Create an SLA policy

Walk through building a working SLA policy from scratch. By the end you’ll have a Standard Support policy live on email and chat, tracking First Reply and Resolution.

Before you start

• Admin permissions on SLA Policies
• Opening Hours configured for your workspace (the SLA timer respects them by default)
• A clear answer to: which channels does this policy cover, and what response targets do you want?

Steps

1. Open Settings → SLA Policies.
2. Click New policy.
3. Fill in the basics:
   Name — descriptive, e.g. Standard Support.
   Description — optional, but useful for “why does this policy exist” context that future admins will want.
   Active toggle — leave on so the policy applies as soon as it’s saved.
   Ignore office hours — leave off for standard policies. Toggle on only for 24/7 SLAs (see Run an SLA 24/7).
4. Pick the metrics to track. For most teams, start with First Reply Time and Resolution Time — see the metric types reference for picking the right combination.

5. Configure the priority targets for each metric. For Standard Support:

   Remember: these are time tripwires, not agent-assigned priorities. See priority band targets explained. 6. Set Channel Assignment — the channels this policy applies to. For Standard Support, pick Email, Web Chat, SMS (or whichever channels you operate). Leave specific teams empty for a default policy that applies broadly. 7. Save.

   
   First Reply — 0 — 1h — 4h — 24h
   Resolution — 0 — 1d — 3d — 5d

The policy is now live. Conversations matching its scope start showing SLA badges immediately.

Verify it worked

1. Open a recent conversation that matches the policy’s scope (e.g., an email conversation if you set Channel Assignment = Email).
2. Look at the conversation header — there should be one or more SLA badges (one per metric tracked).
3. The badge should show a remaining-time countdown for live SLAs, or Met / Breached for closed ones.
4. Open a conversation that’s outside the scope (e.g., a voice call if you only assigned Email). It should have no SLA badge — confirming the scoping is working.

Targets that work for most teams

• Standard support, mixed channels — 24h — 3–5 days
• Premium / paid support — 4h — 1–2 days
• Enterprise tier with contractual SLAs — 1h — match contract
• Internal IT / helpdesk — 4–8h — 5 days

Calibrate the lower bands (Normal, High) at 1/3 and 2/3 of the Urgent target as a starting point.

Iterate over time

Don’t try to nail the perfect targets on day one. Ship a reasonable first pass, watch the breach rate in Analytics for a few weeks, and adjust:

• Breach rate >20% on First Reply → either the team is under-staffed or the target is unrealistic. Pick one to fix.
• Breach rate <2% across the board → the targets are too loose; tighten until they’re meaningful.

Troubleshooting

• Symptom: Conversation has no SLA badge even though the policy is active. Fix: Check Channel Assignment matches the conversation’s channel. A policy assigned only to Email won’t apply to chat.
• Symptom: The badge shows but the timer never moves. Fix: The timer pauses outside office hours. If the conversation arrived after-hours, the timer is paused until business hours resume. To verify, check the workspace’s opening hours.
• Symptom: Two policies match the same conversation. Fix: The most-specific assignment wins (Team + Channel beats Team beats Channel). See Set up channel-specific SLAs for how the assignment matrix resolves.

See also

• Metric types reference
• Priority band targets explained
• Set up channel-specific SLAs