Setting support SLAs your team can actually meet

Separate response and resolution targets, a few clear priorities, numbers based on your own history and the time left visible on every request.

Support 4 min read

A service level agreement is a promise. Promise too much and your team spends every week apologising. Promise too little and clients feel ignored. A good SLA is one your team can meet on an ordinary week, with a clear plan for the unusual ones.

Measure what clients feel

Clients care about two things: how quickly someone responds, and how quickly the problem is solved. Set targets for both, separately. A fast first response that says “we are looking into it” is valuable on its own.

Set targets by priority

Not every request is urgent. Define a small number of priorities, usually three or four, with plain-language examples. “Urgent: the system is down for many users.” “Low: a question or a small change.” Then set response and resolution targets for each one.

Use your own history to set the numbers

Look at the last three months of requests. How fast did you actually respond and resolve, for each priority? Set targets slightly better than your normal week, not your best week. Targets based on real history are targets you can keep.

Count business hours honestly

Agree whether the clock runs in business hours or around the clock, and which holidays are excluded. Write it into the agreement. Most SLA disputes are about when the clock was running, not about the work.

Make the clock visible to the team

Agents should see, on every open request, how much time is left before the target is missed. Sorting the queue by time left, not by date received, prevents most breaches.

Agree what is in scope

Many support conflicts are really scope conflicts. Write down what the support agreement covers and what counts as new work. When a request falls outside it, say so politely and offer to quote for it.

Review breaches, not just averages

Averages hide the requests that went badly. Each month, look at every breached request and ask why. The answer is often the same few causes: unclear ownership, missing information from the client, or one person overloaded.

A short checklist

  • Separate targets for first response and resolution.
  • Three or four priorities with plain examples.
  • Targets based on your real recent history.
  • Business hours and holidays written into the agreement.
  • Time left is visible on every open request.
  • Scope is written down and breaches are reviewed monthly.