Why do Incident backlogs grow in ServiceNow even when SLAs are consistently met?

[Matthew_13]

Our Incident SLAs (response and resolution) are being met consistently, but we are still seeing a growing incident backlog, repeat incidents, and poor user perception.

From a ServiceNow and ITIL perspective, what are the common root causes of this, and what practical steps can be taken in ServiceNow to fix it?

Update / Solution:

This is a common issue in Incident Management and usually indicates that SLA performance is being measured without validating resolution quality or recurrence.

Common root causes include:

1. SLAs focus on speed, not effectiveness
   Incidents are closed within SLA but lack proper resolution validation, leading to reopenings or duplicate incidents.

2. Poor assignment accuracy
   Categories and subcategories are not normalized, causing incidents to bounce between groups and inflate backlog numbers.

3. Weak linkage to Problem Management
   Repeat incidents on the same CI or service are resolved individually instead of being flagged as problem candidates.

4. Limited CI usage
   Incidents are logged without meaningful CI relationships, making it difficult to identify systemic or service-level issues.

ServiceNow-specific improvements:

• Enforce Resolution Code and Resolution Notes before closure using UI Policies

• Normalize categories and use assignment rules tied to CI class or service

• Enable Problem Candidate creation for repeat incidents

• Require a CI for Priority 1–3 incidents, focusing on service-level CIs

• Track reopen rate, reassignment count, and incident recurrence, not just SLA compliance

Outcome:
Teams that shift focus from SLA-only metrics to resolution quality and recurrence reduction typically see lower incident volumes, smaller backlogs, and improved user satisfaction—while still meeting