SLA (Service-level Agreement) is an arrangement to meet target times to answer customers' service requests. SLA defines the expected time for agents to respond to tickets, chats, or calls.
In LiveAgent, the SLA feature influences the order of tickets in the Tickets grid (sorted by Importance), and how the To solve function distributes tickets to agents. SLA times for available actions are also noted in each ticket's SLA ticket details section.
Even tickets without an assigned SLA level have an internal 7-day answer time to ensure they are moved within the Tickets grid and distributed via To solve.
Configuring the SLA feature
To set up the SLA feature, navigate to Configuration > Automation > SLA.
Defining SLA levels
To get the SLA feature up and running, you need to create SLA levels. These levels are assigned to tickets and determine their SLA times. To create an SLA level click on the "Create level" button, and define the time for the selected SLA types.
The SLA time types are defined as follows:
- First answer - time limit for answering a ticket in New status, including marking the ticket as answered. This SLA type time starts counting when a new ticket is created and is closed when the ticket changes status from New to Answered. Resolving a New ticket won't log this record.
- Next answer - time limit for answering a ticket in Open status, including marking the ticket as answered. Each time a ticket is reopened, either by a new message in the ticket or by an agent/system, a new Next answer time starts counting. This SLA type time starts counting when a ticket is reopened and is closed when the ticket changes status from Open to Answered. Resolving an Open ticket won't log this record.
- First assign - time limit for assigning a ticket to an agent for the first time. This SLA type time starts counting when a ticket is created and is closed when the ticket is assigned to an agent, regardless of the ticket's status.
- First resolve - time limit for resolving a ticket for the first time. This SLA type time starts counting when a ticket is created, pauses while the ticket is in any other state than New or Open (except Postponed status if the ticket was postponed from New or Open status), and is closed when the ticket is resolved.
- Chat answer - time limit for picking up a chat. This SLA type time starts counting when a new chat is initiated by the customer (but not by an agent by inviting a visitor to chat from the Chats overview section) via a chat button or by accepting a chat invitation (including time spent in the queue) and is closed when the chat is picked up by an agent.
- Call answer - time limit for picking up a call. This SLA type time starts counting when a new call is initiated (including time spent in the queue, but not in IVR) and is closed when the call is picked up by an agent.
Besides SLA times, you can also specify your business (working) hours and holidays.
The SLA timers do not pause outside of the defined business hours, but the times are rather extended for the period outside of your business hours.
Once you've created your SLA Levels, you can then create SLA rules, which will apply the SLA levels to tickets.
Creating SLA rules
To apply your SLA levels, you must assign them to tickets using rules. To create an SLA rule click on the "Create rule" button. Define the optional conditions that need to be met by clicking Add condition, and then define the action to be taken.
SLA rules only apply when a ticket is created. To apply SLA levels to tickets additionally, you can also use Rules or Time rules.
That's all there is to it. Your SLA feature is now ready to assign SLA times to your newly created tickets.
Actions that fulfill SLA times create records in the SLA log for reporting purposes.