SLA and automation
Put a deadline on a ticket, and close the ones your team has finished with.
Where the settings live
Every setting on this page is in one place: Admin > Settings > Features, in the Support Features group.
There is no Admin > Support > SLA page and no Admin > Support > Automation page.
SLA tracking
Turn it on
- Go to Admin > Settings > Features.
- Find the Support Features group.
- Turn on Enable SLA Tracking.
- Set the hours for each priority.
- Click Save Changes.
The deadline
There is one clock on a ticket. It starts when the customer opens the ticket. Its length comes from the priority.
| Priority | Default hours |
|---|---|
| Low | 48 |
| Medium | 24 |
| High | 8 |
| Urgent | 2 |
The four fields take hours, and the minimum is 1.
TIP
A ticket gets a deadline only if SLA tracking was on when the customer raised it.
If a staff member changes the priority, the panel works the deadline out again from the time already used.
One clock, not two
The panel measures one thing: the time from the moment the ticket was raised to the moment it is resolved.
There is no separate target for the first response and the resolution. There is no per-category, per-customer, or per-plan target.
When the clock pauses
The clock stops in two statuses:
- On Hold
- Waiting on Customer
The clock also stops when a ticket becomes Resolved or Closed.
When the ticket goes back to a running status, the deadline moves out by the length of the pause.
WARNING
Any staff reply, including an internal note, sets the ticket to Waiting on Customer. That pauses the clock. Read Tickets.
Warnings and breaches
The warning
When a quarter of the time is left, the panel sends one warning. It goes to the assigned staff member, in the panel and by email.
The title reads SLA Warning: and the subject of the ticket. The body reads:
This ticket has only {N}h {N}m remaining before its SLA deadline.
The breach
When the deadline passes, the panel flags the ticket and sends a second alert. The title reads SLA Breached: and the subject. The body reads:
The SLA deadline for this ticket has been exceeded. Please respond immediately.
Assign your tickets
Both alerts go to the assigned staff member and to nobody else. An unassigned ticket can breach in silence.
What staff see
The ticket list has an SLA column. It counts down in green, then amber below half the time, then red below a quarter. A breached ticket reads Breached.
The ticket page has an SLA card with a live countdown, a progress bar, and the due date. A breached ticket reads how far past the deadline it is.
The panel flags a breach and stops there. It does not escalate the ticket, and it does not reassign it.
TIP
Customers never see the SLA. The column, the card, and the alerts are for staff only.
Auto-Close
Auto-close finishes off the tickets that your team already resolved.
- Go to Admin > Settings > Features.
- Turn on Auto-Close Resolved Tickets.
- Set Auto-Close After (hours). The default is 72.
- Click Save Changes.
The panel checks every five minutes. Any ticket that has sat in Resolved for longer than your setting becomes Closed. The customer gets a notice in the panel, titled Ticket auto-closed: and the subject.
What auto-close does not do
Auto-close acts on the Resolved status only. It never closes a ticket that is open, in progress, on hold, or waiting on anybody.
There is no setting for closing a ticket after the customer stops replying.
Resolved and closed are different
A Resolved ticket is not locked. The customer can still reply, and that reply puts the ticket back to Waiting on Staff. This is the only way a customer can reopen their own ticket.
A Closed ticket is locked. The customer sees a grey notice and no reply box. Only a staff member can move it out of Closed.
Ticket validation
Four fields set the length of a ticket:
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Subject Min Length | 3 |
| Subject Max Length | 255 |
| Message Min Length | 10 |
| Message Max Length | 10000 |
The new-ticket form counts the characters as the customer types, and it refuses a message that is too short.
Attachment limits
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Max File Size (MB) | 10 |
| Max Files Per Message | 5 |
| Allowed File Extensions | A comma-separated list. |
The list ships with these types: .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .gif, .webp, .pdf, .txt, .log, .csv, .zip, .gz, .json, .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .mp4.
The new-ticket form shows the limits under the attach button. A file that breaks a rule is refused with a message that names the file.
The emails
The panel sends seven ticket emails. There is no switch for one of them on its own, and there is no editor for the text.
| Event | Who gets it |
|---|---|
| A ticket is raised | The customer, as an acknowledgement. |
| A ticket is raised | Your staff, as an alert. |
| Somebody replies | The other party. |
| A ticket is resolved | The customer. |
| A ticket is closed | The customer. |
| An SLA warning | The assigned staff member. |
| An SLA breach | The assigned staff member. |
You can wrap every email in your own header and footer. Go to Admin > Settings > Mail.
Customers control their own alerts on their Notification Preferences page. They can turn ticket notices off in the panel, turn email off, or pick a daily or weekly digest.
How the clock runs
The SLA clock is a plain elapsed-time count against the hours you set for each priority. It runs continuously, through nights and weekends. Set your targets with that in mind. A 2-hour target on a critical ticket means two real hours, not two working hours.
One target applies to each priority, across every category and every customer.
Next steps
- Tickets - work on a ticket
- Categories - group tickets by topic