Ranking Service Level Agreements

A system administrator can configure the system to allow Service Desk agents to apply only one service level agreement (SLA) to a record at a time, or allow users to apply multiple valid SLAs to a record. These options are set at the site level.

If the system administrator configures the system so that a Service Desk user can only apply one SLA to a record and multiple valid SLAs exist for that record, the system applies the SLA with the highest rank. If multiple SLAs can be applied to a record by Service Desk agents, the system administrator must choose whether to prioritize them based on a numerical rank or by commitment stringency.  

Precedence by Numerical Rank

You can use the Ranking field on the Service Level Agreement tab to determine the order in which the system should apply the SLAs. Two approaches exist for ranking SLAs:

When you rank an SLA, the lowest number has the highest rank. The highest possible rank is one (1). If you have a problem ticket that has three valid SLAs applied to it, with ranks of 4, 6, and 2, then the system applies the SLA with the rank of 2.  

In the following example, the system uses rank to determine which SLA to apply, and the asterisks denote which values the system applies to the ticket or work order.
 

SLA

Ranking

Contact

Response

Resolution

123

2

2 hours**

8 hours**

12 hours**

456

5

4 hours

6 hours

24 hours

789

10

12 hours

16 hours

20  hours

Precedence by Stringency

If the system administrator has allowed for multiple SLAs to be applied to a record, you also can use the stringency method to determine which values the system will apply. In this case, the system compares the commitment types across all valid SLAs and the most stringent commitment from each type is used to set the values on the ticket or work order. The system ignores any value placed in the Ranking field.

In the following example, the system uses stringency to determine which values within multiple SLAs to apply, resolving to one SLA using the values noted here by asterisks on the ticket or work order.
 

SLA

Ranking

Contact

Response

Resolution

123

2

2 hours**

8 hours

12 hours**

456

5

4 hours

6 hours**

24 hours

789

10

12 hours

16 hours

20  hours

See Also

Service Level Agreements (SP) Application

About Service Level Agreement Types

About Commitment Types

About Escalations

Create a Service Level Agreement