Pick targets per priority
An urgent ticket might need a reply in one hour and a fix in four; a low-priority one, a reply in a day.
Desk guide · Updated 5 November 2026
What is SLA management in customer support?
SLA management is setting response targets for support tickets, such as a first reply within four business hours and a fix within two days, and tracking each ticket against them. The targets usually depend on priority, and the clock usually runs only during your business hours.
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01 / 05
What is an SLA in customer support?
SLA stands for service level agreement. In a support team it usually means the response times you promise customers, either in a contract (common in B2B) or as an internal standard.
The two targets almost every team uses are first response time, how long until a person first replies, and resolution time, how long until the issue is solved. Some teams add a target for every later reply too.
02 / 05
How do first response and resolution targets work?
Start the clock
The clock starts when the ticket is created. The first-response clock stops at the first reply a customer can see.
Count working time
With business hours set, only working time counts, so a ticket that arrives on Friday evening isn't overdue by Monday morning.
Show the due time
Each ticket shows when it's due, so agents can work the queue in order of urgency.
03 / 05
Why do business hours matter for SLAs?
A target of "four hours" means something different at 4pm on a Friday than at 10am on a Tuesday. Business hours tell the helpdesk when your team works, so due times land inside the working day.
If you offer round-the-clock support for some customers, give them a separate policy that runs on calendar hours instead.
04 / 05
How do you set SLA targets you can actually meet?
- Start from your current numbers: look at today's median first response and resolution times before promising anything.
- Use priority, not customer mood: define what makes a ticket urgent and keep that list short.
- Keep the first-response target tight and the resolution target realistic; a quick, honest first reply buys time.
- Review every month: if a target is always missed, fix staffing or the target, not the reporting.
05 / 05
How does Flaxxa Desk handle SLAs?
In Flaxxa Desk you create SLA policies with first-response and resolution targets for each priority (urgent, high, medium, low), and business-hours schedules for when your team works. Tickets carry a due time agents can sort and filter by.
FAQ
SLA management: common questions
It depends on your customers and channel. Many teams aim to reply to email within a business day and to urgent issues within a few hours. Measure your current median first, then set a target a little better than that.
Put it to work
Desk features for this
SLA Management
Set SLA policies with first-response and resolution targets per priority, business hours and holidays, and see a due time on every support ticket.
Departments + Routing
Route tickets into departments and teams, auto-assign round-robin or to the least-busy agent, and sort email with triage rules instead of by hand.
Ticket Management
A ticket management system with statuses, priorities, custom fields, shared views, notes, merge, bulk actions, time tracking and live collision detection.
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