A Service Level Agreement (SLA) in ServiceNow defines the expected service delivery timeline between a provider and customer. It ensures transparency, measurable targets, and customer satisfaction by tracking whether agreed service levels are being met.
SLA definitions are stored in the Task SLA [task_sla] table.
🎯 Purpose of SLA
- Provide customers with clear expectations of service timelines.
- Enable monitoring when service levels are not met.
- Define business criteria that trigger SLA tracking.
Key parameters in SLA Definition:
- Table: SLAs can be defined against any table (e.g., Incident).
- Duration: Time within which service must be delivered.
- Schedule: Working/non‑working days used to calculate breach times.
- Conditions: Rules for when the SLA starts, pauses, stops, or resets.
When triggered, a Task SLA record is created and attached to the task, capturing all tracking data. Multiple SLA definitions can apply to a single task.
📌 Objectives of SLA
- Define, document, agree, monitor, measure, report, and review IT service levels.
- Strengthen communication between IT and business stakeholders.
- Ensure measurable targets for all IT services.
- Improve customer satisfaction with service quality.
🛠️ Example: Create a New SLA Definition
Scenario: Define SLA for Priority 1 (Critical) incidents with a resolution time of 1 hour.
Steps to Implement:
- Navigate to: Service Level Management > SLA Definitions > New.
- Configure the SLA Definition fields:
- Name: P1 Resolution SLA
- Table: Incident
- Active: ✅ True
- Duration: 1 hour
- Schedule: Select appropriate business hours schedule
- Condition: Priority = 1 (Critical)
- Attach default SLA workflow to trigger events (e.g., notifications at 50% elapsed time).
- Save the SLA Definition.
Result: A Task SLA record attaches to every P1 Incident, tracking progress and breaches.
🧩 Exercise 1: Add Choices for Impact, Urgency, and Priority
Scenario: Extend choice lists to include higher severity values.
Steps to Implement:
- Right‑click on the Impact field label → Configure Choices.
- Add the choice: 4 – Very High.
- Click Save.
- Right‑click on the Urgency field label → Configure Choices.
- Add the choice: 4 – Very High.
- Click Save.
- Right‑click on the Priority field label → Configure Choices.
- Add the choice: 6 – Very Critical.
- Click Save.
Configure Lookup Definition Record:
- Navigate to dl_u_priority.list.
- Click Priority Data Lookup > New.
- Fill in the form with required values.
- Click Submit.
🧩 Exercise 2: Create SLA Definition for Very Critical Incidents
Scenario: SLA Definition attaches to incidents marked as Priority = Very Critical, with a resolution time of 30 minutes.
Steps to Implement:
- Navigate to: Service Level Management > SLA Definitions > New.
- Fill in the SLA Definition fields:
- Name: Very Critical Incident (30 mins)
- Type: SLA
- Target: Resolution
- Table: Incident
- Workflow: Default SLA Workflow
- Duration: 30 minutes
- Schedule Source: No Schedule
- Define conditions:
- Start Condition
- Pause Condition
- Stop Condition
- Reset Condition
- Click Submit.
📝 SLA Task Example
Scenario: Demonstrate SLA attachment and progression.
Steps to Implement:
- Navigate to Incident Application > New Module.
- Set:
- Impact: Very High
- Urgency: Very High
- Priority: Auto‑filled (Very Critical)
- Click Submit.
- Reopen the same record.
- Navigate to Task SLA from the Related List.
- Observe SLA attachment and progression to completion.
- Review the SLA Timeline.
⏳ SLA Calculation for Exact Time
By default, SLA calculations may round percentages (e.g., 99.951% → 100%), causing breaches.
For more accurate SLA tracking:
- Enable the SLA engine property to use exact business time left (if a schedule is specified).
- Or use actual time left (if no schedule is specified).
This ensures SLA breaches are calculated precisely, avoiding false positives.
