What is an SLA (service level agreement)?

SLA stands for service level agreement (in Turkish, hizmet seviyesi anlaşması or hizmet seviyesi taahhüdü). In an SLA, a service provider puts in writing how quickly and how well it will deliver a service, using measurable targets. In support and field service, those targets are usually about time: how soon the customer gets a first response, and how soon the problem is resolved.

What does an SLA measure?

The two most common measures in support are first response time and resolution time. Both start when a ticket is opened: first response time ends when the first reply reaches the customer, and resolution time ends when the problem is resolved. Targets are usually tiered by priority, so an urgent outage gets a shorter target than a low-priority issue.

When you write an SLA, answer these questions:

• Is time counted in calendar hours or only during business hours?
• What counts as a first response? A note your team writes internally doesn’t reach the customer, so it usually doesn’t count.
• Who gets a warning before a target is missed, and when?
• Does every customer get the same targets, or do some customers have their own policy?

A ticket that misses its target is an SLA breach. The parties’ contract decides what a breach leads to: a discount on the service fee, for example, or reporting only.

SLAs and statutory deadlines

An SLA is a commitment the parties make to each other. The contract sets the targets, how they’re measured, and what happens when they’re missed. For some work, though, the law puts a ceiling on the time.

Under Article 11 of Turkey’s Consumer Protection Law No. 6502 (Tüketicinin Korunması Hakkında Kanun), a consumer with a defective product can choose free repair or replacement with a non-defective one. If they do, the request must be fulfilled within 30 business days of being made to the seller, manufacturer, or importer, or within 60 business days for residential and holiday properties. For goods on the list annexed to the regulation issued under Article 58 of the Law, free repair must be completed within the maximum repair time that regulation sets.

That’s why a service business that works with consumers tracks the statutory period alongside its own SLA targets. The two don’t measure the same thing: an SLA is a promise you make to your customer, while the statutory period is a limit you must stay within.

SLAs in IWB

In IWB, an SLA is an optional policy in Help Desk, and it’s off by default. Once you turn it on, you set first response and resolution targets for each priority, a warning threshold, and customer-specific policies where you need them.

The “Standard SLA” policy that comes with IWB targets a 30-minute first response and a 4-hour resolution for urgent tickets, and an 8-hour first response and a 2-day resolution for low-priority ones. Its warning threshold is 75%.

The clock runs in calendar hours and doesn’t pause outside business hours. When a ticket is opened, the target in effect at that moment is fixed on the ticket. Internal notes don’t go to the customer, so they don’t count as a first response.

IWB sends a warning when a ticket nears its target and a breach notification when it misses it. The SLA column in the ticket list shows the time left to the next target, or how far past it the ticket is, and the dashboard has “SLA at risk” and “SLA breaches” cards.

When a job needs someone on site, you can open a draft service order directly from the support ticket. For consumer jobs, Field Service counts down the statutory period in business days, and commercial jobs show a “No statutory period” label. Statutory periods come with an “Unverified” flag, and confirming the values is up to your organization.