Glossary
Service level (SLA)
Also called: SLA · Service level agreement · SLA policy
A service level is a promised time for answering or solving a customer request, such as a first reply within one hour, usually set per priority and tracked per ticket.
A service level agreement (SLA) is the formal version: a contract that states the targets and what happens when they are missed. Inside support teams the term is used more loosely, for the internal targets each ticket is measured against.
Common targets are first reply time, time to next reply and time to resolution. Most teams count only working hours and pause the clock while they wait on the customer, so a request that arrives on Friday evening is not late by Monday morning.
A target that is always missed stops meaning anything. Teams usually start with targets they can meet and tighten them later.
How Risti does it
In Risti, Service levels live in Settings › Workflows, for owners and admins. Under Deadlines by priority you set First reply, Next reply and Solved within for Low, Normal, High and Urgent tickets, in minutes, hours or days. Changes apply to new deadlines.
How the clock runs decides whether to Count working hours only, Pause while waiting on the customer and Pause while on hold, when to Mark as due soon (at 10, 25 or 50% left) and whether to Reopen on the customer’s reply (within 7 days by default; a later reply opens a new linked ticket).
What customers are told turns on a message when a ticket is made (“Your request AC-1042 is received — we’ll reply soon.”) and one when it is solved.