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SLA policies

Updated

Overview

An SLA (Service Level Agreement) policy defines how quickly your team must respond to and resolve tickets. SLA policies let you set different targets per priority level, restrict a policy to specific clients, and pause the clock when you are waiting on the customer. Admins configure SLA policies; technicians see the resulting countdown on every ticket.

What Is an SLA Policy?

An SLA policy contains:

  • Response target — how long you have to send the first reply after a ticket is created.
  • Resolution target — how long you have to fully resolve the ticket.
  • Separate targets for each priority (Low, Medium, High, Urgent).
  • An optional list of statuses that pause the clock (see SLA Pausing).
  • An optional business hours toggle so targets only count during your configured working hours.
  • An optional list of companies the policy applies to. Leave this blank to apply the policy to all clients.

Creating an SLA Policy

  1. Go to Settings > SLA Policies.
  2. Click New Policy.
  3. Enter a name (for example, "Standard SLA" or "Premier Support").
  4. Add an optional description.
  5. For each priority level, set a response target and a resolution target. You can enter these in minutes or hours.
    • Example: Urgent — 15 minutes response, 4 hours resolution.
    • Example: Low — 1 business day response, 5 business days resolution.
  6. In the Pause on statuses list, add any statuses that should freeze the clock (typically "Waiting on Customer" and "On Hold").
  7. Toggle Business hours on if SLA targets should only count during your defined work hours.
  8. Optionally, pick specific companies to restrict this policy to. Leave blank for org-wide.
  9. Click Save.
  10. Toggle Set as default if this is the policy that applies when no other matches.

How the SLA Clock Works

When a ticket is created:

  1. PSA reads the ticket's priority.
  2. PSA finds the matching SLA policy (company-specific first, then org-wide default).
  3. Two timestamps are set on the ticket: sla_response_due_at and sla_due_at (resolution deadline).

Every 5 minutes, a background job checks all open tickets:

  • If the current time is approaching the deadline, the ticket's SLA status moves to Warning.
  • If the deadline passes, the status moves to Breached and the breach time is recorded.

SLA Breach Alerts

When a ticket breaches its SLA:

  • The ticket is marked with a Breached SLA status visible in the ticket list and on the ticket itself.
  • A breach event fires to any outbound webhook subscriptions and automation rules watching for it.
  • The breach appears in SLA compliance reports under Reports > SLA.

To avoid breaches, watch the SLA countdown on tickets and use the daily briefing to see which tickets are approaching their deadlines.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between an SLA and an SLA Policy?

A legacy SLA is a single response/resolution target with no per-priority breakdown. SLA Policies are the modern approach — per-priority targets, pause rules, business hours, and company restrictions. Use SLA Policies for all new setups.

Can a company have more than one SLA policy?

No. Each ticket matches one policy. If a company is listed in multiple policies, the first match applies (based on sort order). The default policy applies to all companies not listed anywhere else.

Does the SLA clock start immediately on ticket creation?

Yes, as long as the ticket has a priority and a matching SLA policy exists. If priority is missing, the clock does not start until priority is set.

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