Configuring SLA Policies in Helpdesk

SLA policies ensure your team meets response and resolution commitments. In this tutorial, you’ll create an SLA policy with priority-based targets, configure business hours, and set up a group-specific SLA.

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Prerequisites

• Admin role in Helpdesk
• At least one agent group configured

Step 1: Configure business hours

Before creating SLA policies, define when your team is available:

1. Navigate to Settings > Business Hours
2. Set your timezone
3. Toggle each day on or off and set working hours (e.g. Monday-Friday, 09:00-17:00)
4. Save

SLA policies with “business hours” mode will only count time during these hours.

Step 2: Create your first SLA policy

1. Navigate to Settings > SLA Policies
2. Click New Policy
3. Name it “Standard SLA”
4. Set Time mode to Business hours
5. Leave conditions empty (this policy will apply to all tickets as a catch-all)
6. Set targets:

Priority	First reply	Next reply	Resolution
Urgent	30 min	30 min	4 hours
High	1 hour	2 hours	8 hours
Normal	4 hours	8 hours	24 hours
Low	8 hours	24 hours	48 hours

7. Save

Step 3: Create a VIP SLA policy

Create a higher-priority policy for important customers:

1. Create another policy named “VIP SLA”
2. Add a condition: Tags → contains any → vip
3. Set tighter targets (e.g. halve the standard times)
4. Save
5. Drag “VIP SLA” above “Standard SLA” in the policy list

Since policies are evaluated top to bottom, VIP tickets match the VIP policy first. All other tickets fall through to the standard policy.

Step 4: Test your policy

Use the Test feature to verify your setup:

1. Click Test on the SLA policies page
2. Enter sample ticket properties (priority, tags, etc.)
3. Helpdesk shows which policy matches and the resulting targets

Step 5: Set up a group SLA (optional)

Group SLAs track how long each group holds a ticket:

1. Navigate to Settings > Group SLA Policies
2. Create a policy with an ownership time target (e.g. 4 hours)
3. This measures how long a ticket sits with a group before being resolved or transferred

Monitoring compliance

Once policies are active:

• Each ticket shows its SLA status (on track, at risk, breached)
• The Analytics dashboard has a dedicated SLA compliance tab
• Create views filtered by SLA status to prioritize at-risk tickets

What’s next

• SLA Policies reference — full documentation on conditions and targets
• Group SLA — track group-level accountability
• Analytics Dashboard — monitor SLA compliance trends