SLA Configuration#

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) help you track and meet response time commitments to your customers.

Understanding SLAs#

What are SLAs?#

SLAs define your support team's response time goals:

• First Response Time - How quickly you initially reply
• Resolution Time - How long until the issue is resolved

SLA States#

Setting Up SLA Policies#

Creating a Policy#

1. Go to Settings > Inbox > SLA Policies
2. Click Create Policy
3. Configure targets by priority

Default SLA Targets#

Custom Policy Example#

Policy Name: Enterprise Support
 
Targets:
  Urgent:
    first_response: 30 minutes
    resolution: 4 hours
 
  High:
    first_response: 1 hour
    resolution: 8 hours
 
  Normal:
    first_response: 4 hours
    resolution: 24 hours
 
  Low:
    first_response: 8 hours
    resolution: 48 hours
 
Business Hours: Monday-Friday, 9am-6pm EST

Business Hours#

Configuring Business Hours#

SLA timers only count during business hours:

1. Go to Settings > Inbox > Business Hours
2. Set your working schedule for each day
3. Select your timezone

Schedule Example#

Multiple Schedules#

For global teams, create multiple schedules:

• US Support - 9am-6pm EST
• EU Support - 9am-6pm CET
• APAC Support - 9am-6pm JST

Assign schedules to specific inboxes or teams.

Holiday Calendar#

Adding Holidays#

Exclude holidays from SLA calculations:

1. Go to Settings > Inbox > Holidays
2. Click Add Holiday
3. Enter date and name
4. SLA timers pause on holidays

Holiday Example#

2026-01-01  New Year's Day
2026-01-20  Martin Luther King Jr. Day
2026-02-17  Presidents' Day
2026-05-26  Memorial Day
2026-07-04  Independence Day
2026-09-01  Labor Day
2026-11-27  Thanksgiving
2026-12-25  Christmas Day

Recurring Holidays#

Set holidays to repeat annually:

• Check Repeat yearly
• Holiday automatically applies each year

SLA Pausing#

When to Pause SLAs#

Pause the SLA timer when waiting for external factors:

How to Pause#

1. Open the ticket
2. Click the SLA indicator
3. Select Pause SLA
4. Choose a reason
5. Timer stops until resumed

Auto-Pause Rules#

Configure automatic pausing:

When status changes to "Pending"
→ Pause SLA with reason "Waiting for Customer"

When customer replies
→ Resume SLA timer

SLA Notifications#

Breach Alerts#

Get notified before SLAs breach:

Warning Notifications:

• 75% of time elapsed
• 90% of time elapsed

Breach Notifications:

• Immediate notification on breach
• Email to assigned agent
• Slack/Team Chat notification (if configured)

Configuring Alerts#

1. Go to Settings > Inbox > SLA Notifications
2. Configure warning thresholds
3. Select notification channels
4. Choose recipients

Escalation Rules#

Automatically escalate when SLA breaches:

First Breach:
  - Notify assigned agent
  - Notify team lead
 
After 2 hours breached:
  - Reassign to senior agent
  - Notify manager
 
After 4 hours breached:
  - Notify support director
  - Mark as critical

Tracking SLA Performance#

SLA Dashboard#

Monitor performance at Inbox > Analytics > SLA:

Key Metrics:

• SLA Achievement Rate - % met on time
• Average First Response - Actual vs. target
• Average Resolution Time - Actual vs. target
• Breach Count - Total breaches by period

SLA Reports#

Generate detailed reports:

1. Go to Inbox > Reports
2. Select SLA Performance
3. Choose date range
4. Filter by priority, agent, or inbox
5. Export as PDF or CSV

Example Report#

SLA Performance Report - January 2026

Overall Achievement Rate: 94%

By Priority:
  Urgent:  88%  (avg response: 45 min / target: 1 hr)
  High:    92%  (avg response: 3.2 hr / target: 4 hr)
  Normal:  96%  (avg response: 6.1 hr / target: 8 hr)
  Low:     98%  (avg response: 18 hr / target: 24 hr)

By Agent:
  Sarah:   97%
  John:    95%
  Mike:    91%

Breach Analysis:
  - 12 breaches total
  - Most common: Urgent priority (5)
  - Peak breach time: Monday mornings

SLA Best Practices#

Setting Realistic Targets#

1. Analyze historical data - What are current response times?
2. Consider team capacity - Can you consistently meet targets?
3. Account for volume spikes - Plan for busy periods
4. Start conservative - Better to exceed than miss

Improving SLA Performance#

1. Use templates - Pre-written responses for common issues
2. Prioritize correctly - Urgent tickets get attention first
3. Monitor in real-time - Watch approaching breaches
4. Staff appropriately - Match capacity to demand
5. Automate routing - Get tickets to right person fast

Common Pitfalls#

• Targets too aggressive - Leads to burnout
• Not using business hours - Unfair overnight expectations
• Forgetting to pause - Penalized while waiting on customer
• Ignoring analytics - Missing improvement opportunities

Integration with Other Features#

SLA in Ticket Views#

See SLA status directly in ticket lists:

• Color-coded indicators
• Time remaining display
• Sort by SLA urgency

SLA in Notifications#

SLA status included in:

• New ticket alerts
• Assignment notifications
• Daily digest emails

SLA in Automation#

Trigger actions based on SLA:

IF sla_status is "warning"
THEN send reminder to assignee
AND add label "sla-at-risk"

IF sla_status is "breached"
THEN escalate to manager
AND increase priority

Next Steps#

• Ticket Management - Manage tickets effectively
• Inbox Overview - Return to overview