A Service Level Agreement (SLA) for chat defines the expected response and resolution times between your support team and customers. In BoldDesk, SLAs help ensure timely replies, improve customer satisfaction, and provide visibility into performance benchmarks. This guide explains how to configure SLAs for chat, what metrics are enforced, and how they are calculated.

Use Cases

• Set and monitor response and resolution targets to ensure timely customer support.
• Maintain consistent service quality and clear expectations for customers and agents.
• Automatically detect and escalate SLA breaches to improve accountability.
• Measure team performance, improve customer satisfaction, and support both business-hour and 24×7 service commitments.

What is a Chat SLA in BoldDesk?

A Chat SLA sets measurable targets for:

• First Response Time – How quickly agents acknowledge new conversations.
• Response Time – How fast agents follow up after the first reply.
• Resolution Time – How long it takes to fully resolve or close a conversation.

Each SLA can operate during calendar hours (24×7) or business hours, and you can create multiple SLAs mapped to different conversations using conditions.

Creating a Chat SLA

To create a new Chat SLA:

1. Navigate to Admin → Chat → SLA under the Automation section.
   

   
   
   

2. Click Add SLA.

3. Enter the Name and Description.

4. Select the Operational Hours (Calendar Hours or Business Hours).

5. Configure the SLA conditions.

6. Set the SLA targets for the required priority levels.

7. Click Add to create the SLA.

Configuring SLA Conditions

Conditions determine which chat conversations the SLA will apply to. You can define SLA rules using AND and OR logic and add multiple conditions as needed.
Some commonly used condition fields include:

• Brand
• Status
• Category
• Source
• Assigned Group

Click Add New Condition to include additional criteria.

Chat SLA Breach Alerts

Creating or applying a Chat SLA enables BoldDesk to track First Response, Next Response, and Resolution targets for conversations, but breach alerts are triggered only when an escalation mechanism is configured.

To receive breach alerts for chats, you must configure and activate a Chat Automation workflow that runs on the SLA Breached trigger (for example, to send an email alert and/or reassign the conversation).

Minimum requirements for breach alerts:

• Chat SLA tracking must be available and applied (for example, First Response Due must be tracked so the SLA Breached trigger can occur).
• An admin must configure the workflow under Admin → Chat → Chat Automation → Workflows, using the SLA Breached trigger.
• If the alert is email-based, you must specify a recipient (for example, a manager/escalation mailbox) in the workflow’s email action.
• The workflow must be Published & Activated to run when a breach occurs.

Once the workflow is active, when a conversation breaches its SLA target (for example, First Response Due), BoldDesk can send the configured alert (such as an email) and execute any configured escalation actions (such as reassignment).

SLA Metric (What Will be Measured/Enforced?)

These predefined metrics help you measure and enforce your support targets:

• First response (Time to first response) – The time taken for an agent to reply to the customer for the first time.

• Response (Time to next response) – The time taken for the agent’s follow-up replies after the first response.

• Resolution (Time to resolution) – The time taken to fully resolve or close the conversation.
  

  
  
  

How is the First Response Time Calculated?

The first response time is measured from the moment a customer sends a message until the agent sends the initial reply. This helps track how quickly agents acknowledge new conversations. To let the customer know their issue is being handled, the agent should send a quick acknowledgment. You can use this metric to enforce a first response time goal, with a minimum setting of 1 minute. Explore How Is First Response Time Calculated for Chat Conversations in BoldDesk?

How is the Response Time Calculated?

Response time is the time it takes for an agent to reply to a customer after the first response has been sent. To ensure timely follow-ups, you can set a minimum interval of 1 minute between responses.

How is the Resolution Time Calculated?

Resolution time is the time an agent takes to solve or close a conversation. Using this, you can enforce the conversation queries to be addressed at a specific time or choose a minimum of 1 day. Explore How to Calculate Average Chat Resolution Time in BoldDesk.

Permission

To be able to configure Chat SLAs and Breach Alerts in BoldDesk, ensure that the Manage Settings permission is enabled.

Troubleshooting

I created an SLA but I am not receiving breach alerts

Confirm the Chat SLA is applied so due targets (for example, First Response Due) can be tracked and breached.

SLA due times appear to pause unexpectedly

Confirm whether the SLA is configured for business hours vs calendar hours (24×7). Business-hours SLAs pause outside business hours.

I cannot set resolution time under 24 hours

Live chat has a minimum Resolution Time of 24 hours by default, and it cannot be reduced. Only increases are supported.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can I create multiple SLAs for chat?
   Yes. BoldDesk supports multiple Chat SLAs and mapping them to different conversations using conditions.

2. Does an SLA apply outside business hours?
   Only if the SLA uses calendar hours (24×7). For business hours, SLA calculations pause outside business hours.

3. Can I reduce the minimum resolution time below 24 hours?
   No. For live chat, the default minimum is 24 hours and it cannot be reduced. You can increase the value if needed.

4. Are SLA metrics included in reports?
   Yes. SLA compliance and breach details are available in BoldDesk reports.

5. What happens if an SLA target is missed?
   The conversation is flagged as breached. Alerts or escalation actions occur only if an SLA Breached Chat Automation workflow is configured and activated.

6. Do I automatically get breach emails when I create an SLA?
   No. Breach emails require a configured Chat Automation workflow with the SLA Breached trigger and an email action with recipients.

7. How is Average Response Time calculated?
   Total SLA-based response time during the reporting period divided by the total number of responses in that period.

8. How is Average Resolution Time calculated when a conversation is resolved multiple times?
   Each resolution is counted separately. The average is the total resolution time across all resolution events divided by the number of resolution events during the period.

Related Articles

1. How to Create and Configure SLA Policies for Chat in BoldDesk
2. Overview of the Chat SLA Dashboard