is shown in segment E.

The following example demonstrates the next reply time as a combination of segments C, D, and E:

Update time metrics

Update time metrics help you set how frequently you’ll keep your customers informed while their issue is being resolved.

Periodic update

Periodic update measures the time between each public comment from agents. Think of this as how often you want your customers to be provided updates from your team.

This metric uses the agent’s public comment as a starting point and resets after each public comment an agent makes. In the example below, periodic update is a combination of segments C, D, E:

Pausable update

Pausable update measures the time between each public comment from agents when a ticket is in a New, Open, or On-hold ticket status.

Note: If you have custom ticket statuses activated, the following applies to any custom ticket status in the Open, On-hold, or Pending status categories.

Use the pausable update metric as an expectation of how long agents will spend on a ticket. In the example below, the pausable update is the combination of the segments B, D, and E:

The Pausable update metric applies when an agent makes the first public comment on a ticket with a New, Open, or On-hold ticket status. It pauses when the ticket is changed to the Pending status. It resumes when the status is changed to Open or On-hold with either a public comment or an internal note. Pausable update targets will not start until there is a public comment from an agent (or autoreply) and the ticket is not in a Pending state.

If an agent adds a public comment and marks the ticket as Pending in the same event, the metric will not be applied to the ticket until the ticket is first submitted in a New, Open, or On-hold status with a public comment. The metric will apply once the ticket is set to Pending.

Resolution time metrics

The resolution time metrics use the ticket status (or status category if custom ticket statuses activated) to determine the amount of time that was spent on the ticket.

Note that while you can choose multiple resolution time metrics, it is considered a best practice to limit your selection to one to avoid confusion.

Resolution metrics always use the status of the ticket for starting, pausing, and stopping, as opposed to comments. The following graphic shows how the resolution time metrics fit in with the lifecycle of a ticket:

Requester wait time

The requester wait time is the combined total time spent in the New, Open, and On-hold ticket statuses.

Requester wait time starts when the ticket is created and stops once the ticket is solved. It pauses when the ticket has a Pending status.

In the example below, the requester wait time is the combination of segments A, B, D, and E.

When you set this metric, consider the amount of time it should take your team to fully resolve the issue.

Agent work time

Agent work time is the combined total time spent in the New and Open ticket statuses.

This metric pauses when the ticket has an On-hold or Pending status.

In the example below the agent work time is a combination of segments A, B, and E.

When you set this metric, consider how much time an agent should spend on a ticket.

Total resolution time

Total resolution time is the total amount of time it should take to resolve a ticket, including time in a Pending status. It measures the entire lifecycle of a ticket, from when it's created until when it's solved. It doesn't pause on any ticket status changes, except for when the ticket is changed to the Solved status.

Note that if a ticket is solved and then reopened, the time spent in the Solved ticket status is treated as a pause and doesn't count towards the target. See Reopening tickets effect on an SLA.

Best practices for using metrics together

You don’t need to set a target for every metric in an SLA policy. The example below illustrates all the metrics and how they overlap:

When setting up an SLA policy, choose the most relevant metrics that you want to measure. Some best practices to consider:

• First reply time is straightforward and a good starting point if you’re not sure of which metrics you want to hold your team accountable to.
• Pick only one resolution time metric: Requester wait time, Agent work time, or Total resolution time.
• It is possible to have both next reply time and periodic update time metrics active. Your target status will display the metric closest to becoming breached.

Reopening tickets effect on an SLA

If a ticket is reopened, the following metrics are impacted. The reply time and update targets activate new targets, and the work time and wait time targets reactivate.

• First reply time, Next reply time: If a ticket is reopened with a public end-user comment and all conditions are met, the relevant Reply Time metrics activate new targets.
• Periodic update, Pausable update: If a ticket is reopened with an end-user comment, nothing will happen. If a ticket is reopened with a public comment from an agent (or autoreply), the relevant Update metrics activate new targets.
• Agent work time: This metric reactivates the same target with the same amount of time elapsed/remaining, and it treats the time in Solved status like a pause. If the ticket goes to Pending/On-hold status, it will remain paused until the ticket goes to Open status.
• Requester wait time: This metric reactivates the same target with the same amount of time elapsed/remaining, and it treats the time in Solved status like a pause. If the ticket goes to Pending status, it will remain paused until the ticket goes to Open/On-hold status.
• Total resolution time: This metric reactivates and continues to count from the ticket creation time. Any time spent in the Solved status is treated as a pause and isn't counted towards the target.