Create SLA Template

Explanation

This activity is used to create an SLA Template. An SLA Template can have multiple lines that will create SLA Commitments on Requests, Request Scopes and Work Tasks.

Each template line will as a minimum have a:

Duration which is used to calculate the SLA Due Date.
Calendar which defines the working hours applied when calculating the SLA Due Date.
Fulfillment Entity which defines for which entity events will complete/fulfill the SLA. The supported entities are Request, Scope, or a Task. If we're assuming that the SLA is fulfilled by a Work Task being set to Work Done, the Fulfillment Entity should be set to Task.
Fulfillment Event which relates to the Fulfillment Entity and defines which particular Event that should fulfill the SLA. If we're assuming that the SLA is fulfilled by a Work Task being set to Work Done, the Fulfillment Event should be set to WORKDONE. It's important to note that only Events configured as SLA Applicable in Event Entity Configuration for Request (SrvRequest), Request Scope (SrvRequestScope), Work Task (JtTask) and * (No Entity) are available to use.

There are a number of optional attributes that can be used to further detail the SLA behavior.

Work Task Applicable which is used to specify if the SLA is to be considered for automatic scheduling.
- Scheduling SLA Type specifies which Scheduling SLA Type to use. This will be connected to the SLA Commitment. Each Scheduling SLA Type defines the SLA curve shape used by the scheduling engine. The Scheduling SLA Types are part of the Scheduling Basic Data.
- Start Based defines whether just the start of the Work Task must be within the defined SLA period or if the Work Task must be completed within the SLA period.
- Task Sub Group can used to defined that the SLA Template Lines should only be applied to specific group of Work Tasks.
  - If the Task Sub Group is None it is applicable for all the tasks under the Request Scope where the SLA Template line is applied.
  - If the Task Sub Group is Work Stage, the SLA Template Lines will only be applicable for Work Tasks with the specified Work Stage value.

Cutoff Type can be left blank or be set to Time or Next Day. When the Time option is selected, the fields Cutoff Time and Time Unit will be enabled. This allows the user to manually define the remaining time of a working day to be ignored when calculating the Due Date. When Next Day is selected, the calculation of the Due Date will always start from the next working day without considering the remaining time of the day the SLA was created. Left blank, the functionality is disabled. For example, if the Cutoff Type is Time and the business day ends at 17.00 and the Cutoff Time is 1 hour and the SLA Trigger occurs at 16.02, the due date will be calculated starting from the next business day.
The SLA Due Date is determined at the end of the current business day when the Time Unit is set to Same Day. In this scenario, the duration is set to zero, and the Cutoff Type can be either Time or left blank (null).
- If Cutoff Type = Time:
  - If the Cutoff Time is less than the remaining working hours from the SLA Trigger Time, the SLA Due Date will be set to the end of the current business day. Example: If the business day ends at 17:00, the Cutoff Time is 1 hour, and the SLA Trigger occurs at 15:00, the due date will be 17:00 on the same day.
  - If the Cutoff Time exceeds the remaining working hours, the SLA Due Date will be set to the end of the next business day based on the calendar. Example: If the business day ends at 17:00, the Cutoff Time is set to 1 hour, and the SLA Trigger occurs at 16:02, then the due date will be 17:00 on the next business day.
- If Cutoff Type = Null (Blank):
  - SLA Due Date will be set as the following examples.
    - If the business day is Monday, according to the calendar, ends at 17:00, and the SLA Trigger occurs at 16:02, the due date will be set to the end of the current business day (Monday at 17:00).
    - If the business day is Monday, according to the calendar, ends at 17:00, and the SLA Trigger occurs at 17:02, the due date will be set to the end of the next business day (Tuesday at 17:00).
Triggering Entity and Triggering Event is used if the SLA Commitment start date should be set based on when the Triggering Event occurs. If we're assuming that the SLA should start when a Request is Released, the Triggering Entity should be set to Request and the Triggering Event to RELEASED.

Using SLA Templates

The SLA Templates can be connected to a set of entities and will be applied automatically when creating new Requests and Request Scopes.

The SLA templates are applied on Requests/Scopes/Work Tasks in the following hierarchical order, where the lower value has the higher priority:

SLA Template defined on a Customer Warranty Template
SLA Template defined on a Request Contract Line Urgency record.
SLA Template defined on a Request Contract Line
SLA Template defined on an Urgency record on a Service in the Service Catalog.
SLA Template defined on a Service in the Service Catalog.
SLA Template connected to a Service Organization

If there is no SLA Template applied on the scope from Warranty, Request Contract, Service or Service Organization, an SLA Template can be connected to the Request Scope manually.

The SLA Start Dates are set in 3 different ways when the SLA Commitments are created using the templates.

For a Request, Request Scope and Work Task, the SLA Start Date will be set to the creation date of the Request.
For a Request, Request Scope and Work Task created from Recurring Services the Request Reg Date / Recurring Service Due Next Date will be set as the SLA Start Date.
If a Triggering Event (Start Event) is defined on the Template Line, the SLA Start Date is set when the Event is created.

If a Request is created manually and an SLA Template is used, the Request Creation Date will be used as the SLA Start Date, assuming no Triggering Event has been specified.

If a Request is generated from a Recurring Service and an SLA Template is used, the Due Next Date (also visible on the Request as the Reg Date) will be used as the SLA Start Date, assuming no Triggering Event has been specified.

If a Request is created manually or through a Recurring Service and an SLA Template is used, where Triggering Event(s) are defined, the SLA Start Date will be set when the Triggering Event occurs. The lines will be created in status Planned if the triggering event has not yet occurred.

SLA Templates and SLA Work Task Applicability

When SLA Templates create the SLA Commitments, and there is an SLA Template Line flagged as Work Task Applicable the following logic applies.

Work Task Applicability defined against Fulfillment Entity Request will be applied to all Work Tasks created for the Scope.
1. If Task Sub Group set to Work Stage, the SLAs will only be applied to Work Tasks with the corresponding Work Stage defined in Task Sub Group Value.
2. If Scheduling SLA Type is connected, then the SLA commitment will be used to schedule the work task.
3. Start Based defines whether the start of the work task using the SLA Commitment must be scheduled with in the defined SLA period or not.
Work Task Applicability defined against Fulfillment Entity Scope will be applied to all Work Tasks created for the Scope
1. If Task Sub Group set to Work Stage, the SLAs will only be applied to Work Tasks with the corresponding Work Stage defined in Task Sub Group Value.
2. If Scheduling SLA Type is connected, then the SLA commitment will be used to schedule the work task.
3. Start Based defines whether the start of the work task using the SLA Commitment must be scheduled with in the defined SLA period or not.
Work Task Applicability defined against Fulfillment Entity Task will be applied to only that Work Task which SLA Commitment is created on.

A couple of examples of how the Scheduling SLAs are selected:

A Request is created with four SLA Commitments (Fulfillment Entity Request), but only two SLA Commitments flagged as Work Task Applicable and a Scheduling SLA Type is connected to the commitments. No SLA Commitments are defined on the Request Scope or the Work Task. The Work Tasks transferred to Scheduling will pick up the two SLAs defined against the Request.
A Request is created with two SLA Commitments (Fulfillment Entity Request) flagged as Work Task Applicable and a Scheduling SLA Type is connected to the commitments. The related Request Scope has two SLA Commitments (Fulfillment Entity Scope) flagged as Work Task Applicable and Scheduling SLA Type is not connected to the commitments. No SLA Commitments exist on the Work Task. The Work Tasks transferred to Scheduling will pick up the two SLAs defined the Request and will use the two SLAs on request scope level only to set the execution due date of work tasks.
A Request is created without SLA Commitments on the Request or the Request Scope and the Work Task (Fulfillment Entity Task) has two SLA Commitments flagged as Work Task Applicable and a Scheduling SLA Type is connected to the commitments. The Work Tasks transferred to Scheduling will pick up the two SLAs defined against the Work Task.

Prerequisites

Enabled Events flagged as SLA Applicable must exist.
A Work Time Calendar must exist.
If the SLA Commitments are being used as Scheduling SLAs, Scheduling SLA Types must exist.
If using Task Sub Group Work Stage, Work Stage basic data must have been defined.

System Effects

An SLA Template with template lines will be created.