Skip to content

SLA Management

Version: 0.6.0
Status: Production Ready
Last Updated: January 3, 2026

Overview

Service Level Agreement (SLA) management in Arctyk ITSM provides organizations with tools to track response and resolution times for tickets. SLA fields and lifecycle timestamps work together to monitor compliance and generate metrics.

SLA Fields

Response Target (response_target)

  • Purpose: Tracks the target time for initial agent response
  • Set By: Automatically populated when ticket is created or first response added
  • Type: DateTime field
  • Format: ISO 8601 datetime with timezone
  • Usage: Report on how quickly agents respond to new tickets

Resolution Target (resolution_target)

  • Purpose: Tracks the target time for ticket resolution
  • Set By: Automatically populated based on ticket priority and SLA policy
  • Type: DateTime field
  • Format: ISO 8601 datetime with timezone
  • Usage: Monitor resolution time compliance and identify bottlenecks

Lifecycle Timestamps

Lifecycle timestamps track ticket progression through different states:

created_at

  • When: When ticket is created
  • Who: Automatically set by system
  • Usage: Baseline for SLA calculations

first_responded_at

  • When: When first comment or response is added to the ticket
  • Who: Automatically set when first public comment created
  • Usage: Calculate actual response time vs response target
  • Integrates With: Comment system - automatically recorded on first comment

resolved_at

  • When: When ticket status changes to "Resolved"
  • Who: Automatically set by workflow system
  • Usage: Calculate actual resolution time vs resolution target
  • Integrates With: Workflow engine - automatic on status transition

closed_at

  • When: When ticket status changes to "Closed"
  • Who: Automatically set by workflow system
  • Usage: Track customer acknowledgment and final closure
  • Integrates With: Workflow engine - automatic on status transition

SLA Calculations

Response Time

Response Time = first_responded_at - created_at
Is Compliant = Response Time <= response_target

Resolution Time

Resolution Time = resolved_at - created_at
Is Compliant = Resolution Time <= resolution_target

Time to Close

Time to Close = closed_at - created_at

SLA Configuration

Default Response Targets

By Priority:

  • Urgent: 1 hour
  • High: 4 hours
  • Medium: 8 hours
  • Low: 24 hours

Default Resolution Targets

By Priority:

  • Urgent: 4 hours
  • High: 8 hours
  • Medium: 24 hours
  • Low: 72 hours

Note: These are configurable in Django admin and settings.py

Integration Points

With Comments System

The comment system automatically records response times:

  • When first public comment is created → first_responded_at is set
  • Internal notes do NOT count as responses
  • Staff responses count toward SLA response time

With Workflow Engine

Status transitions trigger timestamp recording:

  • Status → "Resolved" → resolved_at set
  • Status → "Closed" → closed_at set
  • Automatic via workflow engine signals

With Reports

SLA data used for:

  • Response time metrics
  • Resolution time metrics
  • SLA compliance percentage
  • Average time per ticket
  • Average time per status

With Changelog

All SLA field changes logged automatically:

  • Who changed response/resolution targets
  • When changes were made
  • Original vs new values
  • IP address of changer

Working with SLA Fields

In the Django Admin

Navigate to Tickets → Ticket and select a ticket:

  • View response_target and resolution_target
  • Edit targets if needed (triggers changelog entry)
  • View lifecycle timestamps in read-only fields

In Ticket Detail View

Ticket detail page displays:

  • Response target with indicator if breached
  • Resolution target with indicator if breached
  • Lifecycle timeline showing state transitions
  • Actual response time displayed
  • Actual resolution time displayed

Programmatically

from tickets.models import Ticket
from django.utils import timezone

ticket = Ticket.objects.get(pk=1)

# Check response compliance
if ticket.first_responded_at:
    response_time = ticket.first_responded_at - ticket.created_at
    is_compliant = response_time <= (ticket.response_target - ticket.created_at)
else:
    is_compliant = False  # Not yet responded

# Check resolution compliance
if ticket.resolved_at:
    resolution_time = ticket.resolved_at - ticket.created_at
    is_compliant = resolution_time <= (ticket.resolution_target - ticket.created_at)
else:
    is_compliant = None  # Not yet resolved

Reporting

SLA Compliance Report

Generates metrics on:

  • Percentage of tickets meeting response target
  • Percentage of tickets meeting resolution target
  • Average response time
  • Average resolution time
  • Tickets approaching breach

By Priority

Compare SLA performance:

  • Urgent tickets compliance
  • High priority tickets compliance
  • Medium priority tickets compliance
  • Low priority tickets compliance

By Agent/Department

Evaluate team performance:

  • Which agents have best response times
  • Which teams handle urgent requests well
  • Performance trends over time

Best Practices

Setting Realistic Targets

  • Base on historical data
  • Account for business hours vs 24/7 support
  • Adjust per priority level
  • Review and adjust quarterly

Monitoring Compliance

  • Set up alerts for approaching breaches
  • Review compliance reports weekly
  • Identify patterns in non-compliance
  • Adjust processes accordingly

Communication

  • Include SLA terms in documentation
  • Set customer expectations
  • Notify on approach to breach
  • Track exceptions for analysis

Troubleshooting

SLA Fields Showing Null

Problem: response_target or resolution_target not being set

Solutions:

  1. Check ticket creation - ensure SLA initialization hook is being called
  2. Verify migrations have been run: python manage.py migrate
  3. Check settings.py for SLA configuration
  4. Manual set via admin if needed

Lifecycle Timestamps Not Recording

Problem: first_responded_at, resolved_at, closed_at not being set

Solutions:

  1. For first_responded_at: Create a comment on the ticket
  2. For resolved_at/closed_at: Use workflow transitions, not manual status changes
  3. Verify workflow engine is properly configured
  4. Check Django signals are registered: src/tickets/signals.py

SLA Breach Calculations Wrong

Problem: Compliance calculations seem incorrect

Solutions:

  1. Verify timezone settings in settings.py (should be America/Toronto)
  2. Check that timestamps include timezone info
  3. Manually calculate: (target - created_at).total_seconds() in shell
  4. Review changelog for when targets were modified

API Endpoints

Get Ticket SLA Info

GET /tickets/{ticket_id}/

Response includes:

{
  "id": 123,
  "response_target": "2026-01-04T14:30:00-05:00",
  "resolution_target": "2026-01-05T10:30:00-05:00",
  "created_at": "2026-01-03T10:30:00-05:00",
  "first_responded_at": "2026-01-03T11:45:00-05:00",
  "resolved_at": "2026-01-04T09:15:00-05:00",
  "closed_at": null,
  "response_time_hours": 1.25,
  "resolution_time_hours": 22.75
}

Version History

v0.6.0 (January 3, 2026)

  • ✅ Initial SLA implementation
  • ✅ Response and resolution target fields
  • ✅ Lifecycle timestamp tracking
  • ✅ Automatic timestamp recording via signals
  • ✅ Integration with comments system
  • ✅ Integration with workflow engine
  • ✅ Django admin support
  • ✅ Changelog integration

Future Enhancements

  • 📋 SLA breach notifications
  • 📊 Automated SLA reports
  • 🎯 Custom SLA policies per project
  • 📈 SLA trending and forecasting
  • ⏰ Business hours SLA calculations