SLA Guidelines

SLA (Service Level Agreement) refers to a set of standards that a company maintains for supporting their customer. This standard is used to ensure that the services provided by their Agents are measurable and consistent. SLA also aims as one of the benchmarks for companies to improve service to their customers.

On 3Dolphins there are several different ways to calculate SLA. We've put together a detailed list of how SLA calculations are used to help you understand this better.

SLA Metric / SLA Type	Static	Severity Based	Agent Reply
Assign To Respond	Indicates SLAs ticket is calculated when ticket entry to the user's inbox tab until the user responded to the ticket.	Indicates SLAs ticket is calculated based on SLA duration from each severity level when the ticket entry on user's inbox tab until user response the ticket.	x
Created to Respond	Indicates SLAs ticket is calculated from the created date ticket until the user responds to that ticket.	Indicates SLAs ticket is calculated based on SLA duration from each severity level when the created date ticket until user response the ticket.	x
Resolution Time	Indicates SLAs ticket calculated from the ticket created date until the ticket is closed by the user. SLA Metric 'Resolution Time' is only used for email tickets.	Indicates SLAs ticket is calculated based on SLA duration on each severity level when the created date ticket until the user closed ticket. SLA Metric 'Resolution Time' is only used for email tickets.	x
For Every Incoming Message	x	x	Indicates SLAs ticket will be calculated when the customer sends incoming messages until the user replies to that incoming message.

SLA metrics that apply to SLA type static and severity based can only be used for non-offline tickets and email tickets.

SLA Label

SLA Label is useful to easily understand whether the Agents or Supervisors are handling the ticket in accordance or even exceeding the specified SLA Duration. SLA duration allows you to define the length of time within which an issue or ticket must respond or be completed before the SLA is over. SLA Duration can be changed in Rule Management or you can read this page for more information about the SLA settings.

SLA labels are also different depending on the SLA type used. If you use SLA type Static and Severity Based, there are two possible conditions, namely Within SLA and Over SLA. The following explains how the SLA type for each SLA metric can meet these conditions.

SLA Metric / SLA Label	Within SLA	Over SLA
Assign to Respond	SLA label will be 'Within SLA' if the user responds to the customer's ticket within the SLA duration after ticket entry to the user's inbox tab. Example: SLA duration in the channel rule is set 120 seconds, then the user responds to messages from customers within 120 seconds (for example, users respond to messages from customers within 80 seconds from ticket enters the user's inbox tab) so, the label will change into 'Within SLA'.	SLA label will be 'Over SLA' if the user responds to the customer's ticket exceed the SLA duration after ticket entry to the user's inbox tab. Example: SLA Duration in the channel rule is set 120 seconds, then the user responds to messages from customers over from 120 seconds (for example, users respond to messages from customers within 160 seconds from ticket enters the user's inbox tab) so, the label will change into 'Over SLA'.
Created to Respond	SLA label will be 'Within SLA' if the user responds to the customer ticket within the SLA duration starting from the ticket is created. Example: SLA duration in the channel rule is set 120 seconds, then the user responds to messages from customers within 120 seconds (for example, users respond to messages from customers within 80 seconds after the ticket is created) so, the label will change into 'Within SLA'.	SLA label will be 'Over SLA' if the user responds to the customer ticket exceed the SLA duration starting from the ticket is created. Example: SLA duration in the channel rule is set 120 seconds, then the user responds to messages from customers over from 120 seconds (for example, users respond to messages from customers within 160 seconds after the ticket is created) so, the label will change into 'Over SLA.
Resolution Time	This label will be 'Within SLA' if the Agent closes the ticket within the SLA duration starting from the ticket was created. Note: This label only applies to Email channels.	This label will be 'Over SLA" if the Agent closes the ticket exceeds the SLA duration starting from the ticket was created. Note: This label only applies to Email channels.

Meanwhile, if you use SLA Type for Agent Reply with metrics for every incoming message, the label will show the SLA success percentage of the ticket. The following describes some of the conditions that may occur when using this SLA.

Name	Description	Calculation
Main Condition	The first component of SLA percentage calculation will start when the ticket enters the user's inbox tab until the user responds to the incoming message on that ticket. When the SLA duration in the rule management is set at 600 seconds (For example, if the customer sends the first message to the user at 08.00 and the user replies at 08.09, the SLA for that message will be 'True' and it will be recorded as responded message with one value). The following components will be measured from the time the customer sends a message until the agent responds to the message (for example, if the customer sends a message at 08.10 and the user replies to the customer's message at 08.21, the message's SLA will be calculated as False and will be counted as a responded message with a value of 0). Notes: When the customer sending 2 messages at once to the user, the SLA will be calculated from the first message time came in until the user replies to that message.	Responded message within SLA / Total responded message x100%
Other Condition 1	When the customer sends the last message. Then, the message will be ignored in the SLA calculation.
Other Condition 2	Valid for outbound email and Twitter DM. When the user sends an outbound email to the customer, and then the ticket is immediately closed, the SLA for that ticket will not be calculated or worth (-). However, when the user sends an outbound email to the customer and the customer replies to that email, the SLA will be calculated according to the main condition described above. For inbound tickets, when the user immediately closes the ticket without replying to the ticket, the SLA will also be worth (-).

SLA Service Hours

SLA service hours usually called SLA office hours are a feature developed for determining SLA when service hours are being implemented for each SLA type and SLA metric. When service hours are turned on, tickets after service hours will enter the Supervisor's unassigned tab until the agent's service hours are active. To use this feature, you must configure the service hours feature on the Rule Management page. Please refer to this page to see how to configure them.

For example, Rule A uses SLA type static with the SLA metric Created to Responded within duration 3600s and has a service hour between 08.00 - 17.00. Then, tickets are entered into the Unassigned tab at 20.00 which will go to the Unassigned tab until service hours and agents are available to serve tickets. When this feature is not implemented yet, the ticket will be calculated as the "Over SLA" ticket. Why? Because Created to Responded will be counted as "Within SLA" when the agent replies to their customer's tickets from the ticket created within 3600 seconds. Because the ticket was entered at 20.00 and answered after 08.00, the ticket was "Created" at 20.00 and "Responded" at 08.00, which in duration will exceed 3600 seconds.

This calculation may cause inconsistencies in the report that necessitate actual SLA time based on the implemented service hours when agents respond to customer tickets. Therefore, using this feature will exclude times when tickets are waiting outside service hours. For example, the ticket was entered at 20.00 and the agent only responded at 08.10. Under these conditions, the ticket will be counted as "Within SLA" because the SLA time is calculated when service hours begin at 08.00.

SLA on Analytic Report

Several reports are available under the Live Agent Analytics 3Dolphins menu provides reports on SLA percentage calculations for each of your tickets, such as Channel Group SLA, Conversation History, etc. Your SLA percentage display will be determined based on your SLA Format, which may be modified on your analytics page using the 'analytics settings' button, or the filter based on the SLA type used in your rule management.

We've put together a detailed list of how the SLA percentage will appear based on the SLA format and SLA type used to help you understand this better.

SLA Type / SLA Format	SLA by Ticket	SLA by Conversation
Static	SLAs percentage will be 'Yes' when the SLA type and SLA metric are within the SLA duration specified in the user management rule. Otherwise, it will be 'No' if the SLA type and SLA metric exceed the SLA duration specified in the user management rule. Note: On the channel group SLA report, the SLA only displays with a percentage, so 'Yes will be displayed as '100%' and No as '0%'.	SLAs percentage displayed is either 100% or 0% which means Yes or No. When the SLA value on the ticket is Yes, the report displayed will be 100%.
Severity Based	SLAs percentage will be 'Yes' or '100%' when the SLA type and SLA metric are within the SLA duration specified in the user management rule. Otherwise, it will be 'No' or '0%' if the SLA type and SLA metric exceed the SLA duration specified in the user management rule. Note: On the channel group SLA report, the SLA only displays with a percentage, so 'Yes will be displayed as '100%' and No as '0%'.	SLAs percentage displayed is either 100% or 0% which means Yes or No. When the SLA value on the ticket is No, the report displayed will be 0%.
Agent Reply	If the SLA percentage within 50%-100% it will be Yes. But, on the other hand, >50% is worth No.	SLAs percentage will be calculated from each 'Responded message within SLA' divided by the total Agent's responded message. Responded message within SLA is when the Agent response incoming message from customer within the specified SLA duration.

We will demonstrate how to read the table described above. See the table with SLA Format SLA by Conversation and SLA Type Static.

If the SLA type in your rule management uses Static while the display you use in the SLA Format on your appraisal setting or filter is based on SLA by conversation, then the percentage of SLA displayed in your report is 0% or 100% which means Yes or No.