The SLA system explained with example implementation

[jnet]

Great contribution
but supposing that I am a kid primary school how one could make this tutorial even easier

[Matthew]

Originally Posted by jnet

Great contribution
but supposing that I am a kid primary school how one could make this tutorial even easier

Wait for version 4?! ROFL

[jnet]

I played around with this sla thing but now sure if what I am doing LOL
I think this is a very import function so I want to make sure I learn it well
It is the heart of support system.

[ecornet]

SLA is the trigger or criteria
Escalation is the action

If the ticket meets the criteria then the associated action is performed

Make sure you set Reset Due time on Status Change, under Admin > Tickets > Manage Status, to NO unless you want the due time to clear an ignore the rest of the SLA (Closed status for example)

That's pretty much the core.

[amy.rosen]

Originally Posted by Matthew

I, too, have descended into the documentation-less snake pit that is home to SLA's, Escalations, and Ticket Statuses. I think I can now explain, more or less, how it is *supposed* to work. Note, however, that if you are still using v3.11.01 stable without the recent CVS updates to modules/tickets/functions_ticketscore.php, there are bugs that take a lot of the power out of the system. Update that file!

I'm on a hosted and using v3.11.01 stable....and I'm fairly new to my company and am supposed to take ownership of this help desk software. I am currently working on SLAs and Escalations. How do I know if I have the latest "CVS updates." what *is* a CVS update?

[amy.rosen]

Originally Posted by Matthew

Reading the forums, I have a sense that the push for a robust SLA implementation has languished due largely to lack of understanding of how the system is supposed to work and a number of bugs that have (until recently, at least) persisted in the system. Bugs, plus minimal documented examples, creates a vicious circle of confusion. Beset by these complexities, many folks are creating only the most basic SLA implementations, or giving up completely and wanting to turn the whole SLA/Escalation system off.

If you have been one of these people, I humbly (as a junior member of this forum) invite you to give the SLAs another try, working through my previous 'tutorials' as a guide. Be sure to upgrade the relevant files from CVS.

There is an element of selfishness in this invitation: I have discovered some things which (in my opinion) one ought to be able to do with SLAs, but can't yet as of v3.11.01. I hope that, like me, you'll find that you too really need one or two of these features, so that we can push to have them included in upcoming v3 builds without having to wait for v4. Here they are, in what I perceive as order of difficulty:

I have something to add to your list, why can't we create these rules and SLAs and Escalations and activate and de-activate them. Everything is either ON or non-existent. Sometimes, if something is not working, it's nice to be able to turn it off and work with it in the off position. Then you turn it on and see if it does things correctly. And if not, you turn it off an edit it. Instead, in the set up here, you have to remember exactly what you did, delete it and start from scratch.

[amy.rosen]

A question, is there any way to create one SLA for multiple, but not ALL departments.

[Matthew]

Originally Posted by amy.rosen

I'm on a hosted and using v3.11.01 stable....and I'm fairly new to my company and am supposed to take ownership of this help desk software. I am currently working on SLAs and Escalations. How do I know if I have the latest "CVS updates." what *is* a CVS update?

CVS is the Concurrent Versioning System, a system which allows multiple developers to contribute to the same code base without the whole project becoming hopelessly scrambled. When we refer to CVS builds, we're talking about the nightly compilation of all the CVS files into one package, made available by the kind people of Kayako on our member pages for us to fiddle with--since some of us would rather not wait months and months (and months) for a particular fix to come out in a stable version, when it has actually already been fixed in the code.

As a hosted client, you don't get this access. And your version is several ticks behind those of us who tinker with CVS files. But at least it's <ahem> stable.

[Matthew]

Originally Posted by amy.rosen

I have something to add to your list, why can't we create these rules and SLAs and Escalations and activate and de-activate them. Everything is either ON or non-existent. Sometimes, if something is not working, it's nice to be able to turn it off and work with it in the off position. Then you turn it on and see if it does things correctly. And if not, you turn it off an edit it. Instead, in the set up here, you have to remember exactly what you did, delete it and start from scratch.

Damn good idea.

A question, is there any way to create one SLA for multiple, but not ALL departments. Today 02:38 AM

Nope, but I've sure been wanting this, too. Would save a lot of hassle making those darn workflows.

[amy.rosen]

Originally Posted by Matthew

Damn good idea.



Nope, but I've sure been wanting this, too. Would save a lot of hassle making those darn workflows.

Can't even copy one rule to duplicate it! GAH!

[amy.rosen]

n order to avoid conflicts between SLA's, you'll naturally want to make sure your defined SLAs' criteria do not overlap. For example, you would not create two SLA's each assigned to the same department, and applying to the same Statuses and Priorities, and give them different expiration times. How would the ticket 'know' which SLA it is supposed to adhere to?

If you have an SLA with the same dept, same statuses and priorities, it will work if they are triggered during different schedules, right? For fictional example during work hours are tech desk should respond withing 15 minutes and off work hours they have an hour. We can do that by setting up a schedule with work our and one with off work hours, right? Of course, what is fun is one of our many depts has no SLAs so I have to set up schedules for each dept now since I can't just make one and exclude the one dept.

[Susan]

Amy posted :- If you have an SLA with the same dept, same statuses and priorities, it will work if they are triggered during different schedules, right? For fictional example during work hours are tech desk should respond withing 15 minutes and off work hours they have an hour. We can do that by setting up a schedule with work our and one with off work hours, right?

Unfortunately the answer is - no you can't do this. I have been trying to achieve this for days and it simply doesn't work that way.

What I have figured out with the aid of Mathew's work here is:-
- When a ticket is logged it is assigned as SLA based on the criteria under which it is logged - Department, Priority and Status. Time of day when the ticket is logged is not a factor.
- If you create 2 SLA Plans, one for Business Hours and One for Out of Hours, with the same Criteria of Department, Priority and Status, the SLA database is searched in the order you created the SLA Plans, and selects that match.
- In practice what this does is always select the Out of Hours SLA Plan, (If you created that one first) to all tickets logged with the criteria that matches the Department, Status and Priority, even when the ticket is logged during Business Hours. Or the other way around

I have tried everything to make this work with no success.
The only way is make another Priority or Status so there are no duplicate matches in the database. I don't want to do this as its confusing for the customers.

If anyone has any ideas about this. I'd love to hear them!

[bubble]

thank you very much for your explanation.

But i still have some question though. I just can't make the due time work correctly.

I want to ask, how can i keep the due time unchanged even if the status is changed?

When will the due time clear itself?

[Emma]

Originally Posted by Susan

I have tried everything to make this work with no success.
The only way is make another Priority or Status so there are no duplicate matches in the database. I don't want to do this as its confusing for the customers.

If anyone has any ideas about this. I'd love to hear them!

This drove me utterly crazy. In the end I created separate departments for my different support plans. I have something like

<b>Template - Department - Status - Priority - Schedule</b>
Day Support - Day Support - Open - Critical - Day
Night Support - Night Support - Open - Critial - Night

It's the only way I could be sure that kayako would not pick any SLA it felt like. It is all about making those SLAs totally unique, and department is the easiest way to do it. The reason I used template groups as well is so that it could be a bit clever, and based on who the customer is, automatically give them a certain department (read department as more like support contract) and assign the correct SLA. This means only certain customers can gain access to the out of hour support SLAs and have tickets cound down on a 24/7 basis.

Let me know if you need a more detailed explanation. I have this working perfectly now, at last.

[raghbir1]

Hi All,

I have 2 work schedules
x2 staff groups
x 6 priorities
x 7 statuses
x 8 Departments

My question is a straight one, I hope

Group 1 is assigned the 1st work schedule which is sun-thu 9am-5pm
Group 2 is assigned the 2nd work schedule which is mon-fri 9am - 5pm.

Now group 1 has a department assigned to itself and can only be viewed by its own staff assigned to that group on the 1st work scehdule.

Group 2 has access to all the departments including Group 1s department, as all departments should be visible to Group 2.

To Group 1 I have designed the following SLA'S
Group 1 department ALL open tickets all priorities when SLA has expired move to Status Overdue. Whihc works fine.

The problem is that for Group 2 I have to assign the same slas and escalation rules for each department which is rather tedious, and takes long to do, for example:
department 1 all open tickets status Open Priority Low-med over SLA change status to Overdue.
department 1 all open tickets status Open Priority high-urgent over SLA change status to Overdue
department 1 all open tickets status Open Priority emrgency-critical over SLA change status to Overdue
Now the group 1 department I don't touch as it has its own sla simple because it works on a different work schedule?(Am I right?, ).

So I have to create the above rule x7 times for each department which works at 21 times as this group and its departments work from a different work schedule (namely schedule 2).

Is there an easy way round this?

I have noticed when creating an SLA where it sale 'ALL Depertments and then you click on the drop down it has other departments listed, but you can't select more if you want to assign the same SLA plan for each remaining department. You can only select 'All Depertment' or 1 department at a time! It would be easier if you could select the departments to which the sla would apply. Instead i am finding i have to do the same sla plan for all departments 1 at a time.

So any one got any ideas or short cuts or tips for me to avoid this, or maybe I have missed something?

Thanks


Raghbir