SLA Policies
Define response and resolution time targets with live compliance tracking and automated breach alerts.
SLA (Service Level Agreement) policies define the expected response and resolution times for tickets based on their priority. Workestra tracks compliance in real time, surfaces SLA status on every ticket, and sends automated alerts when tickets are at risk.
Creating SLA Policies
- Go to Support > Settings > SLA Policies
- Click the + button
- Fill in the policy form:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Policy Name | Display name (e.g., "Standard Support") |
| Description | When this policy applies |
| Applicable Priority | Low, Medium, High, or Urgent |
| Response Time (Hours) | Target time for first response |
| Resolution Time (Hours) | Target time for full resolution |
| Warning Threshold (%) | Percentage of resolution time at which the warning event fires (50–99, default 80) |
| Use Business Hours | When on, the SLA clock skips non-working hours and workspace holidays |
| Escalation Ladder | Ordered list of actions that fire after the breach moment |
- Click Create Policy
Example Configuration
| Priority | First Response | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| Urgent | 1 hour | 4 hours |
| High | 4 hours | 8 hours |
| Medium | 8 hours | 24 hours |
| Low | 24 hours | 72 hours |
How SLA Tracking Works
When a ticket is created, Workestra automatically matches it to an active SLA policy based on the ticket's priority. The SLA timer starts from the ticket creation time.
SLA Status Indicators
SLA status appears in three places:
- Ticket list — Small dot + remaining time next to each ticket row
- Ticket detail sidebar — Banner at the top of the sidebar
- Dashboard — SLA Compliance % stat card
| Status | Indicator | Trigger |
|---|---|---|
| On Track | Green | Less than 75% of resolution time elapsed |
| Warning | Amber | 75%–100% of resolution time elapsed |
| Breached | Red | Resolution time exceeded |
First Response Time
Workestra tracks when the first agent reply (non-internal) is sent on each ticket. This is displayed in the ticket metadata and used for response time reporting.
Automated Alerts
Workestra runs a daily SLA check that scans all open tickets against their applicable SLA policies:
Warning Notifications (configurable threshold)
When a ticket has used the configured warning threshold (default 80%) of its SLA resolution time:
- The assigned agent receives an email alert and an inbox notification
- The ticket's SLA indicator changes to amber
- A
ticket.sla_warningevent is emitted (visible to automation rules and webhooks)
Breach Notifications (100% threshold)
When a ticket exceeds its SLA resolution target:
- The assigned agent receives an email alert and an inbox notification
- Workspace admins are also notified via inbox
- The ticket's SLA indicator changes to red
- A
ticket.sla_breachedevent is emitted, which triggers the policy's escalation ladder
SLA checks run once per day. For real-time SLA indicators on individual tickets, the status is computed live when you view the ticket.
Business Hours
When Use Business Hours is on, the SLA clock pauses outside working hours and on workspace holidays. A ticket created at 5 PM on Friday with a 4-hour resolution target won't breach until 1 PM on Monday — instead of breaching overnight on a calendar clock.
Business hours come from the workspace's default working pattern (Monday–Friday, 9 AM – 5 PM unless you've changed it). Holidays are managed at the workspace level.
Turn business hours on for any team that doesn't operate 24/7. It prevents the "Monday morning all-tickets-breached" effect.
Escalation Ladder
The escalation ladder defines what happens after a ticket breaches. Each step has an offset (relative to the breach moment) and an action:
| Action | What It Does | Params |
|---|---|---|
| Notify | Sends an alert to the chosen channels | channels: inapp,email |
| Reassign to | Moves the ticket to a specific user | user_id: <uuid> |
| Set priority | Bumps the ticket to a new priority | priority: urgent |
Offsets use the format +0m, +30m, or +2h — the time after the breach when the step should fire.
Example Ladder
For a 4-hour resolution policy, a useful ladder might be:
| Step | Offset | Action | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | +0m | Notify | Alert the on-call team the moment the ticket breaches |
| 2 | +30m | Set priority | Bump to Urgent if still unresolved 30 minutes later |
| 3 | +2h | Reassign to | Hand off to the support lead 2 hours past breach |
Each step fires at most once per ticket, even if the daily SLA check runs again the next day. The order of steps in the form is the order they fire.
Manual Escalation
You can also manually escalate a ticket from the ticket detail page by clicking Escalate, which sets the priority to Urgent and notifies workspace admins. Manual escalation runs independently of the ladder.
Managing Policies
Edit a Policy
- Find the policy in the list
- Click the Edit (pencil) icon
- Modify fields
- Click Save Policy
Delete a Policy
- Click the Delete (trash) icon on any policy
- Confirm the deletion
Deleting a policy removes SLA tracking from all tickets that were using it. Consider deactivating instead if you want to preserve historical data.
Best Practices
- Create one policy per priority level for clear coverage
- Turn on Use Business Hours for any team that doesn't operate 24/7
- Start with a single notify-only ladder step; add reassignments only once you've watched a few real breaches
- Set the warning threshold to 80% for tight policies and 70% for relaxed ones — it should give the agent enough time to react
- Monitor the SLA Compliance metric on the dashboard weekly
- Use the Escalate action for tickets approaching SLA breach
Next Steps
- Tickets — How SLA indicators appear on tickets
- Support Analytics — SLA compliance reporting
- Auto-Assignment — Ensure tickets are assigned quickly
- Email Processors — Auto-create tickets with SLA