Permissions
The following permissions will allow users to perform the following actions:
Manage Service Level Agreements (SLAs): Allow users to view, create, edit, and delete SLAs. Reveals ‘SLAs’ under Admin on the left navigation.
Introduction to Service Level Agreements
Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are analytics tools for tracking time spent on tickets. SLAs use working hours (default: 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM Monday through Friday) to calculate the following information on tickets:
Response Time: The time from when the ticket was submitted to when it started (when the status is set to In Progress)
Resolution Time: The time from when the ticket was submitted to when the ticket is resolved. By default, this includes all ticket statuses.
Custom Metric: A non-standard metric that allows you to track how long a ticket may have been sitting in a specific status, such as On Hold, Waiting on Requestor, etc.
SLAs are best used with rules. A single rule can apply a single SLA to general, district-wide metrics, or multiple rules can apply different SLAs based on ticket type.
The Analytics Explorer determines average response/resolution times for all tickets or selected ticket types, and tracks how often agents meet their SLA goals.
Creating an SLA
To create a new SLA, click +New SLA on the top right of the Service Level Agreements page. Name the SLA and activate it using the toggle option before it can be applied to tickets.
Default Response and Resolution times are one day and three days, respectively. You can remove these settings by clicking Remove. To change the default time, click the filter boxes under the Conditions column to adjust the numeric value and the measurement (minutes, hours, or days).
Adding Custom Metrics to SLAs
To track metrics beyond ticket Response and Resolution times, use a custom metric. Click Custom Metric in the top right corner of the SLA Details page.
In the Custom Metric window, name the metric, set a target time, and click the Add Filter option in the Timer is running when section.
Applying Additional Filters to SLAs
Add filters to the Resolution Time metric to exclude unwanted statuses from calculations.
Click Resolution time to open the editing window, then click the Add Filter option in the right-hand Timer is running when section.
Select the Status filter type and choose the status(es) to include or exclude.
Example: Selecting the Waiting on Vendor status and using the Exclude Selected option removes it from SLA calculations.
The selected status filters will display in the Conditions column of the Resolution Time metric. Click Save before leaving the page.
Deleting an SLA
To delete an existing SLA:
Click the SLA on the Service Level Agreements page.
Click the Delete button at the bottom of the page.
Deleting an SLA cannot be undone.
Using SLAs in the Rules Engine
SLAs can be automatically added to tickets via Rules in Incident IQ. This automates SLA assignment upon ticket creation, ensuring immediate tracking of Response and Resolution times.
The following section provides typical, basic examples of SLA applications in the Rules Engine. Additional conditions or actions can be added to enhance functionality.
Applying a single SLA to All Newly Created Tickets
Trigger Type: Created
When: Leave this section blank to apply to all tickets.
Action: ‘Assign Service Level Agreement’ [Desired SLA]
Last: Continue to the following rule
Additional Information: This stand-alone rule should be placed near the top of the list. Since it is set to Continue to the next rule, it applies the SLA to all tickets while allowing the ticket to proceed through the rule list for agent/team assignment.
Applying a Single SLA to Select Newly Created Tickets
Trigger Type: Created
When: Variable (Example uses a specific location as the criteria).
Perform: ‘Assign Service Level Agreement’ [Desired SLA] (Agent or team assignment is optional).
Last: Do not process any more rules
Additional Information: If tracking multiple different SLAs, a single generic SLA will not work. Apply a distinct SLA to each ticket type, generally pairing it with agent/team assignments in the same rule.
Applying an SLA to an Existing Ticket Based on Information Field Updates
Trigger Type: Updated
When: [Variable Criteria] and [when the field is updated (field type that matches your first criteria)].
Perform: ‘Assign Service Level Agreement’ [Desired SLA]
Finally: Do not process any more rules
Rule Positioning: This rule applies an SLA when ticket information is updated.
Manually Managing SLAs on Tickets
Incident IQ administrators and agents with permissions can manually update SLAs on any open ticket in two ways:
Individual Tickets: Click the SLA field to add or change the assigned SLA.
Bulk Tickets: Use the Bulk Ticket options. Check one or more tickets in any view to display the options, then click Other > Assign SLA or Remove SLA to apply the SLA to all selected tickets.
Viewing SLA Analytics
Access SLA data visually via the Analytics Explorer in the left navigation bar. Each section of the Analytics Explorer includes applicable SLA metrics.
You can view SLA performance district-wide or for individual locations or agents. Look for elements labeled SLA Response Time and SLA Resolution Time to find this data.
SLA Filters
Three SLA Filters are available on a ticket view. Click Filter (top right) and go to the SLA Filters folder:
SLA Filter: Filters by the applied SLA agreement.
SLA Resolution Time: Filters tickets by Resolution Time.
SLA Response Time: Filters tickets by Response Time.
When filtering by SLA Resolution Time or SLA Response Time, two additional options narrow the filter:
Filter by SLA Agreement breached: Select to see tickets where the SLA has been breached or has not been breached.
Filter by SLA agreement status: Select to see tickets where the SLA metric is running (open tickets) or stopped (resolved tickets).
Setting up Break and Holiday Exclusions
Set up holiday exclusions for SLA calculations by adding events to the Incident IQ Calendar. When creating the event, select the Break or Holiday event types from the drop-down menu.
