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 is assigned to John Doe.
  • 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 for a record assigned to John Doe.

Role required: service_level_manager.

Create indicators

To create a new indicator, complete the following steps:

  1. Navigate to Service Level Management → Indicator.
  2. Click New and fill in the form.
  3. Click Save or Save and Exit to apply the changes.


Field

Required

Description

NameY

Specify the indicator name.

When creating indicators for the same table, give them different names. 


AgreementNSpecify an agreement related to this indicator containing tracking metrics.
Commitment TypeN

Specify the commitment type for this indicator. Available options:

  • Resolution Time – the time required to resolve the issue (generally, the time from the moment the issue is created until the moment its state changes to Completed).
  • Response Time – the time required to process the issue in a non-automated way (generally, the time from the moment the issue is created until the moment its state changes to In Progress).
TableY

Specify a table to apply the indicator conditions to.

After saving the form, the Table field becomes read-only.


InheritanceN

Select this checkbox if you are creating an indicator for a parent table, and it is necessary to use it for all child tables.

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.


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.


ActiveYSelect this checkbox to make the indicator active or inactive.

Indication start time 

Y

Select one of the two options:

  • Defined by condition – for standard indications. The standard indication start time is when a record meets the conditions defined on the Start Conditions tab.
  • Defined by field – for retrospective indications. Retrospective indication start time is based on the value retrieved from the field specified in Start time field. The record must also meet the conditions defined on the Start Conditions tab. Unlike the standard indication, the time when the conditions were met is ignored.
Start time fieldY

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 timeN

Select one of the two options:

  • Defined by duration – the indication breach time is based on the Duration value. The timing of the SLA breach also takes pause durations into account.
  • Defined by field – the breach time indication is based on the value retrieved from the field specified in the Breach time field.

After saving the form, the Indication breach time field becomes read-only.

Breach time fieldY

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.


  • If the value of the referenced field is less than Start Time or Minimum duration, no indication will be created. 
  • If the value of the referenced field changes, the value in the related indication record will be changed, and related fields will be recalculated.
  • If the value of the referenced field changes, and it is less than Start Time or less than Minimum duration, the indication will be canceled.


DurationY

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 durationY

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. 

TimezoneY

Determine an indicator timezone.

Only active timezones are available to choose from.


Timezone SourceY

Select one of the available records to specify a special timezone bond. Available options:

  • Indicator timezone
  • Task location timezone
  • Caller's timezone
  • CI location timezone
Use the following tabs to specify indicator conditions.
Start Conditions tab
Start ConditionsY

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:

      • Start conditions are not met – the system ignores the start conditions if it does not meet them.

      • Cancel conditions are met – this option enables additional conditions that cancel start conditions when met. 

      • Never – start conditions are always verified.
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 ConditionsN

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:

      • Pause conditions are not met – the system ignores the pause conditions if it does not meet them.

      • Resume conditions are met – this option enables additional conditions settings that resume paused conditions when met.

Resume ConditionsY

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 ConditionsY

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 ConditionsN

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.