How to Define an SLA

Owned by Derya Özdemir
Last updated: Feb 10, 2024
5 min read

This page is about Time to SLA for Jira Cloud. Using Jira On-Prem? Click the On-Prem button above.

In January 2024, we're introducing a brand-new SLA configuration page! You’ll be able to revert to the old page for 3 months – explore and transition at your pace.

This page contains step-by-step instructions on how to create an SLA on Time to SLA for Jira Cloud.

  1. Log in to your Jira Cloud account.

  2. Click Apps in the header menu and open the Time to SLA app.

  3. From the header menu, go to SLAs.

  4. Click Add New SLA Definition and the SLA configuration screen will appear.

In our example, we’ll set up an SLA for First response time. Follow the example through the screenshots below, and jump between different steps with one click by using the list below:

  1. icon

  2. Enable SLA

  3. SLA Scope

  4. Conditions

  5. Goals

  6. Calculation Method

  7. Critical Zone

  8. Display Linked Issues

  9. Target Date Custom Field

  1. icon – Here, create a name for your SLA.

  1. Enable SLA – Enable or disable your SLA. When this toggle is disabled, all SLA ions will be stopped. The SLA will not appear in fields, reports, and other configurations. Enabling it will do the opposite.

Why would you disable an SLA?

When you disable an SLA, it is taken off your list of issues without deleting its settings, which could be useful in many situations.

For example: You could want to hide some SLAs that are irrelevant to your workflow but might be needed in the future. As a result, you wouldn’t want to lose the configurations. In this case, disabling those SLAs could do the trick.

  1. SLA Scope – This section allows you to define the Projects, Issues (JQL), and Workflows that an SLA will be applied to. Use these to limit your issues.

  1. Conditions – Set your SLA conditions here. There are 4 conditions: START, END, RESET, and PAUSE ON. START and END are mandatory, while RESET and PAUSE ON are not. Which of these to use depends on your use case.

See below for what a “First response time” SLA’s conditions may look like:

You can add more than one condition. Keep in mind that there is an OR function between conditions, which means when any of the conditions are met, the SLA will trigger.

  1. Goals – Set your SLA goals. Goal selection is a two-step process: first, the goal type; then, the goal itself. There is always one goal by default, but this can be disabled.

You can add numerous goals by using the Add new SLA goal button. All goals, except the default goal, have to include a JQL or a priority.

  1. Calculation Method – Select the ion method for the elapsed duration. Your options are All Cycles, First Cycle, Largest Span, and Last Cycle.

For example, if the SLA starts with an Open status and ends with a Resolved status, the All Cycles method will add up all the cycles between Open and Resolved statuses.

7. The Critical Zone – This is a parameter that you can set to signal when an SLA has reached what you would describe as a critical status. When an SLA enters this zone, the SLA Panel’s color will change from blue to orange. (Learn more about the SLA Panel here.)

8. Display SLA on Linked Issues – You can select whether to display this SLA in linked issues and specify which link types it’ll be displayed in. When you link two issues, you’ll be able to see the SLA Panel on both of them.

Share this SLA on linked issues – This option will share this SLA configuration with its linked issues that do not have an SLA. Whether or not there is a defined SLA in the linked issue, this SLA will be displayed in its SLA panel.

Display linked issues' SLAs – If you choose this option, you’ll be able to display the SLAs of all linked issues related to the link types selected in the issue, which means you need to create another SLA definition for the project. Here choose inward link types (i.e., blocked by, cloned by, etc.) for the linked issue.

9. Target Date Custom Field – Check this box to add the Target Date custom field to the screens where you'd like to see the SLA target date information. Only date and time custom fields can be selected as the target date, which is why the drop-down menu only includes such custom fields.

10. Click Save. You've just created your first SLA!

Next Steps

On this page, we learned how you can set up an SLA. In the following steps, we will discuss how conditions and goals work in detail. Before we continue, we recommend you try creating two SLAs for your own use:

  • Time to resolution

  • First response time

If you ever encounter any problems while creating them, check out FAQ: SLAs – we may have already listed the answers to some of your questions!

Now, let's take a look at how SLA Conditions work.