What an SLA is and what it means for your ticket
An SLA (service level agreement) sets by when the support team must first respond to a ticket and by when it must resolve it; the deadlines depend on the ticket priority and are counted in the hours your organization agreed with its support provider.
Which deadlines the SLA tracks
| Deadline | What it measures |
|---|---|
| First response | Time from creating the ticket to the support team's first reply |
| Resolution | Time from creating the ticket to its resolution |
Tickets with a higher priority have shorter deadlines (Critical, High, Medium, Low). The exact times are in your organization's SLA — HelpDesk tracks them on every ticket.
When the clock runs and when it stops
- Business hours — for example Monday to Friday 8:00–17:00; weekends and public holidays do not count.
- Around the clock (24×7) — an SLA can run around the clock for critical tickets.
- Pause — while the ticket is in the Waiting status (the support team is waiting for your reply), the SLA clock stops; it resumes when the ticket leaves that status.
Where you see the SLA status
If the support team shows the SLA to customers, the ticket detail has an SLA panel and the Dashboard an SLA Compliance card:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| OK | The deadline is running and there is enough time |
| Approaching | The deadline is getting close |
| Breached | The deadline has passed |
| Met | The deadline was kept |
If you do not see the SLA panel, your organization has no SLA or the support team does not show it to customers.
Tip: Choose the priority by the real impact — it sets the deadlines. When the support team is waiting for your reply, answer as soon as you can: the work continues once they have the information they need.