question Re: What is the best practice of SLA configurations? in ITSM forum

What is the best practice of SLA configurations?

gautamshivk — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 09:28:24 GMT

We have configured the SLA to be reattached everytime it reopens but from the ticket created date not the date it was reopened leading to a breach SLA most of the time and it reattaches to the ticket, leading to multiple SLAs on a ticket which cause reporting problems as there are multiple records for same ticket.

What should be the best practice for SLAs in case of ticket gets reopened?

Re: What is the best practice of SLA configurations?

yashkamde — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 09:43:42 GMT

Hello @gautamshivk ,

The Best practice is to pause the SLA upon Resolution and only stop the SLA when the ticket is Closed. This prevents the old SLA clock from wrongly "Breaching" while waiting for the user to confirm the fix.

Refer this :

Best practice for SLAs in case of ticket gets reopened servicenow.

Reopen SLA when a case is reopened

For Process & Reporting Practices,

If you use a different SLA model (e.g stopping at Resolved and starting a new one), enable Retroactive Start and Retroactive Pause on your SLA definitions. This ensures the new SLA timeline adjusts historically, protecting the agent's actual response time metrics.

Configure SLA retroactive start and pause

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Re: What is the best practice of SLA configurations?

Tanushree Maiti — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 10:31:12 GMT

Hi @gautamshivk

Update the SLA Definition

Navigate to Service Level Management > SLA > SLA Definitions and open the relevant SLA definition.
In the Start Condition section, ensure that the Retroactive start checkbox is selected.
In the Set start to field, change the value from Created to Updated or Opened, depending on which event corresponds to the ticket's state change. This prevents the SLA from backdating to the original creation date.

Best Practices for Reopened Tickets

Configure the SLA to Pause when the ticket enters the Resolved or Awaiting User state, instead of completing the SLA and creating a new one upon reopening. This allows the existing SLA to resume when the ticket is updated, rather than attaching a new SLA.
Review and update the SLA conditions to ensure they correctly handle reopened tickets and align with your intended SLA behavior.