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Service Level Agreement (SLA) and Service Level Management (SLM) in ServiceNow

Role: itil
Available for Teams: All


SLA stands for Service Level Agreement. It refers to a document that outlines a commitment between a service provider and a client, including details of the service, the standards the provider must adhere to, and the metrics to measure performance.

SLM stands for Service Level Management and deals with management of commitments between service providers and customers for optimal operations. Genuine measures ensure service levels are not exceeded.


Benefits of Service Level Management

  • Boost customer satisfaction: Meet expectations around service quality to keep your customers happy.
  • Get ahead of service issues: Spot trends and patterns early so you can prevent potential breaches and service degradation.
  • Improve the service provider-business partnership: Align service providers with your business through shared expectations and accurate reporting.
  • Enhance organizational performance: Gain a better understanding of your active SLAs with detailed visualizations and key metrics.

SLA Metrics

SLA metrics are criteria negotiated between a customer and the service provider that define a quantifiable target that has to be achieved for the service provided.

We have defined 2 types of metrics in PayG:

Time to Respond (Response SLA)

Time for owning the ticket or when the ticket moves from Open/New State to In Progress State.

Time to Resolve (Resolution SLA)

Time for closing the incident or closing/cancelling the request.

During the lifecycle of a ticket, the SLA clock may be suspended when:

  • End of business day
  • Ticket is in Pending or Resolved Status

SLA Metrics for Incident Management Tickets

Priority Level Schedule Response Time Resolution Time
P1 - Critical 10:00 – 19:00 Mon–Fri 00:15:00 02:00:00
P2 - High 10:00 – 19:00 Mon–Fri 00:30:00 04:00:00
P3 - Medium 10:00 – 19:00 Mon–Fri 01:00:00 09:00:00
P4/P5 - Low 10:00 – 19:00 Mon–Fri 01:00:00 18:00:00

SLA Metrics for Request Management Tickets

Request Item Name Schedule Response SLA Resolution SLA
Employee Onboarding Request 10:00 – 19:00 Mon–Fri PayG Response SLA for Task 02:00:00 PayG Resolution SLA for Task 09:00:00
Add Members to Distribution List 10:00 – 19:00 Mon–Fri PayG Response SLA for Task 02:00:00 PayG Resolution SLA for Task 09:00:00
Add Members to Mailbox 10:00 – 19:00 Mon–Fri PayG Response SLA for Task 02:00:00 PayG Resolution SLA for Task 09:00:00
New Distribution List 10:00 – 19:00 Mon–Fri PayG Response SLA for Task 02:00:00 PayG Resolution SLA for Task 09:00:00
O365 Desktop License Access 10:00 – 19:00 Mon–Fri PayG Response SLA for Task 02:00:00 PayG Resolution SLA for Task 09:00:00
DevOps Access Request 10:00 – 19:00 Mon–Fri PayG Response SLA for Task 02:00:00 PayG Resolution SLA for Task 09:00:00
MMS Account Request 10:00 – 19:00 Mon–Fri PayG Response SLA for Task 02:00:00 PayG Resolution SLA for Task 09:00:00
Internet Access Request 10:00 – 19:00 Mon–Fri PayG Response SLA for Task 02:00:00 PayG Resolution SLA for Task 09:00:00
Remove Members from Mailbox 10:00 – 19:00 Mon–Fri PayG Response SLA for Task 02:00:00 PayG Resolution SLA for Task 09:00:00
Purchase Request – Assigned to Finance Support 10:00 – 19:00 Mon–Fri PayG Response SLA for Task 02:00:00 PayG Resolution SLA for Task 18:00:00
Add/Modify Vendor 10:00 – 19:00 Mon–Fri PayG Response SLA for Task 02:00:00 PayG Resolution SLA for Task 18:00:00
NOC Request 10:00 – 19:00 Mon–Fri PayG Response SLA for Task 02:00:00 PayG Resolution SLA for Task 18:00:00
PC/Laptop 10:00 – 19:00 Mon–Fri PayG Response SLA for Task 02:00:00 PayG Resolution SLA for Task 18:00:00
Procurement Request – IT Infrastructure Support 10:00 – 19:00 Mon–Fri PayG Response SLA for Task 02:00:00 PayG Resolution SLA for Task 27:00:00 (03 Days)
SIM Request 10:00 – 19:00 Mon–Fri PayG Response SLA for Task 02:00:00 PayG Resolution SLA for Task 27:00:00 (03 Days)
New Employee Onboarding 10:00 – 19:00 Mon–Fri PayG Response SLA for Task 02:00:00 PayG Resolution SLA for Task 27:00:00 (03 Days)
Other Requests 10:00 – 19:00 Mon–Fri PayG Response SLA for Task 02:00:00 PayG Resolution SLA for Task 27:00:00 (03 Days)

SLA Breach Notifications

During the lifecycle of the SLA, the tool will trigger email notifications when the tickets are nearing the breach time.

Email notifications are triggered when SLA time reaches 50%, 75%, and 100% of allotted time.


Viewing SLA Data

SLA for tickets can be viewed at the bottom of Incident or Request tasks.

SLA Screenshots

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