An indicator is a rule of a time counter activation specified by proper conditions for starting, pausing, resetting, and stopping this counter. It also determines the time limit for declaring an SLA as breached and contains time conditions of a commitment type implementation.
For example, based on your SLA agreement, you can create separate SLA indicators for incidents that have an impact from Low to Very High and set a separate Breach Time value for them. When an indicator starts, the system automatically generates an indication – a time counter that tracks current timings and time points of the target service level commitment.
Depending on your business needs, you may need different types of indicators:
- Standard – an indicator creates indications that start or complete when specified conditions are met, or the duration ends.
For example, the start time is when the task state changes to Assigned. - Retrospective – an indicator creates indications that count time based on the Date/Time field defined manually. Indications are created for records that meet specified conditions.
For example, the start time is the value of the Opened at field, and the indication is created when the task state changes to Assigned.
Role required: service_level_manager.
Create indicators
To create a new indicator, complete the following steps:
- Navigate to Service Level Management → Indicator.
- Click New and fill in the form.
- Click Save or Save and Exit to apply the changes.
Indicator form fields
Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Y | Specify the indicator name. When creating indicators for the same table, give them different names. |
| Agreement | N | Specify an agreement related to this indicator containing tracking metrics. |
| Commitment Type | N | Specify the commitment type for this indicator. Available options:
|
| Table | Y | Specify a table to apply the indicator conditions to. After saving the form, the Table field becomes read-only. |
| Inheritance | N | Select this checkbox if you are creating an indicator for a parent table, and it is necessary to use it for all child tables. Example The Service Requests table can be thought of as a parent table, and each extended table is a single service request. By selecting this option, you can create one indicator for a parent table that will affect every child table created. Indicator inheritance Keep in mind that if you create an inherited indicator for a parent table, and a usual indicator for a child table, indications will be created only for a child table. |
| Active | Y | Select this checkbox to make the indicator active or inactive. |
Indication start time | Y | Select one of the two options:
|
| Start time field | Y | The field appears if the Defined by field option is selected in the Indication start time field. Define the column of the Date/Time type from which indications are to be calculated. An indication retrieves the value for the start time from this column. A retrospective indication counts the value relevant at the time of the indicator creation. If the value changes, indications will not be recalculated. |
| Indication breach time | N | Select one of the two options:
After saving the form, the Indication breach time field becomes read-only. |
| Breach time field | Y | The field appears if the Defined by field option is selected in the Indication breach time field. Define the column of the Date/Time type from which indications are to be calculated, that is, an indication that retrieves the value for the breach time from this column. After saving the form, the Breach time field field becomes read-only.
|
| Duration | Y | This field appears if the Defined by duration option is selected in the Indication breach time field. Set up a business time measure for the SLA to run before it is marked as Breached. All day duration (not just business hours) according to the selected schedule is taken into account. |
| Minimum duration | Y | The Minimum duration field appears if the Defined by field option is selected in the Indication breach time field. Set a minimum duration that restricts the creation of an indication and its existence. After saving the form, the Minimum duration field becomes read-only. All day duration (not just business hours) according to the selected schedule is taken into account. |
Schedule | Y | Select a work schedule from the list. It determines the working hours that the system uses when calculating the actual duration of the сommitment implementation under certain conditions. To configure this timeline, use the Schedules feature. |
| Timezone | Y | Determine an indicator timezone. Only active timezones are available to choose from. |
| Timezone Source | Y | Select one of the available records to specify a special timezone bond. Available options:
|
| Use the following tabs to specify indicator conditions. | ||
| Start Conditions tab | ||
| Start Conditions | Y | Establish conditions with the condition builder to make the indicator start. The system uses the Table fields as transactional data to verify the conditions. When the transactional data changes, the system checks these conditions. For example, for incidents, it is appropriate to use Impact as a condition field with one of the possible values – Low, Medium, High, Very High. The When to Cancel setting allows to establish a condition to start cancellation:
|
| Cancel Conditions | Y | This option appears when the Cancel conditions are met option is selected in the When to cancel field. Define additional conditions to meet before the indicator cancels. If the system meets these cancel conditions, it ignores the start conditions. |
| Pause Conditions tab | ||
| Pause Conditions | N | Establish conditions with the condition builder to make the indicator pause. The system uses the Table fields as transactional data to verify the conditions. When the transactional data changes, the system checks these conditions. For example, for incidents, it is appropriate to use Impact as a condition field with one of the possible values – Low, Medium, High, Very High. The When to Resume setting allows to set a condition to pause resumption:
|
| Resume Conditions | Y | This option appears when the Resume conditions are met option is selected in the When to resume field. The field allows to define additional conditions to be met before the indicator has paused resumption. In other words, if the system meets these resume conditions, it ignores the pause conditions. |
| Complete Conditions tab | ||
| Complete Conditions | Y | Establish conditions with the condition builder to make the indicator stop. The system uses the Table fields as transactional data to verify the conditions. When the transactional data changes, the system checks these conditions. |
| Reset Conditions tab | ||
| Reset Conditions | N | This field is unavailable for retrospective indications (Defined by field selected in the Indication start time field). Establish conditions with the condition builder to make the indicator reset. The system uses the Table fields as transactional data to verify the conditions. When the transactional data changes, the system checks these conditions. |
If an indication is not on pause when the reset conditions have been met:
- The pause time and its duration are reset.
- The start time is set to the time reset conditions are triggered.
- The breach time and original breach time are recalculated.
- All specifications are recalculated according to the values defined.
If an indication is on pause when the reset conditions have been met:
- The pause time are reset.
- The start time and pause time are set to the time the reset conditions are triggered.
- The breach time and original breach time are recalculated.
- All specifications are recalculated according to the values defined.
Example of duration calculations
Example 1
Company A uses schedule "24x7", which means 24 working hours, 7 days a week, and around-the-clock shift-work. If you enter "2" into the days field, this value is converted to 48 working hours or 2 working days.
Example 2
Company B uses "8x5" schedule , which means 8 working hours, 5 days a week, one of the most common working schedules. If you enter "2" into the days field, this value is converted to 48 hours (because there are 24 hours in a day), which gives 6 working days.
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