Available on Premium and Enterprise plans.
What
A service level agreement (SLA) is a commitment between a service provider and a customer that outlines expected response and resolution times for support requests.
Why
  • Improve customer satisfaction with predictable response times.
  • Prioritize high-impact tickets and improve team efficiency.
  • Ensure accountability and consistent service quality, while reducing escalations.
Who
  • Site admins can create and manage SLAs at site level.
When
  • Support teams managing high ticket volumes and operating with defined response times.
  • Managers tracking response KPIs and optimizing team workflow and visibility.
  • Businesses offering tiered or VIP support (e.g. standard vs. premium) or operating under SLA-bound/legal commitments.
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Before you start

Service level agreements (SLAs) in Teamwork Desk help you set response and resolution time targets for customer support requests.
Limitation
Tickets created using the v1 Desk API are not included in SLA policy enforcement.

How SLAs work

  • SLAs apply to all tickets by default unless filtered by inbox, company, or both.
  • Response time targets are based on ticket priority.
  • If a ticket meets SLA conditions only after the first response is sent (for example, by being assigned a priority or moved to another inbox), the SLA will not apply retroactively to first response time.

How SLAs work with Business Hours

SLAs can run within or outside your business hours. To use custom hours, make sure they're configured first. Only a site admin can set this up — learn how to configure Business Hours.

Key rules:
  • If you select non-default business hours during SLA setup, you must have an active trigger that applies those hours to the relevant tickets. Without a trigger, default business hours still apply.
  • If default business hours already apply to a ticket, the SLA's business hour selection will not override them. Create a trigger to apply non-default hours if needed.
  • If a trigger already applies a business hours policy to certain tickets, that policy takes priority regardless of the hours selected when creating the SLA.

Create an SLA policy

  1. Click your profile icon in Teamwork Desk's main navigation menu.
  2. Select Settings.
  3. Select SLA Policies from the left navigation menu.
  4. Click Create SLA Policy.
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  5. Enter a name for the policy (e.g. "Priority Support").
  6. (Optional) Add a description for context.
  7. Set a first response time target (e.g. within 2 hours).
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  8. (Optional) Apply Business Hours to the policy. If not enabled, the SLA timer runs 24/7.Image Placeholder
  9. (Optional) Configure notifications:
    1. Notify ticket assignees or specific users before the breach (e.g. 15m, 30m, 1hr).
    2. Notify users after a ticket breaches the SLA.
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  10. Use the toggle to choose whether to activate the policy once created. This is toggled on by default.
  11. Click Create policy to activate the policy.

Edit or delete an SLA policy

  1. Navigate to Settings SLA Policies.
  2. Click the ellipsis (three dots) beside the policy.

  3. Choose an action:
    1. Edit: Modify targets, conditions or the policy's active status.
    2. Delete: Remove the policy permanently.
  4. If deleting:
    1. Review the policy's affected inboxes and companies.
    2. Click Delete policy to confirm once you understand the impact. 
      Warning
      Deleting an SLA policy removes its targets from all unanswered tickets. Historical SLA results on tickets that already met or breached targets remain. This action is permanent and cannot be undone.

Monitor SLA performance

SLAs are currently visible and trackable at the ticket level only. This is v1 of the SLA feature.

Coming soon:
  • Custom view conditions: Filter tickets by SLA status (e.g. on track, breached).
  • Reporting: Track team performance and SLA policies.

Best practices

  • Make informed decisions: Set realistic targets based on historical response times.
  • Tell your team: Communicate SLAs clearly to ensure alignment and accountability.
  • Review & analyze: Regularly review SLA performance to optimize response times.

Elevate

  • Automation: Use triggers to escalate at-risk tickets before they breach.