What happens to SLA when an incident is reopened after being resolved in ServiceNow?

[ny424436]

Hi everyone,

I have a question regarding SLA behavior in ServiceNow when an incident is resolved and then reopened.

Let’s consider a scenario:
An incident is created, and an SLA (for example, 1 hour) is applied. The issue gets resolved within that time, so the SLA is marked as Met. However, after some time, the user reopens the same incident stating that the issue is still not resolved.

I would like to understand the following:

1. What happens to the original SLA once the incident is reopened?

2. Will the system trigger an escalation in this case?

3. Will a new SLA be created, or will the previous SLA continue?

4. How does ServiceNow handle SLA tracking in such reopen scenarios?

It would be helpful if someone could explain this with a real-life example or system behavior.

Thanks in advance!

[Vishnu-K]

Hi @ny424436 ,

When an incident is resolved, the SLA task on the task_sla table moves to a Completed stage and gets evaluated as Met or Breached. Once an SLA reaches that Completed stage, it is permanently closed. It will not reactivate or resume even if the incident is reopened later.

When the incident is reopened and the state changes back to something like In Progress, the SLA engine re-evaluates the Start Condition of the SLA definition. If the Start Condition is matched again, a brand new SLA task is created with a fresh timer starting from the time of reopen. So the original SLA stays as Met and a second SLA task gets attached to the same incident.

Regarding escalations, any escalation rules will apply to the new SLA task only. The old completed SLA will not trigger anything new.

To give a simple example , say your SLA is 1 hour. The incident gets resolved at 45 minutes, so the SLA is marked Met. Two hours later the user reopens it. At that point a new 1-hour SLA starts fresh from the reopen time. If it is not resolved within that new 1 hour, the new SLA will breach. Both SLA records will be visible under the SLA tab on the incident.

You can refer to this for more details:  https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0595676

Hope this helps.

If it helped you please do mark it as helpful and accept the solution

Thanks,

Vishnu

[Ankur Bawiskar]

@ny424436 

my thoughts

1. Original SLA when reopened: The original SLA stays in its final state (Met/Breached) and is not reused.

2. Escalation on reopen: Escalation depends on whether the new SLA breaches or if the old one was paused instead of stopped.

3. New vs previous SLA: ServiceNow usually starts a new SLA line for the reopened incident, not a continuation of the old one.

4. SLA tracking on reopen: Each SLA run is tracked separately; the first ends at Resolved/Closed, and the reopened incident starts fresh or resumes based on pause/stop/reset design.

5. Practical example: Incident resolves inside 1‑hour (SLA Met), then is reopened; a new SLA line starts counting from reopening while the original Met line remains in history.

💡 If my response helped, please mark it as correct ✅ and close the thread 🔒— this helps future readers find the solution faster! 🙏