defining an sla

8/11/2019 Defining an SLA

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Defining an SLA 1

Defining an SLA

Overview

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) allow the service desk to track whether or not their representatives are providing a

certain level of service. The most common use of SLAs is to ensure that incidents are resolved within a certain

amount of time.

A Service Offering SLA is an SLA that applies only to service offerings for business services (requires Service

Portfolio Management plugin and Service Portfolio Management - SLA Commitments plugin). To define a service

offering SLA, navigate to Business Services > Service Offering SLAs > SLAs.

OLAs and Underpinning Contracts

The Task SLA engine provided by the plugin can also be used to define OLAs or Underpinning Contracts in exactly

the same way as SLAs. The only difference between SLAs, OLAs, and Underpinning Contracts is the Type field on

the Task SLA form. Changing the type field does not change the behavior of the Task SLA.

For an example of an OLA, see Defining an OLA for Catalog Fulfillment.

Defining an SLA

When defining an SLA, the Duration field, in coordination with the Schedule field, is critical. For example, select a

5 day 2 hour duration and a 9-5 schedule. The 5 days and 2 hours are considered 122 hours (5x24 + 2). The 122

hours are distributed across the 9-5 schedule at 8 hours per day resulting in 15.25 schedule days (122/8 = 15.25).

To define an SLA:

1. Navigate to Service Level Management > SLA Definitions.2. Click New.

3. Fill in the form.

Field Input Value

Name An identifying name for the SLA.

Type The type of agreement being defined. This is used for informational purposes and does not change the behavior of the SLA. Choices

are:

SLA

OLA

Underpinning Contract

Table The task table (table extending Task Table) whose records will be tracked by this SLA.

Workflow The SLA workflow that determines what activities occur in response to the SLA. For more information, see Creating an SLA

Workflow.

Duration

Type

Determines how the duration of the SLA will be calculated. This can be a User Defined Duration, or a Relative Duration (e.g. "end

of next business day.").

Duration If Duration Type is User Defined Duration, this is the length of time the SLA will run before it is marked Breached. Note: The

number of days specified in this field are converted into 24 hours. Thus, if a schedule is used (see next field) that has eight hour days,

the duration 1 Day will set the SLA to breach three business days later.

Schedule The hours during which the SLA should time. This allows SLAs to be defined which only count during business hours. For more

information, see Using Schedules.

Timezone If the SLA is defined in the SLA Properties (Service Level Management > SLA Properties) as using the SLA Definition's time

zone, this field determines what time zone the SLA will use. For more information, see Using Time Zones.
http://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Using_Time_Zoneshttp://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Using_Scheduleshttp://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Defining_Relative_Durationshttp://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Creating_an_SLA_Workflowhttp://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Creating_an_SLA_Workflowhttp://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Task_Tablehttp://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Defining_Service_Levels_for_Catalog_Fulfillment%23Defining_an_OLA_for_a_Catalog_Taskhttp://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Service_Portfolio_Management_-_SLA_Commitments_Pluginhttp://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Service_Portfolio_Management_Pluginhttp://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Service_Portfolio_Management_Plugin


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Defining an SLA 2

Retroactive

Start

Retroactive Start determines the SLA's behavior if it is attached to the task at a point later than the task's creation. If Retroactive

Start is true, then the SLA will time from the task's Created On date and time. If Retroactive Start is false, then the SLA will time

from the date and time that it was attached to the SLA. For example, if an Incident's Priority is changed to 1 - Critical and a Priority 1

SLA is attached at that time, Retroactive Start means that the SLA will count from when the incident was first created, rather than

from when the Incident's Priority changed.

Start

Conditions

Defines conditions (using the Condition Builder) which, if met, attach an SLA to a task on the table specified in the Table field and

begins the timing. Note that all conditions used to define an SLA are case sensitive.

Stop

Conditions

Defines conditions (using the Condition Builder) which, if met, stops the SLA's timer. If these conditions are met before the end of

the duration defined in the Duration Type and Duration fields has elapsed, the SLA's state will be set to Achieved. If these

conditions are no longer met, the SLA will not resume. However, if the Start Conditions are met again, a new SLA will attach.

Pause

Conditions

Defines conditions (using the condition builder) which, if met, pauses the SLA's timer. Once the conditions are no longer met, the

SLA will resume. Pause conditions are not compatible with Relative Durations.

Fields which can be added by personalizing the form:

Condition

class

Accepts the string value of an SLA Condition Rules record to use instead of the global Condition Rules. If blank, the global rules will

be used. For more information, see Modifying SLA Condition Rules.

Reset

Conditions

Defines conditions (using the Condition Builder) which, if met, completes the current SLA and starts a new one.

Example

This example will demonstrate how to use the SLA Plugin to create a Service Level Agreement to ensure that critical

incidents logged in Paris are handled within 1 business day. This example uses the demo data within the system.

Defining the SLA

To define the SLA, navigate to Service Level Management > SLA Definitions, and click new.

Populate the fields with the following:

Name - Name the incident Priority 1 Paris Incident.

Type - Specify the type as SLA. Although the type does not change the behavior of the SLA, the type will help

distinguish between agreements with customers, vendors, and internal departments.

Workflow - Select Default SLA Workflow. To learn how to create a custom Workflow for SLAs, click Creating

a Service Level Management Workflow.

Duration Type - Select End of next business day. This means that, regardless of when the ticket is opened, the

SLA will calculate the end of the next business day and set that as the deadline for the SLA.

Schedule - Select 8-5 weekdays. This means that the timer will run between the hours of 8 and 5 on weekdays.

Once those fields are populated, it is important to populate the condition fields: Start Condition - Set the following conditions: Location is Paris, Priority is 1 - Critical, and Active is True.

Now the SLA will attach to any active Priority 1 incidents in Paris.

Stop Condition - Set the condition Active is False. This means that once the incident is closed or resolved, the

SLA will stop tracking time.

Pause Condition - Set the conditions Incident is one of Awaiting Problem, Awaiting User Info, or Awaiting

Evidence. This will avoid tracking time while the service desk is waiting for outside events.

The form should look like this:
http://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Creating_an_SLA_Workflowhttp://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Creating_an_SLA_Workflowhttp://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Service_Level_Agreements_%28SLA%29_Pluginhttp://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Condition_Builderhttp://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Modifying_SLA_Condition_Ruleshttp://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Personalizing_Formshttp://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Condition_Builderhttp://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Condition_Builderhttp://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Condition_Builder


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Defining an SLA 3

The result is that whenever an incident is listed as being Priority 1 incident in Paris, the following workflow will be

launched:

The workflow will run, pausing if the incident is awaiting user info or evidence, and will be completed if the incident

becomes inactive.

Testing the Service Level Agreement

To test the new SLA:

1. Navigate to Incident > Create New.2. Set Priority to 1 - Critical, and Location to Paris.

3. Save the incident.

4. Reload the form.
http://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=File:SLA_Workflow.pnghttp://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=File:SLA_Example.png


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Defining an SLA 4

Once the incident is saved, a related list of Task SLAs will appear at the bottom, with both the Priority 1 Paris

Incident SLA and the out-of-box Priority 1 Response SLA:

Clicking on the Priority 1 Paris Incident SLA will display information about this instance of the Task SLA:

Clicking the Show Workflow link will display the workflow attached to the SLA's progress:
http://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=File:Test_SLA2.pnghttp://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=File:Test_SLA.pnghttp://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=File:Test_Incident.png


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Defining an SLA 5
http://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=File:Test_Workflow.png


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Article Sources and Contributors 6

Article Sources and ContributorsDefining an SLA Source: http://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Defining_an_SLA Contributors: David.Bailey, Davida.hughes, Emily.partridge, Guy.yedwab, Joseph.messerschmidt,

Rachel.sienko, Steve.wood, Suzannes, Swood

Image Sources, Licenses and ContributorsImage:SLA Example.png Source: http://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=File:SLA_Example.png License: unknown Contributors: G.yedwab, Guy.yedwab

Image:SLA Workflow.png Source: http://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=File:SLA_Workflow.png License: unknown Contributors: G.yedwab, Guy.yedwab

Image:Test Incident.png Source: http://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=File:Test_Incident.png License: unknown Contributors: G.yedwab, Guy.yedwab

Image:Test SLA.png Source: http://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=File:Test_SLA.png License: unknown Contributors: G.yedwab, Guy.yedwab

Image:Test SLA2.png Source: http://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=File:Test_SLA2.png License: unknown Contributors: G.yedwab, Guy.yedwab

Image:Test Workflow.png Source: http://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=File:Test_Workflow.png License: unknown Contributors: G.yedwab

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