--- sourceDocument: Brazil IT Service Management sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/it-service-management Release : - brazil ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - Brazil IT Service Management ft:clusterId : - itsm bundleId : - itsm workflow : - Technology --- # Actual and business elapsed times # Actual and business elapsed times {#ariaid-title1} Release version: Brazil Updated September 10, 2026 ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 2 minutes to read Summarize ![AI sparkle icon](https://servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ai-sparkle-icon) Summarized using AI This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. ## Summary of Actual and Business Elapsed Times Task SLA records in ServiceNow contain two critical timing metrics:Actual elapsed timeandBusiness elapsed time. Understanding the distinction between these is essential for accurately creating, managing, and reporting on SLA definitions. Show full answer Show less Actual elapsed time measures the total time on a continuous 24x7 basis, while Business elapsed time is calculated only during the defined SLA schedule hours (e.g., business hours). The SLA schedule defaults from the SLA definition but can be customized. ## Key Features * **Actual elapsed time:** Tracks the total real time elapsed from SLA start to current time, regardless of working hours. * **Business elapsed time:** Tracks time only during scheduled SLA hours, pausing during off-hours like nights and weekends. * **Schedule dependence:** Business elapsed time uses the SLA's schedule; if no schedule is specified, business elapsed equals actual elapsed by default. * **Configurable property:** The property `com.snc.sla.alwayspopulatebusinessfields` controls whether business elapsed fields are populated (true by default). Setting it to false disables business elapsed time calculations. * **Display options:** By default, task SLA related lists show actual elapsed time only but can be configured to show business elapsed time for enhanced visibility. * **Elapsed percentage:** Both actual and business elapsed percentages are calculated, with business elapsed percentage used for SLA tracking and notifications. ## Practical Implications and Examples Consider an SLA scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays: * If an SLA starts at 2 p.m. on a weekday, business elapsed time counts only the working hours (e.g., 3 business hours by next weekday 9 a.m.) while actual elapsed time counts every hour (e.g., 19 actual hours). * For an incident opened at 9 p.m. on Friday (outside business hours), by Monday 9:30 a.m., business elapsed time reflects only active business hours (1 hour 30 minutes), while actual elapsed time counts all elapsed hours including off-hours (60 hours 30 minutes). ## How SLA Workflow Uses Business Elapsed Time The SLA workflow leverages the **SLA Percentage Timer** activity, which triggers notifications and escalations based on business elapsed time thresholds (e.g., 50%, 75% of SLA duration). This ensures alerts correspond to actual working time rather than calendar time. For example, with an 8-hour SLA on a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekday schedule: * The 50% threshold triggers after 4 business hours. * If the SLA starts at 4 p.m. Monday, the 50% timer fires at 10 a.m. Tuesday, excluding off-hours overnight. ## Benefits for ServiceNow Customers * Accurate SLA tracking aligned with business hours and schedules, improving SLA compliance measurement. * More meaningful notifications and escalations that reflect actual working time, enhancing incident and request management. * Flexibility to customize how elapsed times are calculated and displayed based on organizational needs. Task SLA records contain two sets of timing information: Actual elapsed and Business elapsed. The difference between these two sets of timing is vital when you create and report on SLA definitions. * Actual elapsed values are calculated on a 24x7 basis. * Business elapsed values are calculated based on the schedule specified in the task SLA. The schedule is taken from the SLA definition by default. Note: If no schedule is specified, then the Business elapsed time is the same as the Actual elapsed time. This can be disabled by changing the com.snc.sla.always_populate_business_fields property to false in the SLA Engine. When this property is set to false, the Business fields will be 0 or empty. {#r_ElapsedTimeCounting__ul_d4j_1fr_cs}By default, the related list for the task SLA record displays the actual elapsed time only. You can configure the list to also display the business elapsed time. ## Elapsed times and schedules Consider a scenario where an SLA has a defined schedule of 9 am to 5 pm on weekdays. With this schedule, the difference between actual and business elapsed times can be significant. If a task SLA starts at 2 p.m. on a weekday, by 9 a.m. the next weekday it shows 3 business hours and 19 actual hours. Figure 1. Business elapsed time vs actual elapsed time ![Actual elapsed time and business elapsed time within actual]() If a schedule defines an 8-hour working day, 24 hours of business elapsed time equals 3 days of actual elapsed time. ## Example For example, an incident is opened on Friday, December 12 at 9 pm, outside of the SLA schedule of 8 am to 5 pm on weekdays. If the current time is the following Monday at 9:30 am, then: * Business elapsed time is 1 hour and 30 minutes because the SLA business timer stopped at 5 pm on Friday and restarted at 8 am on Monday. * Actual elapsed time is 60 hours and 30 minutes, representing the real-time between the incident being opened and the current time. {#r_ElapsedTimeCounting__ul_krc_4jr_cs}Elapsed percentages are also similarly calculated. The actual elapsed percentage is over 750% while the business elapsed percentage is 19% on an 8 hour SLA. ## How the SLA workflow uses business elapsed percentage {#r_ElapsedTimeCounting__section_x5w_ht4_zjc} The SLA workflow uses the SLA Percentage Timer activity to trigger notifications at defined thresholds --- for example, at 50% and 75% of the SLA duration. These thresholds are calculated using Business elapsed time. When a timer fires, the SLA workflow evaluates how much business elapsed time has been consumed against the total SLA duration (as defined in the SLA definition's schedule). The timer does not advance while the SLA schedule is inactive --- for example, overnight or on weekends. For example, on an 8-hour SLA with a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekday schedule: 50% threshold : The 50% timer fires after 4 hours of business elapsed time --- regardless of how many wall-clock hours have passed. Example timing : If the SLA starts at 4 p.m. on Monday, the 50% timer fires at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, after the overnight gap is excluded. {#r_ElapsedTimeCounting__dl_y5w_ht4_zjc} This confirms that notifications and escalations reflect actual working time, not calendar time. **Related concepts** * [Flows for SLA](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/1I~pUVshA5isuKHXyBmOsA "Use the flow actions to send SLA notifications when the duration specified in the SLA definition is crossed.") **Related topics** * [SLA Percentage Timer workflow activity](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=r_SLAPercentageTimer&version=brazil&pubname=brazil-build-workflows&ft:locale=en-US)