Start/Stop Conditions
An SLA without clear start/stop conditions is a guess. Use state fields — not timestamps — to anchor conditions. A ‘resolved’ state transition is less ambiguous than ‘updated_at after X’.
Schedules Matter
A 24x5 schedule vs 24x7 affects every SLA. Assign the right schedule to the right SLA. Regional schedules handle timezone-based support teams.
Pause Conditions
Waiting on the customer? Pause the clock. The most common SLA bug is forgetting to pause during customer-wait states. Without pause, your SLA measures the customer’s response time, not yours.
Breach Notifications
Notify the owner before breach, not after. A notification at 80% consumed lets the team act. A notification at 110% is a post-mortem trigger.
Reporting SLA Performance
SLA attainment should be in your weekly service review. Report by team, priority, and assignment group. A 99% SLA org-wide can hide a 60% SLA in one team.