SLA's in ServiceNow - How do they work?

[SB87]

I'm trying to understand how SLA's work in ServiceNow, but have a few questions that I hope someone more knowledgeable can help with.

My understanding is an SLA Definition is created (contract_sla) which sets the Name, Type, Target, Table, Durations, Conditions, etc. These SLA's will then be available for records associated to the set Table.

Q1 - If an SLA Definition is created for "Incident" then how does it become associated or assigned when a new Incident is created?

I believe TASK SLA (task_sla) is a table that stores the SLA details associated to a specific task instance e.g. if a new Incident is created, then the (task_sla) table will store details specific to the record e.g. business_duration, business_pause_duration etc.

Q2 - Is my understanding of TASK SLA (task_sla) correct?

Q3 - Are there any other important tables I need to look into further? The documentation I have found seems to be very specific to "how a user will create SLA's via the UI" but I felt it lacked details in how everything is glued together or works behind the scenes. Perhaps I was looking at the wrong place, so please feel free to point me in the right direction!

Thank you in advance. 

[AndersBGS]

Hi @SB87 ,

have you read through the documentation: https://docs.servicenow.com/en-US/bundle/tokyo-it-service-management/page/product/service-level-mana...

for you Q1: SLA will be assigned to an incident based on your specified SLA start condition within you SLA definition.

Q2: Yes, as far as I recall.

Q2: no, it’s best to read through the documentation and go through SLA definition application, to get the best understanding.

if my answer helped with you question, please mark as accepted solution and give a thumb up.

Best regards

Anders

[SB87]

Thanks, Anders.

I have already seen that page, but will give it a second look. I'm finding that those articles are very much written for users configuring the system via the front-end, and doesn't always provide the level of detail I'm after. I'm also a visual learner, so tend to learn better by watching someone demonstrate and talk through the system.

This was a good video if anyone that comes across this post is interested. 

Kind regards

[AndersBGS]

Hi @SB87 ,

Great you found a video that gave some very useful input - is there anything else that needs to be clarified further? 

If not, I would recommend you to accepted a solution to your question, so the community can see that the question has been closed.

But please, just reply if you need further clarification.

if my answer helped with you question, please mark as accepted solution and give a thumb up.

Best regards

Anders